91 replies to this topic

[Old Titan]

I'm watching Tulsa and Northwestern battle the final minutes of a pretty entertaining Charleston Classic semi-final game, and I'm gonna make the following bold prediction:

This is the TU team that will get Doug Wojcik all he's ever wanted: a ticket out of town.

It's perhaps the deepest, most athletic team he's had during his time at 11th & Harvard, and in hindsight it's probably a good thing we're not playing them this year.

With a shamefully easy schedule, they could win as many as 25 games this season, and perhaps even earn that NCAA at-large bid he dropped us from his schedule for.

I'm betting that by the time we play TU again, he'll be long gone...

[ORUTerry]

He will find a way to screw it up....

[Old Titan]

ORUTerry, on 18 November 2011 - 04:25 PM, said:

He will find a way to screw it up....

LOL - you're probably right: watching all that talent he has right now, it's amazing they're trailing late against all those pasty nerds from NU.

[tmh8286]

First of all, you've got a stronger stomach than I do if you can watch TU, even for a minute. I don't want to acknowledge therm by spending that much of my time on them. Not only that, I don't want to waste that much time on them.

But beyond that, I thought that this was going to be a down year for them, and that Wojcik didn't want to play us for fear of losing to us. Was our eval of them a bit off?

[Old Titan]

You're suggesting his assessment of his own team might outweigh his classic paranoia?

You're kidding yourself: he's a control freak who wants to eliminate every single factor he thinks might stand in his way - whether it be us, or the assistant coach he FIRED for telling us they could play in February.

[ORUJason]

TU usually plays pretty strong defense. I guess Woj recruits physical hard-nosed defensive minded players. In the past they have preferred to slow the game down and use the shot clock to decrease the number of possessions. I think he took that approach because the quality of his scorers was somewhat inconsistent from year to year but he could always fall back on the "D".

I thought they were going to be down this year, but maybe not. I still think Woj is a good coach stuck in a difficult situation in a one-bid conf. (barring an upset of Memphis in the finals) and saddled with unrealistic expectations. He will without question take the first opportunity to get out of TU that he can get and I think he will succeed wherever he lands. I think he has mellowed out a little and has learned not to continually berate his players at every timeout.

I also agree with OldTitan that Woj is a total control freak. But many of the best coaches in the game are also control freaks with large egos to boot. That is always a nice combination. Sunny Golloway comes to mind.

[ORUalum]

who would have thought 10 or 15 yrs ago that TU would turn into a football school?

[ORUTerry]

Who would have thought they would have football at all.

Wojcik has not mellowed at all. I spoke with someone familar with the Bryson Pope (point guard from Jenks?) he ran off last year. Doug is not a nice guy. Why guys would want to play for him is a mystery.

[ORUJason]

Interesting Terry. I'm only basing that on the few TU games I saw last year. Maybe this old dog hasn't learned any new tricks after all. I do think his coaching philosophy works pretty well with the type of player that he recruits but I'm trying to be objective and ignore the fact that I don't think he thinks much of ORU.

[Old Titan]

There were few guys on the floor for Northwestern who were better athletes than those for TU, and you might even be able to say the same thing about our line-up: only Roundtree compares favorably in the "eye test".

But, basketball PLAYERS win games, and I'm not sure Wojcik is very good at developing them. He recruits plenty of talented guys, but then either shackles them, or runs them off.

[theeagleman5]

Tulsa loses to Northwestern 69-65????.....Coach W. can't be very happy tonight......

[Old Titan]

In a mirror-like game, TU loses again to a less-talented team in Sunday's final tournament game, falling to St, Joseph's in the third place game.

If, year after year, you have teams that are more talented than your opponent, yet consistently lose close games, your problem is your coach - period.

[theeagleman5]

Tough loss for the TU but the St. Joe's Hawks from here in Phila. are pretty decent this year.....TheEagleman would say they are certainly as good as ORU.....but still a poor trip east for the Golden Hurricane....Wojcik not happy!...

[ORUalum]

my TU bold prediction is that Doug will get his 19-21 wins, fail to make the NCAA tournament, run off a couple players in the off season, and be back coaching TU to mediocrity again next year.

[tmh8286]

ORUalum, on 20 November 2011 - 09:20 PM, said:

my TU bold prediction is that Doug will get his 19-21 wins, fail to make the NCAA tournament, run off a couple players in the off season, and be back coaching TU to mediocrity again next year.

I'm not sure how long the TU faithful will put up with that pattern. They're pretty frustrated with it already - if Wojcik doesn't produce this year, I don't know they'll keep him around for another. You should read some of the stuff they say about him on their board. Not much love lost between TU fans and Doug Wojcik.

[vcboy2000]

Winning heals all wounds. With their schedule, they should win at least 21 games this year.

[Old Titan]

tmh8286, on 20 November 2011 - 10:32 PM, said:

I'm not sure how long the TU faithful will put up with that pattern. They're pretty frustrated with it already - if Wojcik doesn't produce this year, I don't know they'll keep him around for another. You should read some of the stuff they say about him on their board. Not much love lost between TU fans and Doug Wojcik.

He has three MORE years left on his contract, which would be expensive to buy out.

And, with a lame-duck president until the spring, and an interim athletic director until that president's spot is filled, there's no way he would be removed or forced out any time soon. Unless he leaves on his own, he's guaranteed to be back next year.

But like I said at the start of this thread, he's going to win 20+ games this year, which might be enough for him to hightail it out of town.

My guess is the TU faithful would pay for the move and help him pack.

[tmh8286]

Old Titan, on 21 November 2011 - 09:05 AM, said:

He has three MORE years left on his contract, which would be expensive to buy out.

And, with a lame-duck president until the spring, and an interim athletic director until that president's spot is filled, there's no way he would be removed or forced out any time soon. Unless he leaves on his own, he's guaranteed to be back next year.

But like I said at the start of this thread, he's going to win 20+ games this year, which might be enough for him to hightail it out of town.

My guess is the TU faithful would pay for the move and help him pack.

They're about to go NUTS now - I can't imagine how they'd handle three more years of his coaching. He might have to start having security with him at all times! A friend of mine that went to TU calls him Wo-joke, and that's probably the kindest thing any of their fans have to say about him.

GIA during the ORU/UAPB game may have been a foreshadowing of what the Reynolds Center will look like all the time if Wojcik is around three years from now.

[theeagleman5]

Jackson St 23-20 over TU at halftime....how sweet would that be?.....

[theeagleman5]

TU rallies to beat Jackson State, 57-51.....Rats!....Big win for Wojcik.....