Speedy Claxton

[Pbdutch]

I was a huge fan of the speedy hire and had high hopes. Look at how we’ve won so many games with him, but at the end of the day it’s about March Madness and we haven’t done that. I’ve also realized that I don’t really think Speedy is a coach. I’ve watched so many games over the years where the team can’t break a press. Isn’t that a coaches job to get these kids ready?

If we don’t stick with Speedy, who are some names that come to mind? I want a proven winner, someone with fire, and a guy that can recruit and coach. The first name that comes to mind is Gregg Marshall.

[HUSID74]

Speedyis going nowhere. Look at his record, 20 plus wins in his first three years. This year's team was gutted by the NIL transfers of Carlos and Dubar...still we were picked fourth and it looked like we were headed there in the early Non-Con season. Then something happened to this team...the Saunders thing then Speedy missinga game (which we won by the way against UNCW).
Since then this team has not been the same...something is wrong here...and it's not just Speedy.

[Wags]

Winning 20+ games puts you in the mix each year, but it can't be the ultimate standard.

All three years, they lost to a team seeded at least three spots lower in the CAA tourney:

2022: Played no D from the start and got blown out from the start as a 3 seed by a 6th-seeded Charleston team that they swept in the regular season (including a win in the last regular season game). And that was a tournament that was ultimately won by a 5 seed with defense.

2023: Lost as the 1 seed to a 4 seed in the semis (granted, tough game in OT, but as the top seed coming off an historically good blowout win the day before, you have to at least get to the finals).

2024: Lost as a 3 seed to a 7 seed (granted, a hot Stony Brook team that nearly won the whole thing, but another missed opportunity to get to the finals as a favorite).

Whether it's with Speedy or not, Hofstra has to set its sights higher. I know their goal is what every team's is - to win a conference title - but they shouldn't be satisfied and rest merely on 20-win seasons until they can start winning titles as well.

[Pbdutch]

I agree Wags. I’ve been on these boards for years and never logged in thinking if I didn’t state my opinions we’d start winning and getting to the dance. Didn’t want to be the next Polito even though I totally agree with him.

Winning games is great (take nothing away from that), but at the end of the day it’s about winning titles and getting to the dance. Let’s be real here. I’d rather get to the dance every other year and the in between years be dead last in the conference. People want to get to the dance including myself.

Wags-you’ve been around and know basketball. I don’t think speedy is actually a coach.

[HUSID74]

Pbdutch have you ever been to any practices??? If you have you can't say he's not a coach...he is a great teacher and has developed many players. Also on this staff are TWO FORMER D 1 HEAD COACHES, one interum and other a head coach for several years at Canisius.

It's not a matter of coaching, it's a matter of TALENT and experience....this team lacks both and its primarily due to NIL...and get ready as it's not going to change much as Hofstra does not have the support this program needs to be successful in this environment as of now.

[Pbdutch]

To be fair I haven’t been to a practice, but when I watch games it seems as if there’s really no coaching. Look at the plays that are drawn up, not being able to break a press, etc…

NIL is going to slowly kill Hofstra sports. I agree with that and we need to do something to help. Other teams in our conference like Charleston are doing fine and they make it to the dance. Why can’t we do that?

[stuball888]

NIL has reared its ugly head
Unless Hofstra does a complete 180
We will be rebuilding every year with scraps from the portal
Any recruit or transfer with top mid major talent will not come here they will follow the money

[Mikey77]

i agree with your comment Stu, except they will come here bit will not STAY here. Every year will be like a school yard pick up game and Hofstra picks toward the bottom.

[dutchPride86]

It's not a matter of coaching, it's a matter of TALENT and experience....this team lacks both and its primarily due to NIL...and get ready as it's not going to change much as Hofstra does not have the support this program needs to be successful in this environment as of now.

This is even more of a reason why imo Hofstra will never get rid of Speedy. If the school can't offer money or an engaged passionate fan base (the ppl reading and posting here excluded), Speedys name is sadly the only thing they can really sell to recruits. And I do think there will always be talented guards who will want to play for Speedy. Where they turn out on the Sanders - Estrada spectrum when they get here is a totally different story.

Where I disagree though is that I think at this level coaching matters significantly, and we have been winning with Speedy more on talent alone than scheme. Look at what Kelsey did at Charleston (and now Lousiville), what Siddle has done at UNCW with teams full of role players, the impact the new coaches at W&M and Campbell are having without high end talent. Hell 2020 aside we've only won when we had a literal Hall of Fame coach at the beginning of his career.

To Wags point, in light of what's happened this yr, not even making the conference title game with a roster featuring Estrada, Thomas, Dubar and Carlos now says more to me about Speedys shortcomings as a coach than the fact that we won 20 games or beat Rutgers in the NIT that yr.

But if Hofstra can't figure out how to navigate the NIL climate and engage the fan base, and the STUDENTS ESP, I don't see much light at the end of this tunnel. Even a great coach like Bill Coen hasn't been able to save Northeastern from falling into mediocrity (at best)

[Wags]

I agree Wags. I’ve been on these boards for years and never logged in thinking if I didn’t state my opinion start winning and getting to the dance. Didn’t want to be the next Polito even though I totally agree with him.
An
Winning games is great (take nothing away from that), but at the end of the day it’s about winning titles and getting to the dance. Let’s be real here. I’d rather get to the dance every other year and the in between years be dead last in the conference. People want to get to the dance including myself.

Wags-you’ve been around and know basketball. I don’t think speedy is actually a coach.

I think he can coach but and it's pobably more difficult to win 20+ games for three straight years than to win crap shoot conference tournaments but programs are built and judged on March.

I think Speedy's main fault is believing too much in players instead of being honest with himself about what he has talent-wise. It's great to have faith in your players and players want and need that from their coaches. But when we keep hearing "we have good shooters" as they keep missing or "we'll be fine" as they keep losing, you have to adjust and start playing to other strengths that you may actually have rather than playing to perceived ones that you don't actually possess.

No matter how much you want to believe you have good shooters, 291st in the nation in FG% and 231st in 3-pt. FG% after 27 games is what it is and maybe you need to run other stuff to generate some more scoring. They've scored 61 points or less in about half (13) of their games and have scored 70 or more in only 6 of 25 games against D-I opponents this year. But throughout it all, it was still, "We have good shooters. They have to get in the gym, work on the shots, and knock them down." You can't just wish for shooting that isn't there talent-wise. And maybe there's nothing you can do about that because you simply lack the talent, but maybe you can run different stuff to help that out instead of relying on the same approach and the same failed results. I think that's something that Speedy might learn from this season and improve on in the future. But that all starts with making honest assessments about the different skill levels you have on your roster.

The problem is in this NIL/portal era, you put yourself in a very tough position for the future with a season like this one because it takes success to lure better talent, and when you're in 12th place, that's not a lot to offer for next year. He has a tough job and knows it. I don't think he (nor many other coaches in his position nationally) like this new landscape. It's why you see so many coaches, even national title-winning ones like Tony Bennett and our very own Jay Wright, stepping down. They want no part of this new era. But if you want to keep coaching and you want to be successful, you have to find a way to make it work despite the challenges.

No one should tell David S. Mack to do with his own money, especially when he's been so generous with it (besides the arena and other things most are aware of, he's financed very important things like many of the ambulances you see driving around Long Island with his name of the sides of them), but it'll probably take someone or several people like him to help the program in this new NIL/portal world.

[Wags]

It's not a matter of coaching, it's a matter of TALENT and experience....this team lacks both and its primarily due to NIL...and get ready as it's not going to change much as Hofstra does not have the support this program needs to be successful in this environment as of now.

To Wags point, in light of what's happened this yr, not even making the conference title game with a roster featuring Estrada, Thomas, Dubar and Carlos now says more to me about Speedys shortcomings as a coach than the fact that we won 20 games or beat Rutgers in the NIT that yr.

I didn't necessarily mean this to say something specifically about Speedy's coaching. The tournaments are a crap shoot. I meant it more to say that the program can't rest on 20-win seasons. No one is hanging a banner for those. Those are great, and you can't win titles without doing that first, but the program as a whole can't be satisfied with only those. Fair or not, it's ultimately about how far you go in March. That's the cruel reality of college basketball and how coaches and programs are judged over time.

[HUSID80]

To be fair I haven’t been to a practice, but when I watch games it seems as if there’s really no coaching. Look at the plays that are drawn up, not being able to break a press, etc…

NIL is going to slowly kill Hofstra sports. I agree with that and we need to do something to help. Other teams in our conference like Charleston are doing fine and they make it to the dance. Why can’t we do that?

They have a few wealthy benefactors who are contributing a lot of money to the basketball NIL, far more than any other CAA team. Their goal is to got to the A10 and they support that program on a level equivalent to a top A10 school.

[Wags]

To be fair I haven’t been to a practice, but when I watch games it seems as if there’s really no coaching. Look at the plays that are drawn up, not being able to break a press, etc…

NIL is going to slowly kill Hofstra sports. I agree with that and we need to do something to help. Other teams in our conference like Charleston are doing fine and they make it to the dance. Why can’t we do that?

They have a few wealthy benefactors who are contributing a lot of money to the basketball NIL, far more than any other CAA team. Their goal is to got to the A10 and they support that program on a level equivalent to a top A10 school.

That's great but if it's more than any other CAA team, that certainly didn't translate right away to building one of the best CAA rosters in the first year of this new landscape.

Hopefully that'll make a big difference going forward. But if you're finishing in the bottom four of your conference, that's even more money you have to spend just to attempt to lure better players away from contenders in the CAA and elsewhere.

[JoeyBagODonuts1]

It is easy to blame the team's struggles on NIL. It's tough to put together practically a whole new team every year. However, Hofstra isn't unique in this regard. Everyone in the CAA (with maybe the exception of Charleston) is in the same boat. The stranger thing is we actually did pretty well in the OOC part of our schedule.

Sent from my moto g power 5G - 2024 using Tapatalk

[cactus]

To be fair I haven’t been to a practice, but when I watch games it seems as if there’s really no coaching. Look at the plays that are drawn up, not being able to break a press, etc…

NIL is going to slowly kill Hofstra sports. I agree with that and we need to do something to help. Other teams in our conference like Charleston are doing fine and they make it to the dance. Why can’t we do that?

They have a few wealthy benefactors who are contributing a lot of money to the basketball NIL, far more than any other CAA team. Their goal is to got to the A10 and they support that program on a level equivalent to a top A10 school.

That's great but if it's more than any other CAA team, that certainly didn't translate right away to building one of the best CAA rosters in the first year of this new landscape.

They're not running away with the league but they have won 20 games and were able to bring back Brzovic out of the portal, assuming with a nice NIL deal.

[cactus]

Re: speedy, north carolina put together a very similar roster and the fans I know from there have the same complaints about their offense and the same easy-to-guard sets every game.

[Wags]

https://x.com/RivalsRichie/status/1903845439285149941

[Jojogunne]

Don't see it, Wags. Neither do I see TP returning to Rose Hill. They fired him, right?

From your X post:

Hearing the following names for the Fordham Basketball Head Coach opening per sources.

- Hofstra HC Speedy Claxton
- Quinnipiac HC Tom Pecora
- Kent State HC Rob Senderoff
- Central Connecticut St. HC Pat Sellers

[Mikey77]

the Pecora reference is odd. Speedy to Fordham would be war with the Rams as far as i am concerned. Isn't Fordham blocking Hofstra from A-10? Or was that some baloney i just heard?

[Pbdutch]

Don't see it, Wags. Neither do I see TP returning to Rose Hill. They fired him, right?

From your X post:

Hearing the following names for the Fordham Basketball Head Coach opening per sources.

- Hofstra HC Speedy Claxton
- Quinnipiac HC Tom Pecora
- Kent State HC Rob Senderoff
- Central Connecticut St. HC Pat Sellers

Shows you bad fordham is. Even with being in the A10 these are the names that pop up lol. Again, let’s be real here, speedy hasn’t gotten us to the dance and hasn’t won close games that matter…and Pat sellers was an absolute joke being on cassara’s staff. Hell, fordham athletics are way worse than Hofstra. They might as well just get rid of their sports teams