Kingston, please do something now!

[HoopsFan]

It would seem that Louie should have followed George Jackson out the door, and yeah, I knew the Dakich rehire was the beginning of the end for BG basketball for 5 years. I didn't expect 12. The team fire came from Jackson, not Louie. George was the bad cop in the mix and we lost the fire. The 3 current assistants are just cypher's and the DBO, nice lady, but also a zero.

I know, we get tired of saying it: Nice guy, not a coach. The assistants? Clearly not a coach in the bunch of them or they would have moved on. Geeze, maybe we can get Stan Joplin as an interim, IMMEDIATELY.

Can't be any worse.

HoopsFan

[Warthog]

Stan Joplin is busy coaching the Springfield high school boys team right now.

[jpfalcon09]

I'm honestly amazed that no one or no people stepped forward to offer money to buy out his deal after last season. I'm not sure if that explains the apathy for the program or if Christopher was adamant on not firing him before he jumped ship for Xavier. It's extremely disappointing that a wonderful new facility is being wasted on a men's program that is still at least 4-5 years away from even being able to compete in the MAC. I don't follow the basketball team much but reading his comments today in the Blade after the game made me shake my head. No responsibility taken, no offer of criticism for himself, his staff or even players. Seems like Lou lives in his own little world and believes that passing the buck along to his faith is enough to get him by. If that's the case then Christopher did a terrible job vetting all the coaching candidates.

[CrazyFan]

This whole situation is just so sad. Bowling Green basketball has officially hit rock bottom and we all got the center stage, prime seats to watch it go down. I was against this Orr hire when it happened and its just so painful to see this program where it is that an "I told you so" doesn't even feel meaningful. Everyone with any basketball knowledge knew by the end of year 3 we were in trouble. Hell, even in the year we won the MAC, you could tell there were some problems because the pace pf the game was so much slower and a lot of the excitement was vanishing. And I blame everyone. I blame us as fans, even though there was not a damn thing we could do except for pulling our funding (season tickets, memberships, etc), for being complacent with mediocre basketball in years 1-5. I saw it on this board every year, everyone afraid to step up and say something. Then after year 5 is when people starting to really voice their displeasure. I blame the university and Dr. Mazey for allowing this to happen to this program. And they can use the teachers contract situation excuse all they want, which is a total bs cop out excuse. I blame the alumni with money (Stroh's, etc) for not protecting their investment into this program and coming forward with the money to get that joke of a head coach out of here. I blame Coach Orr for just being himself; stubborn, passionless, unwilling to adapt, not willing to take blame or criticism, and just for being a down right horrible, horrible, and i mean HORRIBLE head coach. I will always refer to him as the PROGRAM KILLER whenever I reluctantly talk about him in the future. But most of all, I blame that idiot of an athletic director name Greg Christopher who did a half ass, starry eyed (former Big East retread) hire on Orr. Then instead of taking a step back and seriously looking at the program, he scared that someone is also going to want a coach that got fired by a Big East school and had one good season with another coaches players and totally blows his load by offering the joke of a head coach an extension. And finally, years later when he has the opportunity to get rid of this joke of a head coach and is on his way out, he's too worried about his track record and gives the university and the basketball program the kiss of death by not firing the joke of a head coach. All the while, Orr is making the easiest money any individual has ever made because the university is paying someone who is ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS at his job. You could put a chimp in there, give it a clipboard with a marker, and it could do a better job drawing up plays than Orr or his inept staff could ever do. And i'm completely serious about that. No joke. And its just so sad that we still have posters on here trying to defend the guy with the "Its hard to win at Bowling Green" bullsh**. Just totally not in touch with the world and a small part of the reason we sit here as we are. No other D1 program would be where we are at today. Only at Bowling Green, which is the sadest part of it all...................

[BGorDeath]

While I agree that it is time for a long overdue coaching change, I cannot believe people are putting partial blame on the fans and boosters, especially Kerm Stroh and the others who donated for the new arena. Just because someone has the financial ability and kindness to assist in building a new arena, does not mean they have the responsibility to use their own money to buy out a contract when the program goes down the tubes. They have already done their part and by no way should they be held responsible for the state of the program. If you think it is, then you should earn the money by your own hard work and buy out a contract. It's just amazing how people can tell others how to spend their wealth.

As for the fans, I think they have done their part, by not showing up to games.

The blame falls entirely on the previous athletic department regime and university administration. It is up to the new AD and university administration to remedy this problem.

On the other hand, the hockey team is having a nice season.

[CrazyFan]

While I agree that it is time for a long overdue coaching change, I cannot believe people are putting partial blame on the fans and boosters, especially Kerm Stroh and the others who donated for the new arena. Just because someone has the financial ability and kindness to assist in building a new arena, does not mean they have the responsibility to use their own money to buy out a contract when the program goes down the tubes. They have already done their part and by no way should they be held responsible for the state of the program. If you think it is, then you should earn the money by your own hard work and buy out a contract. It's just amazing how people can tell others how to spend their wealth.

As for the fans, I think they have done their part, by not showing up to games.

The blame falls entirely on the previous athletic department regime and university administration. It is up to the new AD and university administration to remedy this problem.

On the other hand, the hockey team is having a nice season.

I guess we’ll agree to disagree. I do believe that the fan base shoulders some of the blame, at least the hard core fan base and not the “oh their winning so I think I’ll watch them play” fan base. We all know basketball. We have all been watching BG basketball for many years, some of us many more than others. But I think we all can recognize when a program is not going in the right direction. And for me that was year 3 of his evil reign. Fresh off a MAC Championship that some (including myself) felt we kind of fell into because of 1.) a few key losses at the end of the year that normally don’t happen by some good teams and 2.)our entire offense was Nate Miller. Year 3 you expect to see some improvement; he’s had time to install his offense and defense and he’s had time to recruit his players. Well we went 14-16 that year and finished dead last in the East. And for the third year in a row we had to watch that same boring, uninspired basketball out of his team. So right there was the red flag season. But our fan base has been so accustomed to mediocre basketball that we have come to accept it. So we went with the “Next year” excuses, and “We got this recruit coming in next year” excuses. There were excuses all over the place while not many people saw the problem as the head coach and started voicing their concerns. That wasn’t until year 5 ended, and the program was already dead.

So then we get to the alumni. I do believe, and this happens ALL OVER collegiate athletics, that if the university cannot step up the money when a buyout is needed, this it is the responsibility of the wealthy alumni whom already give money to the program to pony up the money. It may not be right, and I for 1 do not demand they do it, but that’s the way this world works. And as I said before, it’s protecting your investment. Stroh spends what, 5 million, on the new arena. Frack spends what, 10 million on the program, and yet there going to keep and extra 100k in their pockets so the program can hit rock bottom after spending all that money on the program? It just doesn’t make sense to me. And I understand it’s not my money blah blah blah. I can tell you if it was my money, and I had just given millions to the basketball program, that I would pony up the extra chump change to get rid of the idiot that is the head coach now. And again, it happens everywhere. Alumni whom care about the program pony up money all the time to buy out coaches contracts if the university cannot when it’s time to boot that coach.

But these both are minor blames. The main blame, as we agree upon, is Christopher. Kill the program and jump out of town at the first opportunity. What a tool.

[CrazyFan]

But i also do give them the benefit of doubt, because we have no idea what has happened in that situation. It could be that the alumni came forward with the money to get rid of him and the Mazey wont accept it. I hate to say it, and I will throw this out there, and some might chastise me, but maybe the university doesn't want to fire a black head coach??? So if that's the case, I would completely take all blame off the alumni. But until I hear otherwise, which I never will, I do partly blame the wealthy alumni

[BGorDeath]

Well, if you're going to blame the wealthy alumni, don't blame the ones who already did their part.

[hammb]

I don't know in the case of Orr specifically but I have heard through the grapevine that our previous AD would never accept money to buy out a coach. I had heard that there was a check written to him to fire Brandon that he refused to accept. I heard the same thing with regard to Paluch.

I haven't heard that there were offers made to buy out Orr's contract, but to me it shouldn't have to work that way. I refuse to put blame on the alumni for the state of the program, most especially the alumni that have done the most to try and improve the program. If there DOES need to be a donation to fund a coach buyout that initiative should come from the AD. He should ask for donations from the friends of the program, if he knows that the budget as it stands cannot afford a buyout. It shouldn't be up to the alumni to come to him with a check and basically be the ones making the hiring/firing decisions.

I'll admit that I gave Orr too much time. I haven't been a fan of his style of play pretty much since he got here, but I did give him the benefit of the doubt until at least his 4th season. At that point I believe I said that I wouldn't cry to see him canned but wouldn't be carrying pitchforks either. After his 5th year it was obvious he was going nowhere and I couldn't believe he survived. Last year I couldn't believe he survived even moreso, until the news of Christopher leaving hit, then it made sense.

Christopher did a lot of good things for this university funding/facility wise. He found a successful Football coach that led us to our first MAC title in decades. He apparently found a hockey coach that is doing a good job with that program as well. Unfortunately, to me, his legacy will always be that he managed to destroy BG hoops even while getting them a shiny new arena. I find it absolutely mind boggling that he moved onto a university most well known for its basketball program.

[Flipper]

Not sure how you can blame the alums for the state of the program...that'd be like blaming a guy riding a bus for it going over the edge of a cliff because the driver's all hopped up on goofballs.

Toledo did want Henderson..pretty badly from what I recall because he was a local kid. Toledo hasn't done very well keeping kids in town, particularly African Americans, since Bobby Nichols was there doing body shots off of cheerleaders.

[hammb]

Years ago I met a UT cheerleader that worked at Platinum Showgirls. Could have done a shot off her if I would have been willing to pay $20 for a shot of what basically amounts to kool-aid with a drop of alcohol in it.

[BGorDeath]

Years ago I met a UT cheerleader that worked at Platinum Showgirls. Could have done a shot off her if I would have been willing to pay $20 for a shot of what basically amounts to kool-aid with a drop of alcohol in it.

Maybe that's how we can raise funds to buy out Orr.

[HoopsFan]

Since it's a given that Louie is history, I gotta believe that the AD will have a new coach in place before March 15th. That will give a new coach one month or so to work on recruits. http://www.nationalletter.org/

The clowns behind me said "they may give him a year because Chauncey is injured" or some such crap. Wow, It took all the strength I had to stay seated and quiet. If I hadn't known we got a good deal on our seats, I would move to somewhere else in the arena. It was kinda funny, because as Pam Herringhaus was leaving, I suggested she stick around in case our offense got going.

I don't think we scored a single point after that.

HoopsFan

[commonsense]

Not sure how you can blame the alums for the state of the program...that'd be like blaming a guy riding a bus for it going over the edge of a cliff because the driver's all hopped up on goofballs.

Toledo did want Henderson..pretty badly from what I recall because he was a local kid. Toledo hasn't done very well keeping kids in town, particularly African Americans, since Bobby Nichols was there doing body shots off of cheerleaders.

I don't think Toledo has done very well in keeping white guys either. I can't think of one white guy in the last 20 years from Toledo that went to Toledo to play basketball. Please correct me on this if I am wrong. There was Matt Gladiaux in 1995 from Rossford, but he transfered after year 1. Actually BGSU has done a nice job in getting the Toledo white guy to play for the flacons. Jay Larranaga, Jake Holmes, Denny Amerein, Shane Komives, Kelly Hunt (breifly) John Floyd, Joe Jakubowski.

[Falcon Fanatic]

We will hire a great coach. He will hire a great staff. He will work at things that help energize the program that are not game/practice related. He will coach in a great building. He will sign some great star student-athletes and some some great role player student-athletes. They will all work hard on court, in practice, in weight room and in classroom. We will win some games at start. We will win more soon after. We will win a bunch slightly later and play for MAC title in tourney.

I think that last paragraph will happen. The one key is hiring the right great coach. When that happens (which it will), the rest will follow in my opinion.

I see nothing to stop it over the course of a few seasons when the right person is hired.

Go Falcons!

Wow, this sounds just like the hockey program a few short years ago! Granted, we also thought the whole program was being eliminated, but there are MANY similarities in this situation!!
Hang in there, Falcon basketball fans, the right coach will be hired and the program will turn around!! I have a lot of faith in Kingston to do the right thing for the program.