From the AD's Desk

[URWilk110]

Much needed update from the new AD. I like that he mentioned the word champion or championship three times in the first half of the update. Hopefully he follows through in this and holds coaches accountable to these expectations.

http://urichmond.fan-one.com/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=3fed5cdb9aff3bbfa3

 

[Spiders05]

This is great to see. Love it.

 

[Wood Hall]

Pretty informative. Looks as if good things are happening, particularly on the facilities front. Would have liked to have learned more specifics about the Pitt Field improvements.

 

[Eight Legger]

Very nice. Particularly liked the warning shot to Mooney: "I have been impressed with the ability for the University of Richmond to attract quality head coaches."

 

[spider23]

Not seeing anything specific with this post from Hardt. Hope he is the guy to right the hoops ship.
Hey, if Mooney can land two stud recruits and we can win an A10 championship next year, all is forgiven. I will go back to being the "more positive than Ulla" poster I was for 10 years. I promise.

 

[plydogg]

Can anybody find this greetings post from the previous two AD's and see if it is any different? I figure a new AD will try to pretty much kiss up to the public and say what they want to be heard (kind of like a candidate for public office during debates and ads and then they never follow through with 99% of it). I hope this is different because it was a joy to read and makes me look forward to him.

Very nice. Particularly liked the warning shot to Mooney: "I have been impressed with the ability for the University of Richmond to attract quality head coaches."

Call me crazy, or maybe my reading comprehension is poor, but in what world is this statement a warning shot at Mooney? I feel like that is analyzing and interpreting something way too much. You could easily say that he's talking about the current head coaches being quality head coaches and that it is a vote of confidence in Mooney. There's no substance to back up that this is a warning shot at him IMO

 

[Eight Legger]

Some of you missed the humor, apparently. And 32, candidly, I'm kind of sick of the holier than thou stuff. We get it, you know everything and all of us on the basketball board are beneath you.

 

[plydogg]

Some of you missed the humor, apparently. And 32, candidly, I'm kind of sick of the holier than thou stuff. We get it, you know everything and all of us on the basketball board are beneath you.

I've been sick for almost a week and have barely gotten any sleep. It went over my head for sure. Woke up at around 3:45 am and read it shortly after. I do agree I thought 32 overdid it a bit with the response...I thought it was a serious comment from the AD though so I was definitely confused, thought I had missed something.

Its a lot better reading it back now a few hours later

 

[Spiders05]

I don't recall messages like this from Gil. In fact, one of the things discussed on here was transparency and felt this was a good first step. Really appreciate it.

 

[97spiderfan]

I read it. To me this is a standard Athletic Director communication to the fanbase and stakeholders. Hey, look, here are all of the good things we are doing and things that you should be excited about. If Gill didn't do this, well that just shows how inept and dysfunctional his reign was, because this e-mail that Hardt just wrote falls under the basic job description of an Athletic Director.

I am sorry I missed 32 lecturing of all of us though on his superior insight into the inner workings of our athletic department. That is always so refreshing. 32, unless, you are Queally in real life, I doubt you have the insights you profess. And if you are Queally, than tell the AD to Fire Mooney

 

[spiderman]

agreed 97. very nice letter but standard AD work. I vaguely remember Gill doing the same. he didn't follow up regularly like Hardt promises, though.

I know some here get excited when an AD mentions championships, but other than raising money and going to bat for a coach here and there, championships are up to the coaches and players.

 

[64Spider]

I had to chuckle when I read that he looked forward to hearing from fans/alumni but gave no contact information.....and at the bottom of the email was the statement "Note: This email was sent from an address unable to receive replys."

 

[WebSpinner]

HA, good catch 64, he may be slicker than we thought

 

[MidloTrader]

It's just a start . . . baby steps. Other than when our student athletes call me, I certainly give my consistent feedback on lack of transparency of goals (particularly for BB), no real feedback channels, etc. Think outreach from various athletic departments other than Spider Club lately is a clear indicator they know they've got unhappy fans. Ticket Office staff member called earlier this week. Quarterly online emails from Hardt aren't going to solve our comms issues, and agree this one was boilerplate. But since he's only been here a quarter, I'll give him a little slack and see what his next steps are. Meanwhile, keep up the pressure by voicing your feedback and questions to any and all in RC, so they begin communicating with us openly and embrace transparency, particularly when they're looking for more $.

 

[97spiderfan]

I had to chuckle when I read that he looked forward to hearing from fans/alumni but gave no contact information.....and at the bottom of the email was the statement "Note: This email was sent from an address unable to receive replys."

Still no e-mail address or phone number of Richmond athletics website for Hardt. I guess we should all be writing him letters or perhaps sending smoke signals to communicate with him.

Seriously, why has that not been fixed on the website?

 

[fan2011]

Is giving out the direct contact info for the AD a common practice? Looks like VCU's ADs have some email address online. How widespread is it?

 

[gospidersgo]

Not sure what other schools do but it cant hurt to post a "direct" email address to the AD. He can always have other private internal email adresses for other use and could have a secretary or intern open emails to the public account anyway.

 

[MidloTrader]

Not sure what other schools do but it cant hurt to post a "direct" email address to the AD. He can always have other private internal email adresses for other use and could have a secretary or intern open emails to the public account anyway.

UPDATE: Matt responded quickly. Wasn't aware of the missing email info on the site. Not sure why, but it does take multiple clicks to find the directory. One of the reasons I don't like the new design. Said he'll find a solution quickly, since he knows AD Hardt wants direct feedback. Will keep you posted on what I hear next.

Agree. Shared mailbox managed by the Comms Team is easy to set up. We do it all the time in Corporate world. Emailed Matt McCollester (new Asst Director of Athletics/Comms) and asked about this. Will let everyone here know what he says.

 

[KWeaver]

Meh. I was unimpressed. Show me.

 

[MrTbone]

Not sure what other schools do but it cant hurt to post a "direct" email address to the AD.

The avalanche of junk email that you get when posting your email online in a public website is overwhelming. Even good spam filters can’t keep it clean.

If we want Hardt spending time deleting scads of email from Canadian pharmacies pushing viagra then go for it.

If you care enough to contact him, I’d suggest you call the Athletics office and politely ask for his email.

 

[Eight Legger]

Most likely it is jhardt@richmond.edu.

 

[fatherspider]

Very nice. Particularly liked the warning shot to Mooney: "I have been impressed with the ability for the University of Richmond to attract quality head coaches."

If that's the actual quote, we should be concerned that our new AD can't write a well constructed sentence.

 

[gospidersgo]

The avalanche of junk email that you get when posting your email online in a public website is overwhelming. Even good spam filters can’t keep it clean.

If we want Hardt spending time deleting scads of email from Canadian pharmacies pushing viagra then go for it.

If you care enough to contact him, I’d suggest you call the Athletics office and politely ask for his email.

Spam can be managed pretty easily by my office in 2018, so i know the office of a university will find a way to handle it. Not a big deal.

 

[spider23]

Anyhow, I do hear rumor that "staff" is reading this board, whether that means Hardt, or his minions, or basketball staff I do not know. However, if that is the case he probably has an idea of the primary feed back he will receive.

 

[MrTbone]

Spam can be managed pretty easily by my office in 2018, so i know the office of a university will find a way to handle it. Not a big deal.

Sure, just saying that when you put it out on a public site the screenscrapers go wild. It’s different than the spam you get when you end up on a list somewhere.

I don’t fault someone for not publishing their email address.

 

[WebSpinner]

agree with T-bone, one's office email acct becomes full of, not so much spam, but just useless messages. he probably needs a "filter" email acct which is read by an associate with the really important items forwarded to him. not sure he needs to read every complaint personally if he wishes to accomplish anything of substance.

 

[gospidersgo]

That was exactly my point though. Post a way to contact - it at least gives the perception of being transparent/open, etc. but Hardt wouldn't have to open and sort through the emails himself. Somebody else would do that for him and let him see any that are pertinent.

 

[64Spider]

I'll bet the emails would become more manageable when he gets our program relevant again.

 

[WebSpinner]

yep

 

[Spiders05]

Much like this board

 

[97spiderfan]

UPDATE: Matt responded quickly. Wasn't aware of the missing email info on the site. Not sure why, but it does take multiple clicks to find the directory. One of the reasons I don't like the new design. Said he'll find a solution quickly, since he knows AD Hardt wants direct feedback. Will keep you posted on what I hear next.

Agree. Shared mailbox managed by the Comms Team is easy to set up. We do it all the time in Corporate world. Emailed Matt McCollester (new Asst Director of Athletics/Comms) and asked about this. Will let everyone here know what he says.

Really. They were unaware that the new Athletic Director did not have his contact information on the staff directory page of richmondspiders.com. He has been on board for 4 months and they just forgot to update the page even after he has sent out multiple communications asking to hear from stakeholders.

Also, there are no e-mail address for our head men's and women's basketball coaches either. Was that an oversight as well or do Sheaffer and Mooney just not want their e-mail address public? Russ Huesman has an e-mail address as does the head coach of every other sport at UR.

These are the little things (I personally don't consider not having your AD's contact information up for 4 months at a "major" D-1 program like UR a little thing) that make me wonder what in the heck is going on over there.

Thanks for contacting them Midlo. Just checked the website again, still is not up, by the way....

 

[spiders081062]

Some of the things y’all complain about.... my goodness. It’s an email address. Some simple legwork could dig that up if you really need to talk to the man.

 

[RollSpides]

Are we really this upset about not having an email address so we can complain? Does anyone really think he will ever read any of them? Keith had his assistant just send a pre written email back. JMU’s athletic directory just has the ADs email listed as his assistants email. That seems pretty common.

 

[spiders081062]

Found it... go to directory.richmond.edu

Then search Hardt

Pops right up - jhardt@richmond.edu
Phone: 289-8694

 

[spiders081062]

Search Mooney and Shafer

Both pop right up...

So how about enough complaining before doing some actual legwork. Found all three emails and phone numbers in 30 seconds

 

[fan2011]

Search Mooney and Shafer

Both pop right up...

So how about enough complaining before doing some actual legwork. Found all three emails and phone numbers in 30 seconds

If this info has been there the whole time then this is hilarious.

 

[mcspider]

I am personally not overly concerned with the availability of the email addresses. However I still cannot see any. It is quite possible that I am searching in the incorrect place. Going to the address directory.richmond.edu gives me phone numbers and nothing else. In fact I checked a few others besides Hardt, Mooney, and Shafer. For everyone that I checked I could not find anything other than name, title, and phone number. Naturally my guess is the notation "Login to see more search results and access additional information" is where I am unable to see email addresses.

I checked today, because I was curious and had tried to find Hardt's yesterday. I thought maybe it was added between then and now. But no.

 

[97spiderfan]

Search Mooney and Shafer

Both pop right up...

So how about enough complaining before doing some actual legwork. Found all three emails and phone numbers in 30 seconds

Go to Richmondspiders.com and look at the staff directory. No e-mail or phone for Hardt. No e-mail for Mooney or Shaeffer. As of 4:52 PM today.

The issue is the AD is asking for feedback and then you are asking people to do legwork to actually find out how to communicate with you. It begs the question is does he really want your feedback?

How about just listing in on the staff directory where there is a big ole blank right now just waiting to be filled in.

 

[RollSpides]

Short answer. No he probably doesn’t.

 

[spider23]

If you don't think small things matter, go watch yourselves some one Christopher Mack. Go read his defensive strategy and how he builds the attitudes and habits every day in practice with certain specific drills and conditioning. That is a coach. Read how he works with other top coaches and collaborates and learns and learns. How he shares his system with 100's and 100's of coaches. That is a coach.