The facts of Larry Shyatt's Tenure

Mar 10, 2006, 1:31 PM

I can honestly say I hate this argument, if for no other reason than because it is now 3 years into the tenure of Shyatt's replacement. But year in and year out, the discussion comes up - both here and on CUTigers free basketball board (where I kinda hang out during basketball season) - and every year the "facts" of his tenure become an issue. So here we go (and if you post on CUTigers, you've probably seen some of this before)...

Here are a few tables to add to the fun:

Head Coach	ACC Games	ACC Tournament	Non-Con.	Home	Away	Neutral	Overall
Foster	0.3729	0.25	0.8258	0.7391	0.3827	0.5349	0.5954
Ellis	0.3836	0.2308	0.8082	0.7736	0.3113	0.525	0.5803
Barnes	0.4375	0.3333	0.8462	0.7869	0.3902	0.5	0.6066
Shyatt	0.25	0.1667	0.7206	0.622	0.1875	0.4348	0.4545

Year	ACC Games		ACC Trn.		Non-Con.		Home		Away		Neutral		Overall		Pct	CU	OPP	Head Coach
Year	W	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	Pct	PPG	PPG	Head Coach
1998-99	5	11	0	1	15	3	14	3	2	8	4	4	20	15	0.571	71.4	64.4	Shyatt
1999-0	4	12	0	1	6	7	7	9	1	7	2	3	10	20	0.333	70	64.4	Shyatt
2000-1	2	14	1	1	9	4	9	7	1	9	2	3	12	19	0.387	74.1	79.7	Shyatt
2001-2	4	12	0	1	9	4	8	8	3	7	2	2	13	17	0.433	76.8	75.2	Shyatt
2002-3	5	11	0	1	10	1	13	4	2	8	0	1	15	13	0.536	68.4	68.1	Shyatt

I've never really understood this about most Clemson fans: Barnes is almost universally hated, while Shyatt enjoys this perception "Well he was a great guy, just couldn't get it done."

Barnes is roundly hated mostly because of a comment he made about the educational system in Pickens County (a perception that happens to be held nationwide about our state), though he left Clemson in the midst of an unprecedented run of success in the sport.

Shyatt hasn't suffered the same fate, even though he made even more damaging remarks about the program itself. On national television, as well as any sports radio program that would pick him up, Shyatt said that Clemson gives absolutely no credit for basketball success (stating that a birth to the NIT should be looked at with the same zeal as a minor bowl), and that they have little patience in matters of coaching. What made Shyatt's remarks even worse, was that he was still receiving the balance of $70,000 for "assisting the new staff."

But at the same time, any one who thinks that Clemson "sabotaged" Shyatt is reading the Ken Hatfeild story and whiting out the Hatfield and writing in Shyatt. No boosters went out and actively recruited against the man, they didn't show up to actively boo his team while holding signs reading "We Want Ditka" in the end zones of Littlejohn (they did do this to Hatfield). They just stopped coming.

And they had reason. Shyatt's record was the worst in the modern era of Clemson basketball. Since 1975, Clemson has had 4 Coaches - prior to hiring of Oliver Purnell. When you look at their overall records in terms of winning percentage, they rank as follows: 1) Rick Barnes .607, 2) Bill Foster .595, 3) Cliff Ellis .580, 4) Larry Shyatt .455.

It gets even worse when you look at the ACC records: 1) Barnes .438, 2) Ellis .384, 3) Foster .373, 4) Shyatt .250. Or when you look at overall records on the road - where coaching is at a premium: 1) Barnes .390, 2) Foster .383, 3) Ellis .311, 4) Shyatt .188.

But what about the most telling statistic of how a program is doing: postseason appearances. Since 1975, Clemson has participated in postseason play 19 times: 12 NIT bids and 7 NCAA bids. Barnes had 3 of the NCAA bids (a Sweet 16 squad in '97), and 1 of the NIT bids in his 4 seasons. Ellis had 3 NCAA bids (a Sweet 16 squad in '90) and 5 NIT bids in his 10 years as head man. Foster had 3 NIT appearances and 1 NCAA appearance (taking us to the brink of the Final Four in 1980) in his 9 years as head man. Shyatt had 1 NIT bid - though we were only able to accept 1, he earned another in his last year with a schedule tailor-made for doing so - in his 5 years of service.

That 1 NIT bid brings us back to Shyatt's very first team. Much has been made of the underachievement of the Shyatt's first team, and as has been pointed out on occassion, Clemson lost it's best player in Greg Buckner (the only player from the entire era to make it to the NBA for longer than a cup of coffee). Buckner's departure left the team with only 10 scholarships filled, with a class break down of 6 Seniors (Wideman, Christie, McIntyre, Miller, Iturbe, Jamison), 3 Juniors (Jurkunas, Whitt, Woni), 1 Sophomore (Allenspach) - then 3 were promptly filled by Braddick, Gilmore, and Solomon.

Buckner's departure zapped 16.8ppg from the line-up but the most damage was done once Shyatt stepped on campus. Prior to Barnes leaving, both Christie and Iturbe had announced that they were foregoing their senior seasons at Clemson. Once on campus, Shyatt was able to convince Christie to return, but Iturbe remained resolute. Then in December, Mohammed Woni (a player that had averaged 15+mpg in his Sophomore season) announces he will transfer (he landed at Hampton). This was followed shortly by the announcement that Freshman Dustin Braddick would undergo knee surgery. Then 18 games into the season, Junior Vincent Whitt and Senior Johnny Miller are released from the team as a disciplinary action. Losing those four subtracted another 18.2ppg from the lineup, and stunts Braddick's progress, while placing an even heavier burden on McIntyre and making our offense more predicitable.

The question is, who do you blame? My opinion is that both Barnes and Shyatt deserve some credit. Barnes was reputed as a hardass that ground his players into the ground, and as his tenure was rapidly coming to a close, his players were on the verge of a mutiny. Enter Shyatt, whose last role on the staff was the buffer zone between bad cop Barnes, and basically the players' buddy. By most accounts, Shyatt was reputed by his players to be a rather strict disciplinarian - but it is my opinion is that his players had little respect for him, due to his former role. Whitt and Miller's incidents occured on his watch, Tony Stockman's "attitude" and Will Solomon's "lack of teammate recognition" happened on his watch. And a lot of that is born out of lack of respect for the man in charge.

For his Second season, Shyatt was left with 5 scholarship lettermen (1 Senior - Jurkunas; 1 Junior - Allenspach; 3 Sophomores - Braddick, Gilmore, and Solomon). And signed 6 (Blackshear, Henderson, Javtokas, Nagys, Bains, and Scott). Blackshear, the highest rated recruit, was denied admission due to a suspicious jump in SAT score. Javtokas, a JUCO, leaves in January to play professional ball in Lithuania. Bains is unable to adjust to American basketball and becomes one of number of flops. Scott would injure his foot in October and while starting 21 games, would be a shell of his future self. Henderson and Nagys stay all 4 years. But in any case, for year 3 this team returns it's top 4 of it's top 5 scorers and boasts 8 lettermen (not counting Jermel Douglas, a walk-on that would recieve plenty of playing time). And from here on, he's starting 4 of his recruits.

Which is all an interesting segue to the issue of player development. Last year, Yoni Cohen (proprietor of yocohoops.com - one of the best college basketball blogs on the net - wrote an article titled Words of advice for aspiring NBA players for Fox Sports. The pertinent passages are as follows:

Choose a school, not a league
Since 1995, more than a dozen top-100 prospects signed with Clemson, no doubt excited about the opportunity to play in the ACC. Yet only one, Will Soloman, was drafted in the second round.

Prioritize a coach's record before his reputation.
Gene Keady and John Chaney recruited many a top-100 prospect to their bench. Unfortunately, few players left Purdue or Temple as pros. Conversely, the oft — and justly — criticized Jerry Tarkanian both attracted and instructed future pros while at Fresno State. Though, as we noted last week, the Blue Devils are unlikely to return their investment, Mike Krzyzewski is as good as they come at turning prospects into picks. Ditto for Maryland's maestro, Gary Williams, who has won numerous ACC games with fewer top prospects than not only Duke and North Carolina, but also Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, and Clemson.

Not exactly positive press when entering the first contact period of the summer (which was when that piece was authored). But is based on fact, which is why I decided to use it as an intro to the summary of Recruiting Classes for the Shyatt tenure.

Recruiting was by far the skill that had many wondering whether or not Clemson was making a mistake in letting Shyatt go. The main reason for this was the two, back-to-back, Top-20 recruiting classes garnered in the middle of his tenure. But a closer look of all the classes - as well as their rankings, the players involved, and where they went - might "debunk the myth" of that claim as well. (Note some of the links might be Dead, because I did the bulk of the research last year)

Barnes/Shyatt's 1998 Recruiting Class

Dustin Braddick - Signed in the early signing period while Barnes was still the Head Coach. Requested a transfer after the 2000-2001 season (SC State), where he averaged 12.5ppg, 5.8rpg, and 1.7apg, and was named conference tournament MVP in leading the bulldogs to an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Chuckie Gilmore - Signed in the early signing period while Barnes was still the Head Coach. Requested a transfer after the 2000-2001 season (SC State), medically redshirted his 2000-01 season after tearing an ACL. Gilmore averaged only 7ppg, 4.5 rpg, and 1bpg in his final season at South Carolina state.

Will Solomon - Ranked #45 by Hoop Scoop following his senior year of high school. First signee of the Larry Shyatt era (signing in the late period), takes his official visit to Clemson during the period of transition between staffs, and is effectively recruited by the basketball team itself. A 2 time all-ACC selection (first team as a Sophomore, second team as Junior), Solomon declares for the NBA Draft after the 2000-2001 season where he was drafted in the second round (thus no guaranteed contract) by the Memphis Grizzlies. After one season, the Grizzlies decide not to exercise the option on his contract, and Solomon goes overseas where he has had a successful career. Solomon flirted with the NBA this past offseason, as Danny Ainge met with him this summer about possibly joining the Celtics. In the end, he signed a Euroleague contract with for Maccabi Tel Aviv, the reigning champions of Euroleague, for whom he currently stars.

Notes on the rest of the team: Tony Christie and Iturbe announce their intentions to leave the team at end of '97-98 season, prior to Barnes announcing that he is leaving to go to Texas. Christie recinds after Shyatt is announced as head coach. During the '98-'99 season, Mohamed Woni transfers at the end of the '98 Fall Semester (after having played 6 games) to Hampton. Vincent Whitt and Johnny Miller are removed from the team for rules violations. A junior, Whitt transfers to SC State after the season.

Shyatt's 1999 Recruiting Class

Raymond Henderson - Ranked #51 by Hoop Scoop following his senior season of high school. Henderson played one year (2004) in the Austrian Budesliga M1, for the Superfund Bulls, and has yet to resurface.

Ronald Blackshear - Consensus Top 40 player out of Hargrave Academy (Hoop Scoop ranked Blackshear #47 out of high school/prior to Hargrave in 1998 ) did not qualify academically (suspicious jump in SAT score), and was unable to join the team. Signed with Temple as a Prop 48/partial qualifier, and eventually transferred to Marshall. He was an early entry into the 2003 NBA Draft before going to vet cap with the New York Knicks as an undrafted free agent. He was drafted by the Fayetteville Patriots (3rd round, 18th overall) in the 2003 NBDL Draft before being released in training camp. He averaged 16.0 points and 2.4 rebounds with the Macon Blaze of the WBA, in 2004, but Blackshear’s most recent action came in Argentina, where he averaged 15.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game for Estudiantes Olavarrio. The Huntsville Flight of NBDL acquired him, on February 9th of 2005, but he has since disappeared.

Pasha Bains - Transferred from Wyoming after Shyatt left, and entered as a redshirt freshman at Christmas break of the ’99-’00 season. Bains then transferred to Simon Fraser University at the end of the 2000/2001 season. At the conclusion of the 2003/04 season Bains won the Mike Moser Memorial Trophy, the Canadian University equivalent of the Wooden Award, after leading the nation in scoring (with 25.3ppg) for the second straight season. In 2005 he transferred to yet another university, the University of British Columbia, where he will both play basketball and work on his masters in human kinetics.

Arturas Javtokas - Juco signee from Lithuania - leaves Clemson in January of the 1999-2000 season for personal reasons. Javtokas returned to Lithuania, where he played professionally with atleast 2 clubs, the last of which was in 2004.

Tomas Nagys - after his 4 years at Clemson, Nagys returned to Europe, where he currently plays as a reserve for , a Polish Club team.

Ed Scott - breaks a bone in his left foot during pre-season practice, and never recovers to the point where he is without pain during his freshman season. So instead of sitting him and applying for a medical redshirt, Scott plays (starting in 21 of 24 apperances) but hobbles through a relatively ineffective freshman campaign.

Scott finished his four-year career as Clemson's second all-time assists leader with 595 and 19th all-time leading scorer with 1,226 points. Became the ninth player in ACC history to reach 1000 points, 500 assists, and 400 rebounds in a career. Posted nine career double-doubles. Named First Team All-ACC as a senior, (Third Team All-ACC as a junior) the first Clemson point guard in the last 43 years to be named to the First Team. Became the first player in Clemson history to be named ACC Player of the Week in two straight weeks during his Senior Season. Played with the Furstenfeld Panthers in Austria in 2003-04. Appeared in six playoff games, averaging 16.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists, before joining the Huntsville Flight of the NBDL and playing Summer League with the Sacramento Kings during the summer of 2004.

Shyatt's 2000 Recruiting Class

Dwon Clifton - From the Athletic Department press release of his signing: He is listed among the nation’s top-100 in several publications, including PrepStars Magazine which has him 40th and Bob Gibbons who tabbed him 52nd. Clifton was one of 4 to sign in the early period, and as such, these rankings were based upon his junior season and summer camp workouts. Hoop Scoop’s senior class ranking for Clifton was #97. Transferrred to UNC-Greensboro after the 2001-02 season, having only averaged 3.2pts and 1.8 rebounds in 2001-2002 - though he missed over a month of the season with congenital cardiac abnormality. Clifton was a senior with the UNCG Spartans at the time of the research, and had only appeared in 6 games (as a junior, Clifton averaged 4.8ppg and 2.1rpg in 27 appearances).

De'on Dixon - Did not qualify academically, ended up at North Alabama after 2 years at Tallahassee Community College, has a notation for McDonald's AA in his High School biography in his 2002 UNA profile – though his absence from the Hoop Scoop database and subsequent small college signing seems to point to that reference being misleading, as there are many levels of honorable mentions and regional honors in the McDonald’s system.

Chris Hobbs - From the Athletic Department press release of his signing: Bob Gibbons rated Hobbs as the number-eight junior in the country and he has been tabbed among the top-40 in several different recruiting publications. Due to a knee injury, Hobbs was unable to compete in his senior season, so most of the recruiting rankings were based off of his performance as a junior. His final ranking with Hoop Scoop was #58. In his first year post-Clemson, Hobbs is started professionally for the Swedish club team .

Tony Stockman - Stockman was the third top-100 level prospect in this class, finishing his senior season as the #90 in the Hoop Scoop prospect rankings. Transferred to Ohio State after the 2001-02 season. He left Clemson after leading all ACC Sophomores with a 12.2 scoring average, hitting 80 3pt FG's, 2nd in team assists, and 35.1 FG percentage, but only 68.6% FT shooter. In articles leading up to last year’s contest in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, it was revealed that friction with former Clemson G Ed Scott led to his decision to move on.

Jamar McKnight - a JUCO transfer and the only late period signing of the class. After his 2 years at Clemson, McKnight went on to a professional career in Europe, first signing with the Swedish team Ockelbo. McKnight is currently starting in the Iranian SuperLeague with Peykan-Tehran.

Notes on this Class as a Whole: This 11th ranked class was gutted 2 years after it arrived on campus with the natural attrition of McKnight and the transfers of Clifton and Stockman. With Dixon not even having the chance to set foot on-campus, and Hobbs never fully recovering from the ACL tear that cost him his senior season of High School baskeball, it's easy to see why this class didn't buoy our basketball fortunes.

Shyatt's 2001 Recruiting Class

Sharrod Ford - Hoop Scoop ranked Ford the 4th best, 5th-year prospect, by Hoop Scoop following his final season at Hargrave Military Prep. Sharrod Ford went on to become a 3rd Team All-ACC performer as a senior, but went undrafted in the NBA draft. He's currently on roster with the Phoenix Suns.

Chey Christie - He is ranked as the 37th best player in the nation according to Hoop Scoop, 39th best by PrepStars. Transferred at the end of the 2003-04 season to South Alabama, and sat out last year in accordance to NCAA transfer rules. After 3 seasons at Clemson, Christie boasted a career 8.5 ppg scoring average, and after 3 games at South Alabama, seems to be averaging similar totals.

Olu Babalola – ranked the 147th prospect by Hoop Scoop. The most telling part of Babalola's basketball career is that it is unknown as to whether Babalola will be remembered more for his "Oh no, no, YES!!" shot on senior night against VaTech, or his off-season dabbling with football. If you ask the average Clemson fan, I'm willing to bet it will be an equal split as to what they will say.

Steve Allen - ranked the 156th prospect by Hoop Scoop. Redshirted the 2002-2003 season, and played only sparingly in 2004-2005 - both for the same reason: Allen has been plagued by injury. But for the first time in his Clemson career, Allen is coming off an off-season that did not include rehab. As a result, he looks as though he is in the best conditioning of his playing career and has been a solid role player for the 2005-06 Tigers.

Jemere Hendrix - At the conclusion of his senior year, was ranked the 241st prospect by Hoop Scoop. Suffered a season-ending stress fracture in his right foot early in the season and did not see any action after Jan. 12 ... Withdrew from school to transfer on Feb. 4, enrolled at Tennessee where he was 14th in the SEC in rebounding in the 2003-04 season. But since then, Hendrix has been dismissed from the Tennessee basketball team for his involvement in an altercation with Vol linebacker Daniel Brooks.

Notes on this Class as a whole: This recruiting class was ranked 18th in the nation by Hoop Scoop after the early signing period (which included Ford, Babalola, Christie, and Allen), and was also deemed significant because it marked the second year in a row that a Clemson recruiting class had garnered a top 20 ranking.

From the player rankings it is easy to see that the much heralded signing of Chey Christie was the primary reason for such a lofty ranking. And while Sharrod Ford has a ranking of 4th, it should be noted that Hoop Scoop does not rank prep school players and high school players together, so that ranking is somewhat misleading - in fact, Ford was lightly regarded before enrolling at Fork Union.

Ford blossomed into this class's premier player, finding a home in the NBA. Christie's career, unfortunately, took a different path - highlighted by Bill Packer's continued on-slaught during the 2004 ACC tournament about how shocking it was that a highly recruited upperclassmen would have such an aversion to using his left hand around the basket. Chey's plummet to average and subsequent departure, Olu's slow progression and curious shot selection, Hendrix's early departure,and Allen's nearly interminable injuries were all enough to offset the effect that such a highly rated class should have had on a program.

Shyatt's 2002 Recruiting Class

Shawan Robinson - From the Clemson Press Release: Robinson is ranked in the top 100 in the nation by All-Star Sports [Bob Gibbons written publication] and by Hoop Scoop. Robinson finished the year as Scout.com’s 22nd best point guard in the nation, and was rated a 4-Star prospect, while Rivals.com saw Robinson as a simple 3-Star prospect. He ended his senior year as Hoop Scoop’s 125th ranked prospect, and PrepStars 129th.

Akin Akingbala - Akingbala was ranked among the top 100 rising seniors for 2001-02 by Hoop Scoop this past summer. Ended the year as Hoop Scoop’s 100th ranked prospect and PrepStar’s 169th. Both Rivals.com and Scout.com concluded with a final ranking of 3-stars, but no positional or national ranking.

Ori Ichaki - Ichaki was not tracked by any recruiting service ranking. Denied eligibility by the NCAA Clearinghouse on Jan 6, 2003. Accordingly, Ichaki returned to Israel where he began his career as a professional basketball player, and currently on roster for Bnei Hashron of the Israeli Premier League

Julian Betko - Ranked the 168th best prospect by Hoop Scoop at the conclusion of his Senior year, while Rivals.com did not track Betko in any fashion, and Scout.com listed Betko as a 2-Star prospect. Transferred to Butler, announced on Jan. 16th of 2004, due to lack of playing time, and was eligible to play beginning in January of 2005, but has STILL been unable to compete due to knee injury (though it is unclear as to whether it is the same knee that initially sidelined him at Clemson).

Shyatt's 2003 Recruiting Class

Jimmy Hudson - Hudson was untracked by both Rivals and Scout, and the Clemson press release only lists his status as an all-state prospect in Florida. In their post-summer rankings final rankings, Hoop Scoop rated Hudson as the #137 prospect in the nation, but that ranking plummeted after his senior season to #201. Hudson Redshirted the 2003-04 season, then transferred after receiving only minimial playing time in the 2004-05 campaign.

Vernon Hamilton - Clemson Press Release: Hamilton was an all-state selection and is ranked among the top 100 players in the nation by Hoop Scoop and Prep Spotlight . As Hamilton was an early period signing his ranking at the time of the press release was based on his performance as a junior in high school as well as the summer camp period (at which time Hoop Scoop projected him as the 86th best prospect). By the end of his senior season, Scout.com ranked Hamilton as the 18th best PG in the nation, but only a 3-Star prospect ranked outside of their Hot 100, whereas Rivals.com ranked Hamilton as the 131st best player in the nation, but did not rank him among the top 25 PG’s in the nation and gave him a 3-Star ranking. Hoop Scoop ranked Hamilton the 91st best prospect in the nation at the conclusion of his senior year and had this to say:

Hamilton picked Clemson and, like so many of the other players the Tigers have signed in recent years, he's no star, but he has the talent, leadership, and savvy necessary to be an excellent point guard in the Atlantic Coast Conference. And making good decisions, using his excellent passing and ball handling skills, keeping you honest with his outside shooting, and playing good defense, aren't the only things for which Hamilton is known. Did you know that Hamilton also is a heck of a quarterback on the gridiron and, if he ever wants to play professionally, that's his sport. But as a freshman in college, Hamilton plans to focus exclusively on basketball.

Lamar Rice - First signed in April of 2002, but due to academic complications had to re-up in December of 2002. He enrolled in January of 2003, but was ineligible to play until the 2003-2004 season. Rivals.com ranked Rice as a 2-star JUCO prospect at the end of 2003 recruiting period, while Scout.com’s records rate Rice a 3-Star JUCO prospect by July of 2002. After one season at Clemson, Rice transferred to Georgetown (Ky.) College, an NAIA School.

So as you can see, the lack of production out of the highest ranking members of the classes, along with the shortened tenure of a great number of prospects, led to a situation in which we weren't going to be very successful. And after 5 years of wishing and hoping, of declining attendance and only marginal improvements, Shyatt was released from his contract.

And I don't think any one who sits back and truly looks at the situation can see Larry Shyatt as a victim in this situation.

Larry Shyatt was one of Rick Barnes assistants and had been away from the program just over a year when we asked him to return. Did the facilities all of sudden become 200% worse in that one year? Did the players he helped recruit go from being good enough to play for Clemson to totally worthless in that one year? Did the administration that wouldn't support Barnes during his spat with Dean Smith all of a sudden become more brazen? The answer across the board is no.

And while Shyatt wasn't given the facilities to do his job, he was handed something much more valuable to start his tenure: a program with a recent track record of success. No Clemson Basketball head coach before or since has been handed a program that had gone to 3 straight NCAA appearances. No Clemson head coach has ever been handed a program that 2 years prior was ranked #2 in the nation.

That new found reputation as a winning program is a factor in recruiting, and was embodied by Will Solomon. He came to Clemson regardless of the fact that we had no head coach when he came to visit. And thanks to the early signing period, Shyatt was still using the stationary from those 3 consecutive NCAA runs to invite folks to Clemson for his first recruiting class.

So while Purnell was handed better facilities than any other coach in Clemson history, I would argue that the enhancements in physical capital are only equal to the advantage by national perception we enjoyed at the time Shyatt came.

After their first year, the program is in their hands, and accountability starts then.

So after 5 years of less than middling results, I think most would agree the release of Shyatt was the right decision, especially in light of the improvements made last season with a line-up filled with Freshmen.