Josh "Transfer-man" Fontaine

Josh "Transfer-man" Fontaine

Postby PointGuard » Sun Mar 13, 2022 4:13 am

Meeting in early May 2021 in Chicago State University Athletic Director Rex Marshall’s office.

RM: So you’re Josh Fontaine, the guy who’s been calling, texting, emailing, and hitting me up in my social media accounts every day the past 2 weeks?

JF: I appreciate you’re agreeing to interview me for the head coaching job for your men’s basketball team.

RM: Your persistence finally beat me down.

JF: I just think I can offer you something you won’t be able to get from anyone else.

RM: What’s that?

JF: Your basketball team hasn’t been successful in God knows how long. In fact in the past 12 years, your team has a 29-133 conference record and if I’m not mistaken that’s a .191 record. And there was recently a 5-year stretch where your basketball team won 2 and lost 70 in the WAC. Some would say that’s pitiful…in fact most would say that. They say that Albert Einstein said, “Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results.” I’m not sure if Einstein was the one who originally said that or not, but hiring a coach who does the same things as all the ones before him who were unsuccessful…well that might just possibly be a form of insanity. You’re new here so you have the chance to break the chain of failure. And if you hire me, I’ll develop your basketball team in a way that I’ll guarantee you no one else has tried.

RM: You’ve never been a head coach, or an assistant coach for that matter, at the collegiate level. Sounds pretty risky to me.

JF: Do you really think you’re going to get Coach K to come to Chicago State? No, if you don’t hire me you’ll get Coach D who does the same thing as Coach C who did the same thing as Coach B who did the same thing as Coach A. None of whom have been or will be successful. So I think the real risk is doing the expected and hiring Coach D who will present you with a few more years of losing before you fire him and look for someone else.

RM: Just exactly what is it that you’ll be doing that’s so different?

JF: Let me ask you a question first. What’s the primary way your past coaches been getting their players?

RM: Recruiting. Getting the best recruits they can.

JF: Right! And the best recruits they can get haven’t had the talent to beat a decent high school team. So my idea is to do things differently. The NCAA drastically liberalized the transfer rules for this coming year. There’s going to be a lot of players looking to play somewhere else this summer. And a portion of those will be very good players. What I will do is to build your basketball team using transfer players, and not just a few transfer players. I mean making the team composed almost 100% of transfer players. And doing that from the get-go. That means cutting the deadwood. It’s too late to do that for this season but that will be the first thing I’ll do at the conclusion of this season. And then we’ll go out and get transfer players who will be better than what I cut. Then the next season hacking away those who don’t produce or don’t have the potential to become very good players and bringing in yet another set of even better transfer players. That doesn’t mean I won’t do ANY recruiting, but I’ll only offer scholarships to very good players. If we get a few of those great. If we don’t, no problem. That just means there will be more slots to fill with transfer players.

RM: Let’s say your plan has merit and does result in some good players coming to the Cougars. How are you, without the collegiate coaching experience, going to develop their skills and successfully coach the team in games?

JF: Good question. You’re right, I’m short on experience. And I won’t you about my coaching skills. I have them, but they’ll be developing right along with your basketball team that I’ll be coaching. So…I will hire an assistant coach who will be very good in player development. And he and I will run the team together during games.

RM: I must be crazy. I think I should be showing you the door right now. But I’m intrigued. You’re right that we need to change things here. So, Josh, let’s go to lunch and explore this further and then we’ll see if it’s a go or no go.

The Result: No decision was made that day, or the next day, but two days later Josh got a call letting him know he was the next head coach of the Chicago State Cougars.
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Re: Josh "Transfer-man" Fontaine

Postby Wayne23 » Sun Mar 13, 2022 11:04 am

Interesting premise...
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Re: Josh "Transfer-man" Fontaine

Postby PointGuard » Sun Mar 13, 2022 1:05 pm

This association was created using DDSCB2022 with the new Transfer Portal turned on. I will do the recruiting and handle the transfer sessions but let the AI sim the games since I’m primarily interested in seeing what happens for a team that relies heavily on transfer players.

May 2021

Step 1—fired one coach and hired one. Now have a fairly good recruiter, a good scout, and my first assistant is a good overall assistant with whom I’ll be closely working on player development and game play.

Step 2—a close review of the roster shows we have a number of players who really aren’t going to help us. So unless they develop rapidly this season, they’ll be on the chopping block before next year’s transfer period.

Step 3—looking at the school’s record for their entire history…298 wins, 779 losses, a .277 winning percentage…no where to go but up.
June 2021

Step 4—preparing for recruiting. We will have 3 scholarships we can fill, but I doubt we will fill all those. We’ll concentrate on in state guys, and to a lesser extent regional recruits, but aren’t going to waste our time or money on guys who aren’t going to really help us. 3rd assistant coach Jose Parker will be handling most of the recruiting duties. He understands what I want, let’s see how he does.

Recruiting: July-Nov 2021

It went easier than I thought it would. That’s probably because Jose Parker and I are pretty good at selling the program. Hell, we’d probably have been good used car salesmen. We got two of our three scholarships filled…a couple of 3-star players: SF Dan Mohr from Lawrenceville, IL—good scorer and defender and a hard worker; and PF Earl Burns from Gillett, WI—good rebounder and scorer and a hard worker. Thought we had a 3rd guy but just missed out on him. Have a scholarship offer out to a PG…still kind of a long-shot. Otherwise we’re just going to mostly make some phone calls throughout the winter and maybe do some live scouting of a few of the recruits on our list.
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Re: Josh "Transfer-man" Fontaine

Postby Wayne23 » Sun Mar 13, 2022 1:17 pm

FYI: I'm going to do a similar thing- build via transfers with Vermont. I'll be reporting in here soon.
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Re: Josh "Transfer-man" Fontaine

Postby PointGuard » Sun Mar 13, 2022 6:47 pm

Wayne, it should be interesting to see how these 2 associations work out.
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Re: Josh "Transfer-man" Fontaine

Postby PointGuard » Sun Mar 13, 2022 6:50 pm

Pre-Conference Play

My 1st assistant coach David Ward and I have figured out how we will work together during games. He’s 61 years old and has a ton of experience at various levels so I’ll lean heavily on that knowledge base. I’ll let him do most of the X’s and O’s.

Chicago State-91, Texas-San Antonio-76: Nice road victory, but the Roadrunners aren’t a very tough team. SG Pat Coursey poured in 27 points for us. We scored 53 points in the first half and I was thinking, “Hey, this coaching gig is a breeze.”

Chicago State-94, Stony Brook-78: Our offense is perking. PG Derrick Moore led our scoring with 18 points; he was one of 5 of our guys who scored in double figures. Our home crowd was happy with the way we played.

Chicago State-72, Central Connecticut-71: After pulling away in the early going of the 2nd half to take a big lead (19 points) midway through the 2nd half, our shooting went stone cold and we had to hold on to eke out this victory. PG Derrick Moore toped our scoring with 17 points. A 3-0 record looks good, but we set up a pretty cushy pre-conference schedule.

Florida Gulf Coast-77, Chicago State-67: Back on the road and we trailed by 21 at the half. Generally a poor offensive and defensive effort. PF Derrick Moore and sub Jonathan Davis both scored 13.

Stetson-80, Chicago State-64: These away games are tougher than I expected. Second butt-kicking in a row. We got pretty much totally outplayed. SF Sherman Tillman scored 17 points.

Siena-87, Chicago State-70: Home-cooking ain’t so good either. As in our previous game, we got totally slammed in the first half and didn’t have anything in our tank to make a comeback. We’re letting teams get too many easy baskets. C Brett Ross was our high-point man (such as it was) with 11 points.

Bryant-84, Chicago State-56: Our defense is really sucking. Another horrible first half at which point we were down 52-33 and we slipped further behind in the 2nd half. We let Bryant hit 64% of their shots. Pretty much inexcusable. None of our guys could even get into double figures.

Chicago State-80, Southern Mississippi-67: Alright! We got back on the win-train. We did good on the boards (+12) and for a change our defense stepped up. SG Pat Coursey hit for 16 points.

Delaware State-73, Chicago State-59: We fell below .500 again (4-5). We were hanging with them, but then couldn’t get the ball in the hoop in the latter stages of the game. SG Pat Coursey’s 14 points topped our scoring but PG Derrick Moore had 9 points and 10 assists.

Chicago State-81, MD-Baltimore County-55: We steadily pulled further and further away throughout the entire game. This was our best defensive effort of the season thus far. High point honors went to SG Pat Coursey again…this time with 13 points.

Chicago State-79, Green Bay-49: Our guys came on early and never stopped stomping the Phoenix. Another good defensive game for us forcing Green Bay to turn the ball over 28 times. PG Derrick Moore had 18 points, 8 assists and 5 steals.

Portland State-87, Chicago State-64: We got beat on the boards, made too many turnovers, and got outscored at the foul line. PF Ben Walker led our scoring with 14 points.

Bad news: Our starting SF Sherman Tillman tore his knee tendon and will be out the rest of the season. Tillman was averaging nearly 10 ppg. He’s a senior so his collegiate career has come to a crashing conclusion.

Tennessee-Martin-79, Chicago State-70: We were tied at the half, but let the game slip away in the 2nd half. C Jason Phillips had 14 points to lead our scoring.

We finish pre-conference play with a 6-7 record. Not impressive, particularly considering the caliber of teams we went up against. But, hey, all I can do for now is make use of what I inherited. We were outscored by our opponents 74.1 to 72.8. We’re not a good shooting team, hitting just 43% of our FG’s and a sickening 29% of our 3’s. Coursey is averaging 11.8 ppg. Now we’ll see what the Western Athletic Conference is like.

I’ve already begun to determine some of the players who I don’t intend to keep on the roster after this season concludes to make room for transfer players.
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Re: Josh "Transfer-man" Fontaine

Postby PointGuard » Mon Mar 14, 2022 5:49 pm

Conference Play

Chicago State-67, Utah Valley-59: Well damn, if we didn’t win our first conference game…and on the road to boot. When I compare the team stats, it’s hard to figure out how we won. Shear determination I guess. We built an 11 point lead at the end of the first half and they gamely held on. PG Derrick Moore led the way with 15 points.

State-84, Sam Houston State-58: We got ahead of the Bearkats early in the 1st half and led by 9 at the break. We then simply kicked their ass throughout the 2nd half, much to the delight of our home crowd. One of our better shooting nights. We got scoring out of 11 players with PF Ben Walker scoring the most…14 points. PG Derrick Moore was right behind him with 13 plus Derrick dished out 8 assists. After the game, AD Rex Marshall congratulated me on winning as many conference games already as the team did all last season. Actually I think we’re just showing what a weak conference the WAS really is.

Recruiting News: The day after our beatdown of S.H.St., we got a call from Jevon Gage, the PG from Evansville, WI we had the scholarship offer out to, saying he wants to play for us next season. Yet another 3-star recruit. Jevon’s a good scorer from outside and a very good ball-handler although his passing isn’t what I’d like of a PG. Like our other recruits, reports are that he’s a hard worker so that’s good. That wraps up our recruiting for the year. Jose (my 3rd asst coach) is a little better recruiter than I expected. Nice to fill all 3 scholarships, but that cuts into my transfer player plans. Oh well, just maybe cut another guy or two. And now back to our regularly reported game results.

Chicago State-83, Dixie State-63: I think the Trailblazers are a better team than that but we ambushed them on our court, knocking them on their butts in the first half and they couldn’t cut into our lead in the 2nd half. PG Derrick Moore…17 points, 9 assists…and he’s just a freshman…impressive!

Chicago State-96, Texas-Rio Grande-94: Man, a blur of action the entire 40 minutes. Neither team led by more than 6 points. SG Pat Coursey hit a 3 with 18 seconds remaining. They got 3 attempts and couldn’t make one of them in those last frenetic seconds. For the game, though, both teams his just under 60% of their shots. Sort of a defense-be-damned type of game. Coursey’s 18 points were tops for us.

Seattle-91, Chicago State-89: Another barn-burner. I think our guys were a little overconfident and thought we’d win with ease at home. We gave up 52 points in the first half and trailed by 7. We chipped away at the lead. With the game tied, Seattle had the ball with 9 seconds to go and got off a jumper under pressure that fell through the hoop. So long to our 4-game win streak. With Derrick Moore in foul trouble a big portion of the game, PG Aaron Sanchez scored 21 points in 23 minutes coming in off the bench. Seattle hit 12 of 24 from outside the arc. Ouch! We’re now in a 3-way tie atop the WAC with 2 other teams just a half-game behind.

Chicago State-74, Tarleton State-58: Always good to win on the road, but beating lowly Tarleton State isn’t much of an accomplishment. They stuck with us throughout the entire first half, but then melted in the 2nd half. PG Derrick Moore scored 14 to lead the way for us.

Another bad break for us: starting PF Ben Walker suffered a broken ankle and will be out the rest of the season…since he’s a senior than ends his collegiate career. Now 2 of our original starting 5 are on crutches.

Abilene Christian-69, Chicago State-57: We got just about nothing about everyone we put in at PF. The refs also took it to us…we got to the line 19 less times and scored 13 less points on free throws than the Wildcats. None of our guys scored in double figures. We dropped a half-game behind the Wildcats and Dixie State in the battle for first place.

Stephen F. Austin-78, Chicago State-76: This game was close the entire way with neither team leading by more than 6 points at any point. We fumbled the ball out of bounds in the final few seconds foiling an attempt to tie or win the game. C Brett Ross had a double-double with 19 points and 10 boards.

New Mexico State-76, Chicago State-55: Losing 40% of your starting 5 definitely takes a toll. We were never in this game. C Brett Ross scored 12 points. But nothing good to say about this game.

California Baptist-70, Chicago State-68: Close all the way, but close only counts in horseshoes and slow dancing. PG Derrick Moore had his 2nd straight bad game. We need him to get back in gear. C Brett Ross scored 16 and pulled down 10 rebounds for a double-double. We’re now tied for 6th place with a 5-5 record.

Sam Houston State-94, Chicago State-75: We played well for a half then fell apart in the 2nd half after PG Derrick Moore left the game with a leg injury. SF Martin Evans was our top scorer with 17 points.

Lamar-79, Chicago State-61: Another 2nd half tailspin pinned a 6th straight loss onto us. We’re not just losing, but losing badly. C Brett Ross scored 16 to lead our scoring. A dream start to our WAC season has turned into a nightmare.

Chicago State-68, Abilene Christian-58: We beat the team tied for 1st place in the conference. For a change, a real solid defensive effort for 20 minutes. We held the Wildcats to just 14 points in the first half and led by 20. They came roaring back in the 2nd half, but we held on to finally get a “W” again. Our leading scorer was PG Derrick Moore with 16 points.

Grand Canyon-67, Chicago State-65: We seemed to have this in the bag and then fell apart in the final 5 minutes for a disappointing loss. Grand Canyon scored the final 6 points to give them a come-from-behind win on our court. Poor shooting and abysmal rebounding doomed us. Sub PG/SG Aaron Sanchez led our scoring with 14 points.

Stephen F. Austin-85, Chicago State-64: Ugh! Another collapse in the 2nd half after being ahead 38-37 at the break. SG Pat Coursey’s 14 points were tops for us.

Chicago State-80, New Mexico State-75: A long regular season ended on a positive note. Fortunately we had enough of a lead after the first half to escape with a victory. SG Pat Coursey scored 17 points.

We completed the regular season with a 7-9 record in the WAC and a 9th place finish and our overall record for the season was 13-16.
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Re: Josh "Transfer-man" Fontaine

Postby PointGuard » Tue Mar 15, 2022 4:53 pm

WAC Conference Tournament

Texas-Rio Grande-80, Chicago State-69: Let’s face it, we’re a poor 2nd half team. SF Martin Evans tossed in 15 points to lead our scoring. And with that game, our season is OVER.

Player Stats:

Patrick Coursey-10.9 ppg, 2.4 apg, 3.5 rpg (JR)
Derrick Moore-9.2 ppg, 4.3 apg (FR)
Brett Ross-9.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg (SR)
Sherman Tillman-8.8 ppg (SR)
Aaron Sanches-8.4 ppg (SO)
Martin Evans-7.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg (FR)
Jonathan Davis-5.0 ppg (SO)
Jason Phillips-4.4 ppg (JR)
Jeremy Asbury-3.8 ppg (JR)
Jeremy Charles-3.1 ppg (SO)
Flye Culuko-2.4 ppg (JR)
Jerry Abrams-1.4 ppg (SR)
Dustin Williams-1.0 ppg (FR)

Awards

None for any of our players

Asst Coaches

3rd Asst Coach Jose Parker was on a one year contract and left since he wanted to try to move up quickly.

Hired Shannon Jackson as my new 3rd Asst Coach handling recruiting. He’s 64 years old and has a lot of experience and a lot of skill in recruiting

Recruits during 2021-2022 Season:

PG Jevon Gage is 6-2 and as a HS senior he averaged 17.6 ppg, 2.4 apg, 4.3 rpg, 1.7 bpg, and 1.4 spg
PF Earl Burns is 6-8 and as a HS senior he averaged 12.8 ppg, 3.5 apg, 5.9 rpg, 2.3 bpg and 2.0 spg
PF Dan Mohr is 6-7 and as a HS senior he averaged 15.9 ppg, 2.9 apg, 4.3 rpg, 2.1 bpg and 1.8 spg
Last edited by PointGuard on Tue Mar 15, 2022 6:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Josh "Transfer-man" Fontaine

Postby Wayne23 » Tue Mar 15, 2022 4:59 pm

A 6'7" PG!
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Re: Josh "Transfer-man" Fontaine

Postby PointGuard » Tue Mar 15, 2022 6:35 pm

Typo..he's a PF rather than a PG. Edited and corrected it.
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