Blending in a leftover system.

When he took over as head coach, Wes Flanigan indicated that he intended basically to continue with the systems that his predecessor had used so successfully, with maybe a few adjustments. Given the strong year we had had and the unusually large number of returning upper-class players, that made sense. Why try to make a drastic change in direction under those circumstances? I thought it was the right call on Wes' part. Beard had left abruptly after a hugely emotional season, and Wes did not need to be rocking the boat any more than was necessary.

The problem is that that system is not necessarily the Flanigan system. (I have no idea what his preferences are, but it is not likely they are the same as Beard's.) He played for his father and Charles Ripley in high school. He played under Cliff Ellis at Auburn. He was an assistant under a string of coaches at NW Mississippi CC, Little Rock, Mississippi State, Nebraska and UAB. He has seen what he likes and what he does not like, what worked and what did not and why, both in the systems that were used on the court and in the approaches the coaches used in  handling players.

To be successful, a coach needs to use a style that he can teach and with which he is comfortable. That "style" of play will be a composite of all that he has experienced, and probably will be a work in progress during the first few years of his head coaching career, and maybe indeed throughout his career. Next season Wes should have his system fully in place. It may work and may not, but at least it will be his and the players will be his, and he will have had a year of head coaching under his belt. So, his comfort level should be higher and that alone is a positive factor.