Checking in with Steve Orsini on Top 25

[redpony]

GW Pony- good comments. SO has done a good job with the fund raising. Now if we can get a few other sports back on track we will be okay.

GSP- I agree with you on the BBall issue. I do not think we could have gotten Kevin Grimes. His contract is pretty rich if you consider the incentives (IIRC around $250k). We might have been able to do better with less money even though I would have preferred an alum and former soccer player. I believe there were some young, successful and experienced coaches that were interested but SO didn't want to be confused with the facts. I believe he already had his mind made up long before any other applicants expressed interest.
Vball- not sure. This might be the year we show substantial progress.

Let's hope the football program moves ahead rapidly and we can get some funds to spend on other programs.

GO PONIES!!!

[VarsityShop]

Would still like to know what the general would have done differently.

He has nothing to offer but sour grapes. Southern Methodist is 2-1 and came within inches of being 3-0 but this Patton character is a big cry baby. We may win 4 games this year and we are half way there. These Patton types are not big picture people, they do not comprehend what is happening. They see June in his 2nd season and think the rebuilding should be complete and we should be 3-0. Don't be distracted by such gnats, they are like children hollering "daddy why arent we there yet?"

[George S. Patton]

Would still like to know what the general would have done differently.

He has nothing to offer but sour grapes. Southern Methodist is 2-1 and came within inches of being 3-0 but this Patton character is a big cry baby. We may win 4 games this year and we are half way there. These Patton types are not big picture people, they do not comprehend what is happening. They see June in his 2nd season and think the rebuilding should be complete and we should be 3-0. Don't be distracted by such gnats, they are like children hollering "daddy why arent we there yet?"

Completely inaccurate. But you believe what you want to believe.

[Dwan]

Orsini was brought in here to improve our mens football and basketball teams. Top 25 in everything we do is a campaign/PR slogan that really means top 25 in the revenue sports. Post DP, we have been outstanding in the non revenue sports like soccer, swimming, etc, but until there is success in the revenue sports, the athletic department will lose money. Also, the success of mens basketball and football teams is critical to the university from a PR POV, especially at a small private school. Look at the success of USC football over the last 8 years and look how much that has increased applications to the school. Same thing happend at Boston College when Flutie played there, same thing happened at Duke when Coach K arrived, same thing with TCU and football over the past 8 years, Gonzaga because of basketball, and so and and so on. It gives the University national exposure to potiental students. The more students who apply, the more selective you can be with the students you take, which means the school improves it's academic reputation, For example, a nationally televised home game that shows the school, it's students, and the BLVD is going to do a whole lot more for you than winning 3 straight mens soccer titles.

Now if you want to make a strong push towards being top 25 in the revenue sports, the non-revenue sports will suffer short term, especially at a small private school. Personally, I'm cool with this, I'd rather have bowl games and tourney teams and have all the other sports preform like our current mens football and basketball teams. This is what Orsini was brought in to do.

Now football, it;s hard to argue that with Jones we are not at long last taking the right steps but it is going to take 5 years. Basketball, Doherty has been disappointing. On paper, it was an amazing hire for SMU and at the time, hard to say it was anything but a great move. I mean, it's not like he hired the JV coach at JJ Pearce. I think canning him after 3 years would only lead to a bigger mess. It is really hard to fault the hire though, easy to fault it with hindsight. I'm frustrated as hell with the B-Ball program but still think as of now, Doherty is our best option. And if it comes down to bowl games and top 25 teams in football and everything else, including basketball sucks....I'd still take that over good swimming and soccer teams

[GrapevineMustang]

Vball- not sure. This might be the year we show substantial progress.

If so, that performance would be made even more impressive by the fact that our top recruit blew out her knee in preseason.

[redpony]

Now if you want to make a strong push towards being top 25 in the revenue sports, the non-revenue sports will suffer short term, especially at a small private school.

Unfortunately I suspected as much. My take was that the other coaching hires (non-rev sports) were done with budgets in mind rather than quality of coach or program improvement.

GO PONIES!!!