Sorry if I missed it in this thread.
I'm told TJ Otzelberger is back in the mix and is interviewing Wednesday.
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Sorry if I missed it in this thread.
I'm told TJ Otzelberger is back in the mix and is interviewing Wednesday.
They better show up with a checkbook. Wright St. spent quite a bit on a coach...more than Jeter was making. If you want to be "top 3" you have to pay for it. Too bad our AD has alienated so many people who could help with this situation.
If we end up signing a coach at anything close to what Rob was paid this whole thing will be exposed as a pathetic fraud. Or maybe I should say, further exposed.
People seem to be under the impression that RJ was vastly overpaid...truth is, he really wasn't. The market price for a Head Coach in D1 is higher than many want to believe, and his salary was not out of line with many of his peers. Every time a major program like Auburn (a perennial cellar dweller in the SEC, and second fiddle to football) gives a coach who was still on an NCAA Show Cause a 6-year contract worth $2.2 million per year with a $100,000 annual escalator, it raises the prices for coaches at levels below that as well.
Mid majors like Milwaukee and Wright St. need to accept that the going rate for a Head Coach is no longer anywhere near the $200 k range we one thought was a lot. Wright St. reportedly dropping a cool half million a year for multiple years (probably with some escalators and performance bonuses) makes Jeter's contract not nearly that expensive. You can make the argument that Nagy is better than Jeter, and that is certainly a case to make, but Jeter was being paid less, so even still, that contract was not out of line.
I expect AB to try to go on the cheap...really cheap...mostly because now she has to since the well isn't just dry, it is also poisoned and boarded over.
Add the financial issues to the rest of this dumpster fire and you are left with a probably very unpleasant "coaching search" filled with a lot of "no thanks, I'll pass" responses.
Don't really disagree with you, hawk. I'm suggesting that if we end up paying that amount again, it underscores that what many of us were told this was about -- well, maybe not.
And yes, I am quite sure that there are candidates who are peeking under the covers and saying "pass."
Because this hiring process was put on such a fast track, now I understand why the team was denied a chance at the postseason.
Yeah....that's it. That's the ticket. It's on the fast track. I heard it from my wife...Morgan Fairchild.Quote:
Originally Posted by dylanrocks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyp9fh-u4w8
Attachment 889
How I imagine the phone calls from the Milwaukee AD Office to coaching candidates pretty much goes. (Slightly NSFW)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0PUrNwvvBk
Word on the street is TJ has an interview tomorrow.
That would fly well with some people, judging by reactions here and on the eunuch board, but it would also probably disappoint some very vocal people in the community.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Lemke
Otzelberger has been hanging out for two weeks, and they're finally bringing him in for an interview? How the hell is this considered "moving fast?!"
If Tracy Webster priced him out of a job here, that's fine by me. However, I highly doubt Otzelberger would require $500K/year like Nagy did as he's never been a head coach.
What I would say to that vocal minority is this: If you advocate for hiring someone based on their skin color, I have no use for you. Sorry to be so blunt, but there's really no other way to say it.
if we hire TJO will you have no use for him if he decides to hire some assistants "based on" their skin color? Because I 100% guarantee you that he will make sure to have at least one black assistant.
Reducing complex decision analysis to one factor is little more than a straw man argument.
"There's a long drive ... It's gonna be, I believe!Quote:
Originally Posted by uwm97
"The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!"
The point I'm trying to make, Fran, is I'm not interested in bypassing a better, more qualified candidate because of social or political reasons. I have no problem with and would advocate giving a fair opportunity to candidates of any race, but I would never choose to hire an employee for that reason. Some in the community, including on this board (and perhaps yourself?), are suggesting just that.Quote:
Originally Posted by BBF
My point is simply that in any complex decision there is always a matrix of factors. I believe that race is one appropriate factor. That is not the same as saying that it is the only factor or the deciding factor. But it's okay if it's the tipping point factor -- because any appropriate factor can be.
I have stated my preference for an AA head coach, and my reason for that preference. But that presumes that coach is otherwise qualified.
And let's be honest -- "qualified" is a relative term here. The way this process is going it would take a lunatic to pretend that ANY particular candidate presented to us is clearly the "one guy" who will take us to the promised land. We'll be lucky if we're not just taking the first guy willing to say he'll actually take the job. So if we hire Joe Black instead of Larry White I will have little patience for anybody arguing that we blew it because of some unjustified racial preference. That will be the least of it.
THIS we can agree on. To be clear, I would never look back and say we should've hired Larry White because of his skin tone. There would be no way to ever prove something like that, if I even was so racist as to say or think it.Quote:
Originally Posted by BBF
With that said, I have advocated for Otz in any discussion regarding an opening in Milwaukee. In my expert opinion, he's the best fit for the job.
JG, trust me, I'm not calling anyone "racist." I just think we are all susceptible to not seeing the deep nuance in this issue because people at the far ends of the spectrum apply a reductionist analysis and try to push everyone with absolute positions. It isn't all black or white, if you'll excuse the pun.
And as for Otz (or, to be fair, any candidate from certain programs), if we write into the contract that he would take quarterly independently administered polygraphs as to his recruiting practices I'm sure I could get comfortable with him.
Call it the Bruce rule.
If TJ is picking up all this steam I'm reading about, is there a reason he wan't give an interview until now? It makes zero sense to me.
If he gets WI guys like Matt Thomas and Jameel McKay to come here, I don't care what they write into his contract.Quote:
Originally Posted by BBF
I've spoken with Lena Taylor about TJ. I don't think she'd knock TJ nearly as much as she was planning to.Quote:
Originally Posted by Skrapheap
Reason being: he takes care of his players - I mean that as in he looks out for his kids. He makes sure they go to class, etc, and if they have problems he can help out.
He was at Washington when McKay (and Burton) transferred to ISU. I don't imagine he'll be landing 4* recruits without the Big 12Quote:
Originally Posted by uwm97
It makes me very unhappy that here we are, in the midst of a giant mess, and we need to now start injecting racial politics into this? Seriously? Don't we have enough lines between us as alumni and fans?
I think the whole line of reasoning is seriously flawed to begin with because it is highly bigoted (IMO) to assume that a black coach will recruit black kids better, care for them more, and be a better fit at Milwaukee.
It's like some of us have not considered the fact that a black coach could be a giant a**hole the players hate or a white coach could be a guy that loves them, and who they love, and is essentially a second father to them.
Last time I checked, the white guys on the team were JUST as pissed off at Jeter's firing, loved him like a father, and would walk 10 miles barefoot over broken glass for the man....and it had NOTHING to do with what he looked like.
Idiocy. Pure idiocy.
Now can we please talk about basketball and not social engineering and racial politics?
Relax, hawk. You are attributing positions no one has expressed and that barely enter into the equation if at all. For example, it literally never entered my mind that there could be a recruiting effect one way or the other from the race of our coach. Bluntly, I couldn't care less about that. I simply stated my preference and the reason for it, and I stand by it. It has nothing to do with the competitive position of our program. "Injecting racial politics" sounds like the scare words we have been hearing too much from the politicians. My only concern is the future -- which must take into account both the past and the present.
Well this much is certainly true: under Rob Jeter we never would have been able to get those guys to come here. I will say no more.Quote:
Originally Posted by uwm97
You don't need to - the next coach will get all the help that Rob Jeter didn't get, because Braun's job will be tied to theirs. That's all the B.S. anyone needs to know.Quote:
Originally Posted by BBF
That's not a comforting thought to those of us who value integrity over wins and losses.
Exactly. Not saying the next coach's wins/success needs to be taken with a grain of salt (don't get me wrong, a winning program is the goal for everyone on this board) but there is something to be said for having the support and structure in place to make a head coach successful versus what RJ and his staff had DURING HIS ENTIRE TENURE with the program. It would've behooved the AD and her staff to show the kind of support we are anticipating with this hire the second she arrived on campus. Unfortunately it wasn't. Hopefully that changes with the next coach, whomever that my be.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Lemke
Same story with tons of schools in college football & basketball.
It will be interesting to say the least. AB is now under a microscope, or at least should be. Some very hard questions are being asked around her overall performance, not just the Jeter situation.
Credit Lena Taylor (with whom I rarely agree, but sports knows no political affiliations) for pushing the issues of accountability and performance with Mone, per her interview with Bill Michaels. (link: http://media.billmichaelssports.com/...na-taylor.htm? ) She has broadened her criticisms from the original diversity issue to the larger issue of the performance and oversight of AB, her behavior in general, and her performance in a position of authority and responsibility.
Mone needs to be put into a box on this. Pressure needs to be applied on him, not just AB. Hard question need to be asked. It is long past time that the AD report directly to the Chancellor, and be accountable to him/her for results. If she has not/does not produce, she needs to be replaced with someone who can and will.
I still find it interesting that she is NOT the chair of the committee making perhaps the most important hire of her tenure. Is she no longer trusted inside the University? Are they making sure that the new coach is not personally indebted to her in preparation for an eventual change at the AD level? Or are they insulating her (again) from responsibility if this hire goes wrong, giving them the out of "she didn't actually make that hire, so you cannot blame her for it" while retaining her?We shall see.....
My guess - because this whole process has been a sham. For Braun, she probably wanted TJ since day 1, but when Lena Taylor tweeted criticism of Braun and stated Braun had talked to him TJ already, they had to get this search committee together to have a full search and get other names out there so it appears a good hiring process was followed, when in fact it was probably all a smokeshow and was going to be him all along no matter what happened along the way.Quote:
Originally Posted by uwm97
Current Twitter Poll:Quote:
Originally Posted by BBF
Do you care if the next coach strictly abides by the NCAA rules in recruiting and running the program?
Yes: 58%
No: 42%
69 votes so far. Poll runs for another 9 hours.
I can't vote Jimmy, I don't do twitter.
In the meantime, I wonder where Mone Mouse and the Journal Sentinel are these days.
HAS THE WHOLE WORLD GONE CRAZY?! AM I THE ONLY ONE AROUND HERE WHO GIVES A **** ABOUT THE RULES?! MARK IT ZERO!Quote:
Originally Posted by Walter Sobchak
http://wiki.urbandead.com/images/e/e4/WalterSobchak.jpg
Seriously, I love the screen name. That's priceless.
I think Twitter accounts are fairly telling. Let's take Amanda Braun's account for instance.
- She follows four coaches, three of them in the last few months: Bruce Weber (UWM alum at K-State), Tom Billeter (Augie), and TJ Otzelberger. TJ is the only one that follows her back.
- She followed the Wichita State's President as well as their Vice President of Student Affairs, both happened back-to-back around December. The VP of Student Affairs (VPSA) used to be the AD, but following the previous VP's firing took on double-duties early last year. He gave up his AD duties when the student government protested not having a full-time VPSA. That move happened in...you guessed it...December.
Oh well - anyone with a basic proficiency in Google can find several examples of how she's railroaded this department. Looks like Wichita State won't be calling, AB!
Jimmy, I voted "no", but not because I want to cheat like crazy. I voted "no" because the NCAA is corrupt itself, and it's "rules" are many times arbitrary, capricious and self-serving. Are their core things we should never do? Absolutely...is there a grey area that is technically cheating if/when the NCAA decides it cares, yes? Should we be more aggressive in that grey area? Yes....thus my vote.
I just wanted to show the current results, since it shows BBF isn't alone in his beliefs.Quote:
Originally Posted by MU/Panther
Well, it's only 58% in how your poll is asked. Different in what BBF said.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Lemke
The JS has their best people on pressing, hot-button issues such asQuote:
Originally Posted by dylanrocks