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Ford contract


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3 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

He's probably going to UK and I would assume Goodwin, French, Perkins, Collins, Jimerson, Jacobs, and Okoro are all going with him. That's what I heard in the real estate inner circle.

Interesting.  I heard that Jimerson was going to UoVirginia. maybe he decided last min to follow Ford to BBN

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44 minutes ago, slu72 said:

The coaching carousel’s pretty much going to be down again this year for a couple of reasons. First, any P6 openings may come with big payoffs due the parting HC and AD’s bank accounts ain’t what they were pre Covid. Second, depending on how hard a team was hit by the plague is going to be used as a justification for saying the HC can’t be held responsible for a team’s performance if it was struck by the plague. Even though some of the blue bloods are down, their HC’s aren’t going anywhere unless they retire. And I don’t think any of those guys are going to want to leave on a down note. So, while there may be a few slots come open, I don’t believe it’s going to be all that good a market for up and coming mid major coaches. 

Another angle of looking at what you described is that with many programs in a sort of holding pattern and fewer departing P6 coaches, Fordham (or any other mid-major that fires their coach) is going to have a much shallower pool of candidates than they normally would - relying more on assistant coaches looking for their first HC job (especially as truly promising smaller conference HCs might want to hold out for a better market) than experienced P6 HCs looking for a new opportunity (like coaches Ford and Majerus). 

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8 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Interesting.  I heard that Jimerson was going to UoVirginia. maybe he decided last min to follow Ford to BBN

I did hear that and I also heard Okoro is considering Oregon but I would have to believe Ford will find a way to bring them to Rupp

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Ford and AD May have endured so many problems that they both have to wonder when will we get a break?

Situation 2 hurt what should have been a 20 plus win season.  That team finished with a winning record.

The next season they lose crazy spoiled Gordon that was a solid contributor on the court and had to kick out the big from Central Florida we all thought would be a solid contributor.  Finally the Maryland transfer was a decent player but could not stay healthy.  That team went on an incredible A10 tournament run and made it to the big dance.

Last season they lose Jimerson and we all know how big that was.  We watch Jimmy Bell improve all season.  The team struggled at times but found themselves and won the last 5 to finish 23-8 and was as hot as Dayton then COVID ends the season.  Dayton fans felt robbed I felt robbed because SLU was as good as Dayton.

This seasons team is loaded and has depth as we have seen.  The team got shut down for over 30 days flies to Richmond the game is canceled then gets beat by LaSalle then comes home and pulls out a rabbit out of their hat and soundly beats the Bonnies the A10 leaders.

Coach Ford is a great coach even though I complain about Bell and Hargrove not playing and the way the bench is used.

Enduring what he has to deal with while he has been at SLU makes me appreciate the coach and coaches so much more.  This is the 4th consecutive winning season with a solid team next season.

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Andy Enfield has the best winning percentage at USC of any basketball they have had in the last 60 years.  It would have been Tim Floyd, but they had to vacate 21 wins for NCAA violations.  Over the past five seasons Enfield has averaged 22 wins.  The Trojans currently sit atop the Pac 12, are ranked 20th in both polls, ranked 13th in Pomeroy's ratings and would likely be a 4 seed in the tournament.  I think he is doing OK.

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WOW!  I’m dead to one poster now.  That’s okay.  Look, all I said was that the house has been on the market a few weeks and that I don’t want him to leave.  I’ve always talked “sustainability” and we have that or on the brink of having it with Ford.  
 

But he hasn’t done anything that makes the big boys get an erection and say “oh, I’ve gots to get me some of that.”  He has done a great job for us and should stay with an open checkbook from the Administration.  But this is SLU.  I want him to retire here.  But this is SLU.  If it can be screwed up, we will do it. I know of no reason for him to leave and only used the examples I did to show how the next great flavor rises to the top most times.  Enfield.  Underwood.  Beard.  Hurley.  Oates.  Travis hasn’t done that yet.  He could this year.  We shall see.

But why leave the only show in town?  Even the state?  Some (slu72) have expressed a fear that UK would come calling and be his dream job.  Maybe.  But Calipari ain’t going nowhere any time soon.  Plus I don’t think BBN would be happy with a guy who really hasn’t hit that one big lotto payoff —- favored son or not.  Ford is great in my book.  Beats the shite out of Crews, Soderberg, Romar, Ekker (of course) and even Spoon and Grawer (different times and different measurements, of course).  With what he has in our pipeline (minus Goodwin, French and Perkins) the future still looks incredibly bright.  This ain’t Majerus bailing out with only Manning and Glaze left behind (Majerus’ one failing) and hand picking [dead] as the fall guy for Rick’s failing interest (and health).  We look good!  I personally don’t leave that behind.

This is not an attack on Ford.  At most, it confirms his house is on the market and has been for a fewweeks.  What that means —— I have no clue.

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5 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

WOW!  I’m dead to one poster now.  That’s okay.  Look, all I said was that the house has been on the market a few weeks and that I don’t want him to leave.  I’ve always talked “sustainability” and we have that or on the brink of having it with Ford.  
 

But he hasn’t done anything that makes the big boys get an erection and say “oh, I’ve gots to get me some of that.”  He has done a great job for us and should stay with an open checkbook from the Administration.  But this is SLU.  I want him to retire here.  But this is SLU.  If it can be screwed up, we will do it. I know of no reason for him to leave and only used the examples I did to show how the next great flavor rises to the top most times.  Enfield.  Underwood.  Beard.  Hurley.  Oates.  Travis hasn’t done that yet.  He could this year.  We shall see.

But why leave the only show in town?  Even the state?  Some (slu72) have expressed a fear that UK would come calling and be his dream job.  Maybe.  But Calipari ain’t going nowhere any time soon.  Plus I don’t think BBN would be happy with a guy who really hasn’t hit that one big lotto payoff —- favored son or not.  Ford is great in my book.  Beats the shite out of Crews, Soderberg, Romar, Ekker (of course) and even Spoon and Grawer (different times and different measurements, of course).  With what he has in our pipeline (minus Goodwin, French and Perkins) the future still looks incredibly bright.  This ain’t Majerus bailing out with only Manning and Glaze left behind (Majerus’ one failing) and hand picking [dead] as the fall guy for Rick’s failing interest (and health).  We look good!  I personally don’t leave that behind.

This is not an attack on Ford.  At most, it confirms his house is on the market and has been for a fewweeks.  What that means —— I have no clue.

Why don’t you mention that he is also looking to buy a new home in St Louis???? Frank reported this about 3 weeks ago..

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1 hour ago, 3star_recruit said:

Coach Ford has a great situation here:  full backing of the AD and our most prominent booster, an $80 million arena and a strong recruiting base.  We're one of the best mid-major jobs in basketball.

Ford is a good fit for the program and the program is a good fit for him. If/when he starts making deep NCAA runs, there will naturally be suitors from the power conferences, but he's been there and he knows how tough it is to meet the expectations year in year out. He also knows he'll basically have a job for life here should he have that kind of success.

He may one day leave but it would take a dream job opportunity. We should appreciate him, not take him for granted, but also not lose sleep over rumors/chatter about him moving/leaving.

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12 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

WOW!  I’m dead to one poster now.  That’s okay.  Look, all I said was that the house has been on the market a few weeks and that I don’t want him to leave.  I’ve always talked “sustainability” and we have that or on the brink of having it with Ford.  
 

But he hasn’t done anything that makes the big boys get an erection and say “oh, I’ve gots to get me some of that.”  He has done a great job for us and should stay with an open checkbook from the Administration.  But this is SLU.  I want him to retire here.  But this is SLU.  If it can be screwed up, we will do it. I know of no reason for him to leave and only used the examples I did to show how the next great flavor rises to the top most times.  Enfield.  Underwood.  Beard.  Hurley.  Oates.  Travis hasn’t done that yet.  He could this year.  We shall see.

But why leave the only show in town?  Even the state?  Some (slu72) have expressed a fear that UK would come calling and be his dream job.  Maybe.  But Calipari ain’t going nowhere any time soon.  Plus I don’t think BBN would be happy with a guy who really hasn’t hit that one big lotto payoff —- favored son or not.  Ford is great in my book.  Beats the shite out of Crews, Soderberg, Romar, Ekker (of course) and even Spoon and Grawer (different times and different measurements, of course).  With what he has in our pipeline (minus Goodwin, French and Perkins) the future still looks incredibly bright.  This ain’t Majerus bailing out with only Manning and Glaze left behind (Majerus’ one failing) and hand picking [dead] as the fall guy for Rick’s failing interest (and health).  We look good!  I personally don’t leave that behind.

This is not an attack on Ford.  At most, it confirms his house is on the market and has been for a fewweeks.  What that means —— I have no clue.

Taj you know how sensitive the fans on this site are.

Taj you are a great poster and I always look forward to your A10 run down each week I learn a lot about the A10 reading your posts.

I agree with all that you have said in this thread about coach Ford but.  I am paranoid, I am always concerned about coach Ford leaving.

When coach Ford buys another home I will be able to relax.  Real Estate is hot in St.Louis.  Houses are selling quick and what people are getting for their properties is inflated.  Today coach Ford will get the most money possible for that home because of the market.

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1 hour ago, Compton said:

Another angle of looking at what you described is that with many programs in a sort of holding pattern and fewer departing P6 coaches, Fordham (or any other mid-major that fires their coach) is going to have a much shallower pool of candidates than they normally would - relying more on assistant coaches looking for their first HC job (especially as truly promising smaller conference HCs might want to hold out for a better market) than experienced P6 HCs looking for a new opportunity (like coaches Ford and Majerus). 

Fordham blew it when they passed on Pitino. Slick Rick would much rather be in the A10 than whatever conf Iona’s in, the MEACC maybe? Pitino would likely have made them a force as he would have recruited the east Coast hard and delivered some top talent. The fact they didn’t go after him made me wonder how serious they really are about hoops. If they’re not, I wish they’d seek a lower conference. I’d love to see room created for Loyola Chi and Porter. They’d be a bigger rival for us than UD. 

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2 hours ago, brianstl said:

Andy Enfield has the best winning percentage at USC of any basketball they have had in the last 60 years.  It would have been Tim Floyd, but they had to vacate 21 wins for NCAA violations.  Over the past five seasons Enfield has averaged 22 wins.  The Trojans currently sit atop the Pac 12, are ranked 20th in both polls, ranked 13th in Pomeroy's ratings and would likely be a 4 seed in the tournament.  I think he is doing OK.

That league of course was often different in some.of those time periods. And of course, times change. USC built a $150 Million (at the time) on campus facility. The pay is seven figures. Expectations are a bit different nowadays.

Enfield has taken USC from the bottom to middle of the Pac 12. And he is trying to take them to the top from there more often moving forward. They are having a good season. They are also hoping to turn the corner with regards to post season success. It's not a quick process.

Shaka Smart, another mentioned example, has yet to win an NCAA game at Texas. He is in his 6th season, sitting 6-4 in league play (tough league) after a promising start

Taj later clarified his points. 

As was discussed, making an NCAA run can and does get a coach a "better" job. Sometimes those work out, sometimes they don't, sometimes that's in the middle, sometimes it takes a while.

John Groce made a Sweet 16 run at Ohio, was hired at Illinois, and struggled to get it going after five seasons there. He's right back ro turning around another Mid American Conference school at Akron. And so on...

Travis Ford was a pretty known quantity when hired. He has steadily moved SLU from the bottom to middle to upper middle of the A-10. The next step is to be one of the top few league teams almost annually, and dominate the league more often, while also having more post season success. There's no reason why SLU can't become that more often as a program. Can Ford do that? We'll see. He's earned the chance to try at this point.

 

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For Taj Mahal 79, my point was not knock you. I thought maybe your expectations for a SLU HC were a little in la la land when you intimated what has he really done. Well, the biggest thing he’s done is put SLU hoops back on the Saint Louis athletic map. Media attention is at an all time high, high level local recruits aren’t pinching their noses when SLU calls, and The Fetz would have been jam packed this season if not for the China Plague. I think it’s fair to state he’s met and/or exceeded most fans’ expectations. 

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The one job that always worries me with Ford is Kentucky.  Here goes my unreasonably worrisome rantings.  Please don't reply that this is not a feasible scenario.  I know.  It's just how my anxiety ridden brain works.  It's possible that Kentucky fans and AD were upset with Calipari before this season for only winning one championship in his tenure and none since 2012.  If they were already questioning him and then this dumpster fire of a season happens, it may be the impetus to get rid of him.  It is possible that they have already decided to dump him at the end of the season.  I understand all of the arguments for why Ford hasn't necessarily proven his capabilities for long term success yet, but some in Kentucky might just convince themselves that his recruiting abilities combined with the resources and name of Kentucky would vault them to SEC championships and annual appearances in the final four.  If they have already decided that Calipari is out, it isn't beyond the realm of comprehension that someone from Kentucky reached out to Ford made a back door offer that he was receptive to.  I'm sure that the folks at Kentucky would want to hit the ground running if they were going to make a coaching change, and having your new coach already thinking about who to bring in and how to change the program would seem to be something that Kentucky would want.  Then, Coach Ford, wanting to be able to get his family to Kentucky ASAP after the announcement, puts his house up on the market.

Okay.  That's enough.  Now I'm back to thinking about Ford staying here 20 years, turning us into the next Gonzaga, and becoming the next Mark Few.

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2 hours ago, Taj79 said:

WOW!  I’m dead to one poster now.  That’s okay.  Look, all I said was that the house has been on the market a few weeks and that I don’t want him to leave.  I’ve always talked “sustainability” and we have that or on the brink of having it with Ford.  
 

But he hasn’t done anything that makes the big boys get an erection and say “oh, I’ve gots to get me some of that.”  He has done a great job for us and should stay with an open checkbook from the Administration.  But this is SLU.  I want him to retire here.  But this is SLU.  If it can be screwed up, we will do it. I know of no reason for him to leave and only used the examples I did to show how the next great flavor rises to the top most times.  Enfield.  Underwood.  Beard.  Hurley.  Oates.  Travis hasn’t done that yet.  He could this year.  We shall see.

But why leave the only show in town?  Even the state?  Some (slu72) have expressed a fear that UK would come calling and be his dream job.  Maybe.  But Calipari ain’t going nowhere any time soon.  Plus I don’t think BBN would be happy with a guy who really hasn’t hit that one big lotto payoff —- favored son or not.  Ford is great in my book.  Beats the shite out of Crews, Soderberg, Romar, Ekker (of course) and even Spoon and Grawer (different times and different measurements, of course).  With what he has in our pipeline (minus Goodwin, French and Perkins) the future still looks incredibly bright.  This ain’t Majerus bailing out with only Manning and Glaze left behind (Majerus’ one failing) and hand picking [dead] as the fall guy for Rick’s failing interest (and health).  We look good!  I personally don’t leave that behind.

This is not an attack on Ford.  At most, it confirms his house is on the market and has been for a fewweeks.  What that means —— I have no clue.

-that did not happen

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1 hour ago, cgeldmacher said:

The one job that always worries me with Ford is Kentucky.  Here goes my unreasonably worrisome rantings.  Please don't reply that this is not a feasible scenario.  I know.  It's just how my anxiety ridden brain works.  It's possible that Kentucky fans and AD were upset with Calipari before this season for only winning one championship in his tenure and none since 2012.  If they were already questioning him and then this dumpster fire of a season happens, it may be the impetus to get rid of him.  It is possible that they have already decided to dump him at the end of the season.  I understand all of the arguments for why Ford hasn't necessarily proven his capabilities for long term success yet, but some in Kentucky might just convince themselves that his recruiting abilities combined with the resources and name of Kentucky would vault them to SEC championships and annual appearances in the final four.  If they have already decided that Calipari is out, it isn't beyond the realm of comprehension that someone from Kentucky reached out to Ford made a back door offer that he was receptive to.  I'm sure that the folks at Kentucky would want to hit the ground running if they were going to make a coaching change, and having your new coach already thinking about who to bring in and how to change the program would seem to be something that Kentucky would want.  Then, Coach Ford, wanting to be able to get his family to Kentucky ASAP after the announcement, puts his house up on the market.

Okay.  That's enough.  Now I'm back to thinking about Ford staying here 20 years, turning us into the next Gonzaga, and becoming the next Mark Few.

I shared the same thoughts a little while ago in a different post. I play golf with a pretty serious connected UK fan. UK fans are over their romance with Calipari. They don't really like him and would probably be glad to see him go. They are fed up with the his one and done strategy. As my friend said, it takes you half a season to know who the players are without looking at your program. UK players are idolized in Lexington, but not when they're just passing thru. Every time I ask him if Ford would be considered he smiles and says he bleeds UK blue doesn't he?  Travis as a player was loved by UK fans. And they'd probably be all in for him to replace Calipari. All that said, I think the problem would be Calipari got an extension about 2 years ago, and I think it was a large and long one that would take him to the end of his coaching days. Can you say, BIG MONEY BUY OUT. Not sure they'd want to go that route at this time given the state of AD bank accounts due to the China plague. Every year the SEC distributes about $45mm to it's member schools, but I'm not sure that will be done this year, ie no ticket revenues and probably a dip in licensing royalties as well.  I think we're ok for the immediate future. Unless Travis falls flat on his tukus at SLU, I can see the day where he will likely be asked to return to his Old Kentucky Home.  

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