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BYU Basketball: Win over Pacific has cooled Dave Rose’s seat…for now

By Austin Frost

RENO, NV - NOVEMBER 06: Head coach Dave Rose of the Brigham Young Cougars watches a playing during the game between the Nevada Wolf Pack and the Brigham Young Cougars at Lawlor Events Center on November 6, 2018 in Reno, Nevada. (Photo by Jonathan Devich/Getty Images)
RENO, NV - NOVEMBER 06: Head coach Dave Rose of the Brigham Young Cougars watches a playing during the game between the Nevada Wolf Pack and the Brigham Young Cougars at Lawlor Events Center on November 6, 2018 in Reno, Nevada. (Photo by Jonathan Devich/Getty Images) /
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The BYU men’s basketball team averted a four-game skid after squandering a twenty-one point lead against Pacific, which keeps Dave Rose off the hot seat for now.

Dave Rose is an all-time great coach at BYU, but even legends succumb to time, failure to meet expectations, and apathy. A flurry of transfers and early exits from Rose’s program, piling losses in an RPI-driven out-of-conference schedule, and resurgent West Coast Conference have increased the heat on Rose’s lukewarm seat. Had the Cougars lost Thursday night to Pacific, calls for Rose’s job could have reached a fever pitch–and rightfully so.

Rose’s Resume

It’s never easy to criticize a legend. The only thing more that Dave Rose could have done the last fourteen years is win more NCAA Tournament games. His winning percentage is the best of any BYU coach in a century (and the best of any coach with 100 or more games), and he is a mere sixty-seven wins away from becoming the winningest coach in BYU basketball history.

And to top it all off, he’s a family man and cancer survivor.

Houston, We Have a Problem

And yet, something is awry within the basketball program–the former Houston Cougar has lost top talent (some at his election) in recent years.  Frank Bartley, Jordan Chatman, Jake Toolson, and Payton Dastrup, among others, transferred to other programs.  This says nothing of Eric Mika and Elijah Bryant leaving Provo early to play low-level professional basketball overseas.

What is going on in the program when a team starved for size loses a four-star power forward to Oregon State? What circumstances make playing basketball in Italy more attractive than preparing for the NBA in Provo?  Does a kid from a wealthy Utah County family really need the $100k per year he gets from playing halfway around the world? Has Israel suddenly become a basketball hot spot?

Whether it’s poor roster management, lack of development, or the natural consequences of mediocrity, something is amiss at the Marriott Center, and the ultimate responsibility rests squarely on Dave Rose’s capable shoulders. If his assistant coaches are not developing talent, then he needs to step in.  If his players are unhappy, then he needs to identify the problem and the solution. If he’s suddenly forgotten how to coach defensively, then he needs to Facetime Heath Schroyer on a regular basis.

Unless of course, Coach Rose no longer has the energy or passion to rebuild and improve. In which case, it is time to send Rose off with a hero’s farewell.

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Conference Play is Key to Rose’s Future

Coach Rose must have his team hungry and prepared to avoid head-scratching losses to inferior conference foes.  Four conference losses to teams not named Gonzaga will be proof positive that Coach Rose’s recent extension was a mistake. Let’s hope BYU basketball’s greatest coach of all time can reach deep and rediscover some of the program’s former swagger to finish out 2018-19.

One can normally count on BYU and St. Mary’s as the conference’s second and third-place teams.  This season, there are no guarantees. According to Thursday night’s broadcast, this season the WCC won the most non-conference games in its history.  The RPI cellar dwellers in the conference are answering Mark Few’s call to shape up or ship out.

Let’s hope Coach Rose follows suit.

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