People say that I am too high on Shulman as the coach. People complain that the Mocs lose by 40 points to teams. People complain about his substituion pattern.
I really don't. I think Coach Shulman has done a tremendous job as the head basketball coach. After Mack McCarthy left, the Mocs had not been to an NCAA Tournament since 1997. Then Shulman showed up and the Mocs went in 2005 and 2009. How can anyone complain about that?
However, it has become increasingly clear that there is one problem with Shulman coached teams. I will do more research on this as the years progress to find out if it is just my perception or if it is reality. However, I feel like the Mocs really struggle on the road or on a neutral court under Shulman.
Dating back to his first season, the Mocs are 7-12 (.368) on neutral courts. That is not good. In 2004-05, they lost to Wake Forest in their lone neutral court game. In 2005-06, they lost to Holy Cross and Davidson, but beat Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, Mount St. Mary's, College of Charleston, and Appalachian State. In 2006-07, they lost to Towson and Davidson, and beat Wofford and Prairie View A&M. In 2007-08, they lost to Southern Illinois, South Alabama, and Elon, and beat UC-Irvine. In 2008-09, they lost to Memphis, USC, Fairfield, and Connecticut.
How about the road record? According to GoMocs.com, he is 23-43 (.348) in road games following the loss to Missouri. That may not be fair, though. After all, the Mocs play a lot of games like the one against Missouri where they are clear underdogs. So let's look at the SoCon road record.
2004-05 4-4
2005-06 3-4
2006-07 3-6
2007-08 4-6
2008-09 4-6
So the Mocs have never had a winning road record against the SoCon since Shulman has been there. He is 18-26 (.409). The Mocs are a combined 25-38 (.397) on neutral courts and against the SoCon on the road. These are really not good records.
His home SoCon record has been great, especially when you include the SoCon Tournaments that have been played in Chattanooga.
2004-05 9-2
2005-06 5-2
2006-07 3-6
2007-08 9-1
2008-09 10-3
That gives a total of 36-14 (.720). Clearly, that is an excellent winning percentage and should be lauded. And I give him a ton of credit for being able to win at home.
I know that winning on the road is tough and is not easy to do. Still, this is where Shulman could really turn a corner. Somehow, the Mocs seem to lack the mental punch to be able to get over the top in these road games. When they get punched, they don't seem able to get back up off the mat. At home, they do that. On the road, not so much.
So, am I complaining about Shulman? Only partially. As everyone knows that talks to me, I am a Shulman supporter. However, I have come to expect to see different teams at home than show up on the road. I'd like to see a little bit of improvement in that. I'm sure Shulman feels the same way.
If you have a question about it, the Mocs are 161-214 (.429) on the road. So Shulman is below average in road games in terms of Mocs D1 basketball history. I have not gone back and compared McCarthy of Arnold (much less Lebo or Dickerson) individually to Shulman. So there may be some facts that would be uncovered if I did that. I don't know which side of the debate they would favor.
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