I respect your passion and love for UR. I’d argue that the school has taken a defeatist stance simply by continually extending and (handsomely) rewarding a coach who never has had a winning record against a VCU coach. At this point it’s a UR problem because we have almost two decades of data to show that this coach rarely beats VCU so it’s clear our “strategy” is to just hope we have a senior laden team to beat them once every few years…maybe. You are right that none of the keyboard warriors on this board make a difference….hell, our biggest donor is publicly lowering expectations (not sure I’ve ever seen a booster do that).
Ryan Odom new VCU coach
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He was unpopular here long before he didn't say what you say he said.
"Our teams have [sic] completed for championships in every sport. Maybe not as often as you would like, but likely as frequently warranted given our size and academic focus."
"Given the changing landscape and the reduced at large bids for mid majors, I think we need to temper our expectations. We should be in the top half of the league over a long period of time and seriously contend for a championship every three to four years."
Queally certainly seems to think we're pretty much at our ceiling.
"Given the changing landscape and the reduced at large bids for mid majors, I think we need to temper our expectations. We should be in the top half of the league over a long period of time and seriously contend for a championship every three to four years."
Queally certainly seems to think we're pretty much at our ceiling.
He is stating the obvious based of the way our Athletics Department functions. There is no indication the President or the Board of Trustees is unhappy about it.
It’s my understanding that he posted his thoughts regarding our leafy school status and tempering expectations in writing on some form of social media recently. If that isn’t true please set the record straight (honestly). Otherwise this is no different than our current political climate where everyone just makes claims and shouts down their perceived opponents. It is a fact that we’ve gone to the tournament 3 times in 18 years but even that absolute seems to get attacked or ignored by folks that for some reason seem more loyal to Coach Mooney (and happy with the status quo) vs those that don’t care who the coach is but think we can/should win more than 55% of the time.
My dislike of him has nothing to do with anything relating to Hardt, basketball, any of it. I appreciate what he has done in so many regards but I can never forgive him for what he did to soccer my freshman year.
That is not saying we can't compete. Just that competing is becoming tougher.
* He is absolutely correct that the reduced NCAA-tournament slots for mid- and low-majors greatly impacts us. The days of 3-4 bids from the A-10 are most likely a thing of the past. Something like only 5 non-power conference schools got at-large berths this year and even FAU was on the bubble.
* So does NIL; I don't seriously expect us to be throwing around Miami-level money at recruits.
* So does the portal, which has and will continue to drain talent from mid- and low-majors to P5 conferences.
Like him or not, Queally did not become a multi-millionaire by being stupid, by consistently taking losing positions or not being able to read the room.
All that said, if we're going to play DI athletics, then let's go all-in on DI athletics.
PS: Plydog, I understand your dislike. My younger brother and several of my friends/fraternity brothers were soccer lettermen. There was absolutely no need to drop the program.
Things certainly have changed, you’re right. It would have been nice if we had done what was necessary to capitalize on winning 12 years ago when had the necessary momentum to do so, then maybe we would be in a much more attractive place now.
If the A-10 is going to be a one-bid league and our biggest benefactor only envisions "contending" for a championship every 3–4 years, that probably means actually winning it, what, every 10–15 years? If that's the reality, and it may be, I'm not sure why we're spending $1.5 million/year on a coach and tens of millions on facilities.
Being "all in" likely involves more than we're capable of or willing to do in this day and age given our size and other constraints. The result of that changing landscape and the A-10's decline is that we've put ourselves in a position where spending a lot of money but not enough, and the ultimate results would very likely be the same or even better if we committed fewer resources and swam in a smaller pond.
Being "all in" likely involves more than we're capable of or willing to do in this day and age given our size and other constraints. The result of that changing landscape and the A-10's decline is that we've put ourselves in a position where spending a lot of money but not enough, and the ultimate results would very likely be the same or even better if we committed fewer resources and swam in a smaller pond.
Totally agree, SF. Given our current constraints, i would move all sports to the SoCon. Develop some fun football rivalries and win the SoCon hoops tourney every 4-5 years. Asheville is a hell of a lot more fun trip than Brooklyn and easier on the wallet.
Encourage W&M, Elon and Davidson to go with us.
I realize this will not happen because our leadership places great value on the exposure to the northeast.
In terms of playing entertaining and successful football and basketball, i think it would be the best fit.
I totally agree we should be all-in, and fully-scholarshipped in every sport. We have to do more.
But that doesn't mean Queally is incorrect about how the landscaped has changed; we just need to change with it. We certainly are financially capable of spending Villanova-type money if we want to.
Our donor daddy is more interested in having buildings memorializing his wealth and gaining access than using his billions to buy the best and brightest basketball players.
Did he kill soccer to brng in lacrosse, and piss off the Ukrops in the process?
He advocated for lacrosse, a perfect sport for our demographic profile.
Our own AD, President and BOT determined that something would have to be sacrificed for lacrosse to be added. The loss of men's soccer/T&F was a self-inflicted wound.
I am not familiar with the details as to why Ukrops got sideways with the UR athletic department.
The final pivot here is what Queally is missing. Yes, things are changing, but why can’t we change with them and grow? It’s the tone of his comments being excuse making for why we are middling instead of there being a tone of challenging to be great.
As you said earlier, if we’re going to be playing D-1 sports, we should be all in on playing D-1 sports.
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