It is fantastic to have a truly good man back in the athletic director chair at Kent State.
I have known Randale for quite a while from my time as a reporter and as a colleague in Kent State Athletics. I have always had a great deal of respect for him. He is a good man. He cares about Kent State. He cares about Kent State Athletics. And, he cares about the people who work and compete in the Kent State Athletic Department.
He is young and will have a difficult job ahead of him coming out of the pandemic with some enormous financial hurdles. But, Randale is the kind of person who can return a sense of togetherness to the department... the good people who work in that department will have the same feeling they had under Laing Kennedy, working together to fight the good fight. That's how have-nots beat the haves. And I'm also sure he'll have Laing and some other former administrators who are eager to serve as valuable sounding boards.
I'm happy for Kent State University. I'm also extremely happy for all of the people who work in the M.A.C. Center, who have had their hard work taken for granted or overlooked for so long.
The days of dismal morale in the M.A.C. Center halls are finally over.
Congratulations Randale!
(04-09-2021 06:25 PM)DavidCarducci Wrote: [ -> ]It is fantastic to have a truly good man back in the athletic director chair at Kent State.
I have known Randale for quite a while from my time as a reporter and as a colleague in Kent State Athletics. I have always had a great deal of respect for him. He is a good man. He cares about Kent State. He cares about Kent State Athletics. And, he cares about the people who work and compete in the Kent State Athletic Department.
He is young and will have a difficult job ahead of him coming out of the pandemic with some enormous financial hurdles. But, Randale is the kind of person who can return a sense of togetherness to the department... the good people who work in that department will have the same feeling they had under Laing Kennedy, working together to fight the good fight. That's how have-nots beat the haves. And I'm also sure he'll have Laing and some other former administrators who are eager to serve as valuable sounding boards.
I'm happy for Kent State University. I'm also extremely happy for all of the people who work in the M.A.C. Center, who have had their hard work taken for granted or overlooked for so long.
The days of dismal morale in the M.A.C. Center halls are finally over.
Congratulations Randale!
Well said Dave. Could not agree more
Onward and Upward
Go Flashes
Well, Dave, I hope you are right. Joel wasn't awful, but, in the end, I have to give him a C-/D+ after Laing's A-. Good luck Randale, we wish you the best.
(04-10-2021 07:35 PM)bopol Wrote: [ -> ]Well, Dave, I hope you are right. Joel wasn't awful, but, in the end, I have to give him a C-/D+ after Laing's A-. Good luck Randale, we wish you the best.
What's awful? below a D+? I am sincerely in the awful department. Grades improved maybe football. Everything else went in reverse.
Great choice by KSU. I know and worked with Randale. Great human being and a local guy.
(04-12-2021 10:46 AM)KSUforever Wrote: [ -> ] (04-10-2021 07:35 PM)bopol Wrote: [ -> ]Well, Dave, I hope you are right. Joel wasn't awful, but, in the end, I have to give him a C-/D+ after Laing's A-. Good luck Randale, we wish you the best.
What's awful? below a D+? I am sincerely in the awful department. Grades improved maybe football. Everything else went in reverse.
Yeah, I would rate Joel as firmly mediocre, not awful. Awful would be an F.
Excited for some new blood, change and for some energy around Kent Athletics. Sounds like a reasonable choice for AD. Job has a mountain of challenges though. Fundraising, facilities upgrades, maintaining a reasonable budget, evaluating cutting some sports and aligning the department's vision with that of the president and the boards. The last could be wildly different in the post covid world and might not make many on this message board happy.
(04-13-2021 10:11 AM)ksu315 Wrote: [ -> ]Excited for some new blood, change and for some energy around Kent Athletics. Sounds like a reasonable choice for AD. Job has a mountain of challenges though. Fundraising, facilities upgrades, maintaining a reasonable budget, evaluating cutting some sports and aligning the department's vision with that of the president and the boards. The last could be wildly different in the post covid world and might not make many on this message board happy.
Agree with post that many on this message board will not be happy.
No insight however previously stated several coaches have contracts that have not been renewed. Add to that President still as not shared his vision of the future of athletics. No way AD was interviewed and hired without being in agreement with the President on what the future will be. I am not optimistic about what the future will be.
No doubt in the interview process these heavy topics should have been covered. With that, just like a politician running for office in a difficult time, he sat in the interviews and said hire me I’m the right person for the job. So, when the axe starts falling all around I don’t want to hear any excuses/alibis about how difficult of a task it is and he should spared the criticism or scrutiny.
Water under the bridge but I always thought Todd Diacon was a very odd choice to follow Warren. It was even more perplexing when they spent all that time and money on a search, only to walk 10 feet across the hall to hire her replacement.
With Carol Cartwright, you knew how she felt about athletics - she referred to her hiring of Laing Kennedy the most important thing she did.
With Lester Lefton, you knew how he felt about athletics - he once left a game at halftime because he thought it was over.
With Beverly Warren, you sort of knew how she felt about athletics - she attended games at home and on the road and appeared to “get it.”
With Todd Diacon, you have no idea how he feels about athletics or their place at a mid-major state school in a post-pandemic landscape.
My HOPE is that Diacon lets Randale staff and run the department without micro-managing him.
Posted on Twitter...
Members of the @KentState community and the media are invited to watch a virtual press conference to meet Randale L. Richmond, the university’s next director of athletics, 10 a.m. Thursday, April 15. Learn more:
https://www.kent.edu/kent/news/media-adv...-athletics
@KentStAthletics
We've saved $153,000 on salary between AD's. Thinks it only fair they host a kegger for us loyal fans with some barrio and gyros. Its been a long Covid year.
(04-16-2021 07:26 AM)ksu315 Wrote: [ -> ]We've saved $153,000 on salary between AD's. Thinks it only fair they host a kegger for us loyal fans with some barrio and gyros. Its been a long Covid year.
Take that 153,000 and ride cryptocurrency.....and bring back Ty Linder!
Couldn't attach article Central Michigan University show casing their enhanced football facilities. We continue to fall farther behind everyone else in the MAC.
(04-21-2021 09:15 AM)Proud pilot Wrote: [ -> ]Couldn't attach article Central Michigan University show casing their enhanced football facilities. We continue to fall farther behind everyone else in the MAC.
Pffff who needs football updates?! We have LACROSSE.
Central Michigan has one of the best lacrosse programs in the MAC.
I have a lacrosse player in class this semester. Those kids work as hard as any football player. They're constantly running on a football field, which is quite different from the burst of action every 30 seconds in FB.
And I like football and basketball, too.
That’s fine.
Adding a niche sport during a precarious budget situation (even before covid) was stupid.
Mixed feelings about niche sports. I enjoy most of them and they are much more likely to be in school for the right reasons. However I do question why we are in a MAC sport (????) when there are only 3 MAC schools with teams. Only CMU, Akron and Kent have teams. Only Men’s Swimming with 2 real MAC schools is worse. We probably can’t afford that right now.
"Im not coming out for wrestling this year because I want to focus on lacrosse."
Translation - I'm gonna eat cheetos and play video games all winter.
(04-17-2021 09:23 AM)thanksjim Wrote: [ -> ] (04-16-2021 07:26 AM)ksu315 Wrote: [ -> ]We've saved $153,000 on salary between AD's. Thinks it only fair they host a kegger for us loyal fans with some barrio and gyros. Its been a long Covid year.
Take that 153,000 and ride cryptocurrency.....and bring back Ty Linder!
Ugh.... and Jeff Kurtz, the best PA announcer in college sports