West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[boatcapt]

Hope they give ben time. Due to the player abuse allegations against the former coach that led to his dismissal, 11 iu indy players had entered the portal. There is no team remaining there.

That's not a good thing on so many levels for WLU. The easiest way to build a team on short notice is to raid your old team and this includes inbound recruits/transfers with zero ties to WLU. I could see us losing 6 or 7 players.

[Columbuseer]

Hope they give ben time. Due to the player abuse allegations against the former coach that led to his dismissal, 11 iu indy players had entered the portal. There is no team remaining there.

[Columbuseer]

Right. Someone like Lamberti would certainly do better here if he had a plug-and-play roster. He hasn't necessarily shown the ability to build a successful Crutch-ball team at Coker. They score a lot but don't win as much down there. If he had to build from scratch (that is, if Howlett took guys with him), I wonder if Lamberti is up to the task.

Don't underestimate how impactful Howlett was as a recruiter (both as Crutch's recruiter and as his own).

Now Fee, on the other hand, showed the ability to build from scratch right out of the gate.

Check coker's record before lamberti. It was horrendous. He also was in a completely new recruiting area. In 2 years he turned them around. First year he beat Lincoln Memorial. He has strong ties to the wlu area. He was named one of top 30 assistant coaches under 30 while at wlu. Hope he is interested. Hope wlu moves quickly as the recruiting vultures will start circling our players.

[Columbuseer]

Right. Someone like Lamberti would certainly do better here if he had a plug-and-play roster. He hasn't necessarily shown the ability to build a successful Crutch-ball team at Coker. They score a lot but don't win as much down there. If he had to build from scratch (that is, if Howlett took guys with him), I wonder if Lamberti is up to the task.

Don't underestimate how impactful Howlett was as a recruiter (both as Crutch's recruiter and as his own).

Now Fee, on the other hand, showed the ability to build from scratch right out of the gate.

Check coker's record before lamberti. It was horrendous. He also was in a completely new recruiting area. In 2 years he turned them around. First year he beat Lincoln Memorial. He has strong ties to the wlu area. He was named one of top 30 assistant coaches under 30 while at wlu. Hope he is interested. Hope wlu moves quickly as the recruiting vultures will start circling our players.

[IUPHawks24]

Right. Someone like Lamberti would certainly do better here if he had a plug-and-play roster. He hasn't necessarily shown the ability to build a successful Crutch-ball team at Coker. They score a lot but don't win as much down there. If he had to build from scratch (that is, if Howlett took guys with him), I wonder if Lamberti is up to the task.

Don't underestimate how impactful Howlett was as a recruiter (both as Crutch's recruiter and as his own).

Now Fee, on the other hand, showed the ability to build from scratch right out of the gate.

Fee isn’t taking the job. Not even worth discussing.

[Chuck Norris]

If he does go to "Ewwy Pooey," I wonder which players he will take with him? Wouldn't take many players to follow him before we get VERY thin.

Good question. I’d have to think he’s taking a few to help get things started.

WV MetroNews is reporting that it is in fact a done deal.

[Scrub]

Aaron Huffman - Long time WLU assistant under Ben and Crutch. Former HC at D3 Bethany College back in the day.

Huffman seems like a really good dude and has been really loyal to the program for a long time. But remember, Huffman also has a doctorate and a full-time teaching gig at the University. The basketball coaching thing is his "side hustle." If he's smart, he'll stick with that arrangement. Tenured faculty positions (assuming his is one of those--don't know the specifics of his employment) are much more stable in the long run than coaching gigs.

[Scrub]

If he does go to "Ewwy Pooey," I wonder which players he will take with him?

Right. Someone like Lamberti would certainly do better here if he had a plug-and-play roster. He hasn't necessarily shown the ability to build a successful Crutch-ball team at Coker. They score a lot but don't win as much down there. If he had to build from scratch (that is, if Howlett took guys with him), I wonder if Lamberti is up to the task.

Don't underestimate how impactful Howlett was as a recruiter (both as Crutch's recruiter and as his own).

Now Fee, on the other hand, showed the ability to build from scratch right out of the gate.

[boatcapt]

I read this as D2’s UIndy and thought, wow another WL coach making a D2 to D2 move? And the weather in Indy isn’t even an improvement. lol. I forgot that this is the university formerly known as IUPUI.

Interesting move for Ben and a tall task. They haven’t won much since the world came to know them as Ewwy Pooey on Selection Sunday 20 or so years ago. But the Horizon League is certainly one of the lower tiered D1 conferences where Crutchball could potentially be immediately impactful. It’ll be interesting to see how it works out.

If he does go to "Ewwy Pooey," I wonder which players he will take with him? Wouldn't take many players to follow him before we get VERY thin.

[Chuck Norris]

Howlett era is over he’s headed to IU-Indy

I read this as D2’s UIndy and thought, wow another WL coach making a D2 to D2 move? And the weather in Indy isn’t even an improvement. lol. I forgot that this is the university formerly known as IUPUI.

Interesting move for Ben and a tall task. They haven’t won much since the world came to know them as Ewwy Pooey on Selection Sunday 20 or so years ago. But the Horizon League is certainly one of the lower tiered D1 conferences where Crutchball could potentially be immediately impactful. It’ll be interesting to see how it works out.

[boatcapt]

Lamberti next in line?

Even though Lamberti has only been at Coker for two seasons, he does show "happy feet" as a college coach doing some sort of two step with Western Colorado University (had an announcement and everything) before actually signing to be the Coker HC. His stint at WLU as Ben's assistant was the longest of his coaching career.

Other names from the Crutch Tree:

Devin Hoehn - Former WLU player and Nova assistant under Crutch then HC at Bluefield State University. Just signed to be the HC at Fayetville State.
Jordan Fee - Former WLU player, Nova assistant coach and Gannon HC for one season. Now an assistant at FAU. He is the other rumored name for the UI-Indy HC position.
Aaron Huffman - Long time WLU assistant under Ben and Crutch. Former HC at D3 Bethany College back in the day.

Here's a name for you, Dan Monteroso. He's still killing it playing pro in Germany but after seven years, could this be the right time and right place for him to transition to a coaching gig?

After that you start scraping into the HS head coach and one/two year assistant level.

[IUPHawks24]

NO !!!

I was making a big push for him to replace Joe when he retires


Good luck to Ben. Hell of a run there.

What about Fudala?

[boatcapt]

Jon Rothstein posted it

Could be but I note that there is nothing on the UI-Indy website...or in HoopDirt announcing it.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Lamberti next in line?

NO !!!

I was making a big push for him to replace Joe when he retires


Good luck to Ben. Hell of a run there.

[Layton]

Lamberti next in line?

Has to be