ADVERTISEMENT

Curious

MT01

All American
Aug 1, 2005
2,016
2,948
113
From day one I laid out why the McDevitt hire was a bad one. All of those concerns have proven true. After 75 games, he's now 22-53, and six of those wins are against D2 or 3 teams. So, 16-53 against D1. That's a 23% winning percentage. And half of those wins came with all Kermit's left over players in the first year. In his other two seasons, he's 7-32 for a whopping 18% winning percentage, which almost assuredly is going to go lower because it's really hard to find a winnable game unless we just luck into one over the final 10 games.

So, I'm curious. Does anyone still at this point believe McDevitt should be given more time?
 
I don't. I see a group of players that have some talent and it is being wasted. Losing both games to WKU is one thing, but losing both games to USM (one by 30) is unacceptable. I understand the issues with not having enough players to have a real practice and all of that, but it is not a good enough reason to be playing like we are. MAYBE if the previous two years we hovered somewhere around .500 or so I could see it being the case more, but now it just seems like an excuse. With the talent I believe the players on this team have the only reason I can see for our current record is bad coaching.
 
From day one I laid out why the McDevitt hire was a bad one. All of those concerns have proven true. After 75 games, he's now 22-53, and six of those wins are against D2 or 3 teams. So, 16-53 against D1. That's a 23% winning percentage. And half of those wins came with all Kermit's left over players in the first year. In his other two seasons, he's 7-32 for a whopping 18% winning percentage, which almost assuredly is going to go lower because it's really hard to find a winnable game unless we just luck into one over the final 10 games.

So, I'm curious. Does anyone still at this point believe McDevitt should be given more time?
Nope. I was defending McDevitt before the year. I thought he stepped into a real bad situation here and he did. I think he did admirably he first year. Last year was a complete train wreck.

All signs pointed to this year's team being much improved with the new talent we had coming in. He has done nothing to warrant getting his contract extended.

The big question is will Massaro fire him? We all know that Massaro has trouble firing coaches who don't perform well.
 
He (CNM) is obviously in over his head. Covid or not. No excuses.

And as much as I like Brent Stockstill, he wouldn’t have the job if his father was not the Head Coach. USF was terrible last year. 1-8. Beat Citadel. Look at the Citadel Football website and see who coaches Special Teams / Recruiting Coordinator. He may be the next hire given Stock’s track record for nepotism and buddy network hires.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: MT Glenn
Even that guy from UNC Ashville that was always defending him has given up on him. Have not seen him in weeks.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: kingaling42
I really wanted to give McDevitt a chance as he seems like a good person and a great family man. That said, as much as I realize he came into a bad situation there is no logical reason we should be where we are at this time.

The first year my biggest concern was his inability to find players who could immediately come in and continue the recent success to some extent. IMHO one of the criteria an applicant should have met would have been having the ability to recruit. That means having quality players on a list he thought he could get to consider MT immediately, it meant having a wide ranging group of contacts in high school and JUCO, and it meant having far flung geographic region where he had experienced recruiting success. Regardless, most fans gave McDevitt a mulligan considering all that happened.

In year 2 we had a short bench with transfers (who were to be stars this year - remember?) sitting out (guess we couldn't find immediate help once again), the injury to Dishman along with others throughout the year, and Scurry playing in limited games due to NCAA rules. The biggest on court problem appeared to be perimeter defense. Worst team in a very long time missing the tournament and the only upside I remember was winning the last irrelevant game in the lowest group (against a team we have already lost to twice this year). If MT was many schools a 8-23 record in your 2nd year would get you fired (wish MT had the $$$s and fan support to be one of those schools). Instead McDevitt got a 2nd mulligan (is that even a thing?)

Now this year with on paper the most talented squad we have ever had we sit at 3-9 with little hope of double digit wins (a half dozen is my most optimistic guess). It proves the adage that stars are irrelevant in many instances. We have two high school 3 star post recruits who don't hit the floor, a 4 star transfer who is invisible way down on the bench, a 3 star guard who we were told last year in his transfer year was all-conference material and one other 4 star "big" transfer who is barely adequate with some potiential if he can add a few pounds. Yes, the perimeter defense is better this year but what else?

I'm not upset with losing to WKU, the margin is not unexpected and I do appreciate the effort which is obvious. We are playing much harder this year. I'm upset with how we lost: can't shoot, can't finish at the rim, can't play post defense, way too many unforced turnovers, and players who just can't play within themselves. Yes, missing your top two point guards hurt a great deal but their absence doesn't cover up the mistakes. I've been watching BkB for a long time and I'm still trying to figure out our offensive philosophy.
One more comment concerning a McDevitt reason (excuse) for our problems made in interview over the weekend: Dishman is just not himself after his injury according to McDevitt. He must have been hell on wheels in his red-shirt year and in Costa Rica before his injury because he's doing about as well as I expected considering his size and his stats from EKU.

Been a long time since that Murray win and they appear to be in a, for them, down year. As for kingaling42; I suspect he's a lot like me. Hard to defend the indefensible in year 3.
 
What I see is an entire athletic department (that regularly won conference all-sports trophies and could be heard on 89.5 across the mid-state) on a slow slide into the abyss thanks to the commie in Cope who is more concerned about waxing his 7 wood than athletic excellence.
 
One more comment concerning a McDevitt reason (excuse) for our problems made in interview over the weekend: Dishman is just not himself after his injury according to McDevitt. He must have been hell on wheels in his red-shirt year and in Costa Rica before his injury because he's doing about as well as I expected considering his size and his stats from EKU.

He was very good. If you watch these highlights, doesn't even look like the same player. He bulked up his upper body really well at Middle too. Would've been a game changer for sure, maybe even a superstar at the C-USA level. Would have been it enough? Who knows. But the team surely would have been better. I heard stories of him dominating the bigs his sit-out year in practice (so we are talking Gamble, Hawthorne, Scurry, etc...).

He had the Harry Giles injury where he tore his ACL, MCL, and meniscus all at once. I believe he has had at least two surgeries on it. Really tough story. He is a great kid, hope he can return to form at some point, but color it unlikely.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Matt Dossett
He was very good. If you watch these highlights, doesn't even look like the same player. He bulked up his upper body really well at Middle too. Would've been a game changer for sure, maybe even a superstar at the C-USA level. Would have been it enough? Who knows. But the team surely would have been better. I heard stories of him dominating the bigs his sit-out year in practice (so we are talking Gamble, Hawthorne, Scurry, etc...).

He had the Harry Giles injury where he tore his ACL, MCL, and meniscus all at once. I believe he has had at least two surgeries on it. Really tough story. He is a great kid, hope he can return to form at some point, but color it unlikely.
I watched those highlights and you can definitely tell he has lost some athleticism. Maybe that is why he bulked up some to be able to play down low and use strength more. The problem is he is essentially playing the 5 now and that is not what he was recruited to do.

I just think that moving on from McDevitt is not only best for MTSU, but also best for him. I am hoping he can learn from this and he gets an opportunity elsewhere. I think he has the personality to bring in recruits and garner fan support. I just think this was a situation he was not ready for. I would not be surprised to see him have some success elsewhere if he takes what he has hopefully learned here and applies it. I just think we are too far gone with him at the helm to right the ship. I will be cheering for him to succeed where ever he goes because he does seem like a really good guy.

This was not Massaro's hire from what was previously reported and I am not sure if McPhee will want to give up. I am not even sure Massaro would either, but this just adds a layer. The problem is the administration will say there was a reason for the failure of each season. Season 1 he inherited a depleted roster and some of those remaining players were dismissed for disciplinary reasons. Season 2 a depleted roster again with many promising transfers sitting out. Season 3 issues with covid and not being able to play or hold a real practice for over a month. I am not saying these are good excuses at all, but they will use them.
 
To add something else one of the biggest disappointments to me this season is the fall off of Tyson Jackson. He showed a lot of promise his freshman season and I was really hoping he would develop over the offseason to be a real factor. Someone that would be a formidable opponent to someone like Bassey. I am not saying as good as Bassey, but someone we could count on and trust to play him one one one when needed. His lack of playing against Western was very concerning.
 
He was very good. If you watch these highlights, doesn't even look like the same player. He bulked up his upper body really well at Middle too. Would've been a game changer for sure, maybe even a superstar at the C-USA level. Would have been it enough? Who knows. But the team surely would have been better. I heard stories of him dominating the bigs his sit-out year in practice (so we are talking Gamble, Hawthorne, Scurry, etc...).

He had the Harry Giles injury where he tore his ACL, MCL, and meniscus all at once. I believe he has had at least two surgeries on it. Really tough story. He is a great kid, hope he can return to form at some point, but color it unlikely.

You may be correct on Dishman (wish him well) but if he had as much potential as you say before injury it would be an anomaly for MT players sitting out. It has been rare for players to come close to the hype. As far back as I can remember the players sitting out (transfer, injury, Prop4) were touted as the "next coming". Didn't we hear last year on how the players sitting out routinely beat the starters in scrimmages by as much as 20 points. If I hadn't seen this story play out before I would have thought Davis, Jordan, and Shuler would be the best set of guards in the nation.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OliverLBaltz
No.

Even in major rebuilds, you see a move toward .500 or better in year 3. I don’t see a path to double digit wins at this point, let alone making it to .500. He should be fired, which means Massaro will give a vote of confidence for battling through Covid / injuries and CNM will get a contract extension.
 
Gotta think with the success we had had in almost becoming that "national brand" we could have hired a coach with enough connections to prevent us from "falling of of a cliff".

Actually quoting that one into this thread, because this was one of just many reasons I articulated why I felt so strongly that this was such a bad hire.

So, this leads to me to my follow up question. Seems like most anyone who is left pretty much all agree at this point. So, do you all still think I've lost my damn mind? Y'all were pretty hard on ole MT01 for my position on this. Regardless, no hard feelings. We all wanted to have hope we could keep it going. And I'm just a different breed I guess. I'm not one see the world through MT Blue tinted glasses. I see it for what it is rather than what I hope it will be.
 
Actually quoting that one into this thread, because this was one of just many reasons I articulated why I felt so strongly that this was such a bad hire.

So, this leads to me to my follow up question. Seems like most anyone who is left pretty much all agree at this point. So, do you all still think I've lost my damn mind? Y'all were pretty hard on ole MT01 for my position on this. Regardless, no hard feelings. We all wanted to have hope we could keep it going. And I'm just a different breed I guess. I'm not one see the world through MT Blue tinted glasses. I see it for what it is rather than what I hope it will be.

So you are gloating about calling a McPhee/Massaro decision bad? Congrats! You’re obviously the only person who figured out those 2 make terrible decisions. Nostradamus.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: FranklinRaider315
I'm Bi-Curious

Along with your curiosity, how many people thought CNM was the right hire?

I honestly had no idea. I don’t follow basketball close enough to know if his moderate success at UNCA would translate to us. I thought no matter who we got, there would be some give back for a year, possibly 2. If it was going to work out, you expect it to show no later than the 3rd season (see someone like Ben Howland’s track record for year 3).

What we got was a nosedive instead of some give back & no signs that it’s moving it the right direction in year 3. No signs of life.

The sad thing is M&M will make the next hire as well.
 
This is how a program ends up going back to the OVC. I'm not saying that the transition is here, but M&M running the program into the ground is a big step to it eventually happening. It would also involve running off just about all the fans from the 2 major sports, check.

I basically keep up with MT now looking for signs of any real changes that might develop that might indicate any serious changes are in the air. I see none. M&M and the BOT are currently on track to destroy MT athletics from which it will not recover. It's really almost unbelievable if I weren't witnessing it with my own eyes.
 
So you are gloating about calling a McPhee/Massaro decision bad? Congrats! You’re obviously the only person who figured out those 2 make terrible decisions. Nostradamus.

No. Expecting some humility from some of things I was called over the last three years. You were one of those throwing shit at me. So, you're wrong and still come after me with your passive aggressiveness pettiness like a housewife of orange county. Classy.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: FranklinRaider315
No. Expecting some humility from some of things I was called over the last three years. You were one of those throwing shit at me. So, you're wrong and still come after me with your passive aggressiveness pettiness like a housewife of orange county. Classy.

You got me, really firing at you. https://middletennessee.forums.rivals.com/threads/mcdevitt.14821/post-103630

Beside Kingaling (thanks Franklin) who on this board WANTED CNM as our coach?who ever said he would be a good coach? Some us were hopeful and took a wait and see approach. I wanted Earl Grant, Steve Forbes or Ryan Odom, then would settle for a young coach over a failed retread like Mark Fox. I can’t find anyone that disagreed with you that he would be a good coach. All I see is people saying give it some time to play out

So how is someone saying giving it time to play out wrong?
 
do you think nick deserves a 4th season or an extension ? Or is it safe to say we are trying to push a square peg in a round hole ?

He deserves it based on his original contract- I’m always in support of.giving a coach time to make things work not just those I know.. however based on this years results I’d say it’s clearly an issue- regardless of the pandemic. Certainly no extension but he’s got 2 years on the deal left and with COVID dynamics I doubt you’ll get your wish for change.. Lots of reasons for some things but not for the anemic offense. Guys that are shooting far below their averages.. some of that is hero ball but these guys are missing open looks out of sets and motion.. to me it looks like conditioning more than anything else.. not enough reps at game speed.. that’s on the coaches too because we saw that from the first game.. there’s no excuses for that.I expected this team to be a typical ‘young’ team- win most games at home but not be tough enough to perform consistently on the road. Most of all I thought this team would be capable of competing with anyone.. they play hard and the defense is much improved.. the consistent scoring droughts at the end of each half is one of the main reasons this team is losing every game.. you can’t have 5-7 minutes each half and not score and the deficit goes to double digits in each drought.. now you’re mixing in typical Bball stuff with injuries and limited rotations and it looks even worse.. I don’t have any concrete answers or reasons but this team is clearly underperforming and the coaches obviously are responsible for the 3 year trend- reasons be damned
 
He deserves it based on his original contract- I’m always in support of.giving a coach time to make things work not just those I know.. however based on this years results I’d say it’s clearly an issue- regardless of the pandemic. Certainly no extension but he’s got 2 years on the deal left and with COVID dynamics I doubt you’ll get your wish for change.. Lots of reasons for some things but not for the anemic offense. Guys that are shooting far below their averages.. some of that is hero ball but these guys are missing open looks out of sets and motion.. to me it looks like conditioning more than anything else.. not enough reps at game speed.. that’s on the coaches too because we saw that from the first game.. there’s no excuses for that.I expected this team to be a typical ‘young’ team- win most games at home but not be tough enough to perform consistently on the road. Most of all I thought this team would be capable of competing with anyone.. they play hard and the defense is much improved.. the consistent scoring droughts at the end of each half is one of the main reasons this team is losing every game.. you can’t have 5-7 minutes each half and not score and the deficit goes to double digits in each drought.. now you’re mixing in typical Bball stuff with injuries and limited rotations and it looks even worse.. I don’t have any concrete answers or reasons but this team is clearly underperforming and the coaches obviously are responsible for the 3 year trend- reasons be damned

Agree with everything you said. Defense has been great, and would be even better if we made more shots. The offensive woes are very troubling. I'll admit I don't know basketball as well as football, but I'm not an idiot with regards to b-ball. To my untrained eye there just appears to be no identity on offense. It's not fluid, things often appear forced, there's no go-to guy or group of guys that can be relied upon night in and night out, and it appears to be getting worse not better. The end of half droughts and butt stompings to finish games are extremely concerning. It essentially tells me that when the chips are on the table and both teams are giving 100%, we fold like a cheap tent. That includes coaches and players. That's an awful, awful sign.

It's puzzling how these kids that transferred in did so well other places, but then can't put it all together as a team here. Our teams are looking worse and finishing with worse records each passing year.....Obviously yet another terrible sign.

Probably a far-fetched dream but I just want Kermit back, and I think it's a bit more realistic than most would think. If Kermit stays on at Ole Miss for a 4th year, I'm okay with giving Nick another year even though I believe he deserves to be fired at the end of this year.

But if there is not clear improvement after Year 4, a change must be made regardless of what happens at Ole Miss.
Just my opinion of course.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hop45
I said it earlier in the year that this appears to be another team full of Robin’s with no Batman.. one star player can fix these scoring droughts by putting the team on his back.. that is fixable- question is will it ever get fixed? Shuler tries (too hard mostly) but no one is putting the rock in the basket in these stretches.. the coaches also aren’t drawing up easy looks, overloads, or anything that ends the drought.. it’s crazy to me game after game. Dont get me wrong you always have runs in Bball but not consistently at the end of half/game- that is unacceptable
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hop45
Actually quoting that one into this thread, because this was one of just many reasons I articulated why I felt so strongly that this was such a bad hire.

So, this leads to me to my follow up question. Seems like most anyone who is left pretty much all agree at this point. So, do you all still think I've lost my damn mind? Y'all were pretty hard on ole MT01 for my position on this. Regardless, no hard feelings. We all wanted to have hope we could keep it going. And I'm just a different breed I guess. I'm not one see the world through MT Blue tinted glasses. I see it for what it is rather than what I hope it will be.

Weren't you the one scared to death earlier of covid predicting there would be no football or basketball season? What happened to that prediction Nostadamos? Look, nobody on here owes you any kind of acknowledgement. Plenty of people had concern with Mcdevitt's hire. They just weren't obnoxiuosly posting about it every other post.
 
I said it earlier in the year that this appears to be another team full of Robin’s with no Batman.. one star player can fix these scoring droughts by putting the team on his back.. that is fixable- question is will it ever get fixed? Shuler tries (too hard mostly) but no one is putting the rock in the basket in these stretches.. the coaches also aren’t drawing up easy looks, overloads, or anything that ends the drought.. it’s crazy to me game after game. Dont get me wrong you always have runs in Bball but not consistently at the end of half/game- that is unacceptable


Do you have any information on Tyson Jackson? He has been strangely absent lately. Is he just too big of a liability because of his turnovers and poor defense? If the staff doesn't play him there's no way he doesn't transfer.
 
Weren't you the one scared to death earlier of covid predicting there would be no football or basketball season? What happened to that prediction Nostadamos? Look, nobody on here owes you any kind of acknowledgement. Plenty of people had concern with Mcdevitt's hire. They just weren't obnoxiuosly posting about it every other post.

Not sure what the hell covid has to do with the basketball hiring of McDevitt. Plenty of people were concerned with CNM? Really? Show me where that was three years ago. What was obnoxious were the efforts by so many to act like this was a good hire oblivious to reality even with game after game passing with no improvement.

As for the football season, at least 126 football games were cancelled. Forty percent of the bowls were. Some conferences didn't even bother attempting, so close enough.
 
I swear misery loves company on this board. We have to have the most negative fan base in the country. We haven't even formally announced our OC, and people are already posting how they hope he fails. If me hoping CNM is successful means I have blue tinted glasses, then I guess I do. We are all disappointed in the current state of our MBB and FB. But to be honest, this "I told you so" attitude is making it harder and harder to come to this board. If our athletic dept make you this upset, then stop watching. I'm not saying everything is sunshine and rainbows, but all the doom and gloom gets old too.

This is my school, whether we win or lose. I don't have another team, and am not interested in being a sidewalk alumni for another program. I take pride in being an MT fan because it is MINE. And because of that, I will be watching and cheering tonight. Sorry for the soapbox rant. Go Blue Raiders.
 
I swear misery loves company on this board. We have to have the most negative fan base in the country. We haven't even formally announced our OC, and people are already posting how they hope he fails. If me hoping CNM is successful means I have blue tinted glasses, then I guess I do. We are all disappointed in the current state of our MBB and FB. But to be honest, this "I told you so" attitude is making it harder and harder to come to this board. If our athletic dept make you this upset, then stop watching. I'm not saying everything is sunshine and rainbows, but all the doom and gloom gets old too.

This is my school, whether we win or lose. I don't have another team, and am not interested in being a sidewalk alumni for another program. I take pride in being an MT fan because it is MINE. And because of that, I will be watching and cheering tonight. Sorry for the soapbox rant. Go Blue Raiders.
Losing is not fun.
Consistently losing in both Men’s Revenue sports is unacceptable.

That said, I’ll be watching and rooting for them tonight.
 
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT