Post-game comment by Jehvon Clarke

[bg1984]

I never mention players in posts because obviously these are 18-22 year old kids, but I think this quote by Clarke at about the 10:30 mark in last night's post-game press conference illustrates what kind of attitude the current coaching staff has imbued in players and explains why Orr's teams routinely lose close games and are so routinely average or below average:

“Winning, losing games…it doesn't mean anything to me”

I had to back it up and listen to that several times to make sure that is what I heard. Jehvon was very honestly and eloquently talking about what it was like playing for the coach. This is not a criticism of Clarke in any way because he's a player who seems to reflect the attitude of the head coach.

How in the world can this program progress if the point guard who is a team leader thinks this way? To his credit I'm sure what he was attempting to convey is that there are more important things in life than winning or losing a basketball game and he is certainly correct, but like it or not, winning is important in an athletic event and if it does not matter to a player if the team loses then losing will become acceptable.

Just read these comments about winning from some very successful leaders:

"All right Mister, let me tell you what winning means? you're willing to go longer, work harder, give more than anyone else." Vince Lombardi

"If any thing goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it. That's all it takes to get people to win football games for you." Paul "Bear" Bryant

"Ever notice that people never say "It's only a game" when they're winning?" Ivern Ball

"And the trouble with me is that my ego just can't accept a loss. I suppose that if I were more perfectly adjusted, I would toss off defeat, but my name is on this ball club. Thirty-six men publicly reflect me and reflect on me, and it's a matter of my pride." Vince Lombardi

"Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything." Vince Lombardi

"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be." John Wooden (Wow, could Orr have ever used this advice!)

"Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing." Vince Lombardi

I do believe we have skilled players. I do believe with a few key additions we will have even more skilled players. Now we need a leader who can imbue a winning attitude in the players rather than the attitude that winning or losing does not mean anything!

I'm excited for a breath of fresh air in this program and am optimistic about the future. But serious attitude adjustments must be on the horizon!

[BGSU33]

“Winning, losing games…it doesn't mean anything to me”

I about choked when I heard that last night when I listened to the post game interview. I get the circumstances of when he gave that answer, but for a guy supposedly running our team, that is about the last thing I want to hear him or any player say. Listen to almost any other post game interview and you hear players saying the exact opposite. I'm hoping it stemmed more about him feeling emotions about losing Orr, but if that's how he honestly feels, finding a JUCO point guard who can replace him right away next season is tops on my wish list.

[guest44]

It's the only culture he knows. It's a marathon not a sprint. If he has 9 turnovers he still plays. Just like when Crawford had 9 turnovers and Clarke didn't play. Stubborn and lazy is a lethal combination in leadership.

[hammb]

Not surprised in the least. It was painfully obvious that Louis Orr never cared one way or the other about winning or losing games. He thought his role as head coach was to mentor young kids and mold them into fine adults. He may or may not have excelled at that, I don't know enough about our former players to say one way or the other. But it is painfully obvious from how is teams played, and how he reacted (or didn't) to that play, that winning was never of primary concern to him. It's sports cliche as all get out but the quote from Remember the Titans is pretty fitting in this (and many other) situation: "Attitude reflects leadership, coach."

Orr's demeanor and approach to the sport and molding young men would be admirable at the junior high level, but at anything higher than that it's just not enough. Winning isn't everything, to be sure, but it is pretty damned important. If it's not THE most important thing to running a D1 program it's darn close to it. I don't even think his approach would fly at the HS level, because he didn't even seem to have the ability to develop his players on the court skills one iota. Off the court, maybe he did a hell of a job, no clue, but everything between the lines was an unmitigated disaster for 6 of the past 7 years.

Good riddance Louis, you'll make a fine social worker somewhere.

[ZoombaFalcon]

You mad, bro?

[MarkL]

I would call the comment a reflection not of the individual player but of the team culture, and the comment is very telling. Whoever the new coach is, he will inherit largely a blank canvas and can shape the culture as he sees fit.

[hammb]

You mad, bro?

Yup.

I'm mad that the previous athletic director allowed our basketball program to twist in the wind for so long despite bringing in major donors and getting a new arena built. The writing was quite clear on the wall 2-3 years ago that a change needed to be made, and yet he let the program continue to fall into the abyss. I've heard conjecture it was so he didn't have to fire one of his own hires, but I don't know that is the case or not. I don't even really care WHAT the reasoning behind the decision was. But it was wrong.

Damned right I'm mad. I've been paying a lot of money to watch these games for a long time. I've been a fan since I was going to games with my grandparents nearly 30 years ago. It pisses me off that despite the backing of some major donors and still having a few die hard fans the Athletic Department has not been willing to commit to a winning program in men's basketball..it wasn't just Christopher either, it started with Krebs, who I generally liked as an AD.

Bringing back Dakich was a colossal error in judgement, it was time for the program to move on...and we were actually in good shape at the time we could have probably grabbed a good up & comer coach. (admittedly, at the time I was happy to have Dan back).
Allowing an obviously struggling Dakich continue on and through a lame duck year was another major mistake.
Hiring Orr, obviously looks like a big mistake now, I was ok with it at the time.
Giving Orr that extension was possibly the biggest mistake on this list
Allowing Orr to coach out that extension and then through another lame duck season is yet another HUGE mistake.

The program has been neglected for far too long. We have a great facility. We have as much, if not more, money lined up through donations than any of our conference brethren. It's time the administration take note and make a concerted effort to FIX it. The community, alumni, and student body will support a winning Men's Hoops program. There is no reason why we should not be at or near the best programs in the MAC.

[ZoombaFalcon]

Wow. You really are mad.

[hammb]

Wow. You really are mad.

Any fan of this program SHOULD be mad. If you're not mad it means that you just don't care anymore. That is fine, and perfectly understandable, but if you still genuinely care about the fate of BG hoops then you should be upset by what we've been subjected to over the past decade.

Since the end of that '01-'02 season we really haven't had a single year where we had any chance of breaking our tournament drought. That upsets me in a big way considering that we've found funding to build a new arena, and managed the largest gift in University (MAC?) history towards athletics. There is no excuse other than complete neglect for this program to have gotten to the point it is in now.

I hope that Kingston understands how beat up those of us that still attend games truly are. This is a very important time for his legacy/career as AD at BG.

[HoopsFan]

I punished myself by WATCHING the postgame presser. Yeah, I've heard that it was the culture that Orr promoted on the team. There were no consequences for poor play, bad behavior, or violation of team rules. I still have to believe that George Jackson played the "bad cop" role and when he left, Orr had nothing to replace him.

When Luke Kraus, Jordon Crawford, James Erger and other marginal players are in the game over more talented players, it makes you wonder. Especially since the starter choices and playing time might just be made by the coach that quotes Scriptures and praises God every chance he gets. This isn't a Bible College, it's a STATE UNIVERSITY.

I won't EVER feel bad for Louis Orr. He reaped what he sowed. As far as the remaining team, I hope a Larranaga type coach can come in and mold these guys into a winning team. We need a shooter, possibly Denney, and a point guard like Brandon Pardon. The 4 or 5 guys that will be coming in may be JUCO guys, but we have a chance to be respectable as early as next year with luck. I suspect a few of the players will be gone from next year's team and some of the starters will not be seeing much playing time next year. That's the new coach's decision, but we have watched marginal players starting for too many years. Time to clean house.

HoopsFan

BTW Dakich II would have had better success if he hadn't thrown the team and coaches under the bus when he went to WV. I also knew he would fail, because his poor recruiting and personality was already starting to unravel in year 5. As much as I'm a BG fan, it was fitting that he should suffer what he created.
I didn't meet Louis Orr until after I met George Jackson. I like Jackson, not so much Orr. It's primarily the religion thing, and the excuses. It was almost like Larranaga being despised because he didn't consider Toledo and Miami as more important games than Michigan State. Um, Jim, we don't live in East Lansing, we have to deal with the clowns in Toledo