Ok FTW, they didn't let me into the boys club, so i had some spare time. To make life easier for you here is my response point for point. Excuse the spelling, I broke my spell check....
Oh, and anonymous does not immediately equate to ignorance.
-- No but it equates a statement not even backed up by a fact pseudonym. I find it hard to put weight behind any comment that comes from someone that couldn't be bothered to make up a fake name.
I don't know that Aaron Fearne is necessarily a cancer. He knows basketball, that's clear. He's a student of the game, you can tell that by just talking to him about basketball. But as a coach he's stagnated and he's had a very, VERY bad year.
-- No one is saying it hasn’t been a bad year, or last year, but you can’t blame the coach for all of it. Season to season must be taken in context.
If he had stagnated so much how have we won so many games on the road? Obviously there is an issue there, is it the system doesn’t match the roster? Possibly, but when the game plans and systems are executed we win. He’s not a perfect coach and I’m not saying that.
Why he would recruit a combo guard for the second import spot when the team already had Wilson was a head-scratcher, and it hasn't worked. Bringing Wilson off the bench hasn't worked. He struggled to find a starting combination to work. His recruitment of Weigh was a mistake. And his rotations have been pretty deplorable the whole season.
So that's the on-court stuff.
-- Obviously in hindsight they probably wouldn’t have gone down that route. If you were in the know though, you might have an inkling why it happened. Weigh wasn’t a mistake - I disagree with you assessment of his rotations. Despite his offensive woes I think he’s been solid & his numbers are on par with his career. He’s not the shooter Bobo was though, but few are. He’s not as pretty either, but few are.
Off the court, in the past two weeks Fearne has twice publicly criticised the fans - once in his newsletter and again in this piece. He has had a dig at the media and has now publicly called out certain players. Dumb stuff, particularly calling out the fans on the very day the club announces its season membership packages for next season. But there has also been a glaring lack of introspection - and seemingly little if any accountability or responsibility on his behalf.
--sure it ruffled feathers, but I appreciate the candour, I’d be concerned if he wasn’t that passionate. I can understand why you’d take umbrage with it, but I don’t.
As far as recruitment goes, Fearne has also fallen into the trap that a lot of other coaches have fallen into - bringing guys in thinking he's the one to turn their career around. He thought he could turn Brad Hill into a player and now he's done the same with Weigh (who is contracted for next season as well). Weigh, like Hill, is incredibly inconsistent and will never reach the "potential" that has been placed on him.
-- I don’t think you can put them into the same box, far from it. I also think you fail to recognise the limitations that salary cap have on who can be recruited. I think Weigh was a solid buy and but I don’t think he’s at his ceiling. His further development will be a key to the team’s success.
The other big thing that Fearne struggles with is being able to inspire his players. In this piece he dismisses a head coach's role in this area, but it's so true. Phil Jackson has been brought up in this thread - do you honestly think he didn't inspire his players?
-- All coaches work and inspire differently, from Popovitch, to McLoead, to Denzel Washington. I don’t think Fearne being able to 'inspire’ them is the issue. Not all coaches deliver an Al Pacino before each game.
He was constantly finding ways to motivate them. It's also interesting that Fearne brings up leadership in this piece, because IT IS a head coach's role to be the ultimate leader, and to be a good leader you need a certain charisma to allow those around you to be inspired enough to follow your orders. Fearne just doesn't have that personality.
-- Unless you’ve been in the change room, been to all the practices and spoken to the players; I don’t think you can make that call. From what I’ve witnessed and heard from players past and present his personality or charisma isn’t the issue. Admittedly, if his RSVP profile came up in your news feed you’d probably click next – but I think he’d be ok with that.
As a club Cairns - basically since the grand final season of 2010-11 - has gone backwards both on and off the court. Key personnel have left the front office and the club has started to again alienate itself from its community (not the other way around), due mainly to its own arrogance.
-- club made its first operating profit last year and the clubs been advising the NBL, other clubs and emerging clubs on how to build a successful community model.
It's almost a mirror image to what happened in the O'Brien days. There is a feeling in the community that there is a "boys club" running the show - from the board to Beecroft and Fearne. Board members and a CEO who just want to be seen as big-hitters in Cairns (ie. driven by ego), rather than having the club's best interest at heart.
-- oh really? Given that they do everything on the smell on an oily rag I’d hardly compare the 2 eras. As for the ‘boys club’ you do realise that the board etc is voted on by 150+ foundation members? That anyone can be a part of – even as a syndicate. Sure you can fool some of the people some of the time but 150? They’re held accountable every AGM.
Change is desperately needed for the club to rid itself of this perception (or reality). The club needs to again re-engage with its community properly, like it was doing around 2010-11 - and there's more to it than just doing school visits (although that's something I'll give the club credit for - their So You Think You Can Play? and Tiny Taipans etc programs are brilliant).
-- agree what they do off the court is brilliant. Given that they have a set in stone number of hours the team has to spend engaged in community service, I couldn’t disagree with you more. They’re at all kinds of community events (generally you just have to ring the office and they’ll organise someone), they do hospital vists, visit’s to the cape etc etc. There’s a disabled boy at the Edge Café who got a visit from a Taipan the other day – I’d hardly call that dis-engaged.
One thing the Taipans have done on the court in the past couple of years that has been positive is trying to build a team around young guys like Gliddon, Steindl and Young. I give Fearne a heap of praise for this approach. However, if Gliddon and Steindl walk after this season because they don't like the system, coach, whatever - then what's the point? I hope they stay with Cairns, but if I'm Gliddon and Perth, for example, comes calling, why do I stay with Cairns?
-- agree that the rookies have been positive. Apart from Clint not getting a lot of court time last year (because Bobo was in fine form and Clint still had some development), I don’t see why’d they would go anywhere else – unless it’s money. Gliddon especially has been given massive opportunities by Fearne and has flourished. Whether they like the guy or not – I don’t know I haven’t read their diaries. I know that they’d have a rude awakening if they played under Gleeson...…
All in all, despite the fact Fearne is still contracted the Taipans need to cut him loose. He's run his race. They face (are already facing) a backlash in the community and Cairns (more so than Townsville or Wollongong) is a very hard sell. As we saw after the O'Brien debacle, it takes a very, very long time to win back both supporters and sponsors if you're not treating them right. And at the moment, it doesn't seem like they are. Financially, they can't affort not to pay out Fearne.
-- They can’t afford not to pay him out? So we pay him out, where to we get the money from to sign another coach? New coach means rebuilding again from scratch. Where do you get the money from to pay for the new coach? What are the guarantee’s that the new coach will be better? You want Brian Gorjian – you gonna have to pay for Brian Gorgain!
But nothing WILL happen, because for positive change to occur it's not just Fearne who should be chopped, and the siege mentality is well and truly alive already.
-- I think a couple of roster changes and another season of development under their belts we’ll be better next season. Re-signing the young guns, bringing in an import wing or big man, etc.
My argument isn’t if the board will or won’t sack Fearne – they don’t ask for my advice, but I think it’s very unlikely and I don’t agree it’s the right thing to do.
I think the personal attacks on his integrity and the integrity of everyone involved in the Taipans organisation is pathetic. They aren’t perfect and they’ll be the first to admit they’d do some things differently.
I’m not a ‘Fearne fanboi’, just a basketball nerd who doesn’t like hyperbole getting in the way of facts. People who have forgotten more about basketball than we’d ever know rate Fearne and think it’s RIDICULOUS that people are talking about sacking him – I’m happy to side with them. I find it distasteful the language and innuendo that people throw around, some of which have been throwing around since he was first signed as coach (simply because they just didn’t like the guy).
As for the off the court stuff the comparisons with previous years are grossly erroneous. They are accountable not only to the foundation members, to the NBL, but to the council who check their books every year. They have KPI’s they need to achieve every year outside of the financial aspects – e.g. community work etc. It is a learning process? I’m sure it is. Every year they have been increasing the work they do.
Will they be better for the experience for next year? No doubt.
I’ve had business dealings with many different eras of the Taipans and I find the current organisation excellent to work with – that’s my experience, not 3rd hand, not 4th hand, actual experience. Suggesting there is some form of corruption keeping Fearne in his job is plain offensive.
