Since it's the offseason and he's gone anyway, I thought y'all might get a kick out of one of the weirdest interactions I've ever had in my life.

So, it's halftime of a game during the 16-17 season, and I'm standing around down near the court and Darby Rich starts walking over to me. Because of my time covering the team, we know each other vaguely, but not like particularly well. So him coming up to talk to me is out of the ordinary, but not like super weird, so at this point I'm not expecting anything weird about it.

But Darby walks over says something to the effect of "you and your boys on TexAgs need to stop talking **** about Collins."

I'm so thrown by this being what he said that I don't even remember what I said back. I think something along the lines of "I don't think I've really said anything about Collins..."

But he's not really listening to my reply and follows up with basically "That's a guy working his ass off for this team, and he's doing everything he's asked to do to help this team win. So you need to get everyone to quit talking trash about him. And if anyone has a problem with that, tell them to come meet me in my ****ing office."

And then he walked back over to the team.

So I'm thinking two things:

1) That he thinks I've been talking trash about Collins.

I was reasonably sure that I hadn't, but I was so thrown off by the whole thing that I spent a significant amount of time in the second half looking up my post history to see if I had said anything bad about Collins. Admittedly in my younger days on here I said some unkind things about some of our walkons, but that was like ten years ago. Now that I'm older and not quite as much of a jerk, it's not really my thing because it's not a walk-on's fault that he's out there. But I couldn't really find anything that I had said about Collins, which leads me to:

2) Darby actually wanted me to start a thread on here asking you folks to be nicer to Collins because he thinks y'all would listen to me. (Which is an obviously insane thing to think.)

I was so put off by the whole interaction, that I almost really did this. I almost started a thread that night with like 'Hey everyone, a message from Darby; If anyone has a problem with Collins' playing time, he's extended an invite to meet him in his office inside the Cox/McFerrin Center...'

But I figured that would cause more problems than it would solve so I chalked it up to a coach just defending one of his guys and going after the only person on here that he could tie to a real person, so I didn't start a thread or anything, but it was one of the most bizarre interactions I've ever had with someone.

TL;DR: Darby spent a lot of time on TexAgs

lol. Good story.

I mean I guess it's cool that he's defending Collins, but was anyone actually hating on him? I think most vitriol/criticism was aimed at the situation that allowed for a guy like him to have to play as much as he did.

Also, I had no doubt Darby read & posted on TA due to how many sycophants of his ran around on here singing his praises. I'm sure he's great at his job, but he was talked about like royalty on an otherwise very mediocre staff.

Quote:

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And if anyone has a problem with that, tell them to come meet me in my ****ing office.

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lol what a clown

wacarnolds said:

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Quote:

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And if anyone has a problem with that, tell them to come meet me in my ****ing office.

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lol what a clown

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So did Method Man have the balls to go to Darby's office and clarify his viewpoints on walk-ons?

Bunk Moreland said:

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lol. Good story.

I mean I guess it's cool that he's defending Collins, but was anyone actually hating on him? .

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On the game threads (especially during frustrating games) there were at times comments that crossed the line with regards to Collins. Most posters understand he is doing the best he can but there are certainly a few on here that take personal shots.

I vividly remember the WVU crowd going after Collins in Morgantown. I was positive he would retire the next day.

.086 shooting percentage, ouch. Kennedy did much more disservice to him by having to play him so much.

going back to that season, i think most were frustrated at kennedys insistence on playing him over the more talented caleb smith. wouldve loved to get an explanation from rich about that one without throwing smith under the bus

Can we schedule a Darby vs Method Man cage match?

Lemmys Rickenbacker said:

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.086 shooting percentage, ouch. Kennedy did much more disservice to him by having to play him so much.

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Part of why bk is no longer our coach. Cost us some wins, no doubt. You can't let that weak of walkon start and/or play big minutes for 3 straight years. It's not on Collins, it's 100 percent on the staff, including Darby, for letting it happen. Collins was taking bullets for them. Darby should have looked in the mirror for the solution.

So here is what made Chris Collins a bit frustrating as a fan. His biggest limitation wasn't physical. I am not saying he was a plus athlete but he wasn't completely over his head. He would throw down some pretty impressive dunks in warm ups sometimes for example. His biggest limitation was that he couldn't shoot. And he never improved as a shooter. He actually got worse.

I realize this mentality reflects all sorts of bias and stereotypes. But consciously or subconsciously we (or at least l) expect that white walk ons that play should be able to shoot. Whatever their limitations they should spend every waking minute in the gym until they can shoot like fletcher McGee. We associate athleticism with natural ability and shooting with just hard work and practice. We would give more credit to a slow chubby walk on that could shoot the lights out than one who works really hard to improve his athleticism but can't shoot a lick. And Collins was statistically the worst shooter on the team.

I like Collins. Seems like a great guy and teammate, smart, hard worker and I expect he will be successful in life. But I did find him uniquely frustrating to watch, beyond just "he's a walk on who shouldn't be playing." Because I always felt like he actually could have been good enough to be a legit contributor if he could ever become a shooter.

I try to stay away from bashing individual players, but if one of BK's assistants confronted in that manner, I would tell them that I will spend more time bashing the overpaid and overrated coaches like BK.

Why any coach or player would read texags is beyond me.

To do list:
1. Find best Memphis board
2. Register as bobinator
3. Tell "my" Darby story

Pumpkinhead said:

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wacarnolds said:

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Quote:

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And if anyone has a problem with that, tell them to come meet me in my ****ing office.

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lol what a clown

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So did Method Man have the balls to go to Darby's office and clarify his viewpoints on walk-ons?

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Walk ons aren't worth worrying about. They work hard, we shouldn't easily know their names and they should play only when we are up 40.

When a coaching staff is worrying about what some folks post on the internet and Texags, well they have some big issues and no wonder the end finally came. Even though the end should have came sooner. I liked Darby fine, but that was an idiot move. That interaction was not going to improve anything for Collins. Good riddance to that whole staff.

I just emailed him a link to this thread. Here's hoping he chimes in!

Method Man said:

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Why any coach or player would read texags is beyond me.

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No way in hell I'd be browsing fan message boards if I was in the coaching business or a player.

Although Buzz seems to have a very active social media presence, I noted in his interview with TexAgs after getting hired here, him saying that he didn't personally read what people said back to him on the internet, because he didn't want his head 'poisoned' with the criticisms and negativity.

Kenpom has been doing ORtg since 2002

Only two Aggie bball players had worst ORtgs since that time and ironically they were both in 2002
Nolan Butterfras and Michael Gardner are the only two players to have worse ORtgs than Chris Collins

Don't let this story about Rich distract you from the fact that PJ Tucker is still dribbling.