I was in school during the Wainwright, Brownell eras. Life was good at UNCW, but we didn't capitalize on that success and have regressed in multiple aspects since then. The conference has gotten worse, leadership at the conference level is worse, and the athletic Dept leadership at the University level has gotten worse. No upgrades to Trask, except for a scoreboard and seats, which has made the game experience worse in my opinion. One side of the baseline bleachers is basically empty with the exception of the few cheerleaders we have and a dj.. I was at UNC game, and could see what looked like an inch of dust on the top of the scoreboards on the walls above the bleachers. It's all embarrassing. Leadership and the facility reflects what out program is - ****. Need new leadership with a vision, upgraded facilities or else we need to be content with lightning in the bottle every 15 years or so. It all starts at the top.

I met Bass at the alumni event they had in Charlotte with the coaches caravan they had a couple of years ago after they hired CB. Small talked him, and his comment about CB was that he "hoped he made the right hire". The way he said it made me think he doubted the decision. That comment left me skeptical as to his leadership. Even if you doubt the decision, you don't express that to alumni. It's Amateur hour, and decade at UNCW. #deservebetter

Yes, everything wrong with UNCW Athletics is due to Jimmy Bass. Every single thing. And everything good has nothing to do with him.

Lots of “agenda posters” have been showing up lately.

Can I now refer back to my hot flash post?

Been lurking as long as the board has been around. Proud graduate. Just saying we aren't really a relevant program outside of the people who think we should be on this board. If you're happy with the success of our athletic programs, then you're happy with mediocrity. It is what it is. We're an average to below average mid major in the grand scheme of things. A lot would need to change to progress to the next level. I have zero expectations at this point, but the folks who think we should be Gonzaga east trip me out.

I would think Bass needs to get this one right. I have to give him credit on Keatts. And I watched a game on tv a few weekends ago with Keatts and Brownell coaching against each other. Not many mid majors can say that. The town and fanbase are eager to embrace a winner. Bass needs to hit this one.

Probably the safest bet is to try to duplicate the Keatts hire - uptempo with great recruiting contacts.

(02-01-2020 11:11 PM)Boogie Woogie Wrote:  I have zero expectations at this point, but the folks who think we should be Gonzaga east trip me out.

I'm not sure who really thinks that. I know I just want a competitive team. We dont have to win the conference every year, Wainwright and Brownell didnt do that, but ever since then it was either been 1st place or pretty close to last place with no in between.

I agree with a lot of your sentiments in terms of Trask particularly the empty bleachers behind the basket. There is a lot they could do differently to help improve the atmosphere.

I do think the leadership we have in place now wants to succeed and that may be where you and I differ. The depths we fell after Lutze retired and Bradley-Doppes and Brownell were ran off did a lot damage, some of which we are still recovering from today. Everything that they built up got demolished and we had to rebuild again from the ground up.

The biggest thing we have in our favor is people want this team to succeed. You saw that at the Northeastern game. Find another school at our level who had that kind of attendance and fans that displayed that kind of passion with our incredible lack of success the past three years.

I think that is why people like Burke so much. At least for me, he reminds me of the Wainwright and Brownell era mentality. UNCW is never going to have the most money with the nicest facilities, we never did in the past and I dont see that changing. Yet we still beat better funded and more athletic teams through grit, heart, and determination.

Yes the CAA is a terrible fit for us compared to what it used to be, but it is what it is and we cannot control that. What we can control is this next hire and I have faith that it will be a good one.

(02-01-2020 09:37 PM)Boogie Woogie Wrote:  Why no press? Evidently it's an auto win when we "havoc". Its all you heard about while McGrath was coaching;. Haven't heard a thing about it since he was let go. We haven't pressed. Bottom line is this team consists of freshman and sophomores and they don't know how to win yet. We're a bottom tier midmajor in a below average conference, and expectations should reflect as such. We're not a midmajor powerhouse and never will be. We've won 1 tournament game in the history of our average to below average history. Love the passion on this board though.

McGrath thought of us in the same manner, which is why he was never going to succeed here. OTH, Burke looks at UNCW as a CHAMPIONSHIP level school and believes he and our players have to live up to that.

A lot of people have looked at UNCW as a second rate school in the UNC system, and as a result we've remained a second rate school in the UNC system. Except now, we have a Chancellor who didn't know squat about UNCW until he applied for the job. He looked at UNCW and wondered how on earth we are a second rate school in the UNC system? He wondered why on earth we aren't the fastest growing school in the system? He wondered why on earth we weren't a research level university? He wondered why on earth we couldn't go to 25,000 students and still remain at a high academic level?

And because HE saw us as far more than WE saw us, we ARE the fastest growing school in the sytem. We ARE now deemed a research level school and he's attacking that every day to do more. We ARE moving and planning to get to 25,000 students with new dorms, new cafeterias, a $50 million dollar health and research building, plans to build a new library, and plans for more STEM degrees and research.

No, we're not Gonzaga of the east and may never be. But Gonzaga would have never become "Gonzaga" without a belief and a plan to get there. It's easy to talk about Trask and why we haven't upgraded. It's easy to talk about how we didn't capitalize on the Brownell years. But athletic departments are built entirely on student fees, donations, ticket sales, trips to the NCAA, etc. Money doesn't grow on trees for athletic departments.

One of our biggest financial barrriers has been the size of our student population. When I attended UNCW there were about 4,000 students. Last fall we enrolled 17,500 students. Compare that to ECU 28,962. JMU 21,297. Towson 22,284 Delaware 23,774 VCU 31,242 George Mason 35,000

Athletic fees for students is by far the biggest aspect of finances in a non P5 school like UNCW. ECU fees are $773 x 28,962 = $22,387,626.00 UNCW fees are $774 x 17,500 = $13,545,000. Imagine how much VCU brings in? How much George Mason brings in. And you wonder WHY VCU and GMU were able to make the leap to the next level when UNCW couldn't? If we increase to 25,000 students, our athletic department will have at least $6 million more in their budget or close to $20 million instead of $13 million. Do you think that could make a difference on all the things you've complained about?

What I can tell you is that the Chancellor at UNCW is passionate about having championship level athletics at UNCW. There are multiple ideas for improving/replacing Trask but donors have to buy in. And winning is a must for donors to buy in. This is the first time in the history of UNCW that there has been a set plan for GROWTH at UNCW. In the past we've just grown based on current demand. If any of you haven't been on campus in the past two years, go. You will honestly be shocked.

When you go through the tumult of a midseason coaching change, fan expectations sometimes need to be corralled. Are the Seahawks playing better than they were when the coaching change was made? Do they appear to be inspired? Competitive? Success at this point has to be measured in small doses, not "oh, if we go 7-2 we can get a six seed." That's unrealistic. There are reasons you lose 11 in a row. It was a ship wreck, and pieces had to be repaired. This squad just needs to be as consistent as possible. They've proven on good nights they can compete with the upper echelon. But, losing two point guards and having another player bail makes a difference. Losing at JMU was a massive dud. But what is your most important game? The next one.

(02-01-2020 10:26 PM)Boogie Woogie Wrote:  I met Bass at the alumni event they had in Charlotte with the coaches caravan they had a couple of years ago after they hired CB. Small talked him, and his comment about CB was that he "hoped he made the right hire". The way he said it made me think he doubted the decision. That comment left me skeptical as to his leadership. Even if you doubt the decision, you don't express that to alumni. It's Amateur hour, and decade at UNCW. #deservebetter

It's called honesty. It also reveals what i've said all along. McGrath was not who Bass wanted which is why he expresssed doubts. Turns out his doubts were correct. Big donors, at a school with few big donors, have a larger role in decisions than they should, but that's a fact of life. Big donors caused the whole Brownell debacle. All we can hope for is that even the big donors will eventually realize they don't know what they're doing when they get involved in coaching decisions.

(02-02-2020 05:41 AM)Seahawk Lefty Wrote:  When you go through the tumult of a midseason coaching change, fan expectations sometimes need to be corralled. Are the Seahawks playing better than they were when the coaching change was made? Do they appear to be inspired? Competitive? Success at this point has to be measured in small doses, not "oh, if we go 7-2 we can get a six seed." That's unrealistic. There are reasons you lose 11 in a row. It was a ship wreck, and pieces had to be repaired. This squad just needs to be as consistent as possible. They've proven on good nights they can compete with the upper echelon. But, losing two point guards and having another player bail makes a difference. Losing at JMU was a massive dud. But what is your most important game? The next one.

Agree. But the 6th. place target was a goal of Burke so it made sense to track it. It may have been unrealistic but it was fun to think it might happen, especially with the three game stretch against Hofstra, NU and CofC. Reality sets in, and every metric you pointed out we are trending in the right direction.

Seahawks leftty has been around the game for a while. I can smell it because we think the EXACT same way. Lifers know lifers.

I just had a chance to catch the 2nd half of the JMU game. I can't believe all the negativity after seeing it. I guess due to Flo a bunch of people just go by the box score now.

Already minus one of our best players and our only real PG in Phillips, we had to sit Gadsden with 12 minutes left and had to run our walk-on. He got back in but had to defend with 4 fouls. We also had to sit Linssen one minute into the 2nd half due to a quick foul and he fouled out with 6:30 left in the game. That left one guy who can dribble more than four times without dribbling off his foot or bumbling the ball in Okauru, and he is barely above average as a ball handler. And we had to go to Dodd who is not strong on offense. Despite that, we finally started hitting some shots and pressed when we could. Even though we stayed even on the boards, we picked up a lot of fouls fighting for those rebounds. Our guys played hard and pretty much played them even the 2nd half despite all that. Our coaches kept these guys fightiing hard to the end.

(02-02-2020 09:27 AM)82hawk Wrote:  I just had a chance to catch the 2nd half of the JMU game. I can't believe all the negativity after seeing it. I guess due to Flo a bunch of people just go by the box score now.

Already minus one of our best players and our only real PG in Phillips, we had to sit Gadsden with 12 minutes left and had to run our walk-on. He got back in but had to defend with 4 fouls. We also had to sit Linssen one minute into the 2nd half due to a quick foul and he fouled out with 6:30 left in the game. That left one guy who can dribble more than four times without dribbling off his foot or bumbling the ball in Okauru, and he is barely above average as a ball handler. And we had to go to Dodd who is not strong on offense. Despite that, we finally started hitting some shots and pressed when we could. Even though we stayed even on the boards, we picked up a lot of fouls fighting for those rebounds. Our guys played hard and pretty much played them even the 2nd half despite all that. Our coaches kept these guys fightiing hard to the end.

“Pretty much played them even in the second half” I’m sure you realize how silly of a statement that is. This type of thing happens all the time in blowouts when the team that’s way ahead let’s off the gas


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(02-02-2020 10:07 AM)Seahawkhoops Wrote:  

(02-02-2020 09:27 AM)82hawk Wrote:  I just had a chance to catch the 2nd half of the JMU game. I can't believe all the negativity after seeing it. I guess due to Flo a bunch of people just go by the box score now.

Already minus one of our best players and our only real PG in Phillips, we had to sit Gadsden with 12 minutes left and had to run our walk-on. He got back in but had to defend with 4 fouls. We also had to sit Linssen one minute into the 2nd half due to a quick foul and he fouled out with 6:30 left in the game. That left one guy who can dribble more than four times without dribbling off his foot or bumbling the ball in Okauru, and he is barely above average as a ball handler. And we had to go to Dodd who is not strong on offense. Despite that, we finally started hitting some shots and pressed when we could. Even though we stayed even on the boards, we picked up a lot of fouls fighting for those rebounds. Our guys played hard and pretty much played them even the 2nd half despite all that. Our coaches kept these guys fightiing hard to the end.

“Pretty much played them even in the second half” I’m sure you realize how silly of a statement that is. This type of thing happens all the time in blowouts when the team that’s way ahead let’s off the gas


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did you watch the game?

(02-02-2020 10:17 AM)82hawk Wrote:  

(02-02-2020 10:07 AM)Seahawkhoops Wrote:  

(02-02-2020 09:27 AM)82hawk Wrote:  I just had a chance to catch the 2nd half of the JMU game. I can't believe all the negativity after seeing it. I guess due to Flo a bunch of people just go by the box score now.

Already minus one of our best players and our only real PG in Phillips, we had to sit Gadsden with 12 minutes left and had to run our walk-on. He got back in but had to defend with 4 fouls. We also had to sit Linssen one minute into the 2nd half due to a quick foul and he fouled out with 6:30 left in the game. That left one guy who can dribble more than four times without dribbling off his foot or bumbling the ball in Okauru, and he is barely above average as a ball handler. And we had to go to Dodd who is not strong on offense. Despite that, we finally started hitting some shots and pressed when we could. Even though we stayed even on the boards, we picked up a lot of fouls fighting for those rebounds. Our guys played hard and pretty much played them even the 2nd half despite all that. Our coaches kept these guys fightiing hard to the end.

“Pretty much played them even in the second half” I’m sure you realize how silly of a statement that is. This type of thing happens all the time in blowouts when the team that’s way ahead let’s off the gas


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did you watch the game?

Does that not happen all the time?

It does happen all the time and if it didn't happen the score would be 100-20 . Game was over in less than 5 minutes.

(02-02-2020 05:32 AM)82hawk Wrote:  Athletic fees for students is by far the biggest aspect of finances in a non P5 school like UNCW. ECU fees are $773 x 28,962 = $22,387,626.00 UNCW fees are $774 x 17,500 = $13,545,000. Imagine how much VCU brings in? How much George Mason brings in. And you wonder WHY VCU and GMU were able to make the leap to the next level when UNCW couldn't? If we increase to 25,000 students, our athletic department will have at least $6 million more in their budget or close to $20 million instead of $13 million. Do you think that could make a difference on all the things you've complained about?

I don't know how much Hofstra's fees are, but Wikipedia says Hofstra has 10,871 students, of whom 6,701 are undergraduates. I checked the tuition I paid from 2003 to 2007 thinking I could try adjusting it for inflation, but there isn't an athletic fees category, so I don't know how much of my tuition went to athletics. With fewer students and lower attendance, I'm guess Hofstra has a smaller annual budget for Men's Basketball. Both schools have long travel by CAA standards and do not play Football. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_A...ssociation including undergraduates and graduates, you have 17,499, the CAA mean is 16,699, and Hofstra has 10,871.

From the JMU board:

"In his post game interview Rowe acknowledged he played the press because UNCW had a depleted lineup with PG #1 and PG #2 not playing."

If Phillips is out again, afraid we may see this until he returns. We have no viable ball handlers on the team besides Phillips.

(02-02-2020 08:23 AM)billthebighawksfan Wrote:  Seahawks leftty has been around the game for a while. I can smell it because we think the EXACT same way. Lifers know lifers.

Thanks, Bill. I'm guilty as charged. Lifer. Haha!