Originally Posted by Avid Flyer
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.
|
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.
