St. Lunatic

I might be misremembering, but didn't Crews get the interim tag as the third assistant and leapfrogged an associate head coach?

Our struggles at the free throw line this season made me wonder if this is an anomaly, or if maybe SLU is just a tough place for FTs. This season we are shooting 57% and ranked 349th in the NCAA 2018-19 - 59.8% and 350th 2017-18 - 65.2% and 335th 2016-17 - 66.3% and 292nd 2015-16 - 70.3% and 152nd 2014-15 - 65.5% and 293rd 2013-14 - 69.7% and 177th 2012-13 - 70.4% and 141st 2011-12 - 72.0% and 78th 2010-11 - 65.6% and 274th Take from that information what you will, but outside of the 11-12 season we've been pretty average (at best) at free throws.

I think it was said earlier in the thread, but I agree we need to just forget about the BE and focus on SLU. Ford seems to have things going, but keeps getting held back. Also, I know the locker rooms were brought up, but I actually heard a rumor that the athletics department tried to raise the money for those improvements, couldn't raise it and the university bailed them out. If that's true, we need new fundraisers. There is no reason for SLU to be second tier in the midwest. Why can't we be Xavier or Creighton? We have a great asset in Chaifetz Arena, but we cant rest on that. We need to keep adding on. Even Missouri State has caught up to us in basketball facilities. IMO we need to focus on our internal improvements and ignore the outside noise. Once SLU reaches its potential, the other stuff will fall into place.

I don’t know. To be fair, I don’t think he’s going anywhere, but my point is which is more likely: SLU is done with Ford or Ford is done with SLU? Again, I don’t think anything is happening, but IMO, it’s more likely that Ford is frustrated with SLU than vice versa.

Here’s a question: is SLU on Ford’s hot seat? With S2, Santos and other off-court issues, is it possible Ford gets fed up with SLU?

IMO, an AD has three duties: raise money, build facilities and hire good coaches to lead programs. 1) I have no idea how much money the athletics department has raised, but they don't seem to be hurting. 2) Facilities are a failure, plain and simple. The only upgrades I can think of are the locker rooms and new video boards. But, it seems to me (speculation) that Ford/Stone got the locker rooms and the Arena built their own video boards. Hermann has been brought up several times and the baseball field is an embarrassment. 3) Hire good coaches. This is a mixed bag, depending on expectations. Stone has built the WBB team into an A10 contender, but have yet to make NCAAs. Ford has reignited interest in SLU MBB, but has had his own issues (whether or not it is his fault is up for debate). The women's soccer hire seems like a home run, Kalish is TBD and volleyball has been awful. In all, I think May is ok, but not great. He's been able to maintain SLU as a top half department in the A10. Some people need to realize how much worse it could be. I may take heat for this, but we are not Xavier/Butler/Creighton in terms of recognition, but I also don't think we are that far away.

I just googled "NCAA Men's Basketball Stats" and got this page from the NCAA website: https://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/team/150 It doesn't say anything about the two transitioning teams, but it does only list 351...

Just talked about this with a friend of a friend who knows a guy whose brother-in-law knows a thing or two about this. He said there are two teams that are "in transition" to DI and don't count in the national stats.

I never see this happening but what about a separate marketing department just for basketball? Seems like the current SLU marketing squad is pretty bad, but what if Ford got a marketing firm to promote the team with videos, billboards, etc.? Just outsource the whole thing.

What about 1965? Didn’t someone say we went to the World Series that year?

Because the A-10 only has 13 teams, each team has an unbalanced schedule. SLU hasn't played Fordham, Mason or Richmond this year.

Does anyone know who runs the twitter page?

IMO, the stadium is the first piece of the puzzle. In baseball for example, there are 50 or so rounds to the draft. If we put some money into our baseball field and get better athletes, who is to say we won't have a Billiken in the Big Leagues? If that Big Leaguer had a good experience at SLU, he might donate back and help fund further improvements. Maybe this is a pipe dream, but I can see it working. I was not a athlete or anything, but based on previous comments, it seems like the athletes at SLU (outside of basketball) are not looking back fondly on their SLU experience. If it takes a few million dollars (from a billion dollar endowment) to significantly improve the experience of these kids, I think it's worth it.

Oddly enough, I just googled Whitesell and he was formerly the HC of Loyola http://www.ubbulls.com/sports/mbkb/coaches/whitesell_jim?view=bio Topic comes full circle

Maybe I'm misremembering, but wasn't Jim Whitesell named Associate HC right before Rick got sick? I thought Crews was the third assistant behind Whitesell and Harriman.

This is dead on. Why add when you can't compete with what you have? Starting a program costs a lot of money, I would think. Wouldn't ROI be better to build a state-of-the-art soccer stadium than add a few more mediocre programs? Also, where would hockey play? Lacrosse at Hermann? If this is not only adding sports, but building facilities, this could be VERY expensive for SLU.

I'm still hung up on Goodwin being able to play. We knew the three were sitting out, but even after the suspensions were announced he kept playing. Why is he playing if the university somehow found him guilty? If he can play, what's stopping Ford from playing the rest of them?

Bishop and Goodwin are the only two in S2 with ties to SLU. Graves and Henriquez never played a minute for SLU.

Sorry if I'm missing something, but how do we know that Goodwin wasn't a participant and just walked in?

Is there any point where the third-party findings will go public?