Pistol

Ross Varner-style. He's the best Billiken I've ever seen at setting screens; the guy could screen an 18-wheeler.

I disagree. What makes you think softball players are not smart? Female collegiate athletes as a whole do much better than the men in the classroom. Softball players are not exactly Fresno State football players. I think it's much easier to recruit young women who will excell in both arenas than you imply. SLU has a lot to offer its athletes, and most of the women's teams have dominated the CUSA and A10 academically, and most of their teams have gotten progressively better while doing so.

As of today, he's still safe: http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/sto...17/daily10.html It looks a lot like the last article, but says he's been keeping in touch with SLU administrators via email. Hopefully they get him out of there soon.

He's already done his obligatory 3 years of military service, and I'm not sure what the Israeli army's draft policy is. With any luck, he's soaking it up with his fiancee in the Carribean, where she's from.

I hope he's safe over there.

Couldn't have said it better. We have offered the right kids, now we just have to see how it plays out.

I agree. There should be a separate program for current students to buy bricks for a lower price, and make a "student section." I would have bought one without a doubt. I was one of the few who paid an extra $5 for the Billiken athletics student ID. Anyway, even as a recent alum with a job, $500 is hard to swing, but there's a number of us who would love to be able to contribute to this effort to show that there is support for the project. Sure, we aren't going to make or break the project with contributions that barely make a fraction of a percent of the important donations, but there really should be a program for the little guys.

Pullen is a really nice player. V, I think you'd be happy to leave the area to sign this kid. We need to keep our other pipelines open, i.e. Angres Thorpe's Chicago base. The kid can really play, and a lot of Big East, Big 12, and Big 10 schools are starting to give him a lot of attention. I hope that his stock doesn't rise too fast so it comes down to his A-10 offers. As for not having a credit card, maybe you could go to the ticket office in the West Pine gym. They seem to keep business hours there if you can make it in during a weekday. I'm not sure if you'd still need plastic, though.

I don't think Brown will start, at first anyway. I was under the impression he was kind of a swing player, who would probably replace Doellman when he graduates. Duncan has played in their frontcourt, not really as a SF. XU is thin at guard, but I like their starters. Not necessarily better than SLU, but they could outperform our guys on any given night. I'm hoping for a repeat of last year, and a sweep of the Muskies. It would be fun to dismantle them again at Savvis.

Better than Lavender, Burrell, and Brown at Xavier? I think it might be close, and I hope you're right, VTIME, but X has a nice backcourt over there now. Except for Johnny Wolf, of course, who is just a mediocre role player at his very best, and his best just happened to be against Gonzaga in the Dance.

Yeah, Doc, yours is the most accurate description. I lived in Marguerite for 2 years and the Village for another 2, and going to my intramural soccer games (which were basically next to the softball field) took at least 15 minutes. It's a beautiful walk down West Pine, though.

Actually, Metz, that's pretty inappropriate. And this is coming from someone who thinks you've put up a bunch of funny posts.

My fault- there's like 10 different sub-arguments from the Floyd Irons debacle, and VTIME is defending multiple ones simultaneously. I stand by my comments though.

And you'll assume it's a conspiracy and an unnecessary personal attack against his character. These aren't just people on the street making claims; there was an investigation that uncovered years and years of corruption. At some point, you'll have to accept that Floyd Irons isn't the hero you thought he was.

VTIME, don't be so naive. He wasn't taking money right from them. He used city money, tax money allocated to the school district, and putting it towards uniforms and other basketball-related expenditures that were excessive for a high school program. It's a slap in the face to every kid who deserves a better education.

He doesn't have to be Coach Carter, but he could help kids who generally need it. Polk was going to be fine on his own- he's a bright kid with a good attitude. A guy like Kern could have used Floyd pushing him to succeed. There's way more former Vashon players who have faded into obscurity despite showing promise than guys like Polk and McKinney.

Agreed, it takes a lot more, such as initiative from the student himself. But, outside of the parents, Floyd is probably the biggest individual influence on these kids' lives, and he should be getting them to hit the books and work at it. He knows their careers aren't going anywhere unless they do that. Polk did, and he has a full ride to show for it. The fact that Floyd seems to ignore this area shows how self-serving he is; chew them up and spit them out after you get what you need out of them. Soderberg pushes his players HARD in academics, and doesn't settle for barely-passing grades. He's serious about a 100% graduation rate, and that's from college. Floyd doesn't try to get anywhere near that even for high school.

We're not placing the blame squarely on his shoulders. The fact is that the entire school and district is in disarray, and he's spending six figures on the basketball team alone. That's just wrong. The other teachers and administrators need to do a better job, yes, but they don't have the ability or the gall to throw money away like Floyd has done. The schools need to take a number of drastic measures to get graduation rates up, and Floyd's idiotic spending is the most glaring example of counterproductive measures to improving the schools.

1. Yes, absolutely. No timetable- Kramer's freshman year (and that whole class) is currently the last year of his contract. If things go well, extend it after that. I like giving coaches time to build. 2. Marque Perry, Lorenzo Romar/Brad Soderberg tie 3. AK or Dixon. I would also like to bench JJ as much as possible. 4. C: 20+ wins, early exit from the Dance 5. Yes, absolutely. Good idea for a post. This ought to be a weekly tradition in the offseason to keep things interesting.

It would have been a nice position for him if he weren't so corrupt. The problems with that position for Floyd are: 1. He has access to money, which he has proven he should not have. 2. He has access to recruits, and the last thing we want is a recruiting scandal. 3. He has a position where he is several notches down on the totem pole from the head coach. I don't think he'd accept that unless the head coach let him do whatever he wanted as the DBO. You're right, it wouldn't have worked for Cheryl, either. I can't imagine the chaos that would ensue from having Floyd as the DBO.

Not a better proven coach, but a better fit if the job was open. But if you prefer absolute corruption, I guess I can't force a code of ethics upon you. The last thing Floyd needs is another position of authority. What he needs to do is quietly retire, and enjoy whatever pension he's built up from the teacher's union, his $90,000 salary, and whatever other cash and benefits he stuffed in his pockets. This would be for his own benefit, as well as the benefit of Vashon and the community.

So true, Rich- the double meaning is strong there, even though I didn't realize it at first.

>The number of posts is high become he was a legendary coach >who had a local team a consensus top 20 team in the nation, >year in and year out. If things had been done properly the >marriage between the Vashon and SLU would've been a happy >one. Oh, what could've been. If Vashon can bring a coach in who can win without cheating and teach his players how to be students as well as basketball players, then I think the notion of a SLU-Vashon happy marriage is more possible than with Floyd Irons. It probably won't happen, though, because the next coach won't be able to pluck kids from wherever he wants; he'll have to play the hand he's dealt, something that Floyd knows nothing about. For being the local high school powerhouse, we only got a few players from Floyd over the years. His personal issues with our coaches (problems that have been discussed in other threads) and inability to (legitimately) help his players become students have kept SLU from having more Vashon players throughout the years. He only cares about their development until they leave high school.

Floyd Irons' legacy at Vashon is downright ugly. Unless you were one of the 12 or so kids playing for him at any given time, no one else benefited from anything he did there. As Rich points out, the school's test scores, GPA's, and graduation statistics are just embarrassing. I can't believe administrators would turn such a blind eye on him for so many years. A struggling school district where money is filtered into a single athletic team? It reminds me of "Friday Night Lights" but worse.

Good idea?! It's a terrible idea. First of all, is Fanning leaving? Secondly, if he is, Phil Hunt is the man for the job. He's smart, young, knows a lot of people in local basketball, and you couldn't meet a nicer, more genuine person. Why would they hire a high school coach who just got fired for decades of corruption? I don't care how big he is locally, he's a crook who has no idea what class is.