What Does Woolard's Silence Say?

[Jewbull]

Love him or hate him, I think we all agree as the article says USF basketball cannot go on like it is.

http://www.tbo.com/sports/MGBB0R06PYE.html

By JOE HENDERSON

Published: Feb 28, 2007

TAMPA - Doug Woolard met me Tuesday afternoon with a smile and an apology. The University of South Florida's athletic director is always smiling, so I didn't read much into that.

Then he started the conversation by saying, "I'm really sorry, but …"

That's never good.

We had an appointment to talk about the future of USF's men's basketball coach Robert McCullum, but Woolard changed his mind. He fell back on his policy of not commenting about a coach until the season is over. That's two more games, starting tonight against Providence at the Sun Dome.

We always feel compelled to note that McCullum is a good man, which he is, and runs a clean program, which he does. But he also is about to conclude his fourth losing season in as many years here. Normally that would get you fired, but USF basketball has never been normal.

So we wait.

"I just feel you have to look at the entire body of work, the entire season, before you make these decisions," Woolard said.

Woolard made a policy exception a year ago. Rumors were rife that Bob Huggins wanted the USF job, so with two games remaining in the season Woolard pointedly announced McCullum would return.

There are no such names circling around the USF job this time, particularly not someone the caliber of Huggins. But it's no secret that McCullum's future is in doubt again and people won't be surprised if there is a change.

Woolard could have stopped all that with a simple declarative sentence: "Robert McCullum will be back next season." How hard would that have been?

He wouldn't say it.

Read into that what you will.

Losing Continues

McCullum is 40-74 since coming here, including 12-16 this season against a schedule front-loaded with creampuffs. He is 4-26 in the Big East. Those numbers are not unexpected, given that USF's basketball program is probably more in line with the Big South right now than the Big East.

It's still unacceptable.

Some of that is McCullum's fault, some of it isn't, but all of it has happened on his watch. His recruiting has been spotty and his luck has been worse. The Bulls have had more major injuries the last few years than a program ought to endure, but that only serves to magnify the recruiting problems.

Lack of depth leads to bad teams and public apathy. On most nights, between 7,000 and 8,000 of the seats at the Sun Dome are empty, which kills the atmosphere. Which makes it hard to recruit. Which makes it hard to win, which keeps the seats empty … you get the idea.

USF has a reputation in the coaching fraternity as a place where careers go to die. Lee Rose had been to the Final Four twice when he came to Fowler Avenue, but he couldn't produce more than a couple of NIT berths. Seth Greenberg had similar results during his tenure before he fled to Virginia Tech, where he's about to win his second ACC Coach of the Year award.

**** Vitale calls USF the toughest coaching job in America. Any young turk interested in this job likely would be warned by the elite coaches that USF is a career-killer. The evidence supporting that argument is compelling.

But USF can win, even in the Big East. The Bulls have been competitive in every Big East sport except men's basketball. Five years ago there was no program in America lower than USF women's basketball, but that has changed.

The men should be able to do the same.

Wait And See

It's hard to see how anything in the last two games would sway Woolard one way or the other. The positive aspects of McCullum's program won't change - his kids generally are solid citizens, he stresses classroom performance. But the negative things won't change either, even with a couple of wins.

It would cost about $400,000 to pay off the two years remaining on McCullum's contract, plus at least a couple of million more for the new coach. That's not insignificant, but money doesn't seem to be the issue.

The real question is: Can USF win often enough with Robert McCullum as the head coach? If the answer is yes, then Woolard should announce it to the world and start getting ready for next year.

But whatever he decides and whoever coaches, one thing is clear: USF can't go on like this. Something has to change.

You don't need the whole body of work to know that.

[bullwark]

Sometimes silence can speak volumes.

[Jihme]

Woolard will make the right call.  He won't do something like fire RMC unless he feels it really is in the best interest of the basketball team... along with a few people in mind as a new head coach

[Jewbull]

In all seriousness, I dont care who the person has been coaching our team the last 4 years, if he does not get fired, I really want to know what kind of perfomance is does take to get fired from a job in America.  But then again sports is never like working America. Whether its college or pro the business of sports is always different and held in a different standard than business America.

[bjonas16]

it says that jewbull should be the new coach.  all i know is that if i win the 100,000 in the shootout and they ask me what i am going to do with the money, i will tell them to add it to the money to fire mac!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BULLfreak]

Its all bout the name on the front of the jersey not the one of the back and the same can be said about the coach. The program needs a change this losing is old very old

[Bullpride08]

You've got to be kidding me.  He was going to clear the air with Henderson before a last minute change of position.  

You don't think he was going to publically decry CRM, and call for change before the season ended, and to the public do you?  The fact he even agreed to this interview initially doesn't bode well for those that want change.

This isn't as easy as a decision as some would want.  The pre-season losses of Dante Curry, and Howard hurt, Chris Capko, and Aris Williams.  Joe Henderson makes a valid point that injuries make the recruiting issues more glaring, and in previous seasons that would be the case but we entered this sesaon we had 12 scholarship players (if you include Capko) that's not a depth issue.  And any program that suffered season ending injuries to four players would have troubles.

For you gentlemen that seem to feel a need to attack anything that states a position other than total hatred for Mac JUST CHILL.  I am simply telling you what Woolard must take into account.  He can't ignore that those players, had they maintained their health, might have been good for 3-4 more wins for USF, and then this issue would have been moot.  This is why things are not cut and dry, and not to mention CRM is close to signing two other players in the late signing period...he signs those and he has 12-13 players returning for next year and 11 will be back for 2008, so the retention, recruiting stability issues isn't as big an issue as it once was.

Just be honest with yourselves before giving ignorant rants about how he's not doing this or, some player isn't that.  Those two aspects, coupled by the improved overall improved record does make this something Woolard needs to consider.  Oh, and the fact the buyout is over $400k, and the quality of candidates inquiring isn't going to inspire anyone to jump for joy.

Odd for Henderson to bring up Huggins like he did when it was all Tribune motivated on that issue, and there was no contact or flirting between USF and Huggins.  Maybe between an agent and a certain reporter but not between the other two parties.

[Jewbull]

Ok, all the Pro CRM fans have a point with the bad luck that he has had etc> My question is, when is it enough. What if next yr, something happens to Howard, or he recruits the best player in America and the guy does not qualify because of grades, or the FSU transfer who is suppossed to be a stud gets injured, all those scenarios are bad luck and out of CRM's control, so will everyone say next yr he has had more bad luck and should be given another chance, how many yrs of bad luck is one entitled to before the responsibility falls on their shoulders.

[flsportsfan83]

Mac is never to blame for losses, but when we win he deserves the glory.

[Bullpride08]

Ok, all the Pro CRM fans have a point with the bad luck that he has had etc> My question is, when is it enough. What if next yr, something happens to Howard, or he recruits the best player in America and the guy does not qualify because of grades, or the FSU transfer who is suppossed to be a stud gets injured, all those scenarios are bad luck and out of CRM's control, so will everyone say next yr he has had more bad luck and should be given another chance, how many yrs of bad luck is one entitled to before the responsibility falls on their shoulders.

Jewbull, that's probably exactly what Woolard is grappling with, when is it enough, or is all the recent positives just a set-up for another step back, Zeus transfers, or Holmes flunks out, or Howard's knee never fully recovers....

You are right about 'when', and that's the million dollar question.   When will we stop getting bad luck like Prekevicious not taking a $75k/year pro salary to play one more year in college...and the next question is are these unfortunate incidents attributable to Mac, or can another coach do away with them, or will the new coach be just as unfortunate because the real root of it is, just like in football, to get ahead USF must take some risks here and there, sign a player with a pre-existing condition, sign a guy that's got some past grade issues, sign a transfer.... we are not a program that can build from the bottom up by signing virtually all HS studs.  Hell for those of you that even give Jose credit need to realize he did it in his early by signing lots of transfers from other schools eventually building a program around those kids then he slowly got better or was able to get more of the top flight HS kids.

The point is there are reasons Lee Rose, Paschal, and Greenberg struggled to do things they found to be relatively easy to achieve at other schools.  At some point we needed to take a different approach, and trust me a team next year with Zeus, Gransberry, Holmes, and Williams will not be bad even though we didn't get any of these guys straight out of HS, it might even be enough to entice a decent candidate.

But anyway, Jew you hit the million dollar question.  Improvement is being seen, but I think the biggest concern is it could all dissolve with another stretch of bad luck.