For Cook to be dominant, FF needs to bring in 2 players; a REAL Point Guard and a big who can shoot from the top of the key and run the high/low. A lot of Peanut Johnson's success came from Needham on the drive and Evanovich at the top of the key. In fact, Evanovich had as many assists his last season as FF's PG did this season. (69)
I agree with AJR and Cook working better in tandem, but Cook also misses so many layups right under the basket. He just has to work on hitting that backboard in the right place.
Cook should be getting more dunks - I put most of the blame on the lack of skilled guards.
Cook should finish better through contact. He IS a very efficient scorer, but I swear so many times he creates the contact... still has good control of the ball and a pretty clean shot... and just misses. Instead of a 3pt play opportunity, he's at the line for 2 FTs. I swear he leaves a couple of points per game out on the floor just for that reason.
Excellent post by reindeerfan highlighting the numerous issues with JY's tenure. As I will ask the question again, why wait to cut the cord? JY and staff have not recruited well to date. Going into next season it will be widely understood that his seat is hot, if not fully ablaze. For sure that will be used against Fairfield on the recruiting trail. Is a kid going to pledge to a program where the coach is likely to be gone in a year?
And to stagparty's point, JY's brand of basketball is slow, boring, predictable and not fun for fans to watch. Do you think it is an attractive style of ball for prospective high schoolers or transfers?
This program, despite a sparkling new arena, is stagnant (pun intended). A complete housecleaning is called for, not a couple of attempted quick fixes or crossed finger optimism that things will dramatically change.
Well I am not in the business of calling for anyone's head. But let give my thoughts on why Jay Young's coaching approach is in my view unlikely to ever be successful.
1. Young never tries to beat the press. Team can press on Fairfield at will and they pay no price for this. They are going to get their share of 10 second violations, steal, and sloppy turnovers with no risk of ever giving up an easy basket. If I was the opponent I would press. Seems like St. Peters, and Iona got that memo. 2. This offense will never create great open looks. If you offense is based on always running set plays that take 20 seconds to develop you are going to have a lot of situation where you don't have enough time to get off a shot or late in the shot clock a player is not open and a shot must be forced. Might this have something to do with a low team shooting percentage from players that historically are better shooters? 3. Jay Young in my opinion will never recruit an impact point guard. First, IMHO he doesn't actually think he needs one. Indications are he feels he needs someone who can run a system offense. So he is not concerned about someone who can draw defenders and create openings. Don't count on him ever recruiting this kind of player. No really good point guard is going to want to come to Fairfield to run this kind of offense. My view is Jay wants players like Caleb and Caleb at point guard. He's not looking for the second coming of Jon Hahn, Jared Jordan or Doremus Bennerman. 4. Jay does the same things over and over again whether or not he has the personnel to do what he wants. If he has guys that are too small to defend an opponent in man or two slow. We play man and we get beat. We never make adjustments based on our personnel or an opponents personnel. u can't win when you do one thing and you don't have the personal able to effectively do that one thing. Asking TJ, Jake, and Maidoh to play straight man 40 minutes a game was misusing these players. 5. The team is too easy to develop a game plan against. Everyone knows what Jay is going to do, There are no surprises. Good coaches spend the week before Fairfield practicing set plays to exploit our man defense. And the result always is a barrage of lay-ups. As a coach I would look forward to playing someone who thinks like this, I would almost always beat them even with lesser personnel. 6. Jay expects players to adjust to his plan. He doesn't develop a plan based on the strengths of the personnel he has. I will give an extreme but easy to understand example. If Jay had Deng Gai, the nations leading shot blocker and Tyquan Goode, the shortest player in division I and one of the nations steals per minute leaders, he would be asking Tyquan not to ball hawk, and at 5'8 to try to play man to man on players that are 6'4." And Deng Gai would not have led the nation in blocked shots because he would be out on the perimeter manning up some center while players drove to the basket at will for lay-ups that Gai could have blocked if he played zone. You have Tyquan you let him gamble on some steals, and if a player gets by you have Gai under the hoop to swat the ball away. Young had Chris Maidoh and in my view wasted his abilities for 4 years. 7. Young never traps. He never presses. His teams rarely get steals. He puts no pressure on opponents guards to perform. Turnover ratio is an element in winning. I wonder, have we ever had a favorable turnover rate since Young arrived?
Listen, I know how difficult it is to coach. Your existence is based on the abilities of 18 year olds. Your fate can be decided by one injury. I understand all that. My questions are, do you think someone who coaches with this philosophy will ever win? I understand recruiting is a big piece. Do you think this coach has demonstrated an ability to bring in MAAC level recruits?
I'm not going to answer these questions, but the answers are obvious to many. I like Jay and wish him the best. But I can't agree with a great number of things he did this season.
A lot of good, well thought out points here which for the most part I pretty much agree with. But in the interest of brevity I will only comment on a couple.
First of all concerning #7 under the category of "just the facts," actually the 2021-22 squad did have a very narrow positive turnover rate compared to the opposition, And this season, as bad as it might have seemed, the number was negative, but not by much. Having said that I maybe am a bit confused that you might be talking about the ASSIST to TO ratio statistic. If so that is a little different. But the basic point that the Stags have for the most part been sub-par in this area of the game still stands no matter which part of this equation you are trying to bring to light.
But concerning #3, well there you have nailed what I have been talking about for years in the Jay Young era where the Stags just cannot get the dynamic PG the team desperately needs. And you have brought up a theory which quite frankly I never considered, that being that maybe Jay doesn't even desire this type of player based on how his offense runs and how much control he wants in his sets. Maybe that helps to explain why when watching Windsor's Primo Spears years ago, a kid who now has just finished his sophomore year as a 16 PPG scorer and 5.3 assist per on a ROTTON Georgetown squad, that he was very lukewarm in what he thought of him at the time. A guy like him on this year's Fairfield team, even though a bit wild and sometimes erratic, would have really helped IMO. Interesting theory though, but if true I would HOPE there could be some adjustment in thought moving forward.
Last Edit: Mar 9, 2023 13:28:35 GMT -5 by nashvillestag
^Regarding RF’s point #3 — it was some time ago but I thought it was mentioned in the Rutgers exhibition post game press conference that JY was very impressed with Rutgers PG Mulcahy and that JY was a large part of the recruiting process for Mulcahy. I don’t watch Rutgers often enough to know if Mulcahy is a make things happen type of point guard or a system oriented point guard. However, if my memory is correct and Young can help recruit a starting point guard for a Big Ten school —- the mystery remains why he can’t recruit one for us.
The question is: What have we seen from the previous 4 years makes us think we will see something different next year?
Possibly the fact that JY knows the fan base is in revolt. When SJ was in a similar situation, with a nudge from Doris —- Princeton offense SJ turned us into the Runnin’ Stags.
I just don’t think we are going to buyout the last 3 years of JY’s contract. Some are writing to Nemec demanding we make a coaching change now, we’ll see in the next few weeks if Nemec follows the advice of those fans.
^Regarding RF’s point #3 — it was some time ago but I thought it was mentioned in the Rutgers exhibition post game press conference that JY was very impressed with Rutgers PG Mulcahy and that JY was a large part of the recruiting process for Mulcahy. I don’t watch Rutgers often enough to know if Mulcahy is a make things happen type of point guard or a system oriented point guard. However, if my memory is correct and Young can help recruit a starting point guard for a Big Ten school —- the mystery remains why he can’t recruit one for us.
I occasionally watch Rutgers, and you can see some similarities to Fairfield. Obviously the Scarlet Knights have a lot more athleticism, but their offense looks similar to ours. They are not a high-scoring team and don't have great shooters. They are only rated #174 on offense by Pomeroy. (Note: They do have a dynamic, quick freshman guard named Derek Simpson. I believe we were after him).
But Rutgers does have a VERY good defense (#3 in the country according to Pomeroy). It is the main reason they have been successful. I think we would all be okay with being defense-first if our defense were really good ... but it isn't (Pomeroy has us rated #211). Because of that, our offensive problems become magnified. If you aren't going to be able to stop the other guy consistently, then you better be able to put the ball in the hoop. Rutgers can get by without a great offense because they can shut down their opponents.
Mulcahy is not your prototypical PG, but he is a pass first PG who gets about 5 assists per game and has a good A/TO ratio. There's a lot to be said for this type of PG. He runs the show and leads the offense, rather than just being another player on the floor. We haven't had a leader at that position since Needham.
Nothing in the contract extension release about anything guaranteed.
Jay Young Inks Contract Extension Through 2025-26 Season Young led the Stags to the MAAC Championship Game in 2021 Men's Basketball 10/4/2021 2:00:00 PM
FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Head Coach Jay Young has signed a contract extension to lead Fairfield University Men's Basketball through the 2025-26 season, as announced on Monday by Director of Athletics Paul Schlickmann. Young led the Stags to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship Game last season.
"I am thrilled to announce this well-deserved extension for Coach Young," said Schlickmann. "It is a reflection of the progress our program has made in just two short but very challenging years under his leadership. We are confident that Coach Young and his staff will continue to elevate Stags Basketball, and that we are on the right path to building a championship-caliber program that our entire Stags family and Fairfield community can rally around with great pride."....
Paul S. Not connected to reality! Look at the record, no progress.
"I am thrilled to announce this well-deserved extension for Coach Young," said Schlickmann. "It is a reflection of the progress our program has made in just two short but very challenging years under his leadership. We are confident that Coach Young and his staff will continue to elevate Stags Basketball, and that we are on the right path to building a championship-caliber program that our entire Stags family and Fairfield community can rally around with great pride."....
AD Paul Schlickmann: "We are confident that Coach Young and his staff will continue to elevate Stags Basketball, and that we are on the right path to building a championship-caliber program that our entire Stags family and Fairfield community can rally around with great pride."....
Jay Young, Fairfield Men's Basketball (4 seasons, 0 winning seasons and 0 postseasons) 2019-20 (12-20)(8-12) 2020-21 (10-17)(7-11) 2021-22 (15-18)(8-12) 2022-23 (13-18)(9-11) Total (50-73)(.406), (32-46)(.410)
Since the contract extension on October 4, 2021, Fairfield Men's Basketball has been (28-36)(17-23). Is that "on the right path to building a championship caliber program"? Other than AD Schlickmann, is anyone confident of being "on the right path to building a championship-caliber program"?
If JY is inked through the ‘25/‘26 season I am confident the FF administration will keep him for the ‘23/‘24 season. I am also confident the loyal stag fans will need to suffer through another disappointing season and then perhaps those in charge will act. Keep your donation money in your pocket until then and let those in charge know when solicited why you no longer are donating. Perhaps the message will get thru then.
