I love the hire of Tony Delk first of all.
In Marvin Menzies first four years at NMSU, he always had that veteran coach around the program, but with the departure of Mick Durham earlier this summer, Menzies and newly appointed associate head coach Paul Weir are the most experienced coaches at the Division I level. Tom Lewis moves into a role as a full time assistant to round out the staff.
Weir deserves it. He has held jobs all over the NMSU program since coming here the same year as Menzies and has proven his worth as a recruiter, landing most of the Canadian born players on the roster that have developed into productive players at NMSU.
Delk probably needs a couple years, but the presence of a recent NBA player in a recruit's home could hopefully pay dividends before Delk moves on to whatever his next stop may be. I think the Aggies have three very good recruiters on their staff, capable of making up for whatever they lack in experience with talent on the floor.
I asked Delk how he determined whether or not he wanted to develop as a college coach or pursue a spot on a NBA bench.
"I like working with young guys at the college level who may have aspirations of playing in the NBA or overseas. I hope I have that ability. We will see shortly. I want to work with them to become successful in sports, but in the business world and in education as well. I'm focusing on what I need to do to help this staff and that's going to be influencing the young players we have coming in."
At this point as he moves from Lexington and Georgia, Delk said his role with the team is currently up in the air. Years past have seen NMSU assistants split up preparation for each opponent between Weir and Durham primarily.
Delk said waiting for a job in a bigger league didn't cause him to turn down two job offers last summer and one this summer.
"Everybody has to have a starting point and I'm fine working in the WAC and I'm looking forward to it. It's competitive. In college basketball, most conferences have become competitive and you see so many teams that have done well. NMSU showed two years ago competing against Michigan State and I think that is where (Menzies) is trying to take these players."
12 comments:
Tony Freaking Delk!
Good hire for NMSU. Maybe Menzies just hired his replacement. As far as Weir being this great recruiter, try again.
Oh you don't like Weir? -the man who salvaged a lost year last year by drilling defense! He'd compete better in the recruiting battles if more fans supported the team. It took Steve Fischer 10 years to get San Diego State back on top and he had to get student/fan support first.
I think NM State does an excellent job of recruiting talented players but my issue is with how Menzies manages the team during games. The people under him are probably the ones keeping his job for him right now.
RT
Nice acquisition with Delk but, at the end of the day. Menzies is still the coach and that's where the problem starts.
Tony Delk will be in and outta here in no-time flat once he sees the quality of coaches Menzies and Weir are.
Aggie 007 -
right. That's the man's stated purpose. He wants to be a head coach somewhere someday. Menzies says Weir has all the tools to be a head coach. What's wrong with that? Menzies did his time as an assistant. Maybe one day Tony Delk can make it back to the NBA like Reggie if that's his career choice? Menzies must not be all bad if Pitino is sending Delk over to Las Cruces until he can get his training wheels off in a Louisville-style program.
did you really say weir drilled the defense? wait, i need to stop laughing. you all need to go watch their practices. they stand around and waste more clock time than any other college program i have ever seen work out. ive gone to several practice, supposed to start at 4 but they never all get to the gym and ready to go until 30 minutes late. that is a ship with many holes in it and the leaks are getting bigger. back to the defense. they play absolutely zero defense. if they don't steal the ball off a first pass, they give up an easy shot and multiple attempts at put backs. until the head coach emphasizes the defensive end of the floor as an all out battle, the players never do. it doesn't matter if an assistant does the drills. yes, menzies still has much to learn. he needs to stop being a politician and actually treat people with respect and then focus on his ability to lead a team. period.
For several seasons the Aggies played little D and basically outscored you, which is the Louisville offense we heard so much about in the hype as Reggie arrived. Last year Young and Gibson left and Wendell was hurt and so the ability to rebound the ball and score (launch 3's ?) disappeared. Season was headed further south (UTEP, Mexico?) when all of a sudden there was some attention paid to defense. Gotta give the coaches credit for that and Menzies in particular for crediting his staff. Defense got delegated to Weir and the team responded. At least the Canadian guys did, eh?
7:26
What defense?
Jason- Who are the Aggies hiring in Tom Lewis's Director of Basketball Position (Coordinator of Player Development)? Another big name???
9:28
Uh, scoring average down with JY/Gibson gone but also opponents' scoring average also down.
The only thing I can think of to explain that considering that the Aggies were still in the WAC is, uh, better D with the one-dimensional hoisting 3-balls duo gone. Both those guys were quick but couldn't handle bigger players.
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