knight_rider

Back in the assistant coach era of Anthony Beane, who prior to SLU was at Illinois State, mentioned that the Redbirds chartered everywhere except to Bradley. The charters included Indiana State and to Carbondale.

The one thing Telep didn't mention in his study was the size of the heart!

The article was on si.com

The football landscape will more than likely change drastically in the next couple years! When it all plays out, how will this affect our Billikens? NEW YORK -- Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said Tuesday it remains the school's "clear preference" to maintain its football independence, but that the possibility of impending Big Ten expansion and other conference realignment may ultimately impact the school's status. "I believe we are at a point right now where the changes could be relatively small, or they could be seismic," said Swarbrick. "What I have to do along with [university president John] Jenkins is figure out where the pieces are falling." In town to attend the Big East basketball tournament, Swarbrick and new football coach Brian Kelly met with a small group of reporters Tuesday morning. Calling the current college landscape "as unstable as I've seen it" in 29 years as a sports executive, Swarbrick said, "You could each invent a scenario that would force our hand." The Big Ten, to which Notre Dame turned down an invitation in 1999, announced last December that it would actively begin exploring expansion. Commissioner Jim Delany has said the league will know better by this summer whether to proceed with the process. Last week, the Chicago Tribune reported that an investment firm commissioned by the conference investigated the financial merits of five schools -- Notre Dame, Missouri, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Rutgers -- and confirmed that the league's existing schools would gain revenue were the Big Ten to undergo expansion. Numerous reports have indicated the league is exploring the possibility of adding more than one team. Meanwhile, Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott said last month that his league is looking "very seriously" at potential expansion in advance of negotiations over its television contracts, which expire next year. "You have two conferences [the Big Ten and SEC] that have separated themselves economically and you've got all the other conferences lined up for their [upcoming television] renegotiations," said Swarbrick. "The bar has been set so high, and the [current] media market is so tepid, that it creates a lot of tension." Asked why current realignment possibilities would affect the Irish more so than other shakeups that have taken place over the past 20 years, Swarbrick mentioned several hypothetical scenarios. "What if realignment impacted the shape of the BCS?" he said. "Also, the Big East has been a great home for us [in other sports], but if there are fundamental changes to the Big East as a result of realignment, what does that do? What if a few conferences further distinguish themselves from the field? What are the competitive ramifications of that? "... That's why I'm spending 50 percent of my time right now talking to people [about this]." Kelly, who came to Notre Dame from Cincinnati last December, said he appreciates Notre Dame's independence, but that he isn't well-versed on the full ramifications. "I can tell you that it is great when you look at a schedule where you're playing teams from all over the country," he said. "But I know that we have to drill a lot deeper than that." On Monday, Notre Dame announced the latest of several upcoming neutral-site games, a 2011 game against Maryland at FedEx Field. Last season the Irish played Washington State in San Antonio, and this fall they will face Army at Yankee Stadium. The initiative to play more "barnstorming" games began under former athletic director Kevin White (now at Duke), who lamented in 2006 that, "Over time, we've really begun to behave like a wannabe conference member. I think it was real important for us to go back to our roots and behave more like an independent." Swarbrick reiterated Tuesday that, "while we're paying attention [to realignment], we're trying like heck to maintain our football independence. It's good for college football and it's great for Notre Dame. That's our goal."[/b]

It's amazing to me how many people don't even know who Rick is now. (1998 was a long time ago) And if they do know of him, they certainly didn't realize he was our coach due to lack of coverage.

Hearing the women's team received a commitment in the '11 class from a Cincinnati kid who had already visited DePaul and cancelled a next-weekend visit to Iowa. This coming after nabbing a 2010 player from Detroit this past week who was looking at BCS schools. Considering there is absolutely no tradition on the women's side and they played in West Pine, Shimmy deserves a little more time to prove her merits!

Happy 99th Birthday to Coach John Wooden!!

The A-10 on the women's side sent 8 teams to post-season play last year and the conference will be even better this year. You show true knowledge with your comment about the conference being down. What is your real agenda?

AD for Business and Finance, Bill Thomas departs, Mark Wright "relieved of his duties", Chris May interviews for the Houston position, and now it's rumored Kosha Irby is leaving as well; all in the same year? I was under the impression successful businesses achieved stability within the ranks. I understand folks will leave on occasion for better opportunities, but this seems like a mass exodus! It would be intersting to know what the fuel is that makes this fire burn hot!

Interesting that someone asked if Rick ran this by Biondi! What about A.D. Chris whom Rick reports to? Shouldn't he be the next rung up the ladder? This will give the entire SLU athletic program a black eye!

The Mizzou coach was interviewed during the Royals-Cards game by Dan. Mayor Slay presented Anderson with a key to the city and he received about 15 minutes of "recruiting" time on air. Has Rick been given the opportunity to express his desire to "keep the best recruits home?" Does Rick even care to have that opportunity? I hear he is out with Karl as they battle the Lakers.

Mizzou's source of economic stimulus for their men's hoops program come from many forms, including lucrative regular season TV deals through the big-12, as well as an enormous amount earned with their deep run into the tournament. This is allowing Alden the opportunity to offer Anderson a raise from his base $850,000.00 to a possible 1.3 million. SLU has no such lucrative TV deal nor participation in any post-season tournament. So, where do we find the resources to pay our head coach a million? Do we have those types of boosters or are we going into debt? When visiting Rachel the other day to inquire about the banquet, I saw where Rick has his six high back leather chairs for the staff in his office, but have been told many programs are going without. It's been said that Shiimy doesn't even have furniture in her office, our championship volleyball squad's lockerroom isn't big enough for the team to dress, and our baseball team drives 7 hours to Ole Miss and comes straight back on the same day. Does Larry, Joe, and Chris actually allow this?

That's a Ball State team that our women beat handily at the beginning of January!

Doubt It. It will be another year or two before she gets the BCS job. Next year will probably her first twenty-win season as her first recruiting class become seniors and this year's freshmen mature; not to mention the transfer from the ACC becomes eligible. She had a first team academic all-american, two all-conference players, and set three different records for attendance. It looks as if the program is growing and she is doing it without cheating. I would think that Chris May is thankful he has such a dynamic women's coach building the correct way and establishing new boosters each year for her program.

But we were told in October that the reason our schedule was so weak is because no coach wants to schedule Rick, especially if he has time to prepare for his opponent!!!! I wish someone in the athletic department would continue to piss on us and tell us it's liquid gold!!

Looked as if they were trying to rebound from where I was sitting, but the officials let the 6-6 all-american get away with shoving and going over the back.

Rumblings about him getting rid of Shimmy? I haven't heard those. That doesn"t seem like a wise move and she has a lot of support throughout the community. Even Stevie Wonder can see how the women's program is growing and improving. They played the toughest non-conference schedule of any team in the A-10 and I assume that is to prepare her freshmen for the next few seasons.

Great Showing by both of our hoops teams tonight!! It's obvious to see the method to Rick's madness!! With the freshmen getting valuable minutes in close games and winning the majority of them, the future looks bright! The women gave a valiant effort against the #16 ranked team in the country. It's too bad the officiating was so horrid against them! I hope everyone can see the method to Shimmy's madness as the women are about to break through as well! Mr. May, you have two great coaches and need to ensure Billiken Nation that we get to keep these two for years to come!!!

Katie Felts did a great piece on the 6:00pm edition about Theresa. She can flat out play! Interesting comments about her engagement to Trent Meachum and the possibility of ending her career once this, her junior season, is over! Evidently she will have her degree and may go over seas with Trent. That would be too bad for the program as she is by far the best women's player to have ever wore the uniform and would absolutely shatter all existing records! This kid would have never come here if it wasn't for Shimmy. Whatever her decision, I hope all goes well for her!! A class act all the way!

The Wyoming Women's coach is good friends with Majerus. He has a very good program in Laramie; this is a great win for the ladies! Why doesn't our athletic department have game-day promotions like other schools? It doesn't seem as if the schedule and opponents are promoted. They have played a much tougher schedule, have #3 Oklahoma coming in on the 30th, and nothing has been publicized. She ceratinly isn't getting much support around there! Rick and Shimmy get out in the community a lot for speaking engagements to promote their programs and the school! We couldn't have two better coaches and I hope the powers that be can realize that and give them the support they deserve!!

With the situation as it was when Shimmy took over, not even Pat Summitt could turn this around in 4 years. It's hard to make chicken salad outta chicken sh__!

NAIA upsets, D-II schools playing closely contested games against top teams in the country, #2 ranked D-III school playing tough against our women!!!! The D-I schools have everything to lose in these games and these are different situations compared to playing the "Converse All-Stars" as in years past! I can imagine the D-I coaches come away with volumes of teaching material compared to the 40 point blow-outs that we sometimes see.

I will bet that if the women aren't winning at least 18 games a year within the next two years, Shimmy would probably step down herself, even with the contract extension. Until then, anyone who wouldn't want her to be the face of the women's hoops program would be insane. She is class, passionate, and represents this institution with fervor!

I think a "hot-seat" is a bit premature for a few reasons: 1) after three seasons, still has players from the previous regime! 2) even the best lose players; eg. Geno signed the best player in the country last year at UCONN, only to see her leave after two days of summer school a few weeks ago. This trend will continue as long as parents teach that it is OK to quit when things might get tough or don't go the way you want it to! A SOFT SOCIETY we live in!!! 3) how long had Pinkel been at Mizzou before his "turnaround" season last year? Hard to turn around a mid-major with Absolutely No Tradiiton in three years!!!! I think if she gets support from the new A.D. and his staff, she will have the team fighting for an A-10 title within two more years.

Can't say with 100% confidence as of yet, but rumors have it that the women's team has picked up a 6-4 kid out of Texas. A friend out of Columbia recently told me that Katherine Harry, a 6-3 forward in the '09 class from Rock Bridge, has narrowed her list to SLU, Notre Dame, Kansas State, and DePaul.