Andy (and for the rest of this post I will refer to him as Andy because when you're close to
someone, I mean when you live among someone in a small community you're always
on a first name basis) is a practicing attorney in Oxford.
Andy of course is a former Mississippi high school basketball star who played college ball'
in a neighboring state. He dabbled in coaching for a little while and then made his way to
Oxford.
In his spare time you will see him coaching UM basketball. You see, back in 2006 we needed
a change and Andy was gracious enough to volunteer his time. Coaching basketball is a tough
business. Well it's a business for some people. Like at Alabama where the head coach makes it his
profession to coach basketball and gets paid well to do so. You see Grant (and for the rest of this post
I will refer to him as Grant because when you're an employee in a high pressure, high stakes business
nobody in the media refers to you as Anthony......just Grant or Anthony Grant) is on the hottest of seats.
He has been to just one NCAA tourney in six years and was just ousted after one game in the SEC tourney.
College basketball for most is a bottom line business. Regardless of how difficult it may be, getting to the NCAA
tournament is what this business is about. Ask Seth Greenberg. Grant is almost guaranteed to be gone in
a few days and UA will seek a replacement.
Andy has been to just one NCAA tourney in NINE years. But it really is hard to get upset over this. Andy is a good
coach. Just ask the Ole Miss beat. Particularly the Rebel Grove staff. It wasn't until recently when listening to multiple
RG podcasts that I understood how Andy was feeling. Neal would begin almost every UM basketball segment with "Andy's
frustrated"......or "Andy was embarrassed"......or "Andy was furious". And sure, I picked up on it myself over the years, like when Andy was perplexed by his team's performance in Starkville two years ago. And when he cracked jokes about his teams rebounding ability last year. Or this year when he tells everyone who will listen that this team doesn't communicate.
My favorite is when Andy revealed that he has created 317 defenses this year in an effort to make up for their physical shortcomings.
You see, each year Ross Bjork and a committee of Oxford businessmen bring together a collection of high school and juco players for Andy to work with. No doubt Andy is losing his patience trying to compete against coaches in his conference that can recruit the players they coach.
Andy has done well though. Just like Grant he has put together 20 win seasons. And the stat that so many in the media adore, including RG staffers- seven 20 win seasons and just seven in the 90 some odd years before. Shhhh!!!! Never mind that in the 20's teams would play a TOTAL of five games. Or that teams from the 50's through the 80's played significantly less overall games than Andy's teams.
We're not going to quibble over stuff like that. Not with a guy like Andy. Andy is a good guy (everyone in Oxford is a good guy) and a good coach. So sit back and enjoy the NIT this year, thank Andy for volunteering his time, and look forward to next year when all of the frustration goes away at the pavilion. Maybe, just maybe it will be with a coach who produces results and isn't in a position to offer excuses or blame his players.......or maybe not.
This post was edited on 3/13 7:49 AM by thetipofmyitsybitsylittlefinger
This post was edited on 3/13 7:51 AM by thetipofmyitsybitsylittlefinger
This post was edited on 3/13 7:53 AM by thetipofmyitsybitsylittlefinger
someone, I mean when you live among someone in a small community you're always
on a first name basis) is a practicing attorney in Oxford.
Andy of course is a former Mississippi high school basketball star who played college ball'
in a neighboring state. He dabbled in coaching for a little while and then made his way to
Oxford.
In his spare time you will see him coaching UM basketball. You see, back in 2006 we needed
a change and Andy was gracious enough to volunteer his time. Coaching basketball is a tough
business. Well it's a business for some people. Like at Alabama where the head coach makes it his
profession to coach basketball and gets paid well to do so. You see Grant (and for the rest of this post
I will refer to him as Grant because when you're an employee in a high pressure, high stakes business
nobody in the media refers to you as Anthony......just Grant or Anthony Grant) is on the hottest of seats.
He has been to just one NCAA tourney in six years and was just ousted after one game in the SEC tourney.
College basketball for most is a bottom line business. Regardless of how difficult it may be, getting to the NCAA
tournament is what this business is about. Ask Seth Greenberg. Grant is almost guaranteed to be gone in
a few days and UA will seek a replacement.
Andy has been to just one NCAA tourney in NINE years. But it really is hard to get upset over this. Andy is a good
coach. Just ask the Ole Miss beat. Particularly the Rebel Grove staff. It wasn't until recently when listening to multiple
RG podcasts that I understood how Andy was feeling. Neal would begin almost every UM basketball segment with "Andy's
frustrated"......or "Andy was embarrassed"......or "Andy was furious". And sure, I picked up on it myself over the years, like when Andy was perplexed by his team's performance in Starkville two years ago. And when he cracked jokes about his teams rebounding ability last year. Or this year when he tells everyone who will listen that this team doesn't communicate.
My favorite is when Andy revealed that he has created 317 defenses this year in an effort to make up for their physical shortcomings.
You see, each year Ross Bjork and a committee of Oxford businessmen bring together a collection of high school and juco players for Andy to work with. No doubt Andy is losing his patience trying to compete against coaches in his conference that can recruit the players they coach.
Andy has done well though. Just like Grant he has put together 20 win seasons. And the stat that so many in the media adore, including RG staffers- seven 20 win seasons and just seven in the 90 some odd years before. Shhhh!!!! Never mind that in the 20's teams would play a TOTAL of five games. Or that teams from the 50's through the 80's played significantly less overall games than Andy's teams.
We're not going to quibble over stuff like that. Not with a guy like Andy. Andy is a good guy (everyone in Oxford is a good guy) and a good coach. So sit back and enjoy the NIT this year, thank Andy for volunteering his time, and look forward to next year when all of the frustration goes away at the pavilion. Maybe, just maybe it will be with a coach who produces results and isn't in a position to offer excuses or blame his players.......or maybe not.
This post was edited on 3/13 7:49 AM by thetipofmyitsybitsylittlefinger
This post was edited on 3/13 7:51 AM by thetipofmyitsybitsylittlefinger
This post was edited on 3/13 7:53 AM by thetipofmyitsybitsylittlefinger
