It may well be the year that I quit caring about men's basketball altogether. It's getting harder to care every time Hardt opens his pie hole.
Hardt: 'Everything is awesome!'
- Thread starter Eight Legger
- Start date
We have much to be thankful for from a donor that financially contributes to our school, The real problem should fall on the President, BOT, and if it goes to Athletics, the AD should keep their control limited and away from decisions!
It’s the great dilemma… Big-ticket donors usually want influence. I don’t know PQ so I’m not sure if he fits that or not, but anecdotally it appears he might. So the question is do you take the money and allow some increased level of influence or set the ground rules in advance even if it means not getting the money, or at least getting less than you might otherwise?
This is why it’s important to have more than one large donor.
This is why it’s important to have more than one large donor.
The difference here is every other big ticket donor wants to win. Not in our case. In fact it appears to be the opposite. Our big doner wants expectations lowered, or accepts them being lowered. Bizarre.
Always better to have multiple big ticket donors -- let their competing egos write the checks.
This is really strange indeed. Can’t say I understand it. If I were writing checks that big, I know I’d want to see results.
Wood, to answer your first question -- I personally would rather have our soccer team back than lacrosse. I think it is stupid we have to choose one or the other, but if I had to choose, yes, I think we'd be better off without the men's lacrosse team.
The practice facility would have come eventually.
not sure where the money for the practice facility was coming from in your world without Queally. I don't think anybody was talking about it until he put up half.
and lacrosse makes great sense for UR.
My younger brother was a UR soccer letterman, so I'd prefer to have both. I don't care for lacrosse, but it's a good fit for UR, the attendance numbers reflect that, and we've done far better with lacrosse than we ever did with soccer.
Maybe we would have gotten a practice facility "eventually." But as of this morning, we would not before 2025 without Q's donation. I'd rather have one now than wait for a maybe.
As hard as soccer tries, it’s just no fun to watch. 20 guys kick it down the field and the goalie picks it up throws or kicks it back to the other end. It usually takes a gimmick inbounds play or alternating free throws to score. The only cool part is the constant miraculous recoveries from life threatening injuries every few minutes.
Tell me you’re old and grumpy without telling me you’re old and grumpy.
Oh absolutely, I have never tried to hide that. 😊Tell me you’re old and grumpy without telling me you’re old and grumpy.
I'm sure it comes as a shock and surprise to everyone here that we disagree on a subject. : )
I don't have anything against lacrosse. BUT...
It does sort of embody the external narrative of UR that we are just a bunch of rich white kids from somewhere between Doylestown and Cape Cod.
Soccer is a global sport, and if we as a university have goals of being more diverse and international, wouldn't soccer be a better embodiment of those goals?
Again, I'd prefer we have both, plus corresponding increase in women's athletics allocation (softball, volleyball, etc.) because I believe that students that show a proficiency to balance D1 athletics with a rigorous academic schedule become very successful people thereafter. Another place where I think our administration is short-sighted (myopic? blind?) as to the value of athletics.
This is bad. A AD doing his job would be pushing and fund raising to other Ukrop types. Not depending on his crony for everything. Believe it or not, there are plenty UR grads with a ton of cash that love sports. We seemed to raise the other half easily, I believe. It's an ADs job, Davidson and everyone else ALREADY had one. Hate the defeatist attitude that we have suck on PQs teat to get anything and then he sets the AWFUL tone. Hate this admin and PQ, LOSERS. But we will carry on.
You have to admit, a fine synopsis of a soccer match.....Tell me you’re old and grumpy without telling me you’re old and grumpy.
And there are those who think every NBA game consists of one guy dribbling, one guy sort of defending, and eight guys standing around, four of whom are just beyond the 3-point arc.
To each his own.
Simple solution, reduce men’s sports to football, basketball, and baseball. Reduce women’s sports to volleyball, gymnastics, and volleyball. 😜
Another solid season of ticket distribution. Now let's get the on-court product to match.
richmondspiders.com
Men’s Basketball Registers Highest Attendance Among Smaller D-I Schools - University of Richmond Athletics
RICHMOND, Va. — An average crowd of 6,285 fans attended Richmond Men's Basketball home games in 2022-23, nearly double the school's undergraduate enrollment of 3,164.
richmondspiders.com
No way in hell we averaged over 6280 people in that building over the past year. I was at every game and I would estimate an average of 4500 TOPS!Another solid season of ticket distribution. Now let's get the on-court product to match.
Men’s Basketball Registers Highest Attendance Among Smaller D-I Schools - University of Richmond Athletics
RICHMOND, Va. — An average crowd of 6,285 fans attended Richmond Men's Basketball home games in 2022-23, nearly double the school's undergraduate enrollment of 3,164.
8legs1dream
Team Manager
only time it reaches that is against VCU, that's it. A lot of times games against a team that I think would really capture the attention of the average basketball fan the attendance is not there.
The snyergy that we have right now around reduced expectations and excuses is what is most scary. Our BOT leader is saying "temper your expectations", our AD says it was a transitionally year and we were just waiting to see how it played out, our head MBB coach for 18 years hasn't articulated a goal or vision for the program. No wonder they all like each other so much, they just pat each other on the back and say well we are doing the best we can with the hand we are dealt. Just no leadership, no urgency, no burning desire to do better.
This is shown big picture in the products of our sports teams but also the little things, like the sound system being horrible all year, the scoreboards constantly going down, the food at the Robins Center being substandard. If we have someone who comes in who actually wants to make things better, they are going to get burnt out when our culture is "meh" things are good enough as they are".
We need an organizational culture change and unfortunately I don't see that coming because no one see it as a problem, much less a priority. But it is clear it the root of all our problems.
This is the President's problem to solve and if he doesn't see it as a problem, than I would question his leadership fit for UR.
You may recall many a post from me in the past few years referencing the "Triumvirate". This is it right here. All in unison, all good with being OK. It is hard, we are small. We are leafy. Our academics are hard. Other teams don't have the academic standards. On and on and on. Yes, you are correct - it is scary because there is literally no way to break the cycle until PQ finds another hobby and Hardt is gone. Until then, we will keep keeping on. And damn, someone said Hardt is only 60 - I did see that picture in that article and thought he was about 75 and probably ready to retire. But no. Keep keeping on.
Not sure when Hardt's contract is up, but think he is already pushing for a renewal. And of course, he will get it, because he fits exactly what we are looking for. And so Mooney is not gone, until Hardt is gone and as you said PQ has another hobby to spend his $$$ with. Yes, the "Triumvirate" is a very accurate description.
I'm gonna be interested to see if Hallock takes any notice of this and if his interest in athletics amounts to more than being a fanboy at our games. If he can't see the smoke coming out of the Robins Center and ascertain that their is indeed a smoldering fire that needs to be put out, than I think it is safe to say, he endorses the very mindset in place over there.
8legs1dream
Team Manager
Fast forward a year and we will be in the exact same spot. (repeat as often as you can before you get sick)
There's plenty of data to back this theory up. Just look at the last 10 years, and save for the Covid year and the byproduct of that COVID year last season, it's the same ol' same ol'. Mooney and Hardt have super job security as long as they get meets expectations on their annual review. And right now, the expectations are pretty tame.
I don’t know that Hallock has a ton to do with this one. Unless there’s a secret manifesto somewhere in the depths of Bottomley House proclaiming our intent to actually succeed at athletics, then Hardt will likely have met whatever performance objectives were laid out for him.
Doesn’t guarantee a renewal, but from the presidents lens, I doubt highly he sees a dumpster fire which otherwise many on here see.
University of Richmond where academic excellence is demanded and athletic malfeasance is tolerated. Seems to define where we are as a school now.
Last edited:
Geez, you guys act like we haven't been to TEN NCAA tournaments in the last 40 years! That's an average of one every four years, just what some people here are always whining for. We have twice as many Sweet 16 appearances as St. Peter's in that period, too!
And we're at 50% if you count the last 2 seasons....as always, the devil is in the details...your metric doesn't reveal that under Mooney, weve made 3 NCAA appearances in 18 yrs...1 every 6....weak!
Gentle reminder:
You're not allowed to count his first two years.
And you have to give us an extra appearance in 2020.
You're not allowed to count 2021 because COVID.
You're not allowed to count 2012 because Harp and KA were gone and who could succeed the year after that run?
You're not allowed to count the seasons that VCU brought in a new coach because he had to figure out a new opponent for the chili cook-off.
You're not allowed to count 2022 because nobody knew what the outcomes would be.
My point was if he has athletics as one of his priorities, maybe he wants to some of his own people that match his priorities to lead that up. And if athletics is a priority, than I don't see how someone like Hardt would be a good fit because Hardt and his regime is not pushing anything forward, they are status quo maintainers.
If athletics is not one of his priorities, than yeah, we just keep Hardt.
Wow. Five pages of saying the same thing. I don't get the hatred toward Hardt, but I don't get a lot of posts on here, so it is what it is. Since Hardt has been here, we have had a 24-7 season, an NIT, a conference tourney title and a 1st round dance win. Football and lacrosse have done well recently too. As an AD, why is he supposed to come out and be all negative? And, like you do with Mooney, you worry too much about what he says to the media. Who cares? Do you want him to be all negative and bad mouth the coach and team? Should he say this year will be make or break for Mooney? What does that accomplish, other than making 97, 23, and EL happy. And, sorry guys, his first priority is Richmond athletics, not catering to you guys. Sure, let's get the AD to say what u guys want him to say and then teams can use that against us in recruiting.
8legs1dream
Team Manager
the only thing teams need to use against us in recruiting is Mooney’s coaching record. Maybe if the AD publicly said we could be better than mediocre it would help us in recruiting.
