Ford Interview with Kilcoyne

[TheA_Bomb]

43 minutes ago, Cowboy II said:

-glad his "family issues" were resolved so that he could travel to the Balkans to shoot hoops

Maybe he has family in the Balkans. SLU needs to fix this slavery built campus issue so we can all be more open minded.

[JMM28]

 

[slu72]

In today’s age of whacko law suits, you can bet the farm if Dagler got stiffed on an NIL deal we’d have been hit with a suit. 

[Dr. Holly Hills]

19 minutes ago, slu72 said:

In today’s age of whacko law suits, you can bet the farm if Dagler got stiffed on an NIL deal we’d have been hit with a suit. 

Or seen something from him or his circle on social media.  I have a hard time believing any young man in this day and age could ride out of town and keep quiet about it.

[billikenfan05]

Did anyone listen to the full 15 minutes on KTRS tonight?

[BillTheCat]

11 hours ago, OkieBilliken said:

I was chatting with an old dude at the baseball game Friday.  He was clearly a wealthy alum retired, living in the Port Charlotte area.  He didn't stay for much of the game, but Coach Hendrickson acknowledged him when he walked by pre-game.   He told me a couple of things that were disturbing.  He said he had one of his buddies lined up to make a $500,000 donation recently for naming rights to our baseball complex, the same amount donated for the soccer field naming rights.   Chris May apparently flat turned him down and said it would require a lot more now.  

This kind of thing is one of the reasons to be concerned that Hendrickson may leave for greener pastures after this season now that his kids are out of HS.

The AD seems to almost actively campaign against baseball… the guys on the team share that sentiment.

 

[stmdragons]

1 hour ago, billikenfan05 said:

Did anyone listen to the full 15 minutes on KTRS tonight?

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-big-550-ktrs/id1352461787?i=1000645944217
 

Wasn’t able to find it anywhere else. 

[OkieBilliken]

9 hours ago, BillTheCat said:

This kind of thing is one of the reasons to be concerned that Hendrickson may leave for greener pastures after this season now that his kids are out of HS.

The AD seems to almost actively campaign against baseball… the guys on the team share that sentiment.

 

Really hope that doesn't happen.  Unlike with the basketball coach, there is exactly a zero percent chance we would get anyone equal or better than him.   If that happens, I will heavily invest in the @TheA_Bomb 's billboard fund.   I may do my own protest outside of Pestello's office demanding baseball reparations.  

[Box and Won]

13 hours ago, JMM28 said:

 

This program is going the way of Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook.

[Pistol]

I'm going to take Ford at face value for a moment regarding his "We have a plan in place to turn this thing around" line that he repeated a few times.

Recruiting is bone dry. We've offered a few juco guys this season but otherwise have virtually no discernible recruiting activity.

We have one player - Ja'Quavis Williford - committed for next season.

Meadows and Hargrove are out of eligibility after this season. Jimerson may or may not return for a sixth season.

International players are hard to predict but can be difficult to retain. Regarding the others, we'd be crazy not to expect transfers given the current landscape and the nature of the season we're having. In short, retention is going to be a real problem.

So if the recruiting pipeline is a trickle at most, if we have one incoming commitment so far, and if we're going to struggle to retain a bunch of players who are visibly upset at how this season has gone (assuming you want to retain all of them), does the plan involve a completely new set of players? Is Ford assuming he'll have enough of an NIL bag to put together a roster as if he's a new coach, and hope for those guys to come together like Utah State (or VCU or George Mason, arguably)?

I would just love to hear more about what the plan is, because I don't think it's real.

[ACE]

2 minutes ago, Pistol said:

I'm going to take Ford at face value for a moment regarding his "We have a plan in place to turn this thing around" line that he repeated a few times.

Recruiting is bone dry. We've offered a few juco guys this season but otherwise have virtually no discernible recruiting activity.

We have one player - Ja'Quavis Williford - committed for next season.

Meadows and Hargrove are out of eligibility after this season. Jimerson may or may not return for a sixth season.

International players are hard to predict but can be difficult to retain. Regarding the others, we'd be crazy not to expect transfers given the current landscape and the nature of the season we're having. In short, retention is going to be a real problem.

So if the recruiting pipeline is a trickle at most, if we have one incoming commitment so far, and if we're going to struggle to retain a bunch of players who are visibly upset at how this season has gone (assuming you want to retain all of them), does the plan involve a completely new set of players? Is Ford assuming he'll have enough of an NIL bag to put together a roster as if he's a new coach, and hope for those guys to come together like Utah State (or VCU or George Mason, arguably)?

I would just love to hear more about what the plan is, because I don't think it's real.

Aside from the terrible performance on the court, this is the biggest reason Ford needs to go. Following, last season's disappointing season, I thought he deserved one more year, BUT he would have to prove that he could quickly start building up the roster in the spring and then again this fall in order to be retained. He has failed on both of those counts. He landed no impact players in the portal last spring and the foreign players have failed to make an impact. There is no  core on this roster to build around. On top of that, while the one recruit in the fall seems like he could be a solid recruit, TF has failed here as well. He really needed to land a couple of impact freshmen for next year - like  a Goodwin/French level combo... that didn't happen, so it's time to go.

[NextYearBill]

a struggling salesman with no funnel or pipeline? peace out dawg 

[Soderball]

13 minutes ago, Pistol said:

I'm going to take Ford at face value for a moment regarding his "We have a plan in place to turn this thing around" line that he repeated a few times.

Recruiting is bone dry. We've offered a few juco guys this season but otherwise have virtually no discernible recruiting activity.

We have one player - Ja'Quavis Williford - committed for next season.

Meadows and Hargrove are out of eligibility after this season. Jimerson may or may not return for a sixth season.

International players are hard to predict but can be difficult to retain. Regarding the others, we'd be crazy not to expect transfers given the current landscape and the nature of the season we're having. In short, retention is going to be a real problem.

So if the recruiting pipeline is a trickle at most, if we have one incoming commitment so far, and if we're going to struggle to retain a bunch of players who are visibly upset at how this season has gone (assuming you want to retain all of them), does the plan involve a completely new set of players? Is Ford assuming he'll have enough of an NIL bag to put together a roster as if he's a new coach, and hope for those guys to come together like Utah State (or VCU or George Mason, arguably)?

I would just love to hear more about what the plan is, because I don't think it's real.

If we retain all the guys from this years recruiting class we are going to continue to suck.

 

Best two guys we got are Ezewiro(who still can't stay on the court for more than 20) and Dalger(who dipped and is already gone) ..

 

Everyone on this roster who can actually play is a junior or senior. This is not a young team. This is still COVID-era guys.

[Pistol]

8 minutes ago, Soderball said:

If we retain all the guys from this years recruiting class we are going to continue to suck.

 

Best two guys we got are Ezewiro(who still can't stay on the court for more than 20) and Dalger(who dipped and is already gone) ..

 

Everyone on this roster who can actually play is a junior or senior. This is not a young team. This is still COVID-era guys.

I don't disagree. Even if there are some talented players in this group, Ford can't get them to play as a unit and he really can't get them to defend. Maybe someone else could. Maybe not. He can't succeed with this group, though.

So the question remains: Is his "plan" a total rebuild for year nine? Is he punting on HS/prep recruiting for transfers? Who can you keep, if anyone, from such a toxic environment? How does a successful roster come together? Does he have the NIL bag? How does he sell quality incoming players on a vision? How is he going to catch lightning in a bottle this time when we haven't seen it come together for him in the first eight seasons?

[DOC]

2 minutes ago, Pistol said:

I don't disagree. Even if there are some talented players in this group, Ford can't get them to play as a unit and he really can't get them to defend. Maybe someone else could. Maybe not. He can't succeed with this group, though.

So the question remains: Is his "plan" a total rebuild for year nine? Is he punting on HS/prep recruiting for transfers? Who can you keep, if anyone, from such a toxic environment? How does a successful roster come together? Does he have the NIL bag? How does he sell quality incoming players on a vision? How is he going to catch lightning in a bottle this time when we haven't seen it come together for him in the first eight seasons?

I doubt there’s a plan, but if there really is one it just might be Ford investing a chunk of his salary into NIL. Then you have to cull the herd. Who stays and who goes if Ford is here would be very interesting. 

[someoneelse]

Just now, DOC said:

I doubt there’s a plan, but if there really is one it just might be Ford investing a chunk of his salary into NIL. Then you have to cull the herd. Who stays and who goes if Ford is here would be very interesting. 

I would find that very surprising, a coach taking a pay cut to get better players. 

Depending on how much he saved/invested, TF may not have to work again, but I still don't see it happening.  It would create a precedent that his fellow coaches would be pressured to follow.

[billikenfan05]

2 minutes ago, DOC said:

I doubt there’s a plan, but if there really is one it just might be Ford investing a chunk of his salary into NIL. Then you have to cull the herd. Who stays and who goes if Ford is here would be very interesting. 

Sounds like there's a few that would leave on their own accord. 

[thatskablamo]

3 hours ago, OkieBilliken said:

Really hope that doesn't happen.  Unlike with the basketball coach, there is exactly a zero percent chance we would get anyone equal or better than him.   If that happens, I will heavily invest in the @TheA_Bomb 's billboard fund.   I may do my own protest outside of Pestello's office demanding baseball reparations.  

Let’s take the Time Machine back to last April. Phil Forte leaving and the wake that left behind should have been the massive warning alarm that the program was internally hemorrhaging. The “closer to home” narrative was May pulling the wool over our eyes. Forte was smart enough to see the writing on the wall. Good for you, Phil. 

[DOC]

1 minute ago, someoneelse said:

I would find that very surprising, a coach taking a pay cut to get better players. 

Depending on how much he saved/invested, TF may not have to work again, but I still don't see it happening.  It would create a precedent that his fellow coaches would be pressured to follow.

Travis Ford is wealthy. He doesn’t need the money, but I see your point. It’s a long shot, but it’s been brought up on here as an option. This will be his last head coaching job at a D1 school so if he doesn’t want it to end, and that’s his only out…

[DOC]

8 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

Sounds like there's a few that would leave on their own accord. 

No question some guys would want out. Other than Parker, I wouldn’t lose sleep on any of the rest of them. If Ford stays we’re going to lose more than players. 

[ACE]

3 minutes ago, thatskablamo said:

Let’s take the Time Machine back to last April. Phil Forte leaving and the wake that left behind should have been the massive warning alarm that the program was internally hemorrhaging. The “closer to home” narrative was May pulling the wool over our eyes. Forte was smart enough to see the writing on the wall. Good for you, Phil. 

I think you're giving Forte too much credit - I never liked the Forte hire in the first place. It seemed like he was destined to try to get back into his natural recruiting area (Oklahoma/Texas) the first chance he got. SLU recruiting Texas because of Forte never made sense and always seemed like a temporary strategy. All of our recruiting down there felt like Forte auditioning for his next job.  Ford's loyalty to Forte was a big mistake. In fact, I would make the argument that the hiring of Forte in the first place was a sign that things were heading in the wrong direction.

[Pistol]

Ford isn't going to put any of his salary in NIL. (I wouldn't, if I were him.)

I expect a relatively high number of outgoing transfers whether or not Ford is fired.

I also expect some turnover among the rest of the staff, even if Ford stays.

[RUBillsFan]

16 minutes ago, DOC said:

I doubt there’s a plan, but if there really is one it just might be Ford investing a chunk of his salary into NIL. Then you have to cull the herd. Who stays and who goes if Ford is here would be very interesting. 

My biggest beef with Ford going into this season was basically that he was overpaid for the results he was getting.  He'd arguably been a more successful coach compared to others (excluding Spoon & Majerus) at SLU historically.  It was just that we were paying him the highest salary in the A10 for upper-middle of the A10 results.

This would never happen, but...If you told me going into the year that Ford had 4 year / $10 million left on his deal, it was going to be renegotiated to a 10 year / $10 million deal with the annual savings funneled to NIL via boosters.  I'd think that was great & give Ford a few years of runway to see how it works.

Now - this season has been a total dumpster fire & I'm not sure any level of pay cut with extra going to NIL would make me okay with keeping Ford.

[JMM28]

5 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Ford isn't going to put any of his salary in NIL. (I wouldn't, if I were him.)

 

Not with the contract and guarantees he reportedly has. 

There is an argument to be made that some low major coaches would be well served to dump some of their salary into an NIL fund to get higher level players and move on up. 

[wgstl]

Theres a time when it makes sense to use some of your salary on NIL, and times it does not make sense. This is one of those times that does not make sense. It would have made sense to do it 2-3 years ago when a T25 team would have had p5 calling from all over to get him a bigger contract than what he had.  Does not make sense to do it when it would cost him half a million if not more just to be relevant enough to MAYBE get one more year.