Between The Eers: Don't Jump the Gun
Between The Eers: Don't Jump the Gun
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 Good Friday morning everybody, Skylar Cowney here.
00:11 Between the ears, we're gonna wrap up the show this week with a little bit of
00:15 basketball talk.
00:17 And I've gotta admit, I've got to get this off my chest.
00:23 Give Josh Eilert the rest of this season, and
00:29 then we can start talking about the coaching situation.
00:32 I know it's a hard thing to do.
00:36 When you look at this team, they have been struggling from the very get go,
00:42 but a lot of that obviously out of his control.
00:45 When you start the season and you don't have
00:51 Kirk Riso, which was that was unexpected.
00:55 I mean, they knew that that could have been a possibility.
00:58 But his suspension, he's out for nine games.
01:00 Rayquan Battle, Noah Farrakhan, that whole situation,
01:06 they couldn't even get eligible until, what was it, December?
01:11 And then you also had Akuka Cook and his medical situation
01:19 that happened in the exhibition game before the season even started.
01:23 You didn't know if he would even touch the floor again.
01:27 And then you have Jesse Edwards, fracture his wrist.
01:32 He's out for over a month.
01:33 It's been one thing after another for this team.
01:38 And when those things happen all within
01:43 a two or three month span, it kind of makes sense
01:50 as to why they're currently sitting at eight and 14.
01:54 Now, when you look at this roster, it's now an eight and 14 roster.
01:58 Not even close.
02:00 I think if they're fully healthy from the get go,
02:03 you have Kirk Riso from game one.
02:05 Again, I still stick to it.
02:09 I think you could just reverse the record.
02:11 I think they're probably about a 14 and 18
02:13 or somewhere in that ballpark.
02:17 But the reason I'm talking about this
02:23 is because I think we as media,
02:26 and I'm sure the fans, I know the fans have done this,
02:31 where they're starting to throw out all these list of names
02:36 and potential candidates.
02:38 To me, it's disrespectful to do it in this type of a situation, right?
02:48 Where Eilert's already gone through hell and back a million times,
02:55 seemingly, since he's taken this job.
02:57 And we all knew that before the season,
03:03 that this was going to be a challenge.
03:05 We didn't know that a cook was going to have a medical situation.
03:08 We did not know that Jesse Edwards would miss over a month.
03:12 So that's two additional things that happened.
03:19 That we did not expect in what was already going to be an uphill battle.
03:23 So you've got to give this guy time.
03:28 It's only right. It's only fair.
03:30 He's the interim for a reason.
03:32 He was thrown into a crap situation.
03:35 So give him till the end of the year.
03:40 It's only a handful of more games.
03:43 They're not going to make a deep run.
03:45 Maybe they make a deep run in Kansas City.
03:48 But if they don't, they're not going to be playing the NCAA tournament.
03:51 And I highly, highly doubt.
03:53 They'll be accepting a bid to any other tournament.
03:58 Because let's face it, if there's going to be a potential change,
04:04 most of these kids are not going to be here.
04:07 But maybe they do. Who knows?
04:11 I just think it's it's disrespectful.
04:15 It's another distraction to start throwing out all these names
04:20 like I've seen on social media over the last couple of days,
04:22 talking about Dusty May and Nico Medved and
04:27 just so on and so forth.
04:30 And look, and I get it.
04:31 It's easy as a fan to do it.
04:35 For those in the media that are doing it, it's
04:37 I'm not a huge fan of it.
04:40 I was going to be honest with you.
04:42 Like. I'm not going to I'm not going to talk about
04:46 the coaching situation, who could fit at West Virginia.
04:50 Until they have played their last game.
04:55 That's just how I'm going to do it now, if somebody asked me
04:59 my opinion about it, like I've been asked
05:02 several questions about it in our weekly mailbag.
05:05 I'll give my answer.
05:08 That's my duty to answer your questions in the mailbag.
05:12 But I'm not going to bring it up.
05:14 By myself and start talking about what coaches fit,
05:20 what what schemes fit, what types of players
05:23 could go with certain coaches, I'm just not doing that.
05:27 Not until the final game has been played.
05:31 But. I think we all kind of need to take a step back
05:38 and and understand.
05:41 Like, look, there's a lot of season left.
05:44 I mean, it may not seem like it, but there still is.
05:47 And that's, again, another reason why I'm kind of
05:49 holding myself back from this.
05:52 And to jumping in with with others and starting to talk about
05:57 what other coaches fit, because let's be honest.
05:59 This is a talented group,
06:03 and if they figure things out, they can make a run.
06:06 They can figure something out and and do something in Kansas City.
06:11 I mean, they've beaten quality teams in this league already.
06:17 Now it's about just building consistency.
06:20 Take it from somebody who has covered multiple coaching fires.
06:27 Over the last two to three years.
06:33 The one in particular that.
06:35 Really kind of has changed my view on on interim situations
06:41 was Steve Wilkes at the Carolina Panthers.
06:43 He took over a really tough situation.
06:47 Team was just absolutely stuck in the mud.
06:51 Offensively, defensively, they were playing OK, but not great.
06:56 There was kind of some mixed signals on the defensive side
07:01 about what they needed to do.
07:03 He takes it over there one and four.
07:06 They have no idea what to do.
07:08 A quarterback is going to be Baker.
07:10 It's going to be Sam Darnold. Who knows?
07:13 They lose the first two of three games that he coaches the interim,
07:19 and everyone's just like, man, just get this to the end of the season.
07:23 It's it's a it's a crap shoot.
07:25 You feel bad for Steve.
07:27 You were thrown in this bad situation.
07:31 I mean, this is a Charlotte guy, and you know, he really wants it bad.
07:35 But, you know, let's just let's just get to the end of the year.
07:37 Well. As people were starting to say those things
07:44 and talk about what coach the Panthers should be hiring next,
07:47 he started to win some ball games and all of a sudden
07:52 you turn around.
07:54 And he's playing for an NFC South division title.
07:58 If the Panthers beat.
08:03 The Tampa Bay Buccaneers in week 17,
08:07 they're going to the playoffs.
08:10 They're going to the playoffs.
08:15 And everybody, even after they lost that game, they come back,
08:19 they beat New Orleans in week 18, and everybody is saying, you know what?
08:23 The situation that Steve Wilkes was in.
08:28 Was. Almost impossible.
08:32 Yet he dragged that team out of the mud
08:37 and took them onto the cusp of making the playoffs.
08:42 That has to be his team moving for hell of a coaching job.
08:48 One of the best coaching jobs I've ever seen personal.
08:51 He should have got that job.
08:57 The Panthers didn't want to go to the route of not doing the sexy hire
09:02 and just promoting Steve Wilkes from interim to head coach.
09:05 Instead, they go out and hire a fired head coach in Frank Reich,
09:10 who, by the way, didn't any interview anywhere else.
09:14 And he lasted all of 11 games.
09:17 I know I'm getting way off the path here in terms of WVU,
09:23 but this is just this is it.
09:26 They tie together, OK?
09:28 This is what I'm saying with the interim situation.
09:31 The very same thing can happen with Josh.
09:34 Not saying it will.
09:37 But this is a talented group.
09:40 Again, if they figure things out, they can make a run in Kansas City.
09:44 And who knows?
09:44 Maybe they come say a game within winning the Big 12 tournament.
09:47 Does your view on Josh Eilert change?
09:52 Yeah, I bet it does.
09:55 And instead, we're not talking about some guy.
09:57 That's in Conference USA that had a 500
10:02 ish record for the first three or four years before putting it together
10:06 with an all star roster for the last two years, who is still losing
10:10 a handful of games to low level teams.
10:13 No disrespect to Dusty May, he has done a great job to turn that thing around,
10:20 but it's taken him time.
10:23 It's not like he stepped in and just ran with it from day one.
10:27 So let's take a step back.
10:32 Let's not jump the gun.
10:34 Let's evaluate this season.
10:36 Let's see how it goes and let just let it all play out.
10:39 Because at the end of the day, if if Josh Eilert is supposed to be
10:44 the full time head coach moving forward.
10:46 It's going to happen.
10:49 If he's not.
10:51 Then that's going to happen, too.
10:55 But there's still a lot of data points that this team
10:58 and he has to cross and check off first.
11:00 Before we can truly make that evaluation.
11:04 Nothing is impossible.
11:10 And I'm saying this now from again, from a guy that covered
11:13 that Panthers coaching situation.
11:17 If this team were to win seven out of eight games.
11:21 We're all of a sudden talking about.
11:26 Josh Eilert getting this team that was eight and 14.
11:30 To rally and stick together instead of fracturing
11:35 and giving up because there were eight and 14
11:38 and had no chance at the NCAA tournament, more than likely.
11:41 And if they win that many in a row.
11:44 That's got to mean something, man.
11:48 So, again, I know we're talking if we're talking hypotheticals,
11:51 but this is why I'm saying when you have this much runway left.
11:57 It's pumped the brakes a little bit.
11:59 If there was a game or two left, I could understand
12:02 kicking around the idea.
12:04 But there's not.
12:06 So let's give Josh his time.
12:09 We'll see what happens now.
12:11 I'm saying all this and they may get curb stomp tomorrow
12:13 by 30 against Texas.
12:15 And that's very, very possible.
12:17 They're going to be looking for revenge.
12:19 But I'm just saying this as let's just be fair to Josh
12:23 in this crappy situation that he's been thrown into.
12:26 He's done everything that he can possibly do
12:31 to keep this team together.
12:34 Throughout everything that they've been through.
12:36 Let's at least give them these next handful of games
12:40 to get through the rest of the season in the Big 12 tournament.
12:44 And then we can make our call.
12:46 So that'll do it for me here today.
12:49 And for this week here on Between the Ears, I'm Skylar Callen.
12:52 Make sure you hit that subscribe button on YouTube and Mountain Ears.
12:54 Now give us a like and a follow on X at the same handle.
12:58 We'll be back Monday with a new episode.
13:00 But in the meantime, you can catch me tomorrow on the postgame show
13:04 with Christopher Hall as we recap West Virginia and Texas.
13:08 So until tomorrow, take care.
13:10 Take care.
13:10 [outro music]