Responsible persons for billboard
- Thread starter LKNSPIDER
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This was done by a petulant child using Daddy's credit card. There was no courage in this.
I expect that’s as inaccurate as is the notion that it was courageous.
Folks, these are fans who want a change. They are obviously willing to make their displeasure very publicly known. There’s no real denying that we’ve had a very lackluster last 8 years. If you want to argue that, there’s not much room for concession other than admitting folks have different expectations of what’s acceptable.
They’ve taken the billboard down. May be time to just let this go.
Ferrum, this is a good post. I think your call to listen is a good one. I wish Hardt and the administration would do a better job of listening as well. I'm glad Fan1 told them that a sizeable portion of the fanbase is pretty upset about the direction of the program and glad they at least acknowledged to him that they have heard complaints.
I don't expect Hardt to come out and tell the world what he is going to do after the season, but think more needs to be done from him and the athletic department in terms of listening and hearing the various factions. I think every business needs to engage their stakeholders, the ones saying positive things about the business and the critical ones as well. If you e-mail him, you get a canned response, he has gone on the radio a couple times and done a lot of talking, but not much listening. Sometimes, you learn the most by just listening.
Of course, I do a lot of "talking" on these boards and must remember that at the end of the day, we are all Spiders.
Whatever happens, I hope we don't have to suffer through anymore seasons like these past two have been.
feel there is a huge difference between a social media board like this where we are all anonymous and putting up a public billboard where a man's wife and kids can see it and then hide behind, UR ALUMNI. resent that these people placed me on that billboard, all of us on that billboard yet probably is a handful or less number of alums. again, if you did this publicly, you should not have a hiding place, you should come forward and just say, it was us, otherwise, you are just plain weak sisters. my thoughts are not about whether CM should be let go or not but is about the manner in which some want to express themselves. just hope that i don't know any of you because you lost my respect with your actions. you can hate all you want and say anything you want but have some class but if not, don't include the other alums, should be just your names. think most of us know very little about the inner workings of the contract and what is going on within the Robins Center and that is they way it should work, who the heck wants a bunch of us micro-managing their business or how they do their business.
WAAAAAAAAAA
Just kidding Spinner.
Guess we will never know who is behind it, but seriously WAAAAAAA
They know we’re not good, and that a change would be in our best interest. But at the same time,they think
that the billboard was classless. It prevents an opposing view. No one is going to pay for a billboard to
keep Chris.
Also, I think it was cowardly that the board was put up by “anonymous” That’s where the cowardly comes
from.
I hope this works itself out, but right now, it’s pretty ugly.
I am glad you recognize that it's ugly -- To be honest, it's been ugly for a long time now. I hope that this will be a catalyst for cleaning the whole damn thing up.
I know we all want to move on from the whole billboard thing but the last thing I will say on the topic is I think the anonymous aspect may have been done to avoid economic and other backlash by angry supporters of the program. I know that sounds very dramatic and conspiratorial but it's my understanding that's what was starting to happen and was the primary reason why the billboard has been pulled from rotation. If true I think its sad that people would threaten others economically just because they expressed an opinion that they didn't agree with. I think we need a change but I would gladly sit down over a beer and discuss the issue with anyone who is staunchly in support of Coach Mooney and hear them out.
In terms of the "classless" nature of the billboard: I just think the folks who put it up are really frustrated and don't feel the the administration or AD is hearing their concerns. You can only write so many e-mails and we all know that Coach isn't going to turn his call-in show into a fan vent fest every week. We are a private institution but Coach is a public figure, and a very handsomely compensated one at that. There was nothing illegal or defamatory about the billboard. If any of you want to put up a similar billboard about me and give me 13 million dollars, my family and I will swallow our pride and somehow manage
In all seriousness we desperately need some good mojo soon on the court/field to bring our fanbase together.
how many FMM are we talking about here anyway? I know CM is unpopular here. did you all contribute to the billboard? I didn't see a request for donation. So was this bought buy just a handful of people, signing it "UR Alumni & Spider Fans" as if it speaks for all of us?
Saying it took guts is a funny. unless you're saying they realized there could be repercussions and they decided to do it anyway. but that doesn't seem like the case, as they quickly took it down out of fear of those repercussions.
3 things I wonder about the billboard:
1) Timing - FMM said the idea had been percolating since last Spring, but the timing wasn’t right. Why was last week the right time?
2) Message - If the message was “Save Richmond Basketball, time for a change Spider AD” would that have received less outage?
3) Responsibility- if the message was signed #FMM or something similar would that have made a difference.
In any case the billboard is deactivated and as some predicted there are no outward signs of change. No comment from the AD and in the latest JOC article in the RTD, CM said that he had nothing to say about the billboard. Mums the word.
1) Timing - FMM said the idea had been percolating since last Spring, but the timing wasn’t right. Why was last week the right time?
2) Message - If the message was “Save Richmond Basketball, time for a change Spider AD” would that have received less outage?
3) Responsibility- if the message was signed #FMM or something similar would that have made a difference.
In any case the billboard is deactivated and as some predicted there are no outward signs of change. No comment from the AD and in the latest JOC article in the RTD, CM said that he had nothing to say about the billboard. Mums the word.
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Flogging a dead horse (alternatively beating a dead horse, or beating a dead dog in some parts of the Anglophone world) is an idiom that means that a particular endeavour is a waste of time as there will be no outcome, such as flogging a dead horse, will not cause it to feel pain or anything else.
I've read that a few times here, Cap. "nobody is hearing our concerns". waaa. if they're calling and sending emails, their concerns are being heard. but they're frustrated because they're not getting their way. they're frustrated because they've demanded a midseason firing and it hasn't happened. the "petulant child" term is 100% accurate. Hardt made it clear that it wouldn't happen midseason. in his determination, that's what's best for the school and the athletes. but that wasn't good enough for this FMM guy.
I'm not even arguing for CM to stay on. I think things have gotten too toxic. it's too big a distraction. we should move on assuming we can raise the buyout, which I'm not sure is such a slam dunk and a non-issue as some here think.
but I do think the FMM guy hurt his own cause with this stunt. no school or AD wants to be backed into a corner and have their hand forced.
@spiderman, would the billboard have been more palatable to you if it read "Some select UR Alumni & Spider Fans"? Saying it was classless, gutless, etc is up to the individual's interpretation in my opinion. Personally, I'm in favor of a coaching change but I wouldn't have wasted money on the billboard since I don't think the powers that be will be swayed by it and that they really care about winning and going to the NCAA tournament as evidenced by the last 8 years.
It's a message board. No one on here has any power to change anything. We know that and you've made it very clear that the power's that be aren't swayed by little ole fans. It's just venting. Just don't read the board if these posts are so annoying.
Good stuff Fan1. Appreciate you passing along your observations. I hope the "staff member" was Hardt. I think between the billboard, callers on the radio, emails, etc. he would seem to be getting a clear picture of the fan disdain for Mooney. Obviously you would think 8 years of no NCAA and wasting the talent of the likes of Terry Allen, TJ and Shawndre would be enough evidence, but I think every little spitball on his Triumvirate armor will help.
And yes, for the elitists on here - I understand your message: The basketball program is not really for the fans, it's for the BOT, admin and large donors. They are the one's that really understand things, even though they can't seem to figure out how to win at the level they supposedly are looking to achieve.
they've given their group a name, the FireMooneyMafia. the message is from them. they should have signed it as such.
The timing was peculiar. Hardt had already said "now is not the time." There was a case for a midseason firing after the Hampton loss, but Nick had just gone down with injury, and it just doesn't seem like Hardt's style. This wasn't going to do anything but hurt (their cause).
Another ugly quarterfinal (or earlier) exit in the A10 tourney, and Mooney still has a job on selection Sunday? Yeah, then I can see the billboard going up.
I would use facts (maybe a different one each rotation - might cost a lot more) instead of the hashtag. "Longest NCAA drought since the 70s" - stuff like that. Keep the Save Richmond Basketball. But, it's not my "brand" and I'm kinda boring.
I’m not sure why you’re directing that to me. I’m neither a FMM member nor did I participate in this. I’ve also stated that I think it was a bad decision.
But to answer your question, last I checked there were over 400 followers on the FMM account so I think they’ve got a lot of supporters. I don’t think it was put out to bid to contribute but I wouldn’t know. I suspect it was pretty closely funded.
I have no opinion on how gutsy it was. I’m sure it looks heroic to some and cowardly to others. To middle people like me it can be either.
Do you really think 400 is a lot? Considering what they are trying to accomplish, that seems awfully small to me.
Idk. What’s the right number at which it matters? If all 400 are season ticket holders then sure, that’s probably significant.
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It’s about 5.5% of people who follow richmond men’s basketball on Twitter (about 8100 to 460) and about 13.5% of those that follow richmond men’s basketball on Instagram (about 3390 to 460).
I don’t think either the 8100 or 460 are representative of all richmond fans or all fans of a coaching change respectively. Also, it’s been a long time since I took stats to tell if it’s significant or not.
I think billboard no big deal. Some fans give big money and have big influence, some fans use a billboard . Ok everyone?
Maybe Mooney paid for it! If he didn't, looks like something he should have tried a few years ago.
Disagree. These are diehard fans with pride in their Spiders. Most of the Mooney truthers/suckers are likely personal friends, parents of players,
Mooney staffers and family, and will fly as Mooney flies. They are here to defend CM aNd root for the Spiders until their personal connection is gone. Anyone defending Mooney and supporting him returning are in bed with him, literally, and should be ignored.
This is the point I am making too. To support Mooney now, is almost treason against Richmond basketball. It is sooo many excuses as to why we have slipped into mediocrity. I just don't remember the excuse mongering with our other coaches.
This Looonarty thing does seem like a clear indication that he gets at least another year. It's a ridiculous smoke screen when you look at how awful our OOC was this year. It does not take a "bracketologist" to improve it 5 times over.
Like cockroaches when the lights turn on, the Mooney Access Cravers will scatter once he's removed.
Ohhh, so Richmond Basketball is a dead horse. That is very uplifting. Under Mooney I have to agree.
Cockroaches? I don't think Mooney is going anywhere. However, the nice thing about some of us who love our basketball program is that we will support it regardless of who the coach is.
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That's the bad part, I think most fans support the players. I know I do.
BUT, I think a good size contingent (just look a the pathetic crowds) have bailed on Mooney and confidence in the administration to hire/fire coaches. As unbelievably ugly as the situation is now, it could get uglier with bringing Mooney back and/or a bad hire.
Can we try to use a little more civility folks? Where one falls on the spectrum of supporing the coach has nothing to do with your fan “character”. We’re all fans.
Lighten up. I changed my avatar today to inspire more serenity. I think everyone could benefit from a deep breath.
Lighten up. I changed my avatar today to inspire more serenity. I think everyone could benefit from a deep breath.
Thank you. This sums up my feelings perfectly. I never say anything bad about the players. They're kids.
You've got it all wrong... the "petulant child" is the likes of DQ and big donors who think that they can throw money around and always get their way. Are they the adults in the room? If so, then its their actions that caused the reaction.
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