Is this something an AD would even do? Is there any precedent for this? Asking honestly because nothing is coming to mind.
To me an ultimatum like that is just a bad idea, stated publicly at least.
In my opinion, if Hardt thinks Mooney is the right guy for the job he has 13 years of evidence to look at. Why would only next year's results determine if he is the right coach for us going forward?
Similarly, if he doesn't think he's the guy for the job, he should have plenty of evidence (2 seasons of watching in person plus 11 years prior) to base his decision off of and not have to rely on the performance of only one season.
It was probably more wishful thinking on my part, and you're more than likely right Hardt won't flat out say it like that. But I'd like to here something along the lines of "We have placed expectations squarely on making the NCAA tournament
this year" from Hardt or something like that where it is clear to those involved that this is truly it. Again, may be wishful thinking on my part, but I think it would help quiet some part of the frustration with this fan base that feel as though our AD won't hold Mooney accountable for not achieving goals.
To address the second point, I'm right there with you. There has been 14 years of evidence (even more if you include Air Force and Beaver College record) that Mooney is not cut out for the job. If it were up to me, as things stand, Mooney should be fired at the end of the season because there has been ample evidence to suggest he can't turn things around. I'd like to think that Hardt recognizes this and his argument (which is understandable to some extent) to keeping Mooney another year is that Mooney has been tied back by administration and he didn't have the facilities (which make a huge difference. Just ask Huesman and our football staff). So Hardt might be saying to Mooney behind the scenes "Look, you now can recruit almost anyone you want and you will have a world-class practice facility to pitch to recruits" If you can't make NCAA with this, there is absolutely no more excuses. Or maybe Hardt does want to fire him now, but Queally wants to give Mooney one more chance with the new practice facility and more lenient recruiting measures. I have no clue. Again, this is simply conjecture.
To qualify my post, I am agreeing with everything you say here.
The part about it that gives me such indigestion is that everyone with more than a couple brain cells knows we won't be anywhere close to an NCAA bid again next year. We are a bottom of the table team in the A10 this year. We will be fortunate to be in the top half of A10 teams next year... and the A10 will only send 3 teams to the NCAA at most. We know it, Mooney knows it, the team probably knows it. Hardt and Queally probably even know it. They just aren't ready to go to our BOT with their hats in hand yet.
Essentially, Hardt and Queally are telling us to take a nap until the A10 tournament in March of 2020. The problem is there's no guarantee anybody wakes up from their nap from Spider Basketball then.
I agree that many fans know that Mooney more than likely won't do it next year either. Maybe Queally knows that too but because he's friends with Mooney is giving him one more year because of the facilities and lenient recruiting standards (see my post to gospidergo). But I'd like to think that if Mooney fails to make the NCAA tournament next year with all the other improvements, he will have exhausted all his "free passes" from Queally/Hardt and they'll then write him a nice check to buyout the rest of his contract. I wish the administration would do it now 1) to speed up the process and 2) there will be a lot of good coaches on the market this season. However, I don't call the shots.
I really think this boils down to the fact that Queally is friends with Mooney, Mooney has been limited by facilities & recruiting standards in the past, and I am sure that Mooney is a likable guy with the team and his coworkers, which makes it harder to fire him. So Hardt is giving him every possible reason to keep his job, which in this case is the practice facility and recruiting leniency. Plus to be fair to Mooney, we were first four out of NCAA about 5 years ago and like I just said, there were several strong players we should have landed that the administration screwed us over on - no fault of Mooney. Given that, do I think this absolves Mooney from the fact we haven't made the NCAA in 8 years and likely won't this year or next year? No. Like you said, I think it is clear to almost everyone that Mooney should be fired because he cannot coach at this level. However, there have been some grey area things that haven't gone Mooney's way, he is friends with Queally, and because of this, he may be given one more year with the recruiting leniency, facilities, chartered planes, and any other thing that was held as an excuse holding him back in the past. However, I'm sure that this will be the final straw for even Queally/Hardt.
Bottom line. I wish Mooney is fired at the end of the season if things continue the way it has the first half of the season. However, because of the reasons I alluded to above, my gut feeling is that he will likely be given one more (and final) chance.
