Article: Collis Temple II vs CTJ from Tigerrag

TigerRag - LOVE: Different and same

Suffice it to say that it is important for a local prominent basketball figure to be on board with the LSU coaching hire. To what extent I'm not sure.

 

i guess you want us to google the article?

and i disagree i dont think the coach should give a damn what some guy in the community says. i dunno why collis temple thinks his opinion matters.

 

Because he was pretty much responsible for our 06' final four team. It shouldn't matter, but you don't want a big figure in the hometown against you

 

Read the article and it sounds to me like Temple is jealous of CTJ. Temple needs to shut his mouth and either get behind the program or get the hell out of the way. Sounds like Temple has his feelings hurt that CTJ hasn't come begging for his help with recruiting like Brady used to do.

 

Fixed the link.

 

When "some guy" has the kind of political pull with the AD that Collis Temple has, you can bet it's going to make Trent's seat a lot hotter if LSU doesn't get real good real fast. You can also bet that despite what Collis says, he has a lot of sour grapes over Trent giving him the cold shoulder and doing things his way. You gotta respect Trent for not letting someone else influence the direction of his program, but it puts him in a tenuous political position if the team makes minimal progress and fan support remains flat.

 

again, the issue is wins and losses. the input of temple is not relevant. lose, and people will say it sucks that temple isnt on the coach's side. win, and temple will say he likes the way the program is going. so really either way it doesnt matter what temple does or say and he should be 100% ignored by everyone.

 

If LSU finishes 2012-13 with a 20-win season and first round NIT or NCAA loss, Trent supporters will be arguing yet again for one more year since we're "headed in the right direction". Fans will once again be on the fence, and it won't help Trent to have Collis in Alleva's ear trying to push him on the other side, even though he would have technically shown improvement from this year.

 

I think the general tenor of this thread is right.

First, kudos to Ben Love and Tigerrag for actually writing a relevant basketball article. Many board "ranters" have been talking about this Temple-Trent "rift" for some time now, and this at least addresses the issue.

My first reaction is that it was at least a well-balanced article, showing plenty of quotes from both sides. But, after reading it, I can't help but feel like it's Temple looking a little bit like the irrational, whiney sidelines Sunday arm chair coach. I think certainly at some level, yes, he is a very influential and well-remembered hoops figure. Yes, he was the first African American hoops player at LSU, and yes, he seemingly "delivered" certain players to LSU, including his sons, during the many of the better years of Brady's LSU coaching career. At the same time, some of his "change is needed" message is interesting when you consider some of the following:

First, when Trent was hired, one of the biggest public supporters was Temple himself:

LSU set to hire Stanford's Johnson as new coach - USATODAY.com

"A home run? It's a grand slam hire," Collis Temple II, a former LSU player who has remained close to the program, told Gannett News Service.

Just for kicks, for all of the general masses now wondering what the heck was the rationale for the hire, see:

[ame=http://www.secfanatics.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=44041]Lsu Basketball Set To Hire Trent Johnson[/ame]

Second, I can't help but chuckle about some of Collis' biggest beef with Trent... his winning, or lack thereof. When Collis was at LSU, their teams' records were (under both Press Maravich and early years of Dale)... 14-12, 10-16, 14-10, 12-14. And as the article points out, Dale didn't hit 18 wins until his 6th year of being at LSU. To say that "change" is needed, with that sense of "urgency" that many LSU fans probably pick up on, is just as irrational coming from Temple as it is from LSU ranters.

Third, the recruiting. A big part of the article really seems to be whether CTJr, should be given "access" to the program as much as he's used to. And, secondarily, is Trent really able to do some of the things that Dale and Brady did. Frankly, with the former, there were many run-ins with the NCAA, and with the latter, there were plenty of kids who failed to make the grade in one way or another. Obviously, I'm not going to brush off the influence of AAU coaches, and high school coaches, and folks like CTJr. "Runners" is such a nasty word, but when Brady's best years were Garrett Temple and his AAU buddies essentially committing to LSU under the influence of CTJr, is that what Trent should be doing? Shouldn't he be selling kids on LSU? If he wants LSU to be successful, is it helping if CTJr's publicly disparaging the coach--who knows if he's doing more than that by poisoning the Baton Rouge waters. Look, it's no coincidence that once CTJr's sons team left BR, the pipeline to Brady's bunch dried up a little bit. Now, you're going to say that Trent can't recruit, like Dale, when he's signed players from across the country? It's no coincidence that, like 'em or not, Trent has actually signed 3 kids from the N.O. area (Ludwig, Derenbecker, Morgan) and isn't solely relying on B.R. kids. He's actually shown an ability to sign kids from the West Coast, Miss, KY, get a transfer from Iowa State. I just think it's a continuing perpetuating of this perception like Trent can't recruit. When a guy like him has sent a dozen or more players to the NBA, is it really that the guy can't recruit? It just seems to smack of disingenuous talk.

I don't pretend to think that guys like CTJr aren't important to the legacy of LSU, but I do think that at the end of the day, he needs to be more appropriate in his support. LSU isn't going to sell LSU to LA recruits, if the fans are divided, the former players and "luminaries" are divided. A kid like Jarrell Martin should be giving LSU a fair shake based upon substance and not "public opinion".

When a kid like Shavon Coleman, Johnny O'Bryant, Justin Hamilton actually sit down with Trent and his staff, hear what they have to say, visit the school and see what they can do under Trent's tutelage, I think that's the most important perspective we can have on the program. I think it starts with guys like Shavon Coleman, or down the road, maybe a kid like Troy Jones (another LA kid likely to go to Juco to fix his academics, but who has a good relationship with Trent). Hopefully Jarrell Martin will also see this next year.

:geauxtige

 

I thought Temple was candid...as was Johnson. I said in another thread that maybe Johnson should be a better spokesman for the program (in reasponse to his post season analysis article)...Temple just thinks that he ought to be more visible as head of the program as well.

better communication with the state, the recruits and the fan base couldn't hurt.