Old guy

Wow! a new page for SLU is coming up soon.

Fine thing Sulfan13, if this is the very best we could do, we will have to live with it and hope it works.

As per your request biliken roy. My first wife was not a basketball player, in fact she hated the sport. She does not validate Ford in any way imaginable. She was just used as an example of people or situations that appear to be perfect and later on they are found to be far far from even acceptable. It is like saying 'beware of what you wish."

JMM if I may ask what makes you think you can achieve perfection (a perfect world, a perfect choice, a perfect wife, etc...) with any single choice you make in life? The same applies to schools and corporations. Perfection is not a choice, it takes work. So, OK let's say we made a couple of offers to potential head coaches that were rejected. Fine, if they do not want to come here or we cannot pay enough to them, or we are not attractive enough to them for whatever reason, they may as well continue with their lives and we will look elsewhere. Why is it that if it is not the first choice you made it has to be bad? So, you preferred to have a different head coach, tough cookies to you, live with it, this is what you got. Once upon a time I wanted my first choice for a wife, and I got it, and Lord was it ever a terrible choice... I paid for my first choice in more ways I could have imagined... So, we go for another search in 4-5 years, fine if that is what we have to do. Ever heard the story about making lemonade out of lemons, it happens to be true. Ford may not be perfect but it has a lot of good to offer the program. We will see what happens next won't we?

Whatever happened, we have a Head Coach. Welcome Coach Ford, we need you.

Welcome Coach Ford, we really need you here.

What cat? Do we really know what is going on or are we just speculating about it?

I am sure you are right cheeseman but we do have a name for at least one basketball player who did not make it at SLU for academic reasons. That is more than what we have of OK State or any of the other schools.

Back to the issue of academics at SLU. SLU is not a diploma factory as some schools are. For example, remember Willie, same class as Kwamain. He was a very good basketball player but could not cope with academics at SLU and dropped out. You do not see players dropping out of state schools because of academics, or do you?

Fully and completely agree

Did you mean to write this in blue color?

You are correct milwaukeebill, OSU will pay the bill X3 years if he is hired officially before 30 days pass after his firing. Whoopee, financially this looks good for SLU if it comes to pass.

And how do you know that a search firm is not hired, besides their many other advantages, for CYA control?

OK, if the post by wgstl is correct no official announcement is likely to come out until the 30 days after termination of coach Ford from OSU pass. Ford, or anyone else in this position, would be a certifiable moron if he passed the opportunity to get $2.4 M per year for 3 years, in addition to SLU's not inconsiderable salary, just because the announcement wasn't delayed the required amount of time.

You must have patience, we will have a coach. Once we do we have to give him a chance to do his thing before the "hate and fire" buttons are pressed and the process starts again. Chris May is not going to be fired over this search, nope, that is why they hired a search firm. One of the functions of the search firm is to assume the blame for anything that goes wrong.

As I posted in the Coaching candidates thread, today will be an excellent day to restock tequila and other drinks to help make this situation more bearable. I presume after the last few days the personal stocks for most posters is running low. To make the situation clearer, there appears to be a hangup somewhere in this coach hiring process. I believe it will be solved one way or the other, it always is. Let me be real clear about this, SLU has a fair amount of money to spend and a reputable search firm working to find candidates. There are coaching candidates out of a job out there. It stands to reason we will find one. It really does not matter how many out of work or soon to be out of work coaches turn us down, we will get someone. How good or bad this new coach will be is to be determined afterwards. Every single potential coach will have good and bad features, and every single potential coach may either do a superb job at SLU, fall flat on his face, or be mediocre in some ways. This remains to be determined in the future. The only place where the "Dream, dream, and your dreams come true" concept is true is in Disney movies, not in reality. We can wish upon a star all we want, reality will always be different in some ways than what we dream. All the best and happy drinking, enjoy the process, it is instructive.

Hope you guys did not empty all your bottles of tequila and other stuff last night. There apparently is more to come, you will need to restock.

I made two posts about what a search firm does and what it does not. There was a list of candidates presented by the search firm to SLU, the candidates met the specs given to the search firm. We know Ford had two interviews, this is significant. Finally because of reasons that we will never know in detail he got the job. We have Ford. I really do not expect anyone to read this post, by now most of the frequent posters are probably drunk.

OK A Bomb, you may be among the minority of this board that is looking forward to a happy outcome and has the b_lls to be steady about it and not panic. After all soldiers should not panic when faced with tough situations. Good, I am as well. Rice might be just the ticket, or not... One last thought about headhunting firms. They are in business and their aim is to stay in business and have clients that come back for many future searches. This particular firm did very well for SLU with Majerus and Lisa Stone, why should we expect any lesser results for this particular search? What I wanted to emphasize in my prior post is that the whole process is based upon a contract signed by SLU and the search firm and that the requirements stipulated in this contract will be met by the search firm.

I have stopped posting here because I only hear raw emotion coming off the posts, and very little understanding of the mechanics of a headhunter search. I do not know how much the headhunters are getting paid, but I would estimate that if the salary level is indeed in the $1.5 to $2.0 M, the headhunter firm will be paid a lot more than $75,000 or $80,000, try mid low 6 figures. With a price like that for their efforts they (the headhunter firm) will take all kinds of precautions to produce candidates that fit precisely what SLU asked for in paper at the beginning of the search. If SLU said: head coach it will be a head coach, if SLU said: so many times in the big dance it will be that too. We do not know what SLU specified for the search, but we will get someone that fits the requirements given to the headhunter firm. The search may have stipulated a minimum specific number of qualified candidates, we will get those. There will be interviews, more formal and complex as the process goes forward, finally an offer will be made and by the time it is made SLU will be pretty sure it will be accepted. Keep in mind that in order to get the minimum required number of candidates for the job the headhunter firm will contact dozens of coaches, and they expect that many of the coaches contacted may not have much interest and not follow up. Only those that show interest to the headhunter call will go to an extensive verbal examination by the search firm before coming in for interviews (as Dooley and Ford have apparently done so far). What is missing here? We plainly do not know what was specified, or the number of candidates required by SLU. What we do know is that we have interviewed Dooley and Ford (at least as far as this board has heard), and that Ford has had two interviews. Stop dreaming about new candidates, stop worrying about it. It will be what it will be, the process will proceed until the firm finds someone who fits specifications and is acceptable to SLU. Period. No use in loosing weight, pulling your hair out, or drinking yourselves repeatedly into oblivion. SLU has a plan, and like it or not SLU will follow this plan and PAY for it. You can say all you wish about how mechanical and incapable to find someone really good this process is or may be, that is fine as well, you are entitled to your own opinion. After the new coach is chosen I expect to hear wailing and rage from this board, but perhaps not. Let's hope it is perhaps not. However, the truth is that no one in this board has the slightest idea of what SLU asked for, or how the search is progressing, All we know is that Dooley had one interview and Ford has had two. All the best and a Happy (belated) Easter to all of you.

Moytoy, thank you for the link to the press conference. Appreciate the gesture.

Crawford shot poorly last night, had 3 Turnovers and 3 rebounds. Not one of his good nights but he did make 12 pts, Yacoubou only made 8 points, 3 rebounds 1 assist and 2 turnovers. Not one of his good nights either.

Agree

Yes, you #### it was an incredible play that cannot be reproduced. A Hail Mary pass that worked, a memorable play that should be recorded as something extraordinary.

Bullsh-t Dwayne's World, you should have been born in the time of the inquisition, I bet you would have had fun lighting pyres to save souls. You do not feel bad about anything except the loss of your self perceived status. You feel happy to invent cute phrases and think they give you status. Just look at the rebound numbers, 34 vs 35 does not make a meltdown. The numbers were close, only those blinded by raving hatred or attempting to look good in some way or the other would deny that. We could not score last night, and UTM had a couple of really lucky breaks like that 3 point bomb they sank just before mid time. Look at the numbers, just look at the numbers, and then try to explain them