[quote="fordham96" post=286055][quote="Class of 72" post=286050][quote="panther2" post=285964][quote="L J S A" post=285928][quote="Windy City Johnny Fan" post=285926]With regards to Rice, I'm very skeptical that could ever happen given staff's stubbornness and theory that if Matt and Slice couldn't co-exist, how is he going to co-exist with Mike Rice?[/quote]
We need a second recruiter badly. And if Matt doesn't get along with the next one, maybe the person who twice had an issue is the problem.[/quote]
Matt did not fire Slice, Chris did. To me, this means that Chris was not happy with the job that Slice was doing. I can't see any positive results that Slice brought to the table. On the recruiting trail, he struck out. Let's stop with the speculation and deal with the facts, Slice was an awful hire. Don't understand why some on here are still trying to defend him.[/quote]
Just to set the record straight Chris did not "fire" Slice. From my understanding Chris wanted Slice to step down which would have annulled his contract. Chris was a great player but a piss poor manager and it backfired. Thus, in year four Slice is on full salary and Chris has been splitting beans with Bobby.
I'm not defending Slice but he attended every function with Chris in his 12 months on the job. I saw him recruiting locally and he made contact with every available 5 star recruit in his first 6 months on the job. He brought on board the only serviceable player in Mullin’s first year while Matt gave us Ron Moulvika or whatever his name was. BTW, most of Matt's recruits have left the farm.
We can argue that Mullin was not happy with the job Slice was supposed to do as "associate head coach" but the "head coach" wasn't even "coaching" the team in those 12 months. A 25 year old kid named Greg St Jean was and the kid who grew up down the block from Chris Mullin was actually the associate head coach. THAT was part of the problem.
No matter how we spin it that "bad hire" is costing St. John's close to $600 grand per year which was more than the salary of coach Musselman at Nevada who still earns half of Chris Mullin's OJT salary with the results not bring anywhere near comparable.
Those are facts and our opinions won't change the record. .......for the record.
[/quote]
Even if the hire was a bad hire that is on Mullin anyway.
But I can tell you I heard similar to the above and more importantly Chris did a bad job managing it and making it work. Regardless the entire sordid episode is on the head coach he screwed that up. Whether Matt had too much influence or Slice was screwed over all of it is the responsibility of the head coach. All of it reflects poorly on him. None of this would happen at a Duke or UK or Nova simply because the HC at those schools would never allow that to happen. Becsuse they are accountable for THEIR program.[/quote]
We now know that Chris was not ready to be a HC in the Big East. He made many mistakes with personnel that first year.
How many of us have made bad hires?
I submit he did 'fire' his buddy Slice. He told him it wasn't working out and Slice had to go.
The fact that Slice is getting paid per his contract is 'normal' if one is let go 'without cause'--a category that does not include under-performance, incompetence, laziness, or simple snarkiness.
Yes,that sorry episode is on Mullin.
But that first year record is not. He 'inherited' a decimated roster.
And it's been a struggle to recover from that vacuum.
However, this roster (with Ponds) is the best St. John's roster in a long time. It offers hope.
My issue with CM is reports of him 'not being there' at myriad events.
If 'family issues' are the reason for that, I hope the buzz that those issues may get resolved over the next year are true.
At this point, we need the Staff to be infused with a new AC. Word/rumor is that may happen.
Fabulous.
Ideally, we also need a 'mystery' Grad Big to provide depth for this team to lead us out of the wilderness into the bright lights of success in the BEC and the NCAAs.
Let's go Johnnies.
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