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Brodricks Jones

mikesarabia

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Oct 28, 2006
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It appears, according to Miner Rush and Twitter, 4-star (according to Rivals) 6'9" Brodricks Jones is being released from his LOI from San Diego St and the Miners are showing interest. He would be a 2015 recruit so not sure how Floyd would make room for him if he has no more scholarships.
 
They have something personal against Barbee or they are just idiots. Remember, a lot of people booed Barbee at the WKU game.

There's always an excuse to discredit Barbee or to make make excuses for Floyd. MinerJo, PurpleFire, and Maximus are part of this "elite" group.
 
I do not have anything against Coach Barbee. As a matter of fact, I was a pretty big fan. I don’t think I missed a home game his last three seasons here. I am also not an idiot. I just happen to have a different opinion than a number of you - and that’s okay. I simply don’t think it’s easy or likely that he’d land another NBA level talent to lead our team. I made no mention of asterisks or not giving him credit for recruiting DC.
 
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I do not have anything against Coach Barbee. As a matter of fact, I was a pretty big fan. I don’t think I missed a home game his last three seasons here. I am also not an idiot. I just happen to have a different opinion than a number of you - and that’s okay. I simply don’t think it’s easy or likely that he’d land another NBA level talent to lead our team. I made no mention of asterisks or not giving him credit for recruiting DC.

Fair enough, but he actually recruited three players to UTEP that have spent time in the NBA: Caracter, Stone, and Moultrie. Additionally, he recruited our second all time leading scorer in Culpepper. I see no reason why he couldn't do that again.
 
And I would like to point out that Barbee has produced the only top 25 team in the last 26 years.
 
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So I get it. A lot off you guys are cool with Barbee. He did well here. He and his wife didn't like it here. They wanted bigger and better. I understand that. He earned it by doing so well here back then. He got a shot and failed horribly at Auburn. He got paid....

What I still don't get is what makes anyone believe he could do it a second time here? If he impressed so many on here so very much, why hasn't he gotten ANY other mid major job? Doesn't that say something?

Look, I'm no hoops guru, but it seems to me that if this guy was good enough for a second chance to be a head coach, someone would have given him the chance by now.

I am no fan of retreads, whether it be our coaches, or my employees. Always look forward, not backward.
 
He got a shot and failed horribly at Auburn. He got paid....

What I still don't get is what makes anyone believe he could do it a second time here? If he impressed so many on here so very much, why hasn't he gotten ANY other mid major job? Doesn't that say something?

Look, I'm no hoops guru, but it seems to me that if this guy was good enough for a second chance to be a head coach, someone would have given him the chance by now.

In his worst season, he won 9 games. How many has Floyd and Johnson won so far?

He's only been out of head coaching for 4 years, he could get it done here because he was successful here before, has learned from his mistakes, and currently coaches under Coach Cal.

What jobs has he applied for? The only one I know of is the Nevada job and he was the 2nd choice. It seems he's pretty selective with jobs because that's the only one his name was associated with. Not like Floyd, who applied for any Power Conference job he could. You can't get a 2nd chance if you never really try for it.

Barbee could get any SWAC or MEAC job he wanted. It seems obvious to me that he is waiting for a better opportunity and not anything that comes up, ala ex-Indiana coach Mike Davis.
 
Barbee could get any SWAC or MEAC job he wanted. It seems obvious to me that he is waiting for a better opportunity and not anything that comes up, ala ex-Indiana coach Mike Davis.
I agree. He has it made right now: he is one of highest paid assistant coaches in college basketball at one of the top 3 college hoops programs in the country. And coach Cal is like a father figure to Barbee. He can be selective on his next job.
 
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Floyd got a commit from a McDonalds All American under the current conference.

Mitchell Robinson signed with WKU
Stephen Zimmerman signed with UNLV
Emmanuel Mudiay signed with SMU
Rashad Vaughn signed with UNLV
Keith Frazier signed with SMU too, all McDs AAs in recent years.

While the AAC and MWC are better than CUSA, they aren't as good as the Pac12 or Big East.

You can recruit a kid anywhere. The conference doesn't matter. Its the coach and school.
 
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It’s about the coach not the conference. Look at the players Reggie Theus was able to bring to Las Cruces. Herb Pope was a 5 star recruit out of high school and there was another 4 star recruit he got and a top JUCO player. NMSU would have easily been a top 25 team every season if he would have stayed a few more years at NMSU.
 
Floyd got a commit from a McDonalds All American under the current conference.

Mitchell Robinson signed with WKU
Stephen Zimmerman signed with UNLV
Emmanuel Mudiay signed with SMU
Rashad Vaughn signed with UNLV
Keith Frazier signed with SMU too, all McDs AAs in recent years.

While the AAC and MWC are better than CUSA, they aren't as good as the Pac12 or Big East.

You can recruit a kid anywhere. The conference doesn't matter. Its the coach and school.

The conference doesn’t matter? That’s a stretch. Haven’t heard of too many recruits who can’t wait to take the court against FAU, UTSA or UNT. I’m sure it was a bit more exciting when a recruit knew he was gonna be lacing up his shoes against Memphis in the old CUSA. I won’t disagree that the school and/or coach are more important to recruiting but if you think conference affiliation is irrelevant and “doesn’t matter” to a recruit, I’d question how you arrived at such a black and white conclusion.

All the guys you mentioned are outliers, and they are few. It’s going to happen on occasion that a mid major lands a gem. But not with any regularity. UNLV is a storied program. They have been relevant much more recently than UTEP. SMU had Larry Brown. A cbb legend who was not above “cheating” to get those guys. And you’re including the Hamilton signing? Yeah, he signed but...
 
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Grambling signed a football player this year who had offers from both Alabama and LSU, yet he chose to go to FCS Grambling over those national SEC powers. Obviously, that is not the norm, but the most important aspect to recruiting appears to be the relationships that get built. As an example, Floyd had that long relationship with the Hamilton family or else UTEP probably would have never even gotten a phone call returned with Hamilton, much less a commitment. Dickey apparently had the relationship that brought Character to UTEP. Etc.

Also, I posted this couple of years ago on this board, how I felt the deterioration of CUSA has also had a contributing factor to UTEP’s athletic demise. Obviously there are many reasons for our down fall, but if you go back and look at the time line, there is almost a direct relationship between when UTEP athletics started it’s downward trend at the same time that CUSA began to deplete to a lesser and lesser conference.
 
UNLV is a storied program. They have been relevant much more recently than UTEP. SMU had Larry Brown. A cbb legend who was not above “cheating” to get those guys. And you’re including the Hamilton signing? Yeah, he signed but...

UNLV and SMU are currently better than UTEP, but UTEP can get and surpass their level. UNLV isn't winning a National Title again and their last one, might as well have been in 1966. UTEP can out draw these programs if we're successful again.

Hamilton did sign here, because of Floyd. He ultimately decided to play at UCLA, because of Floyd. He knew he was going to be playing the likes of F_Us and North Texas.

He would have been a stud here and would have dominated the league. Instead, he didn't want to play with Floyd, he wanted to play for another coach. Floyd ran off a lot of players. Isaac is no exception.
 
UNLV and SMU are currently better than UTEP, but UTEP can get and surpass their level. UNLV isn't winning a National Title again and their last one, might as well have been in 1966. UTEP can out draw these programs if we're successful again.

Hamilton did sign here, because of Floyd. He ultimately decided to play at UCLA, because of Floyd. He knew he was going to be playing the likes of F_Us and North Texas.

He would have been a stud here and would have dominated the league. Instead, he didn't want to play with Floyd, he wanted to play for another coach. Floyd ran off a lot of players. Isaac is no exception.

So let me get this straight. IH signed with Floyd because of a long standing family relationship (which I buy) but decided to bail on Floyd...before he even got here...before Floyd could strain the relationship?

Meh, I don’t think so....despite the fact that I agree with you that Floyd tends to run a fair amount of guys off.

UNLV is far more relevant than UTEP in bb in recent years. Starting in 06 UNLV went to the tourney 6 of the next 7 years, went to the second round or beyond in 4 of those 7 years, and was ranked in the AP in 5 of those years...as high as 11th. That’s why Zimmerman and Vaughn went there. Your “UNLV will never win another national title” and “it might as well have 1966 since they last one” argument is what is irrelevant.
 
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And just to be straight, because this has strayed far from my original statement that you questioned, I do think UTEP can rise back to relevance. Beyond UNLV. Beyond SMU. I just think Barbee would have a more difficult time recruiting for a current UTEP team than he had 10-12 years ago. Partially due to our conference, as it currently is situated.
 
Obviously, IH saw how things were ran and talked to players and then decided he didn't want to play here. Not because of CUSA.

UNLV is far more relevant, but not to a level that UTEP cannot achieve. Nobody cares about their title in the early 90s. They have a good team this year and nobody goes to their games. If UTEP gets the right coach, they can have a better program than UNLV.
 
If CUSA is a contributing factor to UTEP's demise, why isn't it to Middle Tennessee, ODU, and LaTech?

Middle Tennessee, ODU and La. Tech would not make sense as comparisons to UTEP because those schools barely joined CUSA in 2013, therefore they haven’t had to adjust to the top CUSA schools leaving the conference and being replaced by newer unknown schools that are located one or two time zones away.

Obviously schools like MTSU, ODU, and La.Tech have done many things much better than UTEP, which has influenced their success, but I also think that a case can be made that our conference shuffling in so many new unknown eastern schools(ODU, FIU, FAU, MTSU, WKU) has had a negative impact on a western outlier like UTEP.
 
Obviously, IH saw how things were ran and talked to players and then decided he didn't want to play here. Not because of CUSA.

UNLV is far more relevant, but not to a level that UTEP cannot achieve. Nobody cares about their title in the early 90s. They have a good team this year and nobody goes to their games. If UTEP gets the right coach, they can have a better program than UNLV.

Bwahaha! Obviously IH saw how things were (even though he wasn’t here yet) and he talked to players and decided he didn’t want to play here? You have no clue. You are guessing and nothing more. It’s kind of weak actually. And so there’s no confusion that I’m defending CTF, I am one of the initial Floyd haters. But TF didn’t run IH off.

And why do you keep referring to UNLV never winning a natty again? Is that your only criteria for bb relevance? Reread my last post. UTEP can surpass UNLV. I said that. But again, that’s not even relevant to how this conversation started.
 
unihom, I can tell you’re a smart guy. You make some good points and come up with some compelling arguments, but you’re stretching right now...like you’re about to pull a muscle kind of stretching. Do you even remember how our conversation started or what it was originally about?
 
unihom, I can tell you’re a smart guy. You make some good points and come up with some compelling arguments, but you’re stretching right now...like you’re about to pull a muscle kind of stretching. Do you even remember how our conversation started or what it was originally about?

Yeah if Barbee could win here again.
 
Middle Tennessee, ODU and La. Tech would not make sense as comparisons to UTEP because those schools barely joined CUSA in 2013, therefore they haven’t had to adjust to the top CUSA schools leaving the conference and being replaced by newer unknown schools that are located one or two time zones away.

Obviously schools like MTSU, ODU, and La.Tech have done many things much better than UTEP, which has influenced their success, but I also think that a case can be made that our conference shuffling in so many new unknown eastern schools(ODU, FIU, FAU, MTSU, WKU) has had a negative impact on a western outlier like UTEP.

That makes no sense. If you're recruiting a player to MTSU over UTEP, you're playing the same damn teams. Why would a recruit care whether you came from the Sun Belt or have been in CUSA for 800 years, its the same league!

Those schools are just recruiting better players than UTEP is. Because of their coaching staffs, not the league. That's the whole point. You can't blame CUSA, while other CUSA schools are kicking your ass.

UTEP has more fan support and better facilities than MTSU, ODU, and LaTech but what you're saying is only Miners recruits have had to adjust to a shittier league, while the other schools improved? Even though, now all current recruits only know current CUSA???
 
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I would also point out that he recruited those players for the old CUSA and not the current league we are in. Conference affiliation matters in terms of the type of players you attract.

I believe that the effect of our conference on recruiting is overstated by many fans.

Sure, playing in a large conference, against well known, quality opponents, is a draw. For many recruits it might be a high priority factor in making a decision. There are, however, multiple factors that each recruit considers, and there are also several schools who have had tremendous success despite the fact that they don't belong in a major conference.

Since we're talking about CUSA, let's take a quick look at our conference brother MTSU. They have an excellent roster, are currently ranked in the top 25, and have won games in each of the past two NCAA Tournaments. Somehow they have been able to recruit much better than we have, despite belonging to the same conference. And it's not only MTSU. La Tech, ODU, and WKU consistently out recruit the Miners, despite the fact that we have the biggest budget for our coaches, the biggest recruiting budget, the best facilities, and the best fan support in the conference. To blame our lack of recruiting success on the conference is ridiculous.

Staying close to home, let's look at rivals a little ways down I-10. We share the same geographic region, have the much bigger city, and the local airport is in our town, not theirs. Oh, and what conference do they play in again? Yet they have killed us in recruiting for years now, as their domination of us on the basketball court makes abundantly clear.

There are many more examples that I can point out, but let's go for one more. Does anyone else here remember when Gonzaga was only known as the answer to a trivia question? The question: where did John Stockton go to college? The answer of Gonzaga was always a surprise, as no one could believe that an NBA great came from such a small program that no one had ever heard of. In fact, prior to 1999, they had only made the NCAA Tournament one time in their history. Despite playing in a conference that no one thought twice about at the time, they were able to put together some nice recruiting classes starting in the late 90s, classes that allowed them to make and have success in the NCAA Tournament. They now have made the NCAA Tournament every year since 99, have made the Sweet 16 eight times in that span, the Elite 8 three times, and played for the championship last year. They are one of the absolute best programs in college basketball. But it wasn't that long ago that they were a little school that no one had ever heard of in a crappy conference that no one cared about.

Like I said above, the conference you play in is a factor that a recruit considers when making a decision. But it's not the only factor. Relationships with the coaching staff, impressions of the school, impressions of the city in which it's located, the quality of the facilities, expected playing time, perceived ability to win, and proximity to home are just some of the other factors that a recruit has to consider when making a decision. And the weights given to each of these factors is different for each recruit.

Tony Barbee is a key member of the most elite recruiting staff I have ever seen in college basketball. He has recruited to this school and this city before. I can understand someone telling me that they have reservations towards Barbee because they found him aloof, or because they didn't like his perceived attitude towards El Paso, or because he appeared to make it so obvious that UTEP was just a stepping stone, instead of pretending, as each of this post Haskins predecessors did, that he was happy to be here. What I can't understand is an assumption that he wouldn't be able to recruit to UTEP again. He would not have any problems doing so.
 
I haven’t seen any assumptions that he wouldn’t be able to recruit to UTEP again. It is a very valid question as to whether he could recruit as well as he did before, though.

I’m pro Barbee and still question this. He had advantages 12 years ago that he doesn’t have now. That is a simple fact. Obviously being pro Barbee, I think he could get it done here again. He might have a tougher go of it on the recruiting front though. As much as you don’t get questioning that, I don’t get how you’re so absolutely sure that recruiting would no problem for him.

If he does arrive back in EP as our coach, I’ll be rooting for you to be right.
 
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In terms of IH, there are multiple statements/theories as to why he didn't honor his NLI:

The Hamilton family version:
Isaac's grandmother was sick, and Isaac wanted to stay close to home to be near her.

The theory advanced by Floyd:
Andy Enfield's staff tampered with Isaac, convincing him that he should stay close to home and play for USC. As Hamilton ended up attending UCLA instead, the rest of the theory goes that Enfield dropped him like a hot potato after Floyd's accusation, fearing an NCAA investigation.

The rumor:
Floyd stopped by the Hamilton household before interviewing for the USC coaching vacancy, selling Isaac and his brother Daniel on the idea of playing close to home. He then went into the interview offering the Hamilton brothers as a package deal if he was hired. When he wasn't selected for the job, he expected Isaac to honor his NLI to UTEP, but the kid was now sold on playing in LA.

This is the first time someone has floated the idea that Floyd ran Hamilton off, similar to the way that he ran off so many other players. The difference is that Hamilton hadn't shown up to campus yet, making this theory absurd. Plus, Hamilton was the jewel in a class that also consisted of the highly regarded Vince Hunter and the talented Andre Spight; Floyd would not do anything to run off Hamilton (unless, of course, the above USC coaching rumor is true).

So which of the above theories is the real reason Hamilton didn't come to UTEP? I doubt that we'll ever know.
 
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I didn't say Floyd "ran him off". I said that he saw how UCLA was and liked Coach Alford "better".

The original point was that CUSA has not been issue. It was and always will be the coach. Isaac knew he was playing in a crap league when he signed. I doubt over that summer he solely decided he wanted to play road games in Pullman, Washington and Corvalis, Oregon instead of Huntington, West Virginia, and Ruston, Louisiana.
 
If I had a vote Maniac, it would be "the rumor". It pretty much went down hill from there for Floyd. That class would have been outstanding, if they had all showed up, and stayed. Having Hunter for two years, who ended up being Floyd's best recruit, was a bright spot spot for Floyd's tenure. I found it interesting that neither Daniel or Bryce (Kevin's son) had any problems leaving LA.
 
I haven’t seen any assumptions that he wouldn’t be able to recruit to UTEP again. It is a very valid question as to whether he could recruit as well as he did before, though.

I’m pro Barbee and still question this. He had advantages 12 years ago that he doesn’t have now. That is a simple fact. Obviously being pro Barbee, I think he could get it done here again. He might have a tougher go of it on the recruiting front though. As much as you don’t get questioning that, I don’t get how you’re so absolutely sure that recruiting would no problem for him.

If he does arrive back in EP as our coach, I’ll be rooting for you to be right.
I’m wondering what are some of the advantages he had 12 years ago that he wouldn’t have now.
 
If I had a vote Maniac, it would be "the rumor". It pretty much went down hill from there for Floyd. That class would have been outstanding, if they had all showed up, and stayed. Having Hunter for two years, who ended up being Floyd's best recruit, was a bright spot spot for Floyd's tenure. I found it interesting that neither Daniel or Bryce (Kevin's son) had any problems leaving LA.

+1
 
I’m wondering what are some of the advantages he had 12 years ago that he wouldn’t have now.

Alright, I’ll give it to you, as I see it, in a nutshell. He was already a coach in CUSA just prior his journey to UTEP. As a result of that, he was able to nab some guys he spent time evaluating while he was an assistant at Memphis. He had a fast track on assembling his initial classes because of that. He had built relationships with those guys, which takes time. They trusted him. Being that Memphis was in our conference, it wasn’t such a huge drop off from Memphis to UTEP. Because Kentucky is in another stratosphere, I doubt Barbee could nab the Wildcat rejects. They’re more likely to end up at Butler, Wichita St, etc. Therefore he is going to have to find other selling points. He’s going to have to use other resources to recruit. I never said he can’t do it. I just think it’ll be more difficult. Nada mas.

12 years ago, I’m sure it went something like this: “Hey Randy, I can’t offer you a schoalrship to Memphis, however, I think you’re a helluva player. Just between us, I’m gonna get the UTEP gig. They’ve got a strong bb tradition. I’ve got a core group of guys that I’ve been recruiting who are in the same boat as you. I think we could put a damn good team together if everyone is on board. You’ve known me for a couple years now. You know I’m a straight shooter. How about we go down to El Paso together and build something special and beat the shit out Memphis?”

OK, I’m not looking for people to agree with me. It’s my question, my take. I’ve beaten this dead horse to it’s 2nd death, so I have no more to say on the subject. Carry on everybody who disagrees.
 
Alright, I’ll give it to you, as I see it, in a nutshell. He was already a coach in CUSA just prior his journey to UTEP. As a result of that, he was able to nab some guys he spent time evaluating while he was an assistant at Memphis. He had a fast track on assembling his initial classes because of that. He had built relationships with those guys, which takes time. They trusted him. Being that Memphis was in our conference, it wasn’t such a huge drop off from Memphis to UTEP. Because Kentucky is in another stratosphere, I doubt Barbee could nab the Wildcat rejects. They’re more likely to end up at Butler, Wichita St, etc. Therefore he is going to have to find other selling points. He’s going to have to use other resources to recruit. I never said he can’t do it. I just think it’ll be more difficult. Nada mas.

12 years ago, I’m sure it went something like this: “Hey Randy, I can’t offer you a schoalrship to Memphis, however, I think you’re a helluva player. Just between us, I’m gonna get the UTEP gig. They’ve got a strong bb tradition. I’ve got a core group of guys that I’ve been recruiting who are in the same boat as you. I think we could put a damn good team together if everyone is on board. You’ve known me for a couple years now. You know I’m a straight shooter. How about we go down to El Paso together and build something special and beat the shit out Memphis?”

OK, I’m not looking for people to agree with me. It’s my question, my take. I’ve beaten this dead horse to it’s 2nd death, so I have no more to say on the subject. Carry on everybody who disagrees.
Fair enough. WKU hired Stansbury and he immediately brought in the best class in the conference and one of the best classes in the nation. He had no ties to CUSA or WKU. I think once you’re known as a recruiter you’ll be able to bring the talent in. Going off topic a little bit but if you look at the model UTSA and UNT used in football it’s very similar. They hired two very well known recruiters to be the HC. Both programs have enjoyed great recruiting classes and wins on the field. You’re right in the sense it will be a bit more difficult. But as the last eight years have shown us, the problem at UTEP is not bringing in talented players it’s keeping them. And to me Barbee seems like a real down to earth coach who can bond and relate to these new generation of hs players.

We are probably debating something pointless cuz we have no idea which direction Senter is going. Very quite with the coaching names.
 
I didn't say Floyd "ran him off". I said that he saw how UCLA was and liked Coach Alford "better".

The original point was that CUSA has not been issue. It was and always will be the coach. Isaac knew he was playing in a crap league when he signed. I doubt over that summer he solely decided he wanted to play road games in Pullman, Washington and Corvalis, Oregon instead of Huntington, West Virginia, and Ruston, Louisiana.

Maybe not in those exact words, but it sure seems that you insinuated it.

“Instead, he didn't want to play with Floyd, he wanted to play for another coach. Floyd ran off a lot of players. Isaac is no exception.

Your words.
 
What I meant was a lot of players left UTEP for various reasons, was just easier to say ran off. Like the others, there was something IH didn't like here, or had a better opportunity, whatever; so he "left".
 
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