Elton Alexander: Interesting post on MAC Coaching...Ramsey Update

I don't always think Elton Alexander thinks he is right in how he covers MAC sports....he has the college beat for the Plain Dealer...but he published a pretty interesting article about MAC Coaches yesterday.

The premise is this:  the teams with the most consistent success in the MAC have hired their coaches from within as opposed to from outside.  These coaches have been successful because they know what it takes to win in the MAC, where budget cuts are commonplace.

As examples, he cites:

• Keith Dambrot
• Charlie Coles
• Geno Ford
• Steve Hawkins

As for success, he notes:

Those programs have been the MAC's best for the last seven years; and seven of the last eight MAC Players of the Year have come from those four teams.

Finally, the evil genius lets us into his mind for a minute...

"Being familiar with the league, from the inside, is very important," Coles said. "The MAC is so different. We're so close [geographically], for the most part. It is not the normal league. You have four or five rivals, and the way it's set up now with divisions, you play most of them back-to-back.

"Unless you have gone through that, just knowing the lay of the land, knowing what you're up against going into Ohio University or Kent, or Akron, there's a tough go of it.

"I've seen a lot of guys come in over the years [who] underestimated what it took to win in this league. You have got to know what you are getting into; you can't just think you know."

That's a very interesting quote....essentially, it says that the MAC is a very tough conference to win in, despite the fact that it is not highly rated.  And I think he's probably right...a coach at a stronger conference might think it is easy to come in and make your bones in the MAC...but this appears to indicate otherwise.

Digression:

Charlie Coles?  An assistant.  I had forgotten all about that.  It is hard to imagine.

Discussion:

In three of the four cases, the assistant coaches in question took over for coaches who left after succeeding for greener pastures.  In other words, they ascended from within at a time when the program was strong.

Only Keith Dambrot took over for a coach who was fired (Hipsher).

My only point is that it is much harder to promote from within when you decide the program has to change directions and you blow it up.

If there is an exception to the rule, it is Ohio U.  They have 2 conference championships in the period in question with two coaches (O'Shea and Groce) neither of whom had MAC experience.

They even had the lion's share of the division winners through that time, with BG, Buffalo, and NIU stealing one here and there...UT had one too, but they were coached by Stan Joplin who had a long tenure in the MAC.

Looked at in this light, you would have to take a close look at MAC hiring models.  If you are blowing up your program, you would want to find someone with MAC experience, even if they weren't at your school.

For example, Mark Montgomery coached for 5 years at CMU before heading to MSU and then to NIU...is that going to allow him to beat this trend. (The only other example of this strategy is not as good....Ernie Ziegler did coach for one year at BG earlier in his career).

Anyway, small samples can be deceiving, and anybody can do something for the first time...but, I think it is a pretty thought-provoking piece.  You hate to think of the MAC being that in-bred, but perhaps that is what is required to win here.

It is probably something for MAC fans to think about when they want that "sexy" new hire...the name you know might be the best choice.

UPDATE:  As if in comment, Charles Ramsey, who was an assistant at EMU for 3 seasons early in his career, was fired by the school today.