Billboard

[UR80sfan]

There is talk by some individuals about putting up another Fire Mooney billboard. The last one was about as successful for the anti-Mooney pact as the bombing of peril harbor was for the Japanese. It caused a swell of support for Mooney, which helped lead to a contract extension. It was an embarrassment to the school that lead to widespread criticism of the group responsible to the point they were pressured to take it down almost immediately. Finally, after it was evident the strategy was a failure, the group tried save face by saying it motivated the team to do better.

I do not criticize those that advocate for a new coach. They have the right to communicate their views. If this season does not go well, I expect increase scrutiny of the coach, but that is many months away. The best way the anti Mooney pact should approach this is by clearly communicating to the admiration and the board of directors why it is in the best interest of the University to make a change. With all the stress they are dealing with now relative to potential name changes on buildings, this is not the time to get their attention in a positive frame of mind.

 

[Eight Legger]

The administration has shown that it will never fire Mooney, no matter what. He will be here until he resigns, takes another job or dies.

 

[plydogg]

I think the biggest difference is that a large number of people in the group calling the billboard classless would now support it. I thought it was a disgrace and was part of the Mooney support. But I’m on the other side now, as are my fellow classmates who, like me, have still never had the experience of seeing our alma mater in the NCAA tournament.

When it happens it will be incredible, but for those of you who have witnessed one, I’m sure it happening as an adult pales in comparison to what it is like having it happen while you’re a student. That’s something I’m sad to have never experienced.

I still think another billboard is a bad idea (despite joking about it), but I wouldn’t feel the same now about it as I did then.

 

[Spiders4ever]

The administration has shown that it will never fire Mooney, no matter what. He will be here until he resigns, takes another job or dies.

Save the money for Xanax, Probably better off in the long run. Sure, Mooney will still be around, but we won't care.

 

[spider23]

putting up another Fire Money

You had me at Fire Mooney. Though now that I quoted it, I see that you either Freudian slipped it or purposely mis spelled Mooney. Very apt though, he has mad a lot of Mooney.. I mean Money.

 

[whampas]

The administration has shown that it will never fire Mooney, no matter what. He will be here until he resigns, takes another job or dies.

And they'll name a building after him.

 

[UR80sfan]

The administration has shown that it will never fire Mooney, no matter what. He will be here until he resigns, takes another job or dies.

I disagree with this. The board of the University has a lot of great people on it and each of them want to do what is best for the University.

 

[8legs1dream]

so keeping Moonie around is what is best for the University? I would hate to see what is worst for the University.

 

[SpiderRick]

Like the board of trustees is going to listen to little old me. I don't think the billboard was ineffective, I thought it was very effective. I think a 2nd billboard would even be more effective than the first. In my opinion I think many folks thought the 1st billboard was some kind of sick joke. Put up a 2nd one think maybe people will believe we are seriously in need of a new coach.

 

[SpiderGuy]

The administration has shown that it will never fire Mooney, no matter what. He will be here until he resigns, takes another job or dies.

I disagree with this. The board of the University has a lot of great people on it and each of them want to do what is best for the University.

What constitutes "great people"? That's a subjective term.

How do you define what is best for the university? A slightly greater than .500 long term coach who has not delivered conference championships & only 2 NCAA bids in 17 years (correct me if I'm wrong) is not a good business investment. On the other hand, if you think that the other "nice to have" things with student athletes' success is your criteria, then you may be right. Winning has definitely taken a back seat to other measures. I've said it before, but in the business world, Mooney's long term success / failures would be dealt with much differently than at the University Of Queally where CM is coddled.

 

[Eight Legger]

I disagree with this. The board of the University has a lot of great people on it and each of them want to do what is best for the University.

Do they, though? Or do they just want to do what's best/most convenient for themselves?

 

[Gallipoli]

The administration has shown that it will never fire Mooney, no matter what. He will be here until he resigns, takes another job or dies.

This is correct and good news.

 

[RichmondNative]

It is no doubt that the billboard was an embarrassment for UR and for Mooney himself. There are definitely more effective ways to affect change than essentially an act of grandstanding. The Forum has definitely debated the situation numerous times and all I know is that the highest levels of the administration have changed some (President of University) and the faculty and students are putting pressure on the Board of Trustees for changes including the removal of PQ as Rector of the Board. So I would say times could be a changin’. However, one never knows what the change may be and the change may not be welcomed by all on the Forum either. All I can say as an “outsider” (ie not a Richmond alum, but a Spider Dad) is that what UR is currently doing in Athletics makes no fiscal sense and since outside forces are reshaping the collegiate sports landscape, I would not be surprised if UR realigns. As I said in a different post, the vision that Jim Miller had is no longer shared or championed by anyone, so why do people think it can magically continue? At some point, someone is going to take the reigns and give this institution some direction.

 

[DTSpider]

I’d rather a “Please Quit Paul Queally” or a “Fire Hardt” billboard at this point. Maybe a “drain the Robins Center swamp”. It’s not Mooney’s fault we have terrible leadership.

 

[Gospiders06]

The billboard wasn't effective before cause we still have Mooney. You have do something else to create change. Another billboard isn't going to help the matter. Once attendance and donation fall off maybe some change will happen. Keep the head football coach still makes zero sense to me. His record is worse than Mooney over 5 years.

 

[Eight Legger]

How about a march on the Robins Center? A sit-in after a game where everyone refuses to leave until he's fired? Sacrificing a live goat rvery day until he is canned?

 

[Gospiders06]

And they'll name a building after him.

name of the building: almost good enough.

 

[CH_Spider]

How about a march on the Robins Center? A sit-in after a game where everyone refuses to leave until he's fired? Sacrificing a live goat rvery day until he is canned?

That should do the trick.

 

[SpiderTrap]

Two ways to get rid of coach. The billboard is one way, but is only a start - you probably need a billboard, a petition of signatures to show the Board and AD how many fans are upset, and you likely need fans to voice their displeasure at games when we lose (booing Mooney) or simply not showing up at games at all. But you need a lot of people involved on this one. The main reason the billboard did nothing last time is that the administration just wrote it off as a few angry fans, not the majority. (and of course - they didn't want to write the buyout check). Second way - be a big donor to the school, I am talking Ukrops, Queally, Robins type donors and walk in and saying your donations will stop if not fired, or simply say what donation do you need for the buyout. Option 2 will not happen, and Option 1 will likely not happen either (you won't get enough people to band together).

What is more likely to happen - this team wins enough games, makes the NIT and Mooney gets extension.

 

[urfan1]

I disagree with this. The board of the University has a lot of great people on it and each of them want to do what is best for the University.

I used to believe that

 

[Mo 2.0]

How about a march on the Robins Center? A sit-in after a game where everyone refuses to leave until he's fired? Sacrificing a live goat rvery day until he is canned?

Insurrection. Storm the Robins Center.

 

[SpiderGuy]

The billboard wasn't effective before cause we still have Mooney. You have do something else to create change. Another billboard isn't going to help the matter. Once attendance and donation fall off maybe some change will happen. Keep the head football coach still makes zero sense to me. His record is worse than Mooney over 5 years.

Keeping the 2 coaches of our primary sports shows that mediocrity is acceptable. The records and results speak to that acceptance.

 

[fatherspider]

I’d rather a “Please Quit Paul Queally” or a “Fire Hardt” billboard at this point. Maybe a “drain the Robins Center swamp”. It’s not Mooney’s fault we have terrible leadership.

Thats a great point

 

[ur2K]

How about a march on the Robins Center? A sit-in after a game where everyone refuses to leave until he's fired? Sacrificing a live goat rvery day until he is canned?

Actually need a monkey riding a dog to do its business on the RC floor to reverse the curse from the first time that happened.

 

[SpiderDogg]

Why does no one consider the scenario that yes Mooney is PQ’s guy but that does not mean PQ and Hardt/whoever will back him forever? Some people wanted Mooney fired before the 2 NCAA appearances, he proved them wrong. He failed with TA/SDJ/TJC, give him another chance because look how great the team was a few years ago, first time actually failing. PQ gives him another shot - 2 bad years happen but Blake Francis and crazy experienced core coming back - legitimate option to fire him, but again, Mooney is PQs guy, he believes Mooney will succeed with this awesome core. Kind of does in 2019-2020 - Mooney deserves some credit.

2020-2021 is pretty much a disaster but maybe external factors did impact it. 3 more years on the coaches contract and every player wants to come back. You gotta let it ride - see if that end of 2020 conference schedule team can come back. We looked like an awesome team during stretches.

This year begins and it’s rough. Old, seemingly fixable problems resurface and we never figure it out. It’s the 3rd major failure for CM and PQ is not a loser, and wants what’s best for this program. He had a longer leash then most, maybe out of pride, but he sees why our ceiling is limited now. Sure we could be decent forever, but maybe there is a better future? Coach gets fired.

Or, we turn the corner, and go on a remarkable run to the NCAA tournament. Either way we’ll be excited about the start of next year… One can dream

 

[SpiderDogg]

What is more likely to happen - this team wins enough games, makes the NIT and Mooney gets extension.

The nightmare scenario yes - I’m hoping even an NIT appearance will not be enough for leadership. Cautiously optimistic this is the case.

 

[Eight Legger]

PQ is a loser, though. No one who is a winner would accept mediocrity for this long. Literally no other schools in our conference or the country at this level of higher have kept their coach in place this long without an NCAA berth. That tells you everything you need to know about PQ and our athletics department.

You are what you repeatedly do. We've shown what we are.

 

[urfan1]

I'm sure PQ would be great advising us about our finances, athletics, not so much. We all have our lanes. There's a reason I call an electrician when I have an electrical problem.

 

[Ferrum Spider]

It’s not Mooney’s fault we have terrible leadership.

This is why firing him to me is a moot point to me. I’m gonna pop anyone that reads this is as an endorsement, or that he isn’t deserving of it so much as it is a lack of faith in those above him calling the shots.

At the end of the day they would have to hire his replacement and just have to hope that he can overcome our administrative incompetence.

This school has a lot of money, but outside of building beautiful buildings on campus that increase property values, not really good for much else.

I was shocked by a recent visit to campus and talking to two people who spent their entire careers there are leaving because of all the mismanagement (this isn’t athletics). And this is on the verge of their children receiving tuition exchange because they just can’t take it anymore. School has long lost its soul in the pursuit of appeasing an out of touch billionaire who thinks he owns the school.

 

[UR80sfan]

I’d rather a “Please Quit Paul Queally” or a “Fire Hardt” billboard at this point. Maybe a “drain the Robins Center swamp”. It’s not Mooney’s fault we have terrible leadership.

You guys will get your wish relative to Paul Queally. His term on the board is ending due to term limits and he is forced to roll off the board. Paul might have done more for the university than anyone outside of the Robins family. He has financially supported most of the major projects on campus over the past 2 decades and helped increase diversity on campus by being involved in the hiring our 1st black president. He has also been an avid supporter of the athletic department making large donations to support multiple sports, including the basketball practice facility. It will be difficult to ever have a more pro sports head of the board. Which is unfortunate because most college presidents come from academia and athletics are typically not a priority for them.

I have not spoken to Paul about this, but he was thrown under the bus by our previous president and was publicly humiliated and slandered in the press as a racist. I am not sure how involved he will be with the university going forward. I was told by one member of the board that alienating him might cost the university well over a hundred million over time.

When you look at the history of the University, up until 60 years ago the school was mediocre academically and made up of primarily students from the state of VA. The Robin’s Family and other major donors helped transform the campus and University into one of the top 100 academic institutions in the country over the past 60 years. If you don’t keep reinvesting in the university its relative ranking to other schools will decline over time. Losing Paul’s support would be a major blow to the university, but potentially only the tip of the iceberg. What happened to him, how things evolve with the naming commission (btw, the discussions are not just focused on the 2 dorm building, some students think all building names should potentially be changed, including those named after the Robins, and other factors could substantially hurt the universities ability to get big donors going forward.

I understand that many on this board only care about winning a couple more basketball games each year, which could be the difference between the NIT and NCAA tournaments. In order to accomplish their goal, they willing to say terrible thing about senior members of the administration or board of directors that they perceive are not doing what they want. What they need to understand is that there is a much bigger picture to consider.

 

[Mo 2.0]

80s, you very well could be correct. That said, i'd be interested to see how things pull together without him for a while.

For all of Paul Queally's generosity to the University, i find it truly astonishing that he has been unable to build any sort of broad-based support on campus and among alumni.

 

[nathanw19]

You guys will get your wish relative to Paul Queally. His term on the board is ending due to term limits and he is forced to roll off the board. Paul might have done more for the university than anyone outside of the Robins family. He has financially supported most of the major projects on campus over the past 2 decades and helped increase diversity on campus by being involved in the hiring our 1st black president. He has also been an avid supporter of the athletic department making large donations to support multiple sports, including the basketball practice facility. It will be difficult to ever have a more pro sports head of the board. Which is unfortunate because most college presidents come from academia and athletics are typically not a priority for them.

I have not spoken to Paul about this, but he was thrown under the bus by our previous president and was publicly humiliated and slandered in the press as a racist. I am not sure how involved he will be with the university going forward. I was told by one member of the board that alienating him might cost the university well over a hundred million over time.

When you look at the history of the University, up until 60 years ago the school was mediocre academically and made up of primarily students from the state of VA. The Robin’s Family and other major donors helped transform the campus and University into one of the top 100 academic institutions in the country over the past 60 years. If you don’t keep reinvesting in the university its relative ranking to other schools will decline over time. Losing Paul’s support would be a major blow to the university, but potentially only the tip of the iceberg. What happened to him, how things evolve with the naming commission (btw, the discussions are not just focused on the 2 dorm building, some students think all building names should potentially be changed, including those named after the Robins, and other factors could substantially hurt the universities ability to get big donors going forward.

I understand that many on this board only care about winning a couple more basketball games each year, which could be the difference between the NIT and NCAA tournaments. In order to accomplish their goal, they willing to say terrible thing about senior members of the administration or board of directors that they perceive are not doing what they want. What they need to understand is that there is a much bigger picture to consider.

80’s, agree with most of what you say here, and agree that Queally take more heat than is deserved, especially on this board. However, I don’t think I can give a pass on the “he was publicly humiliated and slandered in the press as racist”.

Unless I have missed it (which admittedly is possible), I haven’t seen where he has stated he didn’t make the “black, brown, and regular students” comment. While I understand the defense that it was a misstatement/slip of the tongue, the argument can also be made that that sort of “misstatement” goes to underlying views he just doesn’t make publicly. The truth (in my opinion), probably lies somewhere in the middle.

I don’t know Paul whatsoever, and I believe you that he’s a good guy, however I also think it’s completely fair for him to be criticized for that comment, especially as a steward of the university.

 

[Ferrum Spider]

For all of Paul Queally's generosity to the University, i find it truly astonishing that he has been unable to build any sort of broad-based support on campus and among alumni.

That's because all this philanthropy is to stroke his own ego and get tax breaks while doing it.

 

[MrTbone]

My guess is that PQ cares quite a bit about UR and he probably cares equally if not more about his own legacy which he’s memorializing through donations and getting his name on buildings. I don’t mind that.

I don’t understand any statement that he’s “pro sports” though. Even if he were the most pro sports guy ever to be involved with UR, athletics, and revenue sports in particular, have been a disaster for as long as he’s been involved with BoT. Is that his fault? Who knows, but he’s not helping by handpicking Hardt as AD and allowing the mess that is bball and football to circle the drain.

 

[Eight Legger]

Queally dug his own gave with some really stupid comments and actions that someone of his supposed stature should have known not to think privately, much less say out loud publicly. He threw himself under the bus, then drove over himself in it.

 

[AnnapSpider]

80’s, agree with most of what you say here, and agree that Queally take more heat than is deserved, especially on this board. However, I don’t think I can give a pass on the “he was publicly humiliated and slandered in the press as racist”.

Unless I have missed it (which admittedly is possible), I haven’t seen where he has stated he didn’t make the “black, brown, and regular students” comment. While I understand the defense that it was a misstatement/slip of the tongue, the argument can also be made that that sort of “misstatement” goes to underlying views he just doesn’t make publicly. The truth (in my opinion), probably lies somewhere in the middle.

I don’t know Paul whatsoever, and I believe you that he’s a good guy, however I also think it’s completely fair for him to be criticized for that comment, especially as a steward of the university.

Poor kids are just as bright as white kids- quote by Joe Biden

if you don’t vote for me you aren’t black- quote by Joe Biden

It seems to me other people, in more prestigious positions have misspoken. But you’re going to hold Quealy’s feet
to the fire? Ridiculous-

 

[SpiderGuy]

That's because all this philanthropy is to stroke his own ego and get tax breaks while doing it.

True leadership extends beyond the money someone gives. Does he represent the leadership we need? A man is rich for what he is; not what he has.

 

[Zeeter]

Poor kids are just as bright as white kids- quote by Joe Biden

if you don’t vote for me you aren’t black- quote by Joe Biden

It seems to me other people, in more prestigious positions have misspoken. But you’re going to hold Quealy’s feet
to the fire? Ridiculous-

This could be some solid material for the Joe Biden billboard.

However, I'm not sure what Joe Biden has to do with the University of Richmond or the basketball program. The reason Queally's history is being brought up here is because he is one of the most prominent people associated with the university.

 

[spider23]

Would have rather had Ukrops than Queally the last several years. PQ has been a detriment, take your money and go.

 

[spider23]

And we need a do over in the athletics department, fire Mooney and Hardt hires another coach. The disaster just continues in that case.