courtside

Don’t forget to fold up the card table on your way out.

If Jay Wright wanted to coach basketball, he’d be doing it at Villanova. In his final 6 NCAA postseasons, he won 2 National Titles, and, he went to 3 Final Fours. He was also paid $6.2 million as a top 5 paid coach nationally. The Big East can make it 4 National Titles in the past 8 NCAA Tourneys tonight, as Danny Hurley and UConn go for 2 in a row. Hurley makes $5.35 million. And he’ll likely get an additional raise.

For perspective, more than half of the Big East has NIL greater than $2 million. (6 teams) And some have it closer to $3 million.

SLU 2 Mizzou 0 “It just means more.” Spring Ball is an opportunity to play a lot of players, try new things, etc….and to not care too much about results while always trying to win and be successful. Once in a while, a Spring game is a little bigger than others. This was one of those games. Lots of high priority recruiting targets from near and far were in attendance. Spirited game. SLU played 19 players. 2 additional players were unavailable due to injury. Gaebe has been out the past 4 months since shortly after the Fall season. She will be ready for Summer Ball. Autumn Jackson unfortunately had another set back with her knee. And her time table is longer. Lucie Schwartz who sat out the 2023 season with a knee injury, looked like her old self. She set up SLU’s first goal on the left wing, forcing a turnover, beating the defender. She earned a penalty which was converted by Lyndsey Heckel. Early in the 2nd half, SLU played a nice diagonal ball for Sawyer. She zipped past two defenders in alone and she was taken down from behind for a penalty. It was converted by Addy Lang. Mizzou was competitive, as they have made small progressive steps each year under Golan. And when they add their Freshmen this Fall, they should take a step forward this year in the SEC. SLU will also be adding 9 more Freshmen this Fall to their group. Good to see SLU commits, targets, and recent former Billikens at the game. (Kelly, Miller, Lawler, Preusser). Both teams had some good chances during the game. SLU was the better team and deserved the win. Good possession and combination play. And they figured out that against a 3-5-2 formation, diagonal balls switching fields, can be an effective strategy. But Mizzou played a good competitive game. 4-2-3-1 formation for SLU SLU won its Spring Cup group. And they will play either Michigan State or Northwestern in the group crossover game at Grand Park in Indy. (Notre Dame has been eliminated but will play a consolation game.)

Coaching Carousel SLU edition: Chris Mack was contacted by SLU for the 2nd straight year to gauge his interest. Nothing more than that transpired with him. He wasn’t SLU’s first or top choice. He was one of many in a list. And since his interest wasn’t strong, SLU moved on to the next candidate. Mack was more of a thing last year. Mack overestimated his demand this cycle. He was somewhat selective, only seeking P4 opportunities. But he was not a serious candidate at any of the P4 openings. He was nowhere near the top 3 at Vandy, which was in order, May, Sprinkle, Byington. But he was on a secondary list with several others. Mack was also hoping that FSU or UCF (again, P4 situations) would open so he could enter the mix there. They didn’t. He ended up at College of Charleston to get back into the mix after sitting out. It was now or never. He was not College of Charleston’s first choice. And they were not his first choice. It’s a good mid major job, which is where he needed to go to build himself up back into the mix. It took an old connection tor him to land there. Both Mack and Kelsey were assistants for Skip Prosser. And, Kelsey was an assistant for Mack. It’s been 5 years since Mack coached in the NCAA Tourney. He’s long had an aloof, loner, personality with his peers. He panic fired his staff at UL and he secretly recorded an assistant that tried to extort him. Those are all red flags for P4 programs with many other available canidates. Darian DeVries was a candidate at Michigan. And, he was ultimately hired at West Virginia. May was their first choice but DeVries was high on their list. DeVries was on SLU’s list and he had some level of interest in SLU as a fall back choice. Mark Byington was a candidate at West Virginia. He was hired by Vandy as their 3rd choice behind May and Sprinkle. SLU would have had a chance with Byington if he was pursued early as a top choice like Schertz before other opportunities opened for him. But not beyond that. Many schools are (obviously) avoiding Will Wade because of his show cause and because of his reputation. SLU of course is included in that group and SLU had no interest, not that Wade would have had any interest in SLU either. Pat Kelsey hadn’t previously been scooped up long ago because of concerns about his personality. (same reason different personality than Mack) SLU of course is included in that. His name gets mentioned often but most schools have looked for a reason to hire someone else. He ended up as a fall back choice for UL. Bryce Drew never moved up or down out of middle of the pack level at SLU or at other places. He as perceived as an elite recruiter, that has struggled with player development, x’s and o’s, in game adjustments. His PR campaign to trash his previous employer through some basketball media, hasn’t helped his candidacy elsewhere. You can’t play a what if game when you land your first choice. But up next after that for SLU were Spradlin, Henderson, McCollum, Kerns, Morrell, McMillan. Spradlin was positioned as next up, as he impressed multiple places because he interviewed well. And he landed the James Madison position. McMillan, signed a raise and extension at Samford. (He’s been a secondary candidate at a few places.), McCollum, who was middle of the pack on SLU’s list, accepted the position at Drake. ……………

There wasn’t a follow up post, because the situation didn’t change. Regarding any drama after that, let’s just say some things aren’t always what they seem. Officially, SLU first made contact with Josh Schertz March 13th. Unofficially, SLU targeted, and established mutual interest with Schertz, several weeks prior to that through a third party. Contract negotiations were ongoing St. Patrick’s Day weekend. And, a deal was finalized Tuesday March 19th. He wasn’t the only coach SLU contacted. And he wasn’t the only coach SLU interviewed. But he was SLU’s first snd only choice. There were meetings on the 13th, 17th, and the 19th of March during the process. Immediately after these meetings, Trilly Donovan and Jeff Borzello were contacted by Evan Daniels and two other people.Ross Chaifetz was not one of these people. However he did communicate with them later in the process. There also seems to be some confusion and misinformation out there regarding other SLU candidates. See the Coaching Carousel post.

Schertz is expected to be SLU’s Head Coach. The deal was negotiated St. Patrick’s Day Weekend, and, it was finalized last Tuesday. For the 2nd straight year, those involved with SLU’s Head Coaching decision reached out to Chris Mack to gauge his interest.There was a specific group of SLU boosters/donors who reached out to Porter Moser regarding the job. Those people were very confident about Moser. When I refer to boosters/donors, these are recent 7 figure and up donor/boosters. Schertz, DeVries, Byington, Drew were the other list of names. SLU didn’t have to go past Schertz because they knew for some time, through Kyle Bowlsby, among others, that Schertz was interested in the SLU job. Byington has a connection with Kevin Eastman. Drew had interest for the 2nd time. There were some other names beyond that if it came to that. But it didn’t even get to the above names. Blake Ahearn was not a candidate for the job. He was never considered during the recent process. Last year there was a group of boosters that wanted him to replace Ford. And they made enough of a fuss that it had to be addressed. At no time was Niele Ivey a candidate for the SLU Men’s Basketball position. She also is a former St. Louisan who was an NBA assistant to Taylor Jenkins. (after 11 years as a college assistant). Good luck to Niele as her team tries for their 3rd straight Sweet 16 this afternoon. A very small group of decision making SLU boosters/donors and a small group of SLU Admin handled the new SLU head coach hiring process. That included an additional familiar to many SLU employee that hasn’t been publicly mentioned. The mutual interest with Schertz was for several weeks. It was negotiated, finalized, and it’s been waiting to be announced. Bart Lundy and Cuonzo are two of the names contacted by Indiana State through a search firm to gauge interest as possible replacements there. For reference and perspective, Grant McCasland was hired by Texas Tech last year. It wasn’t announced until March 31st, in part because his previous team, North Texas, won the NIT Championship.

Kenzie Hare, a former SLU/Stone commit, is 13th in the country in 3 point field goal percentage as a Sophomore. 89 for 206. 12th most makes. Only 3 other players in the top 35 had more attempts.

They entered the portal on Monday.

I think as long as things don’t fall through and get too deep into the weeds, many people will be happy and encouraged with how things play out. I did hear that Tony and Pee Wee had a moment this weekend.

I don’t disagree with that. But also keep in mind that this website and social media in general etc…are very tiny fractions of SLU’s fans base. Sometimes people who spend a lot of time there develop a little bit of tunnel vision when reality is different. Many SLU fans would know and perhaps care very little about the AD. But yes, I would agree that money by itself doesn’t qualify someone as being the best decision maker. I think we see that every day in a variety of things. And some boosters are very hands on or hands off depending on the booster. And that’s the case at any school

Yep. Good coach. There are some others out there as well that deserve to be on a list. Amir Abdur-Rahim etc…

I didn’t say whether or not I liked him. I think he’s a better fit socially with some than others. I am probably in the others category. But yes, I have had direct, specific, conversations with some SLU boosters about him where I have point blank asked them what they think of him? I think many here would be surprised and disappointed with some of those replies. Much of it doesn’t match the sentiment of a few disgruntled internet posters.

Lol. It’s a bit where they think I’m Chris May. Brian from SLU’s Athletic Department posted it here previously. Similar to Chris May, I’m not on social media and I don’t have a Twitter account. I laughed. But no, I’m not Chris May. Some would be disappointed to know however that he is popular with SLU boosters. It was a way to distract from being unable to discuss the topic.

Lol. I think you are projecting your frustration. This is what people say and do that can’t discuss the topic which was basketball specific. They change the subject, gaslight, make up disparaging things, repeat them over and over, etc…. Instead of having a calm, normal, basketball specific discussion, where you may even obtain new information, you can’t get out of your own way. And the same few ruin it for everyone else. This is why quite a few people no longer read or post in the basketball threads.

No. You didn’t get it correct. Not even close. Good luck.

Biting the hand that feeds you is…………a strategy.

Your tone sure is different when you send me messages asking me for SLU Men’s Basketball information than it is here. They recently made 8 of 14 NCAA Tourneys in Men’s Basketball, which they didn’t think was good enough, and that’s before they made a bigger commitment to Men’s Basketball. Here’s their Men’s hoops expenses : $13,587,388 https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/ SLU’s was $7,623,032 Here’s their new hoops building: https://www.nashvillepost.com/sports/vandy/vanderbilt-unveils-images-of-basketball-operations-center/article_4746c0f0-5653-11ed-a026-2f8467956be4.html It’s good that SLU is progressing and moving in a positive direction to be more competitive in Men’s Basketball. It helps to know the landscape out there a little bit.

Vandy wanted to move on from Kevin Stallings because he made “only” 7 of the 13 previous NCAA Tourneys with 3 NIT’s mixed in with that. Some of those 5/12 NCAA Tourney upset losses didn’t help. It would have been 8 of 14 NCAA Tourneys for Stallings as Drew made it the following year with Stallings’ roster. And that’s during a time of far less university Admin basketball commitment than they have now. Drew was expected to do better/build off of Stalling. After that first season, he struggled the next two seasons with 13th and 14th place finishes. Their AD retired, and he unexpectedly passed away at breakfast a week later. Their next/new AD fired Drew without ever meeting him. Stack was hired as an inexperienced college coach hired by his new AD friend, an AD that lasted one year because he in part, spent too much money. Now Vandy has an athletics friendly Chancellor. They have a Vandy lifer AD, a former Women’s basketball player there. She recently hired a long time UConn assistant (on staff for 6 national titles) to be their Women’s Basketball Head Coach. She recently secured a top 10 national recruit from Rutgers Prep. And they have a strong Men’s Basketball budget. They have $$$. Stack is getting big money to go away, significantly more $ than Ford. They have their Anchor Impact Collective, a new 90,000 square feet basketball only building opening this year, a new athletes village, and over $300 million worth of athletics projects. Even their newly renovated football stadium recently sold out the North End Zone at $1100 a ticket for this Fall. They recently added a Women’s Volleyball program, which begins play this Fall. That HC was the Associate HC of the recent UK National Title team and 6 straight SEC Titles. Chris Mack’s daughter is on the team. (She was formerly a Mizzou commit.) And they are expected to add Women’s Softball soon. Vandy’s baseball coach makes Travis Ford level SLU money. Their basketball and football coaches have been making $3 million plus and $4 million plus.

Good luck to Gershon, who was called up by the Finland National Team. https://slubillikens.com/news/2024/3/15/mens-soccer-gershon-henry-called-to-finlands-national-team.aspx

One of SLU’s top candidates is connected with a specific search firm, but not the one Stu mentioned.

SLU has had a top 3 for some time, well before the coaching change announcement. The Ahearn booster move was more of a last year thing than a this year thing. A different coach was approached by some SLU boosters this year. My initial reaction was skeptical that the coach in question would take the job. But these boosters were emphatic about it. If SLU doesn’t secure one of their top 3 choices, they will pivot to some other names. Some of those would be good or not ideal fits based on the individual in question. My two cents personal opinion is that they won’t get either of their top 2 choices. (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing) They might get their 3rd. And it’s another year where different boosters want different coaches. And the list isn’t the same. Also remember, someone else’s first choice might not be the best choice, and someone else’s 6th or 7th choice may be a better pick or fit. Many (not all) of the names are reasonable.

That’s why the source of information and credibility matters. There are non-credible outlets that regularly share misinformation. Yet somehow desperate and/or lazy information seekers keep coming back for more. “Coaching Changes” is a good example of this. They said Moser was going to DePaul. Then they said it was 90%. Then they blamed their source. Then they said they jumped the gun, it happens. And that would be all fine and good if they had a mostly accurate track record or didn’t trash people on a regular basis while not allowing replies. Yet some people keep going back for more and more. Maybe they like the shouting and trashing of people. Look at their tweet from yesterday about SLU as an example. Or their tweets yesterday trashing the Vandy AD because they were wrong about Stack staying. The problem with those tweets are that Stack and the Vandy AD are close friends. There were no surprises for Stack. Many of their tweets contradict one another so they can simply point to the one that is somewhat more accurate. So, it’s up to the consumer of information to consider the credibility of the source that produces their information. A surprising number of consumers believe non credible places and later get dismayed when much of their information doesn’t ring true. And they repeat the cycle. It doesn’t take much effort to distinguish between the two.

Regarding cycles through assistants quickly, if anything it’s the opposite. Roger Powell Jr was on staff 8 years. He only left because Drew lost his job. And, he went to Gonzaga for 4 years before getting the HC position at Valpo. Jake Diebler was on staff 10 years with Drew after also playing an additional 4 years at Valpo. He only left because Drew lost his Job. He went to Ohio State. Walker, Schilling, and Shaw have all been with Drew the entire time at GCU. It’s the 2nd time he’s worked with Shaw for a total of 6 seasons. Drew has long been connected with Athlete’s in Action and several of his connections have been through that. Drew’s Vandy tenure was recruiting 5 star future NBA players, some but not all with season long injuries. He didn’t think his league record mattered that much in a bad 3rd season. He thought wrong. He probably would have received one more season with the previous retiring AD.. The new AD had a long term relationship with Stack via the NBA and G League. That new AD lasted one year before being replaced. The knock on Drew was not being able to be more competitive than he was with high level recruits. Most thought his dismissal was fair, if a year early. But he has many long term loyal relationships with assistants and staff.

Congratulations to former Billiken player and assistant Olivia Silverman, who has accepted an assistant position at the University of Cincinnati. She will join Erica Demers’ staff in the Big 12 Conference. A former 1st Team All A10 goalkeeper, Liv was a 3 year assistant at SLU before making a change to be a personal trainer. Liv then joined Maddi Moon’s UMSL staff before returning to her hometown to coach under Eric Demers. Moon also coaches several Billikens in Summer Ball with the SLSG WPSL team. Moon’s husband Logan is a SLU Baseball assistant. They met at Central Arkansas. UC is one of 12 teams along with SLU that is competing in this year’s Spring Cup.