Capel/Eschbach

[soonerbub]

Anyone hear Jeff & Al a few minutes ago? Capel went into some serious spin about how losing TMG & tiny late made it virtually impossible to recruit. He also hopped on the excuse train saying "young teams struggle in back to backs (talkin about Maui)"

Very disappointing to hear--if this is his attitude we need to be lining up a new coach SOONER rather than later

I'm not there yet--still have hope for this bunch. Tomorrow night @ the piggies is a winnable game IF we play our asses off.

Also I'm excited about the signee from Hutch but we have to get through this year first

[Adrian]

Sounds like he's preparing Sooner fans for a difficult Big 12 season just on the horizon...

[soonerbub]

That's the thing--managing expectations is not in a head coach's job description. I mean could anybody picture Stoops when he came in saying "this is gonna be tough to rebuild"?

[Big D Sooner]

Before 2005 Stoops did give hints that it would be a rough season. I think he has a point as far as this season, but the problem I see is that we don't really have any big recruits coming in next year (at this point).

[ELP Sooner]

Is OU a better job than Arizona State for hoops? If so, I would love to see Herb Sendek in Norman if Capel leaves/gets booted. I am not saying to get rid of Capel, it's just I think very highly of Sendek.

[fwsooner22]

Coach is already gone. If you look over at him at say to yourself that's the coach of OU basketball.........No, it can't be, it just can't be. He is a different guy than he was when he got here. In my opinion he wants out.

[badger]

Mizzou once hired a young upstart former Dookie as a head coach too, who took them to the Elite Eight (where we beat them, lol), but let him go after losses and allegedly not running a clean program and losing control of his players.

What was his name? Anyway, I doubt Capel will get caught partying or whatever that Mizzou guy was accused of, but I am starting to wonder if a mutual parting of ways is best for both Capel and OU. I loved Capel's enthusiasm and he seemed to connect with his players well, but since those initial season, he just seems to be in some funk that he can't get out of.

EDIT: Quin Snyder. Scary about the similarities between the two, after reading this article again.

[Romulus]

It was a pathetic interview full of excuses

[Crimsontothecore]

Capel needs to go. He can blame last years train wreck and departures on bad attitudes if he wants to but in the end it will kill his recruiting of high talent guys. I can only imagine what opposing coaches are saying to kids they are competing for with Capel. "hey, you don't want to go to OU. Did you see how their talented guys all left last year?" "you don't want to get in the middle of their problems"

[OU_Sooners75]

Capel needs to go. He can blame last years train wreck and departures on bad attitudes if he wants to but in the end it will kill his recruiting of high talent guys. I can only imagine what opposing coaches are saying to kids they are competing for with Capel. "hey, you don't want to go to OU. Did you see how their talented guys all left last year?" "you don't want to get in the middle of their problems"

yeah because all talented players have the same mental make-up as Tiny and TMG!

Get real dude, regardless if Capel stays or goes, that is about as stupid of a line I have ever heard from a poster here...and that is really saying something!

[badger]

as long as they've been mentioned... does anyone know what happened to TMG? Here's what's up with Tiny Gallon:

Linky

I have been googling Tommy's name at least once a month since his disappearance from OU and I am finding NOTHING! The only time he is mentioned is when it is in reference to everyone OU lost during the offseason due to graduation or *groan* turning professional. There is no mention of D-League, overseas league, quitting basketball, NOTHING.

I was not fond of the way he left, but I still wish him well, Has anyone heard of or seen TMG lately?

EDIT: One more thing on Tiny - he apparently misses OU. Link here. Truth be told, I kind of miss the big guy too. Lots of untapped potential.

[TopDawg]

Anyone hear Jeff & Al a few minutes ago? Capel went into some serious spin about how losing TMG & tiny late made it virtually impossible to recruit. He also hopped on the excuse train saying "young teams struggle in back to backs (talkin about Maui)"

Very disappointing to hear--if this is his attitude we need to be lining up a new coach SOONER rather than later

You heard the interview and I didn't, but I think you might be making an assumption about his attitude.

There's a difference between a reason and an excuse. An excuse is a way to shift blame off of yourself. If he's conveying the message of "Young teams struggle in back-to-backs so don't blame me" then it's an excuse. If he's conveying the message of "Young teams struggle in back-to-backs and we're a young team because we lost some experience this year because of poor team management and/or recruiting on my and my assistant coaches' part and that's something we're going to have to fix"...well, that's a completely different attitude, right? The same words conveying different messages and revealing different attitudes.

The poor team management and/or recruiting is the concern for me...not what he's saying on the radio. I think he has the right attitude and I think he can coach...he just made some really bad decisions with a few recruits. I feel like we should watch what happens with this team (do they improve from start to finish?) and next year should be his make-or-break year.

[soonervegas]

Worst talent evaluator I have ever seen at OU in ANY sport.

[TopDawg]

I should also point out...since we have a lot of newbies (and for some of the oldbies)...that my avatar doesn't indicate any kind of over-the-top adoration of Capel. It actually dates back to the Sampson era. As a way of bugging Sooner04, who had a Tubbs avatar, I put up a Sampson avatar. Then when we hired Capel, I just switched it over and have been too lazy to change it.

[badger]

I should also point out...since we have a lot of newbies (and for some of the oldbies)...that my avatar doesn't indicate any kind of over-the-top adoration of Capel. It actually dates back to the Sampson era. As a way of bugging Sooner04, who had a Tubbs avatar, I put up a Sampson avatar. Then when we hired Capel, I just switched it over and have been too lazy to change it.

I think you should change it to this:

[soonerbub]

That's fair TopDawg. I just happened to hear it in the car and was really disappointed in his overall tone. Really I'm just scared to death that we'll have another late season meltdown because we are gonna have several long nights this year.

Excited to see how we come out tonight BOOMER

[TopDawg]

That's fair TopDawg. I just happened to hear it in the car and was really disappointed in his overall tone. Really I'm just scared to death that we'll have another late season meltdown because we are gonna have several long nights this year.

Excited to see how we come out tonight BOOMER

Well, you can tell a lot by tone...but his tone is never particularly upbeat.

You're right...it's gonna be a long season full of long nights. I'm hoping, though, that these players are more about the team than themselves and we'll be able to see that attitude and maturity as the season progresses. I don't necessarily think it'll lead to many wins this year, but it might set the foundation for some significant progress next year. Basketball, more than any other sport, is one where one player can make a HUGE difference. If we can groom our youth, see some development as a team, and then land a pretty good recruit, it might make a big difference in what we see out there next year.

[Crimsontothecore]

yeah because all talented players have the same mental make-up as Tiny and TMG!

Get real dude, regardless if Capel stays or goes, that is about as stupid of a line I have ever heard from a poster here...and that is really saying something!

I didn't say all the players had the same mental make up. I suppose you think that recruits are going to look at last years departures and think "wow, those guys really had big heads and bad attitudes". Please! fact is, other young guys are more likely to think it was a problem with Capel because many of them also think they are Gods gift to basketball.

And thanks for the compliment, real classy just because you disagree.

[the_ouskull]

I didn't say all the players had the same mental make up. I suppose you think that recruits are going to look at last year's departures and think, "Wow, those guys really had big heads and bad attitudes." Please! Fact is, other young guys are more likely to think it was a problem with Capel because many of them also think they are God's gift to basketball.

You don't need to defend your comment. It made perfect sense to me. Idiocy would be thinking that opposing coaches WON'T use our struggles against us during recruiting given the chance to do so, and you should know that, too, 75.

"You're looking at OU, too, eh? Man, I don't know what's going on down there right now. Look at all those players that they had leave recently."

As if THAT is so hard to imagine another Big 12 coach saying to a recruit... and it doesn't take much more than that to get the proverbial ball rolling.

I'm tempted to start another, "I miss Kelvin" thread, though, just to see what all of the anti-Kelvin people have to say in defense of Capel NOW. If he wants to start making excuses about how "tough" it is after losing so many players, then 1) he doesn't need to lose players, and 2) he needs to go back to VCU where nobody cares. This is OU, and this is the Big 12, and what happens here matters.

Kelvin may have made too many calls, but at least the players he was calling weren't hanging up OR giving up on him, hm?

the_ouskull

[badger]

"You're looking at OU, too, eh? Man, I don't know what's going on down there right now. Look at all those players that they had leave recently."

I would have to imagine that stuff like that goes on in recruiting against every school. Here, let me try?

You're looking at Baylor? Man, they're not gonna be in a big conference after the Big 12 explodes.

You're looking at Kansas? Man, if that ticket scandal costs the AD his job, who's to say the coach is gonna stick around?

You're looking at Kansas State? Man, their coach is batsh!t crazy and Manhattan's a dinky college town.

You're looking at Texas? Man, they're the only ones who can tank a #1 ranking to an early-postseason exit.

not playing devil's advocate, just taking this extra opportunity to bash some of our conference foes