Coach Les gets a raise

[tornado]

UC Davis, 14-3 and 4-0 in the Big West, now has their RPI up to # 81-

http://warrennolan.com/basketball/2015/conference/Big%20West

Only Wichita State, Northern Iowa, and Loyola have better RPI's in the MVC-

http://warrennolan.com/basketball/2015/conference/Missouri%20Valley

Their next game is a tough road game at Hawaii on Thursday night. Jim Les' team is on track for the first winning season UC Davis has ever had as a D1 school. The rebuilding he has accomplished there at UCD, which was one of the worst D1 schools in the country, and had never had a winning record, is remarkable and proves a lot of critics wrong, who predicted he would fail.

But a few posters here predicted he would build UCD into a winning program before we would ever see a winner here at Bradley, and they were right.

UCD continues to lead the entire country in 3-point shooting by a significant margin over everyone else with 44.1%-

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/stats/teamsort/NCAAB/SCORING/regularseason?&_1:col_1=13

Their 50.1% overall FG percentage continues to rank in the top 5 nationally-
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask...on?&_1:col_1=7

Yes they are having a record setting year....and yes the fans are extremely happy...now..


Just as UC-Davis had acquired the pieces and were rebuilding - last year they suffered a big setback and multiple starters were injured (Hawkins, Adenrele, Ritchart) and three starter-caliber players missed the ENTIRE season (Ritchart, Adenrele, Tyler Les)...

Then a bunch of their fans started complaining and wanting to fire the coach and start over again -
LINK - LINK - LINK - LINK - LINK - LINK


But - thankfully the few complainers did not get their way and Coach Les has now put together a very nice team -
they still may not be Sweet Sixteen but they will set records at UC-Davis that every other team in the future will look at as a benchmark.
..and they even have a couple nice recruits signed for next year.


Now UC-Davis is getting national press, and rankings in the MM Top 25, they're getting ESPN games and other Big West teams are looking at Jim Les and the Aggies to copy their success... in addition, their arena is filled with excited crowds, attendance is more than doubled & the fans are very happy

http://aggiesportstalk.yuku.com/topic/5285/ALEXANDER-Does-UC-Davis-success-provide-template-UCR#.VL6m5kfF9po

But it wouldn't have happened had they not stuck with Coach Les through the down year with all the player losses & injuries...
It takes a smart fan to see that...and clueless bozos who scream for coach firings after a single down year hurt the programs they claim to root for.
One can only wonder how bad they'd have been and how much fallout there would have been had the administration been stupid enough to fire him because of a few miserable fans calling for it....smh



Just a year ago there were fears they'd be going back to DII

http://www.theaggie.org/2014/04/11/intercollegiate-athletics-clear-as-mud/

but now, the AD is proud of their progress and looking forward to more DI successes, and they are proud of their success in basketball-

http://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/tumey-talks-about-state-of-aggie-athletics-where-theyre-headed/

what a great story of rags to riches instead of the other way around as some schools have seen

[tornado]

Article from Davis, California newspaper-
First-place Aggie men’s basketball being noticed far and wide

http://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/first-place-aggie-mens-basketball-being-noticed-far-and-wide/

[Chico]

How could their fans complain. What success have their program ever had? I remember Chet Walker scoring 51 points against them in the Fieldhouse. Might have been Chet's first game.

[tornado]

well, yes & no....they were quite successful for the 1-2 decades leading up to their entry into Division-I

But, they have never had much DI success 'til this year.....
as a DII program they were used to extremely good success........
They won the DII National Championship in 1998, and had SEVEN 20-win seasons from 1990-2000.


BTW - that game you recall - nice memory - Dec. 5 1960, BU clobbered Cal-Davis 102-65 - Chet had 50 pts (according to the old BU press guides)!
I wasn't there - but I heard about it later when I became interested in BU basketball & their history

[Chico]

Wasn't home for Christmas leave from Ft Leonard Wood in time to see that game, but do remember we all wondered who this guy was. Found out in a hurry.

[mvcfan]

Its funny that you are building Les as someone who is turning a program around! They made a jump to D1! Thats not turning a program around. Thats taking a program that had success and decided to move up. You guys just need to say we want the coach that had one good year back!

[Da Coach]

Nobody is asking for Bradley to bring Jim Les back, so you are the one who needs to read and state things correctly. The fact is that before Jim Les got to UC Davis, they had played 7 seasons of Division I ball, and were one of the worst, most unathletic teams in the country. They had never came close to a winning record, and had RPI's ranging from 238 to 331.

If taking a program with a 330+ RPI 3 years ago and turning it into an RPI of 85 this season is not a major turnaround, then I am not sure what would qualify as a turnaround in your world.
In 4 seasons, Les has done for UC Davis what anyone would be ecstatic if a coach did at Bradley. He has recruited well, developed his players' skills, and recruited and developed All Conference players and a clear-cut Player of the Year candidate this season. He will obliterate their D1 records for all-time best winning percentage, total wins, and conference finish this season. And he has a couple kids red-shirting to go with a couple of excellent recruits and returning players to continue to build on. And he has accomplished all that despite UCD's admission standards that are among the highest in the country.

No one is saying they are a national powerhouse or that they will break into the top 25 this season, but none-the-less, what he's accomplished at UC Davis is pretty impressive. I continued to be amazed that a tiny handful of people are obsessed with trying to denigrate his accomplishments and shout down those who simply post the facts. 14-3, and an RPI of 85. I think even ISU fans would be happy with those numbers.

[Vent]

I just wish there was as much effort put into finding a way to put pressure on the Board of Trustees to make the right changes, as there is to keep the Les controversy brewing.

[Chico]

Its funny that you are building Les as someone who is turning a program around! They made a jump to D1! Thats not turning a program around. Thats taking a program that had success and decided to move up. You guys just need to say we want the coach that had one good year back!

And 5000 more butts in the seats and great fan support and great fan interest at functions all over town. Bradley basketball was well thought of thru out the country.

[Da Coach]

I just wish there was as much effort put into finding a way to put pressure on the Board of Trustees to make the right changes, as there is to keep the Les controversy brewing.

Vent, you are finally about to get your wish

https://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=24790

[houstonbrave]

Just to be provacative. DC I agree with you on many things but I would seriously look at hiring him back. Good coach, good connections to the Midwest, and good connections to Bradley (severe understatement). If he would have us I would welcome him back with open arms. He above all others would work to get us back to where we need to be.

[amckillip]

Just to be provacative. DC I agree with you on many things but I would seriously look at hiring him back. Good coach, good connections to the Midwest, and good connections to Bradley (severe understatement). If he would have us I would welcome him back with open arms. He above all others would work to get us back to where we need to be.

A couple people I know have said the same thing... I'm not so sure he would come back, but the reality is, he wouldn't be welcome by a large group of the fanbase, however sad that is. My own opinion is that when he was fired, maybe we could have done better, but at this stage JL might be our best option, provided he brought in an X's O's guy.

[houstonbrave]

I fully agree that I don't know that he would come back. He was not treated well at the end. Some of the folks that were critical may now have a different perspective. Truthfully it is not a really attractive job right now. this is a much more difficult situation than the one Jim walked in to. We need someone willing to build this from the ground up. I may be wrong but he might be willing to do that.

[Buesch N Chips]

A wise man once told me, you should never pay for the same real estate twice.

[houstonbrave]

Steve Jobs second stint as CEO worked out ok.