West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[boatcapt]

Exception is if a coach leaves.

Not saying they can't transfer, just that they can't technically enter the portal. In the big scheme, it doesn't matter a whole lot as the players who decide to leave would have one and only one destination in mind.

[boatcapt]

If I were you I wouldn't worry about Ben.

I'd put your current team under lock and key.

The recruiting season is by and large over. There's still guys out there but the quickest transition for Ben would be ... you know.

Regardless of weather Huffman gets the HC gig or not, I don't see him following Ben. Sooo, as a minimum, Huffman needs to pull in all the returners and tell them how much WLU loves them...same with the recruits and transfers.

[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.

Well...There is the possibility of a few spots opening at one of the top DII programs in the nation!

[Columbuseer]

Not saying they can't transfer, just that they can't technically enter the portal. In the big scheme, it doesn't matter a whole lot as the players who decide to leave would have one and only one destination in mind.

The transfer portal is a central clearing house to let coaches and players know that they can be contacted.




Student athletes have 30 days to enter transfer portal after a coach leaves.

Here is ncaa excerpt. See bold font

NCAA is a trademark of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Summer 2022.
1
NCAA Division I
Undergraduate Transfer Rules
Quick Tip Sheet For Coaches
Attention head and assistant coaches: The below information and scenarios
are designed to help you work with incoming undergraduate transfers.
» Student-athletes’ autonomy to initiate transfer.
» SA use of the NCAA Transfer Portal.
» Coaches and SAs must follow NCAA,
conference and institutional rules and policies.
» SAs meet academic eligibility benchmarks at
new school.
» Midyear transfer rules continue to apply.
» Increased institutional accountability (i.e., require financial aid
be provided to transfer SAs and require SAs be counted against
team limits, except under limited circumstances).

» SAs receive an extra 30-day time period to enter the Transfer Portal if
there is a head coaching change or if aid is canceled.


»

[boatcapt]

I think Fee and Lamberti and Crutch (both at WLU and at Nova) showed what you can do building a team quickly (and in Fee and Lamberti's case, very late in the recruiting cycle). Fee built a team that won 32 games from scratch coming in very late. While less dramatic, Lamberti also built a winner at Coker taking a perennial bad team and finishing above 500 for the first time in a LONG time.

Point is, with the WLU Style, you can build a really good team starting late in the recruiting cycle.

[boatcapt]

The transfer portal is a central clearing house to let coaches and players know that they can be contacted.




Student athletes have 30 days to enter transfer portal after a coach leaves.

Here is ncaa excerpt. See bold font

NCAA is a trademark of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Summer 2022.
1
NCAA Division I
Undergraduate Transfer Rules
Quick Tip Sheet For Coaches
Attention head and assistant coaches: The below information and scenarios
are designed to help you work with incoming undergraduate transfers.
» Student-athletes’ autonomy to initiate transfer.
» SA use of the NCAA Transfer Portal.
» Coaches and SAs must follow NCAA,
conference and institutional rules and policies.
» SAs meet academic eligibility benchmarks at
new school.
» Midyear transfer rules continue to apply.
» Increased institutional accountability (i.e., require financial aid
be provided to transfer SAs and require SAs be counted against
team limits, except under limited circumstances).

» SAs receive an extra 30-day time period to enter the Transfer Portal if
there is a head coaching change or if aid is canceled.


»

Transfer Portal closed April 22, 2025...30 days from then is today.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I think Fee and Lamberti and Crutch (both at WLU and at Nova) showed what you can do building a team quickly (and in Fee and Lamberti's case, very late in the recruiting cycle). Fee built a team that won 32 games from scratch coming in very late. While less dramatic, Lamberti also built a winner at Coker taking a perennial bad team and finishing above 500 for the first time in a LONG time.

Point is, with the WLU Style, you can build a really good team starting late in the recruiting cycle.

You can in D2. Fee did keep a couple of Gannon's best players around (one was star Josh Omojafo).

We'll see if it can happen in D1.

It could. I suspect he'll have a rough first year which is expected at this late start time.

That said, I think his system will 100% work in the Horizon League once he gets a class or two in there.

Obviously the problem with a May 22 hire is, while there are players available, it is a pretty limited (and/or tainted) pool.

It will be exciting to watch over the next several years.

[Columbuseer]

Transfer Portal closed April 22, 2025...30 days from then is today.

It is 30 days after the date the coach leaves. See Huggins departure date of June 17 as an existence proof.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I think Fee and Lamberti and Crutch (both at WLU and at Nova) showed what you can do building a team quickly (and in Fee and Lamberti's case, very late in the recruiting cycle). Fee built a team that won 32 games from scratch coming in very late. While less dramatic, Lamberti also built a winner at Coker taking a perennial bad team and finishing above 500 for the first time in a LONG time.

Point is, with the WLU Style, you can build a really good team starting late in the recruiting cycle.

Keep in mind the poaching works both ways.

If it is Lamberti, I'd assume a couple players follow him.

[boatcapt]

You can in D2. Fee did keep a couple of Gannon's best players around (one was star Josh Omojafo).

We'll see if it can happen in D1.

It could. I suspect he'll have a rough first year which is expected at this late start time.

That said, I think his system will 100% work in the Horizon League once he gets a class or two in there.

Obviously the problem with a May 22 hire is, while there are players available, it is a pretty limited (and/or tainted) pool.

It will be exciting to watch over the next several years.

That's why I said that we might see a return to a 2013 style WLU roster! The biggest proponents of the "new style" WLU Style player have picked through the portal and taken who they consider to be the top tier transfers that meet the new style criteria. The remaining players have been weighed and measured and found wanting for some reasons.

There is probably going to be Ben hitting the portal hard with D1 dreams and dollars trying to scrape any remaining high caliber WLU Style players.

Of course, depending on the coach we hire, we might see WLU shift to the left and run a double low post offense backed up by a 2-3 zone were a scoring outburst is anything over 55 points. Let the elbows fly!!!

[boatcapt]

Keep in mind the poaching works both ways.

If it is Lamberti, I'd assume a couple players follow him.

While Lamberti makes the most sense for WLU, it's far from certain he wants to leave Coker after only two years. But yes, he could poach players if he wants to and can convince them to transfer DII to DII.

[Topper_Hopper]

Bad timing for Devin Hoehn. He would have been a great fit. Maybe he's not totally out of reach?

I also think Mike Lamberti would be a great fit, and he'd have the luxury of bringing players from Coker who know the system.

They should also inquire about Jordan Fee, though his quick departure from Gannon leads me to believe he'd rather be a D1 assistant coach at the moment.

[Scrub]

Keep in mind the poaching works both ways.

If it is Lamberti, I'd assume a couple players follow him.

Lamberti does have Bryce Butler's little brother down there!

[Scrub]

Fudala would be outside of the Crutch Coaching Tree. If we are going outside of the tree, there are many options.

If they go outside the Crutch Tree, let's not forget that there is a very solid D2 coach who still lives in town . . . Danny Sancomb.

[Scrub]

Bad timing for Devin Hoehn. He would have been a great fit. Maybe he's not totally out of reach?

I also think Mike Lamberti would be a great fit, and he'd have the luxury of bringing players from Coker who know the system.

They should also inquire about Jordan Fee, though his quick departure from Gannon leads me to believe he'd rather be a D1 assistant coach at the moment.

I thought the same thing about Hoehn. It would be a bad look for him to abandon Fayetteville at this point in the game. Plus, Hoehn really talks like he's a big proponent of the mission of HBCUs, so he might be perfectly happy keeping Crutch-ball in the CIAA.