Forum › Forum › Lehigh Sports › Lehigh Men’s Basketball › Brett Reed › Reply To: Brett Reed
I think Reed is an average college basketball coach. A little above average on the recruiting side and a little below average on the in game coaching side. I can’t recall too many games where I thought he out coached the competition. And, a few times I’m left scratching my head. I still can’t believe he sat CJ with 2 first half fouls vs Xavier, in biggest game in program history. He’s certainly not a risk taker.
He has won with good players and lost with lesser players. After all this time, I’m not sure what he is, what is his stock in trade? Is he a defensive minded guy? an offensive guy? Seems like to me he wants to be a hard nosed, defensive, man to man coach, but his teams don’t really play that way. They don’t get after anybody. He’s not a hard nosed motivator type but more a players coach, more philosopher than disciplinarian.
I would like to see him be a little less predictable. Mix in some zone defenses (he has done that more this year), perhaps press full court or trap, and run a little more on the offensive end. Seems to like the high pick and roll game, and not much else.
He’s pretty average and I’m starting to think he’s a lifer at Lehigh. I don’t see why any bigger program would be drawn to him. He’s very well spoken and knows every sports cliche in the book, and runs a solid, clean program, but he doesn’t instill tons of confidence. Program has been on upswing last 5-6 years, but probably more related to the CJ, Gabe, Holden class than anything else.
This team is underachieving. They aren’t deep, but a really good coach gets more from this group. In PL, he’s probably in top 3-4. I like O’Hanlon and Carmody on X’s and O’s, but neither are great recruiters. I liked Paulsen a lot, but jury out on new Bucknell coach. A lot of unknowns in rest of PL coaches.
For me, the 5 years post CJ is a critical time. Chance to build on success and build consistent, year in, year out, winner. He seems to be squandering that at moment, even with 2-3 elite players. His recruiting has been very up and down. Some gems, some dogs, and some classes with very little. He has to be disappointed by the program support and playing in front of an empty arena most nights.
