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Value of Assistant Coaches this year: do they fill the void?

by Cougs_Rule · 2/5/2012

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Cougs_Rule
Maybe Dave Rice got a lot of credit for what Jimmer and Jax brought night in and night out.

But how do our current coaches stack up and what grades do you give and why? Its probably a little early to judge, but what are your thoughts?



Pope: clear improvement in the post and in BDavies game. Seems like a good get and should help with recruiting big guys. B+, maybe A-.



Nashif: Seems serviceable, but hard to estimate. Guard play has not been very good. But how much does Rose play a role in determining guard play? B-, only bc its hard to say and he's been around Rose, so that should be good.



LaComb-seems very active coaching from the bench, when players come off the court, etc. Is he doing the play calling? He's my biggest uncertainty. And if i had to err it would not be on the positive side as it is with Nashif. I know it may be unfounded, but that guy does not strike me as a very good coach. MOre like a trainer. C+



Mike- meh. Is he a coach? No grade.



Overall grade for Assistants: B- maybe a C+



Thoughts?
D
Dcr36
I don't want to judge much on either side.



Looking at UNLV's depth chart, it looks like everyone that mattered except Willis came back, and I always thought Willis was a bit of a burden. Plus, they got their own UCLA refugee stud in Moser. Rice walked into a good situation.



On the other hand, I think most sane individuals expected a drop-off for BYU, as well as some issues at guard this year.



Is there a part of me that fears Rice was accountable for a lot of BYU's success, perhaps more than Rose? Yes. But I think it's too early to put any real stock in those fears.



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SpiffCoug
I think Nashif is doing very well. He's taking two unproven and inexperienced point guards and has them playing well enough to have us finish in 2nd place behind a team that could finish in the top 10.
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EM_Puma
Dave Rose made an interesting comment at the last Cougar Club luncheon when someone asked him about Mark Pope. I'm sure there was nothing behind the words as they could have been interpreted, but he said he hopes he's around here for awhile as he's been at 5 or 6 places in the last 6 years. It sounded more like he had grasped Pope from out of the air and hoped to be able to hang on him and he wasn't going to be heading for other pastures. I went and looked up specifically where these 5-6 places were and actually the statement was incorrect. He finished his NBA career in 2005 with the Denver Nuggets. From 2006-8 he apparently attended Columbia medical school. In 2009 he took the basketball operations job at U of Georgia. In 2010 he joined the coaching staff at Wake Forest and to BYU last summer in 2011. That's really only 3 places in 6 years (before the BYU job), but sometimes we say things from the seat of our pants and they are not actually based on facts. Rose is estatic with his addition to the staff and I hope it is for a number of years. I loved watching some of the time out shots on BYUtv at the game on Saturday and Coach Pope each time had one of the starters in his face giving them instruction. Specifically I saw him once with Davies and once with Hartsock. Just funny to see a coach actually taller than the two.
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SpiffCoug
If I remember correctly, Pope sought out BYU. I thought he called Rose and said he was interested in BYU and knew they had an opening.
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Gunk
Very hard to tell. Have to really look at the team to judge.



Post play is much improved.



Guard play is young and inexperienced so it hard to tell. Plus how much of Jimmer and Jax success was coaching and their own doing. In the case of Jimmer, I'd say it was more him.



My understanding is LaCombs handles defense. In which case, I am not impressed.



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CougarClaw
Last two years Brandon Davies was a talented center who couldn't stay on the floor due to foul trouble. Hartsock was a fairly good shooter with an odd 3 point shot and also the backup center who had to learn to play with his back to the basket when Davies got in foul trouble.



Add Mark Pope.



Hartsocks numbers skyrocket (also helps when the number 1 scorer in the country graduates) and Davies turns into a monster. nearly a triple double over the weekend? For a CENTER? Both have introduced new moves and are extremely hard to guard around the basket. And Noah's nose got even bigger. We're even seeing some amazing minutes from nate Austin. Basically all of our big guys are playing leaps and bounds better than previous years.



This board complained about big man play for a long time. We added Mark Pope and suddenly no one is complaining. Correlation does not equal causation though...or does it?



Fixed error, thanks dmcougar
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Cougs_Rule
Its Mark Pope. And i failed to include Mike Hall's last name in OP.
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BBP
dmcougar wrote:
Maybe Dave Rice got a lot of credit for what Jimmer and Jax brought night in and night out.

But how do our current coaches stack up and what grades do you give and why? Its probably a little early to judge, but what are your thoughts?



Pope: clear improvement in the post and in BDavies game. Seems like a good get and should help with recruiting big guys. B+, maybe A-.



Nashif: Seems serviceable, but hard to estimate. Guard play has not been very good. But how much does Rose play a role in determining guard play? B-, only bc its hard to say and he's been around Rose, so that should be good.



LaComb-seems very active coaching from the bench, when players come off the court, etc. Is he doing the play calling? He's my biggest uncertainty. And if i had to err it would not be on the positive side as it is with Nashif. I know it may be unfounded, but that guy does not strike me as a very good coach. MOre like a trainer. C+



Mike- meh. Is he a coach? No grade.



Overall grade for Assistants: B- maybe a C+



Thoughts?


As a freshman, Jimmer was a good backup, but may have been a liability as the starter. He improved immensely year to year. I remember many complaints about Jackson on these comment boards early in his career. We tend to remember the great ones as upper classmen and forget that they had big learning curves along the way. For the amount of playing experience among the guards, I think they are doing pretty well, and will continue to improve. If they were hitting their shots at the present, we would also have a much higher opinion of them. Nashif was not a naturally talented player, but was a game technition. He brought that knowledge of the game with him and uses it to teach the players. I think J and J benefitted from that, and it seems to me that the pups of the present are doing so as well.



As for Coach Pope, thank heaven. He seems to have made an amazing difference. I can remember just about everybody except Craigo complaining about Noah early, and look how he is doing now. When I read complaints about Austin, I always remember Noah right after his mission and think that we don't have much to worry about in Nate.
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kfilly20
Lacomb was a coach on my high school team, he was more of a rah rah guy than an x's and o's guy. Im sure his role is to run drills and keep everyones head up.
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ThrowbackBlue
kfilly20 wrote:
Lacomb was a coach on my high school team, he was more of a rah rah guy than an x's and o's guy. Im sure his role is to run drills and keep everyones head up.


I also know Tim Lacomb quite well and speak to him several times a week. In addition to being a "rah rah guy" Tim does all of the scouting reports, game prep, and breakdown of the opponents BYU faces each game. This is his primarily his #1 duty as a coach during the season. In the offseason (like many coaches) he is on the road recruiting and next to coach Rose, he's the best recruiter on staff.



Tim is really funny and relates really well with players. All the players, current and past, absolutely love Tim and often spend a lot of time at his house just hanging out (including Jimmer).



So while he's a lot less of an x's and o's guy in scheme, he makes significant contributions elsewhere on the team and he loves BYU.



All that being said, I'd give Tim Lacomb a grade of B+



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Cougarbib
EM_Puma wrote:
Dave Rose made an interesting comment at the last Cougar Club luncheon when someone asked him about Mark Pope. I'm sure there was nothing behind the words as they could have been interpreted, but he said he hopes he's around here for awhile as he's been at 5 or 6 places in the last 6 years. It sounded more like he had grasped Pope from out of the air and hoped to be able to hang on him and he wasn't going to be heading for other pastures. I went and looked up specifically where these 5-6 places were and actually the statement was incorrect. He finished his NBA career in 2005 with the Denver Nuggets. From 2006-8 he apparently attended Columbia medical school. In 2009 he took the basketball operations job at U of Georgia. In 2010 he joined the coaching staff at Wake Forest and to BYU last summer in 2011. That's really only 3 places in 6 years (before the BYU job), but sometimes we say things from the seat of our pants and they are not actually based on facts. Rose is estatic with his addition to the staff and I hope it is for a number of years. I loved watching some of the time out shots on BYUtv at the game on Saturday and Coach Pope each time had one of the starters in his face giving them instruction. Specifically I saw him once with Davies and once with Hartsock. Just funny to see a coach actually taller than the two.


Rose apparently counted Nuggets as a player, Columbia Med as a student, Basketball Ops at Georgia, Coaching at Wake Forest, and Coaching at BYU which equals 5 PLACES. His point seems to be that Pope is still figuring out what he wants to do and where he wants to do it. Hopefully he settles into coaching and settles into Provo as he apparently started out thinking EAST of here.



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Cougarbib
Bottom line is none of these guys is a Dave Rice - heartbeat away from being head coach on a ranked team - like Dave Rice was. That is part of why this is a rebuilding year. Jimmer, Jackson, Rice - all big shoes to fill.



Pope has definitely earned his paycheck, though - IMHO. I don't expect to see a ranked team grab any of the others as an assistant coach any time soon - let alone a head coach.



Rose may need to prune the garden on occasion so he can find the next Dave Rice.



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BYULV
Cougarbib2 wrote:
Bottom line is none of these guys is a Dave Rice - heartbeat away from being head coach on a ranked team - like Dave Rice was. That is part of why this is a rebuilding year. Jimmer, Jackson, Rice - all big shoes to fill.



Pope has definitely earned his paycheck, though - IMHO. I don't expect to see a ranked team grab any of the others as an assistant coach any time soon - let alone a head coach.



Rose may need to prune the garden on occasion so he can find the next Dave Rice.



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Although I think Dave Rice is a great coach, he went into a very good situation which has allowed him to succeed at unlv. I think a lesser coach would have had similar success there this year, in fact if Heath Shroyer were the coach I bet they'd have a similar record. I think BYU would be about the same this year with or without Rice as far as wins/losses. Maybe we beat USU or loyola with him, but I doubt it. Rice just moved out of a rebuilding team and onto an up and coming team. The successes or lack of successes of these two teams has very little to do with Dave Rice moving teams and more to do with the teams themselves.



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C
Cougarbib
BYULV wrote:
Bottom line is none of these guys is a Dave Rice - heartbeat away from being head coach on a ranked team - like Dave Rice was. That is part of why this is a rebuilding year. Jimmer, Jackson, Rice - all big shoes to fill.



Pope has definitely earned his paycheck, though - IMHO. I don't expect to see a ranked team grab any of the others as an assistant coach any time soon - let alone a head coach.



Rose may need to prune the garden on occasion so he can find the next Dave Rice.



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Although I think Dave Rice is a great coach, he went into a very good situation which has allowed him to succeed at unlv. I think a lesser coach would have had similar success there this year, in fact if Heath Shroyer were the coach I bet they'd have a similar record. I think BYU would be about the same this year with or without Rice as far as wins/losses. Maybe we beat USU or loyola with him, but I doubt it. Rice just moved out of a rebuilding team and onto an up and coming team. The successes or lack of successes of these two teams has very little to do with Dave Rice moving teams and more to do with the teams themselves.



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You are probably right - Rice was over-rated and lucky as H e CC K to land a D1 head coaching job with a school that could have gotten someone else pretty easily to take over that team. His reputatoin was clearly over-rated. Our inexperienced assistants are clearly as good and he would nothave given us any additional edge with our inexperienced guards. Undoubtedly, SDSU or someone else will grab Nashif next year if they do not grab Shroyer as head coach.



TIC - noted in case the sarcasm was not obvious. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Cougarbib
Cougarbib2 wrote:
Cougarbib2 wrote:
Bottom line is none of these guys is a Dave Rice - heartbeat away from being head coach on a ranked team - like Dave Rice was. That is part of why this is a rebuilding year. Jimmer, Jackson, Rice - all big shoes to fill.



Pope has definitely earned his paycheck, though - IMHO. I don't expect to see a ranked team grab any of the others as an assistant coach any time soon - let alone a head coach.



Rose may need to prune the garden on occasion so he can find the next Dave Rice.



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Although I think Dave Rice is a great coach, he went into a very good situation which has allowed him to succeed at unlv. I think a lesser coach would have had similar success there this year, in fact if Heath Shroyer were the coach I bet they'd have a similar record. I think BYU would be about the same this year with or without Rice as far as wins/losses. Maybe we beat USU or loyola with him, but I doubt it. Rice just moved out of a rebuilding team and onto an up and coming team. The successes or lack of successes of these two teams has very little to do with Dave Rice moving teams and more to do with the teams themselves.



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You are probably right - Rice was over-rated and lucky as H e CC K to land a D1 head coaching job with a school that could have gotten someone else pretty easily to take over that team. His reputatoin was clearly over-rated. Our inexperienced assistants are clearly as good and he would nothave given us any additional edge with our inexperienced guards. Undoubtedly, SDSU or someone else will grab Nashif next year if they do not grab Shroyer as head coach.



TIC - noted in case the sarcasm was not obvious. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:



BTW - I am not suggesting that we wouldhave gone undefeated, won the NC, been in the top 10, or even that we would have swept St. Mary's with Rice as coach.



I am suggesting that we would have pulled 2-3 more wins out of USU, Baylor, LMU, and SMU at home and an extra win or two in the WCC tourney and round 1 of the dance. And with that, BYU would be ranked and in the Big Dance for sure.


M
Mars
O
BYULV wrote:
Bottom line is none of these guys is a Dave Rice - heartbeat away from being head coach on a ranked team - like Dave Rice was. That is part of why this is a rebuilding year. Jimmer, Jackson, Rice - all big shoes to fill.



Pope has definitely earned his paycheck, though - IMHO. I don't expect to see a ranked team grab any of the others as an assistant coach any time soon - let alone a head coach.



Rose may need to prune the garden on occasion so he can find the next Dave Rice.



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Although I think Dave Rice is a great coach, he went into a very good situation which has allowed him to succeed at unlv. I think a lesser coach would have had similar success there this year, in fact if Heath Shroyer were the coach I bet they'd have a similar record. I think BYU would be about the same this year with or without Rice as far as wins/losses. Maybe we beat USU or loyola with him, but I doubt it. Rice just moved out of a rebuilding team and onto an up and coming team. The successes or lack of successes of these two teams has very little to do with Dave Rice moving teams and more to do with the teams themselves.



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I strongly disagree with this assertion.
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