Ron Sanchez has Charlotte at 4-0 in CUSA, 10-5 overall after a win at Marshall tonight. He took over a 6-23 (2-16) team 2 years ago. It’ll only get better too. They’re recruiting at a high level, have stolen a few that high majors wanted.
Of course Liberty is at 18-1 under Ritchie McKay, only loss coming at LSU. Will be their 4th straight winning season, after doing that only once in the six years he was gone. The program is just a machine now. He already has two commits for 2021, one had a Wake offer and the other is a PG he compares to Ty Jerome.
An off-season storyline will definitely be the Coach Williford watch. He’ll be next to branch out, just a matter of when and where. There was some speculation today on twitter of him being a candidate for the UNC-Wilmington opening. That might not be it, but he will have options for sure.
Good stuff, thanks. That’s the original staff, and I’ve got to think having such a strong group in place for several years was a huge factor in building for long term success. It’s cool to see Sanchez and McKay are building successful programs of their own. Good luck to Williford wherever the next step might be.
I haven’t watched Liberty or Charlotte this year. How much do they resemble UVA?
This is quite selfish of me, but I dont get very excited about Bennetts coaching tree. It makes me sad to lose quality staff members. But like I said this is definitely me just being selfish…Is there anyway a strong “Coaching Tree” benefits Tony Bennett and his program at UVA? Just curious.
The broad outlines of their stats are similar stylistically to the best versions of Bennett’s teams: slow tempo, takes good care of the ball, doesn’t prioritize offensive rebounding or getting to the FT line. They were better offensively than defensively last year, but that’s flipped this year.
Coach McKay is my neighbor and I’ve seen them play a few times. They play the pack line and play it well. They are a really good defensive team. Overall the basic tenets of the program are very similar to CTB with the offense tailored to the skill sets of his players.
Agree with @Daniel_G it’s always a little bittersweet to see the CTB coaching tree grow. That original staff was strong and helped lay the groundwork for the program. However, I’m a firm believer that great leaders are the ones who prepare and build others to be successful. CTB certainly fits that mold and as his coaching tree grows we’ll realize the full impact on the game that he’s had.
Another cool thing about TB. After the UMBC loss that we dont talk about the first thing he did was grab Ron and apologetically say “I hope this didnt cost you the Charlotte job”. Imagine that
They both have adopted the broad philosophies, and the pack D. Ron and Ritchie are their own men so naturally the details are different.
Of course I follow the recruiting. Sanchez’s ways seem to be as close to Bennett there as possible. He’s stolen a few recruits that ACC/SECs wanted just by recruiting them harder, making their plan Bs his plan As from the jump. He’s used the reclass/redshirt method at least once to get a kid in early that maybe he wouldn’t have gotten otherwise, another TB tactic. Heck he even brought in a project big man from New Zealand.
Ritchie is an ace evaluator. I think that’s his real secret of success. Coaches can clean up at that level by identifying talent better. He always had that ability, and then added 6 years of Jedi training under Tony.
An interesting thing I’ve noticed is there is definite cooperation between UVA and both programs in evaluation. Our current assistants see young guys early that would be a better fit at a mid-major and Charlotte ends up recruiting them. Goes the other way too. We had a recent 2022 visitor Isaac McKneely. Liberty has a kid from the same small WV high school. They offered him very early. Now that it’s clear he’s out of their reach, UVA gets involved.
Ahh, So in that last paragraph you did make an interesting point that pleases my selfish self. So there is a benefit for Tony Bennett and UVA to have a large successful coaching tree. haha Thanks HGN