I'll share what I sent this morning to AD Hardt (if it reaches him at the university-provided email address) if folks on here are interested. Obviously I am not a great writer so its probably a lot of rambling, but its hard to write coherently when your morning has been destroyed by news of the basketball program's continued insanity:
Good morning John, hope you are well. I am a graduate of the business school from 1997, a fraternity member and alumni member of the Men’s club soccer team for my entire school career. Not an athlete per se but an athlete nonetheless. I have been lucky enough to work in sports media (finance) the last 10 years of my career. I am not the most active alumnus compared with many others. I do follow all the sports teams, have since graduation. I’ve lived as a proud alumnus through the 1998 men’s basketball tournament upset, the Sweet 16 run of 2011, football’s national championship in 2008, the introduction of the men’s lacrosse program, as well as all the swim team, cross country & field hockey championships to name a few of the highlights over the last 20 years. I was lucky enough to watch the baseball team beat Ga Tech a few weeks ago as I live right near their campus.
I wanted to take the time to reach out about your recent decision to keep Chris Mooney as the head basketball at UR, while conversely giving Michael Shafer his walking papers. I think you made the right move with Shafer, he had always recruited well but never had those results materialize on the court for whatever reason and I think after 16 seasons it was time to cut the cord. However, I think you’ve made a large mistake retaining Coach Mooney. I have no doubt he is a nice guy and model coach from an ethical and personality standpoint. But that’s where the benefits to our program end in my eyes. His success in the NCAA tournament over 8 years ago is a distant memory. His failures on the court the last 4 years (I believe this downward spiral began not two seasons ago but 4 or 5) cannot be corrected at this point. Unless you’re a Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo or someone of that ilk have a coach at a program more than 10 years with no results is a waste of the program’s time and his time. He has not adapted in 14 years, his teams don’t rebound, they don’t shot well from the free throw line and now over the last few years they don’t shoot the 3 very well either. It is not an attractive brand of basketball to watch either. You can play a clip from 2009 and today and see the same weave at the top of the key that goes nowhere 8 out of 10 times.
This was a chance to make a change and show the fans/supporters of Spider athletics that this institution is focused on returning a program that wins, not just “competes”. The school has consistently invested highly in the staff and infrastructure of this program for it not to be successful. The transfers of players out of the program the last several years and the ones who simply can’t cut it at the A10 level are the norm, not the exception year in and year out. I don’t see what 1 more year really does. The loss of Nick Sherod to injury was not as devastating as some people think. The schedule was awful this past season and was the year before as well. Maybe it’ll be tougher next year, but that is irrelevant for what should have been obvious after these last 2 seasons. What was the excuse last year?
I have not given money to the school for over 4 years because of Coach Mooney still being employed. And I won’t until he is a thing of the past. I know my donations are not going to swing the pendulum at the school like a Queally or Robins, and maybe that’s the problem—money. If someone of that stature is in a coach’s camp I guess they might put pressure on the AD and dept. I wouldn’t expect any less, happens everywhere from Phil Knight to T. Boone Pickens. But when you look at the men’s lacrosse team coming from literally nothing 5 years ago and already have 2 more NCAA bids in the last 8 years than the basketball team, you can deduce that it doesn’t take a lot of time to create a winner. That was successful from jump street because of the man at the top Coach Chemotti. Maybe the current buyout was too much to get rid of the coach this year, I don’t know.
I just wanted to take time to express my dissatisfaction with the program and the direction I think it has been and continues to be headed: backwards. Thank you for your time and attention to listen to a disgruntled and disillusioned alumnus.
Good morning John, hope you are well. I am a graduate of the business school from 1997, a fraternity member and alumni member of the Men’s club soccer team for my entire school career. Not an athlete per se but an athlete nonetheless. I have been lucky enough to work in sports media (finance) the last 10 years of my career. I am not the most active alumnus compared with many others. I do follow all the sports teams, have since graduation. I’ve lived as a proud alumnus through the 1998 men’s basketball tournament upset, the Sweet 16 run of 2011, football’s national championship in 2008, the introduction of the men’s lacrosse program, as well as all the swim team, cross country & field hockey championships to name a few of the highlights over the last 20 years. I was lucky enough to watch the baseball team beat Ga Tech a few weeks ago as I live right near their campus.
I wanted to take the time to reach out about your recent decision to keep Chris Mooney as the head basketball at UR, while conversely giving Michael Shafer his walking papers. I think you made the right move with Shafer, he had always recruited well but never had those results materialize on the court for whatever reason and I think after 16 seasons it was time to cut the cord. However, I think you’ve made a large mistake retaining Coach Mooney. I have no doubt he is a nice guy and model coach from an ethical and personality standpoint. But that’s where the benefits to our program end in my eyes. His success in the NCAA tournament over 8 years ago is a distant memory. His failures on the court the last 4 years (I believe this downward spiral began not two seasons ago but 4 or 5) cannot be corrected at this point. Unless you’re a Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo or someone of that ilk have a coach at a program more than 10 years with no results is a waste of the program’s time and his time. He has not adapted in 14 years, his teams don’t rebound, they don’t shot well from the free throw line and now over the last few years they don’t shoot the 3 very well either. It is not an attractive brand of basketball to watch either. You can play a clip from 2009 and today and see the same weave at the top of the key that goes nowhere 8 out of 10 times.
This was a chance to make a change and show the fans/supporters of Spider athletics that this institution is focused on returning a program that wins, not just “competes”. The school has consistently invested highly in the staff and infrastructure of this program for it not to be successful. The transfers of players out of the program the last several years and the ones who simply can’t cut it at the A10 level are the norm, not the exception year in and year out. I don’t see what 1 more year really does. The loss of Nick Sherod to injury was not as devastating as some people think. The schedule was awful this past season and was the year before as well. Maybe it’ll be tougher next year, but that is irrelevant for what should have been obvious after these last 2 seasons. What was the excuse last year?
I have not given money to the school for over 4 years because of Coach Mooney still being employed. And I won’t until he is a thing of the past. I know my donations are not going to swing the pendulum at the school like a Queally or Robins, and maybe that’s the problem—money. If someone of that stature is in a coach’s camp I guess they might put pressure on the AD and dept. I wouldn’t expect any less, happens everywhere from Phil Knight to T. Boone Pickens. But when you look at the men’s lacrosse team coming from literally nothing 5 years ago and already have 2 more NCAA bids in the last 8 years than the basketball team, you can deduce that it doesn’t take a lot of time to create a winner. That was successful from jump street because of the man at the top Coach Chemotti. Maybe the current buyout was too much to get rid of the coach this year, I don’t know.
I just wanted to take time to express my dissatisfaction with the program and the direction I think it has been and continues to be headed: backwards. Thank you for your time and attention to listen to a disgruntled and disillusioned alumnus.
