K-State will be Top 5 when Gators play them Saturday (forever). And by the way, UF is 0-9 all-time in non-conference road dates vs Top 5s. Care to guess how many Top 5s (SEC included) the Gators have EVER beaten on the road? Hint: Not a good record … even for some great teams.
Some of you aren’t getting my point. I’m not saying White is a better coach than Golden. All I said was White had better inbound plays. Golden runs a better offense than White in my opinion but that isn’t saying a lot because White’s offense sucked during his time at Florida. IMO, Golden isn’t a huge improvement over White. Not a fan of either one as a coach. I think Florida had a chance to do a lot better to get the program back on track but missed again. Maybe I’m wrong, we will see in the next few years if Golden turns it around.
Im not the thought police. To each their own. In my opinion however, most supporters have concerns about Golden and aren't just blindly supporting him or claiming he's guaranteed to have the type of success we would like. But the team is showing improvement, he works the refs in ways people begged for White to do, the offense shows movement and he's owning the other new coaches in the league head to head including Mike White. Where some are taking exception with your position is your comment about the next 4 games. In the face of all of these positive indicators you seem to believe that the next 4 games will prove something more definitive than the toality of the progression we are seeing. If we get blown out in all four then maybe there will be cause for concern but even then, let's see what a young seemingly competent, enthusiastic and energetic coach cab do with some time under his belt. What's the point in rooting against his success? What's done is done and it's a refreshing and needed change even if this season doesn't end up like we all hoped. I was on board with White for a long time even if I had reservations from around year 4 on. I was more than ready for a change in the end.
Here's the point I'm getting: small sample size. Dec 29 you said about critiquing the CTG hire: "Maybe so, but at 13 games in is it reactionary? I think that’s a fairly decent sample size of games." "I would have been tickled pink with either Jans or McMahon." They are now 2-14 in SEC play. McMahon is hosting 0-8 Texas Tech and losing in the first half. Not good for the narrative. Are they a bust? No, Year 1 is too early. Year 1 is too small of a sample size. If one disagrees, then one has to then say "CTG is the best SEC hire and SS deserves credit." Your point now is to say "wait until another small sample size of four games." Yes, if you're allowed to pick the data points that fit your conclusion, then you can win the Nobel Prize of Basketball Hire Prognostication each and every day. I'm keeping an open mind either way until after Year 2, keeping aside some freak occurrence (Final 4 or 10 game blowout losing streak.)
I still say Jans and McMahon are both better coaches and will prove to be over their stay at their perspective schools. Time will tell. John Wooden couldn’t win these next four games with Florida’s roster. That doesn’t mean he can’t coach. I didn’t go by wins or losses in my opinion of Golden, it was how he coached that made an impression on me. Adjustments during the game, substitutions and their timing, end of game management, working the refs, ability to motivate, etc., those are just a few of the things that I look at when drawing an opinion of a basketball coach.
Week 5 Todd Golden ( Florida )----- 12-9 (5-3) (5-0 vs the other 1st-year coaches) Dennis Gates ( Missouri )----- 16-5 (4-4) Mike White ( Georgia )----- 14-7 (4-4) Matt McMahon ( LSU )----- 12-9 (1-7) Chris Jans ( Miss.State )----- 13-8 (1-7) Lamont Paris ( South Carolina )----- 8-13 (1-7)
I wonder how much analysis you have done of the adjustments, subs, and end games management oh Jans and McMahon.
Coach Golden and his staff are excellent at in game adjustments. It’s probably this staffs strengths. It’s the scout and beginning of games that worry me. We should be better prepared but always go down 7-0 and make adjustments at media timeouts and half time. If we can start better- we’d have 2-3 more wins in the win column.
They have won one more than I expected in this four game stretch. Playing at home was their best chance at getting a win. Good to see them beat Tennessee. Now if they can beat Kentucky, losing to Alabama won’t be so bad.
Didn't see you in the game thread-were you watching the dawgs getting their butts kicked by the barners?
If you think I’m a Mike White fan, you couldn’t be more wrong. I gave White credit for in-bounds plays but that’s about the only thing I thought he excelled at in coaching.
See - begrudgingly accepting a Gator win and coaches first sig victory. Bad form, unless you’re a rival fan.
So far we are 1-1 and even if we end up 1-3, like I said before, I dont damn....my mind is made up about the flow of the offense and now I can truly say that Im starting to love his defensive philosophy as well. As I said in another thread, I personally disliked the switching man to man defense that Mike White ran. Sure it had its advantages but I promise it seemed like our defense got put into a conflict more often than needed. With Golden there is less of that and it seems the intensity has picked up a notch. So Bravo for coach Golden getting a signature win against Tennessee. Go Gators!
Does last night factor into your analysis. I think he shines at all of those aside from working the refs. Or is your analysis set in stone? Or is this just an abberation?
Coach......what we have here is a poster (you) biting off WAY more than you can chew. *An initial reaction after 13 games (which you claimed was a "decent sample size") has completely blown up in your face. *You moved to "Let's see after the next 4"....which is completely unfair given the opponents, and it STILL blew up in your face. * But my favorite is "tickled pink" in Jans or McMahon. They are getting destroyed and are BY FAR the bottom of the SEC. *McMahon, in fact, is impossibly bad, maybe mired in the worst stretch for an SEC coach ever. Since Jan 7, he has lost 7 straight conference games by 13-11-40-18-21-20-10. Not just seven straight losses, seven straight DOUBLE DIGIT losses. * For comparison, Golden has only lost 3 SEC games by a TOTAL of 8 points. There isn't a metric in this universe that would rank McMahon over Golden, except in the mind of CoachSayre2.