Majerus controversy

[KillerB]

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/dancaesar/story/28BD15131EEE2901862576BA000F03ED?OpenDocument

[tornado]

he's a prima donna, but then most college coaches are...........

[KillerB]

He's actually going above and beyond the call of duty in alienating the media in St. Louis.

[Da Coach]

Antics like this show what a tool he is. If DePaul was, in fact, considering him as a candidate, I would think disloyal stuff like he's doing would dissuade anyone from hiring him.

[DeltaBrave03]

He and the SLU administration have never gotten along from day 1. I know he's build the foundation of a potentially good team, but I don't know how much longer they're going to be willing to put up with him.

[Carver Arena Guy]

he's a prima donna, but then most college coaches are...........

Certainly a bad move by Majerus who hasn't made any friends. I don't know if most college coaches are prima donnas though. That seems a little harsh. Most of the ones I've met are pretty cool dudes. I think they are in high stress jobs with outlandish salaries and that makes them act oddly at times.

But, Majerus seems to act like these things weren't in place before he got there.

[JMM28]

Antics like this show what a tool he is. If DePaul was, in fact, considering him as a candidate, I would think disloyal stuff like he's doing would dissuade anyone from hiring him.

He's a tool because he is pissed that he was promised charter flights when he agreed to rescue the slu program out of mediocrity? And now 3 years later they expect him and the team to fly commercial as part of cost cutting measures? Any person here would be pissed if you were promised something and then it was taken away midstream.

You guys think the peoria media is bad, the st Louis media just doesn't cover the program. They then waltz in and expect all access whenever they want. There is no wessler or Reynolds. Just a bunch of second rate blowhard like Brian burlwell and Bernie miczlaz or whatever.

[Da Coach]

Could it be because things work both ways, and SLU is partly to blame? SLU could be "king" in their own city if they knew how to work with media, because unlike Chicago where there are numerous D1 schools to follow (including Notre Dame, & Illinois which aren't in the city), Saint Louis University is the only D1 school in STL. Yes, they still have to compete with Missouri University, but for years the people at SLU haven't gone out of their way to work with the media and fan base the way they should.

Possible their biggest mistake was joining the Atlantic-10. I won't rehash all the reasons why this was such an absurd decision, but the obvious ones are that St. Louis isn't anywhere near the Atlantic, the closest A-10 team is more than 350+ miles away (Xavier, Dayton), the rest of the A-10 teams average closer to 1000 miles away making travel unbearable, the press in those eastern cities virtually ignores SLU, and looks down on the Midwest, and the conference itself is not as good year-in and year-out as other conferences that SLU could have chosen to join.

The one advantage they have over the MVC is that all the other schools (except St. Bonaventure- which is another story) are located in large cities, making commercial travel reasonably easy. Rick should shut up, behave himself, and count his money.

[ChewaBrave]

I still give him a lot of props for a speech i saw him give when he took over that job. it was hilarious.

[Braves4Life]

I'm not a big gay guy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RXaERVhNuU&feature=related

[KillerB]

He's a tool because he is pissed that he was promised charter flights when he agreed to rescue the slu program out of mediocrity? And now 3 years later they expect him and the team to fly commercial as part of cost cutting measures? Any person here would be pissed if you were promised something and then it was taken away midstream.

You guys think the peoria media is bad, the st Louis media just doesn't cover the program. They then waltz in and expect all access whenever they want. There is no wessler or Reynolds. Just a bunch of second rate blowhard like Brian burlwell and Bernie miczlaz or whatever.

J,
I am in fact very close to this situation. SLU has gone from a very media friendly to very media-unfriendly basketball program since the arrival of Majerus. This has nothing to do with your likes or dislikes of St. Louis sports columnists.
There is less access to this program than any other I have ever dealt with. And it not the school as a whole. Other coaches are very media savvy and make themselves available.

Just my opinion here, but I think Majerus thinks he is above it all.

[JMM28]

J,
I am in fact very close to this situation. SLU has gone from a very media friendly to very media-unfriendly basketball program since the arrival of Majerus. This has nothing to do with your likes or dislikes of St. Louis sports columnists.
There is less access to this program than any other I have ever dealt with. And it not the school as a whole. Other coaches are very media savvy and make themselves available.

Just my opinion here, but I think Majerus thinks he is above it all.

He has a few policies that are probably "media unfriendly". The freshmen not allowed to talk to the media is probably overblown the past 2 years because the majority of the team has been freshmen. He closes practice to everyone, which is totally within his rights to do.

They opened up a practice to the media. How many people showed up? 2? 3? How many of the media guys down there attend every single game like a Dave Reynolds or Kirk Wessler? 0, unless you count the guy who does the scout site and the university newspaper.

The St Louis media has thought it was above SLU basketball for yeaaaars, with terrible or no coverage, etc. SLU has always taken a backseat to Mizzou-Illinois. Now the tide is shifting a little bit, and the johnny come latelys expect full access. So I guess I am ok with Rick being above them.

[KillerB]

Your facts are a little off. He opened practice for 10 minutes once. The media was not allowed to talk to anyone. No players.. no coaches. Why would anyone show up for that great opportunity? It was useless. And the attitude given when questions were asked of the PR staff.. you should be happy with this.

If he doesn't want media coverage then he won't get it. It is next to impossible to get highlights of the team because the A-10 isn't on TV in the midwest. And in post game interviews when the team is in town Majerus acts like he's doing everyone a favor by sitting down to answer a few question.. many of which he will not answer.

I'm not talking about the media having complete open access. No one gives that. But SLU basketball is much closer to the other extreme. Closer than anyother program I have seen and I have been involved with several big time programs.

SLU is not big time.. and competing with the Rams, Blues, Cardinals, Missouri, Illinois and SIU for airtime and print space. If you were the media with limited resources, who would you cover if you knew SLU was not going to be helpful?
The choice is pretty clear. The big man made his choice and now SLU supporters are blaming the media.

[KillerB]

The tide is turning? You really think SLU is now on a competive level with Missouri and Illinois? They are playing better but the tide has not shifted in SLU's favor. I do think Majerus has gotten some better players. Of course he did nothing with one of the most coveted recruits the St. Louis area has put out in years.

One more point.. under the previous three coaches SLU got plenty of coverage and much of it if not most of it was positive despite some not so great records. To say that in the past the media slighted SLU is way off base. Of course those coaches were happy to talk to the media.

[Braves4Life]

Richmond 62, Saint Louis 36

Richmond 62, Saint Louis 36

This isn't going to help things.....

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/gamecenter/recap/NCAAB_20100130_STLOU@RICH