Thanks for the post, Holder, and the other commenters.
To those of us who see Rice football only through video, all we get to observe is on-the-field stuff, the L's and W's. So it's great and enlightening to see the good Bailiff has done off the field

(11-27-2017 10:27 AM)Holder_Owl_84 Wrote:  11 years of work. 4 bowl appearances. 3 bowl wins. 2 10 win seasons. 1 conference championship. 2 Power 5 head coaches. 15+ players sent into the NFL. 200+ men graduated and over prepared for life after football.

Over the past 11 years Coach Bailiff ran a respectful, clean program with 2 primary goals: recruit, develop, and graduate as a man of great character and win football games. In that order. He absolutely achieved the former and, at times, achieved the latter as well. No one will argue that there weren't deep valleys to his tenure and that there were times where expectations were not met but in those 11 season Coach Bailiff was an unwavering pillar of respect, grace, and humility. There are few men in the business that prioritize their player's futures over their own and Dave is one of those men, for that I am forever grateful. My appreciation, love, thanks, and respect goes out to coach Bailiff for everything he did for me, my family, my friends, and my alma mater. I wish things could have gone differently over the past 3 years. Like all of you, I wish the momentum we had from 2012-2014 could have been sustained. Unfortunately that is the way this game works and it creates tough decisions like the one made his morning. I understand the decision and I am looking forward to a bright future in Rice football. I am grateful for what he did for Rice and I am excited to see what is next for the program and for the school.

Those two feelings CAN coexist.

Now, to those that are reading this with their puffed out internet chest ready to dismember all of my positive praise, I'm challenging you. Approach today with an appreciation for the good that happened in the last 11 years while also looking forward to the next phase of Rice Football with an optimistic mindset.

+1

Definitely a bittersweet day. There were a lot of great moments - Bowls, conference championship, beating UH. We've gotten those results without compromising the integrity of our school. But we are headed in the wrong direction and whether this starts with the coach or with the administration, we needed to make a change. Best of luck coach in your future pursuits!

In his interviews at Texas, Mensa has said repeatedly that David taught him more about coaching than anyone else, specifically how important it is to love your players. David loved his players as much as any coach I've ever known, and they loved him as well. That says a lot of good things about him as a man.

I too would be happy if Rice could find a spot for him, maybe fund raising like UH did with Bill Yeoman.

I've made it perfectly clear that I didn't agree with his approach to winning football games, but aside from that he was absolutely first class in every way. Godspeed, David.

Wish him a happy life after left Rice.

Thanks coach! Godspeed

I met coach Bailiff in his first weeks on the job at a dinner in Austin arranged by a handful of football alums on short notice. He and Blake Miller were out on the recruiting trail, and even in Austin there was a buzz that the new guy was in the building - he commanded a room with his personality and "person". I brought my father along who played briefly for "Bo" at Miami O, and the talk of football history of both Rice and the all time greats of the coaching profession went long into the evening and was delightful beyond explanation.

Two weeks later he remembered I had casually mentioned we would be out with our tailgate crew at beer bike and he was there to meet us even though it was in the driving rain and bb was cancelled outside of the few die hards who showed. That's the type of person he was to me. Baseball games, basketball games, tennis matches, the women's golf tournament. Always happy to ride for the brand, and none of it was BS.

I could probably have been in whatever amounts to an "inner circle", but that's not really something I'm interested in. We did speak at length when we came across one another mainly by simply being in the same place (being Rice fans and all). Mainly about family and life. However, when it came to the program he knew full well how tough I thought his impediments were, but NEVER once pointed out anything but the positives of being the Rice coach and mainly turned to the joy he took in watching his boys mature into men.

The Rice gig is a brutal one in a brutal business, and will be until we make a change as an institution. I'll be clear that I'm not an excuse maker and a change was due to stave off the internet swarm...But thanks for some great memories Coach B.

(11-27-2017 10:47 AM)Baconator Wrote:  I hope the University finds a meaningful way to keep him part of the Rice family. He's a great man and a wonderful ambassador for the University. And anybody that watched his post-game press conference knows that his emotional ties to Rice are real and deeply held. I've been a Rice fan since 1993 and some of my fondest memories are due to Coach Bailiff. He is still the only head coach of any sport to come to our tailgate and drink a beer with us!

Congrats Coach, and thank you for your service to Rice!

+1!

(11-27-2017 10:27 AM)Holder_Owl_84 Wrote:  11 years of work. 4 bowl appearances. 3 bowl wins. 2 10 win seasons. 1 conference championship. 2 Power 5 head coaches. 15+ players sent into the NFL. 200+ men graduated and over prepared for life after football.

Over the past 11 years Coach Bailiff ran a respectful, clean program with 2 primary goals: recruit, develop, and graduate as a man of great character and win football games. In that order. He absolutely achieved the former and, at times, achieved the latter as well. No one will argue that there weren't deep valleys to his tenure and that there were times where expectations were not met but in those 11 season Coach Bailiff was an unwavering pillar of respect, grace, and humility. There are few men in the business that prioritize their player's futures over their own and Dave is one of those men, for that I am forever grateful. My appreciation, love, thanks, and respect goes out to coach Bailiff for everything he did for me, my family, my friends, and my alma mater. I wish things could have gone differently over the past 3 years. Like all of you, I wish the momentum we had from 2012-2014 could have been sustained. Unfortunately that is the way this game works and it creates tough decisions like the one made his morning. I understand the decision and I am looking forward to a bright future in Rice football. I am grateful for what he did for Rice and I am excited to see what is next for the program and for the school.

Those two feelings CAN coexist.

Now, to those that are reading this with their puffed out internet chest ready to dismember all of my positive praise, I'm challenging you. Approach today with an appreciation for the good that happened in the last 11 years while also looking forward to the next phase of Rice Football with an optimistic mindset.

+1!

I have a story that I've told a few people in person and it's somewhat similar to something Walt said about reconnecting to Rice through baseball. For me, after graduating I spent over 10 years not having anything to do with the University, I didn't give to the Annual Fund, I didn't come back for Homecoming(even though I lived in Houston the whole time) and I didn't attend any athletic events. I did notice in 2006 when we got the bowl game and one of my ex-roommates who lives in Austin even went to New Orleans for the bowl. I did not because I expected we would lose, as we did(see my story on the bad luck thread). In 2008, I started a new job at an Australian Bank and one of my co-workers was a CalTech grad and he talked about how lucky we were at Rice to actually have a D1 football team. Well we happened to not suck in 2008, so I took him to a game. It was the UH game and we both enjoyed it. When the Texas Bowl was announced, my ex-roommate told me he was coming down from Austin for it and so I invited this co-worker, along with my Australian boss and another Australian co-worker who had never been to an American Football game. We had a group of 5 and I tried to temper expectations by telling everyone that we had not won a bowl in nearly 50 years. Well, we know what happened at the Texas Bowl and everyone had a great time. That was the beginning of me reconnecting with the University. If it was not for 2008 and the Texas Bowl, I would not be here today on the Parliament.

I will close with this thought. Like most everyone else here, I felt a change was long overdue. However, it would not surprise me if the new coach has immediate success with Bailiff's guys. Whatever his failings as a football coach, I think the one area he was above average in was spotting the underrated talent. The number of guys we have in NFL now who were not considered "good enough" coming out of HS proves that. I see some real talent on this current team still and I am looking forward to seeing what a fresh perspective can do with this team. Thank you Coach Bailiff for helping me reconnect to my alma mater and good luck in your future travels.

Maybe I'm just a softie, but that 2013 Liberty Bowl video brought tears to my eyes.

Although it was definitely time to part ways, he represented the university with TOTAL CLASS.

Look how crappy our locker room was then and what he was able to do with it those resources that year.

"Say 'yes' coach!"
"I luv that man.."
Thanks, Coach... hope to see you involved with Rice till you age!

(11-28-2017 07:30 PM)seniorowl Wrote:  Maybe I'm just a softie, but that 2013 Liberty Bowl video brought tears to my eyes.

Although it was definitely time to part ways, he represented the university with TOTAL CLASS.

Look how crappy our locker room was then and what he was able to do with it those resources that year.

+1

I've always appreciated the accomplishments of Bailiff at Rice. He's the coach who finally got Rice bowl wins, 10 win seasons, a conference title, better facilities, and produced numerous NFL players. A nice man to anybody who ever met him, he understands Rice. Thank you, Coach.