"This is basketball country." Stu Aberdeen

[marshallmba]

I found the following quotes in a lengthy Charleston Daily Mail story by Chuck Rist. I wrote a short narrative using those quotes from 1977. Hopefully, it will prove educational for the younger posters on this board that can only associate Marshall University with its winning-football tradition, a tradition which started in the mid-1980s.




Stu Aberdeen, a former assistant basketball coach at the University of Tennessee, accepted the head job at Marshall University in March 1977. At the Herd's media day in October 1977, Aberdeen cited the "deep tradition forged by the great Cam Henderson, which goes back to the 1930s" as a reason for taking the job. "There is no school in the Southern Conference and there are precious few in the United States that can trace its tradition as far back as we can."

"He (Cam Henderson) had not just good teams, he had great teams," added the new coach at Marshall University. "His teams didn't just play in little ol' West Virginia. They played in California, Madison Square Garden, coast to coast and they set this country on its ear. They broke Long Island University's 41-game winning streak at Madison Square Garden."

"This is basketball country, Cam Henderson started that," said Stu Aberdeen. "Set this whole state, this city ablaze with basketball fever. It's never gone out, and it never will go out."

"This is basketball country," repeated Aberdeen. "No one likes to perform when no one claps. There has always been a lot of noise in the Field House."



Charleston Daily Mail, October 14, 1977

 

[ToesMU]

Life ended too soon - had Herd hoops going in right durection
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[marshallmba]

Stu was only 43 when he died of a heart attack while on vacation at the beach in June 1979.

 

[marshallmba]

He had a tremendous passion for basketball and was known for his recruiting. Stu recruited Ernie Grunfeld and Bernard King to Tennessee.

He had a nice, but small, recruiting class lined up for MU before his untimely death. He signed Charles Jones, Florida's prep player of the year, and Leo Rautins, a transfer from Minnesota. Rautins was later drafted in the first round by the Philadelphia 76ers.

 

[Tim Hensley]

My buddy LarryBjornson sez that our program died when Stu did. In some ways, it's hard to argue with him...

 

[marshallsig]

Originally posted by Tim Hensley:
My buddy LarryBjornson sez that our program died when Stu did. In some ways, it's hard to argue with him...

While I agree it was a sad day when Stu died but I do not think the program died then. We had a pretty good run in the 80s after that.

 

[marshallmba]

Program died the day it is was turned over to Dwight Freeman. It was a bad four years to say the least.

 

[The Real SamC]

Originally posted by marshallmba:
Program died the day it is was turned over to Dwight Freeman. It was a bad four years to say the least.

After Stu, you had Z. Z was a nice guy but he had no stomach for the head coaching job, and could not handle the media. Then came Huck, who was eventually done in by idiot Pres. Dale Nitchkie, who had won some kind of anti-sports award at UNLV and wanted to repeat his success over TRIVIAL NCAA violations. Then came one and out Altman. Then came Freeman. The worst coach of any sport in MU history. Totally destroyed the program. Played the race card to avoid firing. Should have had the moral courage to resign. Total failure. Program has never been the same since.

Then came two and out Donnovan. Then came White. Everybody wanted White's hometown boy comes home story to come true. But he was an awful hire. Failure at Pikeville and Charleston and one year at UCLA does not get you interviewed. It got him the job. And he wanted to live 50 miles away from campus. Awful hire. Then came the era of KO Marcum and Jirsa, who was a failure at Georgia and useless. The came Jones, who could not get along with anybody and everything was somebody else's fault. Finally bolted to CFCC and is failing there. Then came Herrion, who was another Jirsa. A loser retread.

Now we have Dan. Too early to tell, but I fear we are again playing the White scenario.

 

[CockyHerd]

Originally posted by The Real SamC:

Originally posted by marshallmba:
Program died the day it is was turned over to Dwight Freeman. It was a bad four years to say the least.

After Stu, you had Z. Z was a nice guy but he had no stomach for the head coaching job, and could not handle the media. Then came Huck, who was eventually done in by idiot Pres. Dale Nitchkie, who had won some kind of anti-sports award at UNLV and wanted to repeat his success over TRIVIAL NCAA violations. Then came one and out Altman. Then came Freeman. The worst coach of any sport in MU history. Totally destroyed the program. Played the race card to avoid firing. Should have had the moral courage to resign. Total failure. Program has never been the same since.

Then came two and out Donnovan. Then came White. Everybody wanted White's hometown boy comes home story to come true. But he was an awful hire. Failure at Pikeville and Charleston and one year at UCLA does not get you interviewed. It got him the job. And he wanted to live 50 miles away from campus. Awful hire. Then came the era of KO Marcum and Jirsa, who was a failure at Georgia and useless. The came Jones, who could not get along with anybody and everything was somebody else's fault. Finally bolted to CFCC and is failing there. Then came Herrion, who was another Jirsa. A loser retread.

Now we have Dan. Too early to tell, but I fear we are again playing the White scenario.

That's a pretty good recap......People (Admin) freaked out when Altman left. They thought Taft was going to transfer. He was a Senior, I don't think he was going anywhere. Anyway, they stayed in-house and handed the job to Freeman. It's been a combination musical chairs and freefall since.

The Huck stuff was small potatoes. I was friends with a number of Bball players back then. They were driving loaner cars from a local dealership, getting a little cash for non-jobs, and getting gear (Jackets, clothes, etc) from boosters instead of from Nike. Prez had a hard-on for Huck who could be a bit of an egomaniac. He also had an on again, off again relationship with many boosters. Much like Donnan.

I love Dan. My family has a 70+ year relationship with the D'Antoni's but I'm concerned about recruiting and just how long term he can possibly be. Hoping to see marked improvement by 2016-2017.

 

[thundermax]

Stu Aberdeen's famous saying after he had a great recruiting class that included Charles Jones, Leo Rautins etc. "The Horses are in the barn". He would have had a top 3 team in the nation. He would have signed Earl Jones too.