Today marks the anniversary of Jay Young's first year as the Stags mentor. I am Interested to hear what folks think about JY01.
IMO, JY has met the expectations that I had for a first year coach taking over a program that needed rebuilding. However, he certainly has not exceeded my expectations. I remember at the end of Syd Johnsons first season, feeling as though Syd had failed to meet my expectations for the Stags team after taking over from Cooley. Not the case with Jay, because he has a major hill to climb to build a MAAC winner at FF. Syd inherited a team ready to be the MAAC champ and under achieved in year one.
Offense- At the beginning of the year I new the stags would be challenged offensively. However, I had hoped as the season progressed the offense might begin to develop some improvement. I do not think that is the case. 3PT% needs to improve if the stags are going to challenge for a title. Surprised to see the FT% is about the same and overall at 70% ,really is not as bad as I had thought.
Defense- nice improvement in points per game given up. Not sure how much of the improvement is directly related to better defense or how much is attributable to the stags playing a very slow tempo offense that limits the possessions of the opponent? The stags toughness and hustle seem to be improved as a result of JY coaching.. Rebounding- substantial improvement .
Recruiting- I believe the two transfers recruited for next year and the two frosh who played this year are a solid foundation to build upon. I hope this continues as we announce recruits for this upcoming year.
Communications- Much improved from the the Syd Johnson era. Jay is the complete opposite. He is open to the fans approaching him t o discuss the program. He interacts warmly with the students, alums and with the community.
year 18/1919/20change
pts/p-game 66.8 58.0 worse total 2072 1857 worse opponents 69.9 62.9 better total 2167 2012 better FG% .434 .390 worse FGA 761/1755 651/1669 worse 3PT % .350 .284 worse Ft% .693 .695 about same rebounds 968/31.2 1101/34.4 better TO's 436/14.1 440/13.8 about same steals 202/6.5 164/5.1 worse blocks 63/2.0 88/2.8 better
Statistics mean nothing. Wins and losses are what counts. 12 wins with this group is outstanding. Do I agree with everything Jay has done? Absolutely not. The two things that irked me were the limited use of Maidou and his refusal to play some zone against certain opponents. The BUT to all of this is the 12 wins that he accomplished. After looking at the deficiencies of this squad, Jay gets an A-. The expectations for this year will be much higher.
Not Recruiting guards is a major unknown at this time, and we need to see more . Getting Chef NgalaKulinda has to be a Big Win. Jalen Leach has to be an All MAAC Multi-talented type guard. Need another guard. Incomplete
Teaching Defense - A
Teaching not to Foul - A
Teaching Players to Play with intensity to win the battle of Loose balls - A
Teaching Rebounding Techniques - A
Offensive Skills Player improvement - Did wonders with Taj Benning. Others (Maidoh, Allan Jeanne-Rose). OK - C+
Offensive Strategies. Need to see More than just the Figure-8 and starting the offense late in the Shot clock - C+
OVERALL - Just getting some good guards will solve everything. We can't win with defense alone.
Post by nashvillestag on Apr 3, 2020 13:31:34 GMT -5
12 wins was certainly more than I expected given what the roster looked like at the start of the year. The Stags did have more luck than not on last second shots however, meaning if this had turned out a bit different in a negative way the record could have looked a lot worse. But what happened, happened, and as teams get better they usually somehow figure out how to win close games, so the sum total is this was probably a good thing as the team and program learned to advance in their toughness both mentally and physically when everything was on the line. However that said, I was somewhat disappointed that the team seemed to regress a little near the end of the year. Hopefully that will not happen going forward. Good teams usually get better as they get near the end of any given season. But as far as moving forward I think it's simple. If Jay can recruit well he will do well, if he can't he won't. He has shown he is more than capable of getting the most out of his players. Now he just has to get those players who can take the team to a higher level. I think with Green and Chef ready for action, plus with the 2 new freshmen (who both appear to be pretty good from afar), the squad has a chance to really improve. Upward movement, step by step, kind of like how Cooley did it, should be the goal in the next few years.
Last Edit: Apr 3, 2020 13:32:52 GMT -5 by nashvillestag
Post by reindeerfan on Apr 4, 2020 20:16:10 GMT -5
Here are my grades
Offense - D Defense ++ B+ Recruiting No grade Communications B
So I like many of the things I have seen so for from Jay. He doesn't get the grades I would give to Ed Cooley but he gets better grades than I gave Sydney. Here are my comments:
Here are my grades
Offense - Way to one dimensional, did the same thing for too much of the season, didn't ever mix things up. Did not take advantage of running enough plays to Madoh, took the confidence away from the offensive players. Defense ++ B+ (I might say A if I were in a better mood. He took a bad defensive team and made them a pretty good one. He did a great job in improving the defense) Recruiting Its not fair to judge any coach on the first recruiting year. We didn't see half of his recruits take the court. Just not fair to evaluate this at this time. Communications He was light years better than Sydney Johnson, but that was a pretty low bar. To get an A he probably needs to replace half of the sports information department, communication takes a team.
Offense - D Defense ++ B+ Recruiting No grade Communications B
So I like many of the things I have seen so for from Jay. He doesn't get the grades I would give to Ed Cooley but he gets better grades than I gave Sydney. Here are my comments:
Here are my grades
Offense - Way to one dimensional, did the same thing for too much of the season, didn't ever mix things up. Did not take advantage of running enough plays to Madoh, took the confidence away from the offensive players. Defense ++ B+ (I might say A if I were in a better mood. He took a bad defensive team and made them a pretty good one. He did a great job in improving the defense) Recruiting Its not fair to judge any coach on the first recruiting year. We didn't see half of his recruits take the court. Just not fair to evaluate this at this time. Communications He was light years better than Sydney Johnson, but that was a pretty low bar. To get an A he probably needs to replace half of the sports information department, communication takes a team.
I generally agree but I think the burden is on PS to fix the Sports Info Dept.which has been woeful for years.
JY can certainly apply pressure, but being the new guy on the block, I think this is the last priority while establishing your tenure. Not sure we can put this on JY in his first year.
I'd give him a solid A in this area bordering on an A+. IMO, this is the biggest change since the SJ. JY goes out of his way to meet, greet and interact with the fans. SJ would walk the other way. Jay is very much out of the Ed Cooley mold in fan communication.
I'd give him a solid A in this area bordering on an A+. IMO, this is the biggest change since the SJ. JY goes out of his way to meet, greet and interact with the fans. SJ would walk the other way. Jay is very much out of the Ed Cooley mold in fan communication.
In his first season at Fairfield Ed Cooley came over to us at an early season Stag Women's Basketball game in Alumni Hall, introduced himself and sat with us in the super bleachers and was joined by his wife and kids. He also shot hoops with my girls at Homecoming in the WAC giving pointers to 8 year old Caroline. Ed Cooley was something very special at Fairfield. His type of engaging personality connects the program to the fans, students and to our fellow alumni.nI can see that in JY especially when he worked the students in the BCC and around campus trying to get their support. I never saw that with SJ.
Communications from the Athletic Department has improved since Paul Schlickmann took over but it does need to do more. The Ask the Director podcast videos are a great addition. That type of communication should have started years ago.
I was expecting 7-10 wins... and after the early games, I thought it might be worse. 12 wins and a nice one over a respectable SEC team is solid work for the roster he inherited. By and measure - the offense was really, really bad. Overall rebounding improvement and a couple of long, athletic recruits were moves in the right direction.
Lots of roster slots to fill. Bigger expectations for the next season.
