1st year coaches check in.
DeMeo was high on my list to get the job, I don't think you go 170-27 and win a national title at any level of college and not be a good head coach. There are now two others that got hired directly from the same JUCO. Steve Forbes is one of the best coaches in D1 and Greg Haier just had a great 1st offseason at NMSU as a 1st year Coach. He got 7 JUCO's or Transfers this offseason, the best of which X. Pinson was the starting PG for LSU averaging 9.8ppg, 4.8apg on a top 25 team. He had averaged 13.6ppg and a 17.0 PER for Mizz the year before.
It was a missed opportunity not to give DeMeo the interim job in January when it was also clear there was no way the powers were going to bring Dooley back as bad as the team was last year and in his tenure. It was free games and a waste to have that level of head coach underutilized and a team going through the motions.
DeMeo is back in JUCO's and even though it's made up of underclassmen, he still saw the need to get 6 players with D1 experience.
Andre Harris played real rotation minutes as a freshman on a #139 NET A10 team, Taryn Todd started 18 games between New Mexico/ TCU . Warren is going to be in his 4th year in college after redshirting and getting a free covid year. He still has 3 years left to play. Pryor played for a top 35 NCAA team and was productive when he got to play. Chad Baker-Mazer is a stud. 21.5 PER playing for a top 30 NCAA team. He played in the rotation shooting 40% from three and 90% from the line both on high volume for his minutes. He also had the 2nd lowest defensive ratings on the #1 defensive team in the nation.
DeMeo poached a JUCO who had D1 experience at a quality D1 school.
Marcus Nilback- He started his career at East Tennessee State and averaged 13.4ppg, 4.3rpg, 4.0apg for a rival JUCO.
Would he have landed those exact 6 here as head coach, maybe not, I don't know what their situations were. What is clear is that he would have gone in the portal harder and with the AAC behind him, I'd like his chances.
Others 1st year Coaches
Bart Lundy
I mentioned Bart Lundy as a coaching target and was told he would never leave Queens. Despite being in the Carolinas 26 of his 29 years, he left Queens to go to Milwaukee. This is even as Queens is transitioning to D1 this season.
Lundy was able to get a 6-7, 230lb transfer from Alabama A&M that averaged 16ppg, 7.3rpg with a 21 PER. He landed another from Oregon State who was 6-8, 185 and averaged 5.3ppg with a 18.5 PER as well as a 6-7 transfer from Nebraska. He landed a D2 transfer from NC and from a top 10 UNCP team that averaged 15ppg there. Lundy signed 4 JUCO's as well as the 4 from the portal in his 1st offseason. He also picked up former Dooley commit Elijah Jamison from NC.
Pat Chambers
FGCU got a top 15 JUCO from Kinston. The player Johnson was playing behind at Cape Fear CC, They also got a transfer who was one of the best shooters in the nation, that averaged 15.2ppg at Stetson and shot 40.1% from three, and made 3.3 a game. Another transfer started 20 games on the #10 Purdue team averaging 4.2ppg shooting .43% from three. He rounded it out with a 6-11, 270 transfer from Memphis and a player from St. Joe's that averaged 7.7ppg, 3.1rpg.
David Patrick
1st year coach went out and landed 7 transfers and 1 JUCO. Proven guys like a 7-1, 275lb Big West one averaged 11ppg, 8rpg with a 18 PER. A 6-9 transfer from Hartford that averaged 12ppg, 4.5rpg and shot 43% from three. A player that averaged 5.2ppg, 2.7apg, 37.1% from 3 on an Elite 8 Oregon State team 2 seasons ago. Other Transfers from Oklahoma and even one from the backyard at Wofford shot 44.7% from three (42-94).
These are just a few examples of first-year coaches at some of the worst-funded schools getting major hauls of proven portal talent in their first offseason.
