Final score: Wichita State 85 Bradley 58

[Chico]

Darn it, BU should have hired kw's choice when they hired JL and we wouldn't be bickering like this.

[lefty]

Darn it, BU should have hired kw's choice when they hired JL and we wouldn't be bickering like this.

Ha??Śmaybe Chico. As much as I liked Wayne as a person he wouldn't have been my choice then and because of the controversial hiring process I think the bickering was a given

[tornado]

You give Kirk way to much credit for influence T…….

your last two lines are interesting...

let's put it this way...
some of the people he's had very harsh words about have never been seen having a casual, friendly dinner out with Kirk, while some of the people he's written glowing praise about & appear to have supported unconditionally have...

[Chico]

Ha??Śmaybe Chico. As much as I liked Wayne as a person he wouldn't have been my choice then and because of the controversial hiring process I think the bickering was a given

I know nothing about the "controversial hiring process." What happened?

[lefty]

I know nothing about the "controversial hiring process." What happened?

C'mon Chico.......we aren't going to rehash that. I'm pretty sure you know all about it.

[Chico]

C'mon Chico.......we aren't going to rehash that. I'm pretty sure you know all about it.

For most of the last 10 basketball seasons I've been out of town so I don't know what you are talking about. But I assume it's probably considered controversial by the JL detractors who didn't want him as coach.

[Da Coach]

At the risk of being accused of bringing up JL again...
I think he is referring more to the fiasco back in 2002 with the search committee of 5 people, one of whom tried to sabotage every other of the finalist candidates except McClain. He admitted later he wanted McClain to get the job from the start.
It lead to every other legitimate candidate pulling themselves out of consideration, leaving Bradley with only 2 remaining candidates- JL and WM. JL had only been added to the list of candidates originally interviewed, as a courtesy to many Boosters who wanted him considered, but he impressed everyone on the search committee so much, he ended up on the list of finalists. Rather than start the search over, and because WM interviewed very poorly, the job went to JL, much to the displeasure of Kirk Wessler and Phil Theobald.

Side note- when WMBD used to have a "Sportswriters" type sports talk show back then, I heard Kirk repeatedly accuse the other 4 committee members of staging a sham, and that they wanted Jim Les as their choice from the beginning, and that Wayne McClain "deserved the job". But that is absurd, and completely untrue. I have talked to members who were on the committee, and they all have told me that Jim Les interviewed only as a courtesy and was never going to be among the finalists because they originally wanted someone with head coaching experience. Even Jim Les has told people that when he had his initial interview, he was sent away by Ken Kavanagh with well wishes, but was told he would not be getting a call back because of his lack of experience.

But the shenanigans by the other search committee member caused the others to withdraw, so they added JL back and were left with JL and WM in the end. The final meetings with the committee members and President Broski clearly showed JL to be better prepared and the better choice between the two, and that is how he got the job.
Ironically, JL never would have been the choice if the member who favored WM had not tried to sabotage the process.

[tornado]

At the risk of being accused of bringing up JL again...
I think he is referring more to the fiasco back in 2002 with the search committee of 5 people, one of whom tried to sabotage every other of the finalist candidates except McClain. He admitted later he wanted McClain to get the job from the start.
It lead to every other legitimate candidate pulling themselves out of consideration, leaving Bradley with only 2 remaining candidates- JL and WM. JL had only been added to the list of candidates originally interviewed, as a courtesy to many Boosters who wanted him considered, but he impressed everyone on the search committee so much, he ended up on the list of finalists. Rather than start the search over, and because WM interviewed very poorly, the job went to JL, much to the displeasure of Kirk Wessler and Phil Theobald.

..Kirk didn't like that hiring but he seems to have no problem with one that was done that cost a ton of $$ and was made by "a committee of one", which led to disastrous outcome and near bankruptcy & near drop to DIII.
Would like to see a followup column to this one that Kirk ended with "time will tell if she's right", as long as he promises not to sob & hug everyone.

[bigjimmy]

BTW- in fairness and full disclosure...
I do absolutely ZERO business with nor have ever gained benefit in any way from any relationship with the PJStar.
I would love to hear whether others in this discussion can say the same thing, because if you do business with them or gain benefit from your relationship with them, it does possibly help explain the basis for opinions.

In fairness and full disclosure the only relationship I have with the PJS is my subscription. I hope that doesn't make me biased. There's not too many days that go by that a columnist doesn't openly campaign for someone to be fired. It's been that way since major league sports have existed. I'm sure KW took great joy in "helping" JL get fired. I'm sure the former, thank goodness, Madame President saw a kindred spirit in KW because of their mutual dislike of JL and wanted to be sure that whatever was reported from the hilltop was all peaches and cream. Obviously that's wrong and at least on this website he's been called out on it. I just want it on its own dedicated thread. If you and da coach don't agree with that that's fine. I'm sure KW doesn't agree with you either. I'm just sayin.

[PhiAlphaBoy]

I've never met or spoken with this Wessler fella but it sure seems like some have a tremendous amount of anger and hostility toward the gentleman. I don't mean to offend anyone, but I'm curious if those who have expressed the most venom here have ever attempted to have a one on one conversation with the man? Otherwise, this sniping just all seems quite unhealthy to me.

[Da Coach]

This isn't and never has been about Kirk personally. I have never met him and wish him no ill will. Sorry if some can't differentiate between people and opinions. This is about a difference of opinions, and his opinions, if he is going to push them at us, are fair game for criticism. Especially, when he has been as completely wrong as often as he has been proven to be.

[Buesch N Chips]

As much as I've disagreed with the way Kirk handled Les, it was at least passive aggressive much of the time. Not like this:

[Da Coach]

There was another former PJ Star sportswriter who wrote some pretty harsh stuff about Weber, too.

[PhiAlphaBoy]

There was another former PJ Star sportswriter who wrote some pretty harsh stuff about Weber, too.

But is it wrong for a journalist to express an opinion? There are many types of journalism - http://www.dispatchnie.com/content/p...-articles.html

TYPES OF NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

There are several types of news articles.

A local news article focuses on what's going on in your neighborhood. An example of a local news story would be an article on a city council meeting.

A national news article focuses on what's happening in the United States. An example of a national news article would be an article on the U.S. Senate passing a new bill.

An international news article focuses on news that's happening outside the United States. A story on an influenza outbreak in Chile would be considered an international news story.

A feature article is an article that is about "softer" news. A feature may be a profile of a person who does a lot of volunteer work in the community or a movie preview. Feature articles are not considered news stories.

An editorial is an article that contains the writer's opinion. Editorials are usually run all together on a specific page of the paper and focus on current events. Editorials are not considered news stories.

A column is an article written by the same person on a regular basis. A columnist (the writer of the column) writes about subjects of interest to him/her, current events or community happenings. Columns are not considered news stories.

[tornado]

you hit the nail on the head...
OF COURSE it's OK for him to be critical- but all we're asking is LET US be just as critical and stop badgering other posters for having an opinion about Kirk Wessler or any other writer.

I don't see anyone arguing we should stop sports columnists from saying what they want - just that we also have an opinion