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Phyr:

We all know you're a qualified manager and did a great job this season making some gutsy calls that usually bounced our way but didn't always. In addition, you've done an amazing job doing the heavy lifting of scouting and tracking of U21 players, which is no small feat with so many draftees each season, so I believe your credentials are proven, as a Finals appearance actually is an accomplishment, and currently have my vote. My question for you though is how does the U21 continue to get better from here and sustain the success we've seen recently? Not just for the upcoming Worlds but how do we sustain the scouting systems, involving more coaches and development of future players, especially when the Offsite, where much of this is done, has seen the loss of key members with the know how?

thegame:

Getting to the NBBA is no joke so I don't doubt your managing capabilities but club management, where everything is on your shoulders, is still different than management at the national level, where you have to work with and rely upon other managers. You do have experience with this through coaching New Zealand's team, which is good, though there are quite a bit more managers who are involved in the United States with a pretty good number of the ones who are engaged with U21, active in the Offsite. I definitely agree with you that there are more managers in the US not represented in the Offsite though the Offsite is always welcoming and tends to be a place that any manager with interest is able to participate.

As Phyr noted, you seem to contradict yourself occasionally as you even noted the value of the Offsite when you said,

If I was honest I don't think I would use as much as past mangers, but I am not an idiot, I knows its our best resource, and it is where most the really engaged mangers for U21 meet. So I would still use it (and way more than I do right now). The scouting and training parts I think would not change (as the system for monitoring it is perfect, I just want to change the training path of a few players). I would also have the discussions of rosters and game planning, but if I was honest I don't think it would as much as they are doing right now.

So why with all the value that the Offsite proves to bring, along with the success it has had, would you use it less even when you see it as our "best resource"? Along with that, when you had made your intention known about 6 months ago of your desire to run this season on the Offsite and received feedback from a number of managers, myself included, to start to acquaint yourself with the current system and community involved in gameplanning, why didn't you do so? It just appears to me that, while yes, the U21 coach represents all of the US managers, you're still somewhat alienating your best resource in the Offsite managers by downplaying the value it has had and by that I mean the input of managers who actively want to help the U21 coach with gameplanning and scouting.

GODBEAR:

I enjoy your commentary and GO(L)DBEAR is probably the best campaign slogan I've heard. You're this election's Trump card! Not sure how serious your campaign is but without having the title of "U21 Coach", what's stopping you from trying to get involved with gameplanning and help win the Gold?

Last edited by A Warrior at 8/6/2015 6:13:38 PM

I appreciate the response, it actually helps me understand your coaching style better. As follow-up questions, how would you navigate motivating people to help you with training and scouting but not accept their gameplanning input, especially when this is how things have successfully been run for awhile now? Also, who would you consider to be an "experienced" enough manager that you would listen to the thoughts of?

I ask because I'm a manager who has been engaged with the gameplanning on the Offsite since Season 25 and would like to think that at least every now and then I've been able to contribute useful input. In some people's eyes though, my club management might not show enough "experience" as I only reached the D.II level to be rudely awakened and since have put more focus on training players for the US U21 squad with having had 3 players on the team and have about 5 potential players for season 33. What would your plan be for me or other managers that want to get involved but might not meet your standard of having enough "experience"?

This is a very sassy thread. My vote goes to the manager who will be the most sassy.

With literally 15 minutes before lineups were fixed, unfortunately we weren't able to have the discussion in time. If you wished so hard for us to win then why were you completely uninvolved all season?

THERE ARE EXACTLY 57 CARD CARRYING COMMUNISTS IN THE OFFSITE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wncTgMi3pWc

I may be a nice compromise candidate like Pete Rozelle was when the NFL made him commissioner after Bert Bell died at a Eagles-Steelers game. Now I am not active on the offsite though I did like to consult it like Miss Cleo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWyHiV3l3MA


Qualifications. Here since season 16, spent pretty much the first two seasons non engaged. finally got into the game, roared thru 5, slipped thru 4 in one season, spent 9 seasons in the prison of III.9 (cradle of champions), went down on a 10 win season due to keeping a short bench, went 40-4 over next two seasons in a decent IV.39 and competed well last season in III.5 making the semis and only failing to pull the trigger on GDP focus kept me from coaxing my codgers all the way to a final.


Style, love the money ball but realize a team has to have integrity down low, especially in terms of defense and rebounding. Good defense will trump good offense down on the blocks, but truly kick ass shsooting in the mid to long range I think in the end carries a more direct impact. The goal I go for every season is a team that will stalemate in the front court and win the back court and bench time. Dream lineup is 10 deep with both fives containing enough variety to encourage the cpu to sub in a free flowing manner where each players gets between about 18-30 minutes a game, a lineup like that on this stage would be a nightmare to game plan for.

Last edited by Coach Lambini at 8/6/2015 9:53:52 PM

With phyr and thegame187 being the favorites to win the election, is there anything else that you want to tell the voters to persuade them to vote for you?

With phyr and thegame187 being the favorites to win the election, is there anything else that you want to tell the voters to persuade them to vote for you?

Great question mars. I'm glad you asked.

The United States had not lost an Americas U21 Tournament since season 14. However, recently we had to settle for 2nd. America had claimed 7 straight regional tournament championships and 2 straight world tournaments up to this most recent term.

I think we need to make a change before things get further out of hand. At the moment the trend does not look good, but I know as a nation we can rise from the phyr and claim gold again. We need an elect that is driven by results.

What we can not do is stand idly and watch what was once a dominant program fall off of a cliff. The offsite party clearly fumbled the final against france. And they were so proud of the silver, they made no changes, they ran the same candidate. At this point we need to thank their leadership for laying the groundwork that they could and move forward. We need a swift change of direction, because as of right now the arrow is pointing down.

Make no mistake, I am not implying that there will be no future use of the offsite or it's members. When Nadella became CEO of Microsoft he did not burn the buildings down, and the next president is going to live in the white house. However, we do need new blood and new thoughts injected into what is our current U21 national team structure.