About that Billboard Ad

[VT4700]

Seems pretty obvious to me that having enough fans angry enough to put up a billboard calling for a coach to be fired reflects poorly on said coach’s job security.

Enough fans? This could have been done by one fan who has a lot of money. Do you really think the billboard had anything to do with Hardt's decision to keep Mooney? Do you think Hardt even gave 1% thought to the billboard? We already know those answers. It didn't. Doesn't the fact that we had back to back terrible seasons have more to do with job security than a billboard? Recruits knew what our record was those 2 years. They knew many people were not happy with the program then. Shoot, I wouldn't want to go to a school that didn't care if you won or lost.

After the billboard goes up, Hardt keeps Mooney, none of our top players leave, we win 24 games, and have one of our best recruiting classes ever. But, yes, keep thinking the billboard negatively affected us and our recruiting.

 

[VT4700]

4700 is a fake Tech fan. I’ll get some real Tech fans together to beat him up.

Okay. Good luck with that. I graduated from Richmond and I am proud of that.

 

[spider23]

Have to agree with 4700 here, Billboard doesn't appear to have hurt recruiting. Looking at rankings and comparable offers of the last couple of classes vs pre billboard and the empirical evidence would not support the case of "hurt" recruiting. In fact, the rallying behind coach and public stories about the team and community supporting him seems to be just the rallying jolt needed.

 

[VT4700]

Mooney is not going anywhere, and Kendall and Jacob are 2 of the best players we have ever had here.

 

[712_VT]

Mooney is not going anywhere, and Kendall and Jacob are 2 of the best players we have ever had here.

Just imagine if they were 6’3. I wonder if mooney knows he can recruit taller guards.

 

[dobbiethespider]

Just imagine if they were 6’3. I wonder if mooney knows he can recruit taller guards.

If they were 6'3 then they will be the 5 stars on Kentucky this Sunday, getting their ass handed to them by Gilly and Francis

 

[Captain Anderson]

me.
I told the story here already. we wanted a kid I know. Mooney and staff followed him and sat at a bunch of his AAU game to show love. would have been a great get and a great fit. we were one of his better offers at the time but some P5 schools were showing some interest. I was flat out told by his father that the staff was working hard but they couldn't seriously consider UR because of the heat on the coach. mentioned the billboard.

kid later got the big offer he was waiting for so I doubt we'd have won anyway, but the billboard clearly hurt us with him. and if it hurt with the only kid I know, then it likely did with others too.

First off, thanks for sharing this story/info. I may not agree with everyone's opinions or posts on this board but hearing "inside" information like this is very much appreciated. It stinks that we lost a potential commit because of the uncertainty surrounding Mooney and the staff's future but frankly Mooney "earned" that uncertainty with his record over the past 10 years. It's been stated on this board ad nauseam but not many programs with legit aspirations would tolerate 10 straight years of no NCAA's. It's not like the Billboard posted some rumors or innuendo that we didn't know...the record is what it is. Now, I think the new practice facility will do a thousand times more good than the billboard did harm and I'm looking forward to a bright future (hopefully not just this season) for spider hoops.

 

[ur2K]

Billboard or not, Mooney was sitting in a frying pan until the success of last season which bought him some more time.

 

[Ferrum Spider]

So glad I logged on to the richmond basketball forum to read about Virginia tech football. Exactly what I was hoping I would find

Hokie on hokie violence is better than spidernation cannibalizing itself the way it has the past few seasons. Whatever side of the argument you fall on there has been a ton of toxicity on this board by posters to backup their beliefs and people on both sides are more than willing to pat themselves and take credit thinking they had an impact on improving this team either by being patient or by buying billboard time which is absolute bullfecal. I certainly hope we can enjoy what on paper seems to be the most talented team in program history rather than rehashing old arguments over and over.

 

[Eight Legger]

Hopefully we can all rally around the fact that VCU just had its biggest game of the year cancelled because Tennessee got the 'rona. (I know, I know, we need everyone to have great OOC games, blah blah, but just indulge me here).

 

[712_VT]

Hokie on hokie violence is better than spidernation cannibalizing itself the way it has the past few seasons. Whatever side of the argument you fall on there has been a ton of toxicity on this board by posters to backup their beliefs and people on both sides are more than willing to pat themselves and take credit thinking they had an impact on improving this team either by being patient or by buying billboard time which is absolute bullfecal. I certainly hope we can enjoy what on paper seems to be the most talented team in program history rather than rehashing old arguments over and over.

Most talented team in program history? What a joke. 2011 team, 2010 team or one of the teams in the 80’s and 90’s that I wasn’t alive for has to be the most talented team, not this one.

 

[SpiderTrap]

I think the success of last year's team and COVID situation has bought Mooney considerable more time. Last year will be chalked up as an NCAA year and I think we would have made it. This year - I don't have high hopes for in terms of the basketball season being able to finish. I think the big conferences can handle the pandemic, but the mid-majors and lower level conferences will struggle - you may end up having a situation where many lower conferences pack it in a few weeks into the season because all of the scheduling and testing gets to be too much.
Not to mention - from a financial situation, which is the big driver for UR in my opinion as to why they didn't get rid of Mooney before (didn't want to pay out his contract) will also be a factor not only for Mooney but many coaches on the hot seat this year. I think schools will give them another year just because the optics will not look good pay a coach not to coach cause you fired him and meanwhile you got kids struggling with tuition and maybe even cutting sports. I still can't believe Wichita State agreed to pay out Marshall over 7 million when the guy was already under investigation for abuse of his players. Sounds to me like something was not going to stick or why not let the investigation play out and fire him with cause and pay him nothing??? Besides the point - I think you see a lot of coaches stick around an extra year or two this year because of finances and no matter how UR's season turns out - I think Mooney will fall into that bucket.

 

[VT4700]

Most talented team in program history? What a joke. 2011 team, 2010 team or one of the teams in the 80’s and 90’s that I wasn’t alive for has to be the most talented team, not this one.

You weren't alive in the 80s? Wow, with your maturity level, I never would have known.

 

[SpiderTrap]

Make the sweet 16 and we can have the discussion of best team in school history.

 

[SpiderPlant]

The farther away we get from the fateful date of the billboard, the less it will affect current operations like recruiting, especially after posting the coming year's record. It will forever be part of the Mooney, and therefore Richmond (for now), resume just like his wedding coordinator job. It will be mentioned on every broadcast not featuring Bob or a UR crew. I just saw it mentioned on Twitter last week. And we're talking about it right now. Thanks again mafia idiots for the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[kneepadmckinney]

Most talented team in program history? What a joke. 2011 team, 2010 team or one of the teams in the 80’s and 90’s that I wasn’t alive for has to be the most talented team, not this one.

You weren't alive in the 80s? Wow, with your maturity level, I never would have known.

Please stop feeding the troll.

 

[AnnapSpider]

No matter what, I thought it was a cheap shot, something VCU or JMU might do.
You want to support that type of action, you might want to think about what if it happened
to you. It’s a classless act.

 

[712_VT]

The billboard may have been a bad look but at least it shows we have passionate fans. Apathy in a fan base is the worst thing for a fan base and the billboard showed that our fans have some fight left and do have high expectations for our program. We talk bad about jmu and vcu but their fan base expects to win and as a result their whole athletic department has high expectations. You can’t always say the same with UR.

 

[spiderman]

It is laughable how some of you are holding on to this "billboard hurt us" idea.

I gave the only example I have. whether a billboard would affect your personal decision is irrelevant. if it affected one really good recruit than it hurt, whether you think that's rational or not.

we still signed what we think is a great class. so clearly the billboard or Mooney's perceived "hot seat" didn't matter to every kid. and that's awesome. I'm as happy we had a successful recruiting class as anyone. I just think it made it harder than it should have been. and I think it's very selfish of one or a handful of fans to do what I see as damage to the program while signing it like they speak for all of us.

 

[spiderman]

First off, thanks for sharing this story/info. I may not agree with everyone's opinions or posts on this board but hearing "inside" information like this is very much appreciated. It stinks that we lost a potential commit because of the uncertainty surrounding Mooney and the staff's future but frankly Mooney "earned" that uncertainty with his record over the past 10 years. It's been stated on this board ad nauseam but not many programs with legit aspirations would tolerate 10 straight years of no NCAA's. It's not like the Billboard posted some rumors or innuendo that we didn't know...the record is what it is. Now, I think the new practice facility will do a thousand times more good than the billboard did harm and I'm looking forward to a bright future (hopefully not just this season) for spider hoops.

very true. Mooney's job security was I'm sure in question whether there was a billboard or not. I have issue with the 10 years stuff, though I acknowledge for many it's all or nothing. I had a lot of fun following this team for many of those 10 years. we had some really good teams in there.

 

[Ferrum Spider]

Most talented team in program history? What a joke. 2011 team, 2010 team or one of the teams in the 80’s and 90’s that I wasn’t alive for has to be the most talented team, not this one.

I said seems, but a better word for it would be perhaps. Then again, we all know reading comprehension isn't your strong suit, so I am probably wasting my time.

 

[712_VT]

I said seems, but a better word for it would be perhaps. Then again, we all know reading comprehension isn't your strong suit, so I am probably wasting my time.

Idk about the personal shot there but whatever. I can read just fine. Hopefully this team turns out to be the best team at UR ever, I just don’t think it will.

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

Please stop feeding the troll.

Which one?

 

[urfan1]

Idk about the personal shot there but whatever. I can read just fine. Hopefully this team turns out to be the best team at UR ever, I just don’t think it will.

Well finely something I can agree with you on -- with our continued improved recruiting, the new practice facility, the more flexibility on the recruiting stage -- the future is bright, we will have a very good team this year, but I think it is possible to have better teams.

 

[Captain Anderson]

very true. Mooney's job security was I'm sure in question whether there was a billboard or not. I have issue with the 10 years stuff, though I acknowledge for many it's all or nothing. I had a lot of fun following this team for many of those 10 years. we had some really good teams in there.

Absolutely. We can agree to disagree in terms of the 10 year issue. I don't mean to insinuate that we didn't have some great players and memories from that decade but the summarized end result was bitterly disappointing coming off the 2010 and 2011 campaigns...at least for me. I realize that we aren't in the "win at all costs" business like our power 5 brethren but 10-11 showed that we definitely could get to the tournament with some consistency and the subsequent decade felt like we squandered that momentum (Our bitter cross town rival's success during that same time period certainly didn't help either). These issues have been beaten to death here on the board and I'm looking forward to the future of Spider hoops.

 

[Eight Legger]

All things considered, we could be George Mason – they made the FINAL FOUR in the greatest run in the history of college basketball, and they are a huge school in the shadows of DC, and look what they did after that. Not a damn thing. So, it could always be worse.

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

All things considered, we could be George Mason – they made the FINAL FOUR in the greatest run in the history of college basketball, and they are a huge school in the shadows of DC, and look what they did after that. Not a damn thing. So, it could always be worse.

Well, they did make the tourney twice in the next five years and won a game, which is (ERROR=DIV/0) better than we did after our last run.

 

[Gallipoli]

Once again, ESPN mentions the billboard.

 

[nathanw19]

Once again, ESPN mentions the billboard.

Mentioned it in a light that it caused Mooney to change for the better, specifically his defensive scheme.

 

[spider23]

Yes, lol talked about Mooney finally changing the D after 3 or 4 years. Try 10 years. .Many thanks to the billboard guys, your work is appreciated.

 

[Ferrum Spider]

Once again, ESPN mentions the billboard.

We should turn it into a drinking game this year. Then again hospitals are busy enough with covid, no need for a local spike in liver disease.

 

[AnnapSpider]

You guys think he changed the defense because of the billboard. Not because Mooney decided to do it
himself.
OMG
I’d be more inclined to say John Hardt had something to do with it, but I’m sure you all think he’s bad too.

 

[nathanw19]

You guys think he changed the defense because of the billboard. Not because Mooney decided to do it
himself.
OMG
I’d be more inclined to say John Hardt had something to do with it, but I’m sure you all think he’s bad too.

Just saying that is what was said during the broadcast.

Broadcasters discussed it as proof that the Richmond area is serious about basketball and winning, that they get restless after 4-5 non tourney years (which I think was really 8 years at the time), and that Mooney then changed his defensive scheme for the better.

Whether you agreed or not with billboard at the time, if that is the National broadcast view, I definitely don’t think that it did any damage to the program. If anything, that’s a good look.

 

[Eight Legger]

Whatever the case, Mooney changed his defense, we are recruiting better, and we are winning. I'll take that!

 

[MrTbone]

You guys think he changed the defense because of the billboard. Not because Mooney decided to do it
himself.
OMG
I’d be more inclined to say John Hardt had something to do with it, but I’m sure you all think he’s bad too.

You suggested I was naive the other day for a comment far less naive than this. CM changed the D at knifepoint. Unclear if someone was wielding the knife or if he simply realized the D wasn’t going to ever work with his personnel but it took something cataclysmic to pivot. I give him credit for finally doing it but it didn’t just happen organically.

 

[ur2K]

I laughed during the broadcast when the announcers said something like Mooney was known for being open to change things up.

 

[spider23]

but it didn’t just happen organically

That is the scary part, he couldn't see that it was outdated and outschemed for a number of years. Regardless, Moon is doing well last two years. Recruiting is better, but still could use more interior depth. Grace is doing his job and I really like how he is playing, but we still have no athleticism coming off the bench inside.

That said, really think we could be in position to have a Dayton/SDSU type of season. Maybe not top 5 , but top 15 for sure.

 

[Gallipoli]

IMHO, the announcers brought it up because he were are 2 years later and Mooney has shown the naysayers wrong. Through it all, Chris Mooney has shown nothing but class.

 

[nathanw19]

IMHO, the announcers brought it up because he were are 2 years later and Mooney has shown the naysayers wrong. Through it all, Chris Mooney has shown nothing but class.

Agreed. Mooney is and always has been a class act, and if he didn’t show the naysayers wrong, he would be out of a job.

It’s a redemption story, and who doesn’t love one of those!

 

[spiderman]

what I took from it was that Mooney made the decision based on personnel. he clearly preferred the zone concept. but he didn't recruit to fit it, with our small guards. Gilyard and Francis are great man-to-man, and got abused helping inside in the zone. I agree it took too long to change it, but I don't believe he changed it due to a billboard or knife point.