Speculation: DJ Smith Extended

[SixthSens]

Per Friedman, DJ extension is close.

Click to read more...

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

Coach extended before the GM, interesting...

 

[DJB]

Good move. Players love him and he's done well to grow the young guys.

 

[Samboni]

As expected.

 

[Clayonator]

Sweet.

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

It's clear, DJ is the right guy. He gets the boys playing hard, and they respond well to him. Loved the way the team was playing to end the year, they looked dangerous. Good move.

 

[Micklebot]

Good. Would hate to see him go into the season worrying about his next contract

 

[FormentonTheFuture]

Amazing news. DJ is a great coach

 

[PlayOn]

Great news! He’s brought some much needed stability behind the bench.

 

[Liver King]

Cool! Way to go DJ

 

[Golden_Jet]

That’s good news

 

[Sweatred]

Great news

 

[IranCondraAffair]

Good term.

If we miss this year we give him one more shot.

If we make the playoffs, gives us two years to decide if he can repeat.

Cant go into a season where we can make the playoffs and lose the coach

Cant have the players see the coach might get fired for losing a few in a row.

 

[Dan Patrick]

This makes sense. The players seem to love him, he showed improvement in a tough year with a very young and inexperienced roster, and was willing to eat his pride and switch things up when they werent working.

Hopefully just a 1 or 2 year extension because he's got two pretty huge hurdles to cross in the next two years. Can he coach a team to the playoffs and can he coach a team to a series wins in the playoffs.

Edit: Two years seems perfect, take us to the promise land DJ.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

Is he liked now? All I remember is DJ bashing for half the year. I guess doing a little better in the back end of the season changed things?

 

[BigRig4]

Feels like the players rarely take a game off under DJ Smith. His deployment can be frustrating but basically every coach in the league has their favourites. Big fan of the extension... well earned.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Is he liked now? All I remember is DJ bashing for half the year. I guess doing a little better in the back end of the season changed things?

I'm still waiting to see how it all turns out, but some semblance of stability for a change is welcoming.

 

[Tragedy]

Is he liked now? All I remember is DJ bashing for half the year. I guess doing a little better in the back end of the season changed things?

He came into the season with a plan to play the older guys ahead of the younger guys to help acclimatize them. It didn't work out and he ended up playing the younger guys to more success. I'll take a coach that understands mistakes and adjusts based on what he is seeing in front of him in games/practice any day of the week.

 

[Dan Patrick]

When is the last time we extended a head coach?

 

[DrakeAndJosh]

When is the last time we extended a head coach?

Maclean I think.

 

[cudi]

Is he liked now? All I remember is DJ bashing for half the year. I guess doing a little better in the back end of the season changed things?

I'm waiting until we have more expectations to make up my mind on DJ. He's done well to me though. It's all fun and games when no one expects you to make the playoffs.

 

[Icelevel]

Good one.

Nice morning so far.

 

[JackieDaytona]

Dj earned a great deal of criticism early last year for some meathead decisions about who played, who didn’t, how much. To his credit, he made changes and things went well as a result. That’s not too common for many coaches, pride and so on. That impressed me that he was able to change and admit (through actions if not words) that early decisions weren’t the best ones. Being able to adapt and move in a different direction is something that many previous coaches here really struggled with. But that is so important for a young, improving team.

Beyond that, the team culture seems great from the outside looking in, and clearly the team plays hard for him, he seems very well liked by players. Glad to see this signing, DJ doing a good job with it.

 

[Crosside]

Super happy !!! Would like more term but better than nothing

 

[Ouroboros]

My mans is rich now.