Don't go there. Did you know the two biggest problems are ignorance and apathy? - Answer: I don't know and I don't care.
Mens - @ VCU - Sat 2/1 4pm CBSSN
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I always heard it as a census guy asking “which is worse?” With that answer…
I still say my billboard with Mooney A10 coach of the year 2025. Isn’t that positive?
Here you go:
From JOC article in RTD - “Even though we haven’t had a ton of success and wins, we’ve really competed,” Mooney said of UR’s season. “Tonight, it felt like we didn’t.”
Have we really competed though? We’ve had I think three losses by 4 or less, but most of our losses were by 6-10 pts with multiple games anywhere from 17-44pts.
Maybe I have a different definition of competing.
We only ever post postgames from home games, at least for men's hoops. (There might be an exception or two, but certainly the vast majority of the time we don't post ones from away games.)
Yeah, I dunno if it's a rights issue getting it from the home team or we don't have anybody recording it ourselves or what.
We typically upload postgames with Roussell, but they're not the official press conferences, just some brief comments usually from on the court after the games.
Right. PQ, 80s, Hardt and the good ol boy network are bunkered up and letting moon know they have his back. They will be gloating in 26-27 when we finish 6th in conference and proud that the 3 year plan is working.
Participation trophy awarded by D1 college coach? This is how far our program has dropped. Have we seen bottom, or is there further to go?
8legs1dream
Graduate Assistant
JOC and/or RTD is there taking video on his iphone I don't think its a rights issue. The technology is simple idk why a game less than 10 miles from the RC u can't get a postgame presser.
8legs1dream
Graduate Assistant
They knew there was no way imaginable to spin that train wreck so they instead tucked tail and ran. Much like the Mooneyites on this board have done.
I am sure I am in the minority opinion here, but I think Hardt has done a great job with hiring coaches for UR and if he were to make the decision to hire for men's basketball on his own (assuming Queally or other big boosters aren't telling him who to hire) there's no reason to think he won't do a good job based on recent history. Here's who he has hired since being AD here. If I've missed anyone, let me know.
Baseball: Mik Aoki - Starting his 2nd season this spring. Finished 2nd place in A10 tournament last year in first season at UR. Has #60 ranked class of 2025 according to Perfect Game.
Women's basketball: Aaron Roussell - We all know the tremendous job he has done in building this program to being top 40 in the country and winning regular season/tournament championship last year.
Field Hockey: Martu Loncarica - Had her first season here last year with 11 total wins, made playoffs being in a conference that included national runner up Saint Joe's and national semi-finalist UMass. First time since 2019 we had a 10+ win season.
Women's lacrosse: Anne Harrington. Had been on staff for 6 years prior to becoming head coach heading into her 3rd year as head coach this spring. In her 2 season's as head coach has won back-to-back A10 championships
Women's soccer: Adam Denton - Has been here for 2 years. Went 4-10-3 this past year and 3-11-4 his first year.
So with the 5 hires that I can think of, 1 has been exceptional (Roussell), I considered 3 to have been very good/solid with what they've produced so far (Aoki, Loncarica, Harrington) and one TBD in Denton and even with him it's only been 2 years and our women's soccer has historically not been a good sport for us, so that will be very difficult to turnaround. Will definitely need to give him more time given that history before determining whether he has been a good hire or not.
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While this may be accurate, it’s roughly equivalent to saying that my paint and wallpaper guys are awesome, just ignore the fire my electrician caused that burned through my house.
If I don’t address the problem with my electrician, all the decorations don’t really matter.
Basketball is the most important sport by far. He has just let it ride forever, just trashing a once proud program and franchise. So great he is doing good on other sports but is failing big time in the one that matters. And Hardt thought Paulsen is a great coach. Paulsen just as bad as Mooney. Like Hardt need to think bigger than lil ol Richmond. I don't trust Hardt. Nope.
It's worse than that. I don't trust the administration or BOT. It no longer feels like the school that I attended. Granted, that was a long time ago. But with that said I can't and don't root against them. The current state of things tugs at the heart.
But with the decisions Hardt has needed to make with hiring new coaches, I think he has done a very good job. Also, since Hardt has been AD, our men's basketball had the 24-7 season, A10 regular season championship, A10 tournament championship + Round of 32 NCAA.
I get that he has made decisions like not firing Mooney or giving contract extensions that many felt were unwarranted. I don't think everything he has done as an AD has been great, such as the way the Patriot League move for football were handled. That's separate then the point I am making, which is when he has needed to hire coaches for our sports teams, he has done a great job so far.
I get that he has made decisions like not firing Mooney or giving contract extensions that many felt were unwarranted. I don't think everything he has done as an AD has been great, such as the way the Patriot League move for football were handled. That's separate then the point I am making, which is when he has needed to hire coaches for our sports teams, he has done a great job so far.
Yes basketball is 100% our #1 priority sport, but would you rather him make the decision of hiring for men's basketball without any record of other hires beforehand? It’s like a surgeon trainee proving themselves doing a good job with minor surgical procedures before being asked to take on a major surgery case. Before becoming head coaches, people have to prove themselves as video coordinators then wide receiver coach then offensive coordinate first. With respect to hiring coaches, I would say Hardt has shown that he has made good decisions with our other sports thus far.
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Hardt isn't to blame for that lousy 10 year contract given to Mooney. His first big decision was after the 2018-2019 season to fire Mooney or not. He decided to hold off to see how that class does and it paid off with a 2nd place finish in A10 and 24-7 season and then 2 years later an A10 tournament championship + NCAA win. 2 years after they graduated, we won the A10 regular season.
Yes, I have come to agree with posters here that the contract extension he gave after last season was unnecessary, but Hardt isn't responsible for Mooney's hiring. Hardt has been hear since the January, 2018. This is his 7th basketball season and in that time frame, we had three, 23+ win seasons, 1 A10 tournament championship and NCAA win, 1 A10 regular season championship, and a very good chance for an at-large. That is a lot better than what transpired under Keith Gill.
Several facility enhancement such as The Queally Athletic Center have been built under Hardt too.
Marty Beall was hired by interim AD, David Walsh in December, 2017. Hardt’s first day was in January, 2018
Beall Named New Richmond Women's Soccer Head Coach
New Spider Coach Joins UR from High Point
atlantic10.com
Met Hardt day he was introduced as new AD, after small talk I said I don’t envy you and good luck. He had a puzzled look and responded why would I say that. I said because you need to replace the men’s basketball coach. He walked away. As GK might say, big bull but small balls.
I stand corrected.Marty Beall was hired by interim AD, David Walsh in December, 2017. Hardt’s first day was in January, 2018
Beall Named New Richmond Women's Soccer Head Coach
New Spider Coach Joins UR from High Point
He walked away, but you were right. Now Hardt is is a big part of the problem. Not impressed with him.
Question - Queally, Hardt, and Mooney seem to be looked upon here as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost of Spider basketball. Pure speculation on my part, but believe clearly Queally is the driver. If he supports Mooney unconditionally, hard to see how Hardt could act to upend that. No?
That is pretty close I think KE. It would seem PQ is the head of the tridumbvirate snake. First order of business is ensuring Mooney's job security.
Correct. I cannot imagine that Hardt would not directly speak to Queally about firing our basketball coach. Having a big time donor impact the decision making of an AD isn’t good in my opinion, but that’s a reality of college athletics especially a school like UR where athletics isn’t as prominent and one mega donor is the one who gives a lot of the donations, particularly in athletics. A school like UVA probably has several mega donors so it’s spread more evenly.
One of the most important things any university tries to accomplish is raise money. It just so happens that one of our biggest donors also has taken a liking to overseeing our basketball program. In a lot of ways, Queally has done many great things such as spearheading the basketball practice facility and NIL. On the other hand, if his own personal affiliation with our coach restricts Hardt’s ability to make impartial decisions, then that’s not a positive thing of course. So being in that position as AD to not bite the hand that feeds you so to speak, is a tough place to be in. There’s also the factor of buy-out of contract and if Queally won’t pay for it, then I don’t know who will.
I am sure there is a lot of politicking involved as AD. A lot of which, Hardt was thrown in the middle of. In hindsight, we shouldn’t have given a contract extension last year but who knows if there were other external pressures for him to do so. Since Hardt’s tenure as AD, Mooney’s results have certainly been good enough to not warrant being fired.
If we have another disastrous season the next 1-2 years then Mooney will rightfully be on the hot seat and Hardt’s legacy as AD will come down to how our men’s basketball head coaching position is handled. For now, with all the factors I mention above, I can’t imagine there will be any changes after this season.
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We have had exactly one season under Hardts leadership where we had a sniff of an at large chance for bball. One.
If you’re serious about program success, this is not something you can rationalize away.
I heard from a friend of mine who stays in close contact with UR athletics that if we didn’t win in 2022, Mooney would’ve been gone. Not sure how accurate that is or if other sources here want to confirm. Fact is thought that he won - even if it was as a 6th seed and an underwhelming regular season that year - plus he had an NCAA win against Iowa. He followed it up with A10 regular season championship 2 years later and won A10 COY.
With those results alone, Mooney isn’t going to be fired this season or to be honest even next season if it’s underwhelming again. That’s just my opinion based on all the factors I’ve discussed on this thread. Earliest I can see is after 2026-2027 season. 3 years in a row with lousy results at that point, and I think Mooney will retire. That’s my guess of how things would go down.
Yep moon is playing the long game. No pressure year to year.
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