I was told by a starting OL on that team that the players wanted to play Penn State and got overruled.

(05-25-2023 10:51 AM)gdunn Wrote:  

(05-25-2023 10:49 AM)Eagleholic Wrote:  

(05-25-2023 10:43 AM)PolymerEagle Wrote:  Not 100% true. The conference pays some of your travel expenses up to a capped amount. I have been told by several people close to the program, that the Hawaii vacation decision was very expensive for USM. I was even told that some coaches University credit cards had to be frozen during that trip as they were racking up some huge bills.

It was a terrible decision, and pissed off a ton of fans.

The bad... That decision was extremely poor by the AD at that time and gave a glimpse into his weakness as an administrator.

The good..The players wanted to go to Hawaii and many of them got a trip to experience Hawaii that they likely would never have.

So I've heard this told both ways.. I heard the players voted to go to Hawaii.. I've also heard they were not given a choice..

(05-25-2023 08:45 AM)gdunn Wrote:  several players family skipped the CUSA CG in Texas in hopes we'd play in a bowl that was closer to their home and then couldn't afford to go to Hawaii.. On Christmas Eve..

Remember, the expectation was we’d be going to the Liberty Bowl like every other CUSA champion for the preceding 15 years, but the Bowl decided it was time to start squeezing out us plebes in favor of more 6-5 blue bloods. The clause was in the contract, but somehow nobody seemed to know about it until it was exercised and the LB said we weren’t invited. Looking back, it was a pretty good glimpse at things to come in the conference.

Of course it had to be us who were the first to take the hit and got blindsided.

Fedora expected the players to love the decision and was shocked they were angry. They wanted Dallas. Source: I was with some players the night it came out and one even had a conversation with Fedora on the phone about it. They were not happy.

With that said, every player I’ve talked to is happy they went to Hawaii now. Many of those guys experienced a place they’ll never go to again in their lives. Dallas would have been great for the game, but after it was past, it would be just another game in our history. Ellis Johnson would still be hired and ruin everything.

You don't know that. If we had beat at pretty solid blue blood PSU team on national TV, we don't have any idea what other young and hungry coach might have come calling. You cannot assume if we had made the right decision on this, that we would not have changed our path to a better one, where we don't hire that crappy old $EC retread that destroyed our program.

(05-25-2023 11:14 AM)benny_t Wrote:  

(05-25-2023 10:51 AM)gdunn Wrote:  

(05-25-2023 10:49 AM)Eagleholic Wrote:  

(05-25-2023 10:43 AM)PolymerEagle Wrote:  Not 100% true. The conference pays some of your travel expenses up to a capped amount. I have been told by several people close to the program, that the Hawaii vacation decision was very expensive for USM. I was even told that some coaches University credit cards had to be frozen during that trip as they were racking up some huge bills.

It was a terrible decision, and pissed off a ton of fans.

The bad... That decision was extremely poor by the AD at that time and gave a glimpse into his weakness as an administrator.

The good..The players wanted to go to Hawaii and many of them got a trip to experience Hawaii that they likely would never have.

So I've heard this told both ways.. I heard the players voted to go to Hawaii.. I've also heard they were not given a choice..

I heard the decision was made from the grassy knoll...

(05-25-2023 01:59 PM)PolymerEagle Wrote:  You don't know that. If we had beat at pretty solid blue blood PSU team on national TV, we don't have any idea what other young and hungry coach might have come calling. You cannot assume if we had made the right decision on this, that we would not have changed our path to a better one, where we don't hire that crappy old $EC retread that destroyed our program.

Nobody was waiting around to see who we played/beat in a bowl game before sending in their resume’. That’s just silly.

Johnson wasn’t some desperation hire because nobody else wanted the job. We (meaning Saunders—note she was the only admin to speak at EJ’s introduction) purposely chose him over other candidates, one of whom was the guy who ended up replacing him a year later.

(05-25-2023 01:59 PM)PolymerEagle Wrote:  You don't know that. If we had beat at pretty solid blue blood PSU team on national TV, we don't have any idea what other young and hungry coach might have come calling. You cannot assume if we had made the right decision on this, that we would not have changed our path to a better one, where we don't hire that crappy old $EC retread that destroyed our program.

I can and do assume that. Elloss was getting hired come hell or high water. Martha was just that ******* stupid.

(05-25-2023 01:59 PM)PolymerEagle Wrote:  You don't know that. If we had beat at pretty solid blue blood PSU team on national TV, we don't have any idea what other young and hungry coach might have come calling. You cannot assume if we had made the right decision on this, that we would not have changed our path to a better one, where we don't hire that crappy old $EC retread that destroyed our program.

Our Admin wasn't looking for "young and hungry" after Fedora left.

(05-26-2023 10:47 AM)Luckyshot Wrote:  

(05-25-2023 01:59 PM)PolymerEagle Wrote:  You don't know that. If we had beat at pretty solid blue blood PSU team on national TV, we don't have any idea what other young and hungry coach might have come calling. You cannot assume if we had made the right decision on this, that we would not have changed our path to a better one, where we don't hire that crappy old $EC retread that destroyed our program.

Our Admin wasn't looking for "young and hungry" after Fedora left.

Which is stupid beyond belief.

(05-26-2023 11:47 AM)Was SoMs Eagle Wrote:  

(05-26-2023 10:47 AM)Luckyshot Wrote:  

(05-25-2023 01:59 PM)PolymerEagle Wrote:  You don't know that. If we had beat at pretty solid blue blood PSU team on national TV, we don't have any idea what other young and hungry coach might have come calling. You cannot assume if we had made the right decision on this, that we would not have changed our path to a better one, where we don't hire that crappy old $EC retread that destroyed our program.

Our Admin wasn't looking for "young and hungry" after Fedora left.

Which is stupid beyond belief.

there's smarter democrats than auntie martha and that brylcreeme conglomerate ...