Did anyone else hear CL interview with BM and RK

[brianstl]

It was an intresting listen. She took a couple vieled shots at Biondi.

[brianstl]

She was going to take a job in the business sector before this came up at Maryland.

[SluSignGuy]

More details for the out of towners?

[brianstl]

When the interview started BM refered to her and Yow as SOBs (Survivors of Biondi), which she just laughed at and sort of agreed with. She stated that she needed to work at place she was appreciated at and basically left it like she was not appreciated here.

[slu72]

It's getting tiresome with the cheap shots tons of fun takes at Biondi. Look what he did for cripes sake! In the course of two months he hired one of the best coaches in America, upped the budget, agreed to add more to the arena, garnered us some national attention. Did he do this in a by the rules manner? No. But who cares as long as it got done. CL backed the wrong horse, she got over ruled. Either get over it or get out. She chose the latter, much to her credit. BM can bite me when it comes to Biondi.

[brianstl]

It matters how it gets done because that plays in to the quality of the people he will be able to attract in the future to the athletic department. The manner in which Biondi behaves has a direct relation to how the athletic department is viewed and how the school is viewed. If you want the athletic department to stay the back stabbing protect my turf place it has been for the last 20 years and screw making anything better around here, you should be happy. That is going to be the exactly what we will be stuck with unless Mejerus takes a direct role in the hiring of the new AD. The only type of person Biondi is going to get to take the AD job is someone that won't be able to riegn in that kind of attitude. Nobody in the atletic department is going to respect the AD becuase the AD has no real power or say.

Bernie is dead on when it comes to Biondi and the AD situation.

[Billiken75]

I am just curious - what should have been the tact taken by Biondi? Stick with Cheryl's recommendation and keep Soderberg or how best to over-rule her and make the move to Majerus?

Also, how many of us on here have a job where you aren't "trumped" by the boss's decision?

My take is that Biondi could have made this decision through Cheryl -but I think she balked at firing Brad. I was on the side of giving Brad a shot at the 2008 kids - but with all that has transpired, I am quite happy with the way this played out.

[billiken_roy]

billiken75, i am happy we have majerus as a coach. very happy. overjoyed.

i am very disappointed the way it was played out from the late date of the move, through the nature of the firing, the obvious shunning of levick during the swooning and signing of majerus and the kick levick to the curb happenings at the end.

this is a situation that both the end (hiring of majerus and firing of soderberg) and the means (the way levick was treated) could have both happened in a reasonable manner and one less issue (hiring a new athletic director) would be facing slu today.

cheryl's recommendation to keep coach soderberg another year likely wasnt made with an understanding a rick majerus could/would be hired as the other alternative.

[Bay Area Billiken]

From afar, it looks like Father Biondi hit a grand slam with the hiring of Rick Majerus. People have mentioned this out here at social functions I have attended. People say that SLU has hired a great coach, a coach with national credentials. SLU suddenly catapulted itself onto the national map. Most expect SLU to succeed and become a national player in basketball. Suddenly, Majerus garnered a number of player commitments, a couple for the upcoming season and verbals for the following season.

Who would you rather have as the coach, Rick Majerus or Brad Soderberg? That answer is clear and obvious. If Father Biondi, as the President of the University deemed that a change was necessary, he is the boss. He is in charge. Even though there are those who question the method, the means, in the end SLU has a solid coach in place, and frankly, a better one, with a much bigger national name, than the one he replaced.

It is too bad that the AD didn't like the way this happened. But she is not ultimately in charge of the University. There is an old saying about not burning any bridges.

The STL media (in many cases it seems, the de facto Eastern Missouri Chapter of the Mizzou Alumni Association) continues to fuel the fire. I thought that was all over with the Majerus hire. Is the SLU honeymoon now over?

What we really need is for the Cardinals to start playing some good baseball to get the Levick situation out of the sports news.

[slu72]

Look, this thing with UB didn't happen because Biondi got up on the wrong side of the bed one morning and said, "bring me the head of Sodaberger, or whatever the hell his name is!" I'll bet UB's future was in question right after the GW game, but CL somehow got him a reprieve to see what he would bring in during Spring signing. When some of his targets started signing elsewhere or not signing quick enough, it was becoming clear the recruiting woes were continuing. And who knows what kind of feedback Biondi was getting about the 2008 class? FJ had an offer but didn't accept like his teammates accepted SIU's. Larry B was not ignorant of the fact that if UB signed a bunch of Obi's and Horace Dixons this fall, there would be zero enthusiasm for the team that was opening his brand new $80mil arena. UB was going to have hit a homerun, and there were doubts he could even get an infield single. Biondi couldn't afford to take the gamble any longer. I think CL was involved every step of the way. Billikan says she was. She just didn't agree and felt it was her decision alone to make. She got over ruled by the Big Kahuna. Happens everyday in business and probably more often in college sports. The bottom line is we got us a great coach whose signing promising kids early. Give Larry B a break. If Bernie had half a nut he would have asked CL something like, "Well, you've got to agree with RM on board the program makes a huge leap forward, right?" Remember, it was only about 4 months ago he or someone interviewed CL about Brad's status and she became pretty defensive about it, and said he was doing a good job and his future secure.

[Bay Area Billiken]

IMO, the answer was to not take the AD's recommendation, and rather do just what Father Biondi did, namely hire Rick Majerus.

SLU has received more positive national attention following the Majerus hire than it has received literally in years, if not close to a decade. Basketball fans knew about SLU when Spoon was at the helm, including when Larry Hughes was a Freshman. And people knew about the Miracle of Memphis when Kenyon Martin went down, the Act of God Game. But after that ...

The Levick situation will pass with time. SLU will have a new AD in place.

I would not mind having a gladhander type as the AD, one that will get along well with Rick Majerus and one that will be good with the media. We need positive vibes. SLU is headed in the right direction.

[billiken_roy]

slu72 said,

"She got over ruled by the Big Kahuna. Happens everyday in business and probably more often in college sports. The bottom line is we got us a great coach whose signing promising kids early. Give Larry B a break."

slu72, did you ever work for a boss that cut you at the knees and totally humiliated you in your workplace?

assuming you did, do you still work for that person?

assuming you dont, do you now think back fondly of what a great person that person was?

[cheeseman]

As I said earlier in another thread, CL had somewhat diminished herself when she had to tell Father Biondi that she could not pull off selling the nameing rights. He took that over and in about 6 weeks - as explained by CL herself - he got the money and the name done. I really believe that when she came to him that he started to wonder about the financial situation regarding the arena and started talking to people - the big donors I mean - and discovered that there was not a great deal of support for Brad. For those of you who have read the tix package for the new arena you know that it was going take a big name coach or an exciting program which SLU had neither. When CL took her recommendation to Wexleman he said, not so fast, I think Father Biondi might be thinking about another direction. CL was upset because she had implied to Brad that he was secure at least for the next year. As Biondi pondered what to do, she was clear in her support of Brad for now and finally had to give in when Biondi said sorry Brad has to go. Afterall, we know that Brad was not officially released until he had a meeting with Biondi that he requested. The problem was, that RM wanted to talk with the #1 guy since he knew that his requests were going to exceed what SLU had done before. CL as Billikan has said was in the loop just not the one bargaining with RM. I understand how CL felt but what we don't know is if she was given a chance to extricate herself but choose not to do so. Perhaps or Perhaps not - only she and Biondi know for sure. I think she also had probably butted heads with Biondi before over some stuff and so when the Brad thing came up Biondi probably got a little indifferent about her - once again who knows. One thing I have learned is that someone will want this AD job because there is a limited number of AD jobs available with a high profile coach and a new arena coming in. Someone can make a name for themselves here - getting the arena open without a hitch, working with RM, fixing the A10 thing, and upgrading other sports. Sorry that CL felt she had to leave I think she was good for SLU but life goes on.

[slu72]

Broy, many times. I don't know of anyone whose ever worked who don't have their fair share of nightmare boss stories. That's why I started my own business. I got sick of it. Cheryl did too. I admire anyone that doesn't complain about it, but instead just moves on. Still, I'm not going to fault Biondi for being a Steinbrenner in this case. SLU hoops needed a big kick in the pants and the Good Father delivered it.

[aj_arete]

Surprising to hear that from the sanctimonious SLU crowd.

[brianstl]

That seems to be the feeling of some people on here.

[billiken_roy]

slu72, i have no problem with the "big kick in the pants".

my problem was in the way he kicked. hiring of majerus should have been a win win from all angles. no question we have hired a great coach. sure we got the coach, but in turn we alienated a lot of folks to get there by the jerk off path to get there.