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W&M Fires Tony Shafer after 16 Seasons

don't consider how i feel on this being about CM or our AD at all. just saying that all athletic directors do the same thing, maybe in a different way but the same thing, a plan, a vision. no matter what action they take, it may work or it may fail, just like anyone else's job. actually, the board probably told her that if she was hired, they wanted her to make a change so she had to, nothing about being tough or decisive, a prerequisite of her hire. they have had so many athletic directors and coaches over the decades and maybe huge makes it happen or maybe not.
 
Let's check in on that school down the road that foolishly fired its longtime coach and couldn't possibly field a competent team this season...
 
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And in a possible history making event - the William and Mary Tribe/Griffins predicted to be in the Dance according to latest bracketology by Joey Brackets!
 
Let's check in on that school down the road that foolishly fired its longtime coach and couldn't possibly field a competent team this season...
But they have lost one more game than we have...;)
I wonder if that is St. Francis or St. Joe?

I don't know how they did it when Knight followed their old coach...

Or do we thank them for taking Van Vliet and giving us a Quad 1 win?
 
They're really starting to wake up their basketball program.

https://www.wm.edu/news/stories/202...ization-and-new-sports-performance-center.php

I did not go to the UR game last night, because I was down in Wmsbg. We went to the W&M game (it was a first place battle with Hofstra) instead. At halftime their AD and President spoke about the new arena renovations and the athletic center with practice gym and other stuff. Their stuff will soon be on par with URs, and they're in the CAA. It seems all of this new stuff is crucial if you want to compete in D-1.

BTW, they choked big time against Hofstra, and have now lost 1st place by themselves. They didn't match up very well with them at all.
 
They're really starting to wake up their basketball program.

https://www.wm.edu/news/stories/202...ization-and-new-sports-performance-center.php

I did not go to the UR game last night, because I was down in Wmsbg. We went to the W&M game (it was a first place battle with Hofstra) instead. At halftime their AD and President spoke about the new arena renovations and the athletic center with practice gym and other stuff. Their stuff will soon be on par with URs, and they're in the CAA. It seems all of this new stuff is crucial if you want to compete in D-1.

BTW, they choked big time against Hofstra, and have now lost 1st place by themselves. They didn't match up very well with them at all.

On par? Their renovated arena will shrink to 4,500 seats.
 
It's aged perfectly well. They've been in first place all year. Proof that you can fire a coach, lose a bunch of "great" players and still be highly competitive. They may or may not win the regular season or make the NCAAs this year, but the narrative was that they had set their program back years. Guess what? They haven't.
 
It's aged perfectly well. They've been in first place all year. Proof that you can fire a coach, lose a bunch of "great" players and still be highly competitive. They may or may not win the regular season or make the NCAAs this year, but the narrative was that they had set their program back years. Guess what? They haven't.
Personally, I don’t think it aged at all, you posted on Wednesday. Not sure why this is the time to challenge this. Unless you assume Shafer would have won last night...

While there are times to rip off the bandaid, I think this particular change will be better judged by NEXT March.
 
It's aged perfectly well. They've been in first place all year. Proof that you can fire a coach, lose a bunch of "great" players and still be highly competitive. They may or may not win the regular season or make the NCAAs this year, but the narrative was that they had set their program back years. Guess what? They haven't.
Agreed EL. Another false narrative from the Mooney truthers. Its like What if we fire mooney and the next guy kills someone or gets arrested or whatever. Settle for average.
 
EL, I waited overnight to bump this up. Another quarterfinal loss for the Tribe. And the streak goes on......will give the AD another year to ponder the WM Brand.

We will know never know if it was better to keep Shaver and the team intact or make this move.

I know one thing, WM won't have 2 7 Footers starting for them anytime soon.

Back to the Spiders!
 
Their season wasn't the total failure some predicted, nor was it a smashing overnight success. It will take more time to properly assess the change.

But for now....Different captain, same boat.

PS - A road game at W&M instead of Hampton might have improved the resume a bit, no?
 
Their season wasn't the total failure some predicted, nor was it a smashing overnight success. It will take more time to properly assess the change.

But for now....Different captain, same boat.

PS - A road game at W&M instead of Hampton might have improved the resume a bit, no?
That is what I said. But I said it at the end of the OOC when W&M looked like a Quad 2...
 
Tough way for their season to end, but they finished second in an 18-game league schedule. I'd say they are on the right course.
 
this guy might be a great hire. best hire ever. might take them to the next 14 CAA titles. we'll see.

but for this year, Shaver had a better chance to take them. he had the roster. not sure why that's even in question.
 
this guy might be a great hire. best hire ever. might take them to the next 14 CAA titles. we'll see.

but for this year, Shaver had a better chance to take them. he had the roster. not sure why that's even in question.
Wait a minute here. So you know those guys were coming back if Shaver stayed?? Maybe they had gone to the AD and let her know they were transferring and that was the final nail in the coffin? C'mon, this is where we will be in another few years. Well Mooney could have...............................................
 
this guy might be a great hire. best hire ever. might take them to the next 14 CAA titles. we'll see.

but for this year, Shaver had a better chance to take them. he had the roster. not sure why that's even in question.
Because he hadn’t done it the prior 14 years, maybe...it’s a conundrum.
 
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Wait a minute here. So you know those guys were coming back if Shaver stayed?? Maybe they had gone to the AD and let her know they were transferring and that was the final nail in the coffin? C'mon, this is where we will be in another few years. Well Mooney could have...............................................
here we go again. why does everything tie back to Mooney? this has nothing to do with Mooney. I was not comparing W&M's coaching situation to ours. they have nothing to do with each other.

I don't know that those players all would have come back. I do know they didn't after he was fired. and I think it's really unlikely 4 guys leave without a coaching change. that doesn't happen every day. "maybe they did this", and "maybe they did that" is total speculation unless you have inside info to share.

so we agree to disagree ... as always it seems.
 
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this guy might be a great hire. best hire ever. might take them to the next 14 CAA titles. we'll see.

but for this year, Shaver had a better chance to take them. he had the roster. not sure why that's even in question.

But, you never know what was going on behind the scenes. Maybe the guys were getting tired of Shaver. Maybe a couple guys were transferring anyway. Maybe Nathan Knight was ready to go pro, either NBA or overseas, and it was the new coach who talked him into staying. I think there's just a lot of unknowns.

If everyone would have stayed, and the players loved Shaver, and they were all ready to get together and make a run like we did this year, then I would say Shaver would be the guy for that. But, do we really know that was the case? I'm not sure it was.
 
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Wait a minute here. So you know those guys were coming back if Shaver stayed?? Maybe they had gone to the AD and let her know they were transferring and that was the final nail in the coffin? C'mon, this is where we will be in another few years. Well Mooney could have...............................................
Is the future bright from the inside of a coffin? All I can say is that I feel sorry for W&M basketball, poor hapless W&M.
 
Right. Shaver had had great teams before too but never got over the hump. No guarantee they were going to win it this year even if everyone had come back.
 
lol, they found one 4 years ago. how'd that go?
Shaver was a good coach too. W&M is a bad job.
I agree they will have trouble finding one… that will get them to the Tourney consistently…
 
I had no problem with the move when they made it. They were going for it, and Shaver wasn't the guy to get them there. Their problem was not having someone lined up in advance and then having to hire their fourth or fifth choice.
 
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Shaver was a good coach at W&M, everywhere else too, watched him coach in hs. That said he did get 16 years. The issue is they r still paying Shaver. They owed him 5 years he had auto 1 year renewals for winning records I believe worked into deal by agent. They had no $ for new coach and thus had hard time hiring. Maybe now it will be easier. It was a total f up by their old AD Samantha Huge. She thought Shaver contract was over. She had a couple other controversies there but that’s what got her canned.
 
Maybe they look to Aldrich at Longwood? Just about to make his 2nd NCAA appearance.

Main issue there might be academics and how heavily W&M wants to attack the transfer portal. But he has clearly shown the ability to take a no name program to not 1, but 2 NCAA tourneys. I know he has 10 year deal - but we all know contracts are made to be broken. But also not a huge step up - he might be waiting for something bigger.
 
Believe the guy they hired and now just fired had no previous head coaching experience and was an assistant at George Mason. Never seemed like a smart hire to begin with and even with the low bar that is set at William and Mary for making sports relevant, they seemed to go under that low bar with that hire.

Got to hire someone with some type of name/pedigree if you are going to make a splash. Hiring a no name assistant coach at an A-10 school is not that.
 
Mike young from my Hokies would be a great fit for William and Mary. Not a fit at the power 5 level because he thinks it’s still the 1970’s so let William and Mary have him. He’d do well there where he doesn’t actually have to recruit or have any expectations. Get him TF out of Blacksburg.
 
not sure why any coach who has gone to 2 NCAAs would ever go to W&M, that place is a lower level Fordham, where HC careers go to wither on the vine. They basically have to find someone with zero HC experience who is good enough to have a 3 year run of success. After they make an NCAA that person is leaving first opportunity, but then they would at least have something to build upon. And if they cannot make it work, like this most recent guy, it's probably their only HC gig for their career. Retreads don't seem to have success in spots like that.
 
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not sure why any coach who has gone to 2 NCAAs would ever go to W&M, that place is a lower level Fordham, where HC careers go to wither on the vine. They basically have to find someone with zero HC experience who is good enough to have a 3 year run of success. After they make an NCAA that person is leaving first opportunity, but then they would at least have something to build upon. And if they cannot make it work, like this most recent guy, it's probably their only HC gig for their career. Retreads don't seem to have success in spots like that.
I’m kidding but not really. I know Mike young would never drop down from tech to go there but William and Mary would be the perfect fit for him. He isn’t fit for power 5 basketball.
 
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