Soooooo literal are we. Surely you don’t think I’m comparing coach K and Fox in regards to anything other than my point, which was as great as K has become, he had a very rocky start and there was a large contingent who wanted him out at Duke. Rome was not built in a day and I think Fox has gotten us to “respectable” as a program with finishing 5th in a decent league. I guess it’s all how you define it. I’ll take hovering around 500 right now and define that as winning compared to the trash we’ve had for so long. Is that ok long term, no, which is why I said an extension, not a lifetime contract. I think we are moving in the right direction with that 5th place finish, some of you do not. Agree to disagree I guess, but count me in as one who would be happy for more Fox. The alternative is not seeing if he can improve on that 5th place, roll the dice, start over, go back to cellar dweller and see if we can get another coach to come here, to this basketball Mecca, and start winning championships right off the bat.

It’s a long way to respectability from where we sit. Someone once said the key to happiness is low expectations, another that it is a short memory. I have neither. I’ve been with our guys at both NCAA tournament games.Doing it proves that it can be done.We have and we can.I know Jim and want him to be “the guy”, but he has one more year to prove to me that he is the best man for the job. “It’s not personal , it’s business”.

When do we get Bibby?

18-19 I believe

No one answered my post earlier in this thread so I’m posting it again.

I hear the theory that if we don’t give an extension, it leaves recruitment and players in limbo about future years. I don’t mean to be sarcastic because I truly don’t understand: if we have similar results next year, .500+ in conference with some good wins, it seems like we’re in the exact same place next year with a decision and the same scenario as this year is in place—to extend or not to extend, and recruits and players in limbo. Please help me understand.

Appears that decision has been made but not publicized... two year extension.

AppFan11 wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:55 pm

Appears that decision has been made but not publicized... two year extension.

I believe that’s a safe play.

Interesting to see the salary.

Fox has admitted to making some mistakes on the recruiting trail. Every new coach will do it. Had he been a 20 year head coach, that would be one thing, but that is not what we are talking about.

We need to see substantial improvement in the win-loss column next season .Short of that it will appear that we have resigned ourselves to mediocrity, or worse.

I thought recruiting was one of the Fox strong suits. The App news release upon his hiring stated “Strong recruiting and player development have been staples of Fox's college coaching career with student-athletes that he coached at Davidson earning all-America honors five times and all-conference accolades on 29 occasions“.

In 2 years we will know whether or not it was a good decision. I have my doubts but will defer to Doug Gillin.

I just hope the first decent season he has that he doesn't jump. Hopefully he will remember the patience our AD has had with the process.

wncapp78 wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 09, 2018 7:35 pm

I thought recruiting was one of the Fox strong suits. The App news release upon his hiring stated “Strong recruiting and player development have been staples of Fox's college coaching career with student-athletes that he coached at Davidson earning all-America honors five times and all-conference accolades on 29 occasions“.

I'm not sure we can really compare recruiting at Davidson in the SoCon to recruiting at Appalachian in the Sun Belt. Two completely different worlds.

The amount of negativity in this thread is baffling. It's not like Jim Fox took a dumpster fire program at a school with no notable basketball tradition and just finished .500 in conference, won a game in the conference tournament, and had the best non-conference win in the entirety of the Sun Belt. Oh, wait. We had a couple of bad losses and 18-15 would look much better than 15-18, but I look at our basketball history and (lack of) support for the program and I can't help but wonder what you guys actually expected us to look like at this point when you consider that you could probably count on one hand the number of programs in worse shape than ours when Jim Fox took over.

One man’s negativity is another man’s realism.We have lost two thirds of our contests the past four years .Performance has been terribly inconsistent,except in the area of blowing leads and losing close games, where we have been consistent. We saw a glimmer of hope at year’s end and believe me no one outside the Fox household wants JIM to be successful more than I do. Next season , however , there are no more excuses.