STLfan

If Moser stays at Loyola after this year he likely isn’t leaving anytime soon. If Loyola does hang on to him it is time for the A10 to add Loyola. It would help bridge the gap between SLU and Dayton, add another good program to the conference, and couldn’t hurt recruiting in Illinois/Chicago for us to have a game there every year. Either add them on there own or bring Drake or Bradley with them to get to 16 teams. A west pod with Dayton, Loyola, SLU, and either Bradley or Drake would be great.

Disappointing news. That probably kills our chances of getting in the Big East anytime soon. And snce it looks like we are going to be in the A10 for a long time I'd like to see the conference expand to 16 with some closer schools. Something like Loyola and either Belmont or Bradley would be nice additions. Could have four divisions, play each team in your division twice and everyone else once for an 18 game schedule. Playing Dayton, Loyola, and either Bradley or Belmont twice each year could be fun and provide some good match ups.

Rutgers fans seem to like him and are wishing him well. Don't know if that means much but it's a good sign in my opinion. https://rutgers.forums.rivals.com/threads/van-macon.85710/

I wonder if John Pelphrey is an option for one of the assistant spots. He was a teammate of Ford's for one year at Kentucky and took this last year off so he might be looking for a job. In his last year at Arkansas he recruied a top ten ranked class but never got to coach them. They let him go to bring back Mike Anderson. After Arkansas he went back to Billy Donovan's staff at Florida for 4 years till Donovan jumped to the NBA. Apparently he had this to say after Ford was hired here: "Travis Fords Ex-Teammate at Kentucky, John Pelphrey, Chats with Frank Cusumano on The Press Box On his recruiting ability: Theyve gotten people from all over. They really did a good job in Texas. They got a lot of good players out of Texas. I always thought hed be a great fit. I think hell be able to recruit very well. I think hell do a good job in St. Louis.

They would also help the team with the transition to the new coach since they are familiar with his offense, defense, the way he runs his practices, and know what he expects from his players.

Good question. I don't have any specific names but a couple of good recruiters with AAU connections would be nice. And based on the description the OSU poster gave of Ford's coaching abilities an assistant that's good with x and o's and is hopefully good with developing post players.

Glad we officially know who our coach is going to be. Next up will be seeing what kind of staff he can put together.

Well its going to be interesting to see if the Post just jumped the gun or if they got it completely wrong.

Some youtube videos:

Big east forum on the hire of Ford. Not many replies yet but it will be interesting to see how they all view the hire. http://holylandofhoops.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5329&sid=d9223df96fb4f30e270a11ce64740647

Oklahoma State Forum's reaction. For the most part they don't sound hateful or bitter and are wishing him good luck. http://www.orangepower.com/threads/travis-ford-hired-at-s-l-u.213998/

Not the direction I had hoped we'd go but if it's done so be it. Good luck to coach Ford. I am a bit concerned about his conference record at his last stop but I do like the fact that he has multiple NCAA appearances and has gotten there from two different schools, he did fairly well at his last A10 job including a conference championship, and is a good recruiter.

His team was 26-6 (16-2) this year and still didn't get to go dancing because they didn't win their conference tournament. That has to be frustrating. A record like that in the A10 and you've got a good chance at an at large bid.

His team was 26-6 (16-2) this year and still didn't get to go dancing because they didn't win their conference tournament. That has to be frustrating. A record like that in the A10 and you've got a good chance at an at large bid.

The conference record improves if you take out the first four years when he was rebuilding the program. His SEC record without the first four years would be 117-99. I think he would have been a good hire for us. It's a shame he is going to Pitt. I really hope we can get Drew, I could live with Ford if we can't, but Dooley would be very disappointing.

Drew would be my first choice but I'd still be thrilled if we could get Bennett. He built that St. Mary's program from nothing. The year before he got there St.Mary's went 2-27 and by year 4 he had them winning 25 games and going to the NCAA tournament. He knows how to build a program. He's taken the Gaels to 5 NCAA tournaments and reached the sweet 16, has 3 conference championships which can't be easy in the same league as the Zags, and he has reached either the NCAA or NIT each of the last 9 years. I wonder if he is tired of getting stuck in the NIT and would want to go to a league more likely to get multiple bids. The last three years his teams have gone to the NIT and the last two years he finished 2nd and 1st in the WCC.

Not sure but his two committed players for 2016 are both ranked in the rivals top 150. He's got a SG ranked 119 and a PF ranked 126. Hopefully he would be able to recruit at the same level here. In the A10 only 2 schools currently have commitments from top 150 players, VCU has a player ranked 60th and GW has a player ranked 148th. The big East and the programs we want to compete with are recruiting top 150 players. Rank - School 22. Villanova 42. St.Johns 48. Marquette 83. Xavier 98. Butler 99. Seton Hall 115. Butler 120. Butler 121. Georgetown 124. Xavier 125. Providence 133. Marquette I think Stallings is a solid coach and a good enough recruiter to help get us where we want our program to be. I originally wanted an assistant coach from a similar kind of program (Xavier, Butler, or Dayton) but Stallings would be a good get and a much safer hire. Especially if the Big East decides to expand in a few years.

I haven't seen this name mentioned yet, Travis Steele the associate head coach at Xavier under Chris Mack. He's been there seven years so he has seen what it takes to win consistently and recruit at a similar kind of program in this part of the country. http://goxavier.com/coaches.aspx?rc=90 Another name along the same thought process is Kevin Kuwik an assistant at Dayton since 2011 when Archie Miler got the job. Besides Miler he has also worked under Thad Matta at Ohio State and Brad Stephens at Butler. Like Steele he should know what it takes to win at a program like this. http://daytonflyers.com/coaches.aspx?rc=399

I'll be shocked if they don't pick up a bunch of them. With Mizzou games going to the SECN and Illinois having the BTN, SLU doesn't have much competition for FSMW. If FSMW wants to show college basketball games what other good options do they have? I'm just hoping I'll get to see as many games as possible. I just moved to KC this summer so the more national or at least regional broadcasts the better.

Mizzou has some talent if you believe recruiting rankings. Haith wasn't much of a game day coach but he could recruit and Anderson was able to keep this years class committed. Going by rivals they have: Cameron Biedscheid - 4 Star SF ranked 28th in 2012 Johnathan William III - 4 Star PF ranked 42nd in 2013 Jakeenan Gant - 4 Star PF ranked 52nd in 2014 Deuce Bello - 4 Star SF ranked 54th in 2011 Wes Clark - 4 Star PG ranked 72nd in 2013 Namon Wright - 4 Star SG ranked 73rd in 2014 Torren Jones - 3 Star PF ranked 123rd in 2013 With an actual coach I think they might surprise some people this year.

NCAA has released their attendance numbers for last year. SLU checks in at 54th in the country with 8,428. The A10 finished 10th in attendance right behind the Mo Valley. A10 12,316 - Dayton 8,428 - Saint Louis 7,741 - VCU 6,544 - UMass 6,102 - Richmond 4,916 - George Mason 4,441 - Rhode Island 4,057 - Saint Joseph's 3,928 - St. Bonaventure 3,270 - George Washington 2,988 - LaSalle 2,900 - Duquesne 2,330 - Fordham Future A10 member Davidson - 3,712 If your curious here is how the Big East teams finished. The conference finished 5th. Big East 17,896 - Creighton 15,327 - Marquette 9,890 - Xavier 8,943 - Villanova 8,670 - Georgetown 8,347 - Providence 7,788 - Butler 7,036 - St. John's 6,363 - DePaul 6,336 - Seton Hall If the Big East isn't going to expand maybe the A10 will add two more teams closer to us. Some Candidates 10,732 - Wichita St. 6,608 - Bradley 5,946 - Indiana St. 5,223 - Southern Illinois 5,217 - Missouri St. 4,842 - Illinois St. 3,726 - Drake My choice would be Bradley and Wichita State. http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/Reports/attend/2014.pdf

The A10 has been good to us but I'd still much rather join the Big East if/when the opportunity arrives. I think we would fit in even better there with schools like Marquette, DePaul, Xavier, and Butler. Plus we would have much more recognizable programs on the schedule and coming to town which would help get more of the casual fans excited and into the games.

The guy is running while he can. Similar to McDermott leaving Iowa St. a few years ago to go back to the MVC. Take a new job or wait a year, under preform again, and get fired. Looks like Tulsa is the real loser in this. They for some reason are paying Haith 1.85 a year for 7 years. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/10797288/frank-haith-missouri-tigers-deal-coach-tulsa-golden-hurricane-per-sources That's basically 13 million dollars. I doubt Mizzou even tried to match it. They were probably just glad to see him go. The real question though is what is the Tulsa AD thinking? For that kind of money they had to know they could do better.