Coaching movement that might affect SLU

[bauman]

3 minutes ago, kshoe said:

Couple of thoughts:

- for those bemoaning the SLU commitment and need for us to do the locker room upgrades...I'm pretty sure they are taking donations. Step right up and do your part.

- brianstl nailed it with his assessment of why his name is being floated. MU likes it because it puts doubts in recruits heads about SLU. Ford may or may not have anything to do with it, but he could like it because it motivates SLU to give him additional pay and/or resources. It's all part of the game.

Gotta disagree with the why Mizzou likes it part.  It won't have any impact on recruiting.  I'm fairly certain that Mizzou will have a coach hired by mid-April, not named Travis Ford and the spring signing period doesn't start until 4/12 and goes until mid May.  Since the Zoo will have a HC named before the signing period it will be pretty tough for them to play the "Ford might not be in St Louis card."

[billikenfan05]

26 minutes ago, slu72 fan said:

How about you being the scapegoat today, I'll be tomorrow, someone else on Wednesday. 

Im curious, you complain nonstop about every facet of the athletic department, you're a big fan. What's the deal, CM turn you down for a job or JO mistreat you during one of your immature performances at a game?

The athletic department needs all the help it can get. Join the Billiken Club, donate some money, go to the golf tournament. Do something positive. 

Fuok off....

First of all my complaints are all completely valid and all of my criticisms have been backed up by hard evidence of misteps by the AD, specifically the marketing department. 

I am rarely critical of Chris May. Also find any post where I've ever criticized Janet. You won't find any. She was nothing but helpful to me while I was enrolled at SLU as well before I attended and I have never had a personal beef with her. 

How would you know if I'm a part of the Billiken club or not? Let me go out to the money tree in my backyard to give more money. I upgraded my season tickets based on what I believe is a great hire and they fuoked up the seat location so I'm not sitting with my late uncles friends. So yeah I'm a little p!ssed at some of the bullsh!t the AD does lately.

[JMM28]

48 minutes ago, slu72 fan said:

How about you being the scapegoat today, I'll be tomorrow, someone else on Wednesday. 

Im curious, you complain nonstop about every facet of the athletic department, you're a big fan. What's the deal, CM turn you down for a job or JO mistreat you during one of your immature performances at a game?

The athletic department needs all the help it can get. Join the Billiken Club, donate some money, go to the golf tournament. Do something positive. 

I think 05s criticisms are pretty fair and actually viewed him as a, like you are, long time defender of some of the more ridiculous missteps of this athletic department. 

Chris Mays athletic department consistently steps in it, over and over, repeating a lot of their errors. He does not inspire much confidence in me that he has much of a clue what he's doing. It might be becoming that way for Pestello as well, and now they had to bring back Biondi to clean up some mess. 

Back on thread topic - why would a hot young coach want to leave the up and coming metropolitan school for the cesspool in Cowflop, Missouri? It seems we had some of these convos regarding Majerus early on too. 

[slu72 fan]

25 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

Fuok off....

First of all my complaints are all completely valid and all of my criticisms have been backed up by hard evidence of misteps by the AD, specifically the marketing department. 

I am rarely critical of Chris May. Also find any post where I've ever criticized Janet. You won't find any. She was nothing but helpful to me while I was enrolled at SLU as well before I attended and I have never had a personal beef with her. 

How would you know if I'm a part of the Billiken club or not? Let me go out to the money tree in my backyard to give more money. I upgraded my season tickets based on what I believe is a great hire and they fuoked up the seat location so I'm not sitting with my late uncles friends. So yeah I'm a little p!ssed at some of the bullsh!t the AD does lately.

Like I said, be part of the solution. Help out, if the money tree is barren, donate time. It's tough sledding when your staff is relatively young, and they leave for new jobs just about the time they get experience. 

Cut off one beer a game, and you'll have $100 to donate. 

Rest assured if I cared if you were in the Billiken Club I could find out. Also, I'm the jerk that offered you money in Phoenix when we were stranded returning from San Jose, so watch the language. 

[Glorydays2013]

DId anyone else see the practice gym VCU has. That and their lockeroom are what they say are their biggest recruiting tools

[RiseAndGrind]

Without making it personal the Athletic Department needs a lot of work. And it has since I was an undergrad years ago. A lot of the same people remain. It's almost like they purposefully don't want to improve. 

[billikenfan05]

2 minutes ago, slu72 fan said:

Like I said, be part of the solution. Help out, if the money tree is barren, donate time. It's tough sledding when your staff is relatively young, and they leave for new jobs just about the time they get experience. 

Cut off one beer a game, and you'll have $100 to donate.

Rest assured if I cared if you were in the Billiken Club I could find out. Also, I'm the jerk that offered you money in Phoenix when we were stranded returning from San Jose, so watch the language. 

I tried to be a part of the solution when I was in school. I donated my time to promote games on campus i.e. dressing up in the Billiken and walking up and west pine. I volunteered to shoot and edit highlights for the SID. I've offered suggestions over and over to the AD only to be ignored.

Maybe it's time to ask the question "why is there such a drastic turnover in staff?"...

On a separate note: Thank you for offering to help In Phoenix. It really was appreciated. I was not attacking donors, I wasn't attacking the athletic department, I wasn't attacking the U. I was merely pointing out why Travis Ford might want out of here. 

[slu72 fan]

Maybe it's time to ask the question "why is there such a drastic turnover in staff?"...

 

because they can't pay enough to keep people.  They've lost two more people in the last 2 or 3 months. It's all about pay.

You're welcome. 

[cheeseman]

49 minutes ago, JMM28 said:

I think 05s criticisms are pretty fair and actually viewed him as a, like you are, long time defender of some of the more ridiculous missteps of this athletic department. 

Chris Mays athletic department consistently steps in it, over and over, repeating a lot of their errors. He does not inspire much confidence in me that he has much of a clue what he's doing. It might be becoming that way for Pestello as well, and now they had to bring back Biondi to clean up some mess. 

Back on thread topic - why would a hot young coach want to leave the up and coming metropolitan school for the cesspool in Cowflop, Missouri? It seems we had some of these convos regarding Majerus early on too. 

I actually think the bringing back of Biondi shines a bad light on Pestello not May.  Now is May a good AD - I don't know but that is a separate question.  If after one year Ford has decided he needs to leave then my question is did he not do his own research on the school and the AD.  I know when top employees are looking around one thing they do is find out what the new situations are like before they accept a new job.  If the reports were true that Ford lobbied hard for this job then I would think he did his research.

[bonwich]

I think something that was said often on this board needs to be repeated: May was not hired to be a leader. No one that Biondi hired was meant to be a leader. There Can Be Only One. 

And I think if you look closely, Biondi is also almost solely responsible for the state of the athletic department. He grossly underestimated what a "Top 40" program really entailed. He found his angel in Dr. Chaifetz, but he didn't figure out how to raise enough to take care of all the nitty gritty, like, um, marketing. Not to mention he was willing to spend millions on a dream coach, but then to nickel and dime on things like charter flights. And like a whole lot of stuff that happens in St. Louis in general, he went for the big ticket and the quick fix without making sure the foundation was in place for the long term. 

My limited interactions with May lead me to believe he's an administrator, and a consensus-builder -- but in no possible way a risk-taker. And I've I said before, I don't think we have a clear idea of where Dr. Pestello puts athletics in the overall pecking order. 

Finally, regarding the budget issues: They're certainly not unique to SLU, and they won't be anywhere near solved even if Biondi re-ropes some of the locals and then corrals more overseas money. (BTW I know several potential high-ticket donors who swore they'd never give the U any money as long as Biondi was still in charge.)

[Glorydays2013]

16 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

If the reports were true that Ford lobbied hard for this job then I would think he did his research.

Yes. Saint Louis is a gold mine for recruiting. Shouldn't be hard to ever find a coach who wants this location 

[JMM28]

36 minutes ago, slu72 fan said:

Maybe it's time to ask the question "why is there such a drastic turnover in staff?"...

 

because they can't pay enough to keep people.  They've lost two more people in the last 2 or 3 months. It's all about pay.

You're welcome. 

The turnover is a problem at every athletic department in the country that participates in the"we only hire people with athletic department experience" experience. These people are constantly hopping to the next title inflated job for an extra $5000 a year in hopes of working their way up to an AD or associate AD job. 

[Old guy]

For those who may be confused by the number of layoffs at SLU today. They permanently eliminated 130 jobs or positions that had been vacant for some time and not filled. These positions are gone. They they laid off, and offered severance, to 120 additional employees who were actively employed in the administrative areas. There may be additional lay offs and elimination of other jobs which are currently vacant in specific programs, likely including the elimination of faculty positions. These next round of layoffs will not take place until they finish a major program of evaluation, and will likely not take place until the current semester is over. So far 250 administrative positions have been eliminated, but only 120 active employees were laid off today.

[kshoe]

3 hours ago, bauman said:

Gotta disagree with the why Mizzou likes it part.  It won't have any impact on recruiting.  I'm fairly certain that Mizzou will have a coach hired by mid-April, not named Travis Ford and the spring signing period doesn't start until 4/12 and goes until mid May.  Since the Zoo will have a HC named before the signing period it will be pretty tough for them to play the "Ford might not be in St Louis card."

You don't think a MU coach (or any opposing coach for that matter) will tell recruits something along the lines of:

I'm going to be at MU for a long time. This is my dream job and I moved from California (Cuonzo) to be here. That coach at SLU only took the job there because he was fired and after one year was trying to move on to this school. The AD didn't want him, they wanted me. If he's looking to leave SLU after one year do you really believe he will be there 5 years from now when you are a senior? What happens when SLU wins a few games and others throw big money at him? He's gone, but I'll be here. I can promise you that.

 

Thats the sales pitch. Just a different version of the sales pitch people on here were reciting for Goodwin and Tillmon; you don't want to sign with Illinois because Groce is going to be fired and who knows who the next coach will be.

[Glorydays2013]

1 minute ago, kshoe said:

Thats the sales pitch. Just a different version of the sales pitch people on here were reciting for Goodwin and Tillmon; you don't want to sign with Illinois because Groce is going to be fired and who knows who the next coach will be.

Didn't really work since Groce has 4 top recruits. Ford has children here, moving is a family decision, St. Louis has untapped talent for the picking year after year, a nationally ranked top 100 university, and an excellent assistant staff with the guy who runs an AAU program which consists of almost all top 100 recruits. This is a dream job. ENOUGH WITH FORD LEAVING. We have a billion dollar endowment and the team will be spoiled over any other program so spending cuts on the basketball team would be a death sentence so that would not be a reason. 

[billikenfan05]

2 minutes ago, Glorydays2013 said:

This is a dream job. ENOUGH WITH FORD LEAVING. We have a billion dollar endowment and the team will be spoiled over any other program so spending cuts on the basketball team would be a death sentence so that would not be a reason. 

I don't think Ford will leave this year, but don't kid yourself. This is far from Ford's dream job....

[MusicCityBilliken]

If the media mentioning Ford, surprised Mark Gottfried is not mentioned. Far more a accomplished and also an excellent recruiter.  2 sweet 16s in the last 5 yrs.

[davidnark]

This thread has me concerned and confused. I thought we had turned the corner on the old "go cheap" days in the athletic department. Are we still cutting corners and running a small-minded program? It appears Ford has the staff, charter flights, etc. that other coaches couldn't get.

[kmbilliken]

It has to be tough for the Administration to tell its other departments and employees, the athletic department is spending more to upgrade facilities, salaries etc.,but we have to cut in your area because athletics are more important. Money spent there will increase the popularity of the school and get us more students. Your department being top flight is not going to get us more students. I can see where they are in  tough situation. The only way to increase the athletic department budget is through restricted donations and revenue. Even then the academics won't buy it. They will claim the donations were funneled to the athletics department when they just as easily could have been funneled to their department. 

Hopefully the President is a strong leader who will see the benefits of what a strong program does for Marquette, Creighton, Gonzaga and Butler.

[Bobby Metzinger]

12 hours ago, billikenfan05 said:

I tried to be a part of the solution when I was in school. I donated my time to promote games on campus i.e. dressing up in the Billiken and walking up and west pine. I volunteered to shoot and edit highlights for the SID. I've offered suggestions over and over to the AD only to be ignored.

Maybe it's time to ask the question "why is there such a drastic turnover in staff?"...

On a separate note: Thank you for offering to help In Phoenix. It really was appreciated. I was not attacking donors, I wasn't attacking the athletic department, I wasn't attacking the U. I was merely pointing out why Travis Ford might want out of here. 

Ford went from the coffers of T. Boone Pickens to SLU. The old adage "penthouse to outhouse" sounds apropos. Maybe Biondi coming back will change things. Ford also has to know this going in - from a state school with funding and trenches of donor cash on hand to a private, Catholic university that relies heavily on annual giving and fundraising. Where would we be w/o Dr. Chaifetz? Would we even have the financial wherewithal to attract a Travis Ford-caliber coach? We have to pick our battles here.

[Old guy]

I am not a fan of Biondi, do not misunderstand me, but what SLU needs right now to deal with this financial crisis is a bit of Biondi. No explanations given, "you are fired" is the message. The soft touch is nice but you get lost in arguments going back and forth about righteousness and feelings. Sometimes you must do what is best for the University and forgo the touchy feely approach.

This is possibly why Chis May made a big to do about announcing next year's tournament, if will be bringing extra revenue to the Department and the University. This provides some justification for the extra cost of the Athletic Department.

There is nothing that I would dislike more than having Biondi reinstated as the President of SLU. I like Pestello much more as a President.

[Bobby Metzinger]

Just now, Old guy said:

I am not a fan of Biondi, do not misunderstand me, but what SLU needs right now to deal with this financial crisis is a bit of Biondi. No explanations given, "you are fired" is the message. The soft touch is nice but you get lost in arguments going back and forth about righteousness and feelings. Sometimes you must do what is best for the University and forgo the touchy feely approach.

This is possibly why Chis May made a big to do about announcing next year's tournament, if will be bringing extra revenue to the Department and the University. This provides some justification for the extra cost of the Athletic Department.

There is nothing that I would dislike more than having Biondi reinstated as the President of SLU. I like Pestello much more as a President.

Good post. I'm on the other side of the Larry B. fence, but I think all can agree that Fr. Biondi is a polarizing figure. I called him the "CEO of SLU, Inc.;" absentee-owner. Did he lack the campus visibility a Monk Malloy or Hesburgh, etc. would have had at ND, actually living in the dorms, etc? Sure. But you have to hand it to him - his tenure at SLU brought a heavily commuter campus to national prominence. I wasn't around or even knew much about the Reinert era at SLU, but those two gentlemen, while probably polar opposite in managerial styles, will be revered in the annals of SLU for generations.

I think you'll see a gradual uptick in funds coming back to SLU that Biondi is back.

[ACE]

12 hours ago, billikenfan05 said:

I tried to be a part of the solution when I was in school. I donated my time to promote games on campus i.e. dressing up in the Billiken and walking up and west pine. I volunteered to shoot and edit highlights for the SID. I've offered suggestions over and over to the AD only to be ignored.

Maybe it's time to ask the question "why is there such a drastic turnover in staff?"...

On a separate note: Thank you for offering to help In Phoenix. It really was appreciated. I was not attacking donors, I wasn't attacking the athletic department, I wasn't attacking the U. I was merely pointing out why Travis Ford might want out of here. 

Stop dealing with "mights" on this topic. Since Ford started killing it on the recruiting trail, SPUMAC and Illinois who are bitter about his success, are already floating out the "he won't be around here long" narrative... we don't need our own fans repeating this nonsense. Ford has been on the job for less than a year. Chill out. Is this his dream job? Probably not, but so what. I'm sure it would be Kentucky and he would likely have a few others that he would love to have, but that's not to say Ford can't have a long and successful run here. With the staff he has put together and the recruiting success that he has had in a short period of time, there is no reason he can't string together multiple NCAA runs here. 

At this point most Power 5 programs will view him as a "retread." It will likely be a while before he gets an offer he can't refuse. I think there is enough opportunity/challenge with this job to build a Gonzaga/Xavier type program that it should keep him energized for a while. 

[slu72]

Let's see that list on the Mizzery board included just about every HC in D1 ball. Surprised they didn't list John Wooden and Rick Majerus as well, with the comment under the why it won't happen being, "because they're dead."

Two names I didn't see was Greg Marshall and Archie Miller. Given the guys they did list, those two would seem to be right at the top. My guess is their criteria would be a proven winner, a mid west guy, has turned around messes, and fairly young say late 30s to late 40's, For the life of me, I could never figure out the Anderson hire other than they were hoping to get lucky and find the next Jim Berlein who had Mizzery roots. Ok, that didn't work, what's next?

The most attractive thing about the Mizzery job, besides the $$'s, is that they play in the SEC, which is really weak in hoops given their status in other sports. I'm not sure the "political" situation at Mizzery is going to defer recruits unless they think safe zones means it's a school full of wusses. Guys that seem to make the most sense from that laundry list are Martin, Capel, the Winthrop and UNC W head coaches (young up and comers).

As for Ford, he would seem to create too much negative buzz. He's not done anything wonderful wherever he's gone when you compare him to his peers like Brad Stevens, Greg Marshall, or Shaka Smart. Travis still has some resume building to do and he's putting himself in that position right here at SLU. If SLU can make the dance by year 3 of his reign, he will be in a position to be considered for better opportunities than Boone County Junior College. Also, from his perspective, he's not going to be able to turn Mizzery around in year one and will only pad his record with another 9-10 W season. That's not going to look too good if he ever wants to return to his old Kentucky home.

[kshoe]

28 minutes ago, ACE said:

Stop dealing with "mights" on this topic. Since Ford started killing it on the recruiting trail, SPUMAC and Illinois who are bitter about his success, are already floating out the "he won't be around here long" narrative... we don't need our own fans repeating this nonsense. Ford has been on the job for less than a year. Chill out. Is this his dream job? Probably not, but so what. I'm sure it would be Kentucky and he would likely have a few others that he would love to have, but that's not to say Ford can't have a long and successful run here. With the staff he has put together and the recruiting success that he has had in a short period of time, there is no reason he can't string together multiple NCAA runs here. 

At this point most Power 5 programs will view him as a "retread." It will likely be a while before he gets an offer he can't refuse. I think there is enough opportunity/challenge with this job to build a Gonzaga/Xavier type program that it should keep him energized for a while. 

+1.

Seems like most of the Ford isn't happy here chatter is coming from Billikenfan05. He's obviously got some beef going with the Athletic Department and I sure hope its more than just them messing up his ticket request, but this junk he keeps posting doesn't do any good and only feeds on the narrative that the MU's and Illinois of the world want recruits to believe.