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I just finished reading BenFred’s article in today’s PD….very good read except the part about how well Chris May has performed his job duties. Listen, I know the guy very casually, he wouldn’t know me from the next guy, however I know a few big donors, I’m a season ticket holder, I know former employees, coaches, refs etc that worked with him and dept over the years and this isn’t the overall story I have heard. Not even close. 1. MSOC-May gets credit for hiring Kalish. It was Jim Kavanaugh who told May after like almost 10 candidates turned the job down to hire the guy who at the time was working for JK and Gallagher. He did hire McGinty and that was a disaster. Almost buried entire program for good. Plus May didn’t even like Kalish going all the way back to SIUE days bc his teams beat SLU like a red headed stepchild. 2. WSOC- not a knock on Sheilds, she’s fine but was only hired initially as a one year temp bc of how late in the hiring season when Kat Mertz left for Oregon. May didn’t think she was ready for that job but had no other options. 100% it worked out and Shields is great but he totally would’ve hired another coach with more experience at that time if he could’ve. The guys behind that programs success are Vince Gentile and Chris Allen, local club guys that could/can recruit great local talent over the years. They are wizards behind that curtain. 3. WBB-Lisa Stone? For years she was second coming of Pat Summit and turned out to be a total dud. Sure she raised program but who with half a brain wouldn’t have done same thing it was boardline a bad D3 level program historically. Last year was great glad they made a NCAA tournament. However….their record was 16-17, get blasted away round 1 by TN and Tillett is now considered the second coming of Kim Mulkey with a career SLU sub .500 record? Jury totally still out, I like her but come on. 4. MBB - Crews? Ford? We all know the stats and sure 20 wins a year, non against a top 25 ranked team is great, plus $2.5 million a year….May literally said Calbert Cheney was a recruiting secret weapon and Jim Crews is as taking program to a whole other level…problem was that level was down, not up. Travis is 7-6 one of those wins against a D2 team with a bad schedule on purpose too. 5. Big East-this alone should’ve sent May packing. I’ve been told by multiple people close to department he was told right away hey we are in A10 to position ourselves in case BE expands, blows up. He literally dismissed that ever happening and then got out maneuvered by Butler and Creighton. Hands down he dropped the ball, even old Fox Sports Midwest execs I know said exact same thing, they tease me all the time, they were there. Said thank Chris May for staying in A10. 6. Baseball- almost forgot….program wins with zero help from May except doing minimal tasks and acting like he moved mountains. DeSmet, yes DeSmet has an all turfed field, with press box and seating. Vianney has that and a players clubhouse with AC/Heat and running water! When SLU first hosted A10 May said next time they host things will be very different, like not having a plywood temporary press box….uh, SLU got that taken away bc of facilities. DeSmet. Vianney. Chaminade. It’s laughable. Sure everyone can say this is a cheap attempt to go after Chris May. Or it’s fake news. Whatever. All I know is I love program and want it to succeed. I don’t see anything changing until new, smarter leadership is in place. May has gotten a free ride his whole time at SLU. After reading BenFred today I thought “how does Chris May get a pass on all this?” Read each point and really think it all through. I trust this info and my gut. I just don’t understand how other people don’t connect the dots and see it. If May was a compete monster but smart, I’d live with it. I just can’t take the stupidity. If anything comes from it I genuinely hope May hears or reads about this post. It’s a dose of reality he may never admit but deep down knows it’s all true. He’s just fooling himself at end of the day, it’s actually sad. Plus this article totally smells of desperation from May asking local media to put a positive spin on his tenure, bc I imagine he is finally starting to feel the heat. As he should. I think May and Ford have pictures of Cusamano as well. It’s so obvious and embarrassing. Merry Christmas everyone and hopefully conference season will be good to all of us. Truly hope so.

Doesn't BenFred have anything better to do? Doesn't he know any Ford talk has to be contained to one thread?

I am sure May had a hand in the BE matter but I know from talking to another Jesuit President that Biondi was hated among them all. The guy at Creighton was well liked. I was told the Presidents simply were not that interested in having to deal with Biondi. I also have not been that impressed with May's hiring record overall.

A few notes about this upcoming baseball season: Hendrickson has built a team that could/should be the pre-season pick to win the A-10 this year. A solid mix of SLU veterans, portal additions and freshmen who will factor in early. Hitting: Last year's team led the league in multiple hitting metrics: Runs Scored, Hits, RBIs, and had a .296 team batting average good for 3rd best in the league. All of that offensive output returns with the exception of graduates Swanger and Redding, who were 6th and 7th in Batting Avg and Hits (Redding was injured early season). None of the contributors were lost to the Portal, which is pretty amazing considering. Four returners were in the Top 20 in the A-10 for average last season... Smith and Clohisy were 3rd and 9th in the A-10 in total hits last year as sophmores... both should be easy draft candidates this year. Only two position losses to graduation, and none to the Portal. In Fall scrimmages the offense was a juggernaut... in the game against SIUE the score was 19-0 after the 6th inning against SIUE's projected starters... the other two scrimmages were similarly non-competitive, with the biggest tests being the inter-squad matchups (where the team with a lot of the under-classmen came away with the overall win). Pitching: Last year's squad finished up 2nd in the A-10 for ERA, and multiple new faces will be on the mound this spring including key portal additions including Ray (Louisiana) and Weber (Wofford) who will likely get looks as starters. Last year's top 4 ERA leaders all return in Litman, Chaffin, Jack Weber and Jackson Holmes. Evan Gray (Arkansas transfer) is healthy and was up to 96 this fall... he may be used as an effective hope-killer out of the bullpen. Three strong freshmen looked good this fall and will be expected to contribute in Yarberry, Kelly and Cunningham. A few other notes: SLU was set to host the A-10 tournament this coming post-season, but ultimately had to forfeit the opportunity to host due to insufficient facilities... VCU will host. I've read a question on here about whether some teams have to pay to eat in the Champions center... that's absolutely true and a pathetic move by the AD. Some girls from soccer end up giving baseball players their Champions Center credits. This is 100% bush-league. Coach Hendrickson is one of the Top 25 winningest active D1 baseball coaches... and his youngest kid is now out of HS. If there were ever a time for SLU to show Hendrickson it's committed to helping him build a regular NCAA tournament participant it would be now. Many of his players are there to play for him, and it showed with the lack of outbound portal activity this past cycle. He's tough and expects results, and has done an amazing job recruiting despite the program's inherent obstacles to doing so.

Comparable to Grawer, maybe. That said Grawer inherited a mess so bad that the program was seriously considering dropping to D3. Spoon was in a different league than Ford. Spoon was one of the best coaches in the country (like top 5-10) in his prime and he was in his prime until his last season at SLU. He took the program to the NCAA tournament 3 times in 7 seasons. A program that hadn't been to the NCAA tournament in 35 years when he took it over. He did that in the best two conferences we have played in during my lifetime with some of the worst facilities in the country and a shoestring budget for the program. I would say that Majerus might have been a better coach, but Spoon honestly had the better run at SLU. Spoon was so well respected when he was the Southwest Mo St. coach he was offered and turned down the Kansas job in 1988. They ultimately hired Roy Williams.

I have a tough time arguing that Chris May has not been a good athletic director during his time at SLU. My question and what needs to be the primary decision point is whether he is capable of continuing to lead us and lead us forward in the new landscape of NIL, conference realignment, etc. Plus, if we are being honest, men’s basketball is the only sport that matters at SLU. I think the athletic department failed to understand the importance of NIL and instead of viewing it as an opportunity, decided to ignore it and took the approach that they could not be involved and did not keep track of how it was evolving. Heck, even this fall Troy Robertson did an interview where he took passive aggressive shots at programs succeeding with NIL and utilizing the laws of the state, the same laws some on this board claim May lobbied for. That is pure incompetence, and it is not Troy's fault, while involved he clearly is not schooled on NIL. That was a lack of leadership from the athletic director to understand the game changing nature of NIL, is that who we want to lead us forward? Also, concerns that SLU can hire someone better should not be a factor considered. May or Ford either meet the expectations of the program and University or they don't. The next few months will be real interesting.

Clohisy slated to play in the Cape Cod League this coming summer... further reinforcing the notion he's firmly on multiple draft radars.

Ok, this is unfair.

Reviewed all SLU seasons under Ford for 2nd half collapses. Some of these are wins, most are not. Pulled a sample of games where SLU led in the first half and in the second half the other team made adjustments to outscore SLU, or SLU just fell apart. Hard to find data on 2nd half collapses to see if this is an outlier in NCAA MBB.

He's better offensively than both. They were both better rebounders but he's solid there. French was a dominant defensive player. Okoro was a good defensive player. Big Brad's defense is average so far.

We want an existing coach at a lower-level school who has talented players ready to play now; and preferably one who has shown some skill with X's and O's and with roster construction. We let the BVF do its thing on recruiting, we need a coach who knows which players to target, not just to sweet-talk high-rating players. Let the money talk. Will Wade at McNeese is an obvious choice; if we can get Chris Mack that's a slam dunk IMO. Utah State is the model of coaching hiring that we need to follow; he brought Great Osobor with him from Montana St. He had a team ready to play and win quickly. We need to do the same thing, and we need to sign contracts that don't put in outrageous buyout clauses like Ford has. I have no problem with changing to a new coach a few years later. If someone comes and takes him from us, GOOD that means we were playing well.

As for a new AD? Maybe the head assistant at JMU that AD seems to be killing it right now. First year in D1 makes a bowl game and hosted Game Day. Basketball team is undefeated. Would need to see how their collective works (if they have one), game day operations, fund raising and marketing. But they're not some traditional D1 power and are thriving right now after their transition. The longtime JMU AD is retiring and they're looking to hire a new 1. https://jmusports.com/staff-directory/geoff-polglase/3 Strategic planning, fund raising experience

Louisville is 18 spots ahead of us on KenPom. Show Kenny Payne some respect.

Wasn’t Stone hired because Majerus was campaigning for her to get the job? I remembering hearing something like that at the time.

-when Parker returns are the minutes coming from LH2 and Thames? if Thames is healthy I want him to get minutes if being used to his strengths, I hope it is injury that is healing that has been impacting LH2's play

Assuming Parker is back for conference play, I am very interested in seeing how this team performs in the A-10. Like most fans of most teams, I have high hopes. Now that BE is in the mix and with SP coming back, I feel like should beat the bottom and mid level teams and that we can compete with the top level teams. Then again, I have felt that way before.

Ok. You make good points. I agree with these statements. I don’t think it is fair to throw a comparison with Spoonhour around. The reason he gets thrown in there is because of winning percentage and total wins. Ford is definitely divisive for the fans. I still don’t think it is fair to throw Crews in this mix. Personally, north of Grawer, before my time as a fan anyway, so I can’t really argue either way. So, maybe that is the best comparison. Soderberg is probably also a good comparison.

Doesn't appear to me that Brad is a rim protector. French was. Brad appears to be a better offensive player. All of this is a very short window.

French did so many things at a high level for a big. Yes, his free throw shooting was dreadful and he never developed a mid-range game, but he was outstanding with defense, rebounding and he was an excellent shot blocker at his size. Also, his passing and ballhandling was very under-rated and he could really get out and run on the break. That being said, it's only been two games, but I've been very impressed with Brad so far.

I'm hoping someone knows Chris Mack...Honestly that was me thinking wishfully.

It totally is. And incorrect really. Stone took over a program that hadn't had had a coach with a winning record since before I was born. He also takes shots at Katie Shields after saying he wasn't taking a shot. Katie hired Allen, you get credit for that. Among the fact that she has created a program with a culture that makes kids not only want to stay home, but come home to win. McGinty also wasn't a disaster he just wasn't a great college head coach. He's found a great niche with USNT system as a goalkeeper coach.

-I read an article on CBSSports about this but it didn't indicate they have been invited to join another conference, I like FL ST but this could be the dog catching the car, what does it do with it?

I'm closer to Tampa now. Have a great view from the back to the golf course and even better a lake protects me from golf balls. Best part of it...no more house payments!

I was thinking the same thing. We’ll have to wait for a Brad stinker game to truly evaluate..ha.

He might take the Rosemont job next year.

The previous two posts prove my point...

I like Ford, I want him to be the guy but I understand he might not be. This however is hard to blame him for. Your best player has an off game on the road against a team with a pulse you will not win. Ford didn't go 1-8 last night.

I was saying boo-urns.

I know, Zac but I like being positive. Game day food, few drinks in. Let’s go!

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Schedule released. I will be going to the games in Port Charlotte and Memphis. I’m going to try to talk my wife into a New Orleans trip. Sad that the athletic department can’t spell Cincinnati