Well, the season is over, and after much thought on this issue, I'm ready to offer my judgement of Coach Brady. This issue has died down a little bit the past week and I hate to kick the ant hill over again and get everybody upset, but I'll just say my peace and that will be that as far as I'm concerned. You can all think what you will; I'm not trying to change any minds. But I hope this opinion will get you to thinking and hopefully we can move forward. I think John Brady should be given one more year to prove himself and get this LSU program up to the caliber we all know it should be at. I have come to this conclusion for several reasons: 1. Coach Brady has worked hard to rebuild a program that was in absolute shambles when he took over. Nobody wanted the LSU job, and even when he took it, he knew rough times were ahead. He faced it head-on and did the best he could with what he had, even taking us to the Sweet 16 one year. But the year that most impressed me with Brady was the year after that, the 2000-2001 team, when an LSU team with only five scholarship players had a losing season but scored an SEC Tournament upset over Georgia and showed tremendous heart and determination by fighting to the very end in every single ballgame. The effort impressed me very much, and I thought we had something there. The good times, and even how we've performed in the worst of times, shows me Brady can coach and that he has the knowledge and the intensity necessary to be a good coach. 2. This season did not turn out like we wanted, that's for sure. But think about it, was it really all his fault? Yes, we were too dependent on one player, Jaime Lloreda. But in basketball, that happens a lot. When a team has a good horse, they will ride him as far as he can take them. No coach in the country wouldn't have done that. Did Brady run off Lloreda? I don't know, and we will probably never know what really went down with that situation. But frankly, I cannot place all the blame for the late season meltdown on Brady; there is plenty to go around, including to some of our young LSU players who looked like they had given up with a few games left in the season. Yes, a coach should try the best he can to have back-up plans in case something happens that he cannot control (which does seem to happen to Brady a lot), but you can only have so many contingencies to deal with unexpected problems. And when it comes to unexpected problems, this program has literally gone through Hell in the last 10 years. 3. We will be absolutely STACKED next season. EVERYBODY is coming back. Glenn Davis is coming in, which will give Brady the second dominant post player he needs for his offense to work. We will have more senior leadership next year, and all the frosh will have some big game experience under their belt. Everything is aligning correctly just as it did back in 1999. I honestly believe that the long dark night is over and that LSU basketball is about to enjoy an unprecedented period of sustained success. We just have to hang on a little bit longer. Now, that said, the fact that we are loaded to the gills for next year, means next year is THE YEAR for Brady to show me something. Probation is no longer an excuse; Brady will have had three sanction-free years to build the program like he wants it from the ground up. Lack of depth is no longer an excuse. There will be a deep bench next year, with no less than EIGHT players on the team who logged serious minutes this past season. Youth is no longer an excuse; two senior leaders (Whipple and Hudson) guiding and pacing the team should be enough. Attrition will no longer be an acceptable excuse. Should one or two players go down to injury or academics or discipline issues or whatever, there should be enough experience to compensate. In other words, Coach Brady, 2004-2005 is the year you've been building for and the year we've all been looking forward to for the last four years. No excuses will be valid. Nothing short of a 22 win season, an SEC West Title, an advance to the semi-finals of the SEC Tournament, and an advance to at least the second round of the NCAA Tournament will be acceptable. Anything less, and I officially am out of the Brady Bunch and in with the Brady Bash. WE MUST WIN! NO EXCUSES! GET IT DONE!!!!!! The PMAC is about to be fixed up nicely. The talent is here. The will to win is here. The commitment is here. All we need is the leadership that can put it all together and take the next step. If Brady is that leader, next year is the time to show it. If it won't happen next season, it ain't ever gonna happen.
Great post. I've mostly defended Brady but another year of soap opera drama could change things. I really like the young talent we have. Although I only saw about 10 games this year, mini-Debo (Whipple) is the only guy who I get frustrated with. I just think Brady deserves another shot at building on what he's started, but I also thought Dinardo should get one more year so you may not want to listen to me.
i am glad to say i think most reasonable people agree with you. i too am optimistic about next year, excited even. i love the dual big man team in college basketball. like stro and jabari, shaq and stanley, and to a lesser extent bass and lloreda. big baby and bass have real potential. keep em together for a few years and it could get entertaining.
Can someone tell me if I am wrong but other then Stromile Teams every year Brady has been here the teams have looked good early and looked bad down the stretch
The Problem I see is........ Is that this type of "one more year" thing....will never end. What's going to happen is, and write this down, the team goes 20-11 next year, looks good for a few then comes apart in the end just like this year. They get in the NCAA tourney and lose the first round. Got it? OK, then all of these same yahoos will be right back on here saying to "bring him back for one more. That was an improvement and look at the studs we've got coming back." If you think adding Big Baby next year is going to seal the deal and make this team and Final Four team....hell it won't even be close to that....then you are sadly mistaken. This team won't have a consistent shooter just like it didn't have this year. But even if we did have an All-American shooter....it wouldn't matter because Brady can't run any type of offense to get him open. I complained at home too many times about how we don't have anyone who can shoot consistently to open the inside a little against those zones. But hell, it's Brady's job to run some type of an offense to free somebody up. Maybe Mitchell is an all-american (which he isn't) but he may be but he's never open to know it. I guess my point is......after watching this team all year and watching just about every game of the NCAA Tourney, there are too many good coaches out there for us to sit here and "wait one more year" on that a-hole, loud-mouth, no offense-knowing whiner. I promise you that we'll be waiting "one more year" next year. Don't fall for the same crap we did with football.
I understand where your coming from, TS, but I'm just not quite ready to throw in the towel yet. I am serious about what I said though; if Brady does not reach the bar I set in my initial comments, I want him gone. Anything less is not acceptable with the kind of team we have coming back next season.
Great post Jetstorm. I agree completely. Lets give him another year. With some valuable seniors, talented sophomores, and an ultra-talented freshmen coming in....we could do very well next year.
I hear ya........ You're gonna get your wish. He isn't going anywhere but watching the tourney like I have it drives me crazy seeing these other teams, winning, organized and talented. We'll see what he does next year. I thought this year was the year though? Oh, that's right....they were young and then Jaime left.....
