assistant coaches

[NC Titan]

Are there any assistants left at UofM?

Also, interesting that all coaches -- head and assistants --graduated from Catholic colleges, mostly Jesuit.

[titanmac]

women are playing at e. carolina 11/13 nct.

[R.B.J1]

Pete Kahler and Canaan Chatman are now listed as Assistant coaches

Coaching Staff
NAME TITLE
Bacari Alexander '99 Head Men's Basketball Coach
Jermaine Jackson '99 Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
Canaan Chatman Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
Pete Kahler Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
Mickey Barrett Director of Program Personnel & Operations
Kal Riebau Graduate Assistant Coach
Matthew Hasse Graduate Assistant Coach

http://detroittitans.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball

Its good that coach Alexander hired a couple of assistants with contacts in places besides metro Detroit. I was always uncomfortable with our reliance on the Detroit PSL, not that the PSL hasn't supplied us with good players, we just never got great players.

[titanmike]

Are there any assistants left at UofM?

Also, interesting that all coaches -- head and assistants --graduated from Catholic colleges, mostly Jesuit.

an astute observation that was mentioned by Bacari as part of the culture and understanding being developed.

[Commissioner]

Well, we're not yet two months into the failed Bacari Alexander regime, and BA has his coaching team in place, his roster looks settled, they've announced the new radio deal, it looks like the schedule is about done. On to phase III? Even if you're not pleased (and I am pleased), it's time to be optimistic--no point in bitching and moaning before we've seen any results on the court, right Titans96?

But it seems like a coaching team BA is comfy with. He kept our top recruit, Cory Allen, and that's no small thing. After a monster year like Cory's senior season, some kids would have looked at the coaching change as an opportunity to get out of their LOI and hope for an offer from a Power 5, Big East, or A10 school. I'm keeping my expectations low for the big guys, Jones and Eichler, but it's nice to sign some bigs. I don't think we've signed a guy taller than 6-8 since Solanke and NJ in 2012. I'm very excited to get Kam Chatman. We know that sitting on the bench in the Big 10 doesn't necessarily translate into being a star in the Horizon, but the young man was a top 30 recruit out of high school. Seems like a chance worth taking. Even CB (who was ranked around #100 in HS), who never really fufilled expectations, was a valuable member of the rotation for 3 seasons, and played really well late last season. I hope for more from Chatman.

I'm curious if, with the new assistants, we are really going to get young men out of Baltimore, Chicago, the northwest, etc. to come to Detroit. One thing Ray promised when he came on was to expand our recruiting reach--get our name in front of the best kids around the country and make them turn us down. Which, except for Lil Ray, is pretty much what they did. Seems our recruiting fell back more and more on Michigan (and metro Detroit) as Ray's time went on. After Grant and Williams in 2013, I don't think Ray landed any high school player from outside Michigan (Bass in the summer of 2013, Hogan, AFS, Blackshear, McFolly, Gibson, then Cory Allen last fall--am I forgetting anyone?) I'm not saying that's good or bad (a lot of fans, including many on this board, have expressed a preference for recruiting local kids), just that he didn't have much luck recruiting nationally, if that was his goal. So we'll see if it works for Bacari. I' personally am glad he's planning to try, and obviously his first class has some geographic reach -- California, Canada, Germany.

I think the Bacari era is off to an excellent start. Seems to be a man with a plan.

[Rogobob77]

At the luncheon, Coach Bacari mentioned new hire Chatman's Chicago connections, perhaps we'll target some recruits from that part of the Midwest.

[titanmac]

ah crap commish. not sure what you mean by that? during ray's tenure we had more recruits and more talented recruits from outstate and outside the state than we probably ever had. are you whining about the quality? i have no complaints there either. right now of our 16 roster players, two are from california, one is from germany via massachusetts, two are from canada (ontario and newfoundland depending how you count?), one is from oregon. additionally, at least two are from outstate: ypsilanti, saginaw. that's half the team. given that our forays into these markets are fairly recent, we are only recently cultivating these ties and this recruiting strategy, i think we're doing a marvelous job. it is, to me, the most significant aspect of ray's legacy for this program. i am thrilled that these new young men that are taking over understand the wisdom of this approach going forward. i am equally thrilled that they were left with a solid base from which to work and to expand. there's was tons of energy in that room today. thank ray and that woman for setting a new tone for our program and for leaving it in good enough shape to build on this foundation. wish the season was starting tomorrow!

[titanmac]

ps. our new voice of the titans has a sports radio show weekdays from 2 to 4 on superstation 910 am. think i'll have to tune in, particularly since 105.3 is changing its format to talk at least as much pop culture as it does sports. is now as bad as 97.1. i really don't care to listen to sports junkies opine on cultural and political issues. that, in my opinion, is best left to the experts...although it does seem there are damn few of them around with any integrity anymore...at least any that the networks are willing to pay. its all about sound bites and market share these days and whatever share they may have its never enough . i get it. i'm just am tired of it. where have you gone david brinkley.

[Titans96]

It is very interesting that BA decided to go for an AAU Coach as one of his new Assistants. We all know how strong AAU coaching is and what great developers of player skills the AAU coaches are in today’s game. So I guess that Sharrief Metoyer won’t be far behind!!!

It now seems that the only experienced basketball coach on the team is BA.

Now that Kam Chapman’s dad is coaching, maybe Kam will stay at the school? After leaving two high schools and Michigan (because Michigan couldn’t give Kam the type of education and basketball experience he needed), maybe he will finally have found a home at UDM?

Nothing but the best for UDM! The future is bright!

[Commissioner]

Mac, in 8 years, I think Coach Ray signed three non-Michigan players directly out of high school or prep school - Williams, Grant, and Gabriel Dos Santos. Maybe you could count Jason Calliste, but he was more a recruit of the prior regime. And it seems to me, anecdotally, that the last couple years recruiting focused more and more on Michigan. Nothng wrong with that--Bass, Hogan, AFS, Allen, McFolly, Blackshear seem pretty good. But we weren't getting out of state talent.

I agree with you that Ray brought in a lot of talent, and I think my post made clear that I'm not critical of Ray's talent or where it came from. Just that the idea of luring kids from other parts of the country to Detroit didn't seem to yield many results. And I mention that because BA was talking about the connections his new assistants have around the country., and how that would help recruiting. I hope it works out. As I noted, certainly this first class has a broad reach. Like I say, I'm optmistic about the program.

[NC Titan]

Not sure what everyone's so excited about. Months into the new administration and we still haven't won a single game.

(Sorry, channeling Titans96.)

[titanmac]

always sumphin commish. parse it if you will.

[ptctitan]

titanmac - our 2011-12 HL champs were split 50-50 Michigan vs out of State. By 2014-15, we were 2/3 Michigan vs. 1/3 out of State if you count Kane for the full year. Last year, we were 9 players from Michigan and 3 from outside of Michigan. I believe the main reason for this change resulted from the forced change to the coaching staff that occurred before the early signing period in 2012-13 due to the fallout from l'affaire Gaither and all of its repercussions - especially in the 2012-13 season when we only had one full-time asst. coach.

Titans96 - since these new hires are assistant coaches and will have certain duties assigned to them by Bacari, I think your observation about AAU coaches likely will not apply here. The staff should function as a unit led by Bacari. For example, last year, it was very clear that JJ helped Carlton Brundidge improve his play significantly despite his alleged shortcomings as a head coach that you have identified many times on this board. For this reason, I am quite content to wait and see how the staff functions as a unit led by Bacari because, as many have posted on this board, Bacari does seem to have a very structured plan for how he wants to take this team from last year's mediocrity to a better performance over the coming seasons. So, I will judge the sum of the parts as they execute their assigned duties over the coming season - and hopefully for many years in the future. And I do agree with you that the future appears bright. I don't recall this much buzz, media coverage, and optimism since Vitale was here. And it is combined with the imprint of quiet strength upon Bacari by Coach Watson who brought the same toughness here when he took over about 23 years ago. Count me quietly optimistic about our future.

[Commissioner]

always sumphin commish. parse it if you will.

That's what I was thinkin, Mac. Never seen a person so eager to find disagreement with those who don't disagree.

[uofdmik2008]

Has anyone seen 96 post anything positive on this board? I think if we won the national championship 2 years in a row with 2 undefeated seasons he would still gripe about something!

[titanmac]

I don't agree with your view that we can't be successful recruiting out of state. parsing it between juco's, transfers and freshmen doesn't change the fact that we already are. afs is a borderline outstate. I'd give you the benefit of any doubt that might carry? Romulus is mostly considered burb. Ypsilanti is most considered not burb.

[Commissioner]

I don't agree with your view that we can't be successful recruiting out of state. parsing it between juco's, transfers and freshmen doesn't change the fact that we already are. afs is a borderline outstate. I'd give you the benefit of any doubt that might carry? Romulus is mostly considered burb. Ypsilanti is most considered not burb.

Are you talking to me? Because nowhere have I said, nor do I believe, that we can't be successful recruiting out of state. I did say, and do believe, that Ray didn't get the results he probably hoped for.


AFS is from Taylor, which is pretty in-state. I was not distinguishing out-state Michigan (the odd term detroiters use for the rest of the state) from Detroit but discussing law ding recruits from other parts of the country. I applaud Bacari's intentions.

[titanmac]

exactly! I think he got exactly the results he hoped for! and more! and outstate is very much a part of the strategy.

[NC Titan]

PTC, you got it. There is a reason Alexander calls his staff the ATeam. Greater than the sum of its parts.

And I'm more excited than I've been in a long time. With Ray there was always hope that this would be the year it would all come together, but there was always the expectation that it wouldn't. Something would go wrong. Kind of like being a Cubs fan. But, with BA, it's more like Vitale's "new era of basketball excitement in the Motor City."

[R.B.J1]

Perry Farrell has a nice article in todays Detroit News about the Chatman family.

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/colle ... /86838186/