PJS Letter

[Vent]

Another scathing letter was in today's PJS, by yet another frustrated BU fan. You talk about hitting the target, well this one hit the bulls eye, and truly expresses the sentiment felt by BU fans. The only ones he left off the hook were the ones truly responsible for this mess...the Board of Trustees.

The people operating the clown car called Bradley basketball, aren't smart enough or have enough dignity to resign. Let's just hope the Board of Trustees wises up and makes changes to the basketball program immediately. Don't they understand, the university cannot endure another season like this one?

[tornado]

caution, if you try to look for the letter online, I don't believe there's a link to it yet, but beware...
the PJS must have some new adware because it loads a ton of stuff that will bog your computer down

[Da Coach]

It is very similar to my own opinions that I posted right after the debacle Wednesday night against Drake.
Here is my opinion-

http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=303648#post303648

Today's Letter to the sports editor-

SPORTS FORUM ??? Ineptitude??™ surrounds Bradley men??™s basketball

Losing to last-place Drake, at home, is yet another colossal disaster for the Bradley men??™s basketball team.

Last week, I was tempted to write a letter alluding to the fact that I, and many of my friends and acquaintances, no longer even care about Bradley basketball. But, after this latest debacle, I, and others, now have attitudes much closer to furious than to apathy.

The utter ineptitude of the people responsible for this once proud program is staggering; President Joanne Glasser, athletic director Michael Cross, and head coach Geno Ford have all had a hand in ravaging the Bradley men??™s basketball program. Together, they have wrought destruction upon Bradley basketball, embarrassed the city of Peoria and made Bradley athletics a laughingstock within the Missouri Valley Conference and throughout the region. Plus, they have shamelessly increased ticket prices, alienated countless fans and driven away loyal supporters in droves.

Given the results of their tenure, it seems only honorable that Dr. Cross and coach Ford would resign their positions, immediately, and forfeit all compensation owed them for the remainder of their employment contracts. The university is teetering on financial meltdown due in large part to their excessive salaries, poor performance, and the corresponding decrease in financial contributions, so it seems only right that they compensate Bradley, and this community, for their incompetence.

They all were entrusted with a precious community asset, and they have repaid that trust by obliterating links to our storied past and squashing all hope for a bright and proximate future. We will carry on, but hopefully, they all will merely be shrinking objects in our collective rearview mirrors.

TIM MCCORMACK

PEORIA

[tornado]

we've all seen messy split - in business, among neighbors, divorces..

but this letter highlights another messy split in the Bradley fan base..

we've been through FOUR messy splits in the BU fan base and survived the prior three but this one seems to threaten to undo what Bradley basketball has enjoyed for 75 years or more..

First there were a small but vocal group that hated Molinari's style and trumped up reasons and got him fired in 2002. At that time a few fans left and have never been back - most notably a family that runs several major local businesses.

Then another small but vocal group rose up in anger in 2002-2003 because their choice for head coach was not hired. It was messy with cries of racism - even aided by the media who chimed right in - but we survived just fine and flourished - with record attendance and record revenues within just a few years.

Then a small but vocal group aided by the media pushed to fire JL and when personalities clashed on the Hilltop - it was done. This split led to the loss of lots of fans who have never been back and started a destructive spiral of fallout that hasn't stopped yet. But Bradley could survive if some changes were or are made fast to reverse all the damage done.

But that bring us to the final split - now we have a small but vocal splinter of fans who oppose making sweeping changes. They seem oddly still supportive of the status quo even if the ship is sinking.
But moreso - the are viciously attacking anyone who does want changes and claiming it is mean and unfair that our current personnel are not getting the job done and fans dare to notice. Anytime anyone speaks up for change they get attacked viciously as if those long time supportive fans & donors are the problem when we can clearly see where the real problem lies.
.... We won't keep surviving all these splits.
We need someone to come in as President & AD who can heal the factions.

[basketball nut]

we've all seen messy split - in business, among neighbors, divorces..

.... We won't keep surviving all these splits.
We need someone to come in as President & AD who can heal the factions.

Completely agree

[Vent]

we've all seen messy split - in business, among neighbors, divorces..

but this letter highlights another messy split in the Bradley fan base..

we've been through FOUR messy splits in the BU fan base and survived the prior three but this one seems to threaten to undo what Bradley basketball has enjoyed for 75 years or more..

First there were a small but vocal group that hated Molinari's style and trumped up reasons and got him fired in 2002. At that time a few fans left and have never been back - most notably a family that runs several major local businesses.

Then another small but vocal group rose up in anger in 2002-2003 because their choice for head coach was not hired. It was messy with cries of racism - even aided by the media who chimed right in - but we survived just fine and flourished - with record attendance and record revenues within just a few years.

Then a small but vocal group aided by the media pushed to fire JL and when personalities clashed on the Hilltop - it was done. This split led to the loss of lots of fans who have never been back and started a destructive spiral of fallout that hasn't stopped yet. But Bradley could survive if some changes were or are made fast to reverse all the damage done.

But that bring us to the final split - now we have a small but vocal splinter of fans who oppose making sweeping changes. They seem oddly still supportive of the status quo even if the ship is sinking.
But moreso - the are viciously attacking anyone who does want changes and claiming it is mean and unfair that our current personnel are not getting the job done and fans dare to notice. Anytime anyone speaks up for change they get attacked viciously as if those long time supportive fans & donors are the problem when we can clearly see where the real problem lies.
.... We won't keep surviving all these splits.
We need someone to come in as President & AD who can heal the factions.

I don't see where it says or highlights anything about messy fan splits. I'm just seeing where the guy is frustrated with what Glasser, Cross and Ford have done to the basketball program and the entire athletic department. I don't know of anybody that is supportive of the way things are going at BU and if there are some, it must be very few, and I'm not too worried about them. I've spoken up several times about the failures of the people running the BU clown car. I haven't been attacked viciously, at least not yet. I took his comment of " alienated countless fans and driven away loyal supporters", as to the way they've tried to sever ties to past tradition and put a lousy product on the floor that can't justify the maintenance fee/ticket price increases. I think the guy is absolutely correct. I didn't see anything in there about Molinari or Les and I think the article is about the present.

[tornado]

it is representative of the splits..
but my MAJOR point was..

The messengers were WRONG when they said we needed to fire Mo
They were WRONG when they cried that we needed to fire JL
They were wrong when they said we needed sweeping changes and bring all these new guys in from out east
BUT - the messengers NOW are right - we need to UNDO all those bad moves that have taken us miles ("light years") off course and near DII-caliber
- now we DO need to make sweeping changes as never before. We never saw the destruction, the fallout, the financial loses, and loss of fans before but NOW we do...easy to see the difference.

[Vent]

We may already be at a D-II level. We lost to a D-III team and our attendance is like an upper end D-II program.

Once again, I'd like to thank the Board of Trustees for putting us in this position.

[lefty]

We may already be at a D-II level. We lost to a D-III team and our attendance is like an upper end D-II program.

Once again, I'd like to thank the Board of Trustees for putting us in this position.

The last two processes of hiring a HC were flawed big time??¦..that's nothing about who we hired but just the process in how BU went about it??¦

we need to hire a strong AD and let him hire the next head coach

[patrick_o'brian]

We may already be at a D-II level. We lost to a D-III team and our attendance is like an upper end D-II program.

Once again, I'd like to thank the Board of Trustees for putting us in this position.

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/Reports/attend/2014.pdf

Not quite Vent. Highest DII avg was 3300. Several lower level D-1's average in the 1500-2,000 range. Above is a link to support that. We did lose to a DIII team. I think there is too much piling on going on right now. Facts are we are a bad team, the people that caused this are on their way out, end of story. We need to watch ourselves. Kids read these boards, our players read these boards. I saw us lose Granger and Remy Abel. I really don't want to lose Josh. We need to be "realists" and see what is happening. The ball is rolling with changes we demanded. We need to just ride it out and quit making jabs. Just my two cents. Take it or leave it.

[bu fan 9]

Our average would be around 3,000 if you counted fans in the stands.

[Chico]

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_bask...ttend/2014.pdf

Not quite Vent. Highest DII avg was 3300. Several lower level D-1's average in the 1500-2,000 range. Above is a link to support that. We did lose to a DIII team. I think there is too much piling on going on right now. Facts are we are a bad team, the people that caused this are on their way out, end of story. We need to watch ourselves. Kids read these boards, our players read these boards. I saw us lose Granger and Remy Abel. I really don't want to lose Josh. We need to be "realists" and see what is happening. The ball is rolling with changes we demanded. We need to just ride it out and quit making jabs. Just my two cents. Take it or leave it.

Wouldn't blame the fans, or this board, for losing Granger, good riddance, or Remy Abel.

[Da Coach]

....

we need to hire a strong AD and let him hire the next head coach

I strongly agree with you here. We need an experienced AD with a proven record of running a successful athletic department and a record of hiring coaches who proved to be successful.

[patrick_o'brian]

Wouldn't blame the fans, or this board, for losing Granger, good riddance, or Remy Abel.

Didn't blame the fans Chico, or this board. Just simply stating the redundancy of these posts. It's all about to change. That's what we wanted. We pushed for change, it is now coming and even after the ball began rolling, we had fans yelling at players, the crowd booing, etc. it's everybody's right, I get it, but if I was 18 years old, my coach was possibly leaving, all the people that I will potentially be playing in front of for the next three years continue to ***** about things, and I am a Top 100 recruit, I would be gone. Just personally don't wanna lose Josh. Most of us have said how good it would have been to have the aforementioned Grainger and Abel through the coaching changes. I'm Sure things would have been a bit better for us and the new coach to have star players stick around while the rebuilding was taking place.

To say "good riddance" is the type of thing I am talking about. Why would you say that? Grainger was an animal at New Mexico and was an NBA All-Star and Remy is light years above any guard we have on our team right now. It just doesn't make sense to say "good riddance".

And to lay a real world scenario out for you, if you own or manage a company and see someone that is not performing well, do you continue to ***** about their performance? No, you make the change and move forward. Also, if timing does not allow you to do it immediately, but the decision is made, do you continue to *****about the level of performance or do you already realize the decision is made and plan for the future? I think a lot of posters have moved on and are talking about the future, but the ones who aren't realistic and keep *****ing are the ones my post was aimed at.

[Vent]

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_bask...ttend/2014.pdf

Not quite Vent. Highest DII avg was 3300. Several lower level D-1's average in the 1500-2,000 range. Above is a link to support that. We did lose to a DIII team. I think there is too much piling on going on right now. Facts are we are a bad team, the people that caused this are on their way out, end of story. We need to watch ourselves. Kids read these boards, our players read these boards. I saw us lose Granger and Remy Abel. I really don't want to lose Josh. We need to be "realists" and see what is happening. The ball is rolling with changes we demanded. We need to just ride it out and quit making jabs. Just my two cents. Take it or leave it.

I was being sarcastic about the attendance, although it is about half of what it use to be. I don't want to see Josh leave either. Players transfer from programs because of lack of playing time and/or wanting to play in a program that goes to the NCAA. They don't transfer because of what is written in the paper or on message boards. That doesn't give people a green light to boo or say negative things about them.