Coaching Scenario.

[StLouBlue]

Thank you for actually answering as best possible who some replacements could be if Brad was fired after this season. Myself I would much rather allow Brad another couple of years than trying to find gold with a coach out of the MCC or Sun Belt type conferences. I really don't want to hand the job to an assistant either, I think prior head coaching experience is very important for the SLU job.

I also disagree with you that Brad was the wrong guy for the position. I think he is a high emotional guy on a one on one basis but it doesn't translate well to the media or fans. I do think Brad does have to improve as a coach in order to be our long term solution, but like I have said I have seen enough good things from him let him have more time.

Also, I don't expect our team to be the same as last year, I expect at least 18 wins and a top 4 finish in conference again. I expect the conference to be better than last year so while a top 4 doesn't seem like an improvement, I think it will be in that sense.

[Taj79]

What if Iran looses the A-bomb and then this becomes all moot, practice doesn't happen, the season doesn't play out .... oh, wait a minute, the A-bomb is already loose on here .... nevermind!

Please, can we let the season play out? In the summer we can't wait for fall and the guys to get back on campus. In the fall, we're firing coaches, replacing them willy-nilly and having pro teams calling long before they are ready.

MU's evaluation is right on about who the replacement would likely be if it ever gets that far. Look at out history. Albrecht, Coleman, Ekker, Grawer, Spoon, Romar and now Sodeberg. Only Romar jumped up and that was an aberration in my book.

Play the damn games.

[Billiken Law]

>Go home, root for the goldmembers, and leave us alone. I

>mean yuck, we're all mid-majory and mediocre and had the bad

>taste to choose a Wisconsin guy as coach.

>

>This is going to be a good year.....I can feel it......

SLU is my alma mater too and I'm sick of the games where SLU only scores in the 30's adn 40's. Plus, they should have at least won 1 of the final 3 games to make the NIT last year. 4 years, 60 wins, I expect more. I have high expectations for this year as well, but if those don't come to fruition it's time to go in another direction.

[slu72]

I don't see where it's wrong to discuss expectations for a season. If it is why do we have preseason periodicals? Why check out CHN daily? Why even post on this board? (It sure ain't to find out who's being recruited, since none of know with any certainty. UB's got a hell of a plumbers unit working for him). Maybe we should all just sit back watch football and the MLB playoffs and wait for November? But we won't because we're devoted fans of Billiken hoops. Why? Who the hell knows? It sure ain't because we got a great winning tradition going for us. Maybe we like funky mascots and the colors royal blue and white. But the real reason is deep down in our heart we want this program to succeed. So we can go to the sports bars wearing our Billiken hats and say, "hey those are my guys playing in the dance." This season we all have high hopes, but when all Bill fans are realists (one must to retain one's sanity). We are always the team with question marks. When was the last time you read something like, "The Bills have it all this year, strong guard play, a quick big front line, and depth on the bench." We're not Duke, knowing we'll be there at the end just wondering how deep we'll go in the brackets. We have a long suffering history of knowing every season is a mystery and secretly saying, we'll be lucky to be an NIT bubble team. We've become the Chicago Cubs of College Hoops. We look at the Marquettes and Gonzagas of the world hanging up NCAA banners every year and ask "why not us, dammit?!" Who answers that question? Two people: CL and UB, that's who. So now we get a team that appears to offer some promise. Still, based on our history, it's fair for fans to ask, what if they don't make it? And that's where the get rid of UB stuff starts. You can't blame them, they're asking a legit question. Their only other alternative is to vote him out by not going to games, not buying billiken gear, not donating. The ardent UB supporters are right, we should wait and see what happens this year. What other choice do we have, it's not like he's gonna be told to go tomorrow. But you're wrong when you knock posters for discussing what they'd like to see happen if these expectations aren't met.

[Billiken Rich]

Exactly how many have you been to during Brad's tenure? There's only been two.

Comparing Brad to Brian Gregory (whom I could've swore you predicted to be our new coach those years ago but maybe not,) Gregory has 56 wins in three years but didn't inherit the ###### storm that Brad did after Romar's departure. One Ncaa appearance-one and done in '04 and nothing since. It should be pointed out that the team Gregory took over had gone to the dance the year before. Should Gregory be fired from Dayton for a losing season last year?

You may not want to give Brad any leeway for his initial recruiting class or the season when multiple injurys lead to only 9 wins. That's fine. It is of no interest to you perhaps that I consider you to be a hater.

[Taj79]

... but this thread started with a discussion of "what if" and ended in two lines with "Mike Montgomery." Last time I checked, we didn't have a Mike Montgomery on the roster. No player. No coach. No trainer. No urinal cleaner. Nobody.

Maybe you are right. Maybe with nothing known, with the plumbers doing their work and doing it well, we should all just take a powder until pre-season practices start and national signing day rolls around. I think I'll try and follow my own advice.

When is national signing day by the way?

[slu72]

Ours is usually in the late spring or mid summer, the rest of the world is in november, I believe....sorry, Taj Mahal '79 couldn't help myself.

[TheRaginCajun]

Funny that Sodie's best two seasons and NIT appearances came from that "###### storm" he inherited.

[TheRaginCajun]

I am willing to bet you any amount of money that no programs in conferences stronger than the A-10 have come knocking on Brad Soderberg's door these past couple of years.

[brianstl]

Who said Brad was getting job offers?

[Billiken Law]

>Funny that Sodie's best two seasons and NIT appearances came

>from that "###### storm" he inherited.

Don't confuse SEMO with facts, or he'll accuse you of not being a real fan.

FYI, Jerry Wainwright just landed a top 40 recruit from MI, Dar Tucker. He's likely to land top 30 Chicago PF Mac Koshwal. Somebody forgot to tell him it takes 7 years and having one's own on-campus arena to build a winning program.

[moytoy12]

2 games in the 30's is 2 games too many.

I have been critical of his stubborness and either his inability or unwillingness to change tactics mid game. With that said, i'll be interested to see what Brad does this season. I think this season will give the truest barometer of Brad's coaching ability.

[TheRaginCajun]

DoctorB above

[DoctorB]

did I say that?

if so, did I mention anything about the 2 verbals we got in the past 2 days?

[billiken_roy]

doctor b, can you elaborate a little more please. the fandom could use this kind of news!

[brianstl]

Great comparison. Big East program, in Chicago, much better on campus practice facility, and three straight trips to the post season before Wainwright took over, that is a great comparison. Just because Wisconsin keeps moving further ahead of Marquette as a program, you don't need to take it out on us here. There is no D Wade coming to save Crean and your miserable program from it's continued fall. The last two years MU has played 18 & 21 home games and still can't get 20 wins. Both your man crushes, Crean and Gregory, are both going in the wrong direction with each program.

[brianstl]

Me and Skip have verbally committed. Guess you missed the news. H-ball is so worried about not having one yet, I thought I would give mine, so he could relax a bit.

[cheeseman]

I have no problem in general with people discussing the consequences of various scenerio's of what might happen given certain end results of this year. The problem I have is to raise the recruiting question as a "what if" in the middle of the recruiting season seems premature - why not simply wait until the signing period is over and then ask the question based on fact not fiction. Asking the question now simply causes some posters to fly off the handle and we get all this nonsense from pis##d off people. The point I was making earlier was lets not put the cart before the horse. I am not an "in Brad we trust" guy but I am also not ready to ride him out on a rail either. I am a results oriented person who is willing to wait until the results are in before passing judgement. Something all of us would want for ourselves. Remember I laid out 4 checkpoints earlier that I was going to use and we have moved through 2 of them - spring, 06/fall, 05 signings and summer additions. Brad did not ace these two but he also did not fail them so we now await checkpoint 3 - early committments/fall signings, 06. This can not be evaluated until sometime in November. By the way, the last checkpoint for me is the season record which also equates in to or not postseason results.