Not surprising, he never could get it going at UM to the level that you know te fans want it to be....at one time he really looked like the best young coach in the game. He had Seton Hall going well, had a tremendous recruiting class comming in and then left for UM. I figured that he would recruit extremely well at UM and that they would in a realitively short time return to the top of the B10. Didn't happen though. UM is still a plum job for the right guy, I wonder who they will go after.
From an AP article on AOL: Certainly, the article Terry quoted above reflects the exact same mindset as exhibited by the critics of Ty Willingham's firing. In fact, the circumstances are the same........decent performance but not up to the school's traditional standard of excellence. I don't relish defending the school of the ugly helmets, but the accusations of racism are hollow and without merit. I like Amaker and have no doubt that he will land on his feet at another program. His resume did not suffer during his time at Michigan.
Well I have to admit that the writer of the article that I quoted, is a NDNation poster, not a legit writer. When you read it carefully I think it's evident!
It's obvious that Michigan expects it's BB team to be in the NCAA more often than not. It belongs with other conference teams like Ind., MSU, Purdue, Wisc. where missing the tourney is the exception not the rule. In the 6 years he's been at M, there are 3 Big Ten teams without NCAA berths. Penn. St. Northwestern, and Michigan. That says it all doesn't it?
Terry, I guess I should sift through the archives of various Michigan BBS to see if I can come up with articles written by some dickhead commenting about Ty's firing that matches the gem you found...
No need all we have to do is go to the ESPN archives, Irish got blasted regularily for firing Ty by real writers.
The Irish STILL get whacked now and then over firing that pantload, Willingham. By the way, how is the genius doing at Washington?
Re Amaker's firing: He did a great job cleaning up the program that was in shambles when he took over and his graduation rate for his players-17 out of 19-probably was one of the best in the B10. But, while a good recruiter, he was not a particularly good bench coach. In contrast to Izzo's teams, you did not see Michigan teams significantly improve as the season progressed: the mistakes that were present on November were still there in March. His offensive and defensive strategies also looked like what was used at Duke when he played there. The problem with that is that his mentor's strategies changed with Duke now paying a much more up-tempo offense with great emphasis on ball pressure and overplaying passing lanes. A's other problem was having to compete in state with Izzo who is to Michigan State basketball what Bo was to Michigan football. Whoever replaces A will have a tough job for MSU has built an elite program led by a great coach who is able to pick off the top talent in the state, win, and graduate his players. At the time he joined Michigan, A also had an opportunity to coach at NW. In retrospect, he would have been better off to go to NW whose fans would have been far more patient that M's fans whose expectations were unrealistic given the depths to where the program had fallen. At Evanston, he would have had access to the Chicago area rich talent pool and would have built a competitive program there that would have met the expectations of NW fans - a program that can compete and maintain high academic standards.
To be fair as well the firing of Amaker really has no relationship to the firing of Willingham. There have been and continue to be black basketball coaches all over the NCAA. I don't think anybody believes Black Basketball coaches aren't getting a chance. While in football they still are very few so that firing one of them is a big deal. And Amaker was given 6 years, and didn't go to the NCAA one time, while Willingham was fired after 3 years. It was justified to ND folks, the program was declining and to give him 2 or 3 more years may have done irreparable damage to the football program.
A little history on Tommy A. Seton Hall hired Amaker to replace George Blaney, who in spite of an up tempo game couldn’t win and couldn’t recruit. Everyone was excited . Here was a well spoken, articulate classy black coach , a protégé’ of Coach K who would come in and resurrect SH ball. He went 15-15 his first 2 years. He did have a little talent in Darius Lane, NBA’ers Adrian Griffin and top 10 NBA center Samuel Dalembert., but not at the level and depth of UConn or Syracuse. His 3rd year was his breakout season , SH went 22-10 and made it to the NCAA tournament and I believe the sweet 16. The following year, Amaker turned in one of the top recruiting classes in the nation with guys like Eddie Griffin( one & done) lightning quick PG in Andre Barrett and swingman Marcus Toney-El. Hallers were ecstatic. He had a solid nucleus coming back from the 22-10 sweet 16 team. Darius Lane a 16 pt scorer and devastating 3 pt shooter was back, Dalembert, a tremendous 7’0” athlete albeit raw, top notch reserves in Ty Shine, Greg Morton and a capable backup big man in 6’10” Manga. So with all this talent and promise, he turns in a 16-15 season, struggling with teams they should have easily beaten, losing games they should have won. There was –0- chemistry , lot’s of dissension and resentment and no leadership & control from the coach. There were lockeroom brawls. Ty Shine got a shiner from head case Griffin. Griffin was an immensly talented prima dona who would jack up 3’s anytime, anywhere. He only had one thought on his mind----NBA and Amaker catered to his every whim. In spite of this, Amaker was a hot commodity. His stock was never higher than at this point in his career. Classy , well spoken, articulate black coach who could woo the parents of talented black players. He’s a fantastic role model. There were all kinds of rumors that he would leave, each time he would flat out deny , so his parting left a bad taste, even though in all honesty, no one could blame him. I think this is understating one of the most important characteristics of a highly successful coach. Great coaches bring out the best in their players. Their players don’t underachieve but overachieve. This in my opinion is A’s greatest weakness. It was highlighted during his 99-00 season although many, including me, thought that he would improve over time. Amaker is a good coach, not a great coach. At the time he was a great hire for UM, and was given ample opportunity at Michigan. With no NCAA tournaments during his 6 years, they had every right to seek a new direction. Amaker’s stock has fallen. His career at Michigan was good to mediocre. His career at Seton Hall was on the downswing. I don’t see any high profile schools rushing to hire him, like they once did 6 years ago. If he wants to stay in coaching, he’ll have to take a couple of steps backwards. Talking with my Seton Hall buddies, no one would want him back, not with a highly energetic and aggressive Hispanic coach Gonzo who with a couple of Big guys should bring SH back on the map. They also had a chance to compare him to his successor Louie Orr , a very classy , highly religious black coach, who was a weaker recruiter but a much better disciplinarian, better X O coach , who was fired in spite of a better performance 80-69 ( 2 NCAA’s) than Amaker.
Well Coach K's two top assistants are out of jobs. Quinn Synder got into all kinds of trouble at Missouri and after a promising start he slid downhill and was let go, and now Amaker. Mike Brey who was also a top Duke Assistant has been good not great at Notre Dame.