Checking the Resume: Some fans don't deserve Tad Boyle

 

Don’t read the comments. Don’t ever read the comments below a story on the internet because, inevitably, you’ll read the voices of people inhabiting the darkest, most hateful corners of the world. Don’t read the comments, because you’ll then remember how much some people suck.

The same rule should apply for searching your own name, or anyone’s name for that matter, on Twitter—a lesson I learned on Tuesday night when hoping to get an idea of what peoples’ reactions were to Tad Boyle’s NCAA compliance comments from earlier in the day.

It turns out that the anti-Boyle crowd I thought only consisted of two ringleaders, a lone idiot or two, and anyone else not versed well enough in the art of balls going through baskets, actually consisted of a few more outsiders. These fringe fans, fringe enough to have handles that I’ve never even seen pass by through the years of #BuffsTwitter conversations I’ve had, offered up their own hot takes on the leader of Colorado Men’s Basketball.

Again driving to the basket and getting blocked. I'm officially saying it: I'm done with Tad Boyle. https://t.co/YFhXIza481

— Brittni Keefe (@brittmkeefe7) March 17, 2016

Someone teach Tad Boyle how to coach. What a terrible 2nd half #Buffs

— Brandon Boles (@BrandonBoles) March 17, 2016

Colorado lays an egg after leading by 9 at halftime over UConn. Disappointing. Buffaloes lose Josh Scott. Tad Boyle hit ceiling at Boulder?

— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) March 17, 2016

These comments were made when the Buffs let a second half lead slip away against UConn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, signaling their third departure in the first round under Boyle. These comments also come on the heels of questions being posed on message boards about whether Boyle can take Colorado to the next level and whether or not he’s hit his ceiling with the program, as the third tweet above mentions. This is just a small sample.

Now, I’ve taken my shots at fans over the years and, to be honest, I don’t like doing it. Fans are the ones reading my articles, interacting with me on social media, and keeping me employed. I appreciate so many of them and, of the most part, they make this job worth it.

But if you’re one of the people that are done with Tad Boyle or hoping that Colorado moves on from him in a timely fashion, I have one message for you: You don’t deserve Tad Boyle. You don’t deserve the kind of success that he’s brought this program.

Going back through the accomplishments that Colorado basketball has tallied under Boyle is fruitless to these people, who hardly even deserve the moniker of being a fan at all, rather just someone who happens to watch a lot of games while feeling like the young men on the floor and the man roaming the bench personally owe them something. Citing the recruiting successes, the wins over top-ten opponents, the conference tournament championship…none of it means anything to them, as they keep up their tone-deaf line of demarcation.

If there’s any credit that I am willing to give this group, it’s that the root of their cause is based around the desire for Colorado Men’s Basketball to be better than they currently are. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. What hurts their cause, however, is their ignorance of or unwillingness to accept the context within which the Buffaloes’ basketball program exists. This group wants CU to be a school that is no longer content with making the tournament and hoping for a favorable draw that makes a run to the second weekend, and beyond, more of a possibility.

No! They want a Sweet 16! An Elite Eight! And they want it now!

Never mind the fact that, under Boyle, Colorado has outperformed their talent level over the course of a season every year but one since they joined the Pac-12. These people don’t care about conference standing because if they did, they’d realize that finishing fifth in the Pac-12 this season despite having the most inconsistent guard play in the conference is, perhaps, the most impressive coaching job done in the conference since its expansion. They certainly don’t care that finishing fifth in a conference that earned seven NCAA Tournament bids is comparable to seasons had by Iowa, Butler, Baylor, and Duke in terms of conference standing. That conference standing is as much, or even more, of a measure as to where a program is on the scale of its peers in the sport, as NCAA Tournament results would be.

Since those are measurements they are once again either too ignorant or unwilling to use, I’ll simply inform them of another measurement, the opinion of those in the industry.

Colorado, despite the success enjoyed by Boyle in his time leading the program, is not a very desirable job in the world of college basketball. Why?

First, there is no natural recruiting territory that the program can consistently rely on, unlike every single one of their conference peers besides Washington State and Oregon State. Even Dana Altman’s Ducks benefit from their chief sponsor’s network within the JUCO and transfer community to plant the idea of attending Eugene inside the mind of top targets. Second, there’s no rich tradition of successful basketball, laden with both past and present NBA successes, to draw upon. Walking through the halls of UCLA, Arizona, Washington, Cal, Stanford…the walls are lined with the program’s greatest figures and the jerseys of former players still in The League. Third, and this is the hardest one to write, the program doesn’t have the level of fanaticism surrounding it as some of its peers.

You want to be Arizona? You want to be Creighton? You want to be San Diego State? Then pack Coors Event Center every single night, regardless of opponent, regardless of tip-off time, and regardless of how good the powder is at Vail. In a season where the Buffs reached their highest win total during the regular season under Boyle, attendance was a joke for much of the season. In five seasons as a member of the Pac-12, the Coors Events Center has been filled with 11,000 or more fans just nine times during conference play. For those good with math—admittedly, not me—that should come out to say that just ten-percent of conference games played in Boulder as a member of the Pac-12 have been played in front of sellout, or near-sellout, crowds.

The truth is, those around the industry look at Colorado as a very, very difficult place to win. Coaches who I speak to during the season and across the country at recruiting events constantly echo this statement. They marvel at the job accomplished by Boyle and his staff: “If he can win there, imagine what he would do at…”

None of this is to say that Colorado can’t improve on the grounds they now stand. If Boyle has found a way to get the program this far, it’s reasonable to think that he can bring it even further. I’m also not saying that fans should avoid any criticisms of the coach, of the program. That’s a ridiculous notion, one I would never try to assert.

But if you want to be done with Tad Boyle, be ready for the sad reality that comes with trying to find a coach both willing to replace him and capable of doing so in a way that exceeds his successes over an extended period of time. Pitt replaced Jamie Dixon with Kevin Stallings. UCLA replaced Ben Howland with Steve Alford. Kansas State replaced Frank Martin with Bruce Weber. Illinois replaced Bill Self with Bruce Weber. The list goes on and on and on and….

Colorado Men’s Basketball, as well as its head coach, have room to improve after another season of bowing out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. For those parlaying that idea into one of moving on from the most successful head coach in program history: You don’t deserve him.