Revisionist History

The revisionist history is already out there this summer and being repeated. If this season goes as most outlets expect I can only imagine the Dooleystans that come out of the woodwork. These are the same excuse makers still talking about the APR 5 years ago that amounted to nothing. There wasn’t even a single score below average much less a sanction. People will push this excuse out there like Lebo left the death penalty, yet the same specific hypocrites were the same folks that couldn't give a crap about an APR when McCarthy had 2 scholarships and practice time taken and was only given 2 recruiting classes and wanted him gone.

What they always fail to mention while constantly repeating this nonsense, is Dooley was handed a player that would be All-ACC and one of the best players in the AAC from day 1. A player they tried to downplay as not "that good" to cover for the results. Couple that gift with a coach that had more to work with than any other coaches at ECU and did less.

It s a merry-go-round of pathetic excuses on repeat. Covid hurt their recruiting like no one else had to deal with Covid is the dumbest.  Then we have to hear about "what if" Tabbs, like being a major risk and needing another surgery when he signed wasn't mainly how they got him. They also forget how poorly he played post first injury (-18.2 net rating, 2-10 with him on the court) when calling him the savior, The biggest joke they try to sell is Suggs missing 5 games cost the season when the team lost them by an average of 18 points and only 1 was even within 8 points. He was benched the game before.

Now you have to constantly hear about how Newton was coming back, just like Gardner said he was coming back in March. He was helping recruit Josh Carlton and still left.   What they fail to mention is most players say the same thing before they leave, and this was all before the extent of what the NIL could pay players became fully apparent.  Agents were running players down this spring.

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Newton would have gotten other offers and that article makes it pretty clear there were no restrictions this offseason. ECU was never going to have the kind of money UConn or any of these other schools recruiting him had, he didn't have natural ties to the area, and the team was terrible. If playing with his brother was such a priority, they would have made that happen and didn't.

Even if Newton did come back what was Dooley going to do with him? He couldn’t crack the top 180 with him and an All-ACC player even once in 4 years. The team needed smoke and mirrors and the 42nd best luck by Ken Pom to even get to 183rd in the NET last year.  The team had a negative point differential and survived by a bucket to two 340+ ranked teams  at home and they try to sell the program on the "cusp".  Newton’s brother constantly being talked about as a savior coming in from a  #327 NET team in this "what could have been", ignores the terrible post options or underachieving coach at the heart of the issue. 

I've already seen this exact revisionist history repeated by the same people multiple times. If this is out there 4 months out I can’t even imagine the tall tales being spun up years from now or how much they will have this narrative on repeat if this season goes poorly. If you want to talk about being negative, a few of them have already tried to take a victory lap that ECU couldn't get a better coach when the hire was made. They will get louder, watch for these I told you so defeatist attitudes that ECU couldn't do better than Dooley as a coach and the incessant repeating of excuses and revisionist history. It's already started. If the new coach fails the same way with high schoolers Dooley did while everyone else is taking transfers, that doesn't mean Dooley wasn't bad here and needed to go.

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