Factual points...and again, I doubt if he would even want to come back.
Go Dukes!

NapaDuke wrote:

El Presidente wrote:

I haven't posted much here lately for a number of reasons. Mostly I learn way more here than I contribute on this board thanks to those who possess much more knowledge of the game of basketball than I. However, let me add regarding the coaching position, that everyone has a shelf life in any walk of life. Examples of those folks are Mike Tomlin, Chuck Noll, Chuck Tanner, and even KD. I do believe that KD's time here has been an overall plus for the program. We recovered from the previous regime's inefficiencies, and I believe that KD has represented the university well. However, it seems pretty obvious to me that the ceiling isn't going to get much higher than it has to this point. I believe 7 years to be a good barometer, a large enough sampling. My concern is, as another poster pointed out, that we might need to look outside the current coaching staff for a replacement when the time comes. While Dru Joyce seems to be the heir apparent to KD, I wonder if this would be a good move given his close association with Coach Dambrot and being seen as a disciple of his of sorts. I still cannot believe that Duquesne can't be a solid program such as VCU, Richmond, St. Bona, and even Dayton. I won't accept the fact that Duquesne is destined to be a mediocre program at best. There has to be a coach out there willing to come here capable of winning consistently. I do hope a good choice can be made without just turning the program over to a current member of the staff without a thorough coaching search when the time comes, and I believe it's coming fast.

We need a coach like RE that knew how to compete with high level teams at a mid-major level.. Heck RE is  62,  (my correction) and KD is looking 66 in the face. Very few coaches can come in here and teach a team to run like RE did. Last game, for example, set half court, feed to the center, to only go 2 for 11 inside ? it's just like  NINE turnovers? That was the game, right there, not KD's lame rant. post game? Bad coaching.  That was last night's  game right there. Every time a half-court team is behind, they don't catch up because, by design, they can't run.  Dru Joyce played pro ball. He is the best choice, (out side of offering RE a million for 2 years to teach Joyce to run). DU will never  until we get that coach  and play that style. My  choice, offer Ron for 2 years for a KD price, then for Joyce, with a set running pro team in place for two years, then hope Joyce knows enough to run that pro game. Ron beat ranked teams and on any night was never out of it. His defenses at time just killed teams. KD hasn't had any such games.  If RE had this recruitment advantage, DU would still be on the top BB map. Ron was paid around 320,000 a year, only to replace by an idiot for 700,000 a year, only to be replace by KD for 1 million, (yet KD was only making 400,000 a year at Akron?) Who is making these decisions? Hell, get Ron here for 2 years to get Joyce set to run RE's style of play. ( Just asking for  friend) In all of basketball dynasties, it's not the players, it's only the coach.  Those coaches are rare, and yes, we fired one. Yes, we are cursed.

You know. I was thinking about the word "curse" myself. We are "cursed" because we know what it's like to win big and haven't in a long time. When I graduated I thought it would be NCAAs and NITs for the rest of my adult life. I guess I was too busy developing myself to see how the economics of college basketball were changing the game. Now with the complicity of the NCAA with few exceptions the teams that get the attention are big state schools or massively endowed private schools and with few exceptions coaches and players alike flock to them. We are punished because for years we kept our tuition low and didn't build an endowment. Father Mac built up the endowment but then we built a medical school that cost neartly four times what the Palumbo Center renovation did. It's hard to argue that these are less important than Men's Basketball. The sorriest college athletic department in the country can't afford to admit that it is satisfied with mediocrity. But I don't know if we have enough money for both academic and athletic excellence and it does look like the recent money is toward the academic. If we are going to compete at this level we need someone like Mark Few who is competent but apparently forsaking the really big money and we are going to need to support him in every other way.

Are you serious, scduke? You don't think a medical school is more important that basketball? Good lord, man, it's almost surprising you graduated.

Has KD turned it around, no.   Same end results, nada.   He has tried, brought in lots of talented players, I cannot fault his efforts in trying.   Just didnt work out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSZxmZmBfnU

DU being relevant is closer to that song's year than it is current day.