Nothing else to say. TU screwed up their basketball program had a chance for redemption and passed over 400,000 over 2 additional years. Wow. I'm close to being done. They have no clue how much a tournament win would mean to this school. Not to mention the increased local interest with the two best players to graduate from Tulsa schools in the past 10 years.
Trey Phipps Decommits
- Thread starter TulsaFan2000
- Start date
Wow if this is what I think you ared implying it is quite a bombshell. Better have real, verifiable facts. And take it to the pay board.
I've been to French Lick once about 7 or 8 years ago, and I assure you that Boomington is to French Lick as the DFW metro plex is to Tulsa. Bloomington-Normal is actually a pretty cool little city and French Lick is a really cool small small small town with a huge Casino on the side of the mountain.
I’m glad that made sense to someone, it was pretty close to gibberish to me.
I'm glad I'm not the only one, I thought I was just being dense.
You have the top of the TU admin to thank for that one. They really screwed up that deal.
And by doing so potentially missed on two of the best kids that we've had a real shot at in more than a decade.
This is 100% accurate. I've often been a critic of Haith but he made most if not all the right moves this spring to land a kid who would bring fans and excitement back to the program. When Bryce commits to another school in the next few months it won't be Haith who bears the blame.
Are you referring to the potential assistant coaching pool?
It's just the easy way for the board and those that think athletics is the bane to the academic side to sabotage athletics while maintaining it's not economically feasible at the moment.
With as many within that absolutely hate athletics, having an AD that isn’t a cheerleader is detrimental.
It’s one thing to not care about sports - that’s fine and I respect it, but it’s another thing to actively try to lobby against sports programs at TU... some of these boosters/donors/board members are the worst.
The people who only care about athletics think the admin is not valuing sports, being too cheap with athletics, is clueless about how to fix things and screwing TU up. The people who only care about academics think the admin is not valuing academics, being too cheap with academics, is clueless about how to fix things and screwing TU up. We might entertain the idea that the admin is just incompetent, have no idea what they're doing and are hopelessly screwing up BOTH sports and academics.
Yeah, I think Lawless and Stead were those TU presidents who valued both and knew their intrinsic value to one another. Granted, Stead's eyes were too big for his stomach and apparently TU spent out of control w/o having the necessary resources to back it up. But you saw academic growth, dedication to helping students reach post-grad fellowships and highly competitive scholarships as a focus in addition to athletic facilities and budgets. I would say what Lawless was doing in around 2002-2005 range is the model TU probably should focus on. High enrollments, national academic achievements, high performing athletics.Not only that, every faculty and staff member had access to him to offer suggestions, no matter how simple they may have been...and he listened. He knew that every person who worked at TU from the housekeepers in the residence halls to the VPs each had an important role in making sure TU was a place where students wanted to be. Stead, probably wasn't as accessible, but he had that forward vision that made it easy for people to follow him. He also had a knack for PR.
Clancy has neither Lawless' patience to include everyone nor Stead's overall charisma and ability to deliver a message to the TU community. I'm not saying he's a bad person, not even saying he's a bad university president, just saying he doesn't seem to have the command of the room at all times. It also seems as though Levit has too much of a direct line to the trustees, and in my experience, outside of trustee meetings where VPs are invited to give updates, contact between the BOT and university entities that are not the president should be minimized. Makes it too enticing for BoT who don't have full confidence in the president to bypass and subvert him.
Personally, Gragg needs to go. He either needs to resign or one of the BoT with an athletic passion needs to bring up that he needs to go. The athletic dept. needs a VP/AD who is willing to stand up for his coaches and athletes at all costs. Gragg has not shown that and you can tell the morale within the coaching ranks is decreasing because of it.
I’ve gone back and forth on Gragg. Does he lack the backbone to stand up to the administration when they get involved in athletics (almost always to the detriment of the same) or is he simply a figurehead with no real power to make important athletic dept decisions? Gragg has made moves in the past which would really help the basketball program only to be thwarted by the admin. I’m beginning to doubt whether he has any real power inside the athletic dept.
If I was in a job where I was supposed to lead and things were being cut out from under me not allowing me to do my job effectively...it's time for me to go.
And I know Jerry O just got there...but I am hoping he provides some of that backbone and the bridge between athlete alum and the current admin that basically threatens to cut a major source of funding out the university donor pipeline. I don't know about you, I'm still not about to piss off a 50 year old Jerry O.
I don’t disagree. However, it’s hard to walk away from the kind of money he’s making with no other similar opportunities. Gragg isn’t the answer. However, until the leadership of the university changes its commitment to athletics, it’s going to be a very tough road. Regardless of whose sits in that seat
This. If Gragg went, we wouldn't get anyone better. The admin has made clear that what they want in senior leadership is yes men/women and sycophants who do what they're told Why do you think Gragg has made it so long? Why do you think they hired the accountant to run the remains of arts and sciences? Levitt said so herself - the accountant is a loyal foot soldier who has sworn loyalty to the admin and will do what he's told. That's what you'd get instead of Gragg. The admin isn't looking for someone to come in with great ideas and creative plans - the admin has all the ideas and plans, they don't need anyone else's ideas thank you very much. Someone else having ideas just distracts them from getting on with what the admin has already decided. being a go-getter outside the admin plans just screws things up. So don't get your hopes up.
I don't know what the admin has in mind for athletics but I suspect Emory or Johns Hopkins, maybe Rice, would be their role models.
I ma hoping Jerry O learns some of the admin stuff in his new role and we can move in that direction sooner than later. He is one of TU's biggest advocates from an athletic standpoint. While I always thought Largent would have been an ideal person for that role that bridge has been burned to the ground.
It's going to take someone like Largent who has the resume and confidence to stand up to the administration and turn the focus back on athletic success. Unfortunately, this is likely the exact reason why someone like Largent will never be hired for the position by the administration. Goes back to the old adage, we only hire people we can control. At this point I would settle for an elite fundraiser...assuming the administration would allow all funds raised be re-invested in the athletic department AND no reduction in support to offset said raised funds.
Oh man, I didn't sleep well last night (that's the excuse I'm going with here) and thought this was a new article... really got excited that Arkansas was back in the Gragg game... until I noticed the date at the top of the article :cry:
I did the same thing...and then I wanted to come back on here and CURSE out the person who posted the link.
Wasn't the number two guy taken in the draft last year from Murray State,
Kind of defeats the argument of what school you attend.
If you're good NBA will find you.
GO TU!!!!
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