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2 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

marketing has a LOT to be desired.   i missed that we fly all charters at the school's expense to all away games.   nice new shirts for the band each year (not).   i could go on.   yes it is better, but to say the program lacks nothing is far from true.   

if fred was a fan he would never have allowed that cheerleader to lie her way into framing our players and basically ruining the potential of two seasons.   fred belongs at some charter grade school. 

I don't get how you think S2 plays out better if the president of the University puts his thumb on the scale. Are you not aware of what happened at Baylor, Penn State, and Michigan State?

We lost a few players suddenly and had another suspended for 7 games. That was rough, given what we think is in the report. But if it came out that the SLU president interfered with a sexual assault investigation, the damage done to our program - and even more seriously, the school's reputation - could've taken years or even decades to repair. And unlike the three schools above, which have taken massive hits to their reputations, SLU isn't nearly as large or powerful, especially as it relates to the NCAA.

I've made this point here like 10 times and I don't get why I have to keep making it. This seems so obvious.

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8 minutes ago, Pistol said:

I don't get how you think S2 plays out better if the president of the University puts his thumb on the scale. Are you not aware of what happened at Baylor, Penn State, and Michigan State?

We lost a few players suddenly and had another suspended for 7 games. That was rough, given what we think is in the report. But if it came out that the SLU president interfered with a sexual assault investigation, the damage done to our program - and even more seriously, the school's reputation - could've taken years or even decades to repair. And unlike the three schools above, which have taken massive hits to their reputations, SLU isn't nearly as large or powerful, especially as it relates to the NCAA.

I've made this point here like 10 times and I don't get why I have to keep making it. This seems so obvious.

fine but there was nothing done to the liar.   makes it hard to swallow the punishment and ruined young men's lives when the cheerleader lied about the whole assorted affair.  

 

btw, situation has nothing to do with the athletic department budget.   but willie brought up freddy in the same post.   

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21 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

marketing has a LOT to be desired.   i missed that we fly all charters at the school's expense to all away games.   nice new shirts for the band each year (not).  oh i guess the band in it's entirety and the complete dance and cheer teams chose not to go to new york city last spring for the A-10 championships?    i could go on.   yes it is better, but to say the program lacks nothing is far from true.   

if fred was a fan he would never have allowed that cheerleader to lie her way into framing our players and basically ruining the potential of two seasons.   fred belongs at some charter grade school. 

Have the band and cheer teams ever gone in their entirety? I know the cheer teams are usually split between men and womens tournaments.

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3 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

Have the band and cheer teams ever gone in their entirety? I know the cheer teams are usually split between men and womens tournaments.

I dont think so, but willie's point was the budget was such there was nothing left to be desired.  Just pointing out the budget is obviously not that generous

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1 minute ago, billiken_roy said:

fine but there was nothing done to the liar.   makes it hard to swallow the punishment and ruined young men's lives when the cheerleader lied about the whole assorted affair.  

btw, situation has nothing to do with the athletic department budget.   but willie brought up freddy in the same post.   

I really don't want to re-litigate the incident. Of course I'd want to know what the report recommended and want those involved held accountable in a way that is fair for all. But without knowing exactly what happened or what's in the report - and none of us know - I just can't say for sure what accountability looks like. It sucked and it seemed like overkill based on the rumors we heard, but we don't know and I would personally never use such harsh language without being sure.

In terms of the AD budget, they're basically making it rain compared to my years there (2001-2005). You haven't seen penny pinching until you've seen a department run by Doug Woolard and Lori Flanagan with little to no involvement whatsoever from Biondi (they preserved his bottom line, I guess). I could tell stories for hours about what it was like to work in that environment. What we see today vs. what it was like 15-20 years ago is a bigger transformation that most schools undergo when they move from D-II to D-I. There are still a lot of things to improve but I actually get the feeling now that there are people within the Department who care about improving facilities, personnel, equipment, marketing, game experience, etc.

I don't know a lot about how Pestello and the Board interact with the AD and I have no idea to what extent their annual budget has grown. I just know that based on four years of direct experience under the previous school president, we appear to have an actual athletic program now compared to an embarrassing dog and pony show.

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While, personally, I believe major strides have been made under Ford to bring a mentality akin to a big time, there are still very glaring differences between SLU and other programs. We can only speculate on budget, but I would venture our spending is middle of the pack for the A10. I still am not sure why two very simple things aren't done. First being selling game replica jerseys that are Nike. The second being having broadcast highlight packages available like nearly every other mid-major on comparable networks. 

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57 minutes ago, Pistol said:

I don't get how you think S2 plays out better if the president of the University puts his thumb on the scale. Are you not aware of what happened at Baylor, Penn State, and Michigan State?

We lost a few players suddenly and had another suspended for 7 games. That was rough, given what we think is in the report. But if it came out that the SLU president interfered with a sexual assault investigation, the damage done to our program - and even more seriously, the school's reputation - could've taken years or even decades to repair. And unlike the three schools above, which have taken massive hits to their reputations, SLU isn't nearly as large or powerful, especially as it relates to the NCAA.

I've made this point here like 10 times and I don't get why I have to keep making it. This seems so obvious.

Your point is accurate.  That situation turned out ultimately about as best as it could have given the situation (no pun intended).  The reason you have to keep making the point is that some just are mad and nothing will satisfy them - I get it but it doesn't change the facts. By the way in the interest of full disclosure I was one who thought the entire situation was nonsense but once I had a chance to get more information and  think it through it became pretty clear that it was not going to be dismissed.

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Generally when you are looking from the outside into a large organization, and SLU qualifies as a large organization, there are many things that you (the outside bystander) thinks can or should be improved. There is no exception to this rule. The fact of the case are these: situation 2 happened and was dealt with. Yes there were a lot of objectionable factors, but it is OVER by now and the school, the department, and the team kept on going. Yes, things could be better with the athletic department, but I bet the same can be said about every single department within the University. Regardless, the school and its departments continue being a going concern. Despite all SLU has shown some improvement over the years and this appears to continue. The degree of improvement may not be enough to satisfy everyone but it is there. 

So, what else is new?                                                                                              

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1 hour ago, Pistol said:

I don't get how you think S2 plays out better if the president of the University puts his thumb on the scale. Are you not aware of what happened at Baylor, Penn State, and Michigan State?

We lost a few players suddenly and had another suspended for 7 games. That was rough, given what we think is in the report. But if it came out that the SLU president interfered with a sexual assault investigation, the damage done to our program - and even more seriously, the school's reputation - could've taken years or even decades to repair. And unlike the three schools above, which have taken massive hits to their reputations, SLU isn't nearly as large or powerful, especially as it relates to the NCAA.

I've made this point here like 10 times and I don't get why I have to keep making it. This seems so obvious.

It may not be so obvious if you grew up decades ago in a culture where personal accountability was more common.  As you noted, #MeToo culture is WAAAY bigger than SLU.  Pestello would have been a fool to fight it.  

Fred is a beta-male surrounded by basketball fans who worship alpha-males.  He's rarely going to get the benefit of the doubt, even in situations where his hands are tied.

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2 hours ago, willie said:

I think you are living in the past. Biondi was the nickel and dimer. I don't believe our basketball team lacks anything. As proof count the suits on the bench. I think Fred is a fan who understands that a good basketball program is good for the university.  

According to the thread on A10 coaching jobs, we are third in the A10 on budget and resources for the team, behind VCU and Dayton.

Budget/Resources – Includes coaches’ salaries, recruiting budget, travel budget, private planes, cost of attendance, etc.

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3 hours ago, willie said:

It seems illogical to me that with the leadership of the Board of Trustees avid basketball or should I say rabbit basketball fans that they don't care about billiken athletics. I assume your criticism goes back to the situations. Without knowing what the workings are at a university I just don't believe that was something that would get to a board level. Could Fred have done something Maybe. ? And I am a fan of Fred. 

Are they jackrabbit, or cottontail fans?

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On 10/9/2019 at 4:02 PM, RUBillsFan said:

Also - small correction to your post - Chris Carrawell never played in the NBA let alone playing several seasons.  Hughes had by far the most successful NBA career of the 4.  Therefore, that hypothetical SLU team would've boasted *only* 3 future NBAers.

You are correct.  I was wrong.  Carrawell got drafted by the Spurs in the 2nd round, but never played a game in the NBA.  Still, getting picked in the 2nd round is a pretty good comment on a guy's level of play during his college career.

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