So many news and notes to get to. Yesterday, we hit on SoCon realignment. Today it's time to hit on everything going on with the Mocs since the hiring of Will Wade.
Let's do some bullets and analysis.
--The coaching staff has been filled out. Casey Long has been retained. Virtually everyone who is a Mocs fan applauds this decision. Long is a former Moc and had been in charge of the team since Coach John Shulman left the program. Based on what we're seeing from the outside, Casey Long had been doing a good job of keeping the team together. I think Long will do a great job.
The second hire was Wes Long. He is the former head coach at Charlotte's Queens University, a Division II school. Will Wade said that he was going to be instrumental in the half court defense and working with the post players. He was successful at Queens, and should be a solid addition to the staff. It is good to have a former head coach on the staff since Wade is inexperienced in that department. Wes Long is young, but has that experience. Looks like a good hire from here.
The third hire was Turner Battle. He has been an assistant at Buffalo. He played in the NBA Developmental League after starring at Buffalo. He worked with the Bulls backcourt and recruited. He helped develop a really strong backcourt, that has featured during his time a player that lead the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio, and one that is the Bulls single season assist leader. Very remarkable.
The coaching staff is young, but seems full of energy. I am very excited to see what this team can do on the recruiting trail and with the team next fall.
--Two new recruits that we will take one bullet at a time. Anthanee Doyle is the first one I'll discuss. He is a combo guard who played a lot of point guard in high school. He will be a freshman. The Mocs, with the loss of Jonathan Stark to this year's recruiting class and Farad Cobb from last year's team, desperately need someone who can play point guard. He was recruited by Queens prior to Long leaving and coming to Chattanooga. He is long. He can make threes, which is something Wade really values. Can Doyle push for the starting point guard spot? I'm not sure if he can as a freshman. It should be interesting. I like Doyle's 6-4 height and length. I like his shooting. Could be a really good find in the Chaos defense.
--The second recruit is Justin Tuoyo. He is 6-9 and transferring from VCU. He will have to sit out a year and will have three years of eligibility starting next year. He was ranked #84 in the country coming out of high school. He averaged a double-double as a junior and senior in high school. He came up with 7.6 blocks per game his senior year. He did not play a lot for the Rams. That being said, he should be tremendous in this situation in 2014-15. He is very long and athletic. I see no reason to think he will not succeed at Chattanooga. He will have success. Combine him with TJ Williams and Christian Kennedy (both over 6-8 and incoming freshman), and this class has a lot of size. The Mocs are going to probably be the biggest team in the SoCon if all three of those guys work out reasonably well for three years once Tuoyo is eligible. This is very exciting. He is also already familiar with Coach Will Wade and his defensive philosophies. He should be good in the Chaos defense.
GO MOCS!
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