It could not have been better. (And in that sense we can actually be grateful Coach Anderson lasted as long as he did even with these 3 torturous seasons.) I know we've discussed a couple of these points, but every day the list of reasons grows. Increasingly it is clear 2017 was the perfect year for the hire:
(1) Getting MPJ, JP and Coach Porter...probably doesn't happen until and unless Coach Romar gets fired anyway, and the momentum we got from hiring Cuonzo signaled a change that didn't hurt getting them here.
(2) We had to have the AD to make this happen...we didn't have him until August 9, 2016.
(3) Generating unprecedented excitement about our "other" major sport just when football has tanked, interest is tanking and our reputation for competing/belonging in the SEC is suffering. (Can you imagine suffering through this football season knowing Kim Anderson was going to "give it a shot" to win 10 games again?)
(4) Getting Tillmon doesn't happen without the coaching change at Illinois happening when it did and without (1), and likely wouldn't have happened without Cuonzo's East St. Louis ties and respect.
(5) Getting Torrence Watson to commit signalling a different future for recruiting the best players in Missouri.
(6) Making offers to top 10 recruits around the country. (It bothered the sh*t out of me when Kim Anderson basically said we have to know what our limits are in terms of what players we can recruit here....a self-fulfilling prophecy.)
(7) And the most recent event that makes it clear to me that the timing of the hire of Cuonzo could not have been better is the FBI story and looming investigation. The playing field is going to level for recruiting. The money is going to dry up. Louisville and other schools in the middle of that story are going to have some down years just as we are getting this off the ground. Families of recruits are going to go somewhere they trust the coach...this plays right into Cuonzo's wheel house. His strengths in recruiting and his influence in the St. Louis area are going to pay even higher dividends now.
(1) Getting MPJ, JP and Coach Porter...probably doesn't happen until and unless Coach Romar gets fired anyway, and the momentum we got from hiring Cuonzo signaled a change that didn't hurt getting them here.
(2) We had to have the AD to make this happen...we didn't have him until August 9, 2016.
(3) Generating unprecedented excitement about our "other" major sport just when football has tanked, interest is tanking and our reputation for competing/belonging in the SEC is suffering. (Can you imagine suffering through this football season knowing Kim Anderson was going to "give it a shot" to win 10 games again?)
(4) Getting Tillmon doesn't happen without the coaching change at Illinois happening when it did and without (1), and likely wouldn't have happened without Cuonzo's East St. Louis ties and respect.
(5) Getting Torrence Watson to commit signalling a different future for recruiting the best players in Missouri.
(6) Making offers to top 10 recruits around the country. (It bothered the sh*t out of me when Kim Anderson basically said we have to know what our limits are in terms of what players we can recruit here....a self-fulfilling prophecy.)
(7) And the most recent event that makes it clear to me that the timing of the hire of Cuonzo could not have been better is the FBI story and looming investigation. The playing field is going to level for recruiting. The money is going to dry up. Louisville and other schools in the middle of that story are going to have some down years just as we are getting this off the ground. Families of recruits are going to go somewhere they trust the coach...this plays right into Cuonzo's wheel house. His strengths in recruiting and his influence in the St. Louis area are going to pay even higher dividends now.
