billiken_roy Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 read this today at clark francis site: "The word on the street also is that UNLV head coach Charlie Spoonhour may retire at the end of the season and, if this is correct, you can bet that Spoonhour will attempt to pass the baton to his son and assistant coach, Jay Spoonhour. Remember, the younger Spoonhour is a heck of coach, as is evident by what happened after John Loyer resigned at Wabash Valley (JC) IL right before the start of the season three years ago to become a scout for the Portland Trailblazers. If you will recall, Spoonhour stepped in as the head coach and they went onto win the Junior College National Championship. But our guess is that the administration once again will attempt to go with somebody with more head coaching experience, which also probably rules out another former Spoonhour assistant in Western Illinois head coach Derek Thomas. Instead, we think the timing will probably be better for Thomas to get the Saint Louis job when it opens in a few years. Remember, Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg is a great coach, but there are questions about how well this staff can recruit." i think the most intriguing bit of info in this blip is the francis perception about coach soderberg and his staff's recruiting abilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 Clark Francis has a habit of getting ahead of himself. Ivan Renko, anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billikan Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 about these so called pundits. They know nothing about the schools that they condider are not "big time" and they will do anything they can to demean a school or a coach if they want to curry favor with someone. My guess is that this is a "planted" story by someone who either does not like Brad or wants his job. I have never heard anyone say that this staff had trouble recruiting. The first year was a miracle in light of the fact that Romar left us with a big mess! The second year we started two new players who are arguably two of the best newcomers we have had in ten years. reggie and TF are again almost miracle additions to the team. Let's hope that TL gets eligible and if he does the group for next year is one recruit short of excellent with a distinct St. Louis flavor. Brad and staff also convinced Morris to sign and he has demonstrated taht he is a heck of a player. Unfortunately, he did not do what he needed in the classroom to qualify at SLU. I continue to be frustrated by the blatant, two faced, biased reports by these pundits who admit they are influenced by many things including money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBand Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 Its also a lot easier for these guys to downplay people they know nothing about. They make prognostications about doom and gloom on every little thing, and that allows them to say "see, look at how smart I am, i predicted this". Anytime these type of guys get one thing right out of the hundreds of predictions, they crow about their accuracy. Its all rumor and innuendo that most of these guys report. The sad thing is that we sports fans with the fast pace news moves in cyberspace are salivating for more and more tidbits and are quick to jump in with someone who will feed us those morsels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 6, 2004 Author Share Posted February 6, 2004 i was not making a statement one way or the other when i posted the insert. francis is a widely read "expert" thus when slu gets a rare mention, i always take notice. i think the statements of francis are very laughable. all the things you mention prove he is a good recruiter. but i cant help but wonder how many young recruits read this crap and then dismiss slu because of the slant that an "expert" gives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 6, 2004 Author Share Posted February 6, 2004 i think the derrick thomas isnt good enough for unlv but a leader for a slu job that isnt even open is the biggest joke of all. derrick isnt exactly setting the world on fire at western illinois. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cujaysfan Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 Roy - you are letting your billiken goggles get in the way of what is being said here.. thomas is in his 1st year as head coach at western (and really struggling as loss to NAIA st ambrose last month shows)...and IF spoon retires - he certainly isn't ready for UNLV job yet. The implication that the author makes towards the SLU job is that brad hasn't proven himself as a recruiter yet (a point i am somewhat willing to concede as he is just establishing his track record - but he IS lookng good). That said - if he were to recruit poorly - he would likely be fired in another what - 3 years or so? at that point thomas would have enough seasoning to be a SLU candidate - given the caveat that he proves himself at WIU. It isn't a question of who is good enough for what job - it is a question of timing. all that said - it is a lame thing to bring up as brad is in his second year - and looking to be a solid coach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 I just hope that Coach Soderberg has a long and successful career as HC at SLU. I like the job that he has done so far and think much better days are just around the corner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 6, 2004 Author Share Posted February 6, 2004 i hope you meant that brad is in his second year as a head coach AT ST LOUIS UNIVERSITY. the fact is that brad has been a head coach for 10 years, with a lifetime record of 147-87 (.628 winning percentage)and has never had a losing season. currently his last recruits at wisconsin are leading wisconsin to a likely big 10 championship and his last wisconsin recruit that he signed to a loi, devin harris is the likely poy in the big 10. his moves as a recruiter at st louis have been nothing less than stellar. the only two mistakes he seems to have made was an agressive move of trying to get kalen grimes and rolling the dice on brandon morris academically. if the liddell scenario doesnt pan out that too could be a question, but even then, at least they were aggresive mistakes that in a sense he won on 2 of the 3 in beating the competition to the signing. again, to insinuate that derrick thomas is anywhere near as capable as brad soderberg is ridiculous. and in a sense, that is what francis has said imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cujaysfan Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 if you want to count his years at loras etc - fine... but i don't. much like college coaches moving to the nba - D1 is very different than coaching d3 - it probably has more in common with high school coaching than it does with his current experience in CUSA. as for the recruiting - his recruits at wisconsin belong to bennett - while brad may have had a lot do with their signing there - when you are an asst - everything you do (positive or negative - see quinn snyder) gets credited to the head guy. again - i think he is showing a lot of savvy with his recruiting...and is proving himself to be very good at identifying kids and getting them to sign. it almost seems like a racial thing to me that a white guy gets labeled as a "bad recruiter" while a young black coach - is a recruiting machine - just my take on the way the media plays it. the whole purpose of my pointing out the above to you is again - it isn't a slam against brad or SLU - it is a timing issue with regards to thomas unlv and if (god forbid) brad should fail that derek could be a candidate for SLU... you need to get out of your SLU inferioriy complex - it seems to taint the way you read things. (and i mean this in a non-negative way)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 6, 2004 Author Share Posted February 6, 2004 i believe brad was indeed the head coach when harris signed his loi at wisconsin as well as fellow starters wilkenson and morley. sorry, you attempt to belittle brad again fails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cujaysfan Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 if harris signed after bennett resigned - then certainly my mistake... and your mistake that i am trying to belittle coach soderberg... my point - is only that as a head coach - he is still establishing his track record. IMO (and most people for that matter) consider him to be a 2nd year head coach still proving himself. that is all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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