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(04-04-2013 07:20 PM)The Flagship Wrote:  

(04-04-2013 07:16 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(04-04-2013 06:56 PM)The Flagship Wrote:  

(04-04-2013 06:46 PM)Monarch_Pride Wrote:  What if we really do experience less attendance, even for a year? What if everyone remains angry and really does hold out on their MBB donations and season tickets? That would be revenue lost. Then it's justifiable to say we should have made a hire that people like, rather than not.

The program is in trouble. Forget next year. The idea is to hire someone that has the best chance of getting the ship headed in the right direction as soon as possible. Let's see where we are in 3 years. One thing for sure is that if season 3 and 4 and 5 are good, the chances of losing Jones to a big name program is slim due to his age. If we can get good again, we should be stable as well.

Regarding donations, we are in a football reseating year. Those that are both football and basketball STH's won't risk football seating just to make a stand on the basketball coach hire. If so, say hello to endzone seating at best. So for the conspiracy theorists, yes it is the perfect storm and Selig has us by the nads.

Bottom line, and regardless of justification, he downgraded our basketball program. He took a respectable $800k job and turned it into a low major position. There is no beating around the bush. If Jones doesn't work out, and by that I mean back to the top 50 within a couple of years, or football doesn't become the new Boise State, Selig's legacy will be the guy who destroyed this program. 17-13 seasons aren't going to cut it. Time will tell, but I hate the hire. He should have paid the money for someone we deserve... and I'm not being unreasonable or talking Shaka money. There is a much better coach in the Patriot League, and Andy Toole from a similar league... or Keatts, that we could have gotten for less than we were paying Blaine.

First, paying money doesn't guarantee wins.
Second, you say there are better coaches out there. Who says they are better? And who says they were interested? What is the basis of this?

Who wouldn't be interests in a double to triple pay raise from what you are making as either an assistant at a bcs school or a move to cusa from a low major, plus the prestige that comes with moving to a job like odu???

The fact is, there are plenty of candidates who were interested, we just passed them all over because wood wanted his guy. You can choose to accept this or not accept this, but that's pretty much what happened.

No one turned us down except enfield. I can absolutely guarantee job that part of the equation.

(04-04-2013 07:56 PM)The Flagship Wrote:  

(04-04-2013 07:35 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(04-04-2013 07:20 PM)The Flagship Wrote:  

(04-04-2013 07:16 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(04-04-2013 06:56 PM)The Flagship Wrote:  The program is in trouble. Forget next year. The idea is to hire someone that has the best chance of getting the ship headed in the right direction as soon as possible. Let's see where we are in 3 years. One thing for sure is that if season 3 and 4 and 5 are good, the chances of losing Jones to a big name program is slim due to his age. If we can get good again, we should be stable as well.

Regarding donations, we are in a football reseating year. Those that are both football and basketball STH's won't risk football seating just to make a stand on the basketball coach hire. If so, say hello to endzone seating at best. So for the conspiracy theorists, yes it is the perfect storm and Selig has us by the nads.

Bottom line, and regardless of justification, he downgraded our basketball program. He took a respectable $800k job and turned it into a low major position. There is no beating around the bush. If Jones doesn't work out, and by that I mean back to the top 50 within a couple of years, or football doesn't become the new Boise State, Selig's legacy will be the guy who destroyed this program. 17-13 seasons aren't going to cut it. Time will tell, but I hate the hire. He should have paid the money for someone we deserve... and I'm not being unreasonable or talking Shaka money. There is a much better coach in the Patriot League, and Andy Toole from a similar league... or Keatts, that we could have gotten for less than we were paying Blaine.

First, paying money doesn't guarantee wins.
Second, you say there are better coaches out there. Who says they are better? And who says they were interested? What is the basis of this?

No, money doesn't guarantee wins and going cheap doesn't guarantee failure, but you usually get what you pay for and everyone has a value. We downgraded basketball. Could it work out? Yes. Will it? We'll see but I doubt it. This guy won 10 games last year in one of the worst conferences in the country. Where have all his "connections" been since he was run out of Charlottesville and what makes you think they will turn out here?

Sent from my KFJWI using Tapatalk HD

There are no guarantees that his connections will work for him here. Just like any other potential hire. That is what is puzzling me about the strong feelings everyone has. Why do people think the grass is greener with another candidate?

I somewhat know the answer to that question. It comes down to credentials and the weight each fan gives to each category. What needs to happen is we make a list of what we think are the top 10 qualities in a candidate. Then, we rank them from 1 to 10. What Jones will not receive points for on that list is youth, ethnicity, up tempo style, and no baggage.
What he will receive points for is coaching experience at a high major program, head coaching experience, proven knowledge of x's and o's, recruiting connections.

The negatives above can all be easily overcome as there is no specific formula to success that says those traits are a must to succeed.

Again, I'm not as much angry about WHO he hired as I am about the process, in which he lied multiple times about who the candidates were, the style of coach we were looking for and the supposed direction we were going in.

Not to mention that he made us wait into the final 4 to make the announcement when he knew jones would be his choice all along.

And don't give me that he had to wait and see who wanted the job bs.....this competition was rigged from the start because wood wanted his guy. He lied to the fanbase about the style of play we would be going for and who the final candidates were. That is indisputable.

Read millers blog and woods own statements from a few days ago. He listed Robinson, Keatts, Felton and two coach's in the final 4. That was the list WOOD RELEASED!

He flat out lied, that is why we are pissed. It's not about jones, it's that we have a dishonest AD.

(04-04-2013 08:49 PM)monarchoptimist Wrote:  

(04-04-2013 08:23 PM)The Flagship Wrote:  

(04-04-2013 08:08 PM)monarchoptimist Wrote:  

(04-04-2013 07:56 PM)The Flagship Wrote:  There are no guarantees that his connections will work for him here. Just like any other potential hire. That is what is puzzling me about the strong feelings everyone has. Why do people think the grass is greener with another candidate?

While I don't think Jones was the best candidate my opposition to his hire isn't really about Jeff Jones. He could be a homerun and I would still want Selig fired because I think he was dishonest and/or incapable of living up to (and following) the expectations he set.

OK. I understand the feeling of being lied to.
Personally, I didn't pay very close attention to what was being said by the administration during this ordeal. I know that if they are doing what they should be doing, they will say very little anyway. This process is often times a very private process. You heard Selig say that there were 150 names on the initial list. My guess is that not all of them were people showing interest in us and that some were people that WE were interested in. The communication between the admin and the actual coach is limited to just a handful of those 150. Most times, the candidate does not want it to be known that they are looking elsewhere. Some times, they do so they can gain leverage at their current location and aren't really serious about leaving. To do things correctly, little to no information from our admin should be released. This leads to problems when the media often demands information and the staff leaks information.

I don't know what happened, but I'm sure I will some day soon. But I don't think it is that big of a deal. This process is not supposed to be public. Only the result is public. Why anyone feels that they should have been updated every step of the way is beyond me.

I understand what you're saying and I was surprised by how open Selig was about the criteria he was looking for, his expectations for the quality of candidate and the process of hiring a new coach. He probably talked too much.
The problem occurred when he deviated from what he said. There are some specific examples, like saying every coach in the final 5 coached in the NCAA tournament, NIT or NBA this season. His statement that it was important for candidates to be on campus before being hired so they could understand what ODU was all about. His statement that while having a coach by the final four was ideal it was more important to get the right candidate. He raised expectations and couldn't deliver or flat out misled supporters regarding the situation surrounding the coaching vacancy.

Just read this, you nailed my feelings exactly. It's not who we hired, it's why we hired him and how we were mislead about who the real candidates are that is so disgusting.

Wood knew all along no one would ever support jones being hired, he's not dumb, so he told us all one thing and then did the complete opposite.

I believe that's called a bait and switch.

(04-04-2013 09:08 PM)KevinMac Wrote:  I think that might explain the almost somber press conference today. Selig & Broderick were probably blindsided by losing Enfield, possibly being rejected by other choices, and the fan reaction to a hire that they probably thought would go over well. I expect the administration is a little shell-shocked after all the negative calls, emails, and press in the last 2 days.

Speculation here, but it sure seems to me that Selig thought they had Enfield in the bag when giving some of these interviews. Who knows, he might have verbally agreed to coach here before the big schools came calling. In the end, this hire against the backdrop of what he said all along doesn't not place Selig in a good light.

I think you give Selig far too much credit. I also think no one other than enfield turned us down.

I also think this was probably woods choice all along since it is his little buddy.

I think enfield was probably barely even a candidate before the sweet 16, then when that happened wood made him a token offer, enfield got the job at USC and that gave wood the perfect excuse to hire the guy he wanted all along, his buddy he already tried to hire once before at WKU, at then he could use enfield going elsewhere as cover.

I promise you this, Keatts didn't turn us down to stay at Louisville and make several hundred grand less than he would as the head guy here at odu.

He also badly wants to be a head coach, so giving wood the benefit of the doubt and saying "oh maybe Keatts turned us down" is a complete and total stretch.

OK. From the last few posts, it seems that the anger is more towards the process than the selection. We can see what was said and we can see what the results were. What we don't know is what happened in between. One point of view on this is that the real mistake that was made was that Wood said anything at all about the process. He should have kept quiet and not talked as much as he did. The public is not obligated to be part of the process and I don't know why anyone would feel that they should be updated on the details. Regarding the release of names of final candidates, I would like to know who released what names. Did Wood say them or did someone else leak them to the press (By the way, there is an information leak within the department that needs to be repaired)? Did Wood say Keatts? Did Wood say Robinson? Did Wood say Enfield before he accepted the USC job? If he did, then you guys are right to be upset because it led you to pine for a certain candidate. But I don't think Wood owes us anything regarding updates while the process was taking place.

Couple of notes:
78, I hear what you are saying about the moral baggage, and I agree. But there is more to the Jones story that will soften the issue a bit. I still do not condone what he did but I think it may be more of a timing issue than anything.

Razor,
1. Top assisistants at big programs make a lot more money than you give them credit for.
2. So you are still pining for Keatts. What makes you think he is a better candidate? Line his credentials up against Jones and tell me what credentials are more valuable to you for a head coach. I'm not saying you are wrong, but I'm not letting you just throw out the name without the reasons.


Regarding Jones: Sure, Wood knows Jones. What is wrong with that? Is it wrong to hire someone you know? But if he wanted Jones from the beginning, I would have to believe that this announcement would have been made long ago. I think Jones was the measuring stick. I think that, in Wood's mind, a better candidate would not accept the position, therefore he chose Jones. If that is the case, I don't see what is wrong with that. I can understand if someone disagrees with the fact that Jones is better, but provide the reasons and let's get down to a detailed debate.

(04-05-2013 06:09 AM)The Flagship Wrote:  Regarding Jones: Sure, Wood knows Jones. What is wrong with that? Is it wrong to hire someone you know? But if he wanted Jones from the beginning, I would have to believe that this announcement would have been made long ago. I think Jones was the measuring stick. I think that, in Wood's mind, a better candidate would not accept the position, therefore he chose Jones.

Replace better with cheaper and I agree.

(04-05-2013 06:51 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(04-05-2013 06:09 AM)The Flagship Wrote:  Regarding Jones: Sure, Wood knows Jones. What is wrong with that? Is it wrong to hire someone you know? But if he wanted Jones from the beginning, I would have to believe that this announcement would have been made long ago. I think Jones was the measuring stick. I think that, in Wood's mind, a better candidate would not accept the position, therefore he chose Jones.

Replace better with cheaper and I agree.

I know what you are saying. It will be interesting to determine exactly what happened. Was the job declined because of money? Or was the job never offered to anyone else? Or was there some other reason? There are a lot of possibilities.

Barring a revelation thanks to EverRespect's FOIA invocation, I don't think we'll ever know what took place leading up to this hire. Sure, we can assume, mostly because of Jones' comments saying he wasn't even interviewed until last week. That tells me that he wasn't in the initial group of finalists. So what happened to the finalists? We know what happened to Enfield, but we don't know why guys like Felton, Keatts, and DeCuire. So debating with each other about specifics regarding how the search got to Jones is pointless in my eyes.

What we should be discussing is Jones' credentials and what he brings to this program. THIS is a debate where two sides can present logical arguments with some credibility.

The bottom line is he is our coach, and he NEEDS our support. So do the student athletes. Without us, this program gets far worse than it is today. We can go after Wood all we want, but Jones needs our help in rebuilding this program. That way if he fails, it's on him.

+1 Jones will get our support and although I fault Selig for the process and the insincerity and direction the coaching search seemed to take, Jones had nothing to do with that.

Even if Jones is wildly successful I will always remember this as a stain against Selig, that's just my opinion. It's the opinion of many others as well.

Now that Jones is in place I would like to see him really hit it out of the park with his staff and get this program above .500 this season. That would be a step in the right direction. Selig sure did build him up, lets hold him to that.

(04-05-2013 08:11 AM)ODUR8R Wrote:  +1 Jones will get our support and although I fault Selig for the process and the insincerity and direction the coaching search seemed to take, Jones had nothing to do with that.

Even if Jones is wildly successful I will always remember this as a stain against Selig, that's just my opinion. It's the opinion of many others as well.

Now that Jones is in place I would like to see him really hit it out of the park with his staff and get this program above .500 this season. That would be a step in the right direction. Selig sure did build him up, lets hold him to that.

Amen.

If he thinks he can bring ODU basketball to new heights, we have no choice but to support him as he tries.

(04-05-2013 06:09 AM)The Flagship Wrote:  But I don't think Wood owes us anything regarding updates while the process was taking place.

Regarding Jones: Sure, Wood knows Jones. What is wrong with that? Is it wrong to hire someone you know?

These 2 points tie together into why I want Wood fired. No Wood doesn't owe us anything, however, since his organization relies on funding from private donors there is certainly a benefit for him to give some detail. There was a reason Wood spoke about the opening even though it wasn't required. And once you establish expectations you better follow through or have an extremely good reason why you deviated.
This brings me to the second point. There's nothing inherently wrong with hiring someone you know. However, I think if you are hiring for a position you want to avoid any appearance of favoritism, racism or treating the candidates differently in any way. This is heighten when you are hiring for a position where you have a preexisting relationship with with one of the candidates. That is why you rely on the process, so that you can clearly show how you acted is beyond reproach, above suspicion. Wood, because he decided to discuss the position in the media, established criteria for candidates and parts of the process he believed were important. He hired Jones, who he knows and has worked with previously, but he DID NOT follow the process. I can give you the clearest example of this:
"Whoever we hire needs to know what we have, what our assets are, what our aspirations are, so I think (on-campus interviews) are an important part of the process," Selig said.
http://articles.dailypress.com/2013-02-1...ine-taylor

During yesterday's press conference it was clear Jones hadn't stepped foot on ODU's campus since the last time American played there. That means our new Head Coach hadn't visited in over a decade. This is a clear deviation from the hiring process Wood envisioned.

That example is only one piece of the overall picture, more discrepancies exist. The fact that Wood didn't follow his own criteria for hiring opens him and ODU up to criticism and possible allegations of unfair play. It was an embarrassment and I will not support it. There are questions that need to be answered. If Wood and the administration can't or won't answer them then I believe action should be taken.

Can we please stop throwing in the race card? There is no evidence Wood or anyone else at ODU is racist, ignored any candidate because of race, or made a race based hire. I don't like the way this went down either but I don't want racism being attached to my alma mater. Thanks!

(04-05-2013 08:27 AM)monarchoptimist Wrote:  

(04-05-2013 06:09 AM)The Flagship Wrote:  But I don't think Wood owes us anything regarding updates while the process was taking place.

Regarding Jones: Sure, Wood knows Jones. What is wrong with that? Is it wrong to hire someone you know?

These 2 points tie together into why I want Wood fired. No Wood doesn't owe us anything, however, since his organization relies on funding from private donors there is certainly a benefit for him to give some detail. There was a reason Wood spoke about the opening even though it wasn't required. And once you establish expectations you better follow through or have an extremely good reason why you deviated.
This brings me to the second point. There's nothing inherently wrong with hiring someone you know. However, I think if you are hiring for a position you want to avoid any appearance of favoritism, racism or treating the candidates differently in any way. This is heighten when you are hiring for a position where you have a preexisting relationship with with one of the candidates. That is why you rely on the process, so that you can clearly show how you acted is beyond reproach, above suspicion. Wood, because he decided to discuss the position in the media, established criteria for candidates and parts of the process he believed were important. He hired Jones, who he knows and has worked with previously, but he DID NOT follow the process. I can give you the clearest example of this:
"Whoever we hire needs to know what we have, what our assets are, what our aspirations are, so I think (on-campus interviews) are an important part of the process," Selig said.
http://articles.dailypress.com/2013-02-1...ine-taylor

During yesterday's press conference it was clear Jones hadn't stepped foot on ODU's campus since the last time American played there. That means our new Head Coach hadn't visited in over a decade. This is a clear deviation from the hiring process Wood envisioned.

That example is only one piece of the overall picture, more discrepancies exist. The fact that Wood didn't follow his own criteria for hiring opens him and ODU up to criticism and possible allegations of unfair play. It was an embarrassment and I will not support it. There are questions that need to be answered. If Wood and the administration can't or won't answer them then I believe action should be taken.

I think you are mistaken about Jones not being on campus recently.

Read Ed Miller's piece this morning: He states that yesterday's press conference was Jones' "second trip to Norfolk in six days"...

Also, given Jones' 20+ year history of coaching in Virginia (both UVA and American), it seems to reason that he would be pretty familiar with ODU...

(04-05-2013 08:31 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  Can we please stop throwing in the race card? There is no evidence Wood or anyone else at ODU is racist, ignored any candidate because of race, or made a race based hire. I don't like the way this went down either but I don't want racism being attached to my alma mater. Thanks!

I'm not throwing in the race card. It is a type of allegation that can be made when the hiring process is flawed. If you don't want it attached to your and my alma mater then blame Wood Selig.

(04-05-2013 08:37 AM)cclay10 Wrote:  

(04-05-2013 08:27 AM)monarchoptimist Wrote:  

(04-05-2013 06:09 AM)The Flagship Wrote:  But I don't think Wood owes us anything regarding updates while the process was taking place.

Regarding Jones: Sure, Wood knows Jones. What is wrong with that? Is it wrong to hire someone you know?

These 2 points tie together into why I want Wood fired. No Wood doesn't owe us anything, however, since his organization relies on funding from private donors there is certainly a benefit for him to give some detail. There was a reason Wood spoke about the opening even though it wasn't required. And once you establish expectations you better follow through or have an extremely good reason why you deviated.
This brings me to the second point. There's nothing inherently wrong with hiring someone you know. However, I think if you are hiring for a position you want to avoid any appearance of favoritism, racism or treating the candidates differently in any way. This is heighten when you are hiring for a position where you have a preexisting relationship with with one of the candidates. That is why you rely on the process, so that you can clearly show how you acted is beyond reproach, above suspicion. Wood, because he decided to discuss the position in the media, established criteria for candidates and parts of the process he believed were important. He hired Jones, who he knows and has worked with previously, but he DID NOT follow the process. I can give you the clearest example of this:
"Whoever we hire needs to know what we have, what our assets are, what our aspirations are, so I think (on-campus interviews) are an important part of the process," Selig said.
http://articles.dailypress.com/2013-02-1...ine-taylor

During yesterday's press conference it was clear Jones hadn't stepped foot on ODU's campus since the last time American played there. That means our new Head Coach hadn't visited in over a decade. This is a clear deviation from the hiring process Wood envisioned.

That example is only one piece of the overall picture, more discrepancies exist. The fact that Wood didn't follow his own criteria for hiring opens him and ODU up to criticism and possible allegations of unfair play. It was an embarrassment and I will not support it. There are questions that need to be answered. If Wood and the administration can't or won't answer them then I believe action should be taken.

I think you are mistaken about Jones not being on campus recently.

Read Ed Miller's piece this morning: He states that yesterday's press conference was Jones' "second trip to Norfolk in six days"...

Also, given Jones' 20+ year history of coaching in Virginia (both UVA and American), it seems to reason that he would be pretty familiar with ODU...

I trip to Norfolk is not a trip to campus. I believe the point still stands.

And it doesn't matter if he is familiar, Selig said it was important to be on campus for reasons he made clear. Jones hadn't stepped foot in the Ted likely the greatest asset to the new ODU basketball coach.

(04-05-2013 08:31 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  Can we please stop throwing in the race card? There is no evidence Wood or anyone else at ODU is racist, ignored any candidate because of race, or made a race based hire. I don't like the way this went down either but I don't want racism being attached to my alma mater. Thanks!

+1. Race would NEVER have been mentioned had the hire been Andy Enfield. This is just the media trying to make a story, and is exactly why I refuse to give any credibility to guys like Molinaro.

I think the race card inst good either but fact is....wood has not hired any head coaches that are a minority for odu. That being said its the whole body of the work you look at...did wood do the same kind of hiring practice at wku? How many of the coaches that wood hired were minority at wku? And did wood only hire buddies from uva at wku? We all know wood attempted to hire jj at wku and they said no. Wood uses wku as look what I did there while in honesty he had checks and balances in place to keep the hiring in line with the overall vision of wku. Here we have one guy saying I want this one and broderick saying ok skippy you got it. Then the bov saying its what I wanted so well sign off. No one asked questions no one had opposition to the hire because its a world of yes guys. Had there been any fau list would not be the same list as ours.

Molinaro is a hack. He doesn't know how to write a decent article and he has never written anything remotely positive about ODU. His racism accusations are stupid.

(04-05-2013 08:41 AM)monarchoptimist Wrote:  

(04-05-2013 08:37 AM)cclay10 Wrote:  

(04-05-2013 08:27 AM)monarchoptimist Wrote:  

(04-05-2013 06:09 AM)The Flagship Wrote:  But I don't think Wood owes us anything regarding updates while the process was taking place.

Regarding Jones: Sure, Wood knows Jones. What is wrong with that? Is it wrong to hire someone you know?

These 2 points tie together into why I want Wood fired. No Wood doesn't owe us anything, however, since his organization relies on funding from private donors there is certainly a benefit for him to give some detail. There was a reason Wood spoke about the opening even though it wasn't required. And once you establish expectations you better follow through or have an extremely good reason why you deviated.
This brings me to the second point. There's nothing inherently wrong with hiring someone you know. However, I think if you are hiring for a position you want to avoid any appearance of favoritism, racism or treating the candidates differently in any way. This is heighten when you are hiring for a position where you have a preexisting relationship with with one of the candidates. That is why you rely on the process, so that you can clearly show how you acted is beyond reproach, above suspicion. Wood, because he decided to discuss the position in the media, established criteria for candidates and parts of the process he believed were important. He hired Jones, who he knows and has worked with previously, but he DID NOT follow the process. I can give you the clearest example of this:
"Whoever we hire needs to know what we have, what our assets are, what our aspirations are, so I think (on-campus interviews) are an important part of the process," Selig said.
http://articles.dailypress.com/2013-02-1...ine-taylor

During yesterday's press conference it was clear Jones hadn't stepped foot on ODU's campus since the last time American played there. That means our new Head Coach hadn't visited in over a decade. This is a clear deviation from the hiring process Wood envisioned.

That example is only one piece of the overall picture, more discrepancies exist. The fact that Wood didn't follow his own criteria for hiring opens him and ODU up to criticism and possible allegations of unfair play. It was an embarrassment and I will not support it. There are questions that need to be answered. If Wood and the administration can't or won't answer them then I believe action should be taken.

I think you are mistaken about Jones not being on campus recently.

Read Ed Miller's piece this morning: He states that yesterday's press conference was Jones' "second trip to Norfolk in six days"...

Also, given Jones' 20+ year history of coaching in Virginia (both UVA and American), it seems to reason that he would be pretty familiar with ODU...

I trip to Norfolk is not a trip to campus. I believe the point still stands.

And it doesn't matter if he is familiar, Selig said it was important to be on campus for reasons he made clear. Jones hadn't stepped foot in the Ted likely the greatest asset to the new ODU basketball coach.

Do you think he came to Norfolk, but did not step foot on campus? I guess that is possible, but seems unlikely to me.

(04-05-2013 08:48 AM)workingodu Wrote:  I think the race card inst good either but fact is....wood has not hired any head coaches that are a minority for odu.

This is not evidence he is racist. Show me some evidence that Keatts, Felton, Robinson, Capel or anyone else we haven't talked about were disqualified because they are black and then you have a story.