Replies

Subject: Thoughts on Jones and Gillen (very long)
Posted by: Wahoo Josh on Fri Jan 2 2004 2:31:05 PM
Message:

The worst time for this board was the 1997-98 season, the final year under Jeff Jones. The team had two major producers in Nolan and Staples, but coach Jeff Jones saw his promising 1996 class disintegrate, we lost at home to Liberty, and the ACC season went from bad to worse. The Sabre (or was it still Virginiabasketball.com?) had a group of sharks who daily called for JJ’s head, and those of us who wanted to see a little dignity in the process of a likely coaching change became furious at the sharks. It
was an ugly, ugly season, and a difficult time to enjoy discussion of UVA hoops.

Given that 98 percent of us (excluding a few lame brains a couple of days ago) can now talk about the Jones era in candor and hopefully some respect, I’m going to share some thoughts in reflecting on the Jones and Gillen UVA teams.

Jones took the UVA job as our version of “Plan E.” Terry Holland’s retirement came suddenly, but he left a fine team (Stith still had two years to go.) that had played well in the ACC and won four NCAA tournament games in the 1989 and 1990 seasons. JJ’s first team (1991) started strongly (17-4 in early Feb), but faded down the stretch, and we lost to BYU in the first round of the Big Dance.

Then JJ brought in his “big recruiting class,” which included Junior Burrough, Jason Williford, Chris Alexander, Yuri Barnes, and point guard extraordinaire Cory Alexander. Stith led the young 1992 Hoos to an up-and-down season, but they finished strongly with a run to the NIT title.

JJ’s first instinct as a coach was to focus on hard-fought man-to-man defense, which I believe was his personal preference, but was patterned after defensive philosophies proven effective by Coach Knight at Indiana and Coach K at Duke. Holland would use some zone and occasional junk defenses, but JJ wanted the Hoos to be an all-man, all-the-time team. You would not play under JJ unless you were willing to dig down and play tough man-to-man defense. That is why we saw more time for Jason Williford over the offensively gifted Jamal Robinson. Jason was a JJ-style player, and Jamal was actually a Gillen-style player.

JJ’s first ACC home game was a 81-64 thrashing of a Duke team that would later win the Big Dance, and with Hoo victories at Cameron in 1993 and 1995 and the ACC tournament in 94, JJ sported a 7-5 record against the Dukies in January 1996. This success certainly helped
account for Coach K’s defense of JJ when it became apparent that he was going to lose his job a couple of years later.

JJ’s second year with the Alexander class showed more progress, as the Hoos won 21 games, 10 ACC games, and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the Big Dance. Cory and the rest of his class were developing nicely and the future looked bright. The first game of the 1994 season was
a disastrous 77-36 home loss to UConn, as Cory went down with a season-ending knee injury. Fortunately for Wahoo fans, JJ had recruited an unsung point guard named Harold Deane. The Hoos turned into a very defensively-oriented team, and JJ coached them to 10 ACC wins, a run to the ACC Final, and the second round of the Big Dance. We had a very low shooting percentage and were held to under 60 points for 11 games. We actually won four of those games, including 59-39 @UNLV and a 57-54 NCAA slugfest over New Mexico.

Most of us recall the success of the 1995 team – the final year of the Alexander class - which won 25 games, tied for 1st place in the ACC regular season, and defeated #1 seed Kansas in Kemper Arena to advance to the Elite Eight. Oh by the way, Cory once again finished this season on the bench after an injury in early February, and Harold could have used his help against Arkansas in the Midwest Final. Those Hoos played hard defense, but also shot better (enter
Curtis Staples) and sought to run the floor and shoot more 3-pointers. We never scored less than 60 points, and exceeded 90 points eight times, including the 92-67 thrashing of Maryland to end the regular season and earn the 1st place ACC tie.

Of course 1995 was the high-water mark of the JJ era, and I won’t detail the exploits of the 1996 class. We lost 15 games in 1996, scratched our way back for brief visit to the Big Dance in 1997 (Deane’s senior year), and it all fell apart in 1998. Off-court problems for the players and JJ contributed heavily to his demise, and it was damn shame to see the rapid deterioration of a promising coaching career.

Pete Gillen was hired, and I think most of you know our history during the Gillenium. I’ve got few thoughts of comparison to the Jones era:
- Under JJ, we often had the ACC’s worst offensive shooting
percentage. Under Pete, we often have the ACC worst defensive shooting percentage.
- JJ’s teams almost never pressed full-court – no traps, and very little zone. Peteyball includes press, traps, and multiple zones. We shoot better under Pete, but so do our opponents.
- When JJ lost his star point guard (Cory) from his signature class, Harold Deane stepped in and JJ adapted the team. Despite the loss of Cory, the Class of 95 still achieved the type of success that Hoo fans should expect. When Pete lost his star point guard (Mapp), we’ve had no capable true point guard to step in for three years and
counting. With the loss of Mapp, the Class of 2003 had some good games and moments, but failed to win the hearts of Wahoo fans with sustained success in the ACC or postseason.
- JJ understood how to beat Duke and did it a bunch. Pete has beaten Duke twice at home, and did get the UNC road monkey off our back, but has no recent success with Georgia Tech or beating good ACC teams on the road (with last year’s Maryland game as a wonderful exception).
- JJ won at least 10 ACC games for three straight years (93-95). Pete hasn’t been there.
- JJ won 16 postseason games in his first five seasons. Pete beat Brown in the NIT last year.
- JJ’s players had off-court problems, and he did not seem to be able to ever regain control. Pete’s players had off-court problems (and in Keith Jenifer’s case – embarrassing behavior wherever he went), and Pete is trying hard to regain control and make the UVA uniform only welcome to solid citizens.

I think we can all agree that Pete’s teams have not met the sustained accomplishments of Coaches Jones and Holland. This is a critical time in the program’s evolution, with the new arena under construction. The Athletic Department, and perhaps the VAF, need the team to perform better or they will suffer financially. I’d guess that basketball operating revenues (non-media) are a little down. I also believe there is a great pent-up demand for supporting an
excellent UVA basketball team in the State of Virginia. If Al Groh can get 35,000 people to travel to a 5th place Bowl game in Charlotte, think of the support an upper-division ACC basketball team will generate. If we return to the on-court success we experienced from 1976 to 1995, thousands of currently non-attending fans, including students - will turnout and experience college basketball at its finest.

I’m still rooting for Pete and the team, and will watch every game with high interest. However, I won’t turn into a season ticket holder and drive to every game from NOVA until the product improves. If Pete can’t coach the team to greater accomplishments in the next two years, then I hope we can have a graceful transition to a new coach and that contributors to this board can maintain dignity and
respect.

GO HOOS!