Kirk Wessler blames everything on the players...again

[bradleyfan124]

Freedom of the press means a newspaper and reporter are supposed to report all the facts and let us decide. Not prejudge what facts we should have.

[AFrey]

KW "roasted JL until he got him fired" and "his job is to support what is going on with the university?"

That's gold, guys. Keep up the good work.

[Da Coach]

If you disagree, please feel free to post your ideas.
Just taking shots at other posters you don't agree with makes you look bad. Maybe other message forums work like that, not this one.

[tornado]

I like reading KW and DR - and when I disagree - I am sure they are big enough and paid enough to handle the water-cooler talk...
Not to mention, they actually do get a whole lot of their material from reading the boards and I think they enjoy the interaction with fans as evidenced by their chats and their presence ON MESSAGE BOARDS interacting with fans.

So - why do some get their undies in a bunch whenever we discuss the local media and have differing opinions?
Geez - if I went ballistic every time someone disagreed with me or attacked me I guess I'd probably be in an asylum....
But if you have an opinion, and if you know it is right - then someone disagreeing shouldn't bother one bit...
and from the 180 degree swing on some message boards and from the complete turnaround the past couple games in KW's opinions on talent and quality of play - it appears finally the last remaining remnant of deniers have come full-circle and agree with us right down the line...

[AFrey]

If you disagree, please feel free to post your ideas.
Just taking shots at other posters you don't agree with makes you look bad. Maybe other message forums work like that, not this one.

OK, fine. My feeling is JL's firing had absolutely nothing to do with anything KW wrote. I would like to think BU makes its decisions independent of what a local columnist thinks or writes. JL got the boot for reasons that have been discussed here ad nauseam, most notably because his teams didn't consistently compete for conference championships. But sure, it makes sense to blame it on the guy at the newspaper. And if KW was so instrumental in JL's firing, was he instrumental in GF's hiring? Did JG make secret phone calls to him during the interview process to seek his input?

Why would KW's job be support what is going on with the university? I would love to see some reasoning for why that makes sense. And if that were the case, then it definitely made no sense for him to "roast" JL until he finally shooed him out of town, just like we know he wanted for ALL THOSE YEARS! I bet KW would be the FIRST person to tell you he WANTS Bradley to succeed (it's a helluva lot more fun to cover a winning team than the current dumpster fire), but he's in no way obligated to blindly support BU.

Those are my two cents. Hope I don't look bad now

[Da Coach]

OK, fine. My feeling is JL's firing had absolutely nothing to do with anything KW wrote. I would like to think BU makes its decisions independent of what a local columnist thinks or writes. JL got the boot for reasons that have been discussed here ad nauseam, most notably because his teams didn't consistently compete for conference championships. But sure, it makes sense to blame it on the guy at the newspaper. And if KW was so instrumental in JL's firing, was he instrumental in GF's hiring? Did JG make secret phone calls to him during the interview process to seek his input?

Why would KW's job be support what is going on with the university? I would love to see some reasoning for why that makes sense. And if that were the case, then it definitely made no sense for him to "roast" JL until he finally shooed him out of town, just like we know he wanted for ALL THOSE YEARS! I bet KW would be the FIRST person to tell you he WANTS Bradley to succeed (it's a helluva lot more fun to cover a winning team than the current dumpster fire), but he's in no way obligated to blindly support BU.

Those are my two cents. Hope I don't look bad now

OK, I'll give my opinion- I know Joanne, and I know many who work for and know her very well. She is very concerned about public perception of things. So if that's the case, and many who know her believe it is, why wouldn't she pay attention to what the sports editor of the only local newspaper says. JL was not her pick for a coach, and we all know how those kinds of things work in the corporate and business world. I am not saying there weren't other reasons that some felt were enough to fire Jim Les, but the Athletic Director, who writes evaluations of every coach at the end of their seasons, wrote a positive recommendation for Jim Les, and recommended he be given another year. I'd like to hear your thoughts on why the President would have gone against her own AD's recommendation, and fired the coach anyway? In addition, I have been told there was a large majority of the Braves Scholarship Society members, who are the big donors to Bradley athletics, who were surveyed and said they wanted to give JL another year. I think it's reasonable to believe she had her own personal reasons, some of which may have been influenced by the multitude of negative columns written by KW ripping Jim Les.
If you don't recall all those columns, you should go back and research them. He pleaded may times in the strongest way I have ever seen from a newspaper columnist to fire Les, and he has admitted he was not a fan of JL's as early as his 2nd year.

The second part of your post- I don't know why Kirk now seems to dance around what the real problem is with the men's basketball team (and many other sports). It is a mysterious about face from the way he attacked the last coach. Now it seems he is hesitant to even suggest any of the problems fall on the coaching staff. Maybe it's because he's heaped accolades on them in many of his columns in the past and doesn't want to admit he's wrong (by comparison, he did not like JL from the start and never wrote such positives). And maybe he does have some kind of relationship with the President that clouds his judgement- I know they are very close friends and confidants. I have seen them have long private conversations at road games I have attended where she and Kirk were also in attendance, especially in the 2010-11 season just before JL was fired. Maybe I am all wrong, but IMO, she seems to put a lot of stock into what KW thinks.

[bu fan 9]

Kirk wanted JL fired since day one and he got it done.

[ollienanyes]

more than on the court

Just a thought: there is more to being a coach at a university than the W-L record, especially if a university takes its academics and student life seriously and if that university views the players as being college students.

So, we might now know the full details on what went on that was hidden from the newspapers and headlines.

Now what mystifies me is why Molinary was fired; looking back his track record looked pretty good.

[Da Coach]

I am not sure where you are going with this, but during the Jim Les years, the basketball players set all time records for team GPA-

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=204950712

Led by record-setting performances from the men's basketball....Bradley University's student-athletes enjoyed a stellar semester in the classroom during the 2010 Spring term...

The Bradley men's basketball team had a program-best nine players on the 2010 Spring AD Honor Roll, leading to a program-record 3.10 team GPA during the most-recent grading period. The academic performance marks the third time in the last four semesters the Braves have set the program record for team grade point average since the school began tracking the academic numbers in the mid-1980's.

And:

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=122838

Les' coaching career has been defined by more than just wins and losses, however. Of the 24 seniors he has coached in eight years, 22 have earned their Bradley degrees, while the other two are currently playing professional basketball overseas. Additionally, the Braves continue to set program records for grade point average and 11 team members earned a spot on the Bradley Athletic Director's Honor Roll during the 2009-10 academic year for posting a minimum 3.0 semester GPA during at least one of the two grading periods last year.

Under Les' direction, the Braves participate in countless community service projects and his vision has been a driving force behind the Bradley Basketball Practice Facility, which opened in August and provides Bradley Basketball one of the finest men's basketball specific training facilities in the country.

And nothing even remotely related to academics or student behavioral issues were ever mentioned as a reason for his firing.

[Jeffesh]

I'm curious what problem Kirk Wessler could of had with Les, starting in his 2nd year. But regardless he definitely doesn't put any blame on the coaching staff for the current teams awful play. That really doesn't shock me considering the Urinal Star doesn't seem to be a very credible paper any longer.

[Da Coach]

Some have theorized that they disliked Jim from the beginning because he had limited credentials, and because they thought the job should have gone to a local high school coach that they were friends with. Before Jim ever coached a game at Bradley, there were some pretty negative articles written.
Jim's limited interaction with the press did nothing to endear him to the PJ Star people either.

[Buesch N Chips]

Some have theorized that they disliked Jim from the beginning because he had limited credentials, and because they thought the job should have gone to a local high school coach that they were friends with. Before Jim ever coached a game at Bradley, there were some pretty negative articles written.
Jim's limited interaction with the press did nothing to endear him to the PJ Star people either.

Bingo.

[Bravesfanchicago]

Often reporters want inside info from the coach about the program ...injuries etc. information that should not be public for many reasons....privacy, wagering etc.

les kept his cards close to the vest. Perhaps that rubbed some reporters the wrong way.

[Vent]

OK, I'll give my opinion- I know Joanne, and I know many who work for and know her very well. She is very concerned about public perception of things. So if that's the case, and many who know her believe it is, why wouldn't she pay attention to what the sports editor of the only local newspaper says. JL was not her pick for a coach, and we all know how those kinds of things work in the corporate and business world. I am not saying there weren't other reasons that some felt were enough to fire Jim Les, but the Athletic Director, who writes evaluations of every coach at the end of their seasons, wrote a positive recommendation for Jim Les, and recommended he be given another year. I'd like to hear your thoughts on why the President would have gone against her own AD's recommendation, and fired the coach anyway? In addition, I have been told there was a large majority of the Braves Scholarship Society members, who are the big donors to Bradley athletics, who were surveyed and said they wanted to give JL another year. I think it's reasonable to believe she had her own personal reasons, some of which may have been influenced by the multitude of negative columns written by KW ripping Jim Les.
If you don't recall all those columns, you should go back and research them. He pleaded may times in the strongest way I have ever seen from a newspaper columnist to fire Les, and he has admitted he was not a fan of JL's as early as his 2nd year.

The second part of your post- I don't know why Kirk now seems to dance around what the real problem is with the men's basketball team (and many other sports). It is a mysterious about face from the way he attacked the last coach. Now it seems he is hesitant to even suggest any of the problems fall on the coaching staff. Maybe it's because he's heaped accolades on them in many of his columns in the past and doesn't want to admit he's wrong (by comparison, he did not like JL from the start and never wrote such positives). And maybe he does have some kind of relationship with the President that clouds his judgement- I know they are very close friends and confidants. I have seen them have long private conversations at road games I have attended where she and Kirk were also in attendance, especially in the 2010-11 season just before JL was fired. Maybe I am all wrong, but IMO, she seems to put a lot of stock into what KW thinks.

I'm not so certain she puts a lot of stock in what Kirk writes. She will also be the first one to throw him under the bus when the heat gets turned up by the Journal Star.

[Local Brave Fan]

Local Brave Fan

It is great to be able to express opinions on the board. If Coach Ford would have gotten us to the top of the MVC or at least competitive we would all be talking about something different. But because he has lead the program into the lowest level ever a lot of opinions come out. I enjoy reading opinions that are different than mine. After all this is the greatest country on earth. We can all agree to disagree, but we still all root for the Braves.