ADVERTISEMENT

BASKETBALL McDevit needs to make some roster moves

TrueBlue147

All Conference
Mar 19, 2008
1,216
609
113
Since we all know that McDevitt will still be here next year there is no need to discuss a coaching change. I don't think he is good at X and Os or teaching discipline, toughness, or defense. Unless he some how improves in these areas during the off season. The only way we will win with this guy is to have superior players, which we don't have right now. Saying that, we need to get rid of some players to make room for better players. I would get rid of the following.

Jayce Johnson I know a lot of people like him for his physical toughness but he is not a basketball player. At least not at our level. He is not a threat to shoot from the outside. He is a turnover machine. He is not good at finishing at the rim. It seems about 50% of the time he gets a charging call when he drives resulting in a turnover. He is not a good free throw shooter and not an exceptionally good ball handler.

Anthony Crump He is a player with out a position. He can't shoot well from the outside and is too weak to play in the post.

Tyler Millan I know he was a freshman but I think he is too slender to contribute well in the post and is not a good enough shooter or ball handler to be a mismatch on the outside.

Getting rid of these guys will free up three more slots for guys that will be able to contribute immediately. If McDevitt doesn't reach the tournament again next year he will definitely be on the hot seat even here at Middle. Surely he realizes that.
 
Too much inconsistency across the roster. I don't blame the players. CNM has not instilled discipline, toughness, or fight. Now there are calls to get rid of players for the coach's failures and shortcomings.

Massaro & McPhee don't get off the hook that easy either. They created this mess and they need to fix it. We all know that is unlikely.

Instead of throwing the players under the bus, a couple of asst coaching changes should be made. Bringing in an old school tough disciplinarian type coach as an asst coach might be worth a shot. I'd rather see that than see the players thrown under the bus.
 
  • Like
Reactions: amgtmom
Hard to have hope when our 3 starting guards against Rice in our most recent game didn’t make a single 2 point shot. That tells me this team is incapable of creating easy shot opportunities. Awful coaching. Rice is no powerhouse defender either. Absolutely insane our 3 starting guards didn’t make a single 2 point FG. They chunked up plenty of 3s though and let Rice shoot a great %

I’ve lost all hope to be honest. We got a major coaching problem here in Murfreesboro.
 
Hard to have hope when our 3 starting guards against Rice in our most recent game didn’t make a single 2 point shot. That tells me this team is incapable of creating easy shot opportunities. Awful coaching. Rice is no powerhouse defender either. Absolutely insane our 3 starting guards didn’t make a single 2 point FG. They chunked up plenty of 3s though and let Rice shoot a great %

I’ve lost all hope to be honest. We got a major coaching problem here in Murfreesboro.
I agree. We settle for a guy who’s never been anywhere but his Big South alma mater after a 13-year stint as an assistant. He won one conf. Tournament title in 5 years, and was 0-fer in postseason play 1-NCAA, 1-NIT, and 1-CIT. I personally think MTSU deserved better and this was a lazy hire.

By comparison, Casey Alexander didn’t get any consideration for the Belmont job until he honed his skills at Stetson, (his first job as HC), then he revived a down program at Lipscomb over 5 years culminating with a trip to NYC and the NIT Finals vs. Texas. He had wins last season at MTSU, SMU, TCU and NIT wins over Davidson, NC State and Wichita St.

For comparison, who has our guy beaten as a HC? His career signature wins are ECU and Austin Peay. He lost to UTM in the freaking CIT tournament. His one trip to the NCAA he was blown out by Villanova by 30.
 
It's bad man. Real bad.
 
Last edited:
I agree. We settle for a guy who’s never been anywhere but his Big South alma mater after a 13-year stint as an assistant. He won one conf. Tournament title in 5 years, and was 0-fer in postseason play 1-NCAA, 1-NIT, and 1-CIT. I personally think MTSU deserved better and this was a lazy hire.

By comparison, Casey Alexander didn’t get any consideration for the Belmont job until he honed his skills at Stetson, (his first job as HC), then he revived a down program at Lipscomb over 5 years culminating with a trip to NYC and the NIT Finals vs. Texas. He had wins last season at MTSU, SMU, TCU and NIT wins over Davidson, NC State and Wichita St.

For comparison, who has our guy beaten as a HC? His career signature wins are ECU and Austin Peay. He lost to UTM in the freaking CIT tournament. His one trip to the NCAA he was blown out by Villanova by 30.

We also made him the highest paid coach in CUSA! What were they thinking???!!! If they really wanted him they could have got him for less than half that. He was only making $150,000 at UNC Ashville and we decided to pay him $700,000. He would have probably come for the same pay just to level up in competition and prestige. The bozos running this place have no clue what they are doing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FranklinRaider315
The reason to have a little hope are some of the guys we will have back.
Sims, Millner, Lawrence, Dishman, Jones, and Jackson. Clearly just an observation.

None of these guys did anything this season to give us any hope next year. Our only hope is that some of the guys sitting out or the new recruits are actually good.
 
Have to conclude that McDevitt doesn't think the problems will be solved with who we now have; either returning from this year, sitting out, or the one signee. Otherwise why did we within just the last few days offer three JUCO guards. He has to be thinking he must get some immediate help or next year will be a carbon copy of what we've seen so far.
FranklinRaider315 is correct: With what we accomplished the last few years along with what we were willing to offer we should have been looking for a coach in a higher level pool of applicants. And I'll agree with the poster who implied that McDevitt really needs an assistant with more experience at high %$&-major and up, preferably one with a little bark. Little to no experience on staff at the level we aspire to.
 
I'm not sure what happened with Steve Forbes, the details, or whatever. But we should have done whatever it takes to get him here. All of the stops. Do not take no for answer. Pay him what we were going to pay Kermit, the $1.2 million or whatever. No way he could refuse that. Whatever it takes.

Steve Forbes is the most underrated coach in D1 basketball and will, without question, be a big time coach at a big time program before all is said and done. Mark my words.
 
I'm not sure what happened with Steve Forbes, the details, or whatever. But we should have done whatever it takes to get him here. All of the stops. Do not take no for answer. Pay him what we were going to pay Kermit, the $1.2 million or whatever. No way he could refuse that. Whatever it takes.

Steve Forbes is the most underrated coach in D1 basketball and will, without question, be a big time coach at a big time program before all is said and done. Mark my words.

Forbes was reached out to by MTSU. He is one of my husbands best friends. MTSU offered him great money but at the end of the day, he knew what a difficult gig this was and most of the time will be a one bid league. He has it rolling at ETSU and great support there. He will get better offers than MTSU.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FranklinRaider315
Forbes was reached out to by MTSU. He is one of my husbands best friends. MTSU offered him great money but at the end of the day, he knew what a difficult gig this was and most of the time will be a one bid league. He has it rolling at ETSU and great support there. He will get better offers than MTSU.

Well that is unfortunate. I still believe there were better options out there. Your husband, for starters. Ronnie Hamilton would have kept our best signing class ever here, at least.

McDevitt's track record is very concerning. Zero signature wins over his career. Zero post-season tournament wins despite appearances in the NCAA, NIT, and CIT. Zero reason to believe any of these things will change here at MT.

And I agree Forbes will get better offers. He will be a successful coach at a major program here pretty soon. Very likely he is gone after this season depending on how ETSU finishes this year. It would have been nice to get him here for at least 3-4 years to keep the train rolling, then we could have collected a nice buyout from whoever hired him. I have to believe if we would have offered him what we offered Kermit, he might have reconsidered. We could have essentially doubled his current salary at ETSU if we really wanted to. I don't see how he could have said no to that.

Instead, McPhee went bargain shopping and we cheaped out on McDevitt (yet still overpaid) and ruined our program and the last decade worth of work that was spent building our national credibility.

Bravo, Massaro/McPhee. Bravo. Your incompetence never ceases to amaze. At every level, with everything you do and touch.
 
Last edited:
None of these guys did anything this season to give us any hope next year. Our only hope is that some of the guys sitting out or the new recruits are actually good.
To be fair to Dishman, he was hurt. I am not saying I have high hopes for him, but he obviously was unable to do anything this year.
 
I can see what your saying on having no hope, but I don't share the same view on these 3 (Jones, Jackson, and Dishman). I'm not going to share my disappointments with the rest of the roster, but for me there is one that is significantly glaring. That won't be the case next year...
 
Too much inconsistency across the roster. I don't blame the players. CNM has not instilled discipline, toughness, or fight. Now there are calls to get rid of players for the coach's failures and shortcomings.

Massaro & McPhee don't get off the hook that easy either. They created this mess and they need to fix it. We all know that is unlikely.

Instead of throwing the players under the bus, a couple of asst coaching changes should be made. Bringing in an old school tough disciplinarian type coach as an asst coach might be worth a shot. I'd rather see that than see the players thrown under the bus.

Because he is not a good coach for us. He's gonna have to do a lot next year to change my mind and we have no recuits right now that will help him make those improvements.
 
ADVERTISEMENT