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Coach Jim Hayford

N

nwhoops44

Active member
Back in July, I mentioned this might be a tough year for the Eagles and Coach Hayford. It has been, but for me, the future is bright and the right man is on the job. It takes time, next year could be great.

Someone I follow on a regular basis, Greg Crawford, had a nice section of his national basketball column about Coach Hayford yesterday and well worth reading I think. Crawford's Court, http://www.csnnw.com/pages/ncaabasketball/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Eagles will be Montana State.
 
I sure hope you are right. Jury is still out for me. This team has underachieved. Period. This team began with such great promise with everyone back and being picked third by coaches that "know" more about basketball than we casual fans do. I have no doubt that this team is made up of good kids as was discussed in a nice article on Chiverton in the Spokesman yesterday. But they are not playing like a team on the court. They are not playing like they did in the beginning of the season. The nice, genuine and warm sentiments shared by Hayford is great, but they don't win games. Something is off. Something needs to be corrected. Hayford, for all his past wins at a lower level, hasn't figured it out yet. I fear that this year will be wasted opportunity for him, the team and EWU. There is no question that there is talent on this team and old talent at that. The players coming in will not be as talented. They are younger, less experienced and less athletic (and less American). I hope Hayford can win at Eastern. These next two years will be tougher than this year where he inherited a relatively full cupboard that almost beat Gonzaga and competed well in pre-conference going .500, no small feat in the Big Sky. Now in the weaker portion of our season (Big Sky Conference play) we are under .500.
 
I am curious what makes nwhoops think that "next year could be great"? This is the year that should have got us into the top 3 in the conference. Now we are going to lose Colimon, Winford, Ederaine, Tremayne, and Griffin, and replace them with a couple of cast-offs and foreign freshmen. And it's going to get better?! I agree with 1990 - the jury is still out on Coach Hayford at the D1 level because this year's team has definitely regressed since the final month of last season.
 
Yeah, I agree that next year will be a struggle compared to this season. He is bringing in a lot of new faces - guys that have talent but it's tough to get all of them working together right away, especially when it is a lot of freshmen.

I think Hayford will be very good long-term, but I thought they would be better this year than they have been so far. They need to build on the win over MSU, because all of a sudden there are 7 teams battling for 6 spots. I didn't think ISU would be a contender to make the tournament, and they are showing that they clearly are.
 
Who cares if some of the players we're bringing in aren't American? Not sure what that has to do with anything. Last time I checked there were some pretty talented foreigners playing Division I basketball all over the country as well as in the NBA.
 
Some, ok. Most, not sure. I am sure they are all fine young men. I would prefer providing scholarship support to American kids. Just a personal preference. No different than foreign leagues having a limit on the number of American players on their teams. The upside is these kids weren't recruited by other US schools so are likely good. Time will tell.
 
EWURanger said:
Who cares if some of the players we're bringing in aren't American? Not sure what that has to do with anything. Last time I checked there were some pretty talented foreigners playing Division I basketball all over the country as well as in the NBA.
Click to expand...

Agreed...would love to have some local kids but would also love to win some games. Just look at Gonzaga, they are doing fine with a lot on foreign kids, they start 3 of them.
 
First thoughts upon seeing this photo of Hayford:
12mbwaHayfordJim0043a.jpg


Hail Hitler. Especially with the title of "Eastern Tries Try to Continue Home Mastery of Sac State"

Anybody else? :lol:
 
You could photoshop some extended fingers on him, so instead of the Black Power pose he'd actually be doing the "Heil." But alas, Nazi jokes are pretty awful...
 
"This is a part of my evil plan. Once my shrink ray gun is complete the Big Sky Conference will be mine, all mine." ( insert sinister laugh here).
 
IMHO a great coach gets more out of his players as a team than each individual is capable of contributing. We have all mentioned here that we have 5-6 great athletic bball players who on an individual basis are capable of outplaying most players they face. If these players are underachieving as a team is it the fault of the players or the job of a coach to get the most out of the team as a whole?
 
Job of the coach. However, these aren't his guys so he gets less of the blame. Still disappointing as this "team" has underachieved and last I knew a coach is a part of the team. Most troubling is that the player that has been most inconsistent and had the most discipline issues IS "his" guy. Next year will tell a lot as we lose a lot of talent and experience.

As I've noted often is the respect and expectations that peer coaches have for this team. Case in point "It will be difficult to come home for a quick turnaround after a road game, so we have to be ready to play," said WSU coach Randy Rahe. "Eastern Washington is one of the most athletic teams in the league. They are as talented as any team in the league and will be a tough test for us.". I wonder what answer we would get from him or any coach in the league to whether Coach Hayford got the most out of his team this year? Would they. Lame the players or the coach?
 
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