Start a new poll

The main discussion board for everything Tulane athletics related.

What "Grade" do you give Mr. Dannen on his work since coming to Tulane?

A+
14
23%
A
8
13%
A-
5
8%
B+
4
7%
B
1
2%
B-
3
5%
C
5
8%
D
8
13%
F
13
21%
 
Total votes: 61
User avatar
Show Me
Tsunami
Posts: 5071
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 9:24 pm
Location: Saint Bernard
Status: Offline

Fritz, Dunleavy and Jewett looking for their first winning season in year two (Fritz year 3 maybe) WBB and VB in the tank. You can change your grade!


DfromCT
Wild Pelican
Posts: 12979
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2011 1:50 pm
Location: Stamford, CT
Status: Offline

Show Me wrote:Fritz, Dunleavy and Jewett looking for their first winning season in year two (Fritz year 3 maybe) WBB and VB in the tank. You can change your grade!
Volleyball seems to be his best hire. Young team and early injuries...but still a very competitive team.

The good news is NOBODY is going to be trying to hire Dannen away from Tulane. He has accomplished nothing to warrant interest thus far. That being said, I think he's a HUGE upgrade from the previous AD.
" If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day.." Jimmy V
JerseyWave
Riptide
Posts: 4663
Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2011 7:09 pm
Location: Bay Area, California
Status: Offline

After two years on the job his biggest accomplishment so far is the Angry Wave. Nice touch putting it on the top of the Scorebaord and including the angry wave on everything Tulane Athletics.

None of his Coaching hires have accomplished anything yet. Fritz has Football close to a breakthrough season, Dunleavy has basketball moving in the right direction but there’s an evident large gap between Tulane and NCAA tournament caliber programs.

Baseball has gone backwards under Jewett. Volleyball supposedly is recruiting at a much higher level but had a disappointing conference record this season.

Don’t know what he has done in fundraising or how fiscally sound the Athletic Department is.

Facilities, he did some lightweight renovations to the Football locker room and meeting room. Talked about needing $35 million for Athletic Performance Center, still waiting on renderings and fundraising information for this project. Says he has money in hand for Tennis facility but no plan yet.


Added Ohio St, Auburn, Kansas St, Miss St to future Football schedules. I read we should get $1.5 million for being a rent a win at Ohio St. Good move for exposure and pay day.
User avatar
GreenLantern
Riptide
Posts: 3440
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2010 8:41 pm
Status: Offline

Yeah, I know. Some of you can't wait to say that in regard to our football recruiting season that every hand's a loser and every hand's a winner. Many of you delight in being the doubting Thomas and announcing that you will only believe that change is happening once you have a chance to purchase tickets to the AAC Championship game with Tulane as a contestant. To you I say,
with apologies to Kool & the Gang who wrote:There's a party going on, right here.
..so bring your goods times and your laughter too...
We gonna celebrate this party with (or without) you.


I believe we'll be improved (bowl-game-improved) next year and the following year will only be better. I think Willie Fritz is a surgeon. He inherited little and it took a couple of years to build the credibility to recruit the talent he needs. Each passing season is only going to see us improve. Coach Fritz did not have a reputation as a great recruiter, but if his staff has assembled our greatest recruiting season in decades following a 5-7 season, what can we expect from next year? What would be our ceiling if Lindsey Scott committed to Tulane?

So let the flaming begin and tell me that I don't "get it" like you do. I contend that I'm having more fun than you by believing that we are witness to something rare for Tulane. You can remind me of this post next December if I'm wrong.

P.S. I'm not wrong.
User avatar
wave97
Swell
Posts: 2219
Joined: Tue Jun 11, 2013 1:08 pm
Status: Offline

Extend increase/extend Coach Fritz & Staff contracts *before* the 2018 season. Pledge $ for critical facilities upgrades now (no olympic sports upgrades for now).
Dupergreenie
Surge
Posts: 517
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 10:46 pm
Status: Offline

GreenLantern wrote:Yeah, I know. Some of you can't wait to say that in regard to our football recruiting season that every hand's a loser and every hand's a winner. Many of you delight in being the doubting Thomas and announcing that you will only believe that change is happening once you have a chance to purchase tickets to the AAC Championship game with Tulane as a contestant. To you I say,
with apologies to Kool & the Gang who wrote:There's a party going on, right here.
..so bring your goods times and your laughter too...
We gonna celebrate this party with (or without) you.


I believe we'll be improved (bowl-game-improved) next year and the following year will only be better. I think Willie Fritz is a surgeon. He inherited little and it took a couple of years to build the credibility to recruit the talent he needs. Each passing season is only going to see us improve. Coach Fritz did not have a reputation as a great recruiter, but if his staff has assembled our greatest recruiting season in decades following a 5-7 season, what can we expect from next year? What would be our ceiling if Lindsey Scott committed to Tulane?

So let the flaming begin and tell me that I don't "get it" like you do. I contend that I'm having more fun than you by believing that we are witness to something rare for Tulane. You can remind me of this post next December if I'm wrong.

P.S. I'm not wrong.
Sometimes I wonder why these people are even Tulane fans. Lord know if a coach isn't competing for conference titles in year one he is a failure. One of the few things I agree with Dickson....those people should go across the street.
sader24
Tsunami
Posts: 5695
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2010 11:35 pm
Status: Offline

Dupergreenie wrote:
GreenLantern wrote:Yeah, I know. Some of you can't wait to say that in regard to our football recruiting season that every hand's a loser and every hand's a winner. Many of you delight in being the doubting Thomas and announcing that you will only believe that change is happening once you have a chance to purchase tickets to the AAC Championship game with Tulane as a contestant. To you I say,
with apologies to Kool & the Gang who wrote:There's a party going on, right here.
..so bring your goods times and your laughter too...
We gonna celebrate this party with (or without) you.


I believe we'll be improved (bowl-game-improved) next year and the following year will only be better. I think Willie Fritz is a surgeon. He inherited little and it took a couple of years to build the credibility to recruit the talent he needs. Each passing season is only going to see us improve. Coach Fritz did not have a reputation as a great recruiter, but if his staff has assembled our greatest recruiting season in decades following a 5-7 season, what can we expect from next year? What would be our ceiling if Lindsey Scott committed to Tulane?

So let the flaming begin and tell me that I don't "get it" like you do. I contend that I'm having more fun than you by believing that we are witness to something rare for Tulane. You can remind me of this post next December if I'm wrong.

P.S. I'm not wrong.
Sometimes I wonder why these people are even Tulane fans. Lord know if a coach isn't competing for conference titles in year one he is a failure. One of the few things I agree with Dickson....those people should go across the street.
Yes let's run off even more Tulane fans bc they aren't jerking each other off over a 5-7 season.
DfromCT
Wild Pelican
Posts: 12979
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2011 1:50 pm
Location: Stamford, CT
Status: Offline

There's so few fans left that telling them to walk across the street would be a death knoll to the programs. Wake up and smell the coffee. Yeah, we SEEM to be headed in the right direction, but you are what your record(s) say you are. And our records are not very good. So to those of us not exhibiting irrational giddiness, you invite us to leave? I guess the YOGWF posters are the only true Tulane fans on the planet. They should meet weekly and play rock, paper, scissors to see who picks up the tab.
" If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day.." Jimmy V
golfnut69
Wild Pelican
Posts: 14192
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:38 am
Status: Offline

DfromCT wrote:There's so few fans left that telling them to walk across the street would be a death knoll to the programs. Wake up and smell the coffee. Yeah, we SEEM to be headed in the right direction, but you are what your record(s) say you are. And our records are not very good. So to those of us not exhibiting irrational giddiness, you invite us to leave? I guess the YOGWF posters are the only true Tulane fans on the planet. They should meet weekly and play rock, paper, scissors to see who picks up the tab.
and having a Tulane fans luck, would be hit by a run away Smart car while taking it across the street...not enuff to kill ya, just enuff to leave you in life long pain
Be a Hero Today.... Adopt a Shelter Pet... The Beatles once sang "Can't Buy Me Love"... I disagree, unconditional Love can be bought, for the nominal adoption fee at your local Pet Shelter !
Wavetime
Swell
Posts: 1188
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 11:11 am
Status: Offline

I gave Troy Dannen a B+, here's my justification.

Football - I like the Willie Fritz hire. I think that WF is just what we needed, he was a bit off of the radar, runs a rare offense that teams don't see often, is a disciplinarian, can recruit and is not a youngster that will leave at the drop of a hat. I'm not saying that he wont go, but it probably has to be the right offer for him. It sure does look like we are going in the right direction.

Basketball - I also like the Mike Dunleavy hire.Coach Dunleavey brings instant credibility to our program and thus opens up national and international recruiting. In time this may also lead to the AAU group that the top conferences and teams covet. It's going to take some time, but we are moving in the right direction.

Volleyball - I think Coach Barnes is doing and will continue to do a good job. When we start winning we need to continue to support this program. I really believe that we can make the tournament in a few years.

Marketing - I think bringing back the Angry Wave and doing some minor renovations has been a really good thing for us. The Angry Wave has really been tremendous and on a personal note, I love it. TD mentioned how he wants an Athletics Building, let's see how good of a fundraiser he is.

Baseball - I put this down towards the bottom, not because of it's importance, because this was TD's failure. He screwed the pooch on this one. Not hiring AC was as big as a blunder as Lindy Infante and Rich Rod in my opinion. I'm going to leave this alone because we have about 2000 threads on this topic. I support Jewitt and I sure hope he proves me wrong. We did show some life in the middle of the season last year, lets see how we do in year 2.

Department Direction - I really believe TD will succeed and as long as he continues to have the support of Fitts I believe he will. If we are able to get the Athletics Building, a smaller IPF and PLEASE move the west side press box to the top of the stands in Yulman ( my personal pet peeve, makes a really nice stadium look small time) then we will be rolling. I believe that in a few years we can be talking about our 3rd straight bowl game, a couple of tournament bids for Basketball and Volleyball and a few regionals for Baseball. This success is not out of the question if we can continue to have the support of the President (and all the spoils such as sports friendly majors etc) and hopefully a better TV contract for the AAC.
Wavetime
Swell
Posts: 1188
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 11:11 am
Status: Offline

golfnut69 wrote:
DfromCT wrote:There's so few fans left that telling them to walk across the street would be a death knoll to the programs. Wake up and smell the coffee. Yeah, we SEEM to be headed in the right direction, but you are what your record(s) say you are. And our records are not very good. So to those of us not exhibiting irrational giddiness, you invite us to leave? I guess the YOGWF posters are the only true Tulane fans on the planet. They should meet weekly and play rock, paper, scissors to see who picks up the tab.
and having a Tulane fans luck, would be hit by a run away Smart car while taking it across the street...not enuff to kill ya, just enuff to leave you in life long pain

There are several ways to interpret being a Tulane fans. Here's my choice....

All Tulane fans have a special place in heaven, right next to all husbands that live with their mother-in-laws, give up sporting activities to go shopping, give up fishing trips to go to your in-laws, etc. We can go on and on and on. The bottom line is that in heaven we score that touchdown on the last play of the game (1972 - LSU, 2017 - SMU), we beat LSU in every sport every single time, the fish are always biting, the drives always are in the middle of the fairway, the 1968 Camaro continues to look great, and your wife always welcomes you home to a hot meal and !!!!
User avatar
GreenLantern
Riptide
Posts: 3440
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2010 8:41 pm
Status: Offline

Wavetime wrote:I gave Troy Dannen a B+...

Football - I like the Willie Fritz hire...

Basketball - I also like the Mike Dunleavy hire...

Volleyball - I think Coach Barnes is doing and will continue to do a good job...

Marketing - I think bringing back the Angry Wave and doing some minor renovations has been a really good thing for us...

Baseball - I put this down towards the bottom, not because of it's importance, because this was TD's failure....

Department Direction - I really believe TD will succeed and as long as he continues to have the support of Fitts I believe he will....
Good post. I'm in lockstep with all of these points, particularly baseball. I was so disappointed with last season's hiring decision and the resulting poor play and unnecessary drama that I have not renewed my season tickets.

When this topic was created in July, I graded Dannen as an A. Because of baseball, I would downgrade this to B.
User avatar
tpstulane
Top of the WAVE
Posts: 26599
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 11:56 pm
Status: Offline

The bar at Tulane has been set so low it’s nearly impossible to give a reasonable grade yet. If you’re comparing results to LSU it would probably be an D but since we’re comparing to RD it’s higher for many. After years and years of failure Tulane fans have been conditioned to accept losing too easily. As the program tries to move toward mediocrity or better the accolades will come quickly. The only A I’d give is if when someone at Tulane finally achieves sustainable success. That’s what I’m looking forward to seeing one day.
Be proactive, being reactive is for losers..
Tulane Class of 1981
User avatar
Bigschtick
Riptide
Posts: 3278
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 9:57 am
Location: Tucson, Az.
Status: Offline

DfromCT wrote:There's so few fans left that telling them to walk across the street would be a death knoll to the programs. Wake up and smell the coffee. Yeah, we SEEM to be headed in the right direction, but you are what your record(s) say you are. And our records are not very good. So to those of us not exhibiting irrational giddiness, you invite us to leave? I guess the YOGWF posters are the only true Tulane fans on the planet. They should meet weekly and play rock, paper, scissors to see who picks up the tab.


Well said!
Speak softly but carry a bigschtick! In Sumrall We Trust!
User avatar
Bigschtick
Riptide
Posts: 3278
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 9:57 am
Location: Tucson, Az.
Status: Offline

JerseyWave wrote:After two years on the job his biggest accomplishment so far is the Angry Wave. Nice touch putting it on the top of the Scorebaord and including the angry wave on everything Tulane Athletics.

None of his Coaching hires have accomplished anything yet. Fritz has Football close to a breakthrough season, Dunleavy has basketball moving in the right direction but there’s an evident large gap between Tulane and NCAA tournament caliber programs.

Baseball has gone backwards under Jewett. Volleyball supposedly is recruiting at a much higher level but had a disappointing conference record this season.

Don’t know what he has done in fundraising or how fiscally sound the Athletic Department is.

Facilities, he did some lightweight renovations to the Football locker room and meeting room. Talked about needing $35 million for Athletic Performance Center, still waiting on renderings and fundraising information for this project. Says he has money in hand for Tennis facility but no plan yet.


Added Ohio St, Auburn, Kansas St, Miss St to future Football schedules. I read we should get $1.5 million for being a rent a win at Ohio St. Good move for exposure and pay day.

Fair assessment and quite accurate. I like the man and think he will turn out to be an excellent A.D. for Tulane.
Speak softly but carry a bigschtick! In Sumrall We Trust!
alumniwave
Low Tide
Posts: 176
Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2015 10:36 am
Status: Offline

I’m impressed with the groundwork that Dannen has done in his first two years. I think major success is around the corner. Fritz has made big steps And will make major steps next season.
Dunleavy has clearly made the team much better in one year. Barnes will have the volleyball program winning AAC Championships every year.
The question is when these programs start winning consistently, and they will, will the fans show up big and will the donors hand out the cash. If not, all the above will leave for greener pastures.
winwave
Top of the WAVE
Posts: 24858
Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2011 10:34 am
Status: Offline

alumniwave wrote:I’m impressed with the groundwork that Dannen has done in his first two years. I think major success is around the corner. Fritz has made big steps And will make major steps next season.
Dunleavy has clearly made the team much better in one year. Barnes will have the volleyball program winning AAC Championships every year.
The question is when these programs start winning consistently, and they will, will the fans show up big and will the donors hand out the cash. If not, all the above will leave for greener pastures.
If Tulane wins big consistently the fans will show. There's no need to question our fans. Questioning the administration is fair play till they win consistently. Its absolutely stupid to question the fan base.
BAYWAVE&Sophandros are SPINELESS COWARDS
YOU NEED LEVERAGE TO BE PROACTIVE!
Small time facilities for small time programs
6-4-23:Now all of the mistakes Tulane has made finally catches up with them as they descend to CUSAAC.
Dupergreenie
Surge
Posts: 517
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 10:46 pm
Status: Offline

sader24 wrote:
Dupergreenie wrote:
GreenLantern wrote:Yeah, I know. Some of you can't wait to say that in regard to our football recruiting season that every hand's a loser and every hand's a winner. Many of you delight in being the doubting Thomas and announcing that you will only believe that change is happening once you have a chance to purchase tickets to the AAC Championship game with Tulane as a contestant. To you I say,
with apologies to Kool & the Gang who wrote:There's a party going on, right here.
..so bring your goods times and your laughter too...
We gonna celebrate this party with (or without) you.


I believe we'll be improved (bowl-game-improved) next year and the following year will only be better. I think Willie Fritz is a surgeon. He inherited little and it took a couple of years to build the credibility to recruit the talent he needs. Each passing season is only going to see us improve. Coach Fritz did not have a reputation as a great recruiter, but if his staff has assembled our greatest recruiting season in decades following a 5-7 season, what can we expect from next year? What would be our ceiling if Lindsey Scott committed to Tulane?

So let the flaming begin and tell me that I don't "get it" like you do. I contend that I'm having more fun than you by believing that we are witness to something rare for Tulane. You can remind me of this post next December if I'm wrong.

P.S. I'm not wrong.
Sometimes I wonder why these people are even Tulane fans. Lord know if a coach isn't competing for conference titles in year one he is a failure. One of the few things I agree with Dickson....those people should go across the street.
Yes let's run off even more Tulane fans bc they aren't jerking each other off over a 5-7 season.


Two straight seasons and increased wins (yes 1 win but still an improvement). Fritz had to clean up a major mess left for him and he is currently on track to sign the best class in a long time.... if you can't see improvement you are either dumb or just a fan who likes to see Tulane fail.

Giving him a contract extension isn't 'rewarding failure it's showing this coach and future coaches that the administration is behind them.
Wavetime
Swell
Posts: 1188
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 11:11 am
Status: Offline

tpstulane wrote:The bar at Tulane has been set so low it’s nearly impossible to give a reasonable grade yet. If you’re comparing results to LSU it would probably be an D but since we’re comparing to RD it’s higher for many. After years and years of failure Tulane fans have been conditioned to accept losing too easily. As the program tries to move toward mediocrity or better the accolades will come quickly. The only A I’d give is if when someone at Tulane finally achieves sustainable success. That’s what I’m looking forward to seeing one day.

This is so true
User avatar
Show Me
Tsunami
Posts: 5071
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 9:24 pm
Location: Saint Bernard
Status: Offline

Still waiting to see a winning season from a Dannen men’s sport hire. FB 0-2, MBB 0-2 and Baseball heading for 0-2. In his first two years.
Dave breslin
Swell
Posts: 1711
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2011 8:51 pm
Status: Offline

Fixing Tulane’s athletic world wasn’t going to be a quick fix after the laxative we’ve been made to eat for fifteen years-and more. It’s a marathon and I can’t grade Dannen quite yet. There’s optimism in football and basketball. There’s disappointment in baseball. But, thank god I don’t have RD telling me where to eat oysters while his kingdom was rotting away. WINNING is the only answer and I haven’t seen it in any major sport—at least not yet. The marathon is still running. No grade as of yet. Class incomplete
DrBox
Riptide
Posts: 3412
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 11:49 am
Status: Offline

I still like his Fritz and Dunleavy hires.
But his big issue now is addressing women's basketball and, soon, women's golf. He can't allow these sports to deteriorate further.
capwave
High Tide
Posts: 422
Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2012 10:37 pm
Status: Offline

golfnut69 wrote:
DfromCT wrote:There's so few fans left that telling them to walk across the street would be a death knoll to the programs. Wake up and smell the coffee. Yeah, we SEEM to be headed in the right direction, but you are what your record(s) say you are. And our records are not very good. So to those of us not exhibiting irrational giddiness, you invite us to leave? I guess the YOGWF posters are the only true Tulane fans on the planet. They should meet weekly and play rock, paper, scissors to see who picks up the tab.
and having a Tulane fans luck, would be hit by a run away Smart car while taking it across the street...not enuff to kill ya, just enuff to leave you in life long pain
This is one of the greatest post ever on gotula. Funny, yet so true.
JerseyWave
Riptide
Posts: 4663
Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2011 7:09 pm
Location: Bay Area, California
Status: Offline

Dannen did tweet the other day from the Glazer’s trophy room showing off their Soccer and Lombardi trophies so I hope he was there picking up a big check to get the Athletic Performance Center going.
netshorty
Surge
Posts: 585
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2015 8:41 am
Status: Offline

I think grading TD on his coaching decisions is tough at this point as he's appeared to be doing a lot of things right but they haven't panned out as hoped or expected. If you look at what he's done in the three majors it's hard to find a lot of fault in his logic. But I believe he'll have some tougher decisions around his own hires upcoming and what he does with those, IMO, will be the best indicator of whether TD can lead our athletic department to success or not.

In the 3 major sports:

Fired CJ - seemed to be a no brainer but most here know you can't take firing of coaches for granted here.

Hired WF - considering the state of our program appeared to get a guy that wasn't just someone we settled on. So TD gets some credit here selling the program. This isn't to say all will agree WF has done a good job so far, but the hire appeared solid.

Fired EC - thank goodness. Maybe the leak stained the action a bit but again good to see that being at or near the bottom of the conference will get you fired.

Hired MD - definitely a different approach to trying to resurrect the program but I thought it could work. Hoops can be turned around with one good recruiting class so his name, NBA experience, reputation, etc seemed like a great way to get talent in to compete immediately. We may not all agree with the job MD has done, but again seemed like a solid hire.

Hired TJ - no doubt the one hire where many/most wanted AC, but TJs resume as an assistant on a top tier program and reputation as a great recruiter appeared to be an indicator that he could lead a successful program. In retrospect this has been a terrible hire considering the combination of what could have been with what we have now. This makes this hire much different than football and basketball.

So I have different opinions on whether TDs selection was sound vs whether his selection is working out. Of course much of the success of a coach is dependent on the support of the school which. we know falls on the AD department as well. So maybe these guys aren't successful because of TDs department? That's hard to quantify but I feel like you can glean quite a bit based on just x's and o's, recruiting ability/strategy, etc. So TDs evaluation of the current coaches and upcoming actions are the most important right now.

In football it is expected that a program needs several years to turn around and while I detest WFs offense and disagree with much of his game calling (probably the two are linked) his recent recruiting class gives some hope that he'll have athletes to be a winner in conference. But any contract extension is still based on more hope than results, IMO.

In basketball honestly I've seen enough to know what we're going to get. MD is not a good college coach. Kudos for improving a few players. I'll enjoy watching the NBA draft for the first time. But I'd rather enjoy watching the team win. It will be interesting and important to see what TD does when we are a bottom feeder once again next year.

I'm not as close to the baseball program but all indications from the results and the die hards here is that TJ isn't getting the job done. And while most have moved past (or say they have) the passing up of AC, the results on the field say this was a bad hire.

So based on 2 seasons: 2 bad hires and 1 "still waiting to see" hire. Typically that would mean your AD is failing. But I wouldn't give him a failing grade yet. I believe he made 2 good decisions on coaches to try to resurrect programs and 1 ok (not good) decision on trying sustain some baseball success. If he can't or won't pull the trigger on more change to fix those coaching mistakes then he would have failed.
Post Reply