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Geno Ford takes the head coaching job at Bradley

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticl ... =205124433

I don't get it from both sides...

Is Bradley really a step up from Kent State? Missouri Valley Conference? Do they really pay their coaches that much more then the MAC?

Geno Ford? Really? I wouldn't even have him in my top 3 or 4 of MAC coaches.

At the very least, I'd think the salaries were comparable and The Valley has recently been a 2+ bid league, which makes the exposure that much better to make the next jump. (See Cuonzo Martin from Missouri St. to Tennessee.)

Rollo83 wrote:I don't get it from both sides...

Is Bradley really a step up from Kent State? Missouri Valley Conference? Do they really pay their coaches that much more then the MAC?

Geno Ford? Really? I wouldn't even have him in my top 3 or 4 of MAC coaches.

Kent State paid him $300,000

Bradley will pay him $800,000

If you didn't have Geno in your top 3 coaches in the MAC, there is a reason you are not an Athletic Director

Just a heads up. OU's John Groce could be targeted by Dayton for their next head coach. He makes $300,000 at OU, if Dayton wants him they will offer a package from somewhere in the 800-1 million+ range.

The plight of the MAC: any coach worth is keeping is a coach a MAC school cannot afford.

As much as I love BG football, I could see a VERY strong case for the conference to drop the sport and focus on hoops. The athletic budgets cannot field competitive D1 hoops and D1A football. In the past decade we've gone from being a strong mid major in both sports to having the worst D1A football you'll ever see and a one bid hoops conference that lands a 15 seed.

Our athletic budgets just aren't big enough to keep worthwhile coaches in either sport. If you're choosing one or the other basketball definitely seems to be the no-brainer choice.

I dunno...not saying I'd be all for it, but I can CERTAINLY see the case to be made.

hammb wrote:As much as I love BG football, I could see a VERY strong case for the conference to drop the sport and focus on hoops. The athletic budgets cannot field competitive D1 hoops and D1A football. In the past decade we've gone from being a strong mid major in both sports to having the worst D1A football you'll ever see and a one bid hoops conference that lands a 15 seed.

Our athletic budgets just aren't big enough to keep worthwhile coaches in either sport. If you're choosing one or the other basketball definitely seems to be the no-brainer choice.

I dunno...not saying I'd be all for it, but I can CERTAINLY see the case to be made.

I recently had a long talk with a former MAC head football coach. He's predicting that, over the next 5-10 years, many of the current mid-major status football schools be forced to drop football. They just will not be able to justify football financially.

Here in Ohio, a high-profile high school game will dramatically out draw a MAC football game. The reality is that a vast majority of college sports fans absolutely do NOT give a rip about MAC football. The same is basically true about basketball. And it applies to the student bodies as well as the overall general public.

At some point, a MAC school should to stop and ask itself, "what are we doing, and why are we bothering?". If we cannot or won't make the financial commitment to field teams that people care about, maybe we can find better ways to use the funds.

People here talk about replacing Orr. Well, we're paying $168K for a head basketball coach. Meanwhile, Kent paid their guy almost twice that much and STILL lost him, and to another mid-major no less. If we WOULD try to replace Orr, who do we think we would get? What percentage of emerging assistants from the ACC and Big-10 would actually want to apply?

We could take 3/4 of the AD salary ans supplement football and basketball coaches, because I know we can get someone who would do an equal job as the guy we have for about $40,000! Of course....we aren't getting much!

Also hearing rumblings of Dayton being interested in Dambrot.

Agree with many of the points on this thread.

Bradley is a step up for Ford, who, by the way, was MAC Coach of the Year the last two years. Bradley spent nearly twice as much on basketball as Kent did, and as noted, Ford gets a huge salary bump. Also, Bradley was dreadful this year, and there is nowhere to go but up. In every way, this is a better job than Kent, despite what MAC fans might think. The MVC is the 11th ranked conference, while the MAC is the 20th. While the MVC has been a one-bid league recently, they have a much better track record than the MAC.

Also, there is no football at Bradley, making basketball the main focus. Look at the final 4...the two mid majors who broke through (and the last one, George Mason) all do not play D1 football. Further, UConn and Kentucky have football, but clearly are not the focus at their school.

I have long wondered how long BG, as a mid-major, could sustain hockey, basketball and football competitively, much less football and basketball.

I understand what most of you are saying...my own son (an OSU grad) has said countless times to me that he doesn't understand why BG (and the MAC) don't go to the old D-1A, where they'd at least have a shot at being a "National Champion" legitimately, via a playoff system...as it is we, along with a ton of the other mid-major conferences, have no chance of getting anything other than a "minor" bowl game. Only way to avoid that is to become a Boise and/or TCU...both of whom spend a heck of alot of money of football, but aren't known as basketball schools to my knowlege.

All this being said, I still enjoy my trips to BG for games, not to mention other places... and Hambb...what the heck would you do during "tailgate" season? (You could always bring up a giant perch dinner for everyone of course)

BleedOrange wrote:The plight of the MAC: any coach worth is keeping is a coach a MAC school cannot afford.

Agree completely, and this is where Bill Frack's $10 million could come into play. If our head coach is in demand, a competitive offer can be tendered and give us a realistic shot at retaining him.

Plus, it's not like Kent is in an awful position. There will be a line of people from downtown Cleveland waiting to pounce on that job. As much as it sucks, a winning coach moving on just makes the program that much more attractive for the next superstar-in-waiting coach.

Sorry, I can't see the case for dropping football.

BG's basketball program is nowhere near the level of even being able to consider it. How many times did BG draw over 2k for home games?

The MVC is a conference full of schools that play in 10,000+ seat arena's and spend millions on basketball.

Dayton and Xavier spend more than a lot BCS schools on expenses and pay their coaches more than a lot of BCS schools. Is BG willing to spend money on chartered flights, million dollar coaches, 50k for coaches shows, free cars, huge recruiting budgets? Get out of the MAC? Pay upwards 50-75,000 for "buy" games against Savannah State type schools?

Becoming a basketball only school requires you to basically become a BCS school. What league would they get in? A10? Doubtful. Horizon? Maybe. That's a 1 bid league every year (even Butler is a bubble team almost every year w/o winning the conference tourny). MVC? Maybe, although it would take years and years of preforming at or near a top 25 level to even be considered.

Schools like VCU, George Mason, Old Dominion, are in a unique position because they are in a good league without D1 football schools.

You also have to look at the value to the school. How many would have considered BG if there was no football or football was D2? I wouldn't have. I chose BG after visiting my sister, going to a football game, visiting campus, and then following the program on TV from Dayton for a couple years.

How many times was BG basketball on TV? STO is not easy to find outside of N. Ohio and Buckeye Cable is pretty much limited to NW Ohio, as far as I know.

Those ESPN games are serious exposure for the university. I know a lot of you think Wednesday night MAC games suck, but a lot of people just flip on ESPN those nights and watch 5-10 minutes of a game are seeing BGSU for the first time.

If it wasn't for football how many people outside of NW Ohio would actually see a BG sporting? How many kids outside of NW Ohio would talk about BG? Besides with their guidance counselor.

BleedOrange wrote: At some point, a MAC school should to stop and ask itself, "what are we doing, and why are we bothering?". If we cannot or won't make the financial commitment to field teams that people care about, maybe we can find better ways to use the funds.

People here talk about replacing Orr. Well, we're paying $168K for a head basketball coach. Meanwhile, Kent paid their guy almost twice that much and STILL lost him, and to another mid-major no less. If we WOULD try to replace Orr, who do we think we would get? What percentage of emerging assistants from the ACC and Big-10 would actually want to apply?

Sobering numbers indeed. We are paying our head basketball coach 44% LESS than Kent State's head guy. WTF. And to top it off, the Butler, Gonzaga, and not to mention Bradley type jobs are paying $600K to $800K per YEAR more than our job.

While some of the criticism regarding Orr has been justified, it's like Orr and our program is being sent into a gun fight with his bare fists....