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Why didn’t Kermit take Greg Grensing with him to Ole Miss?

Jun 30, 2001
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I had heard Grensing was maybe the best overall assistant he had. I know he stayed in Murfreesboro. I guess McDevitt didn’t want to keep him on because he interviewed for the head job?
 
From what I understand the two didn’t always see eye to eye. Greg stating he didn’t think we were a tournament team after the southern miss loss probably didn’t help either.
 
From what I understand the two didn’t always see eye to eye. Greg stating he didn’t think we were a tournament team after the southern miss loss probably didn’t help either.

Oh copy. From his resume he seemed like the best overall coach on that staff. I wish McDevitt would have kept him on staff.
 
Ole Miss is missing Grensing's toughness right now. They've dropped a few game they shouldn't have.
 
In an ideal world keeping him as an assistant would have been nice, but I still think all 3 new signees would have bailed as Ronnie Hamilton was their puppet master and had every intention of stealing them away to Ole Piss despite using thousands upon thousands of MT's $$$$ to recruit them. Classy dude he is.

Having Grensing on staff would also probably been pretty awkward for McDevitt considering Grensing had so much success with the old regime + tried really hard for the head coaching job.
 
Every single coach would take recruits with them to their new school if they were able to help them there. Every one of them. Once they were released they were free game for anyone. The majority of coaches and the majority of everyone on here would do the same in that situation. No one at Ole Miss released the players from their scholarships.
 
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Didn’t see mcdevitt bring in his sought after recruits.

Every single coach would take recruits with them to their new school if they were able to help them there. Every one of them. Once they were released they were free game for anyone. The majority of coaches and the majority of everyone on here would do the same in that situation. No one at Ole Miss released the players from their scholarships.
 
As a fan and support of MT basketball I was so pissed at Kermit for convincing those recruits to follow him to Ole Miss, but as a person can you blame him for leaving? He got his salary more than tripled and two players came available that he had a relationship with. He also arrived at Ole Miss late in the process. We would have loved it if Nick had brought over more players that could help us.
 
I'm upset at Kermit for really sticking it to MT after we gave him his second shot and many many years that he really didn't deserve to turn things around.

I'm also upset at the system. I could tell Kermit was frustrated that MT wasn't going to the tourney last season and I am too. It is all rigged. Lori Loughlin doesn't have nothing on the selection committee and their schools.
 
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Didn’t see mcdevitt bring in his sought after recruits.

Recruits are one thing.

Actively recruiting players signed to your current/former employer's roster, who was very loyal to you when it would have been very easy to fire you, is another.

Do I have proof? No. But we all know it happened. No doubt about it. Ronnie Hamilton, the puppet master.
 
I actually don't get Kermit...as others have said we gave him YEARS to become successful...regarding the money, guess what, if he doesn't get better he is going to get fired - he will have to recruit to win long term in the SEC and there is no proof that he can recruit.

Meanwhile, here at MT, he would have gotten a raise to at least $1M per year and could coach for as long as he wants, not a lot of pressure, heck he could retire from BB and become our AD years down the line. In my mind he screwed us...he knew the team this year would not be as good and flew the coop. He did us no favors...so disappointed. We stood by him for years and as soon as the door opened he ran away...he left the roster in shambles.
 
I lamented over this for a long time. Everyone on here knows my past feelings about all of this. I was pretty brutal about the program in general and CNM. I've had a change of heart because I realized I had no choice. I don't know what CNM can or can't do with us. However, I did see a night and day difference in the last month or so. Can he transition that into November? I don't know. We're in a position of hope now. He was put in a rough situation. He at least made the tourney and gave a good effort against a good team that's in the semi's.

Now, it's all about recruits. He's gotta go get real contributors now. Not projects. They have to be able to ball out now. That will be the telling factor of his ability in my eyes.

Kermit took everything that wasn't bolted down and left the program hollow. That's the rub. Will Kermit win 2 years from now? If he isn't winning, his seat gets instant hot now unlike here. Greg wanted the HC job here and stayed because his family wanted to as well. Would he have done better than CNM? Who knows. It's all a moot point now. It's all about getting real talent back in the door now.
 
Perhaps Davis was looking at more than just tripling his salary. In addition to his parents getting older, heading (somewhat) home and closer to in-laws in Hot Springs he is possibly looking at retirement. Face it, he can make more in three years now than a decade at MT. Even if he chooses to retire or is forced out he can retire to a home on the lake (does he still have his home on Center Hill?) and do whatever.
I do agree with the poster who said he is not, regardless of what was said when he was hired here, a good recruiter. Add that Ole Miss is hard to recruit to. I just don't believe he will be able to become a force in the $EC but what the hey, I don't care.
I just hate that we signed a contract with Ole Miss and will have to look at a couple of our recruits during that series.
 
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When Ole Miss lost last night, I started thinking back to last March and why it still burns, and here is how I feel...

For roughly 1-2k of us, it was personal. It's that simple. This is our school, our program. Spare me the whole "That's what coaches do, move on to bigger conferences, bigger paychecks." When we hired Kermit, he was damaged goods. Fact. We gave him an opportunity when no one else did. And then we stood by him, year in and year out, coming up short in the conference tournament. Word would leak out that he interviewed for Southern Miss, Miss St, etc, and we would give me a raise and extension. I believed him when he talked about how grateful he was to be a part of the community. We loved him. We loved his family. We watched his kids grow up. Like many of you on this board, I donated a lot of money because I believed in him. We were so close to becoming the next Wichita St or VCU. And for the 1k of us who are die hards, we felt like we were a part of it. We were moving the needle... and then he broke our hearts, at least mine anyways. Then left our program in shambles. Set the program back YEARS. We were ranked 53 weeks ago.

So forgive me for not rushing out to buy an Ole Miss shirt. I have one team. It is MY team, MY school. And KD took a big $hit on it on his way out of town.
 
Recruits are one thing.

Actively recruiting players signed to your current/former employer's roster, who was very loyal to you when it would have been very easy to fire you, is another.

Do I have proof? No. But we all know it happened. No doubt about it. Ronnie Hamilton, the puppet master.

I know that one of the transfers from UNCA to a P5 program wanted to follow CNM to MTSU.. it was treated as a non-option and rightfully so because of the optics.. it's one thing to leave for whatever reasons- it is yet another thing to bite the hand that has fed you...
 
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When Ole Miss lost last night, I started thinking back to last March and why it still burns, and here is how I feel...

For roughly 1-2k of us, it was personal. It's that simple. This is our school, our program. Spare me the whole "That's what coaches do, move on to bigger conferences, bigger paychecks." When we hired Kermit, he was damaged goods. Fact. We gave him an opportunity when no one else did. And then we stood by him, year in and year out, coming up short in the conference tournament. Word would leak out that he interviewed for Southern Miss, Miss St, etc, and we would give me a raise and extension. I believed him when he talked about how grateful he was to be a part of the community. We loved him. We loved his family. We watched his kids grow up. Like many of you on this board, I donated a lot of money because I believed in him. We were so close to becoming the next Wichita St or VCU. And for the 1k of us who are die hards, we felt like we were a part of it. We were moving the needle... and then he broke our hearts, at least mine anyways. Then left our program in shambles. Set the program back YEARS. We were ranked 53 weeks ago.

So forgive me for not rushing out to buy an Ole Miss shirt. I have one team. It is MY team, MY school. And KD took a big $hit on it on his way out of town.
Who said anything about buying an Ole Miss shirt? I don't care if Ole Miss wins or loses. I was just saying you cannot blame a guy for increasing his salary from $750k to $2.5 million while moving closer to his parents at the same time. No one has proof they were actively recruiting anyone while still here (even though I think it was happening), and we released them and handled the situation poorly. If we had stayed in constant contact with them (Massaro, Kerry, etc.) until our new coach and kept them in the loop maybe things would have been a little different. Who knows. I like our new coaching staff better in the long-run. Kermit took us as high as he was going to take us in my opinion. Last 3 years of postseason tournaments we play great the first game then lay an egg the second. Butler was a close game, but we played terrible. I think saying the program being set back YEARS is an overreaction. I think .500 overall and winning record in league play next year and then 20 win season year after that.
 
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We are also never going to be VCU or Wichita State until our fans start acting like it. Wichita State averaged 10,199 fans (97% of capacity) and VCU has had 134 straight sellouts. Last year when we had one of the best years ever here we averages 6,909 fans (60% capacity).
 
Middle has an attendance problem all around. It’s big. Nashville alumni/city of Murfreesboro - has been that way since I started college in 1995.
 
I know that one of the transfers from UNCA to a P5 program wanted to follow CNM to MTSU.. it was treated as a non-option and rightfully so because of the optics.. it's one thing to leave for whatever reasons- it is yet another thing to bite the hand that has fed you...

Nice to hear that CNM carries himself with class and still cares about the program and fans that he left.

Can't say the same about CKD. He probably would have taken every player on our roster if the NCAA let him.
 
And why do people content that Kermit couldn't recruit? Have you people lost your mind? The hardest thing to do in college sports is find diamonds in the rough and I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone as good as Kermit do that. Everyone and their grandmother knows who the 4*, 5*, and ESPN Top 300 players are. Recruiting those guys is easy. They are identified talent that everyone knows will be solid D1 players.

What Kermit was able to do here at MT, on a consistent basis for the last 6-7 years while here, was nothing short of a miracle. His recruiting ability to find great players that others overlooked was unprecedented. Watch this video below and tell me Kermit couldn't recruit. Yall have lost your mind.

 
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I’ve been in same seats since 1976. I don’t root for coaches I root for MT. I have gotten to know all the coaches very well. We must have a coach who sells program and talk basketball 24/7/365 Bruce did this and Kermit did this. Weil andFarrar didn’t as much especiallly Weil I hope nick will do this in time he has been given a tough job. Kermit got better because his assistants got better. We did give him a chance no one else,would. I was disappointed he left hurt my feelings. Middle needs to devote money to basketball we will never compete,with big time football but we can basketball fans must respond. Hope we figure it out. We must be proactive not reactive.
 
Kermit rolled the dice and had a nice run - he hit on four one year players and a lot of that was luck. Look at our roster now with the guys Kermit recruited - weak. Very few of the 4 year player really developed like we hoped. Sure we had some, but it was the one year players that got us over the hump.

I think Kermit is one hell of an in game coach but he is not a great recruiter.
 
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Folks, I'm bullish on CNM and staff. Maybe in a few years I will be made to look horribly wrong. Trying to look at the big picture, I think CNM and staff are going to be improving and developing the team. I'm feeling pretty good about MT's prospects over the next couple of years.
 
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