Dave Reynolds Northern Iowa tribute article

[lefty]

Not at all DC. Like I said our attendance was good before Les. That's it
Nothing more.

Now if you look at the time Mo was here you would see that the attendance increased substantially and Les maintained it. But the team was winning so I would give credit to the program really not neccessrily individual coaches Just like I don't think the decline is all on Geno either. I think the administration is to blame for some of it as well

[Da Coach]

So you keep complaining that some posters bring up Jim Les, but when it suits your argument, you go one step further and bring up Molinari.

And actually, what you are stating isn't exactly true. If you look at those attendance numbers, the attendance dropped the last couple years under Mo, and rose immediately in Jim Les' first season, and remained better throughout Les' next 8 seasons.

All I'm saying is that regardless of what the attendance was under Mo, it was great under Jim Les, and now it's not.
We report, you decide.

[Chico]

Not at all DC. Like I said our attendance was good before Les. That's it
Nothing more.

Now if you look at the time Mo was here you would see that the attendance increased substantially and Les maintained it. But the team was winning so I would give credit to the program really not neccessrily individual coaches Just like I don't think the decline is all on Geno either. I think the administration is to blame for some of it as well

"Not necessarily individual coaches", you say. Make up your mind. You like to bring Chuck into the conversation quite a bit. Not saying he wasn't a big help to the program, most coaches welcome good assistants.

[lefty]

Ok guys. I'm out. One board is plenty for me anyway

[lefty]

So you keep complaining that some posters bring up Jim Les, but when it suits your argument, you go one step further and bring up Molinari.

And actually, what you are stating isn't exactly true. If you look at those attendance numbers, the attendance dropped the last couple years under Mo, and rose immediately in Jim Les' first season, and remained better throughout Les' next 8 seasons.

All I'm saying is that regardless of what the attendance was under Mo, it was great under Jim Les, and now it's not.
We report, you decide.

ok??¦.

Year W-L MVC Attendance Avgerage Sellouts
1982-83 13-3 7-2 154,209 9,638 9
1983-84 12-3 5-3 107,881 7,192 1
1984-85 10-5 4-4 113,124 7,542 1
1985-86 14-0 8-0 124,712 8,908 5
1986-87 12-2 6-1 121,922 8,708 2
1987-88 15-1 6-1 160,263 10,016 7
1988-89 9-4 5-2 115,939 8,918 0
1989-90 7-6 4-3 100,632 7,741 0
1990-91 6-7 5-3 95,995 7,384 0
1991-92 5-8 2-7 90,904 6,993 0
1992-93 8-5 6-3 94,523 7,271 0
1993-94 15-0 9-0 135,495 9,033 3
1994-95 11-3 7-2 133,288 9,521 0
1995-96 12-1 8-1 125,733 9,672 2
1996-97 12-2 8-1 134,755 9,625 3
1997-98 9-4 5-4 127,001 9,769 1
1998-99 13-2 8-1 142,980 9,532 2
1999-00 12-2 9-0 142,495 10,178 2
2000-01 13-2 9-0 136,683 9,112 1
2001-02 6-7 4-5 117,935 9,072 0
2002-03 7-7 5-4 130,907 9,351 0
2003-04 11-4 5-4 137,667 9,178 0
2004-05 12-3 6-3 140,065 9,338 0
2005-06 13-1 8-1 129,086 9,220 1
2006-07 14-3 6-3 165,376 9,728 3
25-yrs. 271-85 155-58 3,179,570 8,931 43

[Vent]

The Les vs. Ford drama is old news. BU fans need to unite and find a way to bring the basketball program and the ENTIRE athletic program, back to where it once was, regardless of who the coach was or is. The real focus needs to be in finding a way to change the administration, that has created the turmoil, from Les vs. Ford, to the real problem, of the dire direction the ENTIRE athletic program has gone. In my opinion, we need a new president (with strong academic and athletic goals, with Midwest values) and an Athletic Director (with ties to the state of Illinois and its coaches) and a head basketball coach (with ties to the state of Illinois and its coaches). We need an administration that does not take money from a generous contributor like, the wonderful family that donated millions to build the new tennis facility only to see the sport dropped, that the family loved so much. That was a slap in the face to that family. But they are not the only members to receive a slap in the face. Maybe the next slap will wake us all up.

[tornado]

The Les vs. Ford drama is old news.....

I guess...but did anyone really think that if Bradley fired their coach, paid out almost $1.5 mil to buy him off, got embroiled in lawsuits, then saw their own program go back to the dark ages and talk of moving into a 4000 seat campus gym..
that people wouldn't want to talk about how good we actually had it when we were beating DePaul, Big East teams, Cincy, Pitt & Kansas, going to the NCAA, had RPI's in the 30's, NBA players on the roster, beating ISU regularly, and plugging our ears as sellout crowds of 11,400 made 100 times more noise than the RC has ever seen?

The reason - is cuz many of us want a return to when we actually were good and could draw 10-12,000 - not a dumbing down of the fan base by telling them those days are long gone, so we'll pay $800K to lose Thursday nites and play in front of crowds of 1800
...
they've tried every trick in the books to get the students to come...
move games to Ren-Col, offer free tickets, send the head coach personally to the fraternities & sororities, and - even hand out bowls of FREE BACON, free thundersticks, and free pizza...
but did anyone actually ever try thinking of the ONE TRICK that WOULD work and always did work...
it's called winning - and not just winning but kicking butt and kicking butt against decent opponents not ampersand opponents.

[bigjimmy]

I just find this whole argument funny. In a thread about UNI's article somehow it comes back to the differences between Les and Geno. And now we are referencing Molinari's name. Hilarious. I do want to point out that for 17 straight years, from the 93-94 season to the 09-10 season, we averaged over 9,000 people with a high of 10,178 during the 99-00 season. Now that I've had my jollys there is nothing funny about how that compares to how bad the last 3+ years has been in regards to the atmosphere that has engulfed BU. My Dad has been a fan since the 50's and has gone to every MVC tournament since the 87-88 season. He is so disgusted with how bad things have gotten to that he won't be going to Arch Madness this year and as it stands now I won't be going either. Just can't justify the expense of going when you seemingly already know the end result. I really hope they prove me wrong and have their first game on Friday.

[Vent]

Unfortunately, your sentiments on the Valley tournament are the same most fans have on the regular season.

[panther12thman]

As for Wessler and Reynolds - most people who have done as bad a job as these two have over the course of the last 3 plus years would have been fired or at the least demoted. They are both incompetent when it comes to basketball knowledge or being anything but fair and balanced. They need to go.

[tornado]

I actually think they are both good at what they do but they come from a certain perspective....
we are all biased and even some have an agenda, but I reveal my biases right up front - but some people don't

[tornado]

I would say the difference between UNI and Bradley over the last 10 years has been the stability of the Coach and connection they have in their recruitment of players. ....

I have heard this 100 times - how does UNI always stay good or get good players - as if it is some mystery or some validation that anyone, anywhere ought to be able to build such winning teams.
Nope - you gotta recruit PG's, shooters, and a few big men who can make a layup - they don't need to be world-class leapers or athletes - and that's how UNI does it.
They don't waste a lot of scholarships on big athletes who can't shoot, score only 8 ppg in juco or HS, or can't make a layup, can't handle or take care of the ball, or who get lost & don't understand the game (or the language) or get goofy and don't take the game or their scholarship seriously. We do.
All the high-flying, alley-oops look great and get a momentary squeal from the crowd - but they amount to only 2 points and not much more....and that seems to be more of we're recruiting for.

And check this out - this probably has a little to do with their success...
they recruit SHOOTERS...I know it's a hard concept to understand but shooters are multiple guys on the court who you can't leave open & they help you win games, and opponents don't have to worry if a team hasn't got anyone or only has maybe one of such players.

This year they currently have FIVE key guys who can reliably nail an outside shot...
four of their guys shoot 3-pointers at 40% or better and three of them at 43.5% or better.

and if you check you'll see it's the same every year - a whole bunch of different guys are all proficient in hitting the outside shot!
They sure kill us with 3-point shooting every game.

By contrast we rank at the absolute bottom of the MVC in 3-pt shooting every year. It clearly is NOT much of a priority for Geno to get the kind of player that is a good shooter.
Ironically - the only decent, consistent shooter we have is Barnes who wasn't even recruited for that purpose - Geno himself admitted he recruited Barnes to be the backup for Tyshon Pickett at PF and only discovered his shooting touch after he got here. (Grier- the other guy we recruited for that purpose is hitting 26% over the last month - a seven game span mostly against weak defenses, zone defenses, that are giving him the shot)