Conflicting Reports: Timmerman Article

[SluSignGuy]

SLU is in negotiations with Majerus

By Tom Timmermann

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

04/27/2007

Thursday came and went without St. Louis University hiring a basketball coach.

SLU's president, the Rev. Lawrence Biondi, in his first public comments on the coaching search, said "negotiations were continuing," Thursday, and though he didn't say with whom, it's clear he meant former Utah coach Rick Majerus.

While school officials remain confident a deal with Majerus will get done, Thursday marked the third straight day SLU was ready for Majerus to return to town only to see him stay at his home in Milwaukee. Though the situation is subject to change, there are no plans for a news conference today. And with each passing day, the possibility remains of some issue becoming too large to bridge and the talks breaking off.

Biondi said the deal might have been done sooner if the "media had kept its nose out" of the discussions. "We may have had this done on Monday or Tuesday,'' he said in brief comments to a St. Louis Press Club meeting that he had been scheduled to attend months ago to discuss the school's new on-campus arena.

Asked afterward what he meant by the media being involved, Biondi said the media had set up one person as the only candidate for the job, when there were in fact others. Presumably, his contention was that that belief has given the Majerus camp what they see as a favorable bargaining position with the university.

Majerus' agent did not return an e-mail Thursday.

Biondi declined to answer two questions about last week's firing of Brad Soderberg, almost six weeks after the season ended, saying he would "allow the proper person to talk about that at the proper time." Asked who the proper person would be, he said it was athletics director Cheryl Levick.

Levick has not commented on the firing amid speculation Biondi went over her head to make the change.

Biondi said Majerus was, in fact, not the only candidate, and the school had spoken to other potential coaches, though Majerus was the only one Biondi had spoken with. But another source said that while the school's headhunting firm has spoken to other candidates, Levick has not had interviews with them.

Though a salary of $1 million might convince a well-regarded coach to leave his present school, none of those other candidates would have the high profile of Majerus, who took Utah to the NCAA title game and is considered one of the best minds in the game. But what the school needs isn't necessarily a big name, but someone who can bring top-flight talent to campus and build them into a winning team. But it isn't clear if Majerus has decided he wants to return to coaching or if he would prefer to remain an analyst for ESPN.

What SLU would do if the Majerus deal falls apart is unclear and there does not appear to be a clear Plan B. One source who has talked to head hunter Bob Beaudine said SLU still is looking only at people with head coaching experience. That would rule out Purdue assistant Cuonzo Martin, a former player at East St. Louis Lincoln, who is seen as someone who could dominate recruiting in the area.

SLU is saying the scope of its search is national and not limited to coaches with Midwestern connections. One name likely to come up is Fran Fraschilla, the former head coach at Manhattan, St. John's and New Mexico. Fraschilla, who also works at ESPN as a basketball analyst, has been out of coaching since 2002. Fraschilla has no Midwest ties, but he is known to be close with Beaudine.

Biondi reiterated his desire for a top-50 program and getting the right coach to do it.

"We are committed to athletics, despite depictions otherwise," he said. "We obviously want a coach who can do the job. I remember coming back from the NIT when Rich Grawer was the coach and I said I want Billiken basketball to be in the top 50. It didn't occur that year, it did occur with Charlie Spoonhour, but we haven't done very well since Charlie left. But I'm optimistic with a new coach we will be able to live up to goal of being in the top 50."

Vahe Gregorian of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this story.

[email protected]

[SLURadioBoy]

Man, I wish we could get some straight answers. I just hope Frank's sources are more accurate than Timmermann's.

"Praises we sing, to you our alma mater,

Praise to the white and blue.

Our hymn shall ring, in tribute strong to you,

We hail Saint Louis U."

Official Billikens.com sponsor of Andrew Latimer

[SluSignGuy]

Timmerman's article implies that Majerus wasn't in St. Louis today, but there were reports from SLU (nothing I saw published) and our posters that he was on campus today.

This seems odd.

[SluSignGuy]

Another thing that I think Biondi may be right on is the media aspect. While it is the media's job to do what they have done, Majerus' agent did say to the press that a decision would be made Monday.

But one could fault Biondi for not locking up Majerus behind the scenes before firing Brad.

[bluecrewfinance]

TIFWIW, SLU spirit teams are supposed to be at a PC at 2 pm tomorrow...and TIFWIW, they were put on notice for Weds and Thurs.

[SluSignGuy]

What does TIFWIW mean?

And were they told a specific time like 2pm for Wednesday and Thursday?

[courtside]

>What does TIFWIW mean?

>

>And were they told a specific time like 2pm for Wednesday

>and Thursday?

I thought the same thing Steve until I looked at it twice and guessed it means Take it for what it is worth.

[kmbilliken]

Has anyone on here actually seen him on campus? No heard from a friend or got it from a reliable source, has anyone actually seen him?

[DoctorB]

I managed to get not one but 2 confirmations yesterday afternoon that he was on campus. One poster on here posted that they actually saw him get out of a van on Grand.

I also spotted Timmerman and said hi at about 11:00 am. I have no idea when he left campus but if he did not follow up in the afternoon he might have missed the story.

I cannot believe that my sources were wrong on this. Actually I take that back -- after all the hullaballo, I can believe just about anything about this getting-very-stale-storyline situation.

[billiken_roy]

doc, i dont doubt your sources for a second. i think we are seeing biondi trying to spin blame and in this case trying to deflect it to the media whom he is burned that they have assaulted his reputation.

at some point, some yes man needs to let biondi know that the only one that has assaulted his reputation is biondi himself. the right move is to get majerus hired and let majerus start being a coach. instead it appears to me slu is stalling the whole process in an effort for biondi to treat his ego first. ironically, the best way to fix his 10 day lapse in common sense and decency is to let majerus start doing his job.