The spectacle is under way in Rhode Island. Ed Cooley is back at the Dunk, and the Providence faithful are letting him hear it.
Here’s the thing that bothers me most about Ed Cooley.
I don’t think he’s a very good coach.
Recent evidence to the contrary, I always believed Ed Cooley was a good guy. I lived with a fella who managed as an undergrad at a couple D1 programs, one of which was Providence. He would go to bat hard for Cooley, and he would not go to bat for every connection he had.
That’s the thing about Cooley, though. He is a really good people person. He cultivates relationships. Sure, that’s part of the job—landing recruits, marketing your program to the masses, getting your organization aligned—but even that points out the things Ed Cooley doesn’t do well as a coach. X’s. O’s. Player development.
In twelve years at Providence, Ed Cooley had two teams finish the regular season well clear of the bubble. One of those teams won the Big East, but it won the least meaningful Big East title of all time, one in a season in which the double round-robin wasn’t completed because of Covid absences. The other eleven? Kind of stunk. And it’s not like Providence is a hard place to coach basketball.
That’s the other thing about Ed Cooley. He convinced people Providence is a bad job. It’s not. You can land 5-stars at Providence (see: Dunn, Kris). You have immense institutional support at Providence (see: their crowds, their dean sending out emails hyping up students for a game). You are the biggest show in town at Providence in a city of 200,000 people. It’s easier in general in basketball than football to succeed at a small school, and when you add in Providence’s Big East membership and resources? I don’t think it’s a meaningfully worse job than Gonzaga, even considering what Gonzaga’s currently been built to be.
Joe Mullaney did bigger things at Providence than Ed Cooley. Dave Gavitt did bigger things at Providence than Ed Cooley. Rick Pitino did bigger things at Providence than Ed Cooley. Give Rick Barnes twelve years, and he’d have done bigger things too. Pete Gillen hit a comparable ceiling to Ed Cooley’s. Tim Welsh’s median season was only about 15 spots worse in kenpom than Ed Cooley’s. Ed Cooley took a fine job and did fine at it. He’s just a really good people person.
There’s nothing wrong with this on Ed Cooley’s part. It’s ok to not be great. But there’s an inaccurate narrative around the Providence job which says it isn’t a good one, and that’s disrespectful to what Providence is. Given Kim English’s tendency to underperform his hype at George Mason, I’m worried this is going to only get worse, and that unless Cooley really messes up on a personal level in D.C., we’re going to have stories in five years about how the Georgetown administration let down a can’t-miss coach.
Will Joe Kelly Win the Nobel Peace Prize?
I wonder if sportsbooks set odds on the Nobel Prize. If you knew Norwegian, you could probably insider trade the hell out of that. (I assume that the Nobel Prize committees deliberate brazenly in public when they do their deliberating, and that the way they still surprise us is by not doing it in English.)
Joe Kelly made his latest appearance on Baseball Isn’t Boring. Revelations:
- He is boycotting Stanley cups. (Not Stanley Cups, though. Or at least, he didn’t say he was. I’m still betting on him to win one this June.)
- He and Mark Hoppus are friends.
- He wants to go to the DMZ when the Dodgers play in Korea. He didn’t specify exactly why, but he did speculate about befriending Dennis Rodman. (What if Dennis Rodman lives in the DMZ? It’s demilitarized, you know? So it should be pretty safe. Did we gentrify the DMZ when we demilitarized it?)
- If you see Joe Kelly in public and want a photo, please wait until he is done eating. (Especially if he’s eating at the DMZaxby’s, I assume.)
- The buyout check arrived. Direct deposit.
- Joe Kelly’s a big K-pop fan. BTS. Psy. All of the above.
As always, listen to the podcast. You will save baseball, and this episode was particularly good. (In another recent episode, Rich Hill responded to Anthony Rendon whining about wanting to shorten the season by suggesting MLB should make itself a year-round league.)
Yasiel Puig Was Innocent
There’s a video going around of a big ol’ brawl down in the Venezuelan Winter League, and Yasiel Puig was there but dammit he did not start this, and Yasiel Puig seems very upset about mischaracterizations of his role. So, let us give the proper characterization: Yasiel Puig did nothing wrong. He’s a ride-or-die, and he didn’t start this. Everyone deserves the truth.
When Do the Jared Goff Chants Get Old?
The Jared Goff chants extended to minor league hockey across the state from Detroit, and at what point do they become a little demeaning to Jared Goff? The first time someone tells you, “Hey man, I know those guys thought you suck, but I think you don’t suck,” I bet it feels really good. When you’re hearing that every time you go to buy groceries? You might start wondering why everyone is sharing their opinion on whether or not you suck.
Etc.
NIT Watch, Texas:
- There is so much NIT action today, because this is a college basketball Saturday and there are still around 80 teams in serious contention for those coveted 32 spots. Game of the NITe of the Weekend? JMU at App State. It’s a serious and growing rivalry in football, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the basketball programs are getting better too. Those are two schools with high-functioning athletic departments. The Sun Belt title and NIT at-large contention are both in the mix.
- Texas is at BYU, and if Texas manages to win this, they’ll suddenly not have to think much about guys like me for a while. BYU is a good, good team, and they’ve dropped two in a row, and the game, again, is in Provo. If Texas wins, Rodney Terry might be a good coach.
Chicago, the Packers:
- A Cubs minor leaguer was suspended for the upcoming season due to a positive PED test. Don’t love that. Don’t really want that stuff floating around.
- Joc Pederson is a Diamondback now. That sounds like a good fit for him. It’s a fun young team, and Arizona does feel like a place Los Angeles sends its exiles.
- A funny thing that I just realized about the Bulls (which plenty of others probably know) is that nearly half their cap space is LaVine and Vučević. Just incredibly stupid stuff.
- We’re ambivalent about the Bulls tanking, but if they do finally commit, they should play the ice card in Portland. Say they can’t get to the arena tomorrow night, like Deandre Ayton couldn’t a couple weeks ago. Did the ice melt? Yes. But make the NBA call you on it, Bulls.
- It would be so funny if the Bears hired Joe Barry.
Burnley, the Sens:
- Burnley’s still on a merciful hiatus but the Sens stayed hot on Thursday, rallying to tie things late against the Bruins on a Vladimir Tarasenko goal. The fellas lost in overtime, but a point is a point, bitchezzzzzz. Got the Rangers tonight. In Ottawa.
Other miscellany:
- The Blazers have decided not to protest that loss from earlier this week, which is highly relatable. Every time a mechanic tries to screw me over (this usually works—you’re powerless once they have your vehicle), I draft a Google Review in my head. It’s always too much work to post it, though. If I had to bet $10,000 on my Google Review? No chance.
- I don’t think “Luka isn’t fat” is the correct takeaway from his 73-point night. I don’t think he’s fat, but he’s still not the best-conditioned guy. I think the message is that basketball fans can’t talk shit about Babe Ruth anymore.
- I forgot Doc Rivers played at Marquette. Credit to Shaka Smart for indirectly pointing that one out. Rivers never won an NIT game in his time in Milwaukee.
- We missed this when it happened, but a Montana photographer named Brian Christianson took a magical photo of Washington-Grizzly Stadium from Mount Sentinel during the fourth quarter of Montana’s FCS semifinal win over North Dakota State. Yesterday, the university announced that Christianson donated 100 prints to the football program. I feel like Montanans have great wall art. Maybe the best in the country. They can’t have too many windows, because of insulation, but they’re at that intersection of wanting great wall art. The West Coast still has some sway out there. Also, I think it’s a younger state demographically than Vermont or Maine. Guessing Montana has fewer needlepoints.
