Its time to fire Chris Mooney
- Thread starter Ben Samuel
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Fire Mooney, hire Coachfezz. Every thing he has ever said here has made a great deal of sense...
Paul Woody RTD is benevolent
Things look bleak for the Richmond Spiders at the moment, but better days are ahead.
No, really, they are.
To paraphrase the man behind the curtain in the "Wizard of Oz," pay no attention to the result on the scoreboard, 94-61 in Jacksonville State's favor, Monday.
It's a sign of the state of things now, but it is not necessarily a sign of things to come for the Spiders' basketball program.
There probably will be more losses before there is a winning streak. Practices will be demanding.
When you give you suffer back-to-back defeats to start a the season, and loss No. 2 is worse than loss No. 1, players should not expect pats on the back and a lot of "way to goes" from the coaching staff.
"You can't sit back and feel sorry for yourself," Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. "You have to come in with an eager way to watch film, and you have to come out to practice with energy. Things are more challenging when they aren't going your way. That's what it takes, that's what's called for and I think just being very supportive of the guys but also being honest and making sure they know these are the things we need to do to get ourselves better."
The entire nonconference portion of the schedule could be devoted to ironing out issues and getting ready for Atlantic 10 Conference games.
We'll see. It's still early.
It's also valuable to remember the Spiders are a deceptively young team.
On paper, they start two sophomores, a redshirt junior, a redshirt freshman and a true freshman.
That indicates they have some experience.
Yes and no.
The sophomores, De'Monte Buckingham and Nick Sherod, are seasoned after successful freshman campaigns.
But the redshirt junior, Solly Stansbury, never has played college basketball until now. Grant Golden, the redshirt freshman, last year played in nine games ("A total of what, maybe 30 minutes," he said) before a cardiac issue ended his season. And Jacob Gilyard, 5-9, is a true freshman who now has two games of college experience, games he will not want to cherish forever.
Redshirt junior Khwan Fore, out with a foot injury, is an important missing piece.
He's not a 33-point difference-maker, but he's a talented 6-foot guard who plays about 6-6 and understands the competitive nature of college basketball.
When the Spiders got down early Monday, several players were pushed back on their heels. They couldn't respond to a disciplined, athletic, well-coached Gamecocks team.
"I think that's probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest thing - how do you respond to adversity?" Mooney said. "For whatever reason, that's different when you go from high school to college. I think Khwan will lend us a big hand there. He's extremely valuable to us. He's a leader and his presence certainly will help."
Jacksonville State came into the Robins Center with three starters and a backup who played significant minutes returning from the team that won the Ohio Valley Conference tournament last season and played in the NCAA tournament.
Two NBA scouts were in the house Monday to have an early-season look at the Gamecocks' 7-foot center, Norbertas Giga.
And Giga isn't even Jacksonville State's best player.
Christian Cunningham had 16 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots in 22 minutes.
The Gamecocks are coached by Ray Harper, who was a VCU graduate assistant in the 1985-86 season. JSU is a confident, poised, aggressive team that pursues every loose ball and refuses to believe an offensive possession is over until the opponent is headed in the other direction.
They were more than capable of taking apart a young, tentative team, which describes the Spiders now.
"We're not trying to mask anything because we're trying to fix it for the long term," Mooney said. "I don't think it will be overnight, but I think we will get better and give ourselves a better chance as we go along."
What's important is how the Spiders are described several months from now.
Things look bleak for the Richmond Spiders at the moment, but better days are ahead.
No, really, they are.
To paraphrase the man behind the curtain in the "Wizard of Oz," pay no attention to the result on the scoreboard, 94-61 in Jacksonville State's favor, Monday.
It's a sign of the state of things now, but it is not necessarily a sign of things to come for the Spiders' basketball program.
There probably will be more losses before there is a winning streak. Practices will be demanding.
When you give you suffer back-to-back defeats to start a the season, and loss No. 2 is worse than loss No. 1, players should not expect pats on the back and a lot of "way to goes" from the coaching staff.
"You can't sit back and feel sorry for yourself," Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. "You have to come in with an eager way to watch film, and you have to come out to practice with energy. Things are more challenging when they aren't going your way. That's what it takes, that's what's called for and I think just being very supportive of the guys but also being honest and making sure they know these are the things we need to do to get ourselves better."
The entire nonconference portion of the schedule could be devoted to ironing out issues and getting ready for Atlantic 10 Conference games.
We'll see. It's still early.
It's also valuable to remember the Spiders are a deceptively young team.
On paper, they start two sophomores, a redshirt junior, a redshirt freshman and a true freshman.
That indicates they have some experience.
Yes and no.
The sophomores, De'Monte Buckingham and Nick Sherod, are seasoned after successful freshman campaigns.
But the redshirt junior, Solly Stansbury, never has played college basketball until now. Grant Golden, the redshirt freshman, last year played in nine games ("A total of what, maybe 30 minutes," he said) before a cardiac issue ended his season. And Jacob Gilyard, 5-9, is a true freshman who now has two games of college experience, games he will not want to cherish forever.
Redshirt junior Khwan Fore, out with a foot injury, is an important missing piece.
He's not a 33-point difference-maker, but he's a talented 6-foot guard who plays about 6-6 and understands the competitive nature of college basketball.
When the Spiders got down early Monday, several players were pushed back on their heels. They couldn't respond to a disciplined, athletic, well-coached Gamecocks team.
"I think that's probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest thing - how do you respond to adversity?" Mooney said. "For whatever reason, that's different when you go from high school to college. I think Khwan will lend us a big hand there. He's extremely valuable to us. He's a leader and his presence certainly will help."
Jacksonville State came into the Robins Center with three starters and a backup who played significant minutes returning from the team that won the Ohio Valley Conference tournament last season and played in the NCAA tournament.
Two NBA scouts were in the house Monday to have an early-season look at the Gamecocks' 7-foot center, Norbertas Giga.
And Giga isn't even Jacksonville State's best player.
Christian Cunningham had 16 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots in 22 minutes.
The Gamecocks are coached by Ray Harper, who was a VCU graduate assistant in the 1985-86 season. JSU is a confident, poised, aggressive team that pursues every loose ball and refuses to believe an offensive possession is over until the opponent is headed in the other direction.
They were more than capable of taking apart a young, tentative team, which describes the Spiders now.
"We're not trying to mask anything because we're trying to fix it for the long term," Mooney said. "I don't think it will be overnight, but I think we will get better and give ourselves a better chance as we go along."
What's important is how the Spiders are described several months from now.
The new A D is used to a well coached, winning program despite Bucknells level,
they were always a tough out. Once he gets an opportunity to evaluate the situation
a change may be coming.
they were always a tough out. Once he gets an opportunity to evaluate the situation
a change may be coming.
The new AD will do nothing. He will go to the President and Board and say lets fire him, and the response will be "sure thing - do you have the 3-4 million to pay him and then pay the next coach?" - and then that is when Mooney will stay around for 2 more years.
It is time to come to the realization that UR "fakes" their interest in sports. We spend just enough money to be respectable and competitive, but overall - sports are not on the top of the University priority list like other schools. Case in point - we let our football coach leave UR to coach at another program in the same conference. And we have let Mooney stick around for several years with no NCAA to show. We are happy to just have good kids who win more than they lose.
It is time to come to the realization that UR "fakes" their interest in sports. We spend just enough money to be respectable and competitive, but overall - sports are not on the top of the University priority list like other schools. Case in point - we let our football coach leave UR to coach at another program in the same conference. And we have let Mooney stick around for several years with no NCAA to show. We are happy to just have good kids who win more than they lose.
Mooney was fairly stoic on the sidelines. He was doing his handshake/no handshake bit all game. Mooney's wife looked most nervous about not getting that $110,000.00 check every month.
The focus of our university is being in line with political correctness and multi culturalism, not being competitive in football and basketball.
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Don't expect much from our new AD. I think his number one priority will be fund raising. Next will come increasing our academic achievement level for athletics. The two things he did at Bucknell. Give him a year to acclimate and a couple of years to achieve the above goals and guess what......Mooneys contract is up for renewal. We just don't fire coaches.
"We just don't fire coaches." And therein lies the problem. Would loved to have had job that left me unaccountable as this. No consequences for not performing.
Several years ago, I was participating in a soccer coaching class/clinic led by Eddy Van Schaik, who was the youth coach for the famous Ajax Club in the Netherlands. After a clinic where we used local U12 players to illustrate drills and practice activities, he went on a long rant where he said the biggest problem the US has with soccer is that the players have no fun or joy in playing, that the system forces the players to look at playing like it was a job at the factory.
When I watched the last two games, I saw absolutely no fun or joy in our kid's faces. It's as if the coaching staff has made a concerted effort to drain all the fun, creativity, and spontaneity out of our players. Time to punch the clock and put in their time in the coal mine. Sad!
When I watched the last two games, I saw absolutely no fun or joy in our kid's faces. It's as if the coaching staff has made a concerted effort to drain all the fun, creativity, and spontaneity out of our players. Time to punch the clock and put in their time in the coal mine. Sad!
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That is a good point Keef. I noticed immediately that the J State players were pumped up and when a kid hit a 3, he looked up at our crowd with a big smile. We have a couple guys that look excited out there, but many that look like robotic thinkers. I am not anti system guy, but it needs to be in place as a measure to help the players.
Guys, it's fun when you are taking your opponent to the cleaners.
Easy for Woody to say he's never been a UR fan and I doubt if he contributes to the Spiders in any fashion. He's quite comfortable saying wait awhile, it'll get better. Losing to Jax St. can be tolerated losing by 30 cannot. Losing to Delaware (4 of their top 6 players underclassmen) is not acceptable under any situationPaul Woody RTD is benevolent
Things look bleak for the Richmond Spiders at the moment, but better days are ahead.
No, really, they are.
To paraphrase the man behind the curtain in the "Wizard of Oz," pay no attention to the result on the scoreboard, 94-61 in Jacksonville State's favor, Monday.
It's a sign of the state of things now, but it is not necessarily a sign of things to come for the Spiders' basketball program.
There probably will be more losses before there is a winning streak. Practices will be demanding.
When you give you suffer back-to-back defeats to start a the season, and loss No. 2 is worse than loss No. 1, players should not expect pats on the back and a lot of "way to goes" from the coaching staff.
"You can't sit back and feel sorry for yourself," Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. "You have to come in with an eager way to watch film, and you have to come out to practice with energy. Things are more challenging when they aren't going your way. That's what it takes, that's what's called for and I think just being very supportive of the guys but also being honest and making sure they know these are the things we need to do to get ourselves better."
The entire nonconference portion of the schedule could be devoted to ironing out issues and getting ready for Atlantic 10 Conference games.
We'll see. It's still early.
It's also valuable to remember the Spiders are a deceptively young team.
On paper, they start two sophomores, a redshirt junior, a redshirt freshman and a true freshman.
That indicates they have some experience.
Yes and no.
The sophomores, De'Monte Buckingham and Nick Sherod, are seasoned after successful freshman campaigns.
But the redshirt junior, Solly Stansbury, never has played college basketball until now. Grant Golden, the redshirt freshman, last year played in nine games ("A total of what, maybe 30 minutes," he said) before a cardiac issue ended his season. And Jacob Gilyard, 5-9, is a true freshman who now has two games of college experience, games he will not want to cherish forever.
Redshirt junior Khwan Fore, out with a foot injury, is an important missing piece.
He's not a 33-point difference-maker, but he's a talented 6-foot guard who plays about 6-6 and understands the competitive nature of college basketball.
When the Spiders got down early Monday, several players were pushed back on their heels. They couldn't respond to a disciplined, athletic, well-coached Gamecocks team.
"I think that's probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest thing - how do you respond to adversity?" Mooney said. "For whatever reason, that's different when you go from high school to college. I think Khwan will lend us a big hand there. He's extremely valuable to us. He's a leader and his presence certainly will help."
Jacksonville State came into the Robins Center with three starters and a backup who played significant minutes returning from the team that won the Ohio Valley Conference tournament last season and played in the NCAA tournament.
Two NBA scouts were in the house Monday to have an early-season look at the Gamecocks' 7-foot center, Norbertas Giga.
And Giga isn't even Jacksonville State's best player.
Christian Cunningham had 16 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots in 22 minutes.
The Gamecocks are coached by Ray Harper, who was a VCU graduate assistant in the 1985-86 season. JSU is a confident, poised, aggressive team that pursues every loose ball and refuses to believe an offensive possession is over until the opponent is headed in the other direction.
They were more than capable of taking apart a young, tentative team, which describes the Spiders now.
"We're not trying to mask anything because we're trying to fix it for the long term," Mooney said. "I don't think it will be overnight, but I think we will get better and give ourselves a better chance as we go along."
What's important is how the Spiders are described several months from now.
So we have to wait till Grant and Jacob are seniors? I am not going to be that patient?
They did great their Senior year...after we fired their original coach who wasn't getting it done and hired John Beilein.
Yes, this is what I recall - JB really unlocked these guys - especially Stevenson.
Exactly. Which is why we need to bring in a coach who can actually maximize all the talent we have on the current roster before they are seniors.
Get your point and thank you for the coal mine reference - made me think of this great song.................
Jarod was a tremendous athlete. Cueto I believe played at St. Anthony’s and was pretty highly recruited. Oliver could shoot, and Poole was one of the better big men we have had. Dooley couldn’t win with them. It is safe to assume that had Beilein not been our coach, we would not have won the CAA tournament and not have advanced to the round of 32 by beating 3 seed South Carolina. Coaching makes a big difference.
I and a few other guys who post here were friends with some of those guys. Suffice to say, Dooley did not do much of anything to help their development.
Dools is a good guy but had a tough time as head coach at Richmond. Did well as an assistant under Tarrant but was 43-69 as head coach. Currently an assistant women's basketball coach with the Hokies. Best year with us was his first in 1994 - 8 -6 in conference, 14-14 overall, and named as CAA coach of the year for a 4th place finish in conference. Back to Mooney it is very tough to be totally out shined by the school so close by year in and year out and average beating them 1 of 5, which means 80% of the time we lose. Thought we would have some "growing pains" ( a worn out phrase ) but there is no other way to put it we have been "smoked" by our first two opponents. Credit to them and was impressed by the play of Jacksonville State who looked like world beaters, or was it that we made them look like world beaters?
The whole Dooley thing is why I am so patient with Mooney. Dooley was legitimately bad at pretty much everything, and our results under him were never better than .500. Mooney just isn't at that level of bad any way you slice it. That said, I feel like we are in the same kind of place that the Yankees were with Girardi -- 10 years of pretty good interspersed with a couple years of great. Plateaued for a while, and now a new, young exciting core. The Yankees moved on, albeit due to the end of a contract. I could see and understand moving on at the end of this year from Mooney as well. BUT...
Honest question: would you be willing to live with the transfer of some or all of Buck, Golden, Sherod, and Gilyard to make that happen?
Honest question: would you be willing to live with the transfer of some or all of Buck, Golden, Sherod, and Gilyard to make that happen?
Yeah and it took a coaching change to get their potential.
As far as transfers, if they want to sit out a year somewhere else they can hit the bricks. School before coach.
The way we're going, we might have to worry about someone transferring for another reason. Who would want to waste his 4 years getting annihilated?
Would it even be the worst thing in the world? We clearly need to clean house and the promise of young Buckingham,Sherod,Golden and Gilyard is the only plank that the 'keep Mooney' crowd have to stand on.
Count me in the crowd that would prefer to press a complete RESET BUTTON on our program with a new coach and rebuilt roster than the KEEP MOONEY AND EXPECT HIM TO COACH UP OUR YOUNG TALENT option.
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No I'm sorry sure the players developed over the years. but a new coach, new attitude, building pieces into a team is what turned it around. Bill was in the horrible position of following the legend, for his sake I wished at the time he hadn't taken the job. Beilein is a great coach and proved it in W. VA.
Doubt any of them would leave. It is more likely that it would ignite a flame of optimism and hope. Make the goal of reaching the NCAA tournament more realistic.
It’s been time for a change for more than 2 years. I’d be a fan of going to the Bronx and bringing back a former assistant.
Ignorant right wing nonsense. You can have a multicultural focus and still be successful in basketball (see VCU). The school is more focused on academics overall, which is why few of us would probably be able to get into UR today. Still doesn’t mean they can’t fire Mooney though.
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Left wing crap {PC and multi culturalism aiming for the Balkanization of America} is more nonsense>
So far this is one of the most negative threads I have seen. I advise always waiting until 4-6 games into a season before recommending the firing of everyone and massive blowing up of the team. This will be my last post on this thread because the best way to make a thread disappear is to NOT RESPOND to it. Please help this thread to go away!!!
Locked away in the basement of the CIA HQ are the renaining unreleased JFK files, and the hard copy of Mooney's contract. Biggest secret in history are the terms of our abort clause -- how much it will cost us.
Better to rip the band-aid off in April 2018 than to wait out more mediocrity until April 2021.
Better to rip the band-aid off in April 2018 than to wait out more mediocrity until April 2021.
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