Jim Crews- I'm ALL-IN

[RiseAndGrind]

I guess the more succinct way to put my thoughts is this:

That sporting event is more important than anything Father Biondi could have been doing overseas.

Yup. It's much more than just "a sporting event."

[davidnark]

It should have gone down something like this:

[Knock on the door] Fr. Biondi -- Good afternoon Fr. Pilarz, it is so good to see you. It has been a while, but I brought you a great bottle of wine from the old country.

Fr. Pilarz -- Hello Fr. B. It has been a very, very long time. What brings you up here to Milwaukee?

Fr. Biondi -- I just wanted to make sure we caught up. As part of my new outreach program, I am making the rounds with a lot of our colleagues. I just want to pass along some great things going on at my little university. Actually, it isn't that little. We are about the same size as this lovely school, and also located in the heart of a Midwestern city.

Fr. Pilarz -- Don't worry Fr. B., I am aware of Saint Louis University; I did spend years chasing SLU in the rankings. It is you I have nearly forgotten about after all of these years.

Fr. Biondi -- I do apologize. You see, we I have been so busy building our $83 million on-campus basketball facilities and maintaining our top-100 academic ranking, a ranking similar to your lovely Marquette. Plus, I need to keep up my nearly billion dollar endowment.

Fr. PIlarz -- Don't worry, I am well aware of your academic ranking, and I have heard about your new facilities.

Fr. Biondi - I would love to show you our facilities, and you know we have great Italian food down on the Hill. It has been too long. I already talked to your assistant, and I am gong to pay for you to come down a visit us. I wouldn't want you to miss out on the best Italian outside of the old country.

Fr. Pilarz -- Well, I guess so, but I have been kind of busy spending time with our colleague from Creighton who is really anxious to get into my little basketball conference.

Fr. Biondi -- Basketball? Funny you bring that up. Did you notice that my Billiken program is really rocking and rolling these days. We are even ranked in the top 15, a few spots ahead of Marquette. Who would have thunk'n. Tell me more about this basketball conference?

Fr. Pilarz -- Oh, I didn't even realize you are interested. You see, we are looking to add a few more private schools who are really committed to college basketball, but based upon our last talk 12 years ago, I know that isn't where you are focused. Plus, Fox is going to underwrite the whole thing and really needs profitable media markets, particuarly ones in the Midwest or East. Corporate sponsorship is also a plus.

Fr. Biondi -- I am so glad I ran into you up here. I don't know if you realize, but St. Louis is the 21st largest media market, and we don't even share our market with another school. We are only a few hundred miles from DePaul and Marquette here in the Midwest. And did you know our basketball team had had more media impressions the last 6 weeks than any program in the country? I guess I should mention that the owner of the largest EAP flies his jet into town to sit courtside at most of our games. And you won't believe this -- the kid of one of the largest oil barons around brings his buddies and sits right next to him at most games.

Fr. PIlarz -- Wow, we should have caught up years ago.

Fr. Biondi -- I think we may have something more to talk about. This could take a while. Let me grab a second bottle of that Italian wine. I have an even better vintage in the car.

Fr. PIlarz -- I do love wine!

[JMM28]

I have to agree with nark. The Big East / NCAA Tournament have the potential to generate a lot more money than any donor in Asia would. Larry should have been state side for the month of March.

[billikendave]

I strongly disagree. This has nothing to do with coaches. The decision-makers for the NBE are smart enough to know that coaches change with the blink of an eye. I just read that Brad Stevens was at UCLA interviewing today. IMO, the biggest difference between SLU and Creighton is that Creighton's President was fully-engaged and had the relationships and political influence to get the right backers behind him and his school. This was Biondi's to lose and--unfortunately--he did. I am with the camp that believes Biondi's time has long passed, and we need a change. Biondi had the chance to get his school unlimited exposure through the BE affiliation, and he failed miserably in round one. There is just no other way to sugarcoat Biondi's failure. The timing of his fundraising trip is disappointing and telling. If this donors cared about SLU, they certainly would have been willing to host him a few weeks earlier or later.

You missed my point or it wasn't clear. I think we are in agreement and not really disagreeing. I was meaning to refer to Biondi and SLU and not an individual coach but the coach can be a symbol of what SLU is. Is SLU really committed to basketball or is it lip service. Found part of article from April 22, 2007 from Vahe Gregorian and couldn't access on post website. Perhaps others could. This is my point. Remember his press conference with Grawer that he wanted SLU to be a "Top 50 program." Charter Flights, cell phones, poorly paid assistant coaches. Will the real SLU please stand up? Biondi getting out hustled by Creighton is a sign that its lip service. Because of that, Creighton was an easy choice.

http://business.highbeam.com/435553/article-1G1-162438790/firing-soderberg-reminds-others-slu-athletics-history

[MB73]

Look.

I have always heard that behind closed dooes, Biondi does not really care about athetics, even frankly dislikes it.

Some posters have political reasons and / or agendas and support him and state that he is doing everything possible, but I think that the new BE has assessed our world and come to the conclusion that SLU is not as dedicated to athletics as Creighton has been for the last 20 yrs. They know Biondi's true colors. Sure, Biondi will probably be moving on soon... that actually helps.

I still hope that our strong attributes (market size, arena, academics, recent hoops success, etc) bring home the prize in the 2nd round, if they name two more teams for 2014.

Has anyone heard even a peep of a rumor since the new BE announced Butler, X, & Creighton as it relates to adding two more?

[kmbilliken]

Look.

I have always heard that behind closed dooes, Biondi does not really care about athetics, even frankly dislikes it.

Some posters have political reasons and / or agendas and support him and state that he is doing everything possible, but I think that the new BE has assessed our world and come to the conclusion that SLU is not as dedicated to athletics as Creighton has been for the last 20 yrs. They know Biondi's true colors. Sure, Biondi will probably be moving on soon... that actually helps.

I still hope that our strong attributes (market size, arena, academics, recent hoops success, etc) bring home the prize in the 2nd round, if they name two more teams for 2014.

Has anyone heard even a peep of a rumor since the new BE announced Butler, X, & Creighton as it relates to adding two more?

This makes sense. The sad thing is Biondi doesn't realize if he gets us in the BE it would substantially enhance his legacy and school prestige.

[cgeldmacher]

On the topic of paying a little extra to attract some young assistant coaches that can recruit, what about former Billiken Jamal Walker. He is at Illinois and seems to be heavily involved in their recruiting efforts.

If Crews wants to stay, but tells May that he wants to let the assistants carry the heavy loads of recruiting, then Crews' pay should reflect that fact that he is only doing part of the job. The savings should go to slightly overpaying some assistants that will pick up the recruiting slack.

[ACE]

On the topic of paying a little extra to attract some young assistant coaches that can recruit, what about former Billiken Jamal Walker. He is at Illinois and seems to be heavily involved in their recruiting efforts.

If Crews wants to stay, but tells Mays that he wants to let the assistants carry the heavy loads of recruiting, then Crews' pay should reflect that fact that he is only doing part of the job. The savings should go to slightly overpaying some assistants that will pick up the recruiting slack.

I brought that name up last month. If Whitesell leaves, we could give Walker the top assistant role here, which would be a step up from the level he is at with the Illini. He has been in town to recruit Tatum and other local kids. Walker has bounced around a lot of different places, so I would think he has built up his share of good recruiting contacts.

[JettFlight5]

Come on and get a dose of reality. The donors have no clue as to March Madness. It would been a slap in the face to request a scheduling change for a sporting event

Sorry to take this out on you, but I'm still appalled you said this. Father Biondi's greatest goal is exposure. What better place to get it than in a conference of the best Catholic Schools in the United States? The Atlantic-10 going forward will be lucky to get 2 bids per year to the NCAA Tournament, which is where the most eyeballs are (that is if SLU stays; if not, A-10 is a 1-bid league on par with the Valley). He had the chance to solidify that, and blew it with a silly trip to Asia during the A-10 and NCAA Tournaments.

[Bobby Metzinger]

Is there someone at the Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus we can take our Biondi Removal Petition to?

[cgeldmacher]

Sorry to take this out on you, but I'm still appalled you said this. Father Biondi's greatest goal is exposure. What better place to get it than in a conference of the best Catholic Schools in the United States? The Atlantic-10 going forward will be lucky to get 2 bids per year to the NCAA Tournament, which is where the most eyeballs are (that is if SLU stays; if not, A-10 is a 1-bid league on par with the Valley). He had the chance to solidify that, and blew it with a silly trip to Asia during the A-10 and NCAA Tournaments.

You assume that a deal was not already in place to add SLU and another school in '14-'15. If such a deal is already in place, then why should he stick around. If not, and his presence here would have helped, then you are 100% correct.

My point is that we don't know what deals are already done and what may or may not be still up in the air, because the situation requires that we don't know. It kills me too not to know, but I understand why May might think its best to keep us message boarders out of the loop. Let's not make judgments based upon facts we don't have.

[cheeseman]

On the topic of paying a little extra to attract some young assistant coaches that can recruit, what about former Billiken Jamal Walker. He is at Illinois and seems to be heavily involved in their recruiting efforts.

If Crews wants to stay, but tells May that he wants to let the assistants carry the heavy loads of recruiting, then Crews' pay should reflect that fact that he is only doing part of the job. The savings should go to slightly overpaying some assistants that will pick up the recruiting slack.

He was here already and RM released him.

[cheeseman]

Having left STL in 1976, I have kept up with the Bills from a distance, checking box scores and the past couple of seasons listening to Ramsey and Austin since I've retired, if I can't catch them on TV.

In the article by Haenchen, he quotes a source as saying "Chris May isn’t exactly a basketball expert”. Is there any validity in that? Why would the school hire an AD without a strong basketball background if that's the only real potential revenue producer they've got? Some of you local guys, help me out here. Is the writer off base or did the school hire a bean-counter instead of a guy with some vision?

Look, May knows as much about basketball as the average AD - just talk to him. This guy makes a wild statement and now all of a sudden it is a fact.

[JettFlight5]

You assume that a deal was not already in place to add SLU and another school in '14-'15. If such a deal is already in place, then why should he stick around. If not, and his presence here would have helped, then you are 100% correct.

My point is that we don't know what deals are already done and what may or may not be still up in the air, because the situation requires that we don't know. It kills me too not to know, but I understand why May might think its best to keep us message boarders out of the loop. Let's not make judgments based upon facts we don't have.

You are 100% correct that we don't know what is going on behind closed doors. If SLU is assured they'd be in in 2014, you're right there's no reason for him to stick around. Everything at this point is still up in the air publicly, because it has to be. It just seems odd that the trip would happen while the basketball team was going places it doesn't go all that often.