How does this roster stack up?
 

As I look back on the first year for Donoher, OBrien, Purnell, Gregory, Miller, and Grant, I've wondered who actually inherited the best roster from the last coach.

Admittedly I am biased toward Donoher because that was my year and I thought he inherited a very good roster with Finkel, Sullivan, and Cassidy. OBrien did well with Donoher's recruits but I wasn't around the UD scene in those years. And thankful that I wasn't after OBriens first year.

Purnell seemed to get an empty cupboard from OBrien. Gregory got a good squad from Purnell. Miller may have gotten a roster equivalent to what Grant has this year, except Arch didn't retain the key recruits.

Waddyutink?

Donoher by far had to most to overcome; remember he took over the head coaching job of a major program with no prior head coaching experience. He came from Chaminade as a JV coach to assist Blackburn who died of cancer and the rest was/is history. Not only that but they didn't have the full complement of assistants, video coordinators etc then that they have now. Donoher is a story unlike any other D1 coach in the history of mens basketball.

Agree wholeheartedly. I was at UD when the team fell into his lap. He had a quality roster but one which was decimated by probation and never seeing a blockbuster freshman team at the varsity level. He kept the program afloat and made it relevant for many years. He personifies UD basketball and all it stands for.

Wasn't alive when Donoher took over, but obviously there was talent.

O'Brien had a good senior core, and a solid recruit in Alex Robertson, even some solid recruits early on, but he couldn't develop kids very well.

Purnell didn't inherit much, but he did inherit Perryman and rodney Horton, both of whom may have been O'Brien's best recruits (though they never played for him).

Gregory inherited a great senior class, but very little beyond that. His first full recruiting class was great (on paper) but only BRob made the kind of impact on the flyer record books that we hoped (ironically the least heralded of his first class). Had that class stayed together (Meachum) and focused (Plummer) and combined with a healthy Chris Wright his freshman season, they may have challenged for an elite 8 run.

Archie inherited a mixed bag, both recruits bailed on the program and not a ton of huge difference makers were obvious (though CJ worked his way into being a huge difference maker)

Grant is inheriting a solid roster, perhaps even a few stars (I saw where both Svobda and Kostas were projected lottery picks in 2019 & 2018 respectively) but a lot of it is unproven or injured.

All in all, it appears to be a mixed bag for each coach, the advantages for one coach or another are different, but overall there are areas for improvement and areas that are well stocked. Each coach was able to quickly transform the program in their own identity for better or worse, and Grant will be able to do the same.

This roster has a TON of talent. A starting senior guard with 4 years of NCAAT experience who has turned into a quality defender. A high profile RS Frosh with a year of practice with the team. A quality Euro wing that has played internationally and is 20 years old (I think). Xyrius, nuff said there. He retained 60% of the incoming recruits and added one of his own. Stud big man in Cunningham. Quality role players like Mikesell/Miller and hopefully pleasant surprises in Crosby and Landers. All of the returning players sans Landers have multiple years of tournament experience.

This team is anything but an empty cupboard and has all the talent necessary to be a NCAAT team. We'll see what our new leader does with it.

This team is anything but an empty cupboard.....because Ag and staff were able to retain the current players and lost only two of the 5 recruits. Could have gone the other way with a wrong hire as HC.

Coach Donoher has said many times "Thank God for Henry Finkel"

It's a mixed bag. Donoher came in as a coach to a team and school he was already familiar with. He being a player and then an assistant to the coach he replaced and already being a big part in the remaining players' basketball lives were advantages to him. Back in those days I believe it was much less likely to lose players due to a change in coaching than it was for the later coaches. Back then most of the time players went to somewhat local schools. What Donoher's biggest problem was having to replace a legend, the guy that built it all. He did that flawlessly and kept the program as a national power for at least 7 more seasons(which is really all we expect of our new incoming coaches these days).

I think that Purnell obviously came in with the worst cupboard(worst not empty). But there's an advantage to that. He was under less pressure because improvement from a 6 win team is not a lot to ask.

The cupboard thing is so temporary in college sports. For instance both JOB and BG came in to a team with a talented senior laden team. Problem is that their Cupboard became bare in their second seasons. That's probably worse.

AG is coming into a mixed bag. One that would normally put a lot of pressure on a coach but he's got the advantage of being an alumni which will bring him extra love and patience by the fans. He's got 1 senior, 5 juniors and a sophomore carry over. However, he also comes in to team losing 4 senior starters so the experience he inherits is very little. He's also taking over a program that has had 4 straight seasons reaching the NCAA tournament. However, the pressure will also be minimized early by the fact that nobody can say "DD, Mikesell, Miller, Crosby, Cunningham, Williams and TL proved that they were winners under the previous coach". The 4 players from last years team who've been credited with those winning seasons, and rightly so, are gone.

So cupboard being bare? Probably OP in his first season and JOB-BG in their 2nd. Because JOB's inherited team wasn't coming off any seasons of success and BG's was coming off the highest seeding ever for program in NCAA tournament, I have to say that BG came in under the worst circumstances. He's under so much pressure to get his first team to the Dance again and then he loses everybody. He doesn't get full credit for his first season but gets a lot of undue criticism for his 2nd.

Edited to add one more thing, When Donoher took over the Flyers, Ohio was like the North Carolina today. 6 of the 8 teams to play in the NCAA finals for the previous 4 season were from Ohio. So while OSU and UC were the Duke and NC of those years, Dayton was like the NCST. And the city of Dayton was a much more attractive town to want to come to.