Getting personal

[beast of the east]

This is a topic many of us don't want discussed here, but given some recent events merits it. I'm posting it separate from any correlation topics because it doesn't deserve to be discussed there.

I've continually ranted, yes ranted, that we shouldn't get personal about our coaching staff. We feel entitled to, because well, they earn far more than nearly all of us make, feel we can correlate wins and losses based on us tracking there whereabouts, and can draw conclusions about their efforts, talents, intellilgence, whatever really.

Then something tragic happens. Lavin loses his dad. Mullin his brother, Mitch a son. We collectively suddenly forget all the degrading things we've said about them or allowed others to say about them, and pour out our sympathies. We do this for a few days at least, at least until we become desensitized to that event, then it's business as usual.

Yea, as Paultzman says, this isn't a cathedral. But for all the crap we sling about other teams fans - UCONN, Syracuse, you pick the program - if we tamp down on the personal stuff about coaches, our sympathies when they go through a painful loss would appear a little more sincere and a little less hypocritical. It would also make us a classier fan base.

As I've repeated over and over, that doesn't mean that coaching competencies, strategies, recruiting, or in or out of game situations can't be critically discussed.

I've discussed this stuff with some of the mods and mostly they are in agreement. Some SJU staffers calls this site "unsocial media".

I think coaches learn to live with and don't really respond to this sort of personal attacks. It doesn't mean that they don't read or hear about it, or have family members that do. Some of you may think it goes with the territory and maybe it does, but does that mean that on a site that proclaims itself to be "in support of SJU basketball" should tolerate that sort of thing.

There are some of you who will agree, and some who will vehemently argue against the above sentiment, but I am most assured that getting personal regarding our coaches is a very distasteful thing. Goes without saying the same should be true for players also.

 

[MCNPA]

This seems in response to the Mitch Richmond thread and I think people are certainly sincere about that stuff. That said, Mitch took a ton of criticism on this board and for good reason. SJU needed an assistant in that spot that was recruiting, in the gym all summer, scouting etc. I don’t think this board is uncivilized to the coaches not players for the most part. I understand where you are coming from, but I don’t think this board is really that bad at all. People beat up on each other here more than anything.

 

[beast of the east]

[quote="MCNPA" post=359761]This seems in response to the Mitch Richmond thread and I think people are certainly sincere about that stuff. That said, Mitch took a ton of criticism on this board and for good reason. SJU needed an assistant in that spot that was recruiting, in the gym all summer, scouting etc. I don’t think this board is uncivilized to the coaches not players for the most part. I understand where you are coming from, but I don’t think this board is really that bad at all. People beat up on each other here more than anything.[/quote]

Appreciate and respect your opinion, but we really never were told what his job responsbilities were, and if there was an expectation set by Mullin, Oliva, or AD as to how often he'd be on campus. But the comments about him were pretty harsh, and while the hire could be questioned, no one really knows except other coaches, players, and the AD what he was actually focused on. 20 years ago, fans didn't have much access to or give much consideration as to what various staff members did. Now it's a different story, and speculation is rampant.

Thanks for the comment. I'm probably not going to post on this topic again in this thread.

 

[MCNPA]

[quote="Beast of the East" post=359762][quote="MCNPA" post=359761]This seems in response to the Mitch Richmond thread and I think people are certainly sincere about that stuff. That said, Mitch took a ton of criticism on this board and for good reason. SJU needed an assistant in that spot that was recruiting, in the gym all summer, scouting etc. I don’t think this board is uncivilized to the coaches not players for the most part. I understand where you are coming from, but I don’t think this board is really that bad at all. People beat up on each other here more than anything.[/quote]

Appreciate and respect your opinion, but we really never were told what his job responsbilities were, and if there was an expectation set by Mullin, Oliva, or AD as to how often he'd be on campus. But the comments about him were pretty harsh, and while the hire could be questioned, no one really knows except other coaches, players, and the AD what he was actually focused on. 20 years ago, fans didn't have much access to or give much consideration as to what various staff members did. Now it's a different story, and speculation is rampant.

Thanks for the comment. I'm probably not going to post on this topic again in this thread.[/quote]

We don’t need to be told what his responsibilities were “supposed to be” though. We all know what coaches are supposed to be doing. The criticism of Mullin and Richmond was absolutely warranted. Nobody got personal. It was criticism of his lack of presence at SJU and on the road recruiting for the most part.

If the people in the administration feel that this way, we’ll then they are out of touch. It’s like a restaurant owner blaming the customer because the sandwich doesn’t taste good, and saying that criticism of the chef is off limits even though the food sucks.

 

[mkras99]

I don't see this thread going anywhere well. Locked.