money wins at slu

[floridaguy]

Certainly I will not debate which league SLU should be in. But, the negatives of commercial flights for all sports to the east coast, missed class times and some lack of who cares opponents that most conferences may have all are valid points for moving, esp missed class and not to mention travel budgets spent getting kids there. This obviously is overruled by one thing-money. The tv contract was butchered as we know by former commish, so not sure about that one, why does SLU continue to preach academics, academic reputation and all when our basketball team has missed over half of their classes. Is one tutor helping them get through it? I doubt it. Commercial flights are not easy anymore folks from the LOO, any layovers make for an all day event traveling, is this what we want our kids doing at our "academic power" what a bunch of hypocrites. I don't want to say this league over that they all have pluses and minuses, but cmon, kids flying to St. Bonaventure or Fordham, that is ludicrous, every league will have its favorites and rivals we all know that and some yawners but missing half of the classes is not acceptable with anything SLU has ever stood for. Guess there trying to be like the big boys now and forgo class to gain exposure and more money, boys, the school mission is changing,esp if Biondi gets out of the way. SLU cannot get it right trying to figure out their identity has always been the hardest part of that place. I just hope Biondi stays out of the way to allow Rick to work his majic, cause he can coach, arent we paying him like a million to do that by the way? If regular students missed half of their classes in the first month do they pass, just curious? Ya, we should stay in the A-10,and to the dumb*&^ that said SMS guys are parking your car and getting your bags, what are you Rodney Dangerfield in caddyshack?

[GOSLU68]

Certainly I will not debate which league SLU should be in. But, the negatives of commercial flights for all sports to the east coast, missed class times and some lack of who cares opponents that most conferences may have all are valid points for moving, esp missed class and not to mention travel budgets spent getting kids there. This obviously is overruled by one thing-money. The tv contract was butchered as we know by former commish, so not sure about that one, why does SLU continue to preach academics, academic reputation and all when our basketball team has missed over half of their classes. Is one tutor helping them get through it? I doubt it. Commercial flights are not easy anymore folks from the LOO, any layovers make for an all day event traveling, is this what we want our kids doing at our "academic power" what a bunch of hypocrites. I don't want to say this league over that they all have pluses and minuses, but cmon, kids flying to St. Bonaventure or Fordham, that is ludicrous, every league will have its favorites and rivals we all know that and some yawners but missing half of the classes is not acceptable with anything SLU has ever stood for. Guess there trying to be like the big boys now and forgo class to gain exposure and more money, boys, the school mission is changing,esp if Biondi gets out of the way. SLU cannot get it right trying to figure out their identity has always been the hardest part of that place. I just hope Biondi stays out of the way to allow Rick to work his majic, cause he can coach, arent we paying him like a million to do that by the way? If regular students missed half of their classes in the first month do they pass, just curious? Ya, we should stay in the A-10,and to the dumb*&^ that said SMS guys are parking your car and getting your bags, what are you Rodney Dangerfield in caddyshack?

Bob Dole made sure KU and KState had their own planes much less charter when he was a Senator a hundred years ago; what will it take SLU to get with the times; recruits would be dumb to ride busses when they can fly charter or better

[Taj79]

I do not believe it fair to compare SLU to Kansas or KState. Or Mizzou. Or Texas, Alabama or Virginia Tech. Again, what does Xavier do? Marquette? Creighton? Tulane? Butler? Gonzaga? DePaul? St. Joe's?

I can see issues too that are not easily translatable .... Creighton might fly to big, non-conference games in Dayton or Dallas, but hen bus to Northern Iowa and Wichitq State because of the reduction in distance for league games. As the westernmost outpost in the A14, that may not be an option for SLU. Closest school --- Dayton -- is six hours by bus. But let's compare apples to apples.

[slu72]

I do not believe it fair to compare SLU to Kansas or KState. Or Mizzou. Or Texas, Alabama or Virginia Tech. Again, what does Xavier do? Marquette? Creighton? Tulane? Butler? Gonzaga? DePaul? St. Joe's?

I can see issues too that are not easily translatable .... Creighton might fly to big, non-conference games in Dayton or Dallas, but hen bus to Northern Iowa and Wichitq State because of the reduction in distance for league games. As the westernmost outpost in the A14, that may not be an option for SLU. Closest school --- Dayton -- is six hours by bus. But let's compare apples to apples.

IF, big IF, this A-10 alliance is that big a deal with the powers that be, and it seems to be, forget the Valley. And I agree if we're staying then let 'em fly charter. It's a must. But shouldn't Fr. B be going to CM and saying something like, "we've got to build a coalition of schools to force the A-10 into some changes." First, the terrible TV deal. If Vitale is right and we are a power 6 conference why is our TV contract worse than the Patriot League? Second, there's 14 schools. Some have lousy facilities, some have no commitment to hoops, some can't draw more than 600 people to a game. Give those schools a two year window to improve or move on. Have the conf split into two divisions to ease travel. There are 3 schools in the so called mid-west. Duquense could be a western school and add Charlotte and Richmond to the west as well. Or look to knock some folks out and replace them with the likes of Creighton, Butler, etc. Vitale's right the geography of conferences is messed up. BC in the ACC makes no sense other than for $$. MU and DePaul in the BE, again makes no sense. So SLU's not the only school struggling with these issues. The A-10, with some bold leadership, has a chance to firmly brand itself as a premiere conference. They have schools with rich basketball traditions, they have schools that embrace their programs, they have access to large markets. The desire to build on these strengths and eliminate the weaknesses is what's required.

[billiken_roy]

the billikens have been in the A-10 for a few years now and all in all the travel has not affected the academic performance in my opinion. maybe they take only one "tutor/academic advisor" on the road with them, but at slu, the assistance the students get, be it tutors, study aids, etc is very commendable. i was told that this year's academic performance by the players is on pace with the norm of most years. and as we know the slu student athlete has been an achiever for a long time.

while we havent seen the specific numbers for this academic year yet, here are a couple of news releases from SLU that dealt with the academic achievements of Billiken athletes from 2008-2009 school year.

http://www.slubillikens.com/genrel/050509aad.html

http://www.slubillikens.com/genrel/061809aac.html

http://www.slubillikens.com/genrel/042209aaa.html

http://www.slubillikens.com/genrel/042709aaa.html

add to the above, teresa lisch was named the 2008-2009 scholar athlete of the year and John DiRaimondo in 2006-2007 for the entire atlantic 10 conference.

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/atl10/...f/scholar09.pdf

keep in mind that the men's basketball team probably is afforded the best accomodations for travel of all the athletic programs, yet all these students still were able to achieve a high level of academic achievement. i think the school is taking care of our students academic challenges just fine.

[griffin/billiken]

the billikens have been in the A-10 for a few years now and all in all the travel has not affected the academic performance in my opinion. maybe they take only one "tutor/academic advisor" on the road with them, but at slu, the assistance the students get, be it tutors, study aids, etc is very commendable. i was told that this year's academic performance by the players is on pace with the norm of most years. and as we know the slu student athlete has been an achiever for a long time.

while we havent seen the specific numbers for this academic year yet, here are a couple of news releases from SLU that dealt with the academic achievements of Billiken athletes from 2008-2009 school year.

http://www.slubillikens.com/genrel/050509aad.html

http://www.slubillikens.com/genrel/061809aac.html

http://www.slubillikens.com/genrel/042209aaa.html

http://www.slubillikens.com/genrel/042709aaa.html

add to the above, teresa lisch was named the 2008-2009 scholar athlete of the year and John DiRaimondo in 2006-2007 for the entire atlantic 10 conference.

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/atl10/...f/scholar09.pdf

keep in mind that the men's basketball team probably is afforded the best accomodations for travel of all the athletic programs, yet all these students still were able to achieve a high level of academic achievement. i think the school is taking care of our students academic challenges just fine.

People are quick to compare Marquette to SLU. Makes sense really. Both are strong academic, Jesuit, midwestern universities.

Despite that, it is a bad comparison. Perhaps unnoticed around here is that Marquette actually spends THE MOST money in the Big East on men's college basketball. Yes, Marquette outspends Syracuse, UCONN, ND, etc. They spend 10 million dollars a year on men's basketball.

To compare MU and SLU seems sensible but is folly as SLU would never/could never spend that kind of money.

[cheeseman]

IF, big IF, this A-10 alliance is that big a deal with the powers that be, and it seems to be, forget the Valley. And I agree if we're staying then let 'em fly charter. It's a must. But shouldn't Fr. B be going to CM and saying something like, "we've got to build a coalition of schools to force the A-10 into some changes." First, the terrible TV deal. If Vitale is right and we are a power 6 conference why is our TV contract worse than the Patriot League? Second, there's 14 schools. Some have lousy facilities, some have no commitment to hoops, some can't draw more than 600 people to a game. Give those schools a two year window to improve or move on. Have the conf split into two divisions to ease travel. There are 3 schools in the so called mid-west. Duquense could be a western school and add Charlotte and Richmond to the west as well. Or look to knock some folks out and replace them with the likes of Creighton, Butler, etc. Vitale's right the geography of conferences is messed up. BC in the ACC makes no sense other than for $$. MU and DePaul in the BE, again makes no sense. So SLU's not the only school struggling with these issues. The A-10, with some bold leadership, has a chance to firmly brand itself as a premiere conference. They have schools with rich basketball traditions, they have schools that embrace their programs, they have access to large markets. The desire to build on these strengths and eliminate the weaknesses is what's required.

It is always easy to spend some one's money other than your own. I have no problem with the school flying charters and have in fact proposed that a program of boosters could be put together to raise the 150 -200K extra that is needed to pull this off. I have said that I would be willing to donate over an above what I already give but that being said, the University has to balance a lot of things to make its overall budget work. I understand these challenges and understand that everybody can not have every thing they want. That being said, this is one issue that the Athletic Dept can resolve on their own by coming up with a plan - they need to do so and maybe they are.

[cheeseman]

the billikens have been in the A-10 for a few years now and all in all the travel has not affected the academic performance in my opinion. maybe they take only one "tutor/academic advisor" on the road with them, but at slu, the assistance the students get, be it tutors, study aids, etc is very commendable. i was told that this year's academic performance by the players is on pace with the norm of most years. and as we know the slu student athlete has been an achiever for a long time.

while we havent seen the specific numbers for this academic year yet, here are a couple of news releases from SLU that dealt with the academic achievements of Billiken athletes from 2008-2009 school year.

http://www.slubillikens.com/genrel/050509aad.html

http://www.slubillikens.com/genrel/061809aac.html

http://www.slubillikens.com/genrel/042209aaa.html

http://www.slubillikens.com/genrel/042709aaa.html

add to the above, teresa lisch was named the 2008-2009 scholar athlete of the year and John DiRaimondo in 2006-2007 for the entire atlantic 10 conference.

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/atl10/...f/scholar09.pdf

keep in mind that the men's basketball team probably is afforded the best accomodations for travel of all the athletic programs, yet all these students still were able to achieve a high level of academic achievement. i think the school is taking care of our students academic challenges just fine.

This charter flight thing is not about academics it is about money and money only. Why should the team fly charters? So they do not miss classes - not true. They would leave on Thursday for their Sat. game whether they are on charters or not. They could return after the game and be back on Sunday but there are no classes then - yes I know that if they have a Wed. game they could come back that night and be in classes on Thurs. but actually if they fly out in the morning on Thurs. they could make it back for afternoon classes - my point simply is that flying commercial only causes them to miss a day or a half a day of classes more than flying charters. Why does RM want to fly charters? - convenience for him and the team that is all. So, if you think flying charters is so important then pony up some money - not all of the money needed but $500 a year from 300 donors could get it done.

[billiken_roy]

This charter flight thing is not about academics it is about money and money only. Why should the team fly charters? So they do not miss classes - not true. They would leave on Thursday for their Sat. game whether they are on charters or not. They could return after the game and be back on Sunday but there are no classes then - yes I know that if they have a Wed. game they could come back that night and be in classes on Thurs. but actually if they fly out in the morning on Thurs. they could make it back for afternoon classes - my point simply is that flying commercial only causes them to miss a day or a half a day of classes more than flying charters. Why does RM want to fly charters? - convenience for him and the team that is all. So, if you think flying charters is so important then pony up some money - not all of the money needed but $500 a year from 300 donors could get it done.

i agree. i said that from the first time rickma said that it was about academics. however his constant harping on that issue requires input to show the casual fans that are quick to say, "hey we should be taking care of the students" that the students are doing just fine over the whole athletic program and the basketball team already gets preferential treatment that the other sports dont get, so if the the overall effect since joining the a-10 is all is well, this (taking the men's basketball charter flights away) hasnt hurt the academics and rickma needs to actually talk about his real point, the personal inconvienence of flying commercial instead of charter and the apparent reneging on his deal with father biondi and leave the kids out of it.