Billiken Bob

I do not have any facts on this case yet. However, has no one thought about the fact that current Chairman or our Board of Trustees at SLU is the former managing partner of one of the largest law firms in town. He is also a big supporter both financially and vocally of Billikens athletics. I am quite sure that he knows the two lawyers involved and I would not be shocked if he did not call tham as a friend, and create or call in an IOU. BTW, the Chairman is another former poster on this board who was driven away before he attained that position. You lost a lot of inside Information when he left.

Thanks BRIAN for the verification on what you CAN spend on a locker room. Since I posted earlier I have been told by another donor that we are going to end up spending over the 1.3 Million. So any of you that want to get involved just call CHRIS May at his office. The number is 977-3167.

That is the amount of money that was raised. They redid the entire locker room area for both teams. I don't know if you were in the original locker rooms, but Rick wanted a major portion of it (square footage wise) to be a classroom setting with actual classroom desks for the players. Travis and CHeryl wanted something more in keeping with what other competitors of ours have and that is a lounge area where the players will come and hang out after practices, on off days, and during the off season. (sounds like a good idea in light of the current news, eh!) They also totally gutted all lockers and redid the entire locker room area. Cheryl did her's a little differently but it has the same concept. There will be several TV's in each one for the players to spend their free time rather than in their apartments. I haven't seen the invoices, but I know what was needed to complete the projects.

Cheryl seemed like a very nice person, but she was not the major force responsible for raising the money for the Arena. That was Fr, Biondi and the Development office. If she was responsible for the arena fundraising then why was she fired. Do you know that the University still has not raised the money to completely pay off the arena. I know the reason she was fired but it was told to me in confidentiality by Fr. Biondi therefore I cannot repeat it here. I am not trying to play Mr. Big shot, but just trying to get the facts out there.

Thank you very much Brian. It is nice to be appreciated. I am a former Billiken with two degrees from SLU and quite proud of it. I went through undergrad school on a partial baseball scholarship. There was only 1 full scholarship per year and therefore money was divided up among several players. We were very good (College World Series years), and we had a great time. Some of the most fun years of my life. I look at the time that I spent helping the Billiken Booster CLub in later years (Tip Off Club and then the Billiken Club) in the past and the money I have donated over the years merely as me giving back to the school that was partially responsible for my later success. I do have to include SLUH as well as The Mayo Clinic to that list and I treat them the same way. I am proud to still be part of " THE BILLIKEN TEAM". So, instead of name calling why don't we all ask what we can do to either give back to our university or what we can do to help the teams that we follow.

Yes, upgrades that none of his predecessors have bothered to do over how many years.?

Minor projects?? You must have a lot of money. Charter flights cost between 25 and 35K each way. Do the math for each season over several years The locker rooms cost 1.3 Million. The baseball turf cost over 1Million. You start adding those up and pretty soon you are talking real money. As I said, these are the only projects I was involved in. Thank you.

If your statement means post more often, the reason that I don't is because of some of the idiotic statements that are are made here. I quit posting a few years ago after I was ridiculed for my information because I had only posted a limited number of times and therefore, I could not be believed. If you look back on my posts you will find them to be quite accurate, including my post about Rhoden coming this weekend. I hope he is still coming now after this latest news. I have not checked yet because there are more important things for them to take care of at this time than to be answering my questions.

Examples that I have been solicited by Chris May and contributed to: 1. CHarter flights on a yearly basis for the basketball team since Majerus took over (yes, he raises the money for that, not the University) 2. The Baseball team Outdoor, enclosed batting cage 3. The artificial turf for the baseball field's infield 4. The new locker rooms that were requested by the two current basketball coaches and will be opened to the donors next Tuesday. I am quite sure that there are numerous examples, and I by no means am the only person aware of these projects and how the money was raised.

Of course not. He wasn't even hired at that time. Most of that money was raised by Fr. Biondi and the development office. I know this first hand because I stepped up at that time and became a major donor, just as I have now for the locker rooms. I dealt with FR. Biondi, not Cheryl Levic for the Arena. Kshoe and Willie can verify my involvement. Willie has known me and been a friend since our college days.

That is totally untrue. If you want to blame someone you can blame Fr. Biondi for not backing the players during the last incident. Why would Chris May hang the arguably two best players out to dry and cost us a possible NCAA bid, and of course, the money that goes with it. Nice first post. It's obvious that there is one or maybe a few more people that have just signed up to this site for the sole purpose of bad mouthing Chris May. FYI, I go back as far as Larry Albus being our athletic director (when I was a baseball player on the team that finished 3rd in the College World Series). I have lived through Ron Ekker as AD, as well as Larry Preo, who was a good guy but couldn't handle the administration (Charles Schroeder), Jim Bakken, Joe Yates (now there was a real scandal), Debbie Yow who had a vendetta to fire Rich Grawer whom she said couldn't recruit (please look at the leading scorers in the history of Billiken basketball) Doug Woolard, Cheryl Levick, and now Chris May. Chris has raised more money for the department and been responsible for doing more to help the individual teams and their coaches succeed than any one of the former AD's. I think it is time for the moderators to step in and do something about these trolls and their slanderous comments.

As you can see, I do not post very frequently, but I felt a need to respond to this totally misinformed statement. Travis and Lisa Stone came to Chris May in the spring and stated that they needed to update the locker room facilities that were built to Coach Majerus' specifications. Chris May raised over $1 Million in a few months and the formal christening of the locker rooms for the donors is on October 3rd. By the way, that is 3 days after Mr. Rhoden is visiting the campus and he will be able to witness the improvement. As far as the baseball facility is concerned, when he came here there was no indoor batting cage nor an artificial turf infield. These both exist now because of Chris May. That is a pretty good improvement for a non revenue sport. I am a former baseball player at SLU and I really do not think a press box is going to help recruiting or play on the field. I think money could be more wisely spent. As someone else just mentioned, let's see you step up with your check book to improve the facilities. Others have done so, have you?

Everyone is making a pretty big mistake in assuming that Travis has offered Javon Pickett a scholarship. What if he thinks that the young man would have trouble getting minutes this coming year and what if Travis felt that there were 5 or so local high school seniors to be that could be better than him. Why would you use the scholarship on him and pass on one of the current juniors. When it happens that Javon commits to another school please no hand wringing about us losing him to whomever, when we never even offered him.

Hines was not given a scholarship, and this is the exact reason why he wasn't. If we had given him one then we could not offer anybody this school year. I like the idea of this recruit having 2 1/2 years of eligibility rather than a sophomore transfer who would only have 1 1/2 years of eligibility. There is usually some rust with transfers after they have gone a whole year without playing. That being said, if a 4 star sophomore 6'8" forward would like to transfer it would be hard to say no, wouldn't it. There is one out there--check the Seton Hall transfer. The negative to that (a soph. transfer) is that it gets us back to 6 scholarship players in the same class, barring anyone transferring. Whatever happens, I trust Travis. He has a lot better recruiting record than any of us--and also the last coaching staff. After all, he has seen the three transfers in practice every day (I know Foreman has been injured) and he has a very good idea by now where he needs help.

This was definitely the players decision and was initiated by him. He was talked out of it and then changed his mind again. 20 year olds!!!

BTW, there is nothing official yet, but school does start tomorrow.

Because you are dealing with 20 year old kids. Also, could it be that practicing with the three transfers for two months this summer they can see the writing on the wall. They cannot measure up and will have no playing time in their last year(s) when the transfers become eligible and Goodwin and others come in.

May happen sooner than you expect.

That was not the only interest shown. He visited and was offered by Vanderbilt also.

This is the most accurate statement made today. I do not believe the assistants to the AD are even in the loop.

Ever hear the name Jordair Jett. Al actually had to talk Rick into taking him. He explained to him that if we wanted to get to the next level we needed to take an academic gamble on a kid like this. So before you you go bad mouthing a former Billiken like Al, I would suggest you do a little homework. There are many others also that he was the lead recruiter on. Jordair was probably the best.

If MU88 is correct, then the assistant he is referring to is the guy from Iowa State. Great recruiter.

Miles Reynolds parents are both from Northwestern with the dad having an MBA.. I think education is a factor here, hence that is why Columbia WAS in the picture. Bet on the Billikens and bet on Crews. Remember him, he's the guy a lot of people wanted to run out of town a year ago and then became the National Coach of the Year. BTW, Calbert Chaney has played a big role with this recruit. On another front, wait until you see the total TV package put together by Chris May--the guy that get's bad mouthed unnecessarily so often on this message board.

Thanks for the help, Billikens 747. That looks like it should work.

I looked on that site before I posted here. Just looked agin and see no links or mention of our game. Any other places to search? Thanks.