Federal government wants to step in and

[amckillip]

I don't think the Federal government should be forcing something like that. That having been said, I didn't see anywhere in the article where the "forcing" was taking place, or any proposed legislation. I saw the secretary of education, who theoretically, is largely concerned about education - offering up how he thinks the ncaa should give out bids. Roughly 40 million people in this county have an opinion about bids - be is Tourny bids, or Bowl bids, no difference.

Just because a guy says something, doesn't mean black helicopters are swarming over your house to steal your outdated inefficient appliances.

Exactly, I'm having a hard time understanding how the Secretary of Education commenting on the sad state of affairs in the NCAA is forcing anything upon anyone... And furthermore, the NCAA would not be around if it were not for the government, nor would the majority of colleges (by student population), so I think it is well within the SoE's right to comment on this subject.

[Bravesfan]

Seems funny to me that Bradley fired a coach who graduates more players than most other coaches, who had a very good recruiting class coming in and who had great new facilities which no doubt helped with recruiting. If it wasn't for the key injuries, IMO, this would have been the best of both worlds. Would have kept the NCAA happy, which is hard to do, and should have kept Bradley happy too.

You're right. If we hire a coach who ends up with a similar win/loss record as Les, and ends up graduating fewer players than Les, then what was the point of getting rid of Les in the first place?!

JG and MC have their work cut for them. The only reason I can see them dumping Les other than for the obvious reason of win/loss record (which was skewed by the injuries in the first place) is for them to seek a coach that should be able to "instantaneously" turn Bradley into a consistent mid-major power. That or their egos wanted one of "their own" as a coach, which may play into their reasoning as well. But let's suppose for the sake of arugument that the later point did not enter at all into the decision. Let's say that they got rid of Les solely due to his win/loss record. If true, then they better darn well make the right hire and pay whatever they need to in order to obtain this hire. Because if the next coach recruits players that don't graduate and get into off court trouble, and at the same time turns out the same record as Les had, then Bradley fans will never EVER forgive the administration for doing what they did!

Now I am more than willing to give JG and MC the benefit of the doubt until we see how the new coach will fare here, but I hope they realize just how important a decision they have coming up here. If they expect to groom a new generation of Bradley fans to support the team for decades to come, they better make the right choice in hiring a coach that not only would win more games, but graduate players and prepare them for productive lives after college. Otherwise the reputation of Bradley as an excellent academic school for its student athletes will be severely damaged!