You still think Steele should have a job ! Please vote

[Hnoz]

Once again a awful job coaching at the end !

[kyzrex]

That’s a decision to be made after the season, not in the middle of it when you’ve got a 14-5 record and a top 25 ranking. Have to wait and see what happens from here.

[skyhops]

They won't let him go til his contract is up. Unfortunaley.

[Jesseandrippers]

You fire Steele now or the end of the season and you risk losing arguably Xavier’s best recruiting class in the shot clock era. We also need to see how this season plays out.

Steele surrounded himself with guys who were not strong with X’s and O’s, like himself. He needs a basketball guy on the bench with him as his #2. Let him recruit and motivate and maybe learn a little more on how to be a technical coach.

[pdxmuskie]

I went with fire immediately for 2 reasons. First, I don't see him changing any of what is going wrong - shot selection, extended minutes for a defensive liability that rarely brings a positive offensive presence nor settling players down when they are forcing the action, making bad decisions, etc.

The other reason is that the season can be salvaged with a slight uptick in coaching. Maybe a coach on the bench is being held back and is capable of leading the team. A coaching change may also motivate the players if they are frustrated and see new hope.

There is risk of losing the incoming class but that is a risk if the firing happens at the end of the season too. If the team improves after coach is fired, they may be more likely to stick with X than if he is fired at the end of the season.

[kyzrex]

No reason to panic at this time, and lots of reasons NOT to panic. I’m certainly not a Steel apologist, but it’s not good business management to get rid of employees based on what MIGHT happen in the future.

I’ve never been in favor of getting rid of coaches mid-season, except in very rare circumstances. The team does not have a losing record. They are not in current danger of missing the tournament. There are not personal problems. The players are not quitting or revolting. He is still recruiting well, possibly at a higher level than ever before. There no known or rumored recruiting violations happening. So the only thing that could possibly be used as a reason to terminate him would be team performance. But the team is 14-5 and a top 25 ranked team. If they fall apart over the rest of the season, then it’s time to seriously consider a change. But not now.

[Michigan Musketeer]

Play out the season good or bad probably bad & then go after John Belein to straighten the mess out. We might have to set up a Go Fund me Page

[AirJordan]

You fire Steele now or the end of the season and you risk losing arguably Xavier’s best recruiting class in the shot clock era. We also need to see how this season plays out.

Steele surrounded himself with guys who were not strong with X’s and O’s, like himself. He needs a basketball guy on the bench with him as his #2. Let him recruit and motivate and maybe learn a little more on how to be a technical coach.

I'm convinced Steele's lack of confidence translates to his team and this has been the case for his entire tenure. They fall apart in important games which is just about every game in the Big East.

I no longer trust that he recruits well and, from what I've seen, many of his recruits transfer out after playing for him. You are probably right. If we terminate Steele, we can kiss goodbye to next year's recruits. But, they may end up leaving anyway once they arrive. Or, they may be misused and not contribute to their potential. Steele was in over his head when hired---I was O.K. with that because he was so loyal to the program and we had a history of losing coaches to the next bigger job. It was Steele's turn to demonstrate what he could do. Now, he has and four years into it, he is still over his head.

We should cut him loose at season end. And, never, never, never should we hire another head coach who doesn't possess a seasoned history at the head coaching level. Seasoned, to me, means minimum of ten years.

What I advocate probably has a snow ball's chance in hell but, were I sitting in Christopher's seat, this is what I would do. We swung on Steele and we missed. That decision should have nothing to do with the decision we now face.

[Anti-Homer]

Yes.

So far this year is a marked improvement. I will revisit this poll if the year plays out like the previous three though.

[54586264]

In my opinion, all facets of the Xavier play on offense and defense are doing well except for one. Our two 3-point shooters, especially Johnson, have been shooting subpar, very subpar. Zero for ten combined in last game against Providence. Then go back over the past 4 or so games and look especially at Johnson 3-point shooting. Something is grossly wrong. Without his being able to hit at least 30 to 35 %, the team is in trouble against good teams.
Don't know what the solution is but opposing teams will collapse defensively around the basket to keep us from driving. Need to correct the 3-point shooting. Do you really think that is Steele's lack of coaching?