I'm Sorry, Johnny Dawkins




When UCF hired Johnny Dawkins, I compared this hiring to Donnie Jones. A retread that was unimpressive. In fairness, Dawkins had just been fired from Stanford. Why not go with the unproven Martin Ingelsby or say Linc Darner. Dawkins had been mediocre in his final year at Stanford. Personally, I didn't feel that the hiring was what UCF needed. It did not scream of a Danny White type of move. On paper, Dawkins had the chance to become like a Rick Stansbury, Ben How,and, Steve Alford type of retread that eventually fails. Boy was I wrong. Dawkins has been sensational for UCF. Yes, 9-3 might not scream out how great of a job Dawkins has done. But you have to re,member how bad UCF was before he got here. UCF had experienced 3 losing seasons and were the perpetual bottom dwellers in the American. So what Dawkins has accomplished is impressive. And I am sorry that I ever doubted him.

My biggest concern on hiring Dawkins was the offense. If anyone watched UCF's offense last year, it was beyond awful. Donnie Jones was traditionally not a great offensive mastermind, but last year was the worst. The Knights averaged 68.7 points per game good enough for 270th in the country. But it wasn't just the stats on paper that made the offense look bad, it was the sets themselves. Jones team looked like a middle school pick up game. Players standing around and lost. In addition he committed the sin of playing 2 bigs at the same time. In this day and age of basketball, playing two big men is a huge mistake. The games have increased in terms of pace. The dribble drive has become the predominant offense rather than the Princeton offense. Yet Jones kept running the two big men offense and UCF kept struggling.

That was my biggest fear with Dawkins. That he too would fall into the trap. Instead of surrounding Tacko with shooters, my worry was that Dawkins would just trot out Tacko with another big and lob the ball to him. However this has not been the case. Dawkins has embraced the 4 guard + Tacko smaller lineup that anyone with a pulse supported. So how has the change to Dawkins version of a motion offense affected UCF? Well UCF now has the 190th adjusted offense according to KenPom. Again not eye popping, but better than what UCF was last year. The switch to the motion has allowed UCF better floor spacing. This has allowed  players like Matt Williams to have more freedom to shoot or drive the ball. In addition Dawkins has not been afraid to go super small. See the Tulane game where Dawkins had AJ Davis at the 4. It was a master stroke and helped UCF rally to win. So Dawkins proved me wrong there.

One of my other concerns was that Dawkins would not understand UCF basketball's "culture." Well supposed culture at least. Well ok the culture of being a middle of the road mid major in terms of college basketball. After all Dawkins is coming from coaching at Stanford and being a legendary player at Duke. Needless to say Dawkins had never dealt with a school like UCF. A school, that is far away from being a basketball school. My fear was that Dawkins would try to act superior. Try to sit back and say, "I'm Johnny Dawkins, I know more than the UCF fans/students." Basically pull a Donnie Jones. Let us not forget that Jones tried to talk down to UCF students. Carried an air of unearned arrogance and disdain toward UCF fans. He treated the students like they were inferior. So that was my concern. That UCF would have that type of personality around the program again. I couldn't be more wrong. Johnny Dawkins seems to have grasped the UCF culture instantly. Has embraced the students and surrounding area. Hell he was the first coach out there donating blood after the Pulse shootings. Johnny is slowly crafting the students and fans in his own mold. Just watch a UCF legacy video on YouTube and you can see how much fun the players seem to have playing under Dawkins and his staff. It seems like the players have already fallen in love with this coaching staff and vice versa. Last year it seemd that the players really did not enjoy playing basketball for Jones which in turn caused the fans to hate watching the team. This year has been the opposite of that.

I also had concerns about Dawkins ability to recruit players to UCF. Donnie Jones also struggled with this. Sure he might have interest in a few players, but actually getting them to sign was difficult. So I feared that Dawkins would struggle as well. But in fact it has been the opposite. First with the transfers. UCF managed to get Aubrey Dawkins to come play for his father and then added Drexel transfer Terell Austin. Both should help the Knights next year. Then there are the 2 recruits that have verbally committed to the Knights: Danny Lewis and Myles Davis. Both appear to be two of the more exciting prospects that UCF has had not named Tacko Fall. Also if the Knights basketball continues to develop, more exciting prospects will come. 
So here is my apology to Johnny Dawkins. I am sorry for doubting you. Sorry for ever comparing you to the incompetent Donnie Jones. You have been a relegation and something the program needed.