As for the recruiting, I think most of us don't have any real idea of what we want or if that can even happen anymore. The last four or five years have thrown everything so much into chaos on so many different levels that about the only thing we understand is Winning and Losing. I readily admit that I am speaking for myself, too. Do we want a four star who struck out and fell to us or do we want a leaping unknown who was tearing shit up at a lower level. Well, anyone with any sense would say it depends on the players. And this is where damned near every one of us doesn't know the players, what to look for and how they might fit. That's where the coaches come in. So far, the only thing that I can see that stands out to me a little is that Golding seems to be willing to give players a second chance after some problems that might be mistakes of youth or indicators of future problems and only time will tell. I will say that last year was Golding coaching a Terry team. So, without Williams is was a severely weakened Terry team and Golding made the adjustments he could. But the team was designed and had developed the feed Williams game and now he was gone. The team had to almost entirely turn into a guard heavy perimeter shooting team. Luckily, Boum was pretty good at it, JB found the shot that had abandoned him and lost him his shot at OU, and Kennedy came on like Elliott Ness on the Chicago mob! We learned that Golding could win with Terry's players, even with one hand tied behind his back. He is a little nugget for you to think about, what would last season have been like if BW had returned to UTEP and Golding had had the full house to play. Anyway, we know Golding can coach. Can he recruit? I don't even think that is the right question anymore. It is now days can a coach assemble the right players. I watched Baylor and Tech play all new starters from the previous year. They didn't send all of their players to the pros and cry about empty cupboards. They had new players winning and going up the national rankings through the season. I watched the Tech coach this year while watching Verbal Commits. He did it again. H has just taken the most obscure seemingly players and picked them up for the team he is assembling. It is a brave new world. Some teams at the top had always been so stacked that they just absorbed the players that turned pro. They were stacked because the players were stuck. Funny thing is some of those found out with new mobility that the elevators also went down. But the sudden ability to move upset the entire system. Big name teams couldn't figure out how to keep all of the talent they had assembled. More importantly for us, some found out the new way to assemble. I year teams. These coaches are like the guys that built 55 Chevys with 327's to take to the drags in the 60's to beat the Corvettes, the factory speedsters the rich kids had.
So, I asked for Golding to surprise me but I wouldn't know if it was a great get or not unless it was spectacular enough to make me leery. And so we wait. We wait to see what the chef cooks up for us. I think we need to develop a taste for stew.
Don't forget. If the Chef is good enough to fix us up another fine meal, maybe even better than last year's hopefully, he may be lured away by big bucks. This would be the year to prepare for it financially. Decide whether or not UTEP will be a feeder or a destination.
