CM is our own damn fault. It all started with neutering him for excessive foul language from the bench. An attempt to make him what we (administration) wanted him to be. A nice guy, representative of the university. Well, for those of you that complained, that's what you got. The Philly in him got tamed.
I can see the point that you are trying to make, but, being an ass does not make one a good coach. Mooney has been a mediocre / poor coach all along. The Air Force team he took over had back-to-back NCAA appearances when he was an assistant. Under Mooney as head coach for 1-year, they dropped to no NCAA appearance.
In his 12-years at UR he has consistently demonstrated mediocre to poor performance. His record proves it, and anyone who knows the finer points of the game can regularly SEE what he is doing (and not doing). It is not just his record. His low performance has rightly been discussed on this board repetitively. He doesn't have what it takes to be consistently successful at a higher level.
Mooney was fortunate to have an exceptional player (Kevin Anderson) that led his team to back-to-back NCAA appearances. These trips to the dance happened despite Mooney's performance as the coach. There have been MANY players (as listed so many times before) in the Mooney era who should have been able to make the tournament but never did because of poor coaching. Recruiting, though not the greatest, is NOT the biggest problem of this program. Through the years, there has been sufficient talent to make the tournament (at least a few times).
The current team has enough talented players. The problem is sideline performance. Though you can't write off an NCAA tournament appearance for this season, a more realistic approach is to believe that NIT is likely the best that they can do. With the right coach, it would be POSSIBLE that this team COULD make the NCAA. With Mooney at the helm it is much more likely to be a BIG maybe.
Replacing players like Cline & Jones is a bigger challenge than many posters realize. With all that said, 1-game does not make a season. Gloom and doom is totally appropriate for this one game, but this team is young and talented. They should get better as the season goes along. The A-10 is not that strong, so we can expect some success in the league. If a team is improving and playing their best by season's end, the goal is to have a short at winning the conference tournament.
As stated from day # 1, Mooney needs to stick with Gilyard. This team is not strong offensively. They do not have guaranteed "go-to" guys that can be counted on to score consistently. Expect inconsistency in this arena all season. Sometimes real good, fun to watch. Sometimes long stretches of drought. In order to experience regular and consistent offensive success, they must generate points off of their defense. Play ugly, keep the score down, and give yourself a shot to win at the end. Pressure, pressure, pressure defense on the ball at every position! Run at every opportunity to make scoring easier.
Since everyone is coming back, and since everyone will be 1-year more seasoned, NEXT YEAR is the year where fans should EXPECT an NCAA appearance. I have advocated firing Mooney for many years, but if he doesn't make the tournament next season (with experienced maturing talent) it will be a true catastrophe.
