I understand how Marshall feels. So far, vacated wins, unruly players, and debacles in keeping recruiting purist have been issues I can't overlook.

Time for him to go?

Ware and Chandler aside, who exactly has DJ recruited that has issues? MarJ was not a DJ recruit, so who that DJ has recruited is unruly? He's in his third season upcoming and his first 2 have been pretty successful, largely with Kirk's players (and to be fair, some of those illegal recruits were under Kirk's watch too).

(07-26-2012 09:40 AM)CommuterBob Wrote:  Ware and Chandler aside, who exactly has DJ recruited that has issues? MarJ was not a DJ recruit, so who that DJ has recruited is unruly? He's in his third season upcoming and his first 2 have been pretty successful, largely with Kirk's players (and to be fair, some of those illegal recruits were under Kirk's watch too).

Yep. It looks like Jones is getting a lot of flak from things that occurred under Kirk's watch, which was surprising to me as I always thought of Kirk as squeaky clean. This isn't to say that Jones is pure as fresh snow, I'm just saying let's wait and see what happens. If we get hit again under his watch, then you'll be well within your rights to gather a torch and pitchfork wielding mob.

Hmmm...

I suppose we will just have to wait like you said. It bothers me still that the home games I went to don't count anymore. Bah. Even our first victory against Memphis.............

(07-26-2012 09:40 AM)CommuterBob Wrote:  Ware and Chandler aside, who exactly has DJ recruited that has issues? MarJ was not a DJ recruit, so who that DJ has recruited is unruly? He's in his third season upcoming and his first 2 have been pretty successful, largely with Kirk's players (and to be fair, some of those illegal recruits were under Kirk's watch too).

TampaKnight has always had a hard-on for Donnie Jones hatred...tigers never change their stripes.

(07-26-2012 10:13 AM)TampaKnight Wrote:  Hmmm...

I suppose we will just have to wait like you said. It bothers me still that the home games I went to don't count anymore. Bah. Even our first victory against Memphis.............

Then why don't you take your hatred out on the Coach that was responsible for having Rompza be proven ineligible in the first place by those who recruited him, Kirk Speraw and Coach Jaz?

We get it...you HATE Donnie Jones...just best not to post about it because you don't seem to know much about the particulars of the situation in the first place.

(07-26-2012 08:34 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(07-26-2012 10:13 AM)TampaKnight Wrote:  Hmmm...

I suppose we will just have to wait like you said. It bothers me still that the home games I went to don't count anymore. Bah. Even our first victory against Memphis.............

Then why don't you take your hatred out on the Coach that was responsible for having Rompza be proven ineligible in the first place by those who recruited him, Kirk Speraw and Coach Jaz?

We get it...you HATE Donnie Jones...just best not to post about it because you don't seem to know much about the particulars of the situation in the first place.

I don't think TK hates Donnie Jones, I just think he has consistently been on the record that he would prefer a clean program to a winning one if forced to choose. I can relate, it seemed like TK and I were the only ones that didn't want to welcome Jose Jose and Worton back to the team w/o severe penalties, if at all.

That said, I don't think DJ has been that bad. There have been some discipline issues and getting involved with the alleged runner (which started before his time) and lying about it weren't great.

But I had already prepared myself for our time with DJ. Marshall fans gave us a pretty good preview of what we should expect: great (though possibly shady) recruiting, mediocre to poor team discipline, and disappointing post-season play.

At this point, for me, the success DJ has brought has been worth the headaches. That could easily change if we don't continue our upward trend or if the headaches increase but so far I would say I'm satisfied with the hire.

It might just be because I didn't exactly 'live' through the Speraw years. I caught the tailend of his career with the Golden Knights. I will be the first to admit that Donnie Jones has a brilliant mind for basketball, and without his guidance, our program would not have reached the post-season two years in a row, something we haven't done since our Atlantic Sun days, iirc.

I think astKnight articulated my general mindset spot on, I would just rather us by as close to squeaky clean and successful as possible. It has always been my desire that whatever university I end up associating with (which turned into UCF), my hope would be that it sets itself apart from the rest by having the double-edged dagger: successful athletics and academics, along with moral integrity and institutional control.

As a Marshall fan I do not follow your teams schedule. Do you guys play a lot of teams that are not D1 with Donnie as your coach like he did when he was at Marshall?

(07-29-2012 08:20 PM)MUHerdAlum703 Wrote:  As a Marshall fan I do not follow your teams schedule. Do you guys play a lot of teams that are not D1 with Donnie as your coach like he did when he was at Marshall?

UCF played one last season (Palm Beach Atlantic), and I don't think UCF has any so far on the schedule for 2012-2013, but the full schedule isn't out yet. If anything, we've played tougher out of conference opponents with DJ than with Speraw. This upcoming season, UCF has OOC games against UF, Miami, USF (twice), ODU, MTSU, Howard, Stetson, and either Boston U. or Belmont depending on the outcome of the Holiday Classic.

(07-30-2012 08:14 AM)CommuterBob Wrote:  

(07-29-2012 08:20 PM)MUHerdAlum703 Wrote:  As a Marshall fan I do not follow your teams schedule. Do you guys play a lot of teams that are not D1 with Donnie as your coach like he did when he was at Marshall?

UCF played one last season (Palm Beach Atlantic), and I don't think UCF has any so far on the schedule for 2012-2013, but the full schedule isn't out yet. If anything, we've played tougher out of conference opponents with DJ than with Speraw. This upcoming season, UCF has OOC games against UF, Miami, USF (twice), ODU, MTSU, Howard, Stetson, and either Boston U. or Belmont depending on the outcome of the Holiday Classic.

Thanks looks like a good group of OOC games, good luck!!

Donnie is fine by me. Not like he was the one who started this mess.

(08-05-2012 08:07 PM)CokeSlurpee711 Wrote:  Donnie is fine by me. Not like he was the one who started this mess.

He didn't start it, but he definitely kept it going and probably increased Caldwell's role in the program. He obviously wasn't down in the dirt like Tribble was, but he also did not keep his distance like O'Leary did.

At this point I would categorize my feelings towards Jones as cautious. He has done some good legal recruiting but I am bracing myself for the possibility of more violations or that he will bolt as soon as his "show cause" is up.

Andy Katz was reporting this week that DJ was recruiting against the terms of the self-imposed sanctions. UCF had self-imposed that DJ and Darren Tillis each would not recruit in 2 of the 3 weekends in July for 2012 and 2013. The NCAA bumped it up to all three weekends in 2013, in addition to the 2/3 for 2012. Katz reported that DJ was recruiting in more than one of the weekends this July, meaning he violated the terms of the self-imposed sanctions. If true, DJ should be canned now.

Note that the recruiting restrictions in July 2012-2013 are for DJ and Tillis, not UCF itself. If UCF fires Jones, they are only bound to the restrictions on how many coaches can recruit and how many OV's UCF can host for 2012 and 2013. A new coach would be free to recruit in July.

(08-05-2012 11:25 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  Andy Katz was reporting this week that DJ was recruiting against the terms of the self-imposed sanctions. UCF had self-imposed that DJ and Darren Tillis each would not recruit in 2 of the 3 weekends in July for 2012 and 2013. The NCAA bumped it up to all three weekends in 2013, in addition to the 2/3 for 2012. Katz reported that DJ was recruiting in more than one of the weekends this July, meaning he violated the terms of the self-imposed sanctions. If true, DJ should be canned now.

Note that the recruiting restrictions in July 2012-2013 are for DJ and Tillis, not UCF itself. If UCF fires Jones, they are only bound to the restrictions on how many coaches can recruit and how many OV's UCF can host for 2012 and 2013. A new coach would be free to recruit in July.

If this is true that Donnie violated our own self-imposed sanctions, he should definitely be fired immediately, we just can't have any more people that stupid on our staff. It would also demonstrate to people that just because we're appealing the football ban, doesn't mean that we're taking any of the violations lightly.

I just wish there was some good candidates out there, but now is not exactly the season for it. Do you think Cristobal would be interested in coaching basketball?

(08-06-2012 06:37 AM)atsKnight Wrote:  

(08-05-2012 11:25 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  Andy Katz was reporting this week that DJ was recruiting against the terms of the self-imposed sanctions. UCF had self-imposed that DJ and Darren Tillis each would not recruit in 2 of the 3 weekends in July for 2012 and 2013. The NCAA bumped it up to all three weekends in 2013, in addition to the 2/3 for 2012. Katz reported that DJ was recruiting in more than one of the weekends this July, meaning he violated the terms of the self-imposed sanctions. If true, DJ should be canned now.

Note that the recruiting restrictions in July 2012-2013 are for DJ and Tillis, not UCF itself. If UCF fires Jones, they are only bound to the restrictions on how many coaches can recruit and how many OV's UCF can host for 2012 and 2013. A new coach would be free to recruit in July.

If this is true that Donnie violated our own self-imposed sanctions, he should definitely be fired immediately, we just can't have any more people that stupid on our staff. It would also demonstrate to people that just because we're appealing the football ban, doesn't mean that we're taking any of the violations lightly.

I just wish there was some good candidates out there, but now is not exactly the season for it. Do you think Cristobal would be interested in coaching basketball?

I agree. Everyone gets one big screw up (depending on the severity, obviously), and DJ has used his.

On a side note, if UCF fires Jones, Clanton and CJ Reed are almost certainly gone, and that opens the door to everyone else to be able to transfer. UCF's program would be devastated. But if DJ really did violate the self-imposed sanctions, we deserve to be.

Katz post from Thursday discussing Jones' and Tillis' July recruiting.

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketbal...s-services

Donnie Jones needs to go. Guys, if we value our integrity, we don't allow liars, hypocrites, and deceivers to plague our university. We just don't. Change the culture within our athletic staff, and do what we all know is right.

Ideals die fast in college sports. I hope our Knights don't become a statistic.