NorthoftheBorder

[quote name="Roughrider" post="987688" timestamp="1300979995"] [quote author=Ruckdad link=topic=82175.msg987681#msg987681 date=1300979037] Mr. Cooper has thrown another name in the ring - that was not on this list.  Terry Evans at Central Oklahoma.  According Cooper's article in today's Examiner, [b]Evans started 4 years for Tubbs at OU and Tubbs asked him to apply for the LU job.[/b]  Evans is quoted as saying he did.  Based on his Tubbs ties, I would feel pretty comfortable betting my weekly salary that this guy gets an interview. - if he doesn't get the Oklahoma job, which he has also put in for. Makes me wonder if there are other names on the list that were left off this publication, or that weren't on the list when this particular FOIA request was made.  Apparently applications will be taken through Tuesday, so perhaps there will be another FOIA request at that time. [/quote] Tubbs pick the last coach....failed miserably [/quote] That cannot be blamed totally on Tubbs.  Roc had a lot of influential local support and inside the University as well to make that move.  The difference between Terry Evans and Roc is Evans has head coaching experience and a track record to judge him by.  Roc just had a reputation as a great recruiter and he was an alum.

That is about one sad list when you look and see maybe 5 people on there that are even worth thinking about.  We may have already gone beyond the ability to salvage the program if this is the best we can hope to attract.  This is embarrassing.  This list shouldn't have been made public.

[quote name="WOSgrad" post="987435" timestamp="1300902638"] In seven years of head coaching, Abadremarko (I just love that nickname Al Caldwell gave him) has amassed an impressive 70-121 record for a whopping .367 winning percentage with a grand total of *1* winning season (and that was with a class than Pat Foster brought in). I'm not dismissing Abatemarco because of the perception that he is a jerk (which in this case perception is reality).  Heck, I think Bobby Knight is a jerk.  But if he would consistently get the Cardinals into the Dance, he could insult Southeast Texas all he wants as far as I am concerned. [/quote] Especially since you are sitting over in Katy!! ;D

[quote name="sleepy" post="987399" timestamp="1300898473"] So we have a guy in Pat Knight who is fresh of a stint at one of the Largest institutions in Texas interested.  Rodney Terry the top assistant at Texas interested.  Glen Cyprien who is one of the top assistants in the country.  These guys are every bit as big named as anyone we have ever hired.  That is my point. [/quote] Terry's name is not on the list that is circulating on the board today so is he really interested?  There are 2 former LU players, one a head coach of a DII school in OK I think and another who is an assisstant at Bradley that deserve a look at least, especially in light of what we know we have attracted so far.  Steve Green has a great record in JUCO and he was on Pat Foster's staff.  Don't know why he has not attracted any 4 year school jobs.  I think I remember that he came accross as being a kind of quiet guy, so maybe he doesn't interview well. Correction:  1 fomer LU player who is an assitant at Bradley and a former OU player for Tubbs who is at Central Ok.

[quote name="JJWooten" post="987404" timestamp="1300898807"] [quote author=geezer link=topic=82053.msg986937#msg986937 date=1300838998] The selection for the NCAA Tourney is a joke.  I do not doubt that most any of the Big East teams would beat all of the SLC teams every night and probably at least half of the WAC and CUSA teams but there are to many mid level conferences that should have had more than one team in.  St. Mary's out of the West Coast Conf, Wichita State out of the Missouri Valley to name two.  I[b] believe the NCAA would be better served by limiting the number of teams from one conference to no more than four and getting rid of the last four teams from the tourney[/b].  If you couldn't win your regualar season or conference tourney why should you get to play? Oh yeah it's so the NCAA and the big boys get more money. [/quote] I agree with you on this. [/quote] That's another Amen!!!

[quote name="WOSgrad" post="987392" timestamp="1300897663"] If Tom Abatemarco is the best Lamar can do for its next basketball coach, then that says ALOT about the current state of the LU men's basketball program.....and what is says is not good at all! [/quote] Amen!!!!!!

[quote name="UNLV" post="987376" timestamp="1300896078"] [quote author=sleepy link=topic=82161.msg987331#msg987331 date=1300890862] If LU hires back Abatemarco they have literally lost their minds! [/quote]Unlike the last 20 years of hires. Either we get the best coach or get use to losing just to be PC. [/quote] Sorry UNLV, but Abatemarco would not be a good move and I would rather give a try on Cross than to go back there.  Just don't think he has the personality or stability to be a head coach.  Great assistant though!  If you remember, and maybe you are to young, he was the "top ranked assistant who was ready to be a head coach" in the nation according to the pundits when LU hired him.  Everyone thought he was going to exceed what Tubbs and Foster had already done.  And when LU hired Foster from his assistant's job in Arkansas, he was a very hightly regarded assistant at that time.  Nothing like what we are attracting right now.

[quote name="sleepy" post="987368" timestamp="1300894918"] [quote author=NorthoftheBorder link=topic=82077.msg987355#msg987355 date=1300893207] [quote author=KingSnake link=topic=82077.msg987330#msg987330 date=1300890820] Update on coaching applicants from PA News.      I hope they aren't really interested in Pat Knight.  There are a few encouraging applicants on the list. [Hidden Content] [/quote] I hate to tell you but this is not a list of who's who of available applicants.  Cross is good and maybe skelton and Cyprien are good, but when you look at the other jobs open you see all the real top flight assistants are on their lists and they are not on LU's.  20 years ago a lot of those guys would have been pursuing the Cardinal job.  Look at the records of the guys who have had head D-1 coaching experience.  What does that tell you?  Steve Green has a really good record and I remember him on Foster's staff.  I wonder why he has not gotten a  4 year head coach job yet. [/quote] 20 years ago???  Do you remember the guys we have hired for the last 20 years.  They have not been top flight assistants.  Tubbs and Foster are the only two coaches with real success from Lamar and neither were big names when they got the job nor have we ever had big names apply.  It is a fact of life. [/quote] If you remember right, Abatemarco was maybe the top name assistant in the country when we hired him over Del Harris.  Just didn't know he was a flake.  Newell also had a very good name as an assistant to Tubbs at OU and then a good record as a HC at UALR.  After that, the quality has gone down.  That is a fact!!!!

[quote name="KingSnake" post="987330" timestamp="1300890820"] Update on coaching applicants from PA News.      I hope they aren't really interested in Pat Knight.  There are a few encouraging applicants on the list. [Hidden Content] [/quote] I hate to tell you but this is not a list of who's who of available applicants.  Cross is good and maybe skelton and Cyprien are good, but when you look at the other jobs open you see all the real top flight assistants are on their lists and they are not on LU's.  20 years ago a lot of those guys would have been pursuing the Cardinal job.  Look at the records of the guys who have had head D-1 coaching experience.  What does that tell you?  Steve Green has a really good record and I remember him on Foster's staff.  I wonder why he has not gotten a  4 year head coach job yet.

[b]"Many think Cross, now 27, should be the next coach at Lamar University, [size=12pt][color=red]a struggling Division I program [/color] [/size] in the Southland Conference."[/b] Quote from the Bmt Enterprise! My my how we have fallen!!!  When I went and looked at the list on the link to the sports info website we only had 3 candidates listed.  Florida Gulf Coast, a program I have never heard of had about 20-25 and there were some very recognizable names on it.  10-15 years ago we would have been attracting that kind of interest but after 20+ years of bad hires and a revolving door, we have fallen on hard times in attracting a large selection of quality candidates.  We don't have may more chances to get this right.  I hope Dr. Simmons and Tidwell understand this.

That's a laugh.  I'm interested in the job as well!!! ;D

[quote name="BLUEDOVE3" post="984713" timestamp="1300421227"] [quote author=coachacola link=topic=81827.msg984712#msg984712 date=1300421068] [quote author=BLUEDOVE3 link=topic=81827.msg984689#msg984689 date=1300418064] And there lies the problem, if a coach thinks LU is a stepping stone, can you imagine what the recruits are thinking. [/quote] 90% of teams in D1 are stepping stones so that's nothing unique to Lamar.  The key is making Lamar a program that keeps attracting the up and coming coaches.  That's what they had in the 80's so now they have to rebuild back up to that. [/quote]80'S? Do you realize how long ago that was? Different times and different rules. [/quote] And the times and rules have gotten progressively worse.  It is now harder for a smaller program to do what LU did back in the late 70's early 80's.

A good friend of mine who is a HS BBall coach in Cental Texas told me tonight he has been at camps that Capel was at and he is not impressed.  He thinks it would be a mistake if LU went that way.  Just one man's opinion.  I hope we get a lot more possible candidates to talk about.

[quote name="Ruckdad" post="983909" timestamp="1300305713"] [quote author=becktobigs link=topic=81827.msg983904#msg983904 date=1300305318] [quote author=ShlyKBMT link=topic=81827.msg983898#msg983898 date=1300304801] Capel was making 1.5 million at OU...........talk about a pay cut. [/quote]Maybe we can get a Mike Deane deal.  Wonder how much time Capel has left on his contract? [/quote] 5 years at 1.5 million but his buyout is a little over 2 million. [/quote] He should be able to last awhile on $2 mil!  ;D

[quote name="becktobigs" post="983904" timestamp="1300305318"] [quote author=ShlyKBMT link=topic=81827.msg983898#msg983898 date=1300304801] Capel was making 1.5 million at OU...........talk about a pay cut. [/quote]Maybe we can get a Mike Deane deal.  Wonder how much time Capel has left on his contract? [/quote] That's a good point but not a reason to hire a person.  Didn't work out so well for LU with Lazeek's buddy Deane.  We need the best person we can get for the job, no matter what.

Of the few names that have surfaced so far as candidates, I am most intrigued at this point with Matt Cross.  However, for the sake of discussion, I am sure that there are some of you brainiac's who have done much more research and are paying much more attention to the landscape of college basketball and know who some of the up and comers are who could be really good candidates for the next men's head coach.  That said, lets start a list of who the really good candidates are that are realistic to come to LU ie....Coach K at Duke would be a great coach at LU but is totally unrealistic as a candidate....get my drift.  Let the banter begin! :D

So far I'm not excited, but what difference does that make!  I knew Cyprien a little myself and liked him, haven't followed his carreer since he left.  He would be my first choice on the list but that doesn't mean anything.  A Brooks is probably the best PG LU has ever had but based on his past just can't get excited about him as head coach.  I really like the idea of a young up and comer.

You keep bumping your gums on here and your inside source at LU might get P.O'd and dry up on the info.  As for Matt Cross, he looks like he is going to be successful somewhere.  I hope LU is not regretting missing out in 5-10 years on one of the up and comers in the game.  I don't think you or many others could do what he has done with little or no resources at PAC-LU.

[quote name="bigred360" post="982725" timestamp="1300151815"] [quote author=SabineRavine link=topic=81711.msg982690#msg982690 date=1300146933] [quote author=UNLV link=topic=81711.msg982648#msg982648 date=1300142972]Someone in the media[/quote] And I'll bet you can't remember which media member made this "statement"  ::) ::) [/quote] Looks like UNLV was right here so maybe SR can quit riding his jock on every dang post. [Hidden Content] [/quote] That frustrating to me too.  Ravine hangs back and only comes on to post to respond to something UNLV post on here.  Hey I get upset by a lot of things Texas Terror posts, but I dont respond to everything he says and I hope I post other things unrelated to anything he might post.  Personal vendetta's are not cool.

This had to be a very tough decision for the LU administration.  People on this board are on both sides of the equation.  If you are an LU fan, you had to want Roc to be successful whether you liked him personally or not. But now is the time to make the right decision.  If Lamar really wants to take its athletic proram to the next level, it has to get the mens football and basketball program up to the level necessary to draw a strong and loyal contingent of fans.  I am a long suffering Bball fan who paid the license fee for seats in the Montagne when it opened.  My first year to have season tickets was Billy Tubbs first year as head coach.  It is really sad the current state of the program.  Another bust as head coach and I hate to image the depths the program could sink to.  I hope that the search committee doesn't just take applications, but they go out and seek someone who can get the job done.

I was at the John Gray Center the day that LU hired Tom Abatemarco.  I remember watching Roccoforte climb in the car with him when the press conference was over and they left to go recruit Roc's friend Kevin "Tree" Newman who was at Kilgore JC (or somewhere like that).  He was the first recruit of the Abatemarco era and he was a bust!  Unfortunately for Roc, LU and the fans, his first 5 years as head coach has been like that first recruit he brought to LU in 1987.

I'm not saying that I believe Matt Cross should be the next coach, but has anyone been to downtown PA lately.  And he is recruiting talent to play there?  And they have beaten San Jac, a perinnial  national JUCO power in each of the last two years and are going to the JUCO Nationals!  I would say he has done a job at LSC-PA akin to what Billy Tubbs did when he showed up in 1976 as head coach at LU.  Given the right opportunity, I think this kid will do amazing things at the D1 level in the future.  Maybe Roc should have hired him as an assistant last year.

[quote name="Cat79" post="981214" timestamp="1299866680"] [quote author=bigred360 link=topic=81226.msg980309#msg980309 date=1299722283] I support a move to a FBS conference if we have the money and resources to be competitive in all the sports in which we compete. I'll reframe for any other comments because I'm sure a lot of people will disagree and I honestly don't have the time for a debate. [/quote] I hope you guys are in the WAC. Here is what the Texas State 2012 schedule will look like: @Houston 9/2012 Rumored to be our home opener-Texas Tech  or Missouri 9/2012 Nevada in San Marcos 9/2012 UTSA La Tech San Jose State UTAH St Idaho New Mexico State @Navy  11/2012 Still have 2 dates to fill-Lamar could be one of them [/quote] I'd say that is a pretty strong schedule!

Really nice guy, he seemed like a guy I could have been real friends with.  Just wasn't cut out for D1 NCAA tournament style programs.  Doesn't make him a bad coach.  If the goal was to have a 1st class guy as coach, running a clean and respectable program with really good kids (come on, have we had any kid that was more admirable than Matt Sunblad in the last 30 years), and maybe make the tournament once every ten years or so, then Grey is the man.  Once again, he wasn't a bad coach, and maybe his way is the best way for most college kids (except those with NBA aspirations) at the end of the day.  I think LU's fan base opts for someone who can get you to the tournament pretty consistent and make some noise there. JMHO!

Who would have thought it?