Uh-oh, P-D article

[SShoe]

I think you just proposed a good question. I'm not sure how I would answer it. I really think a move to the MVC would be a huge mistake for the long term potential of our program,but Rick sure has us moving in the right direction.

I would prefer the A-10 and I do believe it gives us the better chance at becoming BIG TIME, whatever that means to the members of this board. But I also do not think it's an absolute must - see Butler, Gonzaga, Utah (during Majerus' tenure), etc.

I have also become less and less convinced that if a conference realignment were to occur, we would be left out if we were in the MVC. I think this would be especially true if Majerus is successful in sustaining success over the next five or so years.

[cheeseman]

I know you are smarter than that - you know exactly what I mean (i.e. it has nothing to do with Majerus feelings about our conference affiliation). I will stop donating to SLU athletics based on the fact that the most well-known representative of the school cannot stop saying inappropriate things - this was just one more straw, in my case, the last straw.

Now, I am stuck with current ticket policy, but all of the rest of my donations are going to continue to go to another part of the University and the money that was earmarked for SLU athletics will be very well received by the other charities that I support. Life is too short to spend my money on people who espouse views which are inconsistent with my value system.

He is supposed to be teaching these kids to do the right thing. Instead, he is teaching them that when they get a job and do not like the way things are, just shoot their mouth off as much as they can to anyone who will listen. That will get them fired. Nice lesson, Rick.

Posting your intentions here accomplishes nothing - you need to let Chris May know. I too am not happy with his constant complaining - I wish he would grow up too but apparently that is not in his nature. I am not yet at the point as you but I could be pushed there.

[Scoop]

I think you just proposed a good question. I'm not sure how I would answer it. I really think a move to the MVC would be a huge mistake for the long term potential of our program,but Rick sure has us moving in the right direction.

I agree. The MVC is a novelty. And one that is not even that good as of late. I'm sorry but I don't want to watch us play VCU on bracketbuster Saturday. Considering this move would be a huge mistake and a nail in the mid-major coffin.

[SShoe]

the mvc would be the death of the program. we might as well have lady gaga as our coach if we are going to be sentenced to the mvc.

Why? I could easily name at least 4 MVC teams that I would gladly switch resumes with over the last ten years.

Again, I prefer the A-10 - it's a better conference and it improves our marketability some. But I don't think conference affiliation is a direct precursor for increased success.

[cheeseman]

+1

One of the first thing Rickma was probably told after the game was the snow had started and they were probably going to be stranded in Philly for to more days. I would be pissed to if I was the one ultimately held responsible for the academic progress for the kids on the team. It isn't like the team will be able to do anything besides stay in their hotel rooms while their. It is pretty hard to get around when their is over 3 feet of snow on the ground. Cabin fever has to be getting to them all.

While I too would be upset about being stuck some where lets not forget that they are only stuck today so far the rest of their stay in Philly was always planned.

[cheeseman]

My only concern with all this complaining by him is that it can give the kids an excuse for not doing well in school or playing well. A boss/leader does not want to give his/her employees any excuse for not succeeding - leadership 101. How will this help recruiting - gee coach Moser why would I come to SLU and find myself stuck in airports and snow storms all the time? Well it is not that bad really - no one can control the weather. Yeah but that is not what the head coach said - you know what I like you and the school a lot but maybe I will weigh my other options it is early in the recruiting process - thanks coach.

As far as the A10 coming up with a scheduling process that benefits us - they would have to do the same for all the other teams. Besides some would then ###### that we have to play Dayton and X twice and we don't get any of the cupcakes - something we have already heard on this board about this year's schedule.

If this really comes down to a head to head battle with RM vs Biondi - then I can assure you we will be looking for a new coach. Biondi would scorch the earth before he gave in to anybody.

[cheeseman]

Part of Coach's frustration may come from the abysmal state of air travel in St. Louis today. Not that long ago, St. Louis was a "hub city," meaning that direct flights to Philadelphia, Rochester, New York, etc. were available to the traveler. Now, unless one is going on Southwest, that isn't the case. So, in many cases, travel is - fly to O'Hare, change planes, and go on to the East Coast.

The worst example is St. Bonaventure - fly to Chicago, then change planes to Rochester, and take a bus ride for 1-1/2 hours. It wasn't good before, because you could fly US Air to Rochester, direct, but that isn't possible any more.

Whether we are experiencing a blizzard of Biblical proportions, or not, that doesn't have an impact on the availability of direct flights.

The problem with this is that he wants to be in the town 2 days before the game so it does not matter how many flights there are in or out the same number of days of class would still be lost.

[slu72]

My only concern with all this complaining by him is that it can give the kids an excuse for not doing well in school or playing well. A boss/leader does not want to give his/her employees any excuse for not succeeding - leadership 101. How will this help recruiting - gee coach Moser why would I come to SLU and find myself stuck in airports and snow storms all the time? Well it is not that bad really not that bad- no one can control the weather. Yeah but that is not what the head coach said - you know what I like you and the school a lot but maybe I will weigh my other options it is early in the recruiting process - thanks coach.

As far as the A10 coming up with a scheduling process that benefits us - they would have to do the same for all the other teams. Besides some would then ###### that we have to play Dayton and X twice and we don't get any of the cupcakes - something we have already heard on this board about this year's schedule.

If this really comes down to a head to head battle with RM vs Biondi - then I can assure you we will be looking for a new coach. Biondi would scorch the earth before he gave in to anybody.

Playing UD and XU twice should make us better. No complaints there.

[cheeseman]

I'd much rather have Rick Majerus as our coach for the next five years and play in the MVC than play in the A-10 and take our chances with someone else...even Moser.

Here is the problem with this idea - I doubt that RM would be able to sign the players he is getting now if we were in the MVC so we would not be where we are now in our recruiting. I really think that players who are being recruited by other MVC teams and us are picking us because of the better league we are in. You simply can not assume that all the same things would happen if we change leagues.

[willie]

The problem with this is that he wants to be in the town 2 days before the game so it does not matter how many flights there are in or out the same number of days of class would still be lost.

I also don't understand the 2 day thing. I don't know of anyone else doing this.

[Cowboy]

I also don't understand the 2 day thing. I don't know of anyone else doing this.

-i don't get this part either

[SShoe]

Here is the problem with this idea - I doubt that RM would be able to sign the players he is getting now if we were in the MVC so we would not be where we are now in our recruiting. I really think that players who are being recruited by other MVC teams and us are picking us because of the better league we are in. You simply can not assume that all the same things would happen if we change leagues.

Generally speaking, I agree that there is a recruiting benefit to being in the A-10 vs. MVC, but again, I point to the success of other small conference teams (Butler, Gonzaga, etc.) as evidence of coaches being able to recruit in lesser conferences. Majerus' track record itself is a great indicator of how someone can recruit effectively in a lower conference.

By no means do I want to leave the A10 for the Valley. But at this point, I'd like to see the school do what it can to make Rick happy again, which seems to include having chartered flights, instead of saying, "Sorry you don't like it, here's the door."

[billiken_roy]

Generally speaking, I agree that there is a recruiting benefit to being in the A-10 vs. MVC, but again, I point to the success of other small conference teams (Butler, Gonzaga, etc.) as evidence of coaches being able to recruit in lesser conferences. Majerus' track record itself is a great indicator of how someone can recruit effectively in a lower conference.

By no means do I want to leave the A10 for the Valley. But at this point, I'd like to see the school do what it can to make Rick happy again, which seems to include having chartered flights, instead of saying, "Sorry you don't like it, here's the door."

that's the problem. rickma isnt playing fair. the problem is he is inconvienenced because apparently biondi reneged on a promise made at the onset of rickma's employment. for that, i totally sympathize with rickma. a promise should be a promise.

but rickma instead of fighting that battle, has to drag the kids into it. he takes them out of school earlier than he has to and he spotlights them in the press worldwide. then he drags us the fans into it by making a war about a hot topic that the casual fans dont really understand the real point of view of slu. and of course he infuriates the media by shirking his radio show. never does he publically state this is about his own personal battle, instead blaming slu for all his other created issues.

if it was just rickma vs biondi, behind closed doors, hey have at it big rick. but no, he has to drag the rest of the world into it as well. well i hope biondi decides to fight fire with fire. because i am sick of it.

do you job of managing a basketball team rick. you were handed the keys and yes one perk has been taken away but that hardly cripples your approach. deal with it and leave the kids, the fans and everyone else out of the little side battle.

[SluSignGuy]

May seem like a silly question, but I don't think I have heard any public statement from Biondi regarding any of this.

I think he is actually playing it smart by just letting Rick make headlines, since if Biondi got public about it, it would definitely make headlines.

[SShoe]

that's the problem. rickma isnt playing fair. the problem is he is inconvienenced because apparently biondi reneged on a promise made at the onset of rickma's employment. for that, i totally sympathize with rickma. a promise should be a promise.

but rickma instead of fighting that battle, has to drag the kids into it. he takes them out of school earlier than he has to and he spotlights them in the press worldwide. then he drags us the fans into it by making a war about a hot topic that the casual fans dont really understand the real point of view of slu. and of course he infuriates the media by shirking his radio show. never does he publically state this is about his own personal battle, instead blaming slu for all his other created issues.

if it was just rickma vs biondi, behind closed doors, hey have at it big rick. but no, he has to drag the rest of the world into it as well. well i hope biondi decides to fight fire with fire. because i am sick of it.

do you job of managing a basketball team rick. you were handed the keys and yes one perk has been taken away but that hardly cripples your approach. deal with it and leave the kids, the fans and everyone else out of the little side battle.

I'm not sure how he's dragging the players into this. It's not as if he said, "Kyle Cassity failed his World History 201 course because he had to travel to the east coast." He pointed out the obvious, that the additional travel is tough on the team from an academic standpoint. Personally, I think he's exaggerating some, but I fail to see how they're spotlighted.

We also have no clue what's been said behind closed doors. For all we know, Biondi told Rick that he would like to give the Charter flights back and/or move him to the Valley, but the Board of Trustees won't change their mind unless someone creates a media storm.

[cheeseman]

May seem like a silly question, but I don't think I have heard any public statement from Biondi regarding any of this.

I think he is actually playing it smart by just letting Rick make headlines, since if Biondi got public about it, it would definitely make headlines.

+1

The problem is a boiling pot will only continue to boil and usually ends up overflowing.

Something that has crossed my mind is maybe RM understands about the financial aspect of the charter flights and is not actually upset about that so much as if the flights are gone then maybe we should get out of the league and go somewhere else where the charter flights are not an issue - who knows.

[MB73]

Man, it sure sounds like he and Biondi are setting the stage for a match of true heavyweights.... make that the super heavyweight division. That comment about learning from your mistakes can't be going down easy for Fr. Larry. I don't get it, since bad weather around the country has probably socked in a lot of teams. And when he was HC at Utah was he complaining about all the class time missed when the UTES went to the NCAA's? I don't know what to make of his constant rants against travel re us being in the A-10. Yeah, it's a pain to be stuck in Philadelphia for a whole week, remember WC Fields' epitath, "I'd rather be here than in Philadelphia", but is the weather Fr. Biondi's fault? Heck, if we were in the MVC we're more likely to get stuck in Des Moines for a week after playing just one game. I just hope all this hoopla is rolling off the players backs like excess sweat. C'mon, RM, you got these kids playing good ball and finally giving Bills' fans some hope for a bright future, please lay off this stuff until the end of the season. And correct me if I'm wrong, aren't we under some sort of contract w/ the A-10 and would have to pay a pretty large amount to get out of it? That right there should make this point moot. One more thing, I still think what may be behind all this is he thinks he'd have a team that could dominate the MVC, whereas that's gonna be a lot tougher to achieve in the A-10. Just a theory.

It is not just the weather, as many of you frame it. That is just an additional negative factor.

Because of commerical flights limitations, they generally have to leave early and stay late.

Then, in this case, they stayed in Philly after Saturday's game rather than fly home one day and turn around and leave the same night or the next morning. Fly home Sunday, then leave again Monday morning? With a charter they fly home Sat pm, leave Monday after classes pm.

The issue is Biondi reneged on the promise for charter flights.

[MB73]

I'd much rather have Rick Majerus as our coach for the next five years and play in the MVC than play in the A-10 and take our chances with someone else...even Moser.

Great point... but some posters do not like RM because he has not been nice to them like Sodie, etc... so they support Biondi and our cheap ###### athletic department... want a top 50 program but make student athletes take commerical flights to RI, Mass, NY, Philly, etc, back and forth for Saturday - Tuesday games.

[willie]

It is not just the weather, as many of you frame it. That is just an additional negative factor.

Because of commerical flights limitations, they generally have to leave early and stay late.

Then, in this case, they stayed in Philly after Saturday's game rather than fly home one day and turn around and leave the same night or the next morning. Fly home Sunday, then leave again Monday morning? With a charter they fly home Sat pm, leave Monday after classes pm.

The issue is Biondi reneged on the promise for charter flights.

We keep saying Biondi reneged. Do we really know that this is true? Billikan said several weeks ago that this wasn't necessarily so.

[MB73]

the mvc would be the death of the program. we might as well have lady gaga as our coach if we are going to be sentenced to the mvc.

Ridiculous statment.

MVC has been as successful as A-10 last 7 yrs... this yr A-10 is superior.

So what.

It is the nature of most mid majors to fluctuate, look how dominate GW and St. Joe were for several yrs, now are ca-ca.

[MB73]

We keep saying Biondi reneged. Do we really know that this is true? Billikan said several weeks ago that this wasn't necessarily so.

It is true for all intents and purposes.

When RM came on board, it was one of the conditions for RM's regime, since he recognized the travel issues with the A-10.

It was all over the papers, quotes, etc.

As it relates to legal contracts, etc, who knows, probably not.

But since you have not heard from May or Biondi on this matter for over a month, it is clear that they reneged.

(now comes the spin from RM haters and Biondi supporters that "no, they did not renege, blah, blah")

[moytoy12]

It is true for all intents and purposes.

When RM came on board, it was one of the conditions for RM's regime, since he recognized the travel issues with the A-10.

It was all over the papers, quotes, etc.

As it relates to legal contracts, etc, who knows, probably not.

But since you have not heard from May or Biondi on this matter for over a month, it is clear that they reneged.

(now comes the spin from RM haters and Biondi supporters that "no, they did not renege, blah, blah")

Wow. I neither love nor hate RM, but thanks for that stream of nonsense. It gave me a good laugh.

1. We don't know who reneged on what, if anything. Billikan says that the travel was set in advance. Why didn't RM moan about it then?

2. Who knows what RM's contract says. LOL. It could say, you get "x" perks if finances allow and/or at the discretion of the school president or board of trustees.

3. I'm tired of hearing RM gripe. Instead of talking about to road wins by an up-and-coming team, we're talking about his loud-mouth statements. For a guy that cares about the kids so much, he is stealing their limelight.

RM sure seems to be the king of "do as i say and not as i do". I hate those type of bosses.

[Majerus Magic]

Wow. I neither love nor hate RM, but thanks for that stream of nonsense. It gave me a good laugh.

1. We don't know who reneged on what, if anything. Billikan says that the travel was set in advance. Why didn't RM moan about it then?

2. Who knows what RM's contract says. LOL. It could say, you get "x" perks if finances allow and/or at the discretion of the school president or board of trustees.

3. I'm tired of hearing RM gripe. Instead of talking about to road wins by an up-and-coming team, we're talking about his loud-mouth statements. For a guy that cares about the kids so much, he is stealing their limelight.

RM sure seems to be the king of "do as i say and not as i do". I hate those type of bosses.

This whole travel thing is a smoke screen. It's complete ###### and frankly I dunno why we are still talking about it.

To me, it has become evident that Majerus wants to be in the MVC so he can dominate. That's it.

Does anyone think he had charter flights at Utah? No.

And MB73, before you label me a Majerus hater, look at my screen name.

Also, if Majerus cared so much about student academics why the hell does he leave 2 days early? Why not leave 1 day early? Better yet, why didn't he become a professor?

[slu72 fan]

I know most won't agree with this, but I believe the Good Father has spoken. The team is flying commercial, and RM is being shown what travel in the MVC would be like. The change in travel came after RM continued to publicly state his opinions after being told not to air his thoughts through the media.

RM cannot win a war with the Good Father.

It's probably time to start a poll on how long he'll be here. I wouldn't be shocked if he's not coaching on Saturday. His comments in the paper were totally out of place, and he wouldn't be working for me any longer.

As I've said before, the absolute shame is that the light is so close we can almost touch it. RM, please, just coach and recruit. You're the best in my 40 years of following the Bills. Two road wins is something to celebrate and here we are, amongst the most loyal of Billiken fans, and frankly, no joy!

[bonwich]

Ray Hartmann gave me a great piece of advice about 30 years ago: "Joe, he may be an a**hole, but he's our a**hole." (About a very valuable source who also happened to be a major PITA to deal with.)

The description applies to any number of players in this little drama. Professionally, I think Coach should be ashamed of himself for doing this in public in the middle of a season -- but I also think the U should stop using the Man For All Seasons defense.