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I didn't see this discussed here yet, but I was sad to hear about this. will miss this guy. I talked to him several times and I thought he was just plain awesome:
disclaimer- Wessler is capable of writing some good stuff about the good things in the Bradley basketball program, but for some reason he (and even DR) has chosen not to for a couple years...but he also never did when JL was coach...
Here we are on the verge of what could be the best season for Bradley basketball since 2010, and ......crickets....nothing....nothing at all when we used to get glowing., praise-filled fluff all the time this time of year when Geno was coach...
But he has revealed in his own words what his reasons are....
he soured on Jim Les even before Les' year two was over and he began beating the drum to get Les fired then "dropped the critical hammer" and turned really negative by 2005 - even tho Bradley was a Sweet Sixteen team within a year!!
I know he was at that first Bradley practice a week ago because he was in the videos, and he could even be seen interviewing players, yet he's written nothing.
Thanks for adding that, T. I think Jim Les was great for Bradley and I hear that he was pushed out. Look at how he has done at UCDavis. He was a great player and great coach. I like Coach Wardle too. I think that it is possible that, if we had kept Coach Les, we would not have sunk so low that so many loyal season ticket holders abandoned us. Who knows? I will read anything from Dave Reynolds. I have met him and he is a good guy. I simply wont read a thing from you know who. I am behind Coach Wardle. I think he is going to bring us back. I follow the team now because I have hope. Under the previous regime in total, it was a terrible time for Bradley BB. Just TERRIBLE. Go Braves, Go Coach Wardle and company and go Chris Reynolds!!
Disclaimer: I dropped my subscription to the PJStar 6 months ago so I don't really give a hoot what they write...
But - Bradley is the only Valley team that has no fair or positive home coverage...it is constantly negative...
we haven't had good, positive, fair press since Kenny Jones ran the Sports Department...
Lien, Theobald, Wessler - all of them hated Bradley or the personnel we had there....and tried to attack at every opportunity.
Like I said - the press in every other MVC city is fair and highlights positives as well as negatives...
Even when we had the best year Bradley has had in at least a decade - in 2006 - just as soon as we were knocked out of the Sweet Sixteen, Wessler wrote a hit piece demanding why we don't do this every year?
he "dropped his critical hammer" to get Les out and bring in Joanne's hand picked crew - then suddenly found out that he was backing a bunch of absolute clowns who didn't know how to run an athletic department--
By 2015, of course even Kirk knew how wrong he had been and how disastrous his guys were, but of course would never admit it.
I met Jay as a student going to games. He was always fun to chat with and he had a great time at games. He also loved high school hoops and I remember him talking about that as well. I remember about 5 years ago lost a lot of weight just by running around a court and shooting baskets by himself. He loved the game. Other than his signature holler, he was pretty quite, but opened up if you stuck up a conversation with him.
Thinking is the hardest work, that is why so few people do it. -Henry Ford
Yeah...I've been in college for a while now and I'm pretty sure that awesomest is not a word. -Andrew E.
disclaimer- Wessler is capable of writing some good stuff about the good things in the Bradley basketball program, but for some reason he (and even DR) has chosen not to for a couple years...but he also never did when JL was coach...
Here we are on the verge of what could be the best season for Bradley basketball since 2010, and ......crickets....nothing....nothing at all when we used to get glowing., praise-filled fluff all the time this time of year when Geno was coach...
But he has revealed in his own words what his reasons are....
he soured on Jim Les even before Les' year two was over and he began beating the drum to get Les fired then "dropped the critical hammer" and turned really negative by 2005 - even tho Bradley was a Sweet Sixteen team within a year!!
I know he was at that first Bradley practice a week ago because he was in the videos, and he could even be seen interviewing players, yet he's written nothing.
It goes back even further than that. He was against the hire from the start, then off the record would give all credit to Chuck Buescher for the 2006 run.
It goes back even further than that. He was against the hire from the start, then off the record would give all credit to Chuck Buescher for the 2006 run.
Well I wouldn't give all the credit to CB but he deserves some as does JL for the season and the run......sometimes all the pieces are needed to be successful......I know a high school team that went to state that I believe(and many others) would not have got there without the assistant coach.
Reminds me of when Tony Barone was an assistant at Bradley. The ones who disliked Dick Versace used to want to give Tony most of the credit. But the season Dick made the mistake of going 32-3, which got him fired,Tony was, I believe, in his first year as the Creighton coach. Not a knock on Tony, just telling it like it is.
Reminds me of when Tony Barone was an assistant at Bradley. The ones who disliked Dick Versace used to want to give Tony most of the credit. But the season Dick made the mistake of going 32-3, which got him fired,Tony was, I believe, in his first year as the Creighton coach. Not a knock on Tony, just telling it like it is.
You are correct. Tony Barone was a good coach, but he left Bradley after the 1984-85 season to take the head coaching job at Creighton. When Bradley went 32-3 in 1985-86, Tony was at Creighton. Tony was not the only assistant coach to leave after the 1984-85 season. Brad Dunn also left.
Dick was primarily responsible for the coaching that year, and he was also the primary recruiter while he was at Bradley.
Dick had a very inexperienced staff that year. His assistants in 1985-86 were Rudy Keeling in his 6th year as an assistant with Dick, Tom Massimino who was just hired that season and it was his first full time assistant coaching job, and Willie Cox, who also was in his first season as a full time assistant coach. Willie had served as a part-time grad assistant for 2 seasons prior to being hired as assistant coach.
Anyone who said Dick didn't know basketball or couldn't coach is either ignorant or stupid.
omg- there have been clueless critics for years trying to demean the accomplishments of Bradley's coaches...
Phil Theobald suggested Molinari was a doofus and that the loss of Rob Judson hurt him...
Wessler said Wayne McClain would have made Molinari's teams much more successful and would have been a better choice than Jim Les in 2002...
Then there were bozos who claimed Les wouldn't be able to win without Al Biancalana on the staff - then Al quit and all Les did was win 86 games over the next 4 years, go to the post-season all four years, make it to the Sweet Sixteen, and win TEN post-season games...the only thing that could stop that streak was Joanne Glasser hijacking the basketball program and hiring her own crew...
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