3 MVC games Saturday, Feb. 15

[Da Coach]

I managed to watch some parts of the game. Did anyone else hear one of the announcers mention that a couple of the pro teams were in to watch Green?

If they did, they didn't see one of his better games. He did make a last second three to tie the game and send it to overtime, but overall A.J. Green was just 8-23 from the floor and 3-11 from three. He did not shoot a single free throw, and he had 7 turnovers.

I noticed one other thing about the UNI game at Loyola yesterday- all 5 of their starters played more than 40 minutes in the game.
A.J. Green- 45 minutes
Trae Berhow- 45 minutes
Isaiah Brown- 42 minutes
Spencer Haldeman- 42 minutes
Austin Phyfe- 41 minutes

The entire bench played only 10 combined minutes and accounted for a total of 2 points.
I wonder if all the heavy minutes and the fact they get little from their bech will hurt UNI in the MVC Tournament?
Box score- https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sit..._Box_Score.pdf

I did not see the game (was driving back from Carbondale) but Loyola was only called for 7 Personal Fouls in the entire game. UNI attempted only 2 FTs in the 45 minute game. OTOH, Loyola was 10-17 from the FT line. I don't know if it has anything to do with Sister Jean's pregame prayer every game, but Loyola in the Gentile Arena gets special treatment from Valley officials more than any team I can recall. It shows in the MVC stats- Loyola has attempted more free throws on the season than any other MVC teams.

[egib52]

I too watched the entire Loyola - Northern Iowa game .... and the atmosphere at Loyola was great ....and we "did" have that at Carver .... and to date I blame Glasser, and Ford for the low attendance that still to date is recovering.

According to the box score the attendance for the game was 4963: https://loyolaramblers.com/sports/me.../boxscore/4967

The last Bradley game against ISUblue 5023: https://bradleybraves.com/sports/men...boxscore/18038

Now I don't disagree that there are less fans than before, but this isn't just a Glasser/Ford issue and that narrative is getting very tired. The reality is compared to a lot of teams in college basketball (especially the mid major level), the Braves draw fairly well. The other difference is Gentile only seats about 5000 (https://www.luc.edu/studentcomplex/gentilearena/), whereas Carver seats approximately 11500 for basketball. So if it is entirely atmosphere, then maybe the solution is to move the games to the RC. It would not be my choice, but this argument keeps coming up.

[Da Coach]

Here are some other numbers and facts that I have to get off my chest.... I am sorry if anyone doesn't like these things brought up after so long.
In 2006-07, the season before Joanne Glasser took over, Bradley drew an average of 9,728 per game.
In the 2010-11 season, the year Glasser fired Jim Les, Bradley's average home attendance was still 8,447 despite a historically bad year (12-20, and 4-14 in the MVC).
That same year (2010-11), Loyola averaged 2,428 per home game. In other words, Bradley drew 3½ times what Loyola drew. Now they are drawing crows close to what Bradley draws!
But by the 2014-15 season (Joanne Glasser's final year) Bradley's average attendance had dropped to 5,726. That is a drop of 41% from before Glasser & Dr. Cross, and a drop of over 4,000 PER GAME! I have done a lot of research on this, and that is the largest percentage drop I can find anywhere in average attendance in such a short span in Division I basketball. Maybe you can cite other factors, but there cannot be any doubt that the biggest factor was the meddling and changes that were the responsibility of Glasser & Cross.

I personally can name dozens of long time fans and major mega-donors to the program who were run off by Glasser and Cross. The Braves Scholarship Society (donor level of $20,000 or more per year) had over 60 members in 2009 when I joined. Within a few years all but a handful had dropped out. That alone is millions of dollars of revenue lost per year! And that was all due to Glasser & Cross.
Many of the most loyal season ticket buyers and top donating fans left when Bradley raised ticket prices right in the midst of the worst losing stretch in Bradley history. Glasser & Cross kicked all the high-dollar donors out of those first 3 rows across from the benches unless they kicked up their maintenance to $2500 per seat. That included Bill Sharp (of Sharp Income Tax) who had donated massive sums to Bradley over the years and had 8 seats in that area. He was very bitter about the changes, gave up all 8 seats and as far as I know, has never returned or donated a dime since. S&S Builders Hardware had 4 seats in the front row and dropped their tickets and have never come back. Mort Cantor's widow had 2 seats in the front row and gave hers up because she couldn't afford the massive rise in ticket price and maintenance. And there were many more I won't name. And there were innumerable others who were in the lesser-priced areas who also gave up their seats with the price rise, or because they just couldn't stand all the losing. Most of them have never come back. I personally cut back from 4 tickets to 2 and was threatened by the administration (Cross) that if I dropped all my seats that I "would never be allowed back in" to the lower bowl. All these things can be documented by anyone who wants to take the time to make a couple calls, but we have never had any media people who did that. Instead, the media just continued to kiss Glasser's butt.

In 2009, I was told by the AD (Ken Kavanagh) that Bradley topped out at over 9,000 season tickets sold. Now that number must be around 4,000 now, since we've had some games this season with attendance figures in the mid-4000's. Those were the most loyal, dedicated Bradley fans, not the casual fans who are the ones who are much more likely to find other things to do with their time, and who account for attendance drops at most schools. Many of those long-time season ticket buyers, some who had tickets for multiple generations, are gone because of the previous administration. The Board of Trustees finally realized that, and that is why they stepped into this matter when sports is not usually an issue the Board of Trustees at Universities ever gets involved with and was not one they really wanted to have to deal with. And they made the extensive changes in 2015. Again, I am not aware of another example anywhere at any college where a President, Athletic Director, and Head Coach were all fired at the same time for pretty much the same reasons. That alone says volumes.

Yes, there have been other issues that caused the attendance drops, but the largest factor undoubtedly were the actions of Glasser and Cross and the way they treated the loyal, unbelievably generous donors and season ticket buyers and fans, and the inept management choices that lead to the declines. And we should never forget what happened and hope it never happens again.

[egib52]

Yes, there have been other issues that caused the attendance drops, but the largest factor undoubtedly were the actions of Glasser and Cross and the way they treated the loyal, unbelievably generous donors and season ticket buyers, and the inept management choices that lead to the declines. And we should never forget what happened and hope it never happens again.

It may have definitely contributed, I can't deny that, but it was 5 years ago. Loyola went to the Final Four 2 years ago, and we still lead the conference in average attendance: https://mvc-sports.com/stats.aspx?path=mbball&year=2019. The reality is that every game is now on tv, and people just don't go to live sporting events as much. At some point we need to quit dwelling on the past, and focus on the future. I don't think there are average fans that are still staying away because of Glasser/Cross/Ford.

[Da Coach]

I am not discounting those other reasons that fans don't attend live sporting events as much today as in the past. I have said as much on this board many times. But in Bradley's case, the drop in attendance is far greater than other schools, and for that specific reason I stated.
As I said above, there are still a lot of fans bitter about the way they were treated and who have not returned. I was almost one of them. And maybe those aren't average fans, but they were long-time loyal fans who bought season tickets for decades, even generations, and donated enormous amounts. Bradley still misses those fans. I'd rather see 10,000 fans in the arena instead of 5,000-6,000, but that will probably never happen again.

[Tommy]

Coach, if I didn't know better, I'd think you weren't a fan of Glasser and Cross.

And this, ' threatened by the administration (Cross) that if I dropped all my seats that I "would never be allowed back in" to the lower bowl. ' comment is insane, but not surprising. Coach, that is ridiculous and says a lot about you that you kept on coming after that! Good on you!

I'm willing to bet most everyone on this board probably stuck it out through the Geno years, though I must admit, I missed more games in that last season of his than any other since I've been going to games, and I was getting close to giving up the season tickets. Dub convinced me to stick it out by saying, 'you can't appreciate the good times if you don't live through the rough ones'. How right he was.

BU is back, and hopefully our attendance will grow back to where it used to be. Maybe it never will, but the chance is much better if we keep making the NCAA tourney every year. Let's become the next Wichita St.!

[Da Coach]

Tommy, if you liked that story (about me being threatened that they wouldn't allow me "back in"), I am sure you'd like to hear some of the other stories I could tell about my personal interactions with and things I witnessed regarding Glasser & Cross that I have never related. As I mentioned, I was a member of the Braves Scholarship Society for several years, and as a result I had frequent occasions to meet with President Glasser personally, have dinner with her, and even traveled many times on the men's and women's team charters to road games and tournaments.
But one story I have mentioned before before happened well after Jim Les was fired. It happened to be when the news broke about Bradley being unwilling to abide by all the terms of Les' contract and pay him what he was owed. It revolved around petty differences related to some of the salary Les was earning at UC Davis (which Bradley claimed was artificailly low causing Bradley pay more settlement to Les) and a couple other contract issues. The PJ Star did a pretty good job of explaining this legal standoff here and in the second link below-

https://www.pjstar.com/article/20110709/NEWS/307099918

Regardless of who was right or wrong, it was perceived by many fans as a petty and vindictive action by Bradley (something Glasser was well known for). It was eventually settled a few months later, but not before both sides probably coughed up a lot more money in legal fees than the amount this squabble was all about. All it did was generate a lot of negative publicity for Bradley.

https://www.pjstar.com/article/20110921/NEWS/309219860

Anyway, by then, Glasser and Cross had become convinced that the Bradleyfans.com website was a bad thing because it allowed fans to post opinions, some of which were critical of Pres. Glasser & Dr. Cross. I was called and told to come in to Dr. Cross' office to talk. In that meeting, Cross demanded that I shut down the Bradleyfans website! This surprised me, since I was still a member of the Braves Scholarship Society at that time and was still very supportive of them. Then Cross pulled out several paper copies of postings from Bradleyfans and read them. They were posts that were mildly critical of Glasser and Cross and the way things were handled with the firing and contract dispute with Jim Les. I couldn't believe they were being so picky and puerile about extremely mild criticism (which to me was justified). Believe it or not, I found out that President Glasser had a full time assistant whose job it was to read sources like Bradleyfans and the PJ Star and make copies of anything critical of her or of Cross. One of the posts he read did seem cross the line a little with some unacceptable language, but I had deleted it quickly. Nonetheless, it lasted long enough for Glasser's assistant to make a copy. I informed Cross that none of the posts he read were my posts, and the one that seemed inappropriate was deleted by me less than 30 minutes after it was posted. I would have deleted it faster, but I was not on the board at the time it was posted (some might not believe this, but I do not actually spend every minute 24 hours a day on the board).

To be polite, I told him I would consider his "request", and left. But I had no intention of shutting down Bradleyfans. Instead, shortly after that I quit the Braves Scholarship Society. Not long after that, I became persona non grata to that cabal.

[Stryker]

Tommy, if you liked that story (about me being threatened that they wouldn't allow me "back in"), I am sure you'd like to hear some of the other stories I could tell about my personal interactions with and things I witnessed regarding Glasser & Cross that I have never related. As I mentioned, I was a member of the Braves Scholarship Society for several years, and as a result I had frequent occasions to meet with President Glasser personally, have dinner with her, and even traveled many times on the men's and women's team charters to road games and tournaments.
But one story I have mentioned before before happened well after Jim Les was fired. It happened to be when the news broke about Bradley being unwilling to abide by all the terms of Les' contract and pay him what he was owed. It revolved around petty differences related to some of the salary Les was earning at UC Davis (which Bradley claimed was artificailly low causing Bradley pay more settlement to Les) and a couple other contract issues. The PJ Star did a pretty good job of explaining this legal standoff here and in the second link below-

https://www.pjstar.com/article/20110709/NEWS/307099918

Regardless of who was right or wrong, it was perceived by many fans as a petty and vindictive action by Bradley (something Glasser was well known for). It was eventually settled a few months later, but not before both sides probably coughed up a lot more money in legal fees than the amount this squabble was all about. All it did was generate a lot of negative publicity for Bradley.

https://www.pjstar.com/article/20110921/NEWS/309219860

Anyway, by then, Glasser and Cross had become convinced that the Bradleyfans.com website was a bad thing because it allowed fans to post opinions, some of which were critical of Pres. Glasser & Dr. Cross. I was called and told to come in to Dr. Cross' office to talk. In that meeting, Cross demanded that I shut down the Bradleyfans website! This surprised me, since I was still a member of the Braves Scholarship Society at that time and was still very supportive of them. Then Cross pulled out several paper copies of postings from Bradleyfans and read them. They were posts that were mildly critical of Glasser and Cross and the way things were handled with the firing and contract dispute with Jim Les. I couldn't believe they were being so picky and puerile about extremely mild criticism (which to me was justified). Believe it or not, I found out that President Glasser had a full time assistant whose job it was to read sources like Bradleyfans and the PJ Star and make copies of anything critical of her or of Cross. One of the posts he read did seem cross the line a little with some unacceptable language, but I had deleted it quickly. Nonetheless, it lasted long enough for Glasser's assistant to make a copy. I informed Cross that none of the posts he read were my posts, and the one that seemed inappropriate was deleted by me less than 30 minutes after it was posted. I would have deleted it faster, but I was not on the board at the time it was posted (some might not believe this, but I do not actually spend every minute 24 hours a day on the board).

To be polite, I told him I would consider his "request", and left. But I had no intention of shutting down Bradleyfans. Instead, shortly after that I quit the Braves Scholarship Society. Not long after that, I became persona non grata to that cabal.

Wow what a story! Sadly it is very believable.

i graduated in 08’ and we all loved Glasser when she first got to campus. How different things became shortly afterword. I am still convinced she would have destroyed the university beyond help if not forced out when she was.

I for one can also vouch for your story about the Sharpe family etc, new them at school a bit and they even invited back to the society room with them once during a game.

I would say say without the Glasser era we would probably still be averaging 7,000+ attendance/game. However, damage like what was done is not fixed with just winning. It’s irreparable in many cases. New fans have to be created to replace the old ones and that takes a lot of time and winning.

[Tommy]

I am sure you'd like to hear some of the other stories I could tell about my personal interactions with and things I witnessed regarding Glasser & Cross that I have never related.

Yes! If you have more than this, I'd love to hear them! Wow is all I can say.

Cross demanded that I shut down the Bradleyfans website!

You know there are problems when someone can't handle criticism and tries to censor those who disagree with them. What HUBRIS to think they can make demands of YOU when YOU were the one supporting THEM! That is beyond unbelievable, but then, nothing I hear surprises me with that regime.

Thanks for sharing, Coach, and it just makes us appreciate the current leadership that much more.

[Da Coach]

Unfortunately, Tommy, most of the rest of the stuff I'd love to share may not be quite as suitable to post publicly, since it involves things I personally witnessed or heard about. But some day if we get together, I'll share some of it.
Despite what many might think, I do not hold grudges, I only want people to know about these things. I wish Glasser, Cross, and Geno all well. I really do want to let most of it go and let bygones be bygones, and move on. I cannot be happier the way the last few years have gone. I only wish they hadn't cost Bradley and the fans 4-6 wasted years before we could get back on the right track.

Hope to see you at the game. I've got the book I told you about.

[Tommy]

Nice! I'll see you tonight, Coach!