Cheryl Levick

[Clock_Tower]

Do we know if CL was truly out of the loop or if she was simply overruled, accepted the same and stepped aside to let Fr. Biondi fire him? Apparently, she is not sulking or quitting. Wonder if she was truly sick the evening of the banquet. Anyone with sources know about her attitude the moring of, later that day, the next day, now?

Understand that this was probably Fr. Biondi's decision to fire Brad now while she supported Brad (at least for 1 more year) and apparently told the recruits and the families of the recruits that Brad would be back next year.

I know there have been no press conferences but has anything been suggested by Frank C? Rammer? Anyone with any information on this?

[MrKnowItAll]

noone knows at this point... but, my guess would be that biondi found out that majerus was interested in the job, and he took the situation into his own hands and fired brad without consulting levick. if this is the case, was it right? in my opinion, yes it was. if we seriously have an opportunity to hire an A++ coach and recruiter, we have to make the move. that is, if we want to be a 'top 50' program. i think biondi liked brad, and probably under anyother circumstances he would not have made this move... but when a name like majerus makes himself available to your school, and you have the resources available, and your a school like slu,... there is no injustice in going for it. just my new, revised two cents on the whole ordeal.

[kmbilliken]

We probably won't know the exact scenerio for a long time , if ever.

I can't imagine Biondi or Levick giving much more detail than they already have, that they did a thorough evaluation of the program and felt a change was in the best interest of the program. When pressed about whether it was recruitng, not getting to the tournament or that the university may be able to hire a better coach, I imagine they'll respond that all those things were considered.

[billikenfan05]

I honestly think that CL had no idea. She is too much of a class act in my book to blindside someone like that. If they dont get Majerus its gonna really suck. because the only best option would go to Brad and beg for him to come back.

"I was on fire, I was hotter than a pistol" Jason McElwaine

If theres no SLU basketball in heaven I'm not going!!!!!!

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[MB73]

I think she will leave sometime before end of this year unless she has a strong family issue or something... (kid in school? I do not know..), she has to be fed up with this nonsense and she is very marketable.

[slu72]

I don't understand the mistrust of Fr. Biondi by some posters. It should have been clear after last fall's recruiting disaster and this spring's recruits dropping like flies, that UB was having a whole host of problems in the most important aspect of his job. The essence of success in college hoops is the talent of the players. We weren't getting a lot of it. Some on here believe Biondi wouldn't even notice this, but some mysterious booster did and raised a stink about it. Biondi caved, fired Brad, and never let CL in on it. I don't buy that scenario. She wasn't at the banquet, which shouts, "I know the axe is falling!" Someone posted earlier in the multiple threads about this week's events that there might also have been strong indications that besides his son, UB wasn't going to skim much of the cream off the top of the '08 class. This fact, coupled with the hits he was taking with his spring recruits, was pointing to a disastrous first season in the new arena. Even those of you who wish UB were still the man would have to admit if Spring recruiting yielded two plan B or C players, next year was going to be a struggle and the '08-'09 season was not looking too healthy either. To think Biondi and CL did not see it this way as well is naive. Yes, the firing process could have shown a little more compassion for a guy who gave it his all for five years. And yes it's unfair to the fans and supporters of this program that we've been left in the dark as to the reasons, and what the plan is now. But despite all that, it seems clear the powers that be are trying to improve/upgrade SLU hoops, whether we get Majerus or not. That is what we've all been waiting for, so why all the griping.

[cheeseman]

72 - I agree generally with your assessment. Levick seems to be a class person but that does not mean that she has control of all decisions. The school president - Biondi in this case - has the final say on hiring and firings period. CL knew Brad was getting fired she was part of the process and may have very well offered objections but she very well knows that it was ultimately Biondi's call. I also refuse to believe that Brad did not know the spring class was not going to fill out and that CL was concerned about this. I am sure he thought as more time passed that he was going to be kept but to say that he was totally blindsided - well that was his fault. If you knew your job was contingent on your performance and things were not going all that well then you should at least have some inkling that the axe might fall. By the way, it has been brought up by several in the media and this board that Brad maybe could have worked harder and smarter on recruiting. If that is true - no reason to doubt it - then he deserved to go.

[slu72]

Yeah, I was surprised at that, Cheese. When I heard Frank say yesterday that he let his AC's do a lot of the legwork, I was shocked. I mean it's not like he's a Coach K. Also, someone said he was making few inroads w/ the '08 kids other than an offer and then lost touch with them. Hello? These kids should have been getting calls, bday cards (if allowed), text messages, emails, faxes ...anything legal that shouted want you at SLU!

[Grapes of Wrath]

She is a very class act and would not have blind sided Brad; as everyone here and in the media agree, this was Biondi's call.

CL is not only the AD but a passionate fan: watch her at any event, but in particular the men/women basketball games: she is enthusiastically cheering the entire game.

And she has made two great hires in Shimmy Gray-Miller (if the men don't fill the Fetz [not convinced that's the right nickname, shortening a corporate name is one thing, a person's another] I think the women will in a couple of years) and Anne Kordes.

I have heard CL was very upset, but pouting and tantrums are not her style; angry, yes. I think whether she stays will be determined by how the incoming and rest of the coaches treat her.

FYI, she has two adult daughters.

[MB73]

I doubt she will stay; depends upon other jobs being available, as always. I say she is as good as GONE.

HOPE she stays, HOPE we get RM, etc, but I have no confidence.

Suddenly, SLU & Biondi get their act together? HA!

Next year, still o/u = 16 wins unless significant changes occur asap...

[slufanskip]

Cheese, 72, and skip all in agreement. Has the world quit spinning, is it getting chilly in hell. I don't see why there has to be a conspiracy. Why can't we just take the press release at it's face value. They assessed the program and didn't like what they were seeing. Should they have seen it earlier and took action sooner, maybe, but maybe, they were like the rest of us realizing that if Brad were to land Alexander and a maybe Pettigrew we would be looking good going into this season. When a week into the spring period it seemed that nothing was happening again. They took action. I also believe the fact that Brad ran a clean ship, graduated his players, and is a man of integrity, it made the decision more difficult. Brad fits everything SLU stands for. Quite possibly they wanted to make absolutely sure they were making the right decision. Personally I have stayed with an employee to long, because the guy gave everything he had and I just wanted him to succeed.

Possibly the reason for no press release was they just don't feel they need to answer the obvious questions. Almost all year most of the media has dogged SLU. Why do they need to say anything to them ... especially when it will have to be negatives about Brad. I'm sure they explained why to Brad, and that is all they owe an expalnation to. It seems clear Brad didn't see it coming, but in all honesty shouldn't he have known it was a possibility. Again, I've fired people who were shocked and in turn I was shocked that they could possibly be shocked. Is this such a bad thing that we waited until the coaching carousel has stopped, maybe not. We are the major program looking for a coach. We have the undivided attention of RM and Gillen and the likes. We will not be bidding against anyone. Earlier some of the bigger names might not have shown as much interest waiting to see what was being played out at Arkansas and Kentucky. There are still good coaches out there. Cheryl made a good hire with Shimmy. I would suggest we just wait and trust in Cheryl and Biondi to hire the right coach.

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[Abe Froman]

She is too much of a class act in my book to blindside someone like that. If they dont get Majerus its gonna really suck. because the only best option would go to Brad and beg for him to come back.

>

Ask former staffers about that first comment, or folks at Santa Clara. One the second one, there are LOTS of better options than Soderberg.

[GOSLU68]

It would be stupid for Cheryl or anyone else connected with SLU

to leave in the midst of a major upgrade; we did not hear such trife with the firing of Jill P. and the hiring of Shimmy. By the way

one question to Shimmy's invitation to come to games brought

an onslaught of email contacts. Made me think she had a better understanding of how to include the average Billiken booster than the staff serving BS-little things like that and pretty soon you have an avalanche in men's basketball-this was not done for no reason-it takes a major rethinking to put on a class show; if we are going to own our own venue we can't think like 2nd or 3rd class renters anymore. CL is going to have to step it up to make the new men's basketball coach happy-my guess is she will welcome the challenge and all those trying to whittle away at the SLU program will have to get on the SIUE message board

[MB73]

"It would be stupid for Cheryl or anyone else connected with

SLU to leave in the midst of a major upgrade"

It is not an "upgrade" until we hire someone like RM... might wind up being a downgrade PLUS disruption and loss of credibility.

Hopefully, we will hire RM but I would not bet on it based on historical data.

[GOSLU68]

win loss percentage John Bennington and then spoon were our

best coaches; after many years JB left to MSU where he continued his winning ways and our program went through years of fair to middlin success before falling further and then being reinvigorated by Grawer and the university president at the time

was-Biondi

[Iggy]

I thought the University president at the time was Fitzgerald.

[GOSLU68]

Biondi started about 87; I'll look it up Reinart if I have the spelling wall President forever and great at raising money but he

loved to hoard it instead of spending it on staff, grounds, or buildings; he closed the Fine Arts School about 1967 and tore the bulding down and replaced it with the grassy knoll where there are some modern art sculptures

[GOSLU68]

I checked Biondi was inaugurated in 1987; those were the official biography words.

Google him it seems raising the average ACT scores from 22.7

average when he started to 26 plus is important as well as all of the kids who get financial aid from scholarship money donated to the school:Financing a Saint Louis University education.

* 95 percent of first-time freshmen were awarded financial aid assistance in 2005-2006.

* More than $30.3 million in financial aid was awarded to first-time freshmen in 2005-2006. Of this total, $17 million was awarded in the form of scholarship or grant assistance.

* Saint Louis University scholarship programs are awarded based on academic merit, talents, service, leadership and financial need.

* The average financial aid package for a 2005-2006 first-time freshman totaled $19,759.

2005-2006 Freshman Scholarships and Financial Aid

Saint Louis University Scholarships

$

10,722,398

35%

Saint Louis University Grants

$

6,338,735

21%

Federal/State/Private Scholarships/Grants

$

2,701,409

9%

Federal/SLU Work Study

$

538,371

2%

Federal/Private Loans

$

9,987,655

33%

[slu72]

If we don't get RM, it might be a downgrade from UB? Disruption? What's more disruptive than not having any D1 talent? Credibility loss? He gave himself an A- grade for this year's team. He was excited about spring recruits, meanwhile Correia, Peterson, MG, and Alexander don't seem to share that excitement. Yeah, he's a great guy, a good family man, a devout Christian, but he's a lousy HC. We deserve better.

[Clock_Tower]

It would not be stupid for CL to leave if she were truly kept out of the loop. Believe CL fired Jill P. and not Fr. Biondi. SLU only has 1 large revenue sport - Men's basketball. If the above were true, is not the message simply: CL is in charge of the everything except Men's basketball? CL left Santa Clara for a new challenge, for a higher profile men's basketball program and to come back to her home town. If not really in charge of men's basketball, CL can and will find a new job - most likely one with both men's basketball and football.

[cheeseman]

First of all CL did not fire Jill P without Biondi's knowledge. Second, CL did talk to Brad prior to Biondi's call to him - do you honestly think she did not say that she was reporting her discussion with him to Biondi and that Biondi was considering letting him go? Of course not! Third, Men's BB is the only revenue (positive) sport the school has - off course it is going to get more attention from Biondi then the others. CL may not have advised Biondi to let Brad go but she knew what was going on.