Is May done?

[FatherB]

I think Chris May has had 3 objectives:

1.  get SLU to the Big East

2. make SLU MBB a perennial tournament team

3. keep all other sports near the top half of the A-10. 
 

I think he’s had his time and was successful with item 3 only. Results matter when you are in that kind of leadership role for a long time. How much more time could he get?

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

Just now, FatherB said:

I think Chris May has had 3 objectives:

1.  get SLU to the Big East

2. make SLU MBB a perennial tournament team

3. keep all other sports near the top half of the A-10. 
 

I think he’s had his time and was successful with item 3 only. Results matter when you are in that kind of leadership role for a long time. How much more time could he get?

If you're the actual Father Biondi, then exact some divine revenge on him, please.

[slu92]

IF Chris May is allowed to even communicate, much less be involved with a third mbb hire, SLU really is run top to bottom by even bigger morons. This is like soccer coach hiring 2.0 with him, he will act like he’s getting all this big interest in job to pump up leadership, guys will use SLU to negotiate for better jobs and move on, get to around the 7/8th choice when finally a donor like Kavanaugh tells him hire Kalish. Which is and was last thing guy wanted to do bc he was connected locally and he can’t control him. Guy is so insecure and has a huge ego, which I don’t get at all, that it’s all about HIS survival and keeping control. Plus he’s profoundly stupid on top of everything. I’m a broken record, I get it, I can see it being annoying, but I can’t say it enough until guy is fired, he’s bad, bad, bad news and has gotta go for slu to move forward!!!! 

[Lord Elrond]

56 minutes ago, FatherB said:

I think Chris May has had 3 objectives:

1.  get SLU to the Big East

2. make SLU MBB a perennial tournament team

3. keep all other sports near the top half of the A-10. 
 

I think he’s had his time and was successful with item 3 only. Results matter when you are in that kind of leadership role for a long time. How much more time could he get?

Don’t forget to add:

4. Reported buyout to get rid of MBB coach no one else wanted to hire was over $10 million 

[CenHudDude]

7 hours ago, slu92 said:

IF Chris May is allowed to even communicate, much less be involved with a third mbb hire, SLU really is run top to bottom by even bigger morons. This is like soccer coach hiring 2.0 with him, he will act like he’s getting all this big interest in job to pump up leadership, guys will use SLU to negotiate for better jobs and move on, get to around the 7/8th choice when finally a donor like Kavanaugh tells him hire Kalish. Which is and was last thing guy wanted to do bc he was connected locally and he can’t control him. Guy is so insecure and has a huge ego, which I don’t get at all, that it’s all about HIS survival and keeping control. Plus he’s profoundly stupid on top of everything. I’m a broken record, I get it, I can see it being annoying, but I can’t say it enough until guy is fired, he’s bad, bad, bad news and has gotta go for slu to move forward!!!! 

I’ll leave it to Dr. Pestello and the BOT whether Chris May should stay or go.  I know that a lot of posters here have no use for him, while others point out his success with sports other than MBB.  I only met Chris once and had a brief conversation with him.  You may disagree with him, but. I can assure you that he is NOT “profoundly stupid”. Your points might be better received by us MBMs if you stop the name calling.

[SLUMS81]

7 hours ago, slu92 said:

IF Chris May is allowed to even communicate, much less be involved with a third mbb hire, SLU really is run top to bottom by even bigger morons. This is like soccer coach hiring 2.0 with him, he will act like he’s getting all this big interest in job to pump up leadership, guys will use SLU to negotiate for better jobs and move on, get to around the 7/8th choice when finally a donor like Kavanaugh tells him hire Kalish. Which is and was last thing guy wanted to do bc he was connected locally and he can’t control him. Guy is so insecure and has a huge ego, which I don’t get at all, that it’s all about HIS survival and keeping control. Plus he’s profoundly stupid on top of everything. I’m a broken record, I get it, I can see it being annoying, but I can’t say it enough until guy is fired, he’s bad, bad, bad news and has gotta go for slu to move forward!!!! 

Feel better now?

[cheeseman]

On 3/14/2024 at 10:23 AM, Lord Elrond said:

Don’t forget to add:

4. Reported buyout to get rid of MBB coach no one else wanted to hire was over $10 million 

I am not sure that has been confirmed

[shempie]

9 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

I am not sure that has been confirmed

It hasn't been confirmed but is treated as gospel by some on this board.

[billikenfan05]

1 minute ago, shempie said:

It hasn't been confirmed but is treated as gospel by some on this board.

Seems like it's a misquote or conglomeration of facts. I believe it was confirmed the extension was 10 years, he had 5 left after this year, he's making 2.5 ish per year. So a mixture of a sort of portmanteau and addition/guestimation based on pay and years left. 

[TRN]

No, it’s March 15 (the Ides of March), so we’re about 63 days until then.  

Sorry, I couldn’t resist with a dad joke. My kid’s heading home from college for a few days over Spring Break so I have to get into form.

[Slu let the dogs out?]

Speaking of May, I think he's doing some consulting work for the Cardinals these days:

Oliver Marmol contract extension as Cardinals manager (mlb.com)

 

[White Pelican]

Yeah, but they fired Mikey (the first one) in the first year of a three year extension. So I wouldn't put too much emphasis on that. But, it DID make them (Moe anyway) look rather foolish. Of course, it didn't make the owner look any smarter either.

[TheChosenOne]

48 minutes ago, Slu let the dogs out? said:

Speaking of May, I think he's doing some consulting work for the Cardinals these days:

Oliver Marmol contract extension as Cardinals manager (mlb.com)

It’s a bold strategy…..

[FatherB]

https://www.stltoday.com/sports/column/ben-frederickson/benfred-as-slu-finalizes-hire-of-josh-schertz-how-about-some-applause-for-ad-chris/article_3d751f14-f390-11ee-9ba9-bf0526e58e78.html
 

Quid pro quo. May gets rewarded with a gushy piece for sharing some of the Schertz insider info along the hiring process. 

[stmdragons]

4 minutes ago, FatherB said:

https://www.stltoday.com/sports/column/ben-frederickson/benfred-as-slu-finalizes-hire-of-josh-schertz-how-about-some-applause-for-ad-chris/article_3d751f14-f390-11ee-9ba9-bf0526e58e78.html
 

Quid pro quo. May gets rewarded with a gushy piece for sharing some of the Schertz insider info along the hiring process. 

Nauseating stuff from BenFred. 

[ACE]

3 minutes ago, stmdragons said:

Nauseating stuff from BenFred. 

I really don't care about May either way, but if he was good enough for Majerus, and he's good enough for Doc Chaifetz and good enough for Schertz to come here - I'm gonna say he's good enough for me. I think many overestimate his importance in the grand scheme.

[3star_recruit]

3 minutes ago, ACE said:

I really don't care about May either way, but if he was good enough for Majerus, and he's good enough for Doc Chaifetz and good enough for Schertz to come here - I'm gonna say he's good enough for me. I think many overestimate his importance in the grand scheme.

I've been saying that for years.  We've got about 30 years of evidence that demonstrates the old boy network runs the show regardless of who the AD is.

[billikenfan05]

7 hours ago, ACE said:

I really don't care about May either way, but if he was good enough for Majerus, and he's good enough for Doc Chaifetz and good enough for Schertz to come here - I'm gonna say he's good enough for me. I think many overestimate his importance in the grand scheme.

 

7 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

I've been saying that for years.  We've got about 30 years of evidence that demonstrates the old boy network runs the show regardless of who the AD is.

My issue with May and everyone else's should go way deeper than a Men's Basketball hire. The arrogance with which he runs the department has created a culture of warped "gratitude" where the student athletes and rank and file employees should be grateful for anything they get. Darin Hendrickson just won his 500th game at SLU and has to fight tooth and nail to get any upgrades to his facility just to bring it on par with the Big East. The Champions Center was built with the promise that all SLU athletes would be able to access free breakfast, that was not true yet is still shown on his SLU profile. Track and Field has a home meet meal for the team in the OCC and athletes had to pay for it. The department is under staffed and overworked and May hides from any confrontation or negativity. I said that my issues go deeper than a men's basketball hire, but that hire put SLU athletics in a major financial bind without an NCAA Tournament apppearance.

[GOSLU68]

The university has no or little PR impact. You would think with upgrading of “communications majors” 

in universities all over America that SLU would seize the opportunity to make itself prominent in the midwest and in the A-10 metro areas. 
 

it is not just a Basketball or Chaifetz arena problem

[Billfan7]

8 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

I've been saying that for years.  We've got about 30 years of evidence that demonstrates the old boy network runs the show regardless of who the AD is.

Exactly.  I don't like the overly smarmy May but I think May is here to stay so long as the old boy network is happy and the budget isn't fuoked.  This is probably too simplistic but I am looking at this from a dollars and cents point of view.  We know there are a number of big $$ people behind basketball and soccer and those sports are 1 and 2 in revenue generation for the dept. so, on some level, it makes sense that May caters to those 3 programs and those teams get run of the facilities (maybe it is not "fair" but when does that matter in real life).  It would also then make sense that May would run the rest of the sports programs on a shoestring to make the money work.  Now if baseball or track began to generate real revenue or donors, then I am sure May would build a stadium or give them a free breakfast but until then he will let them eat cake like the rest of the "peasant" sports.

[billikenfan05]

42 minutes ago, Billfan7 said:

Exactly.  I don't like the overly smarmy May but I think May is here to stay so long as the old boy network is happy and the budget isn't fuoked.  This is probably too simplistic but I am looking at this from a dollars and cents point of view.  We know there are a number of big $$ people behind basketball and soccer and those sports are 1 and 2 in revenue generation for the dept. so, on some level, it makes sense that May caters to those 3 programs and those teams get run of the facilities (maybe it is not "fair" but when does that matter in real life).  It would also then make sense that May would run the rest of the sports programs on a shoestring to make the money work.  Now if baseball or track began to generate real revenue or donors, then I am sure May would build a stadium or give them a free breakfast but until then he will let them eat cake like the rest of the "peasant" sports.

Stadium aside (which we really are just asking for stadium seats and a press box in the same setup as now), these non-revs are lacking the absolute bare minimum to match Big East programs. SLU baseball received a donation of brand new led lights from an alumni. It didn’t come with money to install it. May declined to budget the installation or allow crowd funding even though the field didn’t have lights in proper working order. They have to play all day games. The new turf wasn’t even installed til February and there was doubt they’d be able to play home games on campus. They had to bus to the grizzlies field for practice. A donation was on the table to renovate the Softball playing surface but  was apparently rejected by May because he wanted all donations to go to the OCC. He’s consistently taking credit for these programs success while just inexplicably letting them play in sub par conditions. The OCC also does not support all SAs. For instance you have to shower before using the ice bath, but baseball for instance don’t have showers in there

[OkieBilliken]

10 hours ago, stmdragons said:

Nauseating stuff from BenFred. 

Credit where credit is due for this hire, but it’s pretty funny that he doesn’t hold it against us for being unhappy with him.  I’m glad he forgives me for cursing at him every time I watch a home baseball game on ESPN+ 

[stmdragons]

52 minutes ago, OkieBilliken said:

Credit where credit is due for this hire, but it’s pretty funny that he doesn’t hold it against us for being unhappy with him.  I’m glad he forgives me for cursing at him every time I watch a home baseball game on ESPN+ 

Yeah, that part did make me chuckle a bit. 

[cheeseman]

Few of us on the Board really know what actually happens in the AD.  Subsequently, it is hard to know what the temperature is in it.  I would think the new President will want to do some kind of evaluation of all the departments and get some type of information via a survey or focus groups regarding each department.  If whoever they hire doesn't do something like this then a mistake was made.  No leader worth their salt would simply take the word of a few who have everything to gain by maintaining the status quo.  Given the huge fight colleges will have with each other over the shrinking pool of students available to recruit, no leader of a school can be complacent.  Once the data comes in and is evaluated, the AD may paint a picture that May won't be happy with or perhaps would be.  From my perspective, I see lots of signs of dysfunction and lack of competence. Examples are getting 5 free tix for some sports 2 days before the event and expecting us to actually do something with them - lack of planning.  Another is calling the tix office with a question and having to leave a voicemail that may or may not usually be returned.  A third is not having SLU police officers visible when people are walking to and from their cars/parking lot given the City's fair or not reputation for crime or directing pedestrian traffic after a game when cars are exiting and the pedestrians cross against the light.  I know he has been told about this and the matter never gets addressed properly - I am amazed no one has been hurt yet.  Keeping the safety of your clients should be a key objective.  What these examples point to is a lack of attention to details and that is usually a sign of poor leadership.  All I know is that the fish rots from the head down as so the old Chinese proverb says.

[HoosierPal]

Chris May and the Athletic Department had a pretty good day.