Reynolds article

[real fan]

I like Dave. But this is shoddy journalism at it's best. As a former journalist, I can assure that nobody is ever "taught" to leave out important parts of any story. One of the oldest tricks in the shoddy-journalism book is to keep throwing questions at someone that refuses to answer, or doesn't know the answer, and try to make a story out of it. Coach Les even tells Dave he is not the one to make any decision, suggesting he go to the correct source, but Dave chooses to ignore his advice. John Supinie never writes stories about Bruce Weber's job without ample quotes from Ron Guenther, and I can't see any writer doing a piece like this without talking to the AD. And if he tried, he needs to say he tried, but he doesn't. And I agree the timing is suspicious to say the least. What does the PJ Star have against the coach?

I have to agree with Bill, if you are not going to talk to all the sources and try and get some answers then why bother printing this half as- of a story, is D.R. to afraid to ask J.G. or the athletic director these same questions?
Do not see Bradley buying out a 3 year contract because it would take a lot of money which they need at this time, hope an announcement is made one way or another at seasons end.

[lefty]

Lefty--Dave Reynolds doesn't work for Bradley University. I know that comes as a surprise to some. I know some posters think he should write whats best for Bradley, write when and what Bradley wants him to write, and have Bradley's best interests in mind.

His loyalty is to his bosses at the PJ Star. Not Joanne Glasser. Or Jim Les. I still struggle to understand why some don't get this.

thanks for the reminder...that is a big surprise to me....I had no idea.

here's my point again....I don't have a problem with what was written early in the article.....my problem was questioning of JL about it before the conference tournament....that was pointless IMO

[BradleyJD]

Don't agree on the "take action now" part. It's not fair to the kids or Les to end things before the season is completely over.

I agree. Wait until everything is done and then make your decision.

[lefty]

Agreed on the article part. And a good reporter would honor that request in most cases (especially if they ever wanted another story).

Don't agree on the "take action now" part. It's not fair to the kids or Les to end things before the season is completely over.

I understand that too..... I'm not a proponent of firing a guy during the season unless extreme circumstances. But if you have made up your mind regardless what happens in the tournament you open yourself up to more second guessing if we have a good run somehow and end up in the championship game or win it.
Winning it might be a stretch but getting to the championship isn't if we can win Friday

[LittleBrave]

Don't agree on the "take action now" part. It's not fair to the kids or Les to end things before the season is completely over.

I totally agree.
Wait until after Arch Madness if there's any action to be done.

[Air Petey]

One of the oldest tricks in the shoddy-journalism book is to keep throwing questions at someone that refuses to answer, or doesn't know the answer, and try to make a story out of it.

Correct..... Just ask Jim Gray about his Pete Rose interview!!

I think the current BU admin does read BradleyFans.com and gets a false sense for what the publics thinks about JL because of a LOUD minority.

[Lakeview Brave]

It will all wash out soon enough, one way or another we will have answer by the final 4.

[braveatheart]

And I notice Dave mentions:
In Les??™ favor:
* (A believed) three years left on his contract.
* A talented core of returnees and incoming recruits, some of whom might move on if he??™s fired.
* A problem-free season off the court in which he has maintained cohesiveness despite the record.
* An ability to improve despite the debilitating injuries to key players. The Sweet 16 run of 2006 and the overachieving NIT season that followed, however, have become faded memories to many fans as a string of mediocre finishes has occurred in the past four seasons.

Let me add a couple more.

- Les graduates kids. And good kids. The two that leave this year can make
any BU graduate proud.

- Les helped get those facilities built.

- We will only have one Juco on the roster next year and he will be a three
year guy. We also have a couple of volintary red shirts. Both these things
indicate we are not just plugging holes in the dike, but rather building for
the long term.

- We have a roster full of big men for the first time I can remember.

I can think of a few more negatives too but that is besides the point as I really doubt BU eats $1,200,000 left on the contract. If they have that kind of money, they don't need my donation every year.

If Les hadn't started winning again this month, I think it is a totally different story.

[Braves4Life]

Great post braveatheart!

[ancona flash]

HUGE ISSUE WITH TIMING OF ARTICLE!!!!!!

I have posted in the past that people on this board are too sensitive about the PJS and KW in particular. I still feel this to be true. But there is absolutely no good reason to write this 3 days before the MVC tourney.

[BradleyJD]

If Les hadn't started winning again this month, I think it is a totally different story.

I agree.

[Bravesfan]

Please. You are entitled to your opinion about the article, but you are not entitled to tell others that they are wrong, and make up lame excuses to negate others' criticism.
This is one of the lamest excuses I have ever heard. If a writer is going to bring up something as important as the coach's job, there is no way he is going to leave out important facts to tease us.

I agree. It's called "milking it for all it's worth". Those tabloid "entertainment" shows are notorious for this. They promote the heck out of an interview with say, Charlie Sheen, and then divide it up to be shown for three consecutive days. I find this tactic to be shallow and insulting. Obviously they are catering to the lowest common denominator when shows like these do this.

And it seems this tactic has polluted the PJ Star as well.

[Bravesfan]

Agreed. I understand that. Of course there is a thing in journalism called a tease Why put all your info in one article---I bet people are waiting to see what the AD/Prez have to say about all this.

Why put all your nuggets in one article? Why not stretch it out? It's taught all the time in journalism school.

See my post above. If this was Entertainment Tonight or some other tabloid "news" show, I'm sure they find this perfectly acceptable to do. I don't, and that goes TRIPLE for a supposed mainstream newspaper where their sole job is to report the news, not stretch a "non-story" out for a week or more!

I don't know what "journalism" school this is, but they have no clue what they are talking about.

[thefish7]

Count me among the crew that thought this article was (almost definitely intentionally) improperly timed. It makes no sense, whatsoever, after a big win and before the conference tournament. End of season? Fine. Here, when the coach obviously can't or won't answer such an insipid question, it is pointless.

[Bravesfan]

Or it might be concluded that Dave wrote an article that many people are asking about.

ESPN's local show on Saturday has had two straight weeks of a ton of BU speculation callers.

The PJStar editorials have seen letters from both sides of the discussion.

This message board and the PJStar board have been full of Jim Les discussions.

I think the article tried to gauge Jim's thoughts on the topic. I also think Jim answered the questions in the best way possible.

I couldn't disagree more. If the PJ Star has news, they should not be holding onto this, unless the administration is telling them to keep quiet. However, since I don't believe that scenario, it is most likely that they have no more of an idea than anyone else regarding Les's future. Therefore, a one paragraph blurb stating that a decision won't be made until after the season concludes would have been perfectly acceptable.