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Thanks for posting the video.  I find it amazing that a guy that was just fired can be that thankful to the school that just fired him.  I think it is great that he indicates academically his team did great in the classroom and that he had  great relationship with his players.  I am very impressed with this guy.  He indicated that he takes responsibillity for his team, his record, and did not have any excuses.  I hope he gets the job and I am optimistic for the future if he is our coach.

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3 hours ago, ZachTheZip said:

And they fired him anyway. What does that tell you?

 

Here's more about that firing which seems to speak to your point, from the USA Today article 

 

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/03/john-groce-fired-illinois-basketball-mens-ad-josh-whitman

 

I especially noted this quote:

Look, every one of these news releases reads like the awkward eulogy of a man no one really liked.

 

There's really some disturbing numbers:

1) Illinois never had a winning conference record in his 5 years there.

2) Illinois had not failed to make the NCAA tournament for 4 straight years in nearly 4 decades.  

Edited by skip-zip
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39 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

 

How about the one that says that Akron has ZERO NCAA tournament appearances.  I'm always amazed at the people who decide to post about something, and yet just flat-out have no factual knowledge at all about the subject matter that they decided to comment about.  

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I love this hire. John Groce was on top of my list at day one. He is the obvious choice. The only questions I had were the following:

1 - Considering the institution's financial situation, would the athletic department decide to go cheap with a non proven assistant to save money?

2 - Considering that he will be making around $1.5M in the next two years, does Groce want to come to Akron or relax and take a year off?

 

The answers of the two questions came out perfect. The athletic department and the institution decided to invest in the future of Zips basketball and John Groce has the fire to learn from his experience at illinois, re-load his guns and work twice as hard to show the world that he deserves a top coaching job.
  

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10 minutes ago, Zip_ME87 said:

Don't know what to think about hiring Groce, but here's some food for thought while we're posting tweets...

 

I find stuff like funny. If Keith Dambrot wouldn't have lost six MAC title games and won one tournament game, he wouldn't have thrown his pitty-party and bolted. 

 

Personally, while I have questioned some of what KD did in the past (me and pretty much everybody else on here over the years), I wish he would've retired a Zip. But he didn't. 

 

And while our hometown savior left because he didn't think he could win here, our new coach (who realistically has experienced more success in the MAC in four years than KD did in 13) decided to come here because he sees it as a place he can win at. Despite Groce's "failure" at Illinois, don't think for a second he couldn't have had his pick of mid-major jobs. 

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19 minutes ago, Zip_ME87 said:

Don't know what to think about hiring Groce, but here's some food for thought while we're posting tweets...

 

And Akron would have been out in the first round by double digits.   Groce seized the day.   Look at some of the top golfers...They are often more lucky than good 

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7 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

 

Was he offered another job that I am unaware of ?

He was only on the market for a month. Let's not act like he has been hanging out in the abyss for years and Akron decided to dust him off. Plus, how do you know he didn't get approached by other schools and he flat out said, I'm not interested? It's been widely reported by Indiana people he had a spot on Archie Miller's staff if he wanted it. That should tell you that he is still well thought of.

 

Say what you want about Groce, but he didn't take this job because he had nothing else going for him. He had every reason to be selective, but he chose to come here.

Edited by wadszip
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4 minutes ago, wadszip said:

He was only on the market for a month. Let's not act like he has been hanging out in the abyss for years and Akron decided to dust him off. Plus, how do you know he didn't get approached by other schools and he flat out said, I'm not interested? It's been widely reported by Indiana people he had a spot on Archie Miller's staff if he wanted it. That should tell you that he is still well thought of.

 

Say what you want about Groce, but he didn't take this job because he had nothing else going for him. He had every reason to be selective, but he chose to come here.


Not only did Archie Miller have a spot for him on his staff, Miller trusted him enough to be his recruiting coordinator as well. The fact he is taking the Akron job over staying in the Big Ten where he could get another head coaching job in a year or two, tells you everything you need to know about how he feels about this job.

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5 minutes ago, wadszip said:

It's been widely reported by Indiana people he had a spot on Archie Miller's staff if he wanted it. That should tell you that he is still well thought of.

 

Being a good assistant and being a good head coach are two very different things. Groce would make a great recruiting coordinator for a bigger program. Doesn't mean he can develop players or out-scheme the better MAC coaches.

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