Dakich retrospective
According to Maureen Fulton's blog in The Blade, Dan Dakich, through his attorney, has asked not to be considered for a contract extension.
Here, by the way, is a link to the text of the letter he sent to the AD, also via The Blade. He does not specify any specific reason, merely that he does not want to be considered. My uninformed guess is that this is part of a negotiation between the two.
I have a lot of personal feelings on this that I will share at another time, but I wanted to spend a little time developing a little perspective, because the last five years' frustration might have left us forgetting how things once looked.
First, let us go back ten years. Jim Larranaga has left for a lateral move, unlike what he expected when he arrived. Following the normal MAC practice, we went for an assistant at a major program, in this case, Bob Knight disciple Dan Dakich. We expected, in fact, for him to get results and move on. That was how you did things--grab an ambitious rising star, ride the star, and then start over.
DD struggled his first season, but then hit his stride. Big Time. After five seasons, he had assembled a very strong program, which had twenty win seasons, etc. The theory under which he was hired seemed to be coming true. He was known as a good coach. He was mentioned for other vacancies. Only the Kent State Elite 8 team kept BG from the NCAA tourney. Anderson was rocking--big crowds shaking the ceiling every week. An absolutely fearsome place to play, and a place where we were rarely beaten.
For the record, he is a write up of Dan Dakich after his 5th season @ BG.
BGSU Coach Dan Dakich has the highest conference winning percentage (58.3) among active MAC coaches (3 years or more in the league) and in the last five seasons has guided the Falcons to a 92-57 record (an average of 18.4 wins per season) and has posted a 56-34 MAC record, the second best among the 13 league members in that same span.
After five years, the game played itself out. Dan Dakich was hired to coach at West Virginia in the Big East. It was his opportunity at the big time, and he departs in an emotional and heartfelt good-bye. He was a certified rising star in the coaching profession.
I want you to freeze frame that moment. Later we will contrast it with how we feel today.
You know the story. DD returns to BG, for whatever reason. He says there are irregularities @ WVU, but nothing ever came of them. Whatever. He comes back.
And nothing was ever the same. First, his days as a rising star were over. In fact, he became somewhat of a national joke, especially when WVU ended up in the Sweet 16 a couple of years later.
He was given a 5-year contract upon his return. Remember, think back to how it felt then. It seemed simply right. We had a great coach, and he was going to stay. Our program could expect to compete for years to come. That's how it felt then.
You also know this part of the story. We had losing seasons for four of the next five years. The last two were really losing years. And Dan is looking for a job.
I don't know if it is a coincidence or not, but it is impossible not to look at DD and not see a pre-WVU tenure and a post-tenure WVU tenure, because they are as different as they could be.
I really see two phases to the post-WVU part of the tenure, however. The first three years were, in fact and retrospect, not too bad on the court. However, bad things were happening to the program infrastructure, and once the players left who were recruited pre-WVU, the whole ship fell apart.
Let me illustrate.
Post WVU I
This team should have been expected to struggle. There lost four major players the year before, and had only one senior. Things still had to look pretty good for this team and the program's future. But, with Lewis, Netter, Almanson, Reimold, Moss, Mattox, Fitch and Eyink we had some talent. Maybe not this year, but it looked to be a one-year rebuilding process.
We then were hit with a plague of injuries that boggle the mind:
Fitch injured on November 27th.
Almanson injured on January 26th
Jabari Mattox injured on Feb 19th.
We were eventually down to 7 scholarship players. Football stars Cole Magner and Keon Newson join team to provide some bodies. Despite all this, the team remains competitive to the end, primarily marred by a long losing streak when they just plain wore out. We beat BSU (on the road) in MAC tourney, and we finish a respectable 13-16 for the year.
Dakich says that the AD told him it was his best coaching job, and gave him a raise. Bottom line: things seem OK at this point. For the last time.
WVU II
Everybody comes back to the program, except Raheem Moss, a HS teammate of Ron Lewis and highly prized recruit who couldn't fit DD's style--and Ryan.
Meanwhile, we add Steven Wright, Austin Montgomery, Isaac Rosefelt, Chris Hobson and Matt Lefeld.
Things have to look good. Healthy, this team should be much better. We are picked 2nd in West. Yet, we finish 14-17.
Why? Clearly, something was not working. In retrospect, this is the first sign of trouble. At his MAC tourney presser, DD claimed he "lost half his team." The evidence for this is not clear. In fact, the team was pretty healthy, had a player who ended up being Big 10 honorable mention (Lewis), and two players who ended up being All-MAC (Reimold and Almanson), and Kevin Netter. They should have been better.
Yes, Fitch never returned healthy. Jabari was injured and didn't finish the season.
This team should have been better. In retrospect, I think it is clear that Lewis wasn't really making the team better, and Netter was a toxic presence.
At this point, the program clearly looks to be flat lining. Still, some talent exists, and if recruiting can pick up, things have not bottomed out.
WVU III
This off-season is a complete disaster. First, Ron Lewis, the program's flagship player, transfers to Ohio State. Meanwhile, Mattox and Netter have graduated. Talent level takes a huge dip. We also lose two freshmen--Chris Hobson and Isaac Rosefelt.
We replace them with guys like John Floyd, Moon Robinson, Scott Vandemeer, and Mawel Soler.
The infrastructure of the program continues to creak. Outgoing talent exceeds incoming talent. Nonetheless, the players who were there before WVU (Almanson and Reimold) lead the team to a respectable season. In fact, save a shameful loss at home to CMU, the team would have won the division. We beat Ball State at AA and head to the Gund, where we are knocked out.
Once Almanson, Reimold and Eyink leave, the program jumps off the cliff.
post-WVU IV and V
With the departure of Almanson and Reimold, the final links to the pre WVU days were gone. It is worse. Austin Montgomery, Scott Vandermeer, Steven Wright, Moon Robinson, John Floyd (and maybe others, it is hard to keep track) do not finish their careers at BG. Even a major recruiting class sees defections in which some players barely see any action at all. One leaves after the first practice.
And thus begins the second phase of post-WVU. From bad to worse. Suddenly, we start to see people like John Floyd and Moon Robinson getting minutes. Mawel Soler? Remember him?
To illustrate, let's look at how our recruiting classes panned out during the post-WVU era.
02-03
Stephen Wright--Productive player, left prior to his senior season. Moved to DII and was his conference's player of the year
Ron Lewis--Two productive seasons, no junior year. All-Big Ten Honorable mention.
Raheem Moss--26 games, two starts, 66 career points, left program. Contributing at Cleveland State.
03-04
Chris Hobson, 28 games, 51 points, left program.
Austin Montgomery 56 games, 189 points, transfered.
Reggie Harwell--Nada.
Matt Lefeld--A contributing senior and a true warrior. Academic All-American
Isaac Rosefelt--24 minutes, two points. Left Program for stellar DIII career.
John Floyd--Played 59 games averaging 8.4 ppg. 247 career assists. Left program.
04-05
Scott Vandermeer, 60 points and 40 fouls. Transfered.
Moon Robinson, Left program after sophomore season. Transferred.
Mawel Soler, completed eligibility. Effective player, even good in spots.
05-06
Jeremy Holland--left program after one practice
Nick Wilson--left program without playing a game.
Lionel Sullivan--Sayonara. 30 minutes, 6 points.
Dusan--A contributing role player.
Erik Marschall--appears to be legit.
Daryl Clements--Inconsistent, but appears ready to be a role player at worst.
Brian Moten--high credentials, came on strong at end of sophomore season.
Martin Samarco--2nd team All-MAC.
06-07
Ryne Hamblett--Contributing player, came on strong, looking to be scorer next year.
Brandon Bland--Status uncertain.
Marc Larson--Getting some minutes.
Otis Polk--huge man, huge upside.
Ryan Sims--has potential, is contributing, though he fell off the radar.
Nate Miller--All-MAC honorable mention. Great get for the program.
The story from here on in is more recent and documented elsewhere here. We go 21-39 for the two seasons, and that is aided with a cupcake schedule in the fifth season. We are 8-18 in the MAC. We are 13-15 at home. We go o-for-the-road in the MAC the fifth season. Many of the losses are drubbings. AA is a 1/3 filled tomb.
You know how that feels. Now, contrast that with the feeling we froze to a few paragraphs ago.
In five short seasons, DD goes from a rising star to being fired (more or less) at the job he came back to.
There are all kinds of reasons for what happened, but you cannot hide from the results.
It is clear that the program quit bringing in talent we could keep for the first three years after WVU. Players were either bad or gone or both. The last two years appear better--but time will tell. They will be given some new leadership. Sometimes a change shakes things up.
Coming soon: a more personal look.
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