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The Buck Stops at AD


Billy Ken

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I’m not speculating about anything. I want to throw this out there now. AD has been at SLU a decade. One decade. He 100% owns MBB, WBB, both soccer programs. Great hire for women’s soccer I’ll give him that. I think men’s soccer has a lot of work ahead but can’t do any worse. He has no problem peacocking around when things are good, that’s easiest thing to do. Now he has to finally be held accountable for all of it. If MBB pulls it together I’ll give him the credit, but if they don’t, he finally has to go. He sat idle and watched as men’s soccer hit rock bottom for years, hired Crews, situations one and two, didn’t get into Big East, now two years straight of MBB dysfunction. WBB is better sure, but 2 NITs in seven years, god knows at how many hundreds of thousands a year in salary and people act like coach is second coming of Pat Summit, she’s been coaching since 1985, not 2015. I seriously don’t get it. Ask anyone around town about how big of a goof ball Gordon was for years whether it was AAU or high school with coaches and teammates. Didn’t do their homework or thought they were smarter than everyone else. Well they own all of it now. Good or bad. I hope for the good. I want program to succeed but I am so tired of all the dysfunction and stupid stuff. Very frustrating and the AD is never held accountable, ever. Now he has to be, no more excuses. I think Gordon leaving could actually be a good thing for the team overall and they may actually play better, I sure hope so. 

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2 minutes ago, Billy Ken said:

I’m not speculating about anything. I want to throw this out there now. AD has been at SLU a decade. One decade. He 100% owns MBB, WBB, both soccer programs. Great hire for women’s soccer I’ll give him that. I think men’s soccer has a lot of work ahead but can’t do any worse. He has no problem peacocking around when things are good, that’s easiest thing to do. Now he has to finally be held accountable for all of it. If MBB pulls it together I’ll give him the credit, but if they don’t, he finally has to go. He sat idle and watched as men’s soccer hit rock bottom for years, hired Crews, situations one and two, didn’t get into Big East, now two years straight of MBB dysfunction. WBB is better sure, but 1 NIT in seven years and people act like coach is second coming of Pat Summit, she’s been coaching since 1985, not 2015. I seriously don’t get it. Ask anyone around town about how big of a goof ball Gordon was for years whether it was AAU or high school with coaches and teammates. Didn’t do their homework or thought they were smarter than everyone else. Well they own all of it now. Good or bad. I hope for the good. I want program to succeed but I am so tired of all the dysfunction and stupid stuff. Very frustrating and the AD is never held accountable, ever. Now he has to be, no more excuses. I think Gordon leaving could actually be a good thing for the team overall and they may actually play better, I sure hope so. 

So was he suppose to tell Ford you can not recruit Gordon - that is just silly.  Ford is going to recruit who he wants and he will have to deal with the fallout if there is any.  We already went through this years ago when Grawer was here - let the coach recruit who he wants and let the chips fall where they may.

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How did that work out for Louisville AD and Baylor AD? The buck stops with the AD. Everyone is town knows stories about how crazy Gordon really is and the AD doesn’t? He watches over a multi-million entity yet has zero accountability? Where else but SLU or college athletics in general would this be acceptable? That’s all I’m saying. I understand what you are saying and agree, let coaches recruit but there was too much baggage AD should’ve known about, TF as well. Every year since kid was 11 years old there has been an incident of some sort, that’s a facts, AAU, Vianny, WG and now SLU. I’m not surprised and neither should AD or coach be as well. That’s all I’m in this particular case.

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Regardless of series of unfortunate events and unforeseen circumstances over the last decade, at some point, the captain of the ship needs to be held accountable. At a certain point, you just need a fresh voice and new leadership to change the culture of the athletics programs.

Overall the track record (aside from 3 years of men’s basketball in the Majerus years) has been pretty poor. All of the other critical parts of the job such as bolestering our marketing presence in the region, improving facilities for soccer/baseball, hiring the right in game personnel (e.g. replacing the likes of Guy Phillips) and setting up systems to avoid in game gaffes (who could forget the fire alarm fiasco) have been poorly executed.

Maybe I’m just being irrational, but at the same time, maybe sweeping changes in SLU athletics from the top down is what SLU needs to move on from perpetual mediocrity. 

majerus mojo and TheBand like this
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AD claimed Jim Crews had the best freshman class ever in SLU program history.

Calbert Cheney was a game changer.

Jim Crews can recruit.

Keith Carter was an NBA level talent.

Ford is cut from same cloth as Majerus.

Lisa Stone was taking team to NCAAs.

Mens soccer is better positioned than ever....fired coach three years later.

Im sure there is more, point is this guy either has no idea what he is talking about or is pulling stuff out of his you know what, either way, the act has gotten stale. 

Ford will take program to new heights....TBD....AD might have cursed poor guy. 

 

 

 

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3 minutes ago, Billy Ken said:

AD claimed Jim Crews had the best freshman class ever in SLU program history.

Calbert Cheney was a game changer.

Jim Crews can recruit.

Keith Carter was an NBA level talent.

Ford is cut from same cloth as Majerus.

Lisa Stone was taking team to NCAAs.

Mens soccer is better positioned than ever....fired coach three years later.

Im sure there is more, point is this guy either has no idea what he is talking about or is pulling stuff out of his you know what, either way, the act has gotten stale. 

Ford will take program to new heights....TBD....AD might have cursed poor guy. 

 

 

 

I'm sure the managers at whatever company you work for always describe new hires as barely functional or the best they could scrape up...… 

AlumniFan likes this
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Lisa Stone has done a fantastic job. Losing Kemph and others to graduation isn't the ADs fault. The baseball team made the NCAAs last year. The womaens soccer team had an unprecedented shutout streak and had the best season of they're history. Kalish appears to get a step in the right direction. An AD can't control a player transferring or tell a coach who he can and can't recruit.

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2 hours ago, Billiken Rich said:

I'm not saying our athletic department or director is great or good.  I am saying your hatred out them is irrational.

Irrational? The AD can’t get another job, why do you think he is still at SLU all these years? I’m tired of mediocrity at SLU and all the excuses. One constant last ten years, same guy creating all the problems, then in charge of fixing the same problems he caused! Definition of insanity. 

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1 minute ago, Billy Ken said:

Irrational? The AD can’t get another job, why do you think he is still at SLU all these years? I’m tired of mediocrity at SLU and all the excuses. One constant last ten years, same guy creating all the problems, then in charge of fixing the same problems he caused! Definition of insanity. 

I’m sure it’s the AD’s fault since we were sooooo successful as an athletic department under all the previous ADs.  Maybe it’s time to recognize who SLU is (and isn’t) within the D-1 sports’ framework?

Can we be better? Sure.  Are you expecting the unreasonable?  Seems like it. 

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4 minutes ago, moytoy12 said:

I’m sure it’s the AD’s fault since we were sooooo successful as an athletic department under all the previous ADs.  Maybe it’s time to recognize who SLU is (and isn’t) within the D-1 sports’ framework?

Can we be better? Sure.  Are you expecting the unreasonable?  Seems like it. 

Gonzaga, Creighton, Dayton, Xavier, St. Mary’s, Loyola Chicago, Villanova, on and on and on...why even be D1? That’s SLU biggest problem. Stuck in past, can’t do this or can’t do that, how can other private Catholic schools? AD we have now hasn’t done anything to move the needle, not getting into Big East should’ve been the end of him, it wasn’t Father Biondi’s fault. It’s no surprise, I’m beating a dead horse, I’ve had chairman of board even yell at me that we will never be Creighton and don’t want to be. So there you go. He didn’t hire Majerus or baseball guy, only long term successful areas during his rein. That’s my point I guess. He’s not a D1 AD, SLU can and should do better. If his two biggest “wins” are women’s soccer one ncaa appearance with all the players recruited by the coach now at Xavier, who coached them in club ball and Lisa Stone, AD is the AD SLU deserves. Hope I’m wrong as always, just tired of all the drama and excuses and such low expectations. 

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2 minutes ago, Billy Ken said:

Gonzaga, Creighton, Dayton, Xavier, St. Mary’s, Loyola Chicago, Villanova, on and on and on...why even be D1? That’s SLU biggest problem. Stuck in past, can’t do this or can’t do that, how can other private Catholic schools? AD we have now hasn’t done anything to move the needle, not getting into Big East should’ve been the end of him, it wasn’t Father Biondi’s fault. It’s no surprise, I’m beating a dead horse, I’ve had chairman of board even yell at me that we will never be Creighton and don’t want to be. So there you go. He didn’t hire Majerus or baseball guy, only long term successful areas during his rein. That’s my point I guess. He’s not a D1 AD, SLU can and should do better. If his two biggest “wins” are women’s soccer one ncaa appearance with all the players recruited by the coach now at Xavier, who coached them in club ball and Lisa Stone, AD is the AD SLU deserves. Hope I’m wrong as always, just tired of all the drama and excuses and such low expectations. 

Yep, we can be better.  Of course, we’re also better than a significant number of D-1 Jesuit universities. Compared to prior ADs, is May any worse?  Is he any better?  I say he’s above average but not great when compared to our track record. 

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4 minutes ago, moytoy12 said:

Yep, we can be better.  Of course, we’re also better than a significant number of D-1 Jesuit universities. Compared to prior ADs, is May any worse?  Is he any better?  I say he’s above average but not great when compared to our track record. 

You make good points. I will say this, Father absolutely ran a lot of good people away. It couldn’t have been easy working under him. I get on AD because that’s easiest thing to do. It’s a systemic problem honestly. I am just frustrated and tired of everything but the kids experience and the actual contests. Something is off, maybe I’m wrong, but the dysfunction seems never ending. 

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The can't do attitude is not just a slu problem, but a St. Louis one.

This is the same town that told Walt Disney to GTFO in the early 60's because he wanted to capitalize on the downtown expansion by building a second Disneyland.

Who does that ? For whatever reason, this town is allergic to progress.

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4 minutes ago, Billy Ken said:

You make good points. I will say this, Father absolutely ran a lot of good people away. It couldn’t have been easy working under him. I get on AD because that’s easiest thing to do. It’s a systemic problem honestly. I am just frustrated and tired of everything but the kids experience and the actual contests. Something is off, maybe I’m wrong, but the dysfunction seems never ending. 

To be fair, we share the same frustration.  And I concur, it’s a systematic issue. 

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53 minutes ago, RiseAndGrind said:

Has Travis Ford had more talent stay or depart? Assuming CAG leaves, i think it’s a toss up. 

 

1 Graves

2 Bishop

3 Henriquez 

4 Gordon 

5 Santos 

Johnson 6th man

vs

1 Goodwin

2 Isabel

3 Bess

4 French 

5 Foreman

Thatch 6th man

Its hard to say because we never saw some of the “transfers” play.

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No AD at SLU has or will ever have the power to take Athletics to a premier level. What is the old saying when comparing SLU to Missouri? Brains versus brawn or something like that. That is simply how it is. No new athletic director will ever change that. SLU is just simply not that kind of school. Slu's .reputation is based on academics not Athletics. Always has been. Multiple teams will have success from time to time just like other mid-major programs.

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Anyone at the Houston pregame event?  I got in late so I might've missed it. But, did the AD make a pitch for Billikens Club or talk about moving Department goals etc?

If not what a missed opportunity.   Those are the things they need to do.  Gotta get involved fans to be boosters.  $ makes this work but I'm not giving if you don't ask and give me a vision.

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1 hour ago, JeffinMH said:

No AD at SLU has or will ever have the power to take Athletics to a premier level. What is the old saying when comparing SLU to Missouri? Brains versus brawn or something like that. That is simply how it is. No new athletic director will ever change that. SLU is just simply not that kind of school. Slu's .reputation is based on academics not Athletics. Always has been. Multiple teams will have success from time to time just like other mid-major programs.

Such a stupid post even for a Mizzou fan

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The AD seems to be doing his job so far - gave the National Coach of the Year an opportunity to recruit after showing he could take a team to the tournament, that makes sense. It didn't work out so he went out and hired someone that can recruit, that the boosters wanted and that went to the tournament 3 of his last 4 years, that also makes sense. If Carte'are Gordon decides to leave I have to think that's a personal decision that has less than nothing to do with Chris May.

Also, do you want an interventionist AD that blocks Coach Ford's recruiting for kids being "goof balls" or that they're "crazy"? Especially when they're one of the most talented recruits in the state and country? Seriously? 

Meanwhile all those claims of his that you list - Crews recruiting, Calbert being a game changer, Ford being the next Majerus - are evidence that he's a big outspoken supporter of the program. I'll take puffed up claims that show some enthusiasm and excitement for Billiken athletics over the dull qualified statements of Pestello every day of the week. 

Relatedly, in 2015 MBB was 3rd in attendance, 2016 3rd and 2017 4th. 

Basically, the AD seems to be doing his job (and letting Ford do his) - unless you expect having a Big East wizard's wand to be part of that job description.

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6 hours ago, JeffinMH said:

No AD at SLU has or will ever have the power to take Athletics to a premier level. What is the old saying when comparing SLU to Missouri? Brains versus brawn or something like that. That is simply how it is. No new athletic director will ever change that. SLU is just simply not that kind of school. Slu's .reputation is based on academics not Athletics. Always has been. Multiple teams will have success from time to time just like other mid-major programs.

imo this close to the answer.   the overall success of slu athletics can be traced to our schools attitude towards supporting athletics.   replace the BoT with a board that wants to win and will fically support as such and only then will you see a chance for long term success for athletics. 

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