Merfield leaves basketball program

[BU_EMT128]

PEORIA ??”

Bradley University announced that men's basketball assistant coach Steve Merfeld is leaving the program effective immediately.

Merfeld came to Bradley in the summer of 2007 after being a head coach for 10 seasons -- five each at Hampton and then Evansville.

No determination has been made on how the vacancy will be filled on the men's basketball staff. Les said he's re-evaluating the responsibilities of the basketball operations.

http://www.pjstar.com/news_now/x1758555468/Merfeld-leaving-BU-program

[amckillip]

Big loss IMO. Any word what happened? PM's welcome...

[lefty]

Did anyone see this coming?

[BU_EMT128]

Did anyone see this coming?

Not I. Would like some more info from those in the know...

[dogsrus]

PJ star with the scoop.....nice job. Well at least we have another excuse to go along with DD getting hurt if we tank this year.

Here's hoping we won't have to use the "Merf" excuse.

Good luck to him whatever the reason and wherever he goes from here.

[bigdaddystuck]

Strange....

[BradleyBrave]

I am so sick of the drama that surrounds this program. Whether it's an off-the-court problem, NCAA issues, eligibility issues, or now coaching turnover, if it's not one thing it's another. Now we have one of the weakest coaching staffs in the MVC. Just terrible. We just lost a great asset that I get the impression was never fully utilized.

[dogsrus]

Can you say "Philisophical differences".......

[Big Mike]

WOW....I didn't see this coming.....I like Merf and wish him Luck in his next venture!

I never like big-changes in the program during the season though!

[amckillip]

I am so sick of the drama that surrounds this program. Whether it's an off-the-court problem, NCAA issues, eligibility issues, or now coaching turnover, if it's not one thing it's another. Now we have one of the weakest coaching staffs in the MVC. Just terrible. We just lost a great asset that I get the impression was never fully utilized.

Woah... Hold up there big guy, its one assistant coach. We're playing well, coming of a big neutral court win and a road win. Unless there is something I'm not privy to, I don't think I'm ready to throw this into the 'drama' category. Merfield seemed like a nice guy, but he obviously wasn't some great coach (see EU), we can easily overcome this. If there was a rift, he likely wasn't doing much this year anyway. I'm not saying its good, but lets wait before we go into meltdown mode.

[Braves2011]

I'm new here on bradleyfans... Good luck to Merf... I've thought it a long time, now is the time when we look for a Big man coach to help develop the big men more...

[TheHeemyMonster]

another classic Bradley season filled with drama..... not happy

[BradleyBrave]

Woah... Hold up there big guy, its one assistant coach. We're playing well, coming of a big neutral court win and a road win. Unless there is something I'm not privy to, I don't think I'm ready to throw this into the 'drama' category. Merfield seemed like a nice guy, but he obviously wasn't some great coach (see EU), we can easily overcome this. If there was a rift, he likely wasn't doing much this year anyway. I'm not saying its good, but lets wait before we go into meltdown mode.

Don't underestimate the value of a good coaching staff. If assistants had no value, why was Chuck Buescher such a valuable asset to this program? Merfeld had a rough go at UE, but had great success at Hampton and went to more NCAA's there than the current staff has at BU. He's a good coach, and we are not as good now as we were. More freaking drama surrounding this program.

[Braves4Life]

Woah... Hold up there big guy, its one assistant coach. We're playing well, coming of a big neutral court win and a road win. Unless there is something I'm not privy to, I don't think I'm ready to throw this into the 'drama' category. Merfield seemed like a nice guy, but he obviously wasn't some great coach (see EU), we can easily overcome this. If there was a rift, he likely wasn't doing much this year anyway. I'm not saying its good, but lets wait before we go into meltdown mode.

Well said amckillip. There may be absolutely nothing negative to read into this. Coaches often live the life of a traveling gypsy..... always looking for the next best opportunity. We did fine before Merf/ We'll do fine post Merf.

[dogsrus]

I am so sick of the drama that surrounds this program. Whether it's an off-the-court problem, NCAA issues, eligibility issues, or now coaching turnover, if it's not one thing it's another. Now we have one of the weakest coaching staffs in the MVC. Just terrible. We just lost a great asset that I get the impression was never fully utilized.

It was just my gut feeling from things I noticed during timeouts but he (Merf) never looked very involved and/or overly interested. I obviously could be wrong but NOW it really makes me wonder.

JL usually seemed to go to Lil Bish during timeouts about strategery and Merf was talking with refs...checking at the scorers table, etc.