Keenan Henderson Posted July 6, 2023 Share Posted July 6, 2023 Coach Mills did a great job at ORU. Was he perfect, did he make mistakes? Sure but who hasn't. What Eagle coach has taken ORU to a Sweet 16 and then another year won 30 games? Try no one but Coach Mills. He brought this program from one that failed to make the Summit League tournament in Sutton's last year to winning the tournament 2 out of 3 years. ORU basketball is at an all time high mainly due to Coach Mills. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted July 6, 2023 Share Posted July 6, 2023 59 minutes ago, Bogus Smith said: Paul obviously didn't choose his words well in this part of the interview. He recruited Joy (actually Paulino did) and that may be a unique situation. We lost to Duke because the team was unprepared, not because of the talent. If our team had executed as it had all year long, we may still have lost, but it would have been a very competitive battle. Had Mills stayed until after the baseball season, I believe he would have gotten the same bump of publicity in recruiting the portal as he did after his Sweet 16 run. That, and the "free agency" world that we live in, is going to limit what we can do at ORU and we will continue to need to find those "diamond-in-the-rough" type players that will bring us the notoriety that God brings to ORU. Russell is our Rob Walton for basketball. He can evaluate and project talent and those players can develop under his tulage. In Coach's defense, he didn't have a crystal ball and he knew he would have a hard time (if ever) getting to 30-5 again at ORU as we would be a difficult team to not take seriously. He also knew that he would never get a contract that paid him his market value at ORU and needed to "make hay" while the time was right. Given those circumstances, everyone on this board would have made the career decision to move on as he did. None of us know what was going on behind the scenes with Paul's agent, but as quickly as his move came along, we have to believe that there was some negotiations going on that kept WSU waiting for ORU's end of their season. We should be happy for Coach Mills that he was able to be another branch in the ORU basketball tree of successful coaches. We should also hope that Russell Springmann joins another branch of that tree sometime in the future (after a national championship, of course! ). Agree with all of this. Mills is a great coach and unique basketball mind. It will be tough to match his analytical approach to the game. I did find the statement about talent pretty funny though. There isn’t a player on Wichita’s roster that would measure up to Max. In fact, watching the Shockers their talent level was similar to TU. Could Wichita get players like Cleathony Early and VanVleet again? Yes. But the Shockers talent level has been below ORU the past several years. That’s not even a question. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted July 6, 2023 Share Posted July 6, 2023 3 hours ago, Bogus Smith said: In Coach's defense, he didn't have a crystal ball and he knew he would have a hard time (if ever) getting to 30-5 again at ORU as we would be a difficult team to not take seriously. He also knew that he would never get a contract that paid him his market value at ORU and needed to "make hay" while the time was right. Given those circumstances, everyone on this board would have made the career decision to move on as he did. None of us know what was going on behind the scenes with Paul's agent, but as quickly as his move came along, we have to believe that there was some negotiations going on that kept WSU waiting for ORU's end of their season. We should be happy for Coach Mills that he was able to be another branch in the ORU basketball tree of successful coaches. We should also hope that Russell Springmann joins another branch of that tree sometime in the future (after a national championship, of course! ). I agree 100%, Bogus. I don't begrudge Coach Mills one bit in taking an opportunity to increase his salary and have potentially greater opportunity to test his game theories. At the same time, I'm glad to see others bristled as his somewhat condescending comments about ORU. Unnecessary and somewhat off-putting, to be truthful. I like Mills, he was great for ORU, but in his comments about his ORU players he fails to take ownership or responsibility of any part of that rather humiliating loss to Duke. On national television. I've heard others say again and again something that I personally feel about that game - IF ORU had hit a couple early shots and the game hadn't gotten so out of hand so early, ORU would have been competitive. But our guys' inability to hit shots even from open looks destroyed their confidence, and everything was downhill from there. As an anylist of the game, I would think Mills should have recognized this, as the rest of us did. I hope Mills wises up and uses only positive examples from his experiences at ORU, rather than dissing the players that gave him the opportunity he is now enjoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted July 6, 2023 Share Posted July 6, 2023 TheEagleman's take on Mills is this......decent recruiter.....pretty good game plan guy...average to below average at best game day coach who plays favorites like Phipps and a total BS Artist with the media and fans....just told us what we wanted to hear....probably the same with the players...after all the smoke he blew up our butts about being able coach at a school where Christ is first then he bolts for the $$$ to Wichita State where they will likely see thru his schtick and eat him up within 2-3 years.....I don't wish the guy ill will but won't shed a tear when he gets pushed out.....again, TheEagleman is VERY HAPPY with Coach Springmann in charge and understand that we will likely take a step back for a year or two but the standard has been set and for that I do give Paul Mills his props.....I guess I am just the jilted lover which I have a lot of experience in..... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted July 6, 2023 Share Posted July 6, 2023 and just to add this....Mills did recruit a high quality character bunch in Max, Thompson, McBride, etc.....he brought in guys who got ORU represented the brand and instilled a winning culture......for that I would say his tenure was a huge success considering what he inherited from Sutton and Company over their final few years.....TheEagleman just didn't like the way he left and some of the comments like the ones above......enjoy Wichita, buddy..... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogus Smith Posted July 6, 2023 Share Posted July 6, 2023 45 minutes ago, tmh8286 said: I hope Mills wises up and uses only the positives from his experiences at ORU, rather than dissing the players that gave him the opportunity he is now enjoying. Paul could use a couple of lessons from the "Bill Self School of Job Transitions". 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted July 6, 2023 Share Posted July 6, 2023 9 minutes ago, Bogus Smith said: Paul could use a couple of lessons from the "Bill Self School of Job Transitions". That is spot on, Bogus, and I didn't even think of that - but Bill Self is/was KING of job transitions!! I guess you could call it an eyes-forward attitude. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted July 6, 2023 Share Posted July 6, 2023 I got no issue with what he said. Mills was stating the obvious, he can't recruit Duke level talent at ORU. While he can get in more homes now, the same can be said about WSU. Perhaps his next stop will give him that opportunity. I'm reminded of Barry Hinson's hooky line: "They've got McDonalds All-Americans, we've got guys that have eaten at McDonalds." Mills succeeded at ORU because of his work ethic, player development, embrace of analytics, and ability to recruit under the radar guys to ORU that bought into his system. I'm confident he appreciates all the guys that played for him at ORU. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted July 6, 2023 Share Posted July 6, 2023 Are Barry Hinson and Paul Mills the same guy???...Has anyone actually seen them together???. = 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceManSpiff Posted July 6, 2023 Share Posted July 6, 2023 On 7/5/2023 at 2:53 PM, titansforever said: ... The other reason? How this year’s first-round NCAA Tournament game against Duke unfolded. The Blue Devils jumped out to a 15-0 lead en route to an eventual 23-point win over the 12th-seeded Golden Eagles. Mills thought beating a team like Duke required better collective talent than he was ever going to land at Oral Roberts. ... Just pointing out that the line generating the most reaction (bolded above) is not a direct quote. Did Mills say this explicitly? Did the author infer this from Mills' other comments? No way of knowing... But there is no arguing that ORU was outmatched talent wise. With that said, ORU did not look prepared, and Mills looked scared during his in-game interview. Not great when the team has a rocky start on the biggest stage. Display confidence to your team in difficult situations! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted July 6, 2023 Share Posted July 6, 2023 1 hour ago, SpaceManSpiff said: Just pointing out that the line generating the most reaction (bolded above) is not a direct quote. Did Mills say this explicitly? Did the author infer this from Mills' other comments? No way of knowing... But there is no arguing that ORU was outmatched talent wise. With that said, ORU did not look prepared, and Mills looked scared during his in-game interview. Not great when the team has a rocky start on the biggest stage. Display confidence to your team in difficult situations! Great point/question. That may have been an interpretation by the author and was never said explicitly by Mills. Would love to know the answer to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted July 6, 2023 Author Share Posted July 6, 2023 1 hour ago, SpaceManSpiff said: Just pointing out that the line generating the most reaction (bolded above) is not a direct quote. Did Mills say this explicitly? Did the author infer this from Mills' other comments? No way of knowing... But there is no arguing that ORU was outmatched talent wise. With that said, ORU did not look prepared, and Mills looked scared during his in-game interview. Not great when the team has a rocky start on the biggest stage. Display confidence to your team in difficult situations! This is a great post. And that observation about being outmatched brings up a fair question: what mid-major would not have been? (Wichita State in even their best years included). That Blue Devil Team was stacked, healthy, hot, and had time time to prepare. It required Tennessee’s giants to bring them down to earth in the second round. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted July 7, 2023 Share Posted July 7, 2023 Tell me you couldn't envision Mills as a carnival huckster at the Tulsa State Fair?? Maybe it's his next job after they run him off at Wichita State. Shocker fans are not Golden Eagle fans.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUSwagger Posted July 7, 2023 Share Posted July 7, 2023 2 hours ago, SpaceManSpiff said: Just pointing out that the line generating the most reaction (bolded above) is not a direct quote. Did Mills say this explicitly? Did the author infer this from Mills' other comments? No way of knowing... But there is no arguing that ORU was outmatched talent wise. With that said, ORU did not look prepared, and Mills looked scared during his in-game interview. Not great when the team has a rocky start on the biggest stage. Display confidence to your team in difficult situations! True. Mills interview during the timeout was disappointing and told the story of ORU that game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titansforever Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 New Mills story. https://www.kansas.com/sports/college/big-12/kansas-state/article276618386.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 Yeah, Paul....stay in the office til 3am and be back at 8am....sounds like a great plan on the road to burnout......get a life, dude!!....So glad this guy in up in Wichita now.....Shockers can have him....but thanks for the memories.....TheEagleman sets the O/U on # of seasons Mills gets before he is fired at 3.5......#ILoveSpringmann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 Paul Mills just released his first schedule for the Shockers and it has some interesting matchups. They play at Missouri and Connor Vanover. Then they have the SDSU Jackrabbits in Wichita at an off campus area. Plus WSU finishes with K-State (Mills old friend Jerome Tang) and Kansas in Kansas City. Some tough games for the first year coach. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttowncount Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 7 hours ago, titansforever said: New Mills story. https://www.kansas.com/sports/college/big-12/kansas-state/article276618386.html Thanks for posting this article. I understand things better now than I did before reading it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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