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A look at MU’s support staff
Posted on: August 16, 2021 at 08:15:08 CT
FIJItiger MU
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Obviously the three most crucial and impactful members are assistants. Every major D1 program is allowed and staffs 3. Over the years MU has certainly had some assistants of questionable character, qualifications, and ability to contribute. But I’m not sure if collectively they have ever had a weaker 3 man group than currently. Two of our assistants were initial hires when Cuonzo first game to MU (Mann and Hollender) and despite poor recruiting results, player development, and tactical coaching there has been no move to upgrade or indication that is a desire. The one staffing change in this capacity came when a $300k+ job was freed up by Michael Porter Sr moving on, which Cuonzo elected to replace by promoting his Director of Player Development and high school friend into the 3rd assistant role. Under Cuonzo, MU has neglected to designate an assistant with the Associate Head Coach role but that is a position that was always present at MU prior to Cuonzo dating back to the 1990s.
Lets compare MU’s remaining support staff to Tennessee, a successful and well funded men’s program with a veteran coach who has demonstrated a consistent and high level success.
https://mutigers.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/2021-22
https://utsports.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
As one would expect, both programs have a Director of Athletic Performance. Both programs have a Director of Basketball Operations, a position that varies widely in terms of role in many programs. Sometimes its largely an administrative type role in charge of scheduling/budgets/camps/travel/etc and sometimes its an actual assistant who doesn’t have recruiting responsibilities and is not allowed to participate in game day coaching. For both MU and Tennessee, it’s the former type of DBO. Also both programs have an Athletic Trainer.
Beyond that is where the programs start to diverge, although in terms of overall roles they are basically equivalent. MU’s additional support positions are an Assistant to the Head Coach as well as an Executive Staff Assistant, even though the DBO also provides many of the operational and administrative support to the head coach. Tennessee has a Director of Player Development and a Director of Student Athlete Development, so basically roles focused on player development and providing individual support to the athletes. Then Tennessee also has a Video Coordinator, a position MU has always had dating back to the Quin era but which has also not been a role under Cuonzo.
Another competing program to where MU wants to get is Florida:
https://floridagators.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
They have an even smaller support staff, basically getting by with a DBO and Strength and Conditioning coach, Special Assistant to the Coach, and a Sports Health Associate AD.
There is really no indication or evidence that Cuonzo has attempted to expand his support staff and been denied, he has remained loyal to two of his assistants from the very beginning and when presented with an opportunity to upgrade at the third assistant position felt comfortable in not doing so, and has largely allocated the remainder of his support staff towards providing himself support. Could having a position for example of a video coordinator somehow help the on the court results? Possibly. But using that as an example does anyone believe that if Cuonzo said ‘hey every other staff before me had a video coordinator, could I also have such a position on my staff’ that it would be denied? Does anyone believe that the reason Tennessee is well coached and MU is not is largely driven by them having a Director of Student Athlete Development and MU having an Assistant to the Head Coach? If that is really the driving factor, then what a shameful and shortsighted allocation of resources we have established and maintained over these last four seasons, and its odd they way such a setup is unique to the beginning of the Cuonzo era and divergent from all past MU staffs.
Lets compare MU’s remaining support staff to Tennessee, a successful and well funded men’s program with a veteran coach who has demonstrated a consistent and high level success.
https://mutigers.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/2021-22
https://utsports.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
As one would expect, both programs have a Director of Athletic Performance. Both programs have a Director of Basketball Operations, a position that varies widely in terms of role in many programs. Sometimes its largely an administrative type role in charge of scheduling/budgets/camps/travel/etc and sometimes its an actual assistant who doesn’t have recruiting responsibilities and is not allowed to participate in game day coaching. For both MU and Tennessee, it’s the former type of DBO. Also both programs have an Athletic Trainer.
Beyond that is where the programs start to diverge, although in terms of overall roles they are basically equivalent. MU’s additional support positions are an Assistant to the Head Coach as well as an Executive Staff Assistant, even though the DBO also provides many of the operational and administrative support to the head coach. Tennessee has a Director of Player Development and a Director of Student Athlete Development, so basically roles focused on player development and providing individual support to the athletes. Then Tennessee also has a Video Coordinator, a position MU has always had dating back to the Quin era but which has also not been a role under Cuonzo.
Another competing program to where MU wants to get is Florida:
https://floridagators.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
They have an even smaller support staff, basically getting by with a DBO and Strength and Conditioning coach, Special Assistant to the Coach, and a Sports Health Associate AD.
There is really no indication or evidence that Cuonzo has attempted to expand his support staff and been denied, he has remained loyal to two of his assistants from the very beginning and when presented with an opportunity to upgrade at the third assistant position felt comfortable in not doing so, and has largely allocated the remainder of his support staff towards providing himself support. Could having a position for example of a video coordinator somehow help the on the court results? Possibly. But using that as an example does anyone believe that if Cuonzo said ‘hey every other staff before me had a video coordinator, could I also have such a position on my staff’ that it would be denied? Does anyone believe that the reason Tennessee is well coached and MU is not is largely driven by them having a Director of Student Athlete Development and MU having an Assistant to the Head Coach? If that is really the driving factor, then what a shameful and shortsighted allocation of resources we have established and maintained over these last four seasons, and its odd they way such a setup is unique to the beginning of the Cuonzo era and divergent from all past MU staffs.
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A look at MU’s support staff - FIJItiger MU - 8/16 08:15:08