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Wes Miller named Head Coach at Cincinnati

buckets said:
I only know this story second-hand, but I think the Miller family relationship worked against Wes and Skip didn't want it to look like the Millers had bought Wes' spot on the team. FWIW I think he played a freshman year at JMU then transferred to UNC.
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Prosser was a wise and sensible man.
 
I don't see what the big deal would have been about Wes Miller trying out to be a walk-on. Pretty obvious he would have made it had he gone through the try-out (which is, what, a couple of days, maybe?). I can kind of understand why Skip would not want to create the perception that he was simply given a spot because of his last name. Seems like a good way to make Wes Miller unpopular among his teammates.

For the record, he did end up taking a scholarship at James Madison before transferring to UNC.
 
He was a scholarship player in the CAA. That should end any question about why he would have received a preferred walk-on spot.
 
Yeah Skip dropped the ball on Miller. He would have started for at least one, if not two years while here.
 
All this talk about Skip dropping the ball is predicated on him somehow foreseeing that we would have been in a position to have Wes Miller start for us. Nobody could have predicted that.
 
When you have division one scholarship players wanting to walk-on your team, you say yes.
 
I agree with that. I just think the "he would have started for us!!!11one!" mantra is silly.
 
Fuck Your Couch said:
I have seen a couple of national columnists today reference him as a possible coaching rising star, and I know a couple of posters have been mentioning his name to be on the Wake radar for in the future. Honest question as someone who knows nothing about him other than his playing days, why do so many people think he could end up being a great coach?
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Can someone answer this question if they are in the know? I am genuinely curious too.
 
buckets said:
I only know this story second-hand, but I think the Miller family relationship worked against Wes and Skip didn't want it to look like the Millers had bought Wes' spot on the team. FWIW I think he played a freshman year at JMU then transferred to UNC.
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I think we should offer up our walk-on spots to the highest bidder.
 
The baseball and golf program regularly recruit kids based upon the knowledge that the recruit's family could be benefactors for the program, the athletic department and/or the school, not sure how Skip missed that memo.
 
WRS said:
I agree with that. I just think the "he would have started for us!!!11one!" mantra is silly.
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It's true. He wanted to walk-on and he would have started. Pretty gross miscalculation by our staff.

Planning for contingencies are one of the requirements of the head coach, and he passed on a freebie.
 
Can we let Skip rest in peace please? It was a mistake. Miller turned down an opportunity to compete, so he shares some blame. We made up for it with Keith.
 
Pilchard said:
The baseball and golf program regularly recruit kids based upon the knowledge that the recruit's family could be benefactors for the program, the athletic department and/or the school, not sure how Skip missed that memo.
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If a donation is only prospective, that is very different. On some level, every admissions decision, athlete or otherwise, is made with an eye toward whether a particular student's family is likely to make a full tuition pay or donate to the school in the future.

In this case, a substantial sum had been donated just before the student's matriculation. It is understandable that Skip would have wanted to avoid the appearance of improper influence by handing WM a walk-on spot in a high-profile sport like hoops.

IMO, only with the benefit of hindsight can Skip or the AD be faulted here.
 
inspectah said:
..............

IMO, only with the benefit of hindsight can Skip or the AD be faulted here.
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True. But, there was compelling evidence. We were not talking scholarship, just a walk-on spot, and the kid was pretty good, apparently had high respect for Wake, and legacy connections. I'd speculate that if Wes thought/realized (at Wake) he was highly over-matched, he would have excused himself from the team.

We can't do anything now except express to Wes and his family that many alumni are disappointed and regret it worked out this way.

Hope his career blossoms.
 
Just so we are all clear, posters think Skip should have offered a guaranteed walk on spot to a player that ended up being too afraid to compete for said spot and accepted a scholarship elsewhere? If you are a coach and somebody says "I want to walk on to your team but won't try out first" why exactly would you be the slightest bit convinced that is the type of player you would actually want doing the thankless work of a walk on? Offering somebody a guaranteed spot by your choice is way different than them requiring you to do so.

Hindsight says he should have offered it due to eventual need but nothing demonstrates work ethic quite like not being willing to actually earn your spot. Also I think it is a sad indicator of society today that people think he should get it because his family donated a lot of money. Thats the exact type of lesson a young adult needs to be taught....just have daddy give some money and I'll get what I want in life. I realize this is how things work but I applaud Skip for not doing that
 
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Yeah, he went to UNC instead, played 22 minutes a game and averaged 7.2 PPG for an NCAA tournament team.

THIS WAS A PLAYER WITH A FULL SCHOLARSHIP TO A MID-MAJOR DIVISION ONE PROGRAM!!!!

It has nothing to do with what his name or who his daddy was. I give a guaranteed walk-on spot to any player with division one talent.

it's a no-brainer if a kid who can get a D1 scholarship and has a chance to break your rotation is willing to walk on to your program.
 
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Wes was good as shit. I loved watching him play for us.

Of course he should've been given a preferred walk-on spot if he could get a scholly elsewhere.
But I can understand if Skip wanted to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
 
Agree to disagree. I can clearly see reasons Skip wouldn't have made the offer at the time. Your entire stance is based on hindsight. Had he lived in obscurity at JMU, we didn't need him later on, or he hadn't seen minutes at UNC you wouldn't even be arguing he should have been offered a spot. I certainly do not remember much outrage at the time about this. Its all hindsight.

And I would highly suggest you research the role of a walk on. They aren't bench warmers meant to provide some talent if players are hurt. They don't need D1 talent to do their job in practice. What they do need however is a great work ethic cause they do all the dirty work with none of the payoff. Nothing says work ethic like being unwilling to actually work to get your job.
 
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