Thoughts on Romar

[Pistol]

it had nothing to do with his academics that he didnt stay around. in fact he did splendid at slu in the classroom. his not staying around was all about tatum vs romar personalitywise. i doubt lorenzo was invited to justin's wedding.

btw, tatum has a 6th or 7th grade son that is a pure stud.

Splendid in the classroom? You must have him mixed up with someone else. Tatum was a nightmare in the classroom. His last year there he was still taking a freshman math class, and on the rare occasions he showed up, he spent the whole class hitting on the young grad student teacher in front of the whole class. His attitude and poor work ethic caused issues with Romar, a guy who could keep a lot of other less-than-perfect students at least somewhat in line.

[billiken_roy]

Splendid in the classroom? You must have him mixed up with someone else. Tatum was a nightmare in the classroom. His last year there he was still taking a freshman math class, and on the rare occasions he showed up, he spent the whole class hitting on the young grad student teacher in front of the whole class. His attitude and poor work ethic caused issues with Romar, a guy who could keep a lot of other less-than-perfect students at least somewhat in line.

ok, splendid was overboard. but he did make up the ncaa shortcomings to get that year back. that isnt an easy task especially at a school the magnitude of slu.

[Pistol]

ok, splendid was overboard. but he did make up the ncaa shortcomings to get that year back. that isnt an easy task especially at a school the magnitude of slu.

I'll give you that.

And p diddy, thanks for listing the guys Romar had waiting in the wings. I forgot about Jamaal Tatum. He and Grimes had some off-court issues in college but since we're playing a game of 'what if' anyway, you never know how those kids turn out differently with a different coach in a different school. His player relationships were so good that I'd be surprised to see guys act up to a serious degree on his watch.

[kevinfootes]

ok, splendid was overboard. but he did make up the ncaa shortcomings to get that year back. that isnt an easy task especially at a school the magnitude of slu.

I never attended another university, but I remember one or two athletes at SLU who had no business being in college. They both managed to stay eligible for a few semesters. SLU seems to have a good academic reputation, but I have to wonder what was going on with these particular athletes.

[Clock_Tower]

Romar made his share of recruiting mistakes here, but I know for a fact that Jamal Tatum was coming to SLU until he left for U-Dub. He was very upset when he found out he was leaving. Taj Gray was also going to come to SLU and sit out a year. Romar had also fostered a great relationship with the Grimes family, so it was a solid bet that Grimes was coming aboard as well.

bad boyz for life

P diddy. Thanks for you input. Help me out, though, on a timeline of these events. Romar left for Washington after the season in probably late March/early April. Are you saying that Taj Gray would have signed that same Spring, or if he was to sit out a year, then the upcoming Fall to then play in what was Brad's second year. Also, Jamal Tatum would not have played until what was Brad's second year. Therefore, I ask how these 2 would have helped SLU for what was Brad's first year - what would have been Romar's 4th year. Without a good 4th year, there might not have been a 5th year. Even with a 5th year, we'd then be relying purely upon Freshmen.

I say this with all seriousness. While I was a big fan of Romar's when he was here, and while I admit the guy has some coaching and recruiting ability, he did average to good with Spoon's guys and then brought in nobody. Chris Sloan was a nice player but not a recruiting accomplishment. Nick Kern not only did not play at SLU but he never played ANYWHERE and Romar knew, or should have known this when he cried on camera during his farewell. ?Who was he going to play if he stayed for his 4th year here at SLU? Romar and Tatum were finished, Romar's ONLY recruit the year prior - Randy Pulley - both flunked out and had a bad attitude. Obviously, he did not wise up even after he left and went to Mizzou. Jason Edwin flunked out. The other kid had health issues and never played.

Brad's finest hour, unfortunately, may have been his first hour when he scrambled to get Ohanon and Drejaj. Then he got Tom Frericks. Without them, he would not have been in position to get KL and TL. Same can be said with Romar, by not replacing Spoon's good classes - losing Pulley and having no one else - and then losing Tatum, Kern, Edwin and the other kid for health reasons, I doubt if SLU would have been in position to land Taj Gray and Jamal Tatum the following year had Romar stayed and we won only 10 games.

Why does Romar keep getting a free pass on his lack of recruiting? Ryan Hollins would have been all that was left following 2 years of recruiting!! To me, Romar stuck-out like Brad did for 2 years. Romar just talked a much better game.

Pistol. Regarding your comments about Brad, I cut him more slack than other, in large part, because SLU's largest attraction - its high profile conference - disappeared under Brad. Clearly, this was not his fault but definitely made the SLU job much harder. Without the glamour of playing in Conf USA, the lack of facilities and budgets stood out even more. Also, because Brad had actually landed Ohanon, Frericks and Drejaj, followed up by TL and KL, he proved he could recruit and I truly assumed he could recruit but that we/he simply had bad luck. Romar never recruited - never proved it. Instead, his best recruiting was what would have been.

[slufanskip]

I'm curious as to why all the guys Romar had waiting in the wings never committed. It seems to be the norm that when you make up your mind you commit, but not Romar's sure things, they just give the double secret handshake.

[MusicCityBilliken]

P diddy. Thanks for you input. Help me out, though, on a timeline of these events. Romar left for Washington after the season in probably late March/early April. Are you saying that Taj Gray would have signed that same Spring, or if he was to sit out a year, then the upcoming Fall to then play in what was Brad's second year. Also, Jamal Tatum would not have played until what was Brad's second year. Therefore, I ask how these 2 would have helped SLU for what was Brad's first year - what would have been Romar's 4th year. Without a good 4th year, there might not have been a 5th year. Even with a 5th year, we'd then be relying purely upon Freshmen.

I say this with all seriousness. While I was a big fan of Romar's when he was here, and while I admit the guy has some coaching and recruiting ability, he did average to good with Spoon's guys and then brought in nobody. Chris Sloan was a nice player but not a recruiting accomplishment. Nick Kern not only did not play at SLU but he never played ANYWHERE and Romar knew, or should have known this when he cried on camera during his farewell. ?Who was he going to play if he stayed for his 4th year here at SLU? Romar and Tatum were finished, Romar's ONLY recruit the year prior - Randy Pulley - both flunked out and had a bad attitude. Obviously, he did not wise up even after he left and went to Mizzou. Jason Edwin flunked out. The other kid had health issues and never played.

Brad's finest hour, unfortunately, may have been his first hour when he scrambled to get Ohanon and Drejaj. Then he got Tom Frericks. Without them, he would not have been in position to get KL and TL. Same can be said with Romar, by not replacing Spoon's good classes - losing Pulley and having no one else - and then losing Tatum, Kern, Edwin and the other kid for health reasons, I doubt if SLU would have been in position to land Taj Gray and Jamal Tatum the following year had Romar stayed and we won only 10 games.

It was mentioned Justin Tatum did not hit it off with Romer. I recall coming into St Louis during Spoon's last season to catch the Cincy game. It was on Valentines Day of 1999. A day or so prior I made it over to the West Pine Gym to observe practice. I recall Spoon getting so frustrated with Justin that he threw him out of the gym.

Concerning Frericks, I believe he came Brads 2nd year. Kenny Brown, who Romer recruited, was Brads center his 1st year. I always thought Kenny did nice job in the paint. Also Fisher, who was one of my favorite players from that time period, came with Romer. Josh would been one of RM favorites on how he played the game.

[Clock_Tower]

I'm curious as to why all the guys Romar had waiting in the wings never committed. It seems to be the norm that when you make up your mind you commit, but not Romar's sure things, they just give the double secret handshake.

Believe the reason is that they guys waiting in the wings were high school juniors. As far as local kids saying they definitely want to go SLU, have heard that many times before. Let's be honest, very few local kids have ever said, early on, that they won't go to SLU. Instead, SLU has always been the "safe" school for most high school sophomores and juniors. We are always in their "top 5." Once they get their offer from SLU, then they start looking for better offers. Seems like when that offer from G'Town then comes in, Jahidi White picks them over us, Chris Carawell picks Duke over us ... and recently Stemler picks IU and Harrelson picks UK over us.

RM has changed things dramatically. We now have kids from OR and WI and next year from OH, TX, KS and 2 from Austrailia. Local kids will not dominate our team under RM and the local kids we do get will need to make their wishes known and commit once an offer does come.