Coach Roc

[Guest coachacola]

I remember the Tony Branch years.  They probably should have given him more than two years, but he was a real young coach (early 30's I think) and he went from 12-16 his first year to 7-21 his second. After following Tubbs, Foster, and Abetamarco (who won 20 games the year before Branch took over), no coach would have been safe by winning only 7 games.  Bad timing also played a role, because Lamar started having financial problems, enrollment started dropping, the economy in SETX sucked back then, and the decision to form that new conference turned out to be a mistake.

Oh but I disagree with this, "and the decision to form that new conference turned out to be a mistake." The American South was a regular top 10 conference in BB and one year was ranked 6th best BB conference. Compared to the SLC average rankin of 23rd. The fault was in LU, not the conference as that LU and UTPA was the only schools that went down. Blame poor leadership at Lamar.

But the new conference didn't have an automatic bid for a few years which I think led to the demise of the conference.  Also, I think by abandoning the SLC, Lamar essentially "gave up" on the football program.  Since they had few successful years, by going I-AA independent there was no way the football program could be successful.

[BLUEDOVE3]

Tony Branch's 1st and last team was not THIS bad...and they FIRED him..... : :

The Lamar WOMEN'S program was a MESS when Tidwell arrived just two years ago...They got BETTER..... : :

I am pulling for him to right the ship.....I really wish they would have given Coach Branch the same EQUAL opportunity, though..... : :

Dickie, I don't think you were born yet or at the minimum, you were still in diapers ;D

[BLUEDOVE3]

I remember the Tony Branch years.  They probably should have given him more than two years, but he was a real young coach (early 30's I think) and he went from 12-16 his first year to 7-21 his second. After following Tubbs, Foster, and Abetamarco (who won 20 games the year before Branch took over), no coach would have been safe by winning only 7 games.  Bad timing also played a role, because Lamar started having financial problems, enrollment started dropping, the economy in SETX sucked back then, and the decision to form that new conference turned out to be a mistake.

Oh but I disagree with this, "and the decision to form that new conference turned out to be a mistake." The American South was a regular top 10 conference in BB and one year was ranked 6th best BB conference. Compared to the SLC average rankin of 23rd. The fault was in LU, not the conference as that LU and UTPA was the only schools that went down. Blame poor leadership at Lamar.

But the new conference didn't have an automatic bid for a few years which I think led to the demise of the conference.  Also, I think by abandoning the SLC, Lamar essentially "gave up" on the football program.  Since they had few successful years, by going I-AA independent there was no way the football program could be successful.

Bottom line is this: The conference was too tough to win and the cost of travel was too high for the losses LU was going to incur

[westendfirst]

Easy MFFL...........you know that I am a Deane fan and he is a personal friend of mine. 

Based on performance the only difference between Tubbs, Roc and Deane is the fact that Deane's players graduated, went to class, were not arrested for drug's, did not run from police, not arrested for gun possession, etc.  Should I go on.  Yes it is more fun to watch LU now................oh wait they scored 36 points in their last game!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D

We haven't had a good coach here since Foster left...and that includes the older Billy Tubbs.  Marlin and Kaspar can flat out coach....Roc is nowhere near their class.  It's a shame we won't spend a little money and get someone in here that knows what he's doing. 

[badndn]

  Next year only Hall, Custer, and Mahoney will be his third year players (and Nwevo will be the only 4 year player).  He has 5  freshmen and 2 JUCOs for next year, so we'll see how good these players are.  I bet the year after next, when most of the HS players have been here at least 2 or 3 years, will we know if Roc stays or goes.

Actually Nabors will be a third year guy as well and Custer and Mahoney will be fourth year guys (they all red shirted).

[Guest DickVitale]

Tony Branch's 1st and last team was not THIS bad...and they FIRED him..... : :

The Lamar WOMEN'S program was a MESS when Tidwell arrived just two years ago...They got BETTER..... : :

I am pulling for him to right the ship.....I really wish they would have given Coach Branch the same EQUAL opportunity, though..... : :

Dickie, I don't think you were born yet or at the minimum, you were still in diapers ;D

No way dude! ;D..I was an eighth grader attending the first annual Tony Branch Basketball Camp! That year my brother signed with him at LU...We got busted for sneaking out to the MC Hammer/Heavy D Concert in the Montagne during camp by none other than Doug McCarter! Ran us to death for that!! LU football asst James Brown was with us too!!

[tyree]

We haven't had a good coach here since Foster left...and that includes the older Billy Tubbs.  Marlin and Kaspar can flat out coach....Roc is nowhere near their class.

Well I disagree with this. First of all, Foster inherited Tubbs Sweet-16 team save Clarence Kea...then the program basically went down each year thereafter as a national presence as Pat seemed unable to recruit the same quality of players, though the JC trio of Kellybrew, Robinson, and Sewell was a quick and fun team to watch especially when they clobbered the Univ. of Alabama in the 1st round of the NCAA's. Pat's stints behind the legendary Guy Lewis at Houston and then Nevada were unimpressive...though certainly, he's a great guy. As for Marlin and Kasper, what have they really done outside the mighty SLC? I agree with Bob West, that Roc's midyear adjustments after the loss of Dawkins was an impressive bit of coaching with 3 back to back wins after many on this post had given up. I wasn't there last Saturday to see what was maybe the worst Lamar performance EVER in the MONTAGNE. But, Roc's three year record is not that bad especially considering that after decades of whining about Lamar's schedule he's played Memphis 3 times, Kentucky, Louisville, Air Force, BYU......so when is Marlin gonna play Louisville? I'm still behind The ROC!

[TexasTerror]

Marlin and Kaspar can flat out coach....Roc is nowhere near their class.

I can agree with that!

As for Marlin and Kasper, what have they really done outside the mighty SLC?

Marlin and McConathy have some of the bigger OOC wins in the regular season for the SLC over the last few years. Kaspar, not so much. McConathy, who should be included in the group, also has the NCAA win.

But, Roc's three year record is not that bad especially considering that after decades of whining about Lamar's schedule he's played Memphis 3 times, Kentucky, Louisville, Air Force, BYU......so when is Marlin gonna play Louisville? I'm still behind The ROC!

SHSU only plays two guarantee games a year - this year, it was UTEP and Texas A&M. In previous years, it has include Texas, Baylor (who we beat), Saint Louis (who we beat), Nebraska (who we beat), Florida (rematch of NCAA game) and Oklahoma State. I apologize if we do not whore ourselves out, but Marlin uses his connections with mid-major coaches to play mid-major foes (i.e Loyola Marymount, Fresno State, North Texas, UC-Irvine, Louisiana-Lafayette, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wright State, Western Michigan,  etc). These are the teams we want to play, are willing to play us home-and-home and we have a good chance of beating both home and away.

[BLUEDOVE3]

Tony Branch's 1st and last team was not THIS bad...and they FIRED him..... : :

The Lamar WOMEN'S program was a MESS when Tidwell arrived just two years ago...They got BETTER..... : :

I am pulling for him to right the ship.....I really wish they would have given Coach Branch the same EQUAL opportunity, though..... : :

Dickie, I don't think you were born yet or at the minimum, you were still in diapers ;D

No way dude! ;D..I was an eighth grader attending the first annual Tony Branch Basketball Camp! That year my brother signed with him at LU...We got busted for sneaking out to the MC Hammer/Heavy D Concert in the Montagne during camp by none other than Doug McCarter! Ran us to death for that!! LU football asst James Brown was with us too!!

I had forgotten that your dad use to come up here and help with the camp. Boydoes time fly.

[westendfirst]

We haven't had a good coach here since Foster left...and that includes the older Billy Tubbs.  Marlin and Kaspar can flat out coach....Roc is nowhere near their class.

Well I disagree with this. First of all, Foster inherited Tubbs Sweet-16 team save Clarence Kea...then the program basically went down each year thereafter as a national presence as Pat seemed unable to recruit the same quality of players, though the JC trio of Kellybrew, Robinson, and Sewell was a quick and fun team to watch especially when they clobbered the Univ. of Alabama in the 1st round of the NCAA's. Pat's stints behind the legendary Guy Lewis at Houston and then Nevada were unimpressive...though certainly, he's a great guy. As for Marlin and Kasper, what have they really done outside the mighty SLC? I agree with Bob West, that Roc's midyear adjustments after the loss of Dawkins was an impressive bit of coaching with 3 back to back wins after many on this post had given up. I wasn't there last Saturday to see what was maybe the worst Lamar performance EVER in the MONTAGNE. But, Roc's three year record is not that bad especially considering that after decades of whining about Lamar's schedule he's played Memphis 3 times, Kentucky, Louisville, Air Force, BYU......so when is Marlin gonna play Louisville? I'm still behind The ROC!

I don't know what Foster you remember but I believe he actually had a better record than Tubbs didn't he?  And he did recruit some great players and had very successfull teams on his own.  If you'll recall, UH was one of the top basketball programs in the country when he left.  So you are saying that UH went after him because he wasn't any good.

Also, I'm not complaining about what Roc did out of conference I'm upset with what he did in conference.  I certainly don't expect us to go to kentucky, louisville and memphis and win.  I don't think it is unreasonable for us to be good enough to QUALIFY for the TOUGH slc tournament.