Warmann on RM

[Duff Man]

because of the poor way that rickma handles everything about the program except hands on basketball, the likes of this guy (I have no idea who this warmann guy is) and other local media, second tier boosters, casual fans, ancillary slu employees, area mid town businesses, local metro high school coaches and other potential recruit influences, have this perception. and while sure, rick is gearing up for a couple of good seasons on the court, he has done nothing to actually build the program beyond cream his own recruits to give himself that potential couple of year run.

what is likely going to happen, is he gets his two year run, retires and then the program will quickly regress because he didnt do the other things in program building to sustain his success. of course nothing will be his fault. and the poor followup walks into a firestorm.

too many of you are too close to realize that if the outsiders have this kind of a perception, there is a problem. and while short term rickma can indeed, "show this guy". long term i am afraid we are are going to fall hard.

Isn't advancing to the NCAA tournament in and of itself the single greatest factor in 'growing the program'?

Are all the local media hacks really going to hold their anti-Majerus grudges against the next (more media friendly) coach?

[Tonka]

because of the poor way that rickma handles everything about the program except hands on basketball, the likes of this guy (I have no idea who this warmann guy is) and other local media, second tier boosters, casual fans, ancillary slu employees, area mid town businesses, local metro high school coaches and other potential recruit influences, have this perception. and while sure, rick is gearing up for a couple of good seasons on the court, he has done nothing to actually build the program beyond cream his own recruits to give himself that potential couple of year run.

what is likely going to happen, is he gets his two year run, retires and then the program will quickly regress because he didnt do the other things in program building to sustain his success. of course nothing will be his fault. and the poor followup walks into a firestorm.

too many of you are too close to realize that if the outsiders have this kind of a perception, there is a problem. and while short term rickma can indeed, "show this guy". long term i am afraid we are are going to fall hard.

I would agree with this and it drives me crazy. I am arguing and defending SLU and RM all the time. People hear things and make their own impressions without really knowing the whole situation. But, I think this is human nature and RM and his staff need to deal with this so that when we make our run the next couple of years we have people fighting to getting tickets. Porter does a great job and the more we put his face out there, the better we are. The problem with that thought is that everybdoy knows Majerus and wants it from him.

I am intrigued to see what local media jump on the bandwagon the next couple of years.

[BBall Fan]

because of the poor way that rickma handles everything about the program except hands on basketball, the likes of this guy (I have no idea who this warmann guy is) and other local media, second tier boosters, casual fans, ancillary slu employees, area mid town businesses, local metro high school coaches and other potential recruit influences, have this perception. and while sure, rick is gearing up for a couple of good seasons on the court, he has done nothing to actually build the program beyond cream his own recruits to give himself that potential couple of year run.

what is likely going to happen, is he gets his two year run, retires and then the program will quickly regress because he didnt do the other things in program building to sustain his success. of course nothing will be his fault. and the poor followup walks into a firestorm.

too many of you are too close to realize that if the outsiders have this kind of a perception, there is a problem. and while short term rickma can indeed, "show this guy". long term i am afraid we are are going to fall hard.

LOL Here we go again. Bring back Sodie. He was a true ambassador that grew the program so that RM had an unlimited pipeline in which to draw from. The guy that wrote the story is a Hack that has no idea that the school doesn't even pay RM's salary. Roy just wait unril RM retires and then you can become a Billiken supporter again. Like it or hate it, Rm is the Head Basketball Coach at SLU. I guess you will continue to be disappointed and angry until there is a coach that talks to the media every day, spews about everything, and does nothing. Maybe it is just me, but I find it hard to show so much hate for a future Hall of Fame coach that takes a job at a school that has only 4 NCAA tournament appearances in its history. Personally, I love that RM is at SLU. He brings instant national credibility and has opened recruiting avenues not traveled before at SLU. When was the last time SLU had 5 players on the roster that were 6'8" and above? Just don't understand all the hate.

[brianstl]

If we want to shut up guys like Warmann we simply need to win and stop with the excuses (valid or not) before the season even starts every year. There is nothing that gets more tiring than the constant talking down of the program and the complete lack of expectations Majerus seems to have for the team every time he talks to the media. His job is not just to coach the team, but sell the program to the community too.

Next year could be great, but I have been following this team too long to start counting those chickens before they hatch. I am done getting excited about next year.

The program should have been in a better position to handle the loss of KM and WR than it was.

[brianstl]

LOL Here we go again. Bring back Sodie. He was a true ambassador that grew the program so that RM had an unlimited pipeline in which to draw from. The guy that wrote the story is a Hack that has no idea that the school doesn't even pay RM's salary. Roy just wait unril RM retires and then you can become a Billiken supporter again. Like it or hate it, Rm is the Head Basketball Coach at SLU. I guess you will continue to be disappointed and angry until there is a coach that talks to the media every day, spews about everything, and does nothing. Maybe it is just me, but I find it hard to show so much hate for a future Hall of Fame coach that takes a job at a school that has only 4 NCAA tournament appearances in its history. Personally, I love that RM is at SLU. He brings instant national credibility and has opened recruiting avenues not traveled before at SLU. When was the last time SLU had 5 players on the roster that were 6'8" and above? Just don't understand all the hate.

I don't want to speak for Roy, but I think part of Roy's deal is that he is judging Rickma as a HOF coach. I think that it is fair to expect better results from a HOF coach by this point.

It was time for Sodie to go, but the results of the Rickma era so far are not great.

[Bobby Metzinger]

Rome wasn't built in a day. No coach can turn around what Brad Soderberg left behind. I don't care if it was Robert Montgomery Knight coming in. The Soderberg Era set this University back at least a decade.

[stmdragons]

How exactly were we set back a decade by Soderberg?

[thetorch]

How exactly were we set back a decade by Soderberg?

Here are a few reasons

Vashun Newborne

Obi Ikeakor

Justin Johnson

Adam Knollmeyer

Dustin Macguire

Anthony Mitchell

Horace Dixon

Darren Clarke

[brianstl]

Rome wasn't built in a day. No coach can turn around what Brad Soderberg left behind. I don't care if it was Robert Montgomery Knight coming in. The Soderberg Era set this University back at least a decade.

That's right................. You were telling everybody that it would take at least until Rickma's 5th season before we made the NCAA tournament when he was hired.

[JettFlight5]

If we want to shut up guys like Warmann we simply need to win and stop with the excuses (valid or not) before the season even starts every year. There is nothing that gets more tiring than the constant talking down of the program and the complete lack of expectations Majerus seems to have for the team every time he talks to the media. His job is not just to coach the team, but sell the program to the community too.

Next year could be great, but I have been following this team too long to start counting those chickens before they hatch. I am done getting excited about next year.

The program should have been in a better position to handle the loss of KM and WR than it was.

I was upset at the time that the Athletic Department didn't do more to stop the hearings/suspensions. That's what irritates me the most. It sets up for failure, and guess what, they reap what they sow.

[thetorch]

Scott Warmann has been a glorified intern and stlmedia hanger on for a decade. He's worked at every station, called games for every podunk high school team in MO and ILL. He and Mo Scott used to call the first couple games of the MO Valley tournament that start on a weekday morning, you know when all the actual announcers were working real jobs. What a team that was. KMOX has had so many defections in the past couple years and recently has had to expand their staff since they reacquired Cardinal baseball. Warmann hung around their office until they offered him a job. They let him talk on the radio sometimes when Dan Mclaughlin is on one of his benders. In a town full of recycled media hacks Warmann is the biggest.

I used to fight this attitude in the local media now I embrace it. SLU has been the ugly stepdaughter for as long as I can remember in St. Louis. We are treated with disrespect no matter what goes on. Majerus doesn't care about these people and neither should we. No matter who we have as coach, no matter how much we win, no matter how great the kids in our program are we'll never get credit from the local media or average St. Louis fan. We have what we have. Accept it.

[JettFlight5]

Scott Warmann has been a glorified intern and stlmedia hanger on for a decade. He's worked at every station, called games for every podunk high school team in MO and ILL. He and Mo Scott used to call the first couple games of the MO Valley tournament that start on a weekday morning, you know when all the actual announcers were working real jobs. What a team that was. KMOX has had so many defections in the past couple years and recently has had to expand their staff since they reacquired Cardinal baseball. Warmann hung around their office until they offered him a job. They let him talk on the radio sometimes when Dan Mclaughlin is on one of his benders. In a town full of recycled media hacks Warmann is the biggest.

I used to fight this attitude in the local media now I embrace it. SLU has been the ugly stepdaughter for as long as I can remember in St. Louis. We are treated with disrespect no matter what goes on. Majerus doesn't care about these people and neither should we. No matter who we have as coach, no matter how much we win, no matter how great the kids in our program are we'll never get credit from the local media or average St. Louis fan. We have what we have. Accept it.

If there was a like function, I would press it multiple times. Well said.

[BBall Fan]

I don't want to speak for Roy, but I think part of Roy's deal is that he is judging Rickma as a HOF coach. I think that it is fair to expect better results from a HOF coach by this point.

It was time for Sodie to go, but the results of the Rickma era so far are not great.

23-13 and 4th in the 5th strongest conference in the country 3 years in playing with all freshman and sophmores is pretty good. Most conference wins since 97-98. Without suspensions, RM would have produced exactly what he had said from the beginning. He said KM's junior year would be the year the arrow really goes up. So you want him to come out every year and say we are going to be good this year when he knows we are going to struggle a bit. I would rather hear an honest assesment rather than someone promising something that is a stretch. One thing that cannot be questioned is his honesty as brutally unfiltered as it is.

No it really is not fair to expect better results from a HOF coach by this point when the season was blown up before it started. If this were Duke or Carolina it would be a different story but SLU has never been a hot bed for blue chip recruits. There is no room to lose big contributors much less stars. The basis of that argument explodes when we see 2 programs lose 1 player each and neither are even close to the same teams and they both still have one of their stars. Both blown out against teams they beat in the regular season.

I agree that he could be a little more of an ambassador of the program, but is it going to make a difference when the rag we have in St. Louis likes to put the Billikens on the 7th page of the sports section? We average 7k in a 10k arena and wins will sell it out not RM publicizing the program. The fringe fans Roy talks about are all the bandwagoners that jump on as quickly as they jump off. The Athletic department doesn't help that situation at all. Someone needs to find a way to get away games on TV somewhere. There is no reason there is no TV contract for the only basketball in town.

[Cowboy]

because of the poor way that rickma handles everything about the program except hands on basketball, the likes of this guy (I have no idea who this warmann guy is) and other local media, second tier boosters, casual fans, ancillary slu employees, area mid town businesses, local metro high school coaches and other potential recruit influences, have this perception. and while sure, rick is gearing up for a couple of good seasons on the court, he has done nothing to actually build the program beyond cream his own recruits to give himself that potential couple of year run.

what is likely going to happen, is he gets his two year run, retires and then the program will quickly regress because he didnt do the other things in program building to sustain his success. of course nothing will be his fault. and the poor followup walks into a firestorm.

too many of you are too close to realize that if the outsiders have this kind of a perception, there is a problem. and while short term rickma can indeed, "show this guy". long term i am afraid we are are going to fall hard.

-i appreciate your honesty in calling yourself a second tier booster, i guess i am in that range myself

-many times you have extolled the virtues of gonz and given a reason for their continued success in that they have hung on to coaches and when coaches left they filled from within, yet it appears you want rick gone and given your comments about porter when he was filling in you don't want him to be next

-funny in an ironic sort of way is many of us think we are positioned to have great success (on a SLU scale) for the next couple of seasons and it seems that because rick is on the sideline you and some others won't even enjoy it, i hope we have the success i think we can and quite frankly i will enjoy the heck out of it

-if i have a choice i will take falling hard over sustained mediocrity, at least there was a place to fall from

[brianstl]

We have had one season above .500 in conference play so far in the Rickma era. We have a 1-4 record in the A-10 tournament. We have finished with RPI rankings of 137, 123, 87, and 174. Those are the facts. Let's stop making excuses for everything. We have been making excuses for decades with this program. You are what your record says you are. I expect better results from a HOF coach.

Look, I was happy when we hired Rickma and I am still glad he is our coach. Next year could be great. I am just tired of the excuse making and the always waiting for next year attitude.

[AlumniFan]

Rome wasn't built in a day. No coach can turn around what Brad Soderberg left behind. I don't care if it was Robert Montgomery Knight coming in. The Soderberg Era set this University back at least a decade.

Better to keep your mouth shut and be assumed an idiot than to open it and remove all doubt.

[slu72]

what is likely going to happen, is he gets his two year run, retires and then the program will quickly regress because he didnt do the other things in program building to sustain his success. of course nothing will be his fault. and the poor followup walks into a firestorm.

too many of you are too close to realize that if the outsiders have this kind of a perception, there is a problem. and while short term rickma can indeed, "show this guy". long term i am afraid we are are going to fall hard.

Broy, I don't know what crystal ball you're gazing into, but please explain to us unwashed masses why the program goes in the toilet after RM leaves? What "other things" are going to bring about failure? The fact he's not huggable and cuddly with the fans and local media? I don't see where that will be a factor in the program's future success. What will be is who they bring in to replace him. Do you know who that's going to be? And besides that's not all that important right now. What is important is what he does here in his final two years. SLU's problem with hoops has been sustainability, a failure to build on the short term successes we've had in the past. The two most obvious periods are Grawer and Spoon. Spoon was a great replacement for Grawer. A great hire by a competent and respected AD. I'll grant you Grawer was treated rather shabbily but still may never have taken us to the level Spoon did, but he did in fact save the program from the abyss. The two coaches between Spoon and RM were bad hires and put the program into its current funk. We don't need to delve into why they were bad hires because that's been beat to death on here countless times in the past. We don't need to go into RM's first four years in trying to rebuild for the same reason. But suffice it to say, besides TL and KL, he was left with a group of D1 walkons, although in hindsight a case for keeping M. Relphorde could be made. Still, the cupboard was largely bare. And keep in mind, we are not a UK or a UNC where the coach is handed a blank check and told to do whatever it takes to bring home a winner. Last year we finally got a look at what RM was trying to build. 23-10 w/ Sophs and Frosh ain't bad. Then BANG! The bomb goes off. So, we are now left with two years of great expectations instead of three. Assume for a moment, he delivers on those expectations and then rides out of town, which we're all pretty sure he'll do. All of a sudden SLU is again faced with the issue, how do we build on his success? It's all about the next coach. Again assuming all goes according to plan, the new HC will be left with a bunch of very experienced and talented SRs. Look at what Lavin did with St. Johns, a SR laden team, this year. Hopefully, our new HC gets the benefit of inheriting this group of FR intact. He'd have to be an idiot to blow a good season if he does. And hopefully, he inherits some decent classes behind this group. If he does, and he's worth his salt, he'll have a pretty good foundation from which to build upon. He won't be facing what both the "incredible" UB and RM faced when they arrived. And to give you a comparable situation to SLU's, look at Indiana and Crean. I've been told by IU alum that the admin is being patient with Crean, because he was to build the program the right way per a dictate from the Admin. No JC shortcuts, no booster involvement, strict NCAA compliance, and he's to avoid the quick fix UK one and done type teams. Way to go IU. You could have easily signed up for the Calipari Program/Method, but you took the high road. And taking the high road in college sports today is taking the long and winding hard road. But if you do travel it, your chances to maintain the success is enhanced. I see that with RM. He was not brought in here to construct a flashy house of cards. He was brought in to construct a program. He's doing it. Maybe not to your liking, because he's a self centered crusty old curmudgeon who doesn't play nice with fans and the local media, but it's hopefully a solid building that will stand the test of time.

[slu72]

We have had one season above .500 in conference play so far in the Rickma era. We have a 1-4 record in the A-10 tournament. We have finished with RPI rankings of 137, 123, 87, and 174. Those are the facts. Let's stop making excuses for everything. We have been making excuses for decades with this program. You are what your record says you are. I expect better results from a HOF coach.

Look, I was happy when we hired Rickma and I am still glad he is our coach. Next year could be great. I am just tired of the excuse making and the always waiting for next year attitude.

Then you should have made an appearance in that Student Kangaroo Court and told those jac*offs how tired and run down this past season was going to make you.

[Bobby Metzinger]

Better to keep your mouth shut and be assumed an idiot than to open it and remove all doubt.

Good one. How long did it take for you to come up with that gem? GTFO.

[billiken_roy]

thanks for all the responses and thoughts to my heartfelt post above. just a few direct rebuttals.

cowboy, yes, i am a second tier fan imo. the top tier are the guys that are paying rickma's salary, sitting center court and have the two digit seniority numbers. the have been there as long as me and given thousands more in money and support. a lot of the johnny come lately fans on this message board like to make fun of them calling them blue hairs and mocking thier lack of physical enthusiasm at the games, but they are the only reason we are able to even have a program. someday i want to be one of them, but for now that is far out of my reach.

the second tier folks are the ones that have been there for a couple of decades and try as hard as they can to give, but just dont have the means. we love the billikens as much as anyone and there are a lot more of us, but personal finances dont allow us to be giving much more than maybe a couple a thousand dollars or so. i would guess if your seniority number isnt in three digits or less you are in the next group.

after that you have the rest. i would bet the majority of this board is the rest. the rest are a combination of johnny come lately's that might crawl up to the next level once they have put some time in, or it is the long timers that maybe had seats before chaifetz but somehow never gave a dime. that group pisses me off because if you had been a second tier booster all those years instead of mooching off someone else's ticket cartell, maybe the slu program would be financially able to be at a higher level today than what it is now.

slu72, it is my opinion that a top program (not counting the likes of duke, north carolina ucla kentucky kansas. they are in a different world)like gonzaga, xavier, butler to degree, that we want to be like, has successfully achieved across the board to get to where they are. they cultivated both media, metropolitan area casual fans, the business commmunity and boosters. this enabled those programs to maximize revenue which gave the program the cash needed to hire the best coaching staff, develop their facilities, enhance their overall athletic department and increase boosters and fans in the seats. that's where loyalty is created. sure winning puts people in the seats, but if everyone isnt tied in and on board long term, the first year that falls off, those pretenders are gone.

spoon was a media darling and loved to get out and smooze the community and played the part with the boosters and fans as well. a pure performer. the community jumped at it and the fans came in droves. so of that was the timing of the casual fan wanting to spend their sports dollars and there being no nfl team in st louis, they spent it on the billikens.

i also think it is ironic that you say rickma isnt here to construct a flashy house of cards. but in my opinion that is pretty much what he is doing by not paying attention to the details and alienating so many of the other aspects of a successful program. thus my beleif that when he leaves the program will descend unless we find a new coach to continue to ponz scheme at the same level or finally find a complete coach.

BBall fan how am i a fringe fan? because i dont like the coach? the fact i still come to the games, have actually increased my level of giving while rickma has been the coach, and i speak passionately about saint louis university the school first, i feel i am more than a fringe fan. i am the fan that cares about slu long term and slu as a university first. i am not sure what you are though. best i can tell you are rickma's chauffer or maid maybe. because you rarely write about saint louis university. you just want to tell us about rick. if i am a fringe billiken fan, then you are nothing more than a rick majerus fan. guess which one(saint louis university or rick majerus) will be here in ten years to root for?

i am sorry it hurts so many of your feelings to hear this warmann guy give his uninformed opinion. but like i said, while it isnt accurate, it is a hard perception that is out in the community. one that wouldnt be there if majerus was more of a coach that did his complete job instead of just creaming his roster annually to just win now.

granted we havent won at a high level since spoon, and it would be nice to just do that again, but call me selfish, but i want something long term. i dont want a two year run in the sun and then back to the last 25 year roller coaster of almost.

[Billiken4life5]

I think Rick believes he is preparing the program for his departure by grooming Porter Moser for the head job. Correct me if I'm wrong but hasn't Rick advocated for PM to get the job when he leaves? I think the way Rick sees it, he'll have his runs in the NCAA tourney and then hand the program off to PM when he's done. Keeping the job in house will mean almost all the assistants stay and very little change overall. This continuity will give PM a great shot at continuing the success that Rick will achieve in the next two years. Now I have no idea if this will actually happen but I think it's Rick's view of the future of the program.

[eastsidejoe]

thanks for all the responses and thoughts to my heartfelt post above. just a few direct rebuttals.

cowboy, yes, i am a second tier fan imo. the top tier are the guys that are paying rickma's salary, sitting center court and have the two digit seniority numbers. the have been there as long as me and given thousands more in money and support. a lot of the johnny come lately fans on this message board like to make fun of them calling them blue hairs and mocking thier lack of physical enthusiasm at the games, but they are the only reason we are able to even have a program. someday i want to be one of them, but for now that is far out of my reach.

the second tier folks are the ones that have been there for a couple of decades and try as hard as they can to give, but just dont have the means. we love the billikens as much as anyone and there are a lot more of us, but personal finances dont allow us to be giving much more than maybe a couple a thousand dollars or so. i would guess if your seniority number isnt in three digits or less you are in the next group.

after that you have the rest. i would bet the majority of this board is the rest. the rest are a combination of johnny come lately's that might crawl up to the next level once they have put some time in, or it is the long timers that maybe had seats before chaifetz but somehow never gave a dime. that group pisses me off because if you had been a second tier booster all those years instead of mooching off someone else's ticket cartell, maybe the slu program would be financially able to be at a higher level today than what it is now.

slu72, it is my opinion that a top program (not counting the likes of duke, north carolina ucla kentucky kansas. they are in a different world)like gonzaga, xavier, butler to degree, that we want to be like, has successfully achieved across the board to get to where they are. they cultivated both media, metropolitan area casual fans, the business commmunity and boosters. this enabled those programs to maximize revenue which gave the program the cash needed to hire the best coaching staff, develop their facilities, enhance their overall athletic department and increase boosters and fans in the seats. that's where loyalty is created. sure winning puts people in the seats, but if everyone isnt tied in and on board long term, the first year that falls off, those pretenders are gone.

spoon was a media darling and loved to get out and smooze the community and played the part with the boosters and fans as well. a pure performer. the community jumped at it and the fans came in droves. so of that was the timing of the casual fan wanting to spend their sports dollars and there being no nfl team in st louis, they spent it on the billikens.

i also think it is ironic that you say rickma isnt here to construct a flashy house of cards. but in my opinion that is pretty much what he is doing by not paying attention to the details and alienating so many of the other aspects of a successful program. thus my beleif that when he leaves the program will descend unless we find a new coach to continue to ponz scheme at the same level or finally find a complete coach.

BBall fan how am i a fringe fan? because i dont like the coach? the fact i still come to the games, have actually increased my level of giving while rickma has been the coach, and i speak passionately about saint louis university the school first, i feel i am more than a fringe fan. i am the fan that cares about slu long term and slu as a university first. i am not sure what you are though. best i can tell you are rickma's chauffer or maid maybe. because you rarely write about saint louis university. you just want to tell us about rick. if i am a fringe billiken fan, then you are nothing more than a rick majerus fan. guess which one(saint louis university or rick majerus) will be here in ten years to root for?

i am sorry it hurts so many of your feelings to hear this warmann guy give his uninformed opinion. but like i said, while it isnt accurate, it is a hard perception that is out in the community. one that wouldnt be there if majerus was more of a coach that did his complete job instead of just creaming his roster annually to just win now.

granted we havent won at a high level since spoon, and it would be nice to just do that again, but call me selfish, but i want something long term. i dont want a two year run in the sun and then back to the last 25 year roller coaster of almost.

Roy, thank you for your heartfelt insight. I feel much better about your feelings toward RM and the future of the Billiken program. You have made a believer out of me.

[moytoy12]

I think Rick believes he is preparing the program for his departure by grooming Porter Moser for the head job. Correct me if I'm wrong but hasn't Rick advocated for PM to get the job when he leaves? I think the way Rick sees it, he'll have his runs in the NCAA tourney and then hand the program off to PM when he's done. Keeping the job in house will mean almost all the assistants stay and very little change overall. This continuity will give PM a great shot at continuing the success that Rick will achieve in the next two years. Now I have no idea if this will actually happen but I think it's Rick's view of the future of the program.

I was completely on board with this thinking earlier in the year, but then I observed PM's short stint as a head coach this season and I wasn't impressed.

[AlumniFan]

• BRoy is NOT a fringe fan. If he is a fringe fan, I have no idea what the rest of us are!

• This Warmann kid obviously does not follow the program, but I agree that his perception is consistent with what a LOT of people think - the question is, who is to blame for this perception? And that IS a fair question.

• The reality is that at some point the head coach does have to take responsibility for the results of the team. I completely agree that Majerus has had a big challenge to contend with this year - the kangaroo court - but if next year does not produce the result most of us expect, then it is 100% on him.

• Finally, would it honestly have been that hard for Majerus to have been more media friendly, kept his mouth shut on political issues, and not have disparaged the kiss he inherited when he took over the program? That would have made a big difference with a LOT of people.

[eastsidejoe]

• BRoy is NOT a fringe fan. If he is a fringe fan, I have no idea what the rest of us are!

• This Warmann kid obviously does not follow the program, but I agree that his perception is consistent with what a LOT of people think - the question is, who is to blame for this perception? And that IS a fair question.

• The reality is that at some point the head coach does have to take responsibility for the results of the team. I completely agree that Majerus has had a big challenge to contend with this year - the kangaroo court - but if next year does not produce the result most of us expect, then it is 100% on him.

• Finally, would it honestly have been that hard for Majerus to have been more media friendly, kept his mouth shut on political issues, and not have disparaged the kiss he inherited when he took over the program? That would have made a big difference with a LOT of people.

Give me a break. The athletic department and SLU did a piss poor job of selling the team. Once again the School and the AD are responsible for selling the program and they get an F for this year and every year that I can remember since 1973. It is not their priority and doubt that it ever will be. They couldn't even put the right players on the tickets. what a FU.