St. John's Game Thread

[winwave]

Lindy's had UNO 4th and SLU 9th. We'll see who the season says was right on their choices. (I would think Lindy's came out well before the others. Not sure why Nate Frye isn't playing but that may account for the differences in placement.)

[netshorty]

Please dont confuse their position within their conference to the strength of the team.

All of those conferences are much better than the AAC when it comes to basketball. So being 8th in the Big East is like being 3rd in the AAC.

Sagarin Power Ratings (Tulane #267)

UNC #2
SeLa #257
Oklahoma #49
Arizona State #121
Missouri #129
Georgia Tech #134
UNO #265
St. Johns #113

Only two teams not in the top 134, and we're #267. We're 267 for a reason. We're not very talented. The UNO loss is bad. The rest not so much. And all but two were road games. Do I really need to bring up the schedule from recent years? Those same 8 would have had AT LEAST six if not seven teams in the 200+ RPI category, and at least one of those in 300+ territory.

Our schedules have been terrible for the last few years, and even then we were only average against that competition. What did you expect to happen when you raise the difficulty this much and, play with really no post presence and little talent? Slater was already coming here anyway. Other than that, there's only one player different from last year, Ona Embo. And we lost Dylan O. There's no way you can judge until next year when we see some of the talent that MD has already signed.

Is it a P5 conference type of schedule? No. But its a far sight more difficult that what we've had.

YES, YES, YES, every one of us is tired of losing. I get it. But unless you've got some pixie dust or a magic wand that can turn all our athletic teams into NC contenders overnight, you have to let the process work.

It could be worse. We could still have Dickson, CJ and Conroy here.

Robert, thanks for the associated rankings as well. By Sagarins rankings St John's would be the 7th best AAC school. And other than OU and UNC the others are ranked lower meaning they would all be lower half of AAC teams. No doubt this is a tougher schedule than the Dickson/Conroy pre-conference. I don't think anyone could produce a softer schedule. But this is the type of schedule we should be scheduling each year and not complaining about it. I wouldn't consider it overly tough.

I agree (both in football and hoops) that it's not fair to judge success on wins and losses alone. But I wouldn't say that the coaching performances can't be judged yet (or at least scrutinized). There are several things both coaches seem to do well and several that are overly concerning IMO.

[mbawavefan12]

I don't know either. I'm just asking those that are saying we should have made another pick who it is that was in the running that they wanted. As for Floyd he was before but was turned off by a clause they wanted to put in his contract b/c of the controversies he had been involved in. I never heard his name come up this time.

It's really an unfair question as how the hell would we know?
Other crappy AAC schools have made quality hires. Of the top of my head crappy destinations like Buffalo and La Tech have made hires. The league, new (though small) arena, practice facility, academics, city etc., plenty of hungry assistants and low level head coaches would take the job. Again, Fball is in almost the same position as Bball and Fritz was a solid hire on paper.
We r still very early in the MD era. I will guve it some time for sure. He needs better assistants, especially for defense.

Not unfair at all. People want to keep saying we should have chose someone else. Who then? Name who was interested that Dannen passed over. If you want to bash his choice tell us who he passed over. I'm not taking up for him or MD but if people want to bash let them say who we could have had.

None of those schools have a HS gym. Sticking your head in the sand over the biggest issue the program has doesn't help. That's not directed at just you. Our game day facilities are HS type facilities and they are the biggest hindrance those programs have. The administration needs to hear that we all see the problem and that it is their job to get it fixed. We are all sick of the losing and it won't end till those facilities are addressed.

I have been the #1 advocate that facilities matter more than people realize and that without them you are constantly chasing your tail. With that said, there are 300+ Bball schools and many with crappy/old gameday facilities, no modern practice facility, located in crappy towns in crappy leagues, yet many hire quality up in coming coaches. Right now can Tulane hire the "hot" guy, of course not, but there is no excuse why we can't compete with the examples I gave of the top of my head (La Tech and Buffalo), none (especially considering our city and conference). Again, the other crappy AAC schools have made great hires, we can at least get someone around what White was when he entered LA Tech. You need more data points of course, but look at St Mary's, no reason Tulane can't be on their level.

If your point is to keep hitting on the gameday facility in hopes that someone from TU is reading this, then I agree. Now I and no one (tmk) on this board is in college athletics so I don't have a handy list of up in coming assistants and low level head coaches, I just don't agree that Tulane basketball is a compete wasteland when you consider the positives outside the tiny (but nice) arena. There is no reason why we can't at least be competitive, which we have not been for a decade.

I really want an answer as to what TU was thinking spending all that money on Devlin all while reducing the number of seats when we are already 50% smaller then the next closest AAC school. Was there a plan to expand and keep the $10mm upgrades? If not, I don;t see us ripping out all the upgrades to re-due the place. I think I will send TD an email about this subject, hopefully others will as well. It's just mind boggling.

[Show Me]

I don't know either. I'm just asking those that are saying we should have made another pick who it is that was in the running that they wanted. As for Floyd he was before but was turned off by a clause they wanted to put in his contract b/c of the controversies he had been involved in. I never heard his name come up this time.

It's really an unfair question as how the hell would we know?
Other crappy AAC schools have made quality hires. Of the top of my head crappy destinations like Buffalo and La Tech have made hires. The league, new (though small) arena, practice facility, academics, city etc., plenty of hungry assistants and low level head coaches would take the job. Again, Fball is in almost the same position as Bball and Fritz was a solid hire on paper.
We r still very early in the MD era. I will guve it some time for sure. He needs better assistants, especially for defense.

Not unfair at all. People want to keep saying we should have chose someone else. Who then? Name who was interested that Dannen passed over. If you want to bash his choice tell us who he passed over. I'm not taking up for him or MD but if people want to bash let them say who we could have had.

None of those schools have a HS gym. Sticking your head in the sand over the biggest issue the program has doesn't help. That's not directed at just you. Our game day facilities are HS type facilities and they are the biggest hindrance those programs have. The administration needs to hear that we all see the problem and that it is their job to get it fixed. We are all sick of the losing and it won't end till those facilities are addressed.

I have been the #1 advocate that facilities matter more than people realize and that without them you are constantly chasing your tail. With that said, there are 300+ Bball school and school with crappy/old gameday facilities, no modern practice facilty, located in crappy towns in crappy leagues, who hire quality up in coming coaches. Right now can Tulane hire the "hot" guy, of course not, but there is no excuse why we can't compete with the examples I gave of the top of my head (La Tech and Buffalo), none (especially considering our city and conference). AGian, the other crappy AAC schools have made great hires, we can at least get someone around what White was when he entered LA Tech.

If your point is to keep hitting on the gameday facility in hopes that someone from TU is reading this, then I agree. Now I and no one (tmk) on this board is in college athletics so I don't have a handy list of up in coming assistants and low level head coaches, I just don;t agree that Tulane basketball is a compete wasteland when you consider the positives outside the tiny (but nice) arena. There is no reason why we can't at least be competitive, which we have not been for a decade.

I really want an answer as to what TU was thinking spending all that money on Devlin all while reducing the number of seats when we are already 50% smaller then the next closest AAC school. Was there a plan to expand and keep the $10mm upgrades? If not, I don;t see us ripping out all the upgrades to re-due the place. I think I will send TD an email about this subject, hopefully others will as well. It's just mind boggling.

+1,000
You forgot to mention Tulane now paying its coach well over $1 million a year. No way the La Tech's and Buffalo's of the world can pay that. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Dannen and he went with it. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Cowen in 1998 (Scelfo) and he went with it. I'm tired of the excuses for being 1-7. The coaching sucks.

[golfnut69]

yeah, the coaching may suck, but MD can still bury the three !!!!

[puffy]

As others have noted, the next four games will reveal who we are. If we don't win at least three of them, I'm jumping off the bandwagon with the rest of you.

I think we know who Tulane is by now. They'll field the less talented team in virtually all of their conference games, and in college that is massively difficult to overcome. You can only coach'em up so much when you haven't been there very long (I'm not giving Dunleavy a free pass either...I just wasn't expecting very much from this squad).

[mbawavefan12]

As others have noted, the next four games will reveal who we are. If we don't win at least three of them, I'm jumping off the bandwagon with the rest of you.

I think we know who Tulane is by now. They'll field the less talented team in virtually all of their conference games, and in college that is massively difficult to overcome. You can only coach'em up so much when you haven't been there very long (I'm not giving Dunleavy a free pass either...I just wasn't expecting very much from this squad).

The talent is that bad (it's not good but not that bad), there's just a gaping hole with our interior defense and rebounding that screws up everything. Our bigs in Bball is the same as our QB situation in FBall, a complete mess that everyone (including the coaches) knew about months ago but did not address.

[winwave]

I don't know either. I'm just asking those that are saying we should have made another pick who it is that was in the running that they wanted. As for Floyd he was before but was turned off by a clause they wanted to put in his contract b/c of the controversies he had been involved in. I never heard his name come up this time.

It's really an unfair question as how the hell would we know?
Other crappy AAC schools have made quality hires. Of the top of my head crappy destinations like Buffalo and La Tech have made hires. The league, new (though small) arena, practice facility, academics, city etc., plenty of hungry assistants and low level head coaches would take the job. Again, Fball is in almost the same position as Bball and Fritz was a solid hire on paper.
We r still very early in the MD era. I will guve it some time for sure. He needs better assistants, especially for defense.

Not unfair at all. People want to keep saying we should have chose someone else. Who then? Name who was interested that Dannen passed over. If you want to bash his choice tell us who he passed over. I'm not taking up for him or MD but if people want to bash let them say who we could have had.

None of those schools have a HS gym. Sticking your head in the sand over the biggest issue the program has doesn't help. That's not directed at just you. Our game day facilities are HS type facilities and they are the biggest hindrance those programs have. The administration needs to hear that we all see the problem and that it is their job to get it fixed. We are all sick of the losing and it won't end till those facilities are addressed.

I have been the #1 advocate that facilities matter more than people realize and that without them you are constantly chasing your tail. With that said, there are 300+ Bball schools and many with crappy/old gameday facilities, no modern practice facility, located in crappy towns in crappy leagues, yet many hire quality up in coming coaches. Right now can Tulane hire the "hot" guy, of course not, but there is no excuse why we can't compete with the examples I gave of the top of my head (La Tech and Buffalo), none (especially considering our city and conference). Again, the other crappy AAC schools have made great hires, we can at least get someone around what White was when he entered LA Tech. You need more data points of course, but look at St Mary's, no reason Tulane can't be on their level.

If your point is to keep hitting on the gameday facility in hopes that someone from TU is reading this, then I agree. Now I and no one (tmk) on this board is in college athletics so I don't have a handy list of up in coming assistants and low level head coaches, I just don't agree that Tulane basketball is a compete wasteland when you consider the positives outside the tiny (but nice) arena. There is no reason why we can't at least be competitive, which we have not been for a decade.

I really want an answer as to what TU was thinking spending all that money on Devlin all while reducing the number of seats when we are already 50% smaller then the next closest AAC school. Was there a plan to expand and keep the $10mm upgrades? If not, I don;t see us ripping out all the upgrades to re-due the place. I think I will send TD an email about this subject, hopefully others will as well. It's just mind boggling.

For the most part we agree. However you do talk in generalities again and no names are provided by you or anyone else. I'd also note that you assail others facilities but probably didn't take the time to look into it. Some did that in a football thread in the last year where they said we should be better than Temple b/c of course we have better football facilities. In fact we don't. They had built a football ops a decade or so ago and then just poured more money into it . Back to basketball no matter what anyone says the kids are going to want to see where they are going to play and none of those schools that are having success have such a tiny gym.

As for why others can make good hires and we haven't been able to is that they saw chances to win in those situations and then they could move up. They obviously don't see that opportunity here.

[winwave]

I don't know either. I'm just asking those that are saying we should have made another pick who it is that was in the running that they wanted. As for Floyd he was before but was turned off by a clause they wanted to put in his contract b/c of the controversies he had been involved in. I never heard his name come up this time.

It's really an unfair question as how the hell would we know?
Other crappy AAC schools have made quality hires. Of the top of my head crappy destinations like Buffalo and La Tech have made hires. The league, new (though small) arena, practice facility, academics, city etc., plenty of hungry assistants and low level head coaches would take the job. Again, Fball is in almost the same position as Bball and Fritz was a solid hire on paper.
We r still very early in the MD era. I will guve it some time for sure. He needs better assistants, especially for defense.

Not unfair at all. People want to keep saying we should have chose someone else. Who then? Name who was interested that Dannen passed over. If you want to bash his choice tell us who he passed over. I'm not taking up for him or MD but if people want to bash let them say who we could have had.

None of those schools have a HS gym. Sticking your head in the sand over the biggest issue the program has doesn't help. That's not directed at just you. Our game day facilities are HS type facilities and they are the biggest hindrance those programs have. The administration needs to hear that we all see the problem and that it is their job to get it fixed. We are all sick of the losing and it won't end till those facilities are addressed.

I have been the #1 advocate that facilities matter more than people realize and that without them you are constantly chasing your tail. With that said, there are 300+ Bball school and school with crappy/old gameday facilities, no modern practice facilty, located in crappy towns in crappy leagues, who hire quality up in coming coaches. Right now can Tulane hire the "hot" guy, of course not, but there is no excuse why we can't compete with the examples I gave of the top of my head (La Tech and Buffalo), none (especially considering our city and conference). AGian, the other crappy AAC schools have made great hires, we can at least get someone around what White was when he entered LA Tech.

If your point is to keep hitting on the gameday facility in hopes that someone from TU is reading this, then I agree. Now I and no one (tmk) on this board is in college athletics so I don't have a handy list of up in coming assistants and low level head coaches, I just don;t agree that Tulane basketball is a compete wasteland when you consider the positives outside the tiny (but nice) arena. There is no reason why we can't at least be competitive, which we have not been for a decade.

I really want an answer as to what TU was thinking spending all that money on Devlin all while reducing the number of seats when we are already 50% smaller then the next closest AAC school. Was there a plan to expand and keep the $10mm upgrades? If not, I don;t see us ripping out all the upgrades to re-due the place. I think I will send TD an email about this subject, hopefully others will as well. It's just mind boggling.

+1,000
You forgot to mention Tulane now paying its coach well over $1 million a year. No way the La Tech's and Buffalo's of the world can pay that. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Dannen and he went with it. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Cowen in 1998 (Scelfo) and he went with it. I'm tired of the excuses for being 1-7. The coaching sucks.

The chance for success is the motivating factor in these instances not the money. Dannen had started the search and wasn't finding much out there. That's when MD's brother-in-law who played football at Tulane gave Dannen MD's name.

[Show Me]

I don't know either. I'm just asking those that are saying we should have made another pick who it is that was in the running that they wanted. As for Floyd he was before but was turned off by a clause they wanted to put in his contract b/c of the controversies he had been involved in. I never heard his name come up this time.

It's really an unfair question as how the hell would we know?
Other crappy AAC schools have made quality hires. Of the top of my head crappy destinations like Buffalo and La Tech have made hires. The league, new (though small) arena, practice facility, academics, city etc., plenty of hungry assistants and low level head coaches would take the job. Again, Fball is in almost the same position as Bball and Fritz was a solid hire on paper.
We r still very early in the MD era. I will guve it some time for sure. He needs better assistants, especially for defense.

Not unfair at all. People want to keep saying we should have chose someone else. Who then? Name who was interested that Dannen passed over. If you want to bash his choice tell us who he passed over. I'm not taking up for him or MD but if people want to bash let them say who we could have had.

None of those schools have a HS gym. Sticking your head in the sand over the biggest issue the program has doesn't help. That's not directed at just you. Our game day facilities are HS type facilities and they are the biggest hindrance those programs have. The administration needs to hear that we all see the problem and that it is their job to get it fixed. We are all sick of the losing and it won't end till those facilities are addressed.

I have been the #1 advocate that facilities matter more than people realize and that without them you are constantly chasing your tail. With that said, there are 300+ Bball school and school with crappy/old gameday facilities, no modern practice facilty, located in crappy towns in crappy leagues, who hire quality up in coming coaches. Right now can Tulane hire the "hot" guy, of course not, but there is no excuse why we can't compete with the examples I gave of the top of my head (La Tech and Buffalo), none (especially considering our city and conference). AGian, the other crappy AAC schools have made great hires, we can at least get someone around what White was when he entered LA Tech.

If your point is to keep hitting on the gameday facility in hopes that someone from TU is reading this, then I agree. Now I and no one (tmk) on this board is in college athletics so I don't have a handy list of up in coming assistants and low level head coaches, I just don;t agree that Tulane basketball is a compete wasteland when you consider the positives outside the tiny (but nice) arena. There is no reason why we can't at least be competitive, which we have not been for a decade.

I really want an answer as to what TU was thinking spending all that money on Devlin all while reducing the number of seats when we are already 50% smaller then the next closest AAC school. Was there a plan to expand and keep the $10mm upgrades? If not, I don;t see us ripping out all the upgrades to re-due the place. I think I will send TD an email about this subject, hopefully others will as well. It's just mind boggling.

+1,000
You forgot to mention Tulane now paying its coach well over $1 million a year. No way the La Tech's and Buffalo's of the world can pay that. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Dannen and he went with it. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Cowen in 1998 (Scelfo) and he went with it. I'm tired of the excuses for being 1-7. The coaching sucks.

The chance for success is the motivating factor in these instances not the money. Dannen had started the search and wasn't finding much out there. That's when MD's brother-in-law who played football at Tulane gave Dannen MD's name.

Then why fire Conroy if nobody wants to coach at Tulane?

[mbawavefan12]

I don't know either. I'm just asking those that are saying we should have made another pick who it is that was in the running that they wanted. As for Floyd he was before but was turned off by a clause they wanted to put in his contract b/c of the controversies he had been involved in. I never heard his name come up this time.

It's really an unfair question as how the hell would we know?
Other crappy AAC schools have made quality hires. Of the top of my head crappy destinations like Buffalo and La Tech have made hires. The league, new (though small) arena, practice facility, academics, city etc., plenty of hungry assistants and low level head coaches would take the job. Again, Fball is in almost the same position as Bball and Fritz was a solid hire on paper.
We r still very early in the MD era. I will guve it some time for sure. He needs better assistants, especially for defense.

Not unfair at all. People want to keep saying we should have chose someone else. Who then? Name who was interested that Dannen passed over. If you want to bash his choice tell us who he passed over. I'm not taking up for him or MD but if people want to bash let them say who we could have had.

None of those schools have a HS gym. Sticking your head in the sand over the biggest issue the program has doesn't help. That's not directed at just you. Our game day facilities are HS type facilities and they are the biggest hindrance those programs have. The administration needs to hear that we all see the problem and that it is their job to get it fixed. We are all sick of the losing and it won't end till those facilities are addressed.

I have been the #1 advocate that facilities matter more than people realize and that without them you are constantly chasing your tail. With that said, there are 300+ Bball school and school with crappy/old gameday facilities, no modern practice facilty, located in crappy towns in crappy leagues, who hire quality up in coming coaches. Right now can Tulane hire the "hot" guy, of course not, but there is no excuse why we can't compete with the examples I gave of the top of my head (La Tech and Buffalo), none (especially considering our city and conference). AGian, the other crappy AAC schools have made great hires, we can at least get someone around what White was when he entered LA Tech.

If your point is to keep hitting on the gameday facility in hopes that someone from TU is reading this, then I agree. Now I and no one (tmk) on this board is in college athletics so I don't have a handy list of up in coming assistants and low level head coaches, I just don;t agree that Tulane basketball is a compete wasteland when you consider the positives outside the tiny (but nice) arena. There is no reason why we can't at least be competitive, which we have not been for a decade.

I really want an answer as to what TU was thinking spending all that money on Devlin all while reducing the number of seats when we are already 50% smaller then the next closest AAC school. Was there a plan to expand and keep the $10mm upgrades? If not, I don;t see us ripping out all the upgrades to re-due the place. I think I will send TD an email about this subject, hopefully others will as well. It's just mind boggling.

+1,000
You forgot to mention Tulane now paying its coach well over $1 million a year. No way the La Tech's and Buffalo's of the world can pay that. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Dannen and he went with it. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Cowen in 1998 (Scelfo) and he went with it. I'm tired of the excuses for being 1-7. The coaching sucks.

The chance for success is the motivating factor in these instances not the money. Dannen had started the search and wasn't finding much out there. That's when MD's brother-in-law who played football at Tulane gave Dannen MD's name.

1) Downplaying the doubling of one's salary is a bit absurd no? At his peak, White made $600k from Tech. Money matters.

2) So we are to just take your word (no offense) that no one was interested? As I laid out, the TU job does have some solid selling points. Its not even close to the top of the list but good coaches have been hired at places with far less to offer. So lets just take White at Tech when he was first hired and pretend it is present day. You think he goes to Ruston freakin LA to play in an old gym in the middle of nowhere, make $500k (probably more than what he made when he was first hired), no practice facility, horrible conference, no TV at all......or choose to go to Tulane, make over $1mm, have NOLA, AAC, practice facility, academic selling points and all games on TV. Come on.

[mbawavefan12]

I don't know either. I'm just asking those that are saying we should have made another pick who it is that was in the running that they wanted. As for Floyd he was before but was turned off by a clause they wanted to put in his contract b/c of the controversies he had been involved in. I never heard his name come up this time.

It's really an unfair question as how the hell would we know?
Other crappy AAC schools have made quality hires. Of the top of my head crappy destinations like Buffalo and La Tech have made hires. The league, new (though small) arena, practice facility, academics, city etc., plenty of hungry assistants and low level head coaches would take the job. Again, Fball is in almost the same position as Bball and Fritz was a solid hire on paper.
We r still very early in the MD era. I will guve it some time for sure. He needs better assistants, especially for defense.

Not unfair at all. People want to keep saying we should have chose someone else. Who then? Name who was interested that Dannen passed over. If you want to bash his choice tell us who he passed over. I'm not taking up for him or MD but if people want to bash let them say who we could have had.

None of those schools have a HS gym. Sticking your head in the sand over the biggest issue the program has doesn't help. That's not directed at just you. Our game day facilities are HS type facilities and they are the biggest hindrance those programs have. The administration needs to hear that we all see the problem and that it is their job to get it fixed. We are all sick of the losing and it won't end till those facilities are addressed.

I have been the #1 advocate that facilities matter more than people realize and that without them you are constantly chasing your tail. With that said, there are 300+ Bball school and school with crappy/old gameday facilities, no modern practice facilty, located in crappy towns in crappy leagues, who hire quality up in coming coaches. Right now can Tulane hire the "hot" guy, of course not, but there is no excuse why we can't compete with the examples I gave of the top of my head (La Tech and Buffalo), none (especially considering our city and conference). AGian, the other crappy AAC schools have made great hires, we can at least get someone around what White was when he entered LA Tech.

If your point is to keep hitting on the gameday facility in hopes that someone from TU is reading this, then I agree. Now I and no one (tmk) on this board is in college athletics so I don't have a handy list of up in coming assistants and low level head coaches, I just don;t agree that Tulane basketball is a compete wasteland when you consider the positives outside the tiny (but nice) arena. There is no reason why we can't at least be competitive, which we have not been for a decade.

I really want an answer as to what TU was thinking spending all that money on Devlin all while reducing the number of seats when we are already 50% smaller then the next closest AAC school. Was there a plan to expand and keep the $10mm upgrades? If not, I don;t see us ripping out all the upgrades to re-due the place. I think I will send TD an email about this subject, hopefully others will as well. It's just mind boggling.

+1,000
You forgot to mention Tulane now paying its coach well over $1 million a year. No way the La Tech's and Buffalo's of the world can pay that. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Dannen and he went with it. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Cowen in 1998 (Scelfo) and he went with it. I'm tired of the excuses for being 1-7. The coaching sucks.

The chance for success is the motivating factor in these instances not the money. Dannen had started the search and wasn't finding much out there. That's when MD's brother-in-law who played football at Tulane gave Dannen MD's name.

Then why did Fritz take the job?

[winwave]

I don't know either. I'm just asking those that are saying we should have made another pick who it is that was in the running that they wanted. As for Floyd he was before but was turned off by a clause they wanted to put in his contract b/c of the controversies he had been involved in. I never heard his name come up this time.

It's really an unfair question as how the hell would we know?
Other crappy AAC schools have made quality hires. Of the top of my head crappy destinations like Buffalo and La Tech have made hires. The league, new (though small) arena, practice facility, academics, city etc., plenty of hungry assistants and low level head coaches would take the job. Again, Fball is in almost the same position as Bball and Fritz was a solid hire on paper.
We r still very early in the MD era. I will guve it some time for sure. He needs better assistants, especially for defense.

Not unfair at all. People want to keep saying we should have chose someone else. Who then? Name who was interested that Dannen passed over. If you want to bash his choice tell us who he passed over. I'm not taking up for him or MD but if people want to bash let them say who we could have had.

None of those schools have a HS gym. Sticking your head in the sand over the biggest issue the program has doesn't help. That's not directed at just you. Our game day facilities are HS type facilities and they are the biggest hindrance those programs have. The administration needs to hear that we all see the problem and that it is their job to get it fixed. We are all sick of the losing and it won't end till those facilities are addressed.

I have been the #1 advocate that facilities matter more than people realize and that without them you are constantly chasing your tail. With that said, there are 300+ Bball school and school with crappy/old gameday facilities, no modern practice facilty, located in crappy towns in crappy leagues, who hire quality up in coming coaches. Right now can Tulane hire the "hot" guy, of course not, but there is no excuse why we can't compete with the examples I gave of the top of my head (La Tech and Buffalo), none (especially considering our city and conference). AGian, the other crappy AAC schools have made great hires, we can at least get someone around what White was when he entered LA Tech.

If your point is to keep hitting on the gameday facility in hopes that someone from TU is reading this, then I agree. Now I and no one (tmk) on this board is in college athletics so I don't have a handy list of up in coming assistants and low level head coaches, I just don;t agree that Tulane basketball is a compete wasteland when you consider the positives outside the tiny (but nice) arena. There is no reason why we can't at least be competitive, which we have not been for a decade.

I really want an answer as to what TU was thinking spending all that money on Devlin all while reducing the number of seats when we are already 50% smaller then the next closest AAC school. Was there a plan to expand and keep the $10mm upgrades? If not, I don;t see us ripping out all the upgrades to re-due the place. I think I will send TD an email about this subject, hopefully others will as well. It's just mind boggling.

+1,000
You forgot to mention Tulane now paying its coach well over $1 million a year. No way the La Tech's and Buffalo's of the world can pay that. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Dannen and he went with it. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Cowen in 1998 (Scelfo) and he went with it. I'm tired of the excuses for being 1-7. The coaching sucks.

The chance for success is the motivating factor in these instances not the money. Dannen had started the search and wasn't finding much out there. That's when MD's brother-in-law who played football at Tulane gave Dannen MD's name.

Then why fire Conroy if nobody wants to coach at Tulane?

Because he wasn't getting the job done. Anybody can get lucky. Plus TD at that point likely had no idea of the stigma attached to the job.

[winwave]

I don't know either. I'm just asking those that are saying we should have made another pick who it is that was in the running that they wanted. As for Floyd he was before but was turned off by a clause they wanted to put in his contract b/c of the controversies he had been involved in. I never heard his name come up this time.

It's really an unfair question as how the hell would we know?
Other crappy AAC schools have made quality hires. Of the top of my head crappy destinations like Buffalo and La Tech have made hires. The league, new (though small) arena, practice facility, academics, city etc., plenty of hungry assistants and low level head coaches would take the job. Again, Fball is in almost the same position as Bball and Fritz was a solid hire on paper.
We r still very early in the MD era. I will guve it some time for sure. He needs better assistants, especially for defense.

Not unfair at all. People want to keep saying we should have chose someone else. Who then? Name who was interested that Dannen passed over. If you want to bash his choice tell us who he passed over. I'm not taking up for him or MD but if people want to bash let them say who we could have had.

None of those schools have a HS gym. Sticking your head in the sand over the biggest issue the program has doesn't help. That's not directed at just you. Our game day facilities are HS type facilities and they are the biggest hindrance those programs have. The administration needs to hear that we all see the problem and that it is their job to get it fixed. We are all sick of the losing and it won't end till those facilities are addressed.

I have been the #1 advocate that facilities matter more than people realize and that without them you are constantly chasing your tail. With that said, there are 300+ Bball school and school with crappy/old gameday facilities, no modern practice facilty, located in crappy towns in crappy leagues, who hire quality up in coming coaches. Right now can Tulane hire the "hot" guy, of course not, but there is no excuse why we can't compete with the examples I gave of the top of my head (La Tech and Buffalo), none (especially considering our city and conference). AGian, the other crappy AAC schools have made great hires, we can at least get someone around what White was when he entered LA Tech.

If your point is to keep hitting on the gameday facility in hopes that someone from TU is reading this, then I agree. Now I and no one (tmk) on this board is in college athletics so I don't have a handy list of up in coming assistants and low level head coaches, I just don;t agree that Tulane basketball is a compete wasteland when you consider the positives outside the tiny (but nice) arena. There is no reason why we can't at least be competitive, which we have not been for a decade.

I really want an answer as to what TU was thinking spending all that money on Devlin all while reducing the number of seats when we are already 50% smaller then the next closest AAC school. Was there a plan to expand and keep the $10mm upgrades? If not, I don;t see us ripping out all the upgrades to re-due the place. I think I will send TD an email about this subject, hopefully others will as well. It's just mind boggling.

+1,000
You forgot to mention Tulane now paying its coach well over $1 million a year. No way the La Tech's and Buffalo's of the world can pay that. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Dannen and he went with it. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Cowen in 1998 (Scelfo) and he went with it. I'm tired of the excuses for being 1-7. The coaching sucks.

The chance for success is the motivating factor in these instances not the money. Dannen had started the search and wasn't finding much out there. That's when MD's brother-in-law who played football at Tulane gave Dannen MD's name.

1) Downplaying the doubling of one's salary is a bit absurd no? At his peak, White made $600k from Tech. Money matters.

2) So we are to just take your word (no offense) that no one was interested? As I laid out, the TU job does have some solid selling points. Its not even close to the top of the list but good coaches have been hired at places with far less to offer. So lets just take White at Tech when he was first hired and pretend it is present day. You think he goes to Ruston freakin LA to play in an old gym in the middle of nowhere, make $500k (probably more than what he made when he was first hired), no practice facility, horrible conference, no TV at all......or choose to go to Tulane, make over $1mm, have NOLA, AAC, practice facility, academic selling points and all games on TV. Come on.

Not absurd at all. It worked out just the way he wanted. That's a fact. He won and got a big job paying much, much more than what we are even offering now. When he took the La. Tech job we weren't offering that kind of money.

So we are to take your word that many highly qualified coaches desperately wanted the job? Names please? Despite selling points it still has a HS gym for its gameday facility. Also you see the conference as a positive. People looking clearly see it as a negative in that they don't think they will be able to recruit at Tulane what they need to win in the conference. As for White he chooses La. Tech both times b/c of the chance to win and move up which he did.

[winwave]

I don't know either. I'm just asking those that are saying we should have made another pick who it is that was in the running that they wanted. As for Floyd he was before but was turned off by a clause they wanted to put in his contract b/c of the controversies he had been involved in. I never heard his name come up this time.

It's really an unfair question as how the hell would we know?
Other crappy AAC schools have made quality hires. Of the top of my head crappy destinations like Buffalo and La Tech have made hires. The league, new (though small) arena, practice facility, academics, city etc., plenty of hungry assistants and low level head coaches would take the job. Again, Fball is in almost the same position as Bball and Fritz was a solid hire on paper.
We r still very early in the MD era. I will guve it some time for sure. He needs better assistants, especially for defense.

Not unfair at all. People want to keep saying we should have chose someone else. Who then? Name who was interested that Dannen passed over. If you want to bash his choice tell us who he passed over. I'm not taking up for him or MD but if people want to bash let them say who we could have had.

None of those schools have a HS gym. Sticking your head in the sand over the biggest issue the program has doesn't help. That's not directed at just you. Our game day facilities are HS type facilities and they are the biggest hindrance those programs have. The administration needs to hear that we all see the problem and that it is their job to get it fixed. We are all sick of the losing and it won't end till those facilities are addressed.

I have been the #1 advocate that facilities matter more than people realize and that without them you are constantly chasing your tail. With that said, there are 300+ Bball school and school with crappy/old gameday facilities, no modern practice facilty, located in crappy towns in crappy leagues, who hire quality up in coming coaches. Right now can Tulane hire the "hot" guy, of course not, but there is no excuse why we can't compete with the examples I gave of the top of my head (La Tech and Buffalo), none (especially considering our city and conference). AGian, the other crappy AAC schools have made great hires, we can at least get someone around what White was when he entered LA Tech.

If your point is to keep hitting on the gameday facility in hopes that someone from TU is reading this, then I agree. Now I and no one (tmk) on this board is in college athletics so I don't have a handy list of up in coming assistants and low level head coaches, I just don;t agree that Tulane basketball is a compete wasteland when you consider the positives outside the tiny (but nice) arena. There is no reason why we can't at least be competitive, which we have not been for a decade.

I really want an answer as to what TU was thinking spending all that money on Devlin all while reducing the number of seats when we are already 50% smaller then the next closest AAC school. Was there a plan to expand and keep the $10mm upgrades? If not, I don;t see us ripping out all the upgrades to re-due the place. I think I will send TD an email about this subject, hopefully others will as well. It's just mind boggling.

+1,000
You forgot to mention Tulane now paying its coach well over $1 million a year. No way the La Tech's and Buffalo's of the world can pay that. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Dannen and he went with it. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Cowen in 1998 (Scelfo) and he went with it. I'm tired of the excuses for being 1-7. The coaching sucks.

The chance for success is the motivating factor in these instances not the money. Dannen had started the search and wasn't finding much out there. That's when MD's brother-in-law who played football at Tulane gave Dannen MD's name.

Then why did Fritz take the job?

Have you looked at the trajectory of his career? He has been trying to climb the ranks to D-1 for a long, long time. He's at an age where he couldn't say no. He's only human. He may end up regretting it. Hopefully not as I do think he gets the overall picture of what you need to do to win.

BTW, same thing for MD. He desperately wanted back in. He tried for the St. John's and TCU jobs and didn't get them. Now as I said above sometimes you get lucky. We stink right now but it's too early to judge. Hopefully it works out for all.

[oliveandblue]

As angry as I am right now, I'm going to wait a year. He has a raft (4 already) of new guys coming in. He may just be biding his time.

...this better be good, though.

[puffy]

Maybe it's the small optimist in me, but I can't bring myself to condemn a coaching hire 8 games into the season with a roster that isn't very talented or big. I'll give Dunleavy a chance just like I gave Clark, Finney, Dickerson and Conroy.

In the meantime, , I've heard some good things about Cornish, and hope he's gearing up to have a a great season next year.

[Show Me]

Maybe it's the small optimist in me, but I can't bring myself to condemn a coaching hire 8 games into the season with a roster that isn't very talented or big. I'll give Dunleavy a chance just like I gave Clark, Finney, Dickerson and Conroy.

In the meantime, , I've heard some good things about Cornish, and hope he's gearing up to have a a great season next year.

I agree. But the criticism is warranted along the way. We just looked poorly coached too much of the time considering what we're paying.

[puffy]

Maybe it's the small optimist in me, but I can't bring myself to condemn a coaching hire 8 games into the season with a roster that isn't very talented or big. I'll give Dunleavy a chance just like I gave Clark, Finney, Dickerson and Conroy.

In the meantime, , I've heard some good things about Cornish, and hope he's gearing up to have a a great season next year.

I agree. But the criticism is warranted along the way. We just looked poorly coached too much of the time considering what we're paying.

While Tulane is paying more for Dunleavy, it's still bottom half of the conference.

[mbawavefan12]

I don't know either. I'm just asking those that are saying we should have made another pick who it is that was in the running that they wanted. As for Floyd he was before but was turned off by a clause they wanted to put in his contract b/c of the controversies he had been involved in. I never heard his name come up this time.

It's really an unfair question as how the hell would we know?
Other crappy AAC schools have made quality hires. Of the top of my head crappy destinations like Buffalo and La Tech have made hires. The league, new (though small) arena, practice facility, academics, city etc., plenty of hungry assistants and low level head coaches would take the job. Again, Fball is in almost the same position as Bball and Fritz was a solid hire on paper.
We r still very early in the MD era. I will guve it some time for sure. He needs better assistants, especially for defense.

Not unfair at all. People want to keep saying we should have chose someone else. Who then? Name who was interested that Dannen passed over. If you want to bash his choice tell us who he passed over. I'm not taking up for him or MD but if people want to bash let them say who we could have had.

None of those schools have a HS gym. Sticking your head in the sand over the biggest issue the program has doesn't help. That's not directed at just you. Our game day facilities are HS type facilities and they are the biggest hindrance those programs have. The administration needs to hear that we all see the problem and that it is their job to get it fixed. We are all sick of the losing and it won't end till those facilities are addressed.

I have been the #1 advocate that facilities matter more than people realize and that without them you are constantly chasing your tail. With that said, there are 300+ Bball school and school with crappy/old gameday facilities, no modern practice facilty, located in crappy towns in crappy leagues, who hire quality up in coming coaches. Right now can Tulane hire the "hot" guy, of course not, but there is no excuse why we can't compete with the examples I gave of the top of my head (La Tech and Buffalo), none (especially considering our city and conference). AGian, the other crappy AAC schools have made great hires, we can at least get someone around what White was when he entered LA Tech.

If your point is to keep hitting on the gameday facility in hopes that someone from TU is reading this, then I agree. Now I and no one (tmk) on this board is in college athletics so I don't have a handy list of up in coming assistants and low level head coaches, I just don;t agree that Tulane basketball is a compete wasteland when you consider the positives outside the tiny (but nice) arena. There is no reason why we can't at least be competitive, which we have not been for a decade.

I really want an answer as to what TU was thinking spending all that money on Devlin all while reducing the number of seats when we are already 50% smaller then the next closest AAC school. Was there a plan to expand and keep the $10mm upgrades? If not, I don;t see us ripping out all the upgrades to re-due the place. I think I will send TD an email about this subject, hopefully others will as well. It's just mind boggling.

+1,000
You forgot to mention Tulane now paying its coach well over $1 million a year. No way the La Tech's and Buffalo's of the world can pay that. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Dannen and he went with it. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Cowen in 1998 (Scelfo) and he went with it. I'm tired of the excuses for being 1-7. The coaching sucks.

The chance for success is the motivating factor in these instances not the money. Dannen had started the search and wasn't finding much out there. That's when MD's brother-in-law who played football at Tulane gave Dannen MD's name.

1) Downplaying the doubling of one's salary is a bit absurd no? At his peak, White made $600k from Tech. Money matters.

2) So we are to just take your word (no offense) that no one was interested? As I laid out, the TU job does have some solid selling points. Its not even close to the top of the list but good coaches have been hired at places with far less to offer. So lets just take White at Tech when he was first hired and pretend it is present day. You think he goes to Ruston freakin LA to play in an old gym in the middle of nowhere, make $500k (probably more than what he made when he was first hired), no practice facility, horrible conference, no TV at all......or choose to go to Tulane, make over $1mm, have NOLA, AAC, practice facility, academic selling points and all games on TV. Come on.

Not absurd at all. It worked out just the way he wanted. That's a fact. He won and got a big job paying much, much more than what we are even offering now. When he took the La. Tech job we weren't offering that kind of money.

So we are to take your word that many highly qualified coaches desperately wanted the job? Names please? Despite selling points it still has a HS gym for its gameday facility. Also you see the conference as a positive. People looking clearly see it as a negative in that they don't think they will be able to recruit at Tulane what they need to win in the conference. As for White he chooses La. Tech both times b/c of the chance to win and move up which he did.

Just curious, how in the world could I or you possibly know the list of potential candidates or those who were contacted? I am simply laying out the argument as to why someone would come to TU and I see no reason why there wasn't plenty of people who were interested (again not hot names but certainly people on White's level when he went to Tech) considering everything involved. Look at the worst Big East school Depaul, they hired Purnell and Leitao, those guys knew they faced a huge uphill battle but took the job. Just as a Tech can be a building block, you win at Tulane and you shoot to the top of the list of potential head coaching candidates.

As for Fritz, you said coaches make choices based on where they can win not money, then why did he take the TU job when he could have stayed at Georgia Southern and won allowing him to either keep collecting a check or wait for another opportunity. TU has major problems, but there is potential in both FBall and Bball which can be sold to coaches. There is no reason, even given our limitations, why we should be in the bottom three of the league every year in the two sports that matter.

With all that said, we do need to address Devlin. It's just such a mess as we currently have to address FBall support assets and olympic sports, never mind the fact that the school is operating at a loss and its hard to justify (at least for some) to spend $30-40mm on a Bball arena when we can't get 1000 people to show up and a booster just dropped $10mm on the place. The last decade and probably currently as well, the TU admin has been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.

[mbawavefan12]

Maybe it's the small optimist in me, but I can't bring myself to condemn a coaching hire 8 games into the season with a roster that isn't very talented or big. I'll give Dunleavy a chance just like I gave Clark, Finney, Dickerson and Conroy.

In the meantime, , I've heard some good things about Cornish, and hope he's gearing up to have a a great season next year.

I agree. But the criticism is warranted along the way. We just looked poorly coached too much of the time considering what we're paying.

While Tulane is paying more for Dunleavy, it's still bottom half of the conference.

The median salary for last year's NCAA tourney coaches was about $1.2mm, we have options based on what we pay and what we offer. On paper MD was a good hire high risk/high reward. So far it looks bad but we have to have patience.

http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salarie ... all/coach/

[golfnut69]

c'mon....MD has a front line,in name only...hell IMG academy most probably has better players on the baseline than Tulane....but help will be arriving next year...they may not have the most experience, but it is very difficult to teach someone who is 6 feet tall to be 7 feet tall...so there will be some size on the baseline next year...that alone, will mean a few wins

[winwave]

I don't know either. I'm just asking those that are saying we should have made another pick who it is that was in the running that they wanted. As for Floyd he was before but was turned off by a clause they wanted to put in his contract b/c of the controversies he had been involved in. I never heard his name come up this time.

It's really an unfair question as how the hell would we know?
Other crappy AAC schools have made quality hires. Of the top of my head crappy destinations like Buffalo and La Tech have made hires. The league, new (though small) arena, practice facility, academics, city etc., plenty of hungry assistants and low level head coaches would take the job. Again, Fball is in almost the same position as Bball and Fritz was a solid hire on paper.
We r still very early in the MD era. I will guve it some time for sure. He needs better assistants, especially for defense.

Not unfair at all. People want to keep saying we should have chose someone else. Who then? Name who was interested that Dannen passed over. If you want to bash his choice tell us who he passed over. I'm not taking up for him or MD but if people want to bash let them say who we could have had.

None of those schools have a HS gym. Sticking your head in the sand over the biggest issue the program has doesn't help. That's not directed at just you. Our game day facilities are HS type facilities and they are the biggest hindrance those programs have. The administration needs to hear that we all see the problem and that it is their job to get it fixed. We are all sick of the losing and it won't end till those facilities are addressed.

I have been the #1 advocate that facilities matter more than people realize and that without them you are constantly chasing your tail. With that said, there are 300+ Bball school and school with crappy/old gameday facilities, no modern practice facilty, located in crappy towns in crappy leagues, who hire quality up in coming coaches. Right now can Tulane hire the "hot" guy, of course not, but there is no excuse why we can't compete with the examples I gave of the top of my head (La Tech and Buffalo), none (especially considering our city and conference). AGian, the other crappy AAC schools have made great hires, we can at least get someone around what White was when he entered LA Tech.

If your point is to keep hitting on the gameday facility in hopes that someone from TU is reading this, then I agree. Now I and no one (tmk) on this board is in college athletics so I don't have a handy list of up in coming assistants and low level head coaches, I just don;t agree that Tulane basketball is a compete wasteland when you consider the positives outside the tiny (but nice) arena. There is no reason why we can't at least be competitive, which we have not been for a decade.

I really want an answer as to what TU was thinking spending all that money on Devlin all while reducing the number of seats when we are already 50% smaller then the next closest AAC school. Was there a plan to expand and keep the $10mm upgrades? If not, I don;t see us ripping out all the upgrades to re-due the place. I think I will send TD an email about this subject, hopefully others will as well. It's just mind boggling.

+1,000
You forgot to mention Tulane now paying its coach well over $1 million a year. No way the La Tech's and Buffalo's of the world can pay that. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Dannen and he went with it. Someone a (donor) dropped a name on Cowen in 1998 (Scelfo) and he went with it. I'm tired of the excuses for being 1-7. The coaching sucks.

The chance for success is the motivating factor in these instances not the money. Dannen had started the search and wasn't finding much out there. That's when MD's brother-in-law who played football at Tulane gave Dannen MD's name.

1) Downplaying the doubling of one's salary is a bit absurd no? At his peak, White made $600k from Tech. Money matters.

2) So we are to just take your word (no offense) that no one was interested? As I laid out, the TU job does have some solid selling points. Its not even close to the top of the list but good coaches have been hired at places with far less to offer. So lets just take White at Tech when he was first hired and pretend it is present day. You think he goes to Ruston freakin LA to play in an old gym in the middle of nowhere, make $500k (probably more than what he made when he was first hired), no practice facility, horrible conference, no TV at all......or choose to go to Tulane, make over $1mm, have NOLA, AAC, practice facility, academic selling points and all games on TV. Come on.

Not absurd at all. It worked out just the way he wanted. That's a fact. He won and got a big job paying much, much more than what we are even offering now. When he took the La. Tech job we weren't offering that kind of money.

So we are to take your word that many highly qualified coaches desperately wanted the job? Names please? Despite selling points it still has a HS gym for its gameday facility. Also you see the conference as a positive. People looking clearly see it as a negative in that they don't think they will be able to recruit at Tulane what they need to win in the conference. As for White he chooses La. Tech both times b/c of the chance to win and move up which he did.

Just curious, how in the world could I or you possibly know the list of potential candidates or those who were contacted? I am simply laying out the argument as to why someone would come to TU and I see no reason why there wasn't plenty of people who were interested (again not hot names but certainly people on White's level when he went to Tech) considering everything involved. Look at the worst Big East school Depaul, they hired Purnell and Leitao, those guys knew they faced a huge uphill battle but took the job. Just as a Tech can be a building block, you win at Tulane and you shoot to the top of the list of potential head coaching candidates.

As for Fritz, you said coaches make choices based on where they can win not money, then why did he take the TU job when he could have stayed at Georgia Southern and won allowing him to either keep collecting a check or wait for another opportunity. TU has major problems, but there is potential in both FBall and Bball which can be sold to coaches. There is no reason, even given our limitations, why we should be in the bottom three of the league every year in the two sports that matter.

With all that said, we do need to address Devlin. It's just such a mess as we currently have to address FBall support assets and olympic sports, never mind the fact that the school is operating at a loss and its hard to justify (at least for some) to spend $30-40mm on a Bball arena when we can't get 1000 people to show up and a booster just dropped $10mm on the place. The last decade and probably currently as well, the TU admin has been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.

I'm just laying out the counter argument which is unfortunately backed up who we have ended up w/time and again. I get how YOU see it but clearly those in the hunt don't see it that way. The gym is a huge hindrance. It negatively impacts recruiting which good coaches know is the lifeblood.

As for Fritz he's been climbing the whole time. it's what he does. Plus he took over a successful program there so he probably figured he wouldn't get much credit for continuing it. He's confident in himself and obviously believes HE can be the difference. We all have to hope he is. As i have posted numerous times sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. We have hired two veteran coaches who are hopefully savvy enough to overcome the obstacles at Tulane.