Under/Over-achieving Valley teams (early Dec.)

[KillerB]

Can we all seriously give it a rest? Yeah, the reason Jim Les was fired was not black and white. 1) He was a good recruiter but not the greatest X's and O'x coach in the world. 2) He had a lot of injuries. People can claim that injuries are a part of the game, but we had more than our fair share during his tenure. That's just hard luck. 3) He clashed with the administration.

You can say whatever you want about the situation, but a combination of those things ultimately led to his firing. That's not to say Jim is a bad guy, a bad coach, or anything else along those lines. He's not. We should all appreciate him for what he brought to the program and what he did for us while playing and coaching alike. The point is, JL's teams had declined for 4 straight years, and instead of getting a shot to right the ship, he was relieved of his duties. Life isn't always fair, but we still have to accept what happens and make the best of the situation. I know a lot of you on this board had a personal relationship with Jim Les, but coaching change is an inevitability in sports. We won't know whether it was the right or wrong decision, but the point is that we are ALL Bradley Fans. Let's support the team no matter who the coach is. We could lose every game in a season, and I'll still enjoy going out there and watching kids live out their dreams, and has nothing to do with coaches, administration, or anything along those lines.

Well said!

[lefty]

Read my post more carefully- I was referring to Jim Molinari's firing, and Danny Granger would have been an All American. Do you doubt that?
Joah Tucker was pretty good, too.


BTW- Granger was named as an Honorable Mention All American by the AP as a senior at New Mexico.

As I get older I'm slower on the uptick

My bad....and my apologies....no I don't doubt...of course we now know how DG turned out....who knows if he would have been that successful here but there was no doubt he was good and only getting better.

[buschsquirrel2011]

I promise to "give it a rest", as long as facts are presented accurately. We won't allow posters to revise history.
All I have ever said is be careful what you wish for. Those who demanded that JM be replaced probably cost Bradley one or two NCAA appearances over the next 3 years and an All American player.

Da Coach--I agree. We all should give it a rest. I am honestly confused about what "facts" are being misrepresented here. Facts are just that, facts. How can they presented inaccurately?

I think we all agree that changing coaches has some risks. It is never a sure fire decision. You may have to take another step back to take 2-3 steps forward. Those are risks that come with making a decision.

Bradley took that risk when it fired Coach Mo and brought in Jim Les. 9 years later it had to take the similar risk to fire Jim Les and hire Geno Ford. That is all part of the deal in this big money, high stakes business.

Obviously the administration felt the potential longer term reward of firing Jim Les was greater the the potential reward for keeping him on. Again, this is not unique to Bradley in any way, shape or form. BU is like any other school in America who goes through this.

I think any right thinking person understands there is a risk when firing a coach. They also understand that patience is needed to let the new coach make his mark. Knowing this I'm not sure why the past keeps getting brought up.

[Da Coach]

As I expected, you seem to feel obligated to always have the last word. It's because people post "facts" that are not always correct, that I will continue to state things as I know them. You are free to decide who's "facts" you want to believe. When people say that Jim Les "drove this program into the ground", or "left the cupboard bare" I will counter with the facts that before last season's injury riddled year, he won over 100 games the previous 5 seasons, and had 4 seasons with 20+ wins, including as many wins over BCS schools as the other 9 MVC teams combined. When he left, this team had 2 All-MVC players, and a very good group of other players and incoming recruits. That is hardly a bare cupboard.
I have always said there will be consequences to a coaching change. You say "You may have to take another step back to take 2-3 steps forward", but there is no guarantee that the direction you are stepping will be forward. I can accept that there needed to be a change, and support the current coaching staff 100%. But for all those "fans" who complained about always finishing 4th or 5th, and only winning 21 or 22 games, a 4th place finish would look pretty nice right now.

[Braves4Life]

....a 4th place finish would look pretty nice right now.

The problem with that logic Da Coach is that that was all we were getting for 9+ years. That's part of why many were demanding the change.... The hope for more.