Defining Decision for Steve Patterson

Patterson is going to have to make what should be the defining decision of his AD tenure. I am not sure that football will ever be the defining decision of Patterson or any AD as there are a lot of other deciders at play in that sport. However, in basketball, Patterson will probably have enough leeway to hire and fire as he wishes.

Patterson is supposed to be a basketball guy and we are going to find out how good he is. First, he has to decide whether or not to retain the most successful coach in school history. On one hand Barnes has taken us to 16 NCAA tournaments in 17 years at a basketball poor program in a basketball poor state. On the other hand the program is indisputably stagnant having not advanced to the sweet sixteen since advancing to the elite eight 7 seasons ago. We are 3-6 in the NCAA tournament since the 2008 elite 8 run. Basically we average a win every other NCAA tournament we make.

Second, if Patterson decides to make a change he HAS to find someone better. Our basketball program, unlike football and baseball, cannot afford worse. We are stagnant in the first two rounds of the NCAAs but Tech, for example, has been stagnant outside the NCAAs since Bobby Knight left and A&M who went to six consecutive NCAA tournaments under two different coaches has been stagnant outside the NCAA tournament the past four seasons under their current coach. Just like with Penders after Kaiser Bob and with Barnes after Penders, Patterson would have to find the right person to take us to the next level IF he decides to make a change. Patterson, right now, should look at the what is out there (really being a basketball guy he should have a good idea already what is out there) before deciding what to do with Barnes.

I hope Patterson makes the right decision on Barnes and if he decides to part ways, I hope he makes the right decision on the hire. These decisions will probably be his defining coaching decisions.

 

There isn't one thing he's done so far with which I've agreed (taking Strong out of it for the reasons you stated above). I don't expect that to change with his basketball hire should there be one. With all his B.S. about branding and playing games all over the damn world, it wouldn't surprise me if he hired a coach from China and then sent us there to play some games to grow our brand in Asia.

 

just as it was time for Tommy to leave (he was a definite improvement over Kaiser Bob), the same is true for Rick--just hope Patterson makes the right hire

 

What about beer sales at baseball and basketball games?

 

I really think that there are plenty of guys out there who could match results with Rick's last 6 years. And many who could indeed take us to a better level. Rick has elevated the program from where he found it. No question. His best is behind him. We need to go smarter, younger. The players are in Texas now. The UT program, with a proven young, hungry coach will bring new energy and optimism. The players will come, even better, imho.

 

Patterson is listening and may hear us on this thread. I submit to Steve:

It is time to say goodbye to Rick Barnes.

 

Saban?

 

I agree.We need new energy.
Hookem'

 

Time for Rick to go back home to Hickory, NC and get his fill of Carolina BBQ.

 

Hmmm. I don' think this is a defining decision for Patterson. He just needs to look at the status of the program and whether Barnes is the coach to get Texas back to a national level on a consistent basis.

Of course Barnes is going to say he can do it, but once Patterson asks for his resignation or fires Barnes, Barnes is going to feel enormous relief and feel a weight has been taken off of him. At this point Barnes is like Tom Landry and needs to be pushed out. Landry should have been canned by the previous regime but Tex and the ownership just couldn't do it and left it to Jerry Jones to do the dirty work. Hopefully, Patterson will handle it better than Jones did with Landry.

But it's time for Barnes to move on. He's been great for Texas but the bottom line is he has not kept up with the modern basketball athlete. I watched an interview with Coach K and was impressed by his statement that he had to change his approach to players to continue to coach them at Duke. For the longest time, no Duke player left early for the NBA. That provided a comfort factor for Coach K. Once this changed, Coach K changed. Barnes never adjusted his style with his players. His habit of scolding players when they go to the bench even when they have done 1 thing wrong after doing 3 things right does not work anymore. Bobby Knight's style came and went - same for Rick Barnes.

As for the next Coach, Texas Basketball is a huge deal for coaches around the country. But he has to find the right coach who can recruit, coach and relate to the modern urban basketball player coming out of Dallas, Houston, Killeen / Harker Heights. That coach is Shaka Smart. The excitement and energy along with his coaching ability is what Texas needs.

BTW, the best decision Patterson could make is to replace Rick Barnes with Shaka and then announce his own resignation. But that's just me.

 

Patterson only knows pro sports, if that. He has no concept of collegiate athletics. I have zero confidence that he will select a better replacement for Rick.

Why does anyone think that Smart would take the job and subject himself to vultures like the ones who circle our athletic program?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...5d3508-cdbd-11e4-8c54-ffb5ba6f2f69_story.html

 

Barnes record the 1st 10 years was superb and raised expectations at UT. But the last 7 years with only one top 25 finish has been mediocre at best. The thing is the pattern of basketball, and identifiable flaws don't seem to change which has led to a lot of lost interest in the program. Some of the issues the way I see it.

Barnes is a defensive coach and the only times we've had offense seems to be when we've had "super guards" i.e. T.J Ford and D.J. Augustine...that basically created offense on their own. One of the things that Barnes doesn't seem to understand analytically is that bad offense leads to opposing teams transition offense and thus hurts the defense.

So what are some of the issues with the offense?
1) In modern era you MUST spread the floor by having some knock down 3 point shooters. Without a consistent 3 point threat teams pack the paint (unlike the pros the rules support this). Packing the paint makes it extremely difficult to penetrate, or to have an outstanding inside game with back door plays and 2nd chance points. It also makes it extremely difficult to feed the inside with passes and I witness way too many turnovers trying to get the ball inside with entry passes.

2) We seem to recruit too many of the same kind of player...athletic, and able to play great defense but mediocre offensive threats. The 3 point shot in college is just too easy not to be able to recruit players to support 1) spreading the floor.

3) If you are going to recruit one and done players, they must be developed at warp speed so that they can excel in a freshmen year. Barnes has not been successful in doing this.

4) Barnes coaching method is on display and seems to be over controlling and overly reactive critically. This is somewhat of speculation on my part, but is I think reasonable from observing the players and the players results over the years. The ability to get out performance from players seems to be lacking in Barnes especially on the offensive side. His style seems to make players extremely tight and afraid to make mistakes. This psychology leads to self consciousness and unnatural and tight play that reduces free flow and offensive confidence. Confidence is everything for shooting especially for non-superstars and without it you will see a lot of clanging of balls. I submit that is what we see on the horns.

5) Against any decent competition you simply don't get the feel of a well run offensive scheme whereby easy buckets are manufactured. Some of this is related to previous points as you do need to spread the floor to have effective offensives in college.

6) For years we haven't closed games well, we have major offensive lapses at critical times, we foul badly and turnover the ball way too much. I've noticed a pattern of playing not to lose the times we do get a lead against decent competition. Ironically, the lack of confidence in the players leads to the expected reaction of the players losing confidence in themselves. This creates a losing vibe that is hard to shake.

A good example of this was the Big 12 tourney game against ISU. We HAD that game. We hit from 3 (for once) and built a nice lead. Barnes start to have the players utilize more of the shot clock (which is fine), but towards the latter half of the 2nd half he made the offense completely stagnant. He had Taylor start the offense with only 10-15 seconds left on the clock. ISU caught on and sent heavy defensive pressure just as we were starting our offense. This put extreme pressure on our offense and we simply stopped getting any decent looks. We totally lost our offensive rhythm and managed to blow a very nice lead and lose the game. The players lost their focus during the time that we had gone to the stagnant offense and made critical mistakes in the closing minutes. Yes, the players did make some bad plays, but what led to the opportunity and even increased the probability of the bad play? (yes the even worse coaching).
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Barnes earned respect with his superior results in his first decade of coaching. He also has run a high value program (which for this longhorn fan is a requirement, but clearly not done everywhere). Barnes elevated our program, and earned a long grace period. He has had a good run, but I do believe it is time for us to get in some fresh blood. New basketball recruits have relatively short memories and take only a few things into consideration. One of those things are results and Texas has had no exciting results to show to a current recruit. I also don't see an atmosphere of much fun. For recruits that want to come to polish their defense, Texas is probably a good place to come, but I know if I was an offensive player, I would stay away. The one and done era has certainly presented new challenges to coaching at the college level. I just see no evidence that Barnes has adapted well to that either.

It's time to inject some excitement into our program with a fresh beginning and a clean slate. A charismatic coach coupled with the resources (and media exposure) of the university can I believe build on Barnes legacy and exceed even his results. Yes, we have some problems in our physical plant and presentation, but those problems tend to fade into the background if you generate a winner. I feel strongly that the term "football school" is not valid excuse for lower performance. When schools like Baylor can be competitive in both football and basketball, why can't Texas. Yes, Kansas is in our conference but they were beat by other teams. We also finished behind ISU, OU, Baylor, WVU and ahead of only TCU and Tech.

Just getting to the NCAA tourney is not a high enough bar to measure teams any more (this year is a great example). With 68 teams selected and really probably less than 150 that have competitive programs in D-1 IMO it just doesn't mean what it used to mean (like in the days of only 48 or 32 selected). There are also opportunities to win the conference or win the Big 12 tourney. Ironically, Barnes won the Big 12 conference outright in his 1st year, but never again. He did get 2 more co-championships (the last one 8 years ago). Barnes has NEVER won a Big 12 tourney in 17 years (even when we were the favorite)! Beating a higher ranked team is extremely rare in Barnes tenure...we simply rarely out perform. Of course there have been some exceptions, but they have been very rare.

I don't follow closely enough to come up with coaching candidates, but we pay our University bureaucrats a lot of money and give them a lot of resources to attract top flight talent to the University. The pay, opportunity, and media exposure should be incredibly desirable. Yes, it will be a challenge, it not the best venue and installed fan base for basketball, but how many would kill for such an opportunity to build on and exceed Barnes legacy here? There are just not that many of these jobs available.

Bottom line it is time to thank Rick Barnes for his services and job well done, but also to move on another era. It has been 17 years under Barnes, time for someone else to have a chance. After 7 years without tangible results I just don't see the risk in the move. If it doesn't pan out, get someone else QUICKLY (3 or 4 years).

 

My money is that Patterson's mind is only focusing on what the best decision is to maximize money through the basketball program. Whatever that decision may be, all I've seen from him is a thirst to maximize revenue regardless of the fanbase or success of the programs.

 

Brad, to maximize money at this point, you need a winner. It's not a secret that most fans are bandwagon fans that follow winners. Media dollars will be dependent on the ability to generate buzz about the program. Once again, that will be largely dependent on winning. Winning, coupled with a more "watchable" (fun, more exciting offense) will generate the most dollars and excitement and hopefully that will give Patterson enough incentive to find new exciting blood.

I just checked out Sean Miller's performance at Arizona...he is paid comparable to Barnes. What an amazing run he has had. He had a great record at Xavier and was obviously a great hire. He followed 2 coaches that did not impress after Lute Olson. Notice how quickly they replaced coaches until they got Miller. It goes to show that if you require excellence (and have a major program) that it can be had. There are probably a half dozen coaches around that could give a huge upgrade to Texas if given the opportunity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Wildcats_men's_basketball

 

Since when does Patterson need an improved product to justify any moves made to increase revenue? Last I checked he ransacked the football ticket situation (increased prices, charged for parking, and prohibited resell) isolating loyal fans. The football team had just turned in a worse product winning 2 fewer games than 2013. Without a guaranteed QB upgrade, no one can say the product will increase in 2015 to justify those moves to increase revenue. At least not for sure to the 8-win mark set in 2013, thus bringing us back to where we started before his increases. If one thinks Patterson is beyond raising basketball ticket costs while keeping Barnes, they simply aren't paying attention. This guy is a classless jerk who prays to the almighty dollar, despite what we may think.

 

The time has come for Patterson to make the decision that it is time for Rick Barnes to go. Many of you have clearly analyzed many good reasons why. The bottom line is The University of Texas deserves better results than what we have seen from the program the last few years.

Hook 'Em!

 

I will be sad to see him go. BUT....

 

What? Htown you really think replacing Barnes is like replacing Johm Wooden...Barnes has been a complacent check-collector for 10 years now. Recruits great, coaches like ****, expected results follow. One, one good run since the Final 4 run.

Rick probably buys a Porsche so he can either keep in the garage or drive it only in school zones. Cardboard cutout needs to go.

It's not a defining hire.

 

Exactly!!

 

That was all about money. If he didn't think beer sales would add to the coffers he never would have done it. Then again, with the way the basketball team played, maybe he approved it as a painkiller.

 

I hear a rumor that Rick Pitino is looking at real estate in the Austin area.......

 

Coaching is a results oriented profession. Fact of the matter is Barnes has not provided acceptable results given the talent and resources he has to deal with. This year's team had way too much talent not to have achieved more than they did. Was the talent overrated? Maybe. Did the coaching staff provide enough to make them better? Don't think so. Nothing personal against Barnes, he's done great things for Texas basketball, but it's time for a change.

 

How about Archie Miller (Sean's brother) at Dayton University? Dayton has a great fan base, but an aging basketball facility several miles from the campus, and must compete with Big 10, Xavier, Butler, Kentucky, Louisville, etc for talent. Yet, Miller does pretty well.

 

Good call. I think it gets easy at a place like UT to get real comfortable with your surroundings and of course the paycheck and it's easy to take your eye off the ball. A guy that's been successful at mid level is perfect to come into a place like Texas and give it a spark. Charlie Strong comes to mind!

 

It is because our basketball program is not on solid footing like baseball or football. A bad hire can set us back quite a way back. Lemons, Penders and Barnes have built to the point of being on the verge being a national power. This program was not at a place where making the NCAA tournament was expected before Barnes. Patterson has to find the man to take the program to the next level or at least not injure it. Look at Tech after Knight or A&M after Turgeon. They have not made the NCAA tournament a single time since their better coaches left.

Barnes is the Wooden of Texas basketball at this point. That is not to say that someone cannot do better. I am just saying that this is a defining decision because Patterson has to see if there is anyone out there who can do better willing to come to Texas and he has to get them if they are there. If Patterson fires Barnes, he has to find someone that will unseat Barnes from the best coach in school history just the way Barnes unseated Lemons or Penders. Currently we are stagnant as a good program that makes the tournament every year but does not make any noise. We all want to be a great program. We also do not want to descend into mediocrity or simply being bad. (no we are not mediocre right now. Mediocre is average. The average program has not made the NCAA tournament 6 of the past 7 years much less 16 of the past 17. I am so tired of people not understanding what the f the word mediocre means. It is poor english and inaccurate. There is an american trend, not limited to sports, for americans to use mediocre to described results they do not like. It needs to stop. Not where we want to be (the top) and mediocre are not the same dang thing.) Patterson not only has to decide on Barnes but he has to make the right hire. Unlike it football, this will pretty much be Patterson's call. We get to find out how good at the hiring/firing coaching portion of his job he is. Is he going to be the one to take the program forward with hiring/firing decisions? Does he feel the program is at an okay place? (see a&m AD keeping their bad coach and being okay with taking 4 years to make the NIT) Will he make the wrong choice whether it is to retain Barnes or it is making the wrong hire that will drop our program down from where it is?

This will be the defining decision(s) for Patterson.

 

I would argue that Barnes and the program have been mediocre in the postseason and that's what matters in college ball.
Still not a defining hire. If texas basketball falls deeper into average-ness then texas fans will move on until the program gets hot again. Basketball at Texas is the honeydew of a fruit salad.

 

Then what would be his defining hire in your opinion? Baseball when Augie retires? (seems hard to not get the best hire there, but I should not say that and risk jinxing it) Some other men's sport?

I have excluded football because he is only one voice of many in those hires.

 

>>Currently we are stagnant as a good program that makes the tournament every year but does not make any noise. We all want to be a great program. We also do not want to descend into mediocrity or simply being bad. (no we are not mediocre right now. Mediocre is average.<<

17 years no conference tournament championship wins....not even mediocre
17 years 1 conference outright win and 2 shares - slightly above average
This year bottom half of the big 12...mediocre

The last 7 years, one top 25 finish? No sweet 16's....come on, we may be above average in that we are somewhat competitive, but are not performing.

There is a difference between being elite, and then 2nd tier, and then barely making the tourney and losing, and not making the tourney.

These are all identifiable levels. We didn't earn our way into the NCAA tourney this year, but got in because of our name and the fact we are in power conference and the fact that the conference got overrated because of a few preconference wins. If you want to crow about making the tourney and losing first round, fine, but I'm not impressed. 2 years ago we lost in 1st round of CBI....that is category 4, not elite, not 2nd tier. Just taking the last 7 years in isolation....which I think is a reasonable time period, we haven't been a top 50 team. And acting like all the schools in the D-1 basketball are created equal and just because you finish in the top quartile thinking that is above mediocre is BS. You can't compare some school like Southwest Hampton College of the lake to a power conference school ...resources, recruiting, media attention, etc.

What is the real number of teams that we are competing against? It certainly isn't the entire 450 or whatever there are in D-1. I want to guestimate 125-150. Finishing below 50 in that size field is hardly noteworthy for a major University. Making a 68 team tourney is being overrated. You need to do something after you get there occasionally. Rick did well his 1st 10 years, but for the last 7 we've done very little in the tourney.

I looked up Arizona in the Wiki and they were crap for 50 years before Lute Olson got there. They started to go down immediately after he stepped down. But then they hired and Sean Miller and wallah...a fantastic program...elite 8's, final 4's and national championship...It took him 1 year to start to excel.

I don't expect us to immediately have an elite program(like Az) and most fans would be happy with much less. But fans do want to be relevant every few years, win a conference tourney occasionally and finish in the top 1/2 of the conference. That also want to see basketball that is watchable. As a long time Spurs fan, I find it excruciating to watch UT basketball these days. Such poor offense, execution, player development, and frankly I don't respect Barnes approach anymore because of the product I see.

Barnes already proved it is possible to have at least a 2nd tier program at UT (1st 10 years). I think other schools (Az,Fla) have proven you can come from a non-elite school to an elite school relatively rapidly...all elite schools had to get there in the 1st place.

Htown, my main argument with you, is that you seem to hang the heavens on "making the tourney." I would rather miss the tourney for a couple a years, and then make a real run, than to squeak in every year and lose immediately. Any team that spends most of its time in the top 50 (which I believe should be an expectation at Texas) will go to tourney most years. I have no argument that R.B had a terrific record his 1st 10 years in terms of consistency and excellence. We never became elite, but we were certainly a 2nd tier program. But if you take the last 7 years in isolation, there is not a great deal to lose...we were a 3rd tier team at best.

 

Unlike football, both basketball programs' head coach positions are not the top job in the country. Yes there are other "voices" in the football coaching decision making process, but if Patterson had not have liked Strong I would hope he would have said so (and we don't know he didn't).

The Big XII is turning out to be Kansas and the 9 dwarf's so getting a top flight coach to come into the league will mean a younger less established coach rather than an established coach. Just the reality of the basketball coaching profession where good guys stay forever at major conference destination positions. Taking a younger coach is a risk. What looks good a a less than major conference can flop at a major conference.

IMHO both Barnes and Augie should have retired last year after strong comeback seasons. Barnes did not succeed by any measure this year and earned being shown the door. After losing two games to markedly inferior competition Augie is now in a position of basically no hope of hosting any tournament games due to competition within the state with TCU, Baylor and aggy on their way to superior records. Patterson's issue is can he find an improvement over the current?

 

Regular Season Titles by coach:

Bill Self (Kansas) 11
Roy Williams (Kansas) 4
Rick Barnes (Texas) 3
Larry Eustachy (Iowa State) 2
Bruce Weber (Kansas State) 1
Kelvin Sampson (Oklahoma) 1
Eddie Sutton (Oklahoma State) 1

Tournament Titles by coach:
Bill Self (Kansas) 6
Roy Williams (Kansas) 3
Kelvin Sampson (Oklahoma) 3
Eddie Sutton (Oklahoma State) 2
Fred Hoiberg (Iowa State) 2
Larry Eustachy (Iowa State) 1
Frank Haith (Missouri) 1
Mike Anderson (Missouri) 1

I think conference tournament titles are overrated as a lot of those involve one team having a bad game, or one team getting hot, or one team not caring as it does not affect their seeding (see Barnes the first 10 years), etc. I think using conference tournament titles is a dumb standard for any coach in any of the major conferences that get at large bids where they just do not matter very much. All that being said, I do agree Barnes should have won one at least one at some point. On average Big 12 teams do not win the Big 12 tournament and most big 12 coaches do not ever win one so yes, in that one respect Barnes is mediocre. I'll also add plenty of final four teams and national title winners do not win their conference title and no one cares. Iowa State and Missouri have won conference tournament titles recently and followed it up with nothing in the NCAA tournament. No one cares they won their tournament, everyone just remembers early NCAA tournament exists (losses to Norfolk State, UAB, etc.)

That said, he has the second most conference regular season titles of any coach or school in conference history and he has not won one since 2008! He is the best non kansas coach when it comes to big 12 titles. That is not mediocre. Is it really fair to hold barnes or the next guy to a conference title standard? Who outside of Barnes and Kansas in this conference has outperformed Barnes in regular season titles?

17 years 1 conference outright win and 2 shares - slightly above average.... WITH THE AVERAGE BEING 0 IF YOU ARE NOT KANSAS