Precisely the point. At some point, changes need to be made because the current regime in its current set-up isn't working. This is essentially teaching an old dog new tricks. For the last decade, we've heard countless platitudes from Petro about how things are going to change. And, yet, the results have generally gotten worse. There is only so much one staff can do to change. At some point, all the platitudes are irrelevant and it is the man speaking them that matters.Homer wrote: ↑Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:26 ama fan wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2019 10:51 pm Respectfully, this is a very limited view, that leaves out two things.
So, for example, did you know that before last year, Yale had precisely one NCAA playoff win in 20 years? Or that O State, North Carolina, and Brown have missed the playoffs entirely in one of those three years?
Which brings me to the second thing: is that ok for Hopkins fans? Nope. It's not. You're leaving out the most important part of this conversation, and that's the expectations of Hopkins fans. And what the Hopkins fans are saying is that the last three years aren't good enough.
I think you're saying two distinct things. One is that Hopkins fans have unrealistic expectations. Is this true? Let's go to the videotape...
OK.However, I think this team is very close to being one that could win another five games and reach the NCAA tournament.
If everyone fulfills their potential, including the coaches? I can see this team running the B1G, and I mean 7-0 and a top-four seed. That’s not likely to happen, but this much maligned team has that much potential.
I will “settle” for another 4 or 5 wins. Blue Jays should be aspiring to much, much more.
DocBarrister
The second claim is that expectations are unrealistic because there are things about JHU as a school, that no coach can affect, that set Hopkins' ceiling for success lower than that of most of the programs they compete with. Implied is that that ceiling is in fact reasonably close to what the current Hopkins staff is achieving.
Is this true? I'm not telling you definitively it's not. I think at this point it's premature and unproven. And a big reason for that is because the same kinds of thing could've been -- and, often, were -- said about many other programs just before they made changes that led to big improvement.
That doesn't mean the "particulars of Hopkins"-type factors you're talking about aren't real and don't matter. What I'd look to as a model are staffs that have come in with a coherent idea about the "particulars of Loyola" or "particulars of Towson" or "particulars of Yale" or whatever and plan for turning those from weaknesses into strengths. Maybe the current JHU staff is already doing that as well as anybody possibly could, but I think it's getting easier to be skeptical.
Of course, the question can be turned around on a fan. If Hopkins has academic, location, tuition, etc. issues that make the program unable to compete at the necessary level* what is Syracuse's excuse. Some of the excuses used for Hopkins, SU doesn't have.
Costs - SU is cheaper
Academics - Not taking away anything from SU but the student body is not the same at each school
Sports - SU is DI just like Duke, UMd.
Recruiting base - I'd imagine the SU can still get "right" jucos in the school if they want.
I do understand your point that parity is something that all programs have to deal with but that doesn't explain why Duke, UMd, ND, Loyola, and Denver seem to be in multiple FF over the last decade. If parity was as prevalent as some on here believe, than it should be impacting other schools or is it that Hopkins is just somehow impact by the parity bug more than other programs. Or, and this is what i think, Hopkins has done a poor job reacting to the changes.
I'm probably the harshest critic out here but even my expectations aren't that Hopkins should compete for national titles every year. My expectations are that Hopkins make 2 out of every 4-5 FFs* and be competitive in those years it doesn't make it. Does that mean it gets blown out in that odd year in the tournament? No, even Duke basketball as a 2 seed has lost to 15 seed. What it does mean is that similar to Duke basketball is that Hopkins should be in the conversation for contenders. That hasn't hadn't happened in over a decade.
* If you asked me that question 5-6 years ago, I would have said make a FF every third year so even now I'm lowering my standards. That's how much damage Petro has done to the program over the last decade.