Les The Dictator?

[Braves4Life]

I saw the following quote from a poster on the MVC Message Board:

My take on the BU situation is this...Les is does a great job of getting kids to sign with BU...he seems to not have a great relationship with some of those kids once they have been there for awhile...rumour is and has been that POB and his family have been unhappy with Les for over a year now...when Les fired Biancalana, the guy who recruited POB the disenchantment began.... I personally think the jury is still out on Les as a head coach...though its undeniable that he put together a great run to the sweet 16 this year.

Since something like this was fairly recently posted about Les and his relationship (or lack of) with POB's family, and since we also discussed some of the comments made by Granger and family, I wanted to throw it out again.

Does anyone have any info that Les has relationship problems with certain players? I don't believe it to be true from all I've heard and seen about him having the players over to his house, and the emotion that he and his players showed toward each other at the end of the Memphis game and all of the other Tournament games; however, I'm sure that other coaches must be spreading this crap and using it against us in recruiting.

Any thoughts/info?

[tornado]

When people know nothing, they sometimes use that ignorance to fill in the gaps, and it appears that's what's been done here.
How many of Les' scholarship recruits have left to transfer elsewhere in his four+ years at BU?
I doubt you'd find any other D-I coach with an answer to that question as few as Jim Les has.



By the way, there's a little Jim Les mention here, where the Clippers are celebrating (even tho they've been eliminated) their fine season, and saying that this season was for all those fine players they had in the past....
"This was for Jim Les and Mikki Moore, for Lock (Rob) and Loder (Kevin), for White (Rory) to Brown (Tony) and back to White (Eric) again. This was for Marvin Barnes, who was "Bad News........"

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/sports/atoz/article_1152173.php

[BradleyBrave]

Jim Les didn't 'fire' Al Biancalana. If he did, I don't think Al would have told POB very passionately to STAY at BU.

[AV23]

This is a dead issue so move on. Whatever happen in the past is the past.

[MacabreMob]

I had the impression Les had great relationships with his players.

I saw exchanges/challenges between he and TB and they were GREAT. I saw something similar out of WF in his behavior around Les at the banquet.

I recall hearing/reading about ZA text messaging Les late into the evening and Les telling him he had to go to bed.

If anything, I thought Les was maybe too much of a friend to the players and not enough The Coach.

[lefty]

Jim Les didn't 'fire' Al Biancalana. If he did, I don't think Al would have told POB very passionately to STAY at BU.

Techincally no on the firing part but....
Al B has too much class not too have encouraged POB to stay at BU.

[BIRDBRAIN]

Jim Les didn't 'fire' Al Biancalana. If he did, I don't think Al would have told POB very passionately to STAY at BU.

Techincally no on the firing part but....
Al B has too much class not too have encouraged POB to stay at BU.

I know this sounds naieve, and i am getting in on this late,
but lefty can you
spell out exactly what Bradley or someone representing Bradley did that was cited as wrong?

[lefty]

Jim Les didn't 'fire' Al Biancalana. If he did, I don't think Al would have told POB very passionately to STAY at BU.

Techincally no on the firing part but....
Al B has too much class not too have encouraged POB to stay at BU.

I know this sounds naieve, and i am getting in on this late,
but lefty can you
spell out exactly what Bradley or someone representing Bradley did that was cited as wrong?

In regard to what?

[BIRDBRAIN]

sorry, I asked about something from a different discussion, but you said

they are still violations

In any event it was wrong and BU was penalized

Was it wrong according to NCAA rules? If the answer is yes then you have to deal with the consequence

I thought Star Trucking made the mistake, not Bradley.

[BradleyBrave]

sorry, I asked about something from a different discussion, but you said

they are still violations

In any event it was wrong and BU was penalized

Was it wrong according to NCAA rules? If the answer is yes then you have to deal with the consequence

I thought Star Trucking made the mistake, not Bradley.

Star Trucking and/or its owner fit the NCAA's definition of a 'booster', and therefore the benefits received by the BU players were illegal.

[lefty]

sorry, I asked about something from a different discussion, but you said

they are still violations

In any event it was wrong and BU was penalized

Was it wrong according to NCAA rules? If the answer is yes then you have to deal with the consequence

I thought Star Trucking made the mistake, not Bradley.

Star Trucking and/or its owner fit the NCAA's definition of a 'booster', and therefore the benefits received by the BU players were illegal.

Right and if BU wants to make sure they have no further problems they make sure stuff like this doesn't happen.

[dogsrus]

sorry, I asked about something from a different discussion, but you said

they are still violations

In any event it was wrong and BU was penalized

Was it wrong according to NCAA rules? If the answer is yes then you have to deal with the consequence

I thought Star Trucking made the mistake, not Bradley.

Star Trucking and/or its owner fit the NCAA's definition of a 'booster', and therefore the benefits received by the BU players were illegal.

Right and if BU wants to make sure they have no further problems they make sure stuff like this doesn't happen.

I agree Lefty...but how?

[squirrel]

sorry, I asked about something from a different discussion, but you said

they are still violations

In any event it was wrong and BU was penalized

Was it wrong according to NCAA rules? If the answer is yes then you have to deal with the consequence

I thought Star Trucking made the mistake, not Bradley.

Star Trucking and/or its owner fit the NCAA's definition of a 'booster', and therefore the benefits received by the BU players were illegal.

Right and if BU wants to make sure they have no further problems they make sure stuff like this doesn't happen.

I agree Lefty...but how?

For one, eliminate "access" for boosters. That whole notion is one of the major causes of inpropriety in college sports. Everyone likes to feel that they matter.

A booster's only role is in the provision of funds to help the institution provide the tools for its programs to succeed. Not to be a facilitator for the student-athletes. Until egotistical fans and administrators can understand that, these things will always happen.

A full-time compliance person is almost a necessity in today's sporting environment, and especially with the complexity and perplexity of the NCAA's rules and rulings respectively. So kudos to BU for making that move.

[lefty]

sorry, I asked about something from a different discussion, but you said

they are still violations

In any event it was wrong and BU was penalized

Was it wrong according to NCAA rules? If the answer is yes then you have to deal with the consequence

I thought Star Trucking made the mistake, not Bradley.

Star Trucking and/or its owner fit the NCAA's definition of a 'booster', and therefore the benefits received by the BU players were illegal.

Right and if BU wants to make sure they have no further problems they make sure stuff like this doesn't happen.

I agree Lefty...but how?

I agree with the squirrel on compliance person.. I don't know how much these types of things are discussed with athletes, but they should be informed by somebody from the university.
Maybe asst. coaches check athletes work schedules,employers,and details of hours and pay and check on things every so often. do the athletes get a list of do's and don'ts for the off season? If not, they should.
I don't know if there is an iron-clad way of dealing with it but I think you can get your arms around it for the most part, and maybe BU is doing so now.