Duryea deserves a chance
Okay, so it wasn’t the flashiest hire in the world.
A familiar face in Utah State basketball since 2001, Tim Duryea was named head coach Monday morning, giving rise to unnecessary backlash and criticism from Aggie fans by about Monday afternoon.
I was amazed so many fans skipped the “cautiously optimistic” phase and decided almost immediately that Duryea was just a lazy option, reached after some other mystery coaches turned down the job.
I can understand the disappointment to a certain extent — after nearly two decades of Morrill running the show, people may have been hoping for some dynamic young-gun coach to come to Logan ready to shake things up. Students and alumni alike are ready to reach that legendary “next level,” a phrase as useless as it is vague.
Perhaps it’s difficult to picture a man already so familiar to the program already taking this team to a conference title, an NCAA tournament berth, and — most importantly — success at the national level.
It shouldn’t be.
Duryea’s been working as an Aggie assistant for 14 years. That’s plenty of time for any coach worth his salt to move on to bigger and better things if he so chooses. Yet, instead of appreciating a guy who’s so obviously dedicated to USU athletics, some fans wanted a completely blank slate to work with.
I guess they didn’t bother watching this past season.
A blank slate is exactly what Aggie fans had this year — and it was awesome. The Aggies were competitive, fun to watch and showed obvious improvement over the course of their conference schedule.
Of course with any hiring situation, money is always part of the decision-making process. Some will read that sentence and think of Duryea as some sort of consolation prize, which is a mistake. Duryea is a steal.
Why throw a monster contract at someone unfamiliar with our players to come in and change everything just as we’ve become competitive in the Mountain West? What exactly is Duryea’s floor? Middle-of-the-road in the conference? Compare that to his ceiling, which is an NCAA tournament bid as early as next season.
Add that to the fact that Duryea knows the players, and the players know him. They believe he’ll help this team get better, as does Scott Barnes. So if cohesion with the team, money and his track record as a coach dedicated to the program isn’t enough, what’s missing?
Critics will say it’s the big name. The guy that will get EPSN talking about us and students back in the stands. Not that even someone like that would escape criticism — there would still be those who would whine about paying too much for a coach when we had a more-than-capable replacement available in Duryea.
There’s no pleasing everyone. Whatever high hopes you may have for Aggie basketball next year, it’s likely that Duryea’s are even higher. Let’s hold off on passing judgement on a guy determined to bring USU success until we actually know what he’s capable of.
— Logan Jones is a junior majoring in journalism. If you aren’t sold on Duryea’s abilities, send him your comments at logantjones@aggiemail.usu.edu and tell him why, or tweet at @logantj.