Report of Jim Les firing

[Air Petey]

We've got a professional search committee, my friend. Relax. Glasser's a smart lady and she knows BU Basketball is the straw that stirs the Bradley drink. Let her lead and give her your support. We've had 9 years of ZERO MVC Championships with Les and longer if you factor in the Mo era. BU Basketball has always survived a change and will again. Let's face it, we've got nowhere to go but up after the past 20 years or so.

So we have to pay JL 1.5 million, pay a new coach xxx, lose millions of dollars from top BSS donors (I'm sure you anti-JL fans will make that up with your $25 per year donation), and now we need to pay a "Professional search committee." We will get set back 5 million + on this..... so much for a capital campaign!! Best of luck to Sam M and our past recruits on where ever they go. We may even get the Eastern Kentucky coach to come here.

[lake Camelot]

So we have to pay JL 1.5 million, pay a new coach xxx, lose millions of dollars from top BSS donors (I'm sure you anti-JL fans will make that up with your $25 per year donation), and now we need to pay a "Professional search committee." We will get set back 5 million + on this..... so much for a capital campaign!! Best of luck to Sam M and our past recruits on where ever they go. We may even get the Eastern Kentucky coach to come here.

I can't attack other posters for their arrogance so I have no comment.

[TheAsianSensation]

Let's face it, we've got nowhere to go but up after the past 20 years or so.

So your bumper sticker will read 'Elite Eight or Bust!'? That is where we have to go to go 'up'

You're both getting a bit exaggeratory with your posts when trying to counter each other.

BU hasn't been the worst in the Valley. Not the best, but not the worst. And it's completely fair to say Les found a "floor" for the program in the past few years of being a mid-pack team (this year notwithstanding, and it's fair to say the circumstances this year were obvious).

And while NCAA tournament appearances and results are one good way of evaluation, it's hardly the only one. Conference results do matter a lot, and consistency matters, not one single run. Making one Sweet 16 doesn't mean making the next 2 NCAA tournaments, for example, isn't better overall for the program.

[amckillip]

Now now mckillip. We've all given Les his props for what he did that ONE season. I'm referring to the last 20 or more years for Bradley Basketball. We've not seen glory years since my time as a student.

As a relative newcomer to BU Basketball, I genuinely believe we have seen the glory years since about the '50s. We had a great regular season one year with a team built by a coach who was fired because he cheated, and 'we were who they thought we were' when we were quickly bounced in the tourney. At least JL led us to do something people said we weren't capable of and got a couple of solid victories. I'm not saying JL was a model on continued greatness, but pretending that BU has been and should be a top basketball school and has tons of history is like saying Harvard should be destination for football coaches.

Complacency is not a good thing, but neither are delusions of grandeur. BU is an average mid-major program with a good fan-base. Nothing more nothing less.

[Da Coach]

BTW, here is the answer to how Towson State and Eastern Kentucky have fared since.....

Towson just finished their season in the CAA 0-18 (4-26 overall) and dead last with an RPI of 287.

Eastern Kentucky, which was an NCAA team before their president ran their coach off, finished 9-9 in the awful OVC (15-16 overall) with an RPI of 258.

So you still think things couldn't be any worse?

[Big Mike]

heres the new coaching staff page.....

http://www.bradleybraves.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3400&KEY=&SPID=1498&SPSID=19331

[FlyingSpaghettiMonster]

Surely you don't believe this is true. Things could be a whole lot worse than they have been, and we'll be sure to remind you when it happens.

How are Towson State and Eastern Kentucky doing these days?

Bradley has gotten worse every year since they NCAA run. They can't finish lower than 10th next year. They may lose more games next year, but Bradley should be better in the long-run.

Too many posters are getting too excited that the sky is falling. No coach has been named yet and no players have transferred. If they were going to play for the last place team in a bad MVC with JL, they should play here without JL. You come to a school, not a coach.

[amckillip]

So we have to pay JL 1.5 million, pay a new coach xxx, lose millions of dollars from top BSS donors (I'm sure you anti-JL fans will make that up with your $25 per year donation), and now we need to pay a "Professional search committee." We will get set back 5 million + on this..... so much for a capital campaign!! Best of luck to Sam M and our past recruits on where ever they go. We may even get the Eastern Kentucky coach to come here.

I can't attack other posters for their arrogance so I have no comment.

As exaggerated as this post is LC, it's not entirely without merit. This will cost the school a large sum of money, and many people are not comfortable that we will get a better coach out of it.

[Braves4Life]

Surely you don't believe this is true. Things could be a whole lot worse than they have been, and we'll be sure to remind you when it happens.

How are Towson State and Eastern Kentucky doing these days?

[/b]I appreciate the excitement that Les brought to BU but, the fact is, we never competed for a championship. Jim ran a good, clean program but it has been on a downward slide for the past few years and the administration has listened to what many in the Peoria community have been asking for. Be careful what you wish for? Maybe..... time will tell. And Towson State and EKU? Those were always podunk basketball schools.[/b]

Is this really you? or someone posting in your stead?....This has been a tough season...but if you think the last 20 years has been down? really? I will certainly not kick JL while he is down...man.. just wish him the best and thank him for what he as accomplished.....

Not kicking Les while he's down MCD.... read my post in the "Thank Les" thread. Love the guy and all he's done. Wish we'd given him another year.

Regarding the last 20 years -- Sure, we've had a few exciting years in there but what percentage really? How many conference championships? Tournament championships? NCAA berths?

I hate that this happened but it did..... and I sure hope that it works out for us..... Or there will be a LOT of unhappy natives in Peoria.

[amckillip]

You're both getting a bit exaggeratory with your posts when trying to counter each other.

BU hasn't been the worst in the Valley. Not the best, but not the worst. And it's completely fair to say Les found a "floor" for the program in the past few years of being a mid-pack team (this year notwithstanding, and it's fair to say the circumstances this year were obvious).

And while NCAA tournament appearances and results are one good way of evaluation, it's hardly the only one. Conference results do matter a lot, and consistency matters, not one single run. Making one Sweet 16 doesn't mean making the next 2 NCAA tournaments, for example, isn't better overall for the program.

Hey man, my post had a and you intentionally left it off. That's not right and you know it. My post was in jest.

I have said many times, I wanted JL to have another year, but understand those who didn't. I am not so concerned with removing JL but am extremely fearful for who our next hire may be. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I will be.

[TheAsianSensation]

Hey man, my post had a and you intentionally left it off. That's not right and you know it. My post was in jest.

I have said many times, I wanted JL to have another year, but understand those who didn't. I am not so concerned with removing JL but am extremely fearful for who our next hire may be. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I will be.

Gah, the perils of copy and paste.

[SaintLouBrave22]

Hey man, my post had a and you intentionally left it off. That's not right and you know it. My post was in jest.

I have said many times, I wanted JL to have another year, but understand those who didn't. I am not so concerned with removing JL but am extremely fearful for who our next hire may be. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I will be.

I am not quite as concerned after seeing what Cross had to say about their being a committee...

[Beninator]

We've got a professional search committee, my friend. Relax. Glasser's a smart lady and she knows BU Basketball is the straw that stirs the Bradley drink. Let her lead and give her your support. We've had 9 years of ZERO MVC Championships with Les and longer if you factor in the Mo era. BU Basketball has always survived a change and will again. Let's face it, we've got nowhere to go but up after the past 20 years or so.

Speaking of professional search committees, didn't Indiana utilize a professional search committee when they hired Kelvin Sampson? I could be very wrong with this, but I thought that they did......

If so, how does THAT make you feel!

[Chibearsfan10125]

Looking at a blind resume, one could say that Les should have been fired. I don't personally like the decision, but that being said, I can understand it. I think he should have been given one more year, but he did come in last in the Valley with a team that had high expectations coming into the season. Yes, he was hurt by injuries this season, but almost every team had to deal with at least on injury. You need to get more than 4 wins in conference if you want to keep your job.

The one thing about it is that team played hard until the bitter end. I would hate to lose some of the recruits, SM, TB, WL, or anybody else for that matter. If Sam and Taylor leave, this will be DSE's team next year. The Valley is going to be somewhat down next year with all the talented seniors that are leaving. I believe we could have competed with a Full squad next year. We'll just see what happens. Hopefully, the new coach, whoever that may be, we'll be able to convince Sam, Taylor, and the recruits that they should still come or come back. We'll just see how this turns out.

If we lose Sam and Taylor, I have a feeling we'll be in for another long season next year.

[AE Braves Fan]

I saw behavior towards talking about one person being cracked down against while the same behavior towards talking about a second person not being cracked down. Holding one belief while practicing another when dealing with two different people.

Then again, vocab was never my strong suit Inconsistency is a better word probably.

So you can't like one person and at the same dislike another person? What world do you live in?

Tell me more garbage about how the NCAA seedings are fair... it's almost that time of year...