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Post by canislatrans on Apr 4, 2018 19:28:34 GMT -6
Another South Dakota success story. Venture out of state, work your tail off, rewarded for your labors, viewed as a great worker, but an even better person, and now it's time to bring it all home!
Let's go Yotes fans, let's welcome home Coach Lee!!
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Post by yotebewithyou on Apr 4, 2018 20:23:45 GMT -6
I will start out by saying that I will try to be as fair as I can and would hope others would take the same stance whether a particular person is pro Lee or not pro Lee as of yet. I will give Todd Lee my support and I will give him some rope but honestly the rope will not be real long if things don't go well. I am a natural skeptic and with Lee that certainly is no different. Craig Smith left this program in very good shape and especially from a player personnel aspect. There is really no reason or excuse that Lee should not be able to succeed pretty much right off the bat. Good coaches know how to get the players around them to succeed. As far as I am concerned I do think Lee has to have at least some blame or credit for what happens to Mooney. If he can't convince one of our current players to stay on board why would he be able to convince players that have nothing to do with USD to come either. Of course he doesn't deserve a ton of blame or credit but if Mooney still leaves that is not going to leave me feeling very warm. We will see what happens with the other recruits. Lee has had a ton of experience but I am not sure that experience lends me to believe that he is the upside coach that we would want. He coached at Kentucky Wesleyan and did a decent job there but that is a place where most coaches should probably do fairly well so I am not going to use that gig as a major good point or bad point. Using excuses why a coach didn't do so well such as a program on probation or having nothing to work with when he started isn't something that proves he is a good coach but what that does is show at best is that he is an unproven coach. If a coach is in a difficult situation and had mediocre results that shouldn't necessarily be considered a good thing. My biggest issue with him is his career path. If he was such a good coach why would he have spent the last 5 years as an assistant at a college transitioning to D1 as in Grand Canyon. For me he seems like a career journeyman. It doesn't seem like he is much of a hot name either and I wonder how many other D1 programs have seriously considered him for an opening. Of course now is the time we get to hear all the fluff. He is a great guy, a hard worker, a great person to work with yada, yada, yada. Those are things that are going to be said about anyone just hired for a job. This hire to me smells like a Dave Williams used to know him and had a biased towards him and possibly used that past relationship as a reason to hire him over other candidates that have better resumes and upside. I am assuming Lee is about 55 and I have a hard time seeing the upside in this hire and have a hard time believing that he is going to be able to do everything it takes to be the head man in recruiting, player development and strategical coaching to be able to unseat the Jacks as the king of the Summit. I am not going to pretend to know everything as I don't have the info that anyone has that makes the hires but objectively I just have a hard time with this. It seems like when his name was first mentioned that everyone was kind of skeptical but as soon as he was announced the tone changed very quickly. I look at this like the parents that have a child with a developmental disability. If you ask them "would you ever trade him for a child with normal capabilities". You will get "no way" every time but if that choice was made prior to the child being born no one is going to choose the disability over no disability. It always seems to come down to what people know and are used to. Now that Lee is official people will tend to rationalize towards the positive even if their initial thoughts or feelings weren't very positive. I have yet to really hear many outside opinions yet but non biased outsiders often times tend to be right on whether this was a good or bad hire. As I said in the beginning I will give Lee a chance but my first impression is not a very good one on the tangibles of the hire. Mr. Coyote Fan, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone on this board is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
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Post by Cousin Eddie on Apr 4, 2018 20:37:37 GMT -6
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Post by flagshipU on Apr 4, 2018 21:28:27 GMT -6
The more I read about Coach Lee, the happier I am he is the guy. (I admit I didn't know anything about him 10 days ago.) Much closer profile to Bob N and Dawn P than Amy W or Craig S, and I personally like that trend. Completely agree with your post regarding the comparison to Bob and Dawn, both of which are outstanding coaches. Great day for the Yotes!
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Post by elcoyote on Apr 4, 2018 22:14:19 GMT -6
I see where Grand Canyon had a number of Aussies on their squad. Coach Lee most likely has some connections down under that should help him make an instant connection with Ben Fakira. I'll admit too that I'd never heard of him up until a few days ago, but the more I read the more I like the hire.
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Post by nidaros on Apr 5, 2018 5:14:11 GMT -6
Stig never played college football but loves the game, and I suppose the same could be said about Mr. Lee.
Please no comments about cramping and no joose jokes. I mean this as a compliment.
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Post by kiyoat on Apr 5, 2018 5:39:39 GMT -6
kwsn.com/podcasts/sports-talk-with-kwsn/four podcasts from yesterday about Lee on KWSN. I recommend the one with the former player. One thing from that interview I forgot to mention was that Lee is a John Wooden disciple, and uses Wooden's approach to meetings, practice, life, etc.
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Post by nidaros on Apr 5, 2018 5:49:40 GMT -6
kwsn.com/podcasts/sports-talk-with-kwsn/four podcasts from yesterday about Lee on KWSN. I recommend the one with the former player. One thing from that interview I forgot to mention was that Lee is a John Wooden disciple, and uses Wooden's approach to meetings, practice, life, etc. I think USD got a good hire.
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Post by notkiotees on Apr 5, 2018 6:33:45 GMT -6
Congrats and welcome back Coach Lee! Looking forward to many Coyote W's.
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Post by teamsd on Apr 5, 2018 6:51:47 GMT -6
I think it is perfectly fine to be cautiously optimistic or even neutral about this hire. If you are, that means you expect a lot out of this coach and that he has to prove it in order to stick around here - that’s exactly what we want - A fan base that expects their coaches to win.
The days of accepting mediocrity and complacency are over. On the KWSN podcasts, they talk a lot about the fact that some people probably wanted Ryan Miller because that’s the name everyone knew (I’m guilty of this). I had no idea who Dawn was a year ago. I would say that Craig was also relatively unknown, beside the fact that his mentor was an SD native and coached next door. I didn’t learn about Todd Lee until a week or so ago. Initially, I was also surprised. But this administration hasn’t hired a bad coach and the things people are saying about Todd Lee are impressive. Plus, he’s a native son. How cool. Let’s roll!
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Post by JWKunzman on Apr 5, 2018 7:25:37 GMT -6
The more I read, the more I like him. As stated above I'd say cautiously optimistic is the way to be right now. Very interested to see what he has to say in tomorrow's press conference.
Mooney will stay because the Toddfather will make him an offer he can't refuse
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Post by yoteforever on Apr 5, 2018 7:38:07 GMT -6
I think Mooney’s gone myself. If he stays huge kudos to Coach Lee.
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olifer
Sophomore Member
Posts: 188
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Post by olifer on Apr 5, 2018 8:05:39 GMT -6
The more I read about Coach Lee, the happier I am he is the guy. (I admit I didn't know anything about him 10 days ago.) Much closer profile to Bob N and Dawn P than Amy W or Craig S, and I personally like that trend. Completely agree with your post regarding the comparison to Bob and Dawn, both of which are outstanding coaches. Great day for the Yotes! Totally agree with both of you here. I liked Craig as much as anyone else on here but in retrospect it's quite clear that his goal from the start was to get in here, build the program, and get the h*** out which is exactly what he did. With someone like Todd Lee, I think it's quite possible that he'll stay longer to enjoy the successes of the team that he has built and hopefully is not already looking at this position as a stepping stone to get out of Vermillion as fast as he can.
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Post by goyotes24 on Apr 5, 2018 8:20:59 GMT -6
Completely agree with your post regarding the comparison to Bob and Dawn, both of which are outstanding coaches. Great day for the Yotes! Totally agree with both of you here. I liked Craig as much as anyone else on here but in retrospect it's quite clear that his goal from the start was to get in here, build the program, and get the h*** out which is exactly what he did. With someone like Todd Lee, I think it's quite possible that he'll stay longer to enjoy the successes of the team that he has built and hopefully is not already looking at this position as a stepping stone to get out of Vermillion as fast as he can. I don't think Herbster was necessarily looking for someone who wants to be here for a decade or so, however, I don't think it was lost on him that Lee's USD background is a bonus which could result in Lee being here for more than four years. I am all-in on this hire. I know Lee hasn't coached a game yet, but I think Herbster nailed it, especially considering where the program is right now.
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Post by Yote 53 on Apr 5, 2018 8:38:50 GMT -6
I think Mooney’s gone myself. If he stays huge kudos to Coach Lee. I'm trying to delve into the psychology of a player leaving in their final season. Playing college athletics is the end of a person's sports career unless a person is going to go pro. Yoteforever, you know this, playing sports and being a part of a team, in the end, is all about relationships. The relationships you build with your teammates in college, literally, will last a lifetime. When you are living in the moment you don't quite understand everything since you are just trying to win from day to day, each snap, each shot, each practice, each quarter, each game, each season, you don't really think about the entirety so you lack perspective. When you are out of college, 10, 15, 20 years down the road, you really have the chance to look back and get perspective on what that period in your life was really about. Transferring to a different school to play for a different team sounds great at the time, when you are living in the moment, but how is that going to play out years down the road when you have the gift of the passage of time and you gain perspective? I don't understand the psychology of a player who transfers for their final season unless it is to put them in a position to better their chances at going pro. Honest question, is Mooney going pro? I doubt it. So why transfer for his final season? Any way you slice it he is going to have to get used to playing for a new coach and a new coaching staff. By transferring, he would also have to deal with getting to know new teammates, in a new town, at a new school. There is something to be said for familiar surroundings and a comfort level having a positive effect on performance. Then there is the extra motivation of having a shared goal with your current teammates that you have been striving for together over time. I don't understand giving that up for what amounts to a mercenary season with people you don't know. 10, 15, 20 years from now, when he reflects back on his college career I hope he will be happy with his choices. I will say this, you don't remember all the games, oh, you remember plays and moments in games here and there, but what you'll remember most is the things you don't really think of right now, little things that happen from day to day, and your buddies.
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