Lisa Stone is out as head coach.

[wgstl]

 

 

 

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

Don't like this at all.

[billiken_roy]

first year in a long long time i didnt get to a single women's game.   but it sure seemed as though she had lost some control of the program with the roster issues she has had the last couple of years.   i dont know that for sure since i dont follow all that closely as compared to the men's team.   but obviously problems had come up and let's be honest, things werent getting better.  

[laker119]

 That quote is pretty telling, and kinda surprising to be honest

[NH]

I think this was a good move. Lisa did an amazing job making this program respectable. But recruiting had stagnated. Unfortunate that her last year had such bad luck, but I think a winning season would have just delayed the inevitable.

The couple of times I’ve interacted with Coach Stone she couldn’t have been nicer. I thank her for being a great steward of the Billiken program.

[wgstl]

Just now, laker119 said:

 That quote is pretty telling, and kinda surprising to be honest

true

[A10Ref]

1 minute ago, NH said:

I think this was a good move. Lisa did an amazing job making this program respectable. But recruiting had stagnated. Unfortunate that her last year had such bad luck, but I think a winning season would have just delayed the inevitable.

The couple of times I’ve interacted with Coach Stone she couldn’t have been nicer. I thank her for being a great steward of the Billiken program.

This... It's a tough move to make because she's seemingly a tremendous person, but I think it's the right move for the program.

[willie]

I absolutely loved Lisa but let's face it the numbers were not there. Not surprised. 

[NoCoBillsFan]

I’m not surprised by this at all. Seems to be for the best too

[ARon]

10 years is a long run to have 0 tournaments appearances even for a program with no history of success.  Coach Stone’s result have looked great relative to her predecessors but I can understand the athletic department reaching the point where they need to see more to be satisfied.

Similar to Ben Fredrickson’s comment about Ford the other day - Stone raised the floor but couldn’t raise the ceiling.

[billiken_roy]

Just now, ARon said:

10 years is a long run to have 0 tournaments appearances even for a program with no history of success.  Coach Stone’s result have looked great relative to her predecessors but I can understand the athletic department reaching the point where they need to see more to be satisfied.

Similar to Ben Fredrickson’s comment about Ford the other day - Stone raised the floor but couldn’t raise the ceiling.

this is a very good post.    Stone is sort of the women's rich grawer.   she got us to this level.   now we need to find the coach that can go higher.   

[BrockL]

3 minutes ago, ARon said:

10 years is a long run to have 0 tournaments appearances even for a program with no history of success.  Coach Stone’s result have looked great relative to her predecessors but I can understand the athletic department reaching the point where they need to see more to be satisfied.

Similar to Ben Fredrickson’s comment about Ford the other day - Stone raised the floor but couldn’t raise the ceiling.

I'm not going to fault her for never making an NCAA Tournament. The program had 3 winning seasons in the 25 seasons prior to her taking on the job. Given that track record, the success she had is pretty remarkable. That said, I understand the university wanting to move on, especially given the lofty goals Chris May laid out for the program in his quote in the press release. 

[JMM28]

5 minutes ago, ARon said:

10 years is a long run to have 0 tournaments appearances even for a program with no history of success.  Coach Stone’s result have looked great relative to her predecessors but I can understand the athletic department reaching the point where they need to see more to be satisfied.

Similar to Ben Fredrickson’s comment about Ford the other day - Stone raised the floor but couldn’t raise the ceiling.

I agree and was about to post the same thing. I assume a similar quote will be coming out about Travis Ford either next year or the year after. 

 

I am glad that May is holding high expectations of other programs. It would be easy to sit and just say "As long as MBB is winning..." so kudos to Chris May for that. 

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

Just now, BrockL said:

I'm not going to fault her for never making an NCAA Tournament. The program had 3 winning seasons in the 25 seasons prior to her taking on the job. Given that track record, the success she had is pretty remarkable. That said, I understand the university wanting to move on, especially given the lofty goals Chris May laid out for the program in his quote in the press release. 

This ^ but getting to an NCAA Tournament is going to start with providing the resources to get there. I'm hoping that they provide them.

[RUBillsFan]

14 minutes ago, ARon said:

Similar to Ben Fredrickson’s comment about Ford the other day - Stone raised the floor but couldn’t raise the ceiling.

Given the history of the women's program the floor that Stone raised was arguably higher than what the ceiling had been prior to her arrival.  The team was devastated by injuries this year & I don't put blame on Stone for them having a poor season.

I hope this means brining in a coach who continues to raise the bar & as others have said giving that coach the necessary resources to succeed.

@billikenfan05 could probably put this better, but how the heck does Lisa Stone lose her job while Kent Miller continues as volleyball HC.  Comparing the history of the programs & their respective HC records, it is kind of baffling.

Hoping this is a message to Travis Ford as well as other HCs in SLU athletics that good / better than the teams have been historically isn't necessarily good enough.

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

1 minute ago, RUBillsFan said:

Given the history of the women's program the floor that Stone raised was arguably higher than what the ceiling had been prior to her arrival.  The team was devastated by injuries this year & I don't put blame on Stone for them having a poor season.

I hope this means brining in a coach who continues to raise the bar & as others have said giving that coach the necessary resources to succeed.

@billikenfan05 could probably put this better, but how the heck does Lisa Stone lose her job while Kent Miller continues as volleyball HC.  Comparing the history of the programs & their respective HC records, it is kind of baffling.

Hoping this is a message to Travis Ford as well as other HCs in SLU athletics that good / better than the teams have been historically isn't necessarily good enough.

For some of the reasons you stated above, this firing is going to bug me all day. Coach Stone knew and remembered me when I talked to her, you can't buy that personal touch. I'm just hoping they can find someone who is as down to earth while elevating the program.

[DeSmetBilliken]

24 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

   Stone is sort of the women's rich grawer.   she got us to this level.   now we need to find the coach that can go higher.   

I had this exact thought a little while ago. 

[brianstl]

This means they have raised the expectations for the women's program higher than they have ever been.  It is now time to hold May accountable for those expectations throughout the athletic program.

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

3 minutes ago, brianstl said:

This means they have raised the expectations for the women's program higher than they have ever been.  It is now time to hold May accountable for those expectations throughout the athletic program.

Preach ^ and also give the women's program the resources to meet those expectations and put the same standard on the men's program. 

[A10Ref]

2 minutes ago, BrettJollyComedyHour said:

Preach ^ and also give the women's program the resources to meet those expectations and put the same standard on the men's program. 

Women's locker room is just as nice as the men's for basketball and they use the same facilities... Same thing with Women's and Men's soccer. Seems like the facilities/standards are there. Most successful program at the school (recently) is Women's soccer and we're seeing Men's starting to achieve near it (last season obviously blew everyone out of the water given one loss but Women's has been more consistent). Travis also won't be the head coach for 10 seasons without at least 3 NCAA tournament appearances.

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

7 minutes ago, A10Ref said:

Travis also won't be the head coach for 10 seasons without at least 3 NCAA tournament appearances.

I'm really hoping this will actually be the case, he's on year 6, so you'd hope.

[billikenfan05]

43 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

Given the history of the women's program the floor that Stone raised was arguably higher than what the ceiling had been prior to her arrival.  The team was devastated by injuries this year & I don't put blame on Stone for them having a poor season.

I hope this means brining in a coach who continues to raise the bar & as others have said giving that coach the necessary resources to succeed.

@billikenfan05 could probably put this better, but how the heck does Lisa Stone lose her job while Kent Miller continues as volleyball HC.  Comparing the history of the programs & their respective HC records, it is kind of baffling.

Hoping this is a message to Travis Ford as well as other HCs in SLU athletics that good / better than the teams have been historically isn't necessarily good enough.

Adding up everything that has happened this year, in hindsight this should have been easy to see. Program had plateaued and been struggling to break through that ceiling, Champion Center announced, MST injury, brutal season, more injuries, Ciaja and MST announcing they wouldn't try to play another year here. The cornerstones are gone, improvements to chaifetz being made, the timing is right to make a change even if, as I believe, I think she could have been easily given one more year.

My best guess for Kent Miller is that he really has made an art form out of finishing 3rd every season(filling a grand canyon size gap in talent between 2 and 4) which appears to be good enough for May. He literally has finished 3rd in 7 of his 10 seasons.

[slu72]

Just a thought, I wonder if this is a warning shot across Travis’ bow? We expect more than 20 W seasons. May and the donors have seen what Rick could do at SLU, and they expect that to be the norm. There’s little to complain about re facilities and now is the time for our major programs to start raising expectations. 

[ARon]

14 minutes ago, slu72 said:

Just a thought, I wonder if this is a warning shot across Travis’ bow? We expect more than 20 W seasons. May and the donors have seen what Rick could do at SLU, and they expect that to be the norm. There’s little to complain about re facilities and now is the time for our major programs to start raising expectations. 

I don’t know that it is meant to send Ford a message. But it still sends the message that regardless of how legitimate the reasons/excuses might be (COVID, Injuries) there will still be consequences for a lack of results.

[willie]

1 hour ago, RUBillsFan said:

Given the history of the women's program the floor that Stone raised was arguably higher than what the ceiling had been prior to her arrival.  The team was devastated by injuries this year & I don't put blame on Stone for them having a poor season.

I hope this means brining in a coach who continues to raise the bar & as others have said giving that coach the necessary resources to succeed.

@billikenfan05 could probably put this better, but how the heck does Lisa Stone lose her job while Kent Miller continues as volleyball HC.  Comparing the history of the programs & their respective HC records, it is kind of baffling.

Hoping this is a message to Travis Ford as well as other HCs in SLU athletics that good / better than the teams have been historically isn't necessarily good enough.

I'll answer this for you. Women's basketball is suppose to be a revenue sport. Volleyball is not.