Impressive...
With Father Shanley at the helm- trust our new Facility will be a marvel.
New Facilities Update
- Thread starter paultzman
- Start date
Impressive...
With Father Shanley at the helm- trust our new Facility will be a marvel.
Alumni Hall
Well-known member
Been there a few years ago. Amazing facility for athletes and students at Providence!
Agree and have the utmost faith in Father S’s strategic planning experience and success. It is easy to take a position that differs from his priorities, but he is a tremendous steward of the University’s finances and fundraising ability. The new health services building is exhibit A of his capability. Trusting Father S is smart. He is highly competitive and gifted. His legacy will be remarkable.
The “Dominican” power person who chased him from Providence deserves our gratitude.
As much as we love this program and want to see it in the top 25 yearly, we also knew the likelihood was slim. It was more of a distant dream.
But I have to admit that the advances SJU has made over the last couple of years has been impressive and exciting.
Cannot be stressed enough how the hiring of Fr. Shanley was the linchpin to this turnaround. He saw that investing in its anchor sports program would bring greater investment opportunities for the university as a whole.
SJU will never be the same again. And that is a good thing.
But I have to admit that the advances SJU has made over the last couple of years has been impressive and exciting.
Cannot be stressed enough how the hiring of Fr. Shanley was the linchpin to this turnaround. He saw that investing in its anchor sports program would bring greater investment opportunities for the university as a whole.
SJU will never be the same again. And that is a good thing.
+ infinity
Seriously- thank you Fr. Kenneth LetoileThe “Dominican” power person who chased him from Providence deserves our gratitude.
"On Sunday, PC officials confirmed that, “Fr. Shanley’s religious superior is Fr. Kenneth Letoile, O.P. Fr. Letoile is the Provincial of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph, (based in NYC) which oversees Providence College.”
“We had hoped that Fr. Shanley would be made available by the Provincial to serve a fourth, five-year term. But the decision as to whether or not he is made available to do so is solely within the purview of the Provincial,” said Steve Maurano, Associate Vice President Public Affairs & Community Relations at PC.
“Fr. Letoile has decided that fifteen years is long enough, and that it is time for someone else to take the helm and build on the successes that the College has enjoyed under Fr. Shanley,” said Maurano.
“Fr. Letoile has told Fr. Shanley that, when his current term is complete, he will not make Fr. Shanley available to serve another term. As a Dominican priest, Fr. Shanley is bound by a vow of obedience to accept Fr. Letoile’s decision,” Maurano added.
FriendofJohnnie
Active member
I hope that they take the opportunity to make a Hall of Fame area in the revamped Carnesecca or put something in the practice facility that can be viewed by people. Our program has such a rich history even before the Mullin days. We should be happy to showcase it. We have not done enough in the tradition area. Glad Fr. Shanley and Pitino are starting to breathe some life into the program again.
The university did acquire property near campus just north of hillside avenue, where they put up a satellite dormitory.
I am all in with the facilities upgrade as a priority. This plan makes so much more sense than renovating Taffner for use as a basketball practice facility AND the construction of a new student wellness center.
I believe the new student center, which appropriately must take priority over the basketball facility will be a top notch renovation. I visited Providence with one of my kids about 10 years ago, and their student wellness center is a centerpiece of the campus. I don't think Fr. Shanley will accept any less here.
In terms of the basketball facility, this will also be very good and will have Rick's fingerprints all over it. Thankful that he and Cragg come from top notch places where basketball is king, and know what a top-notch practice facility should have. Dollars will be as tight as our donor base purse strings are. We want top notch, well that has a price tag.
Amazing how in just a few weeks our season has turned around into something potentially amazing. I refrain from posting heavily after wins, as I do after losses. I don't want my highs to get too high, or the lows to get too low. After demolishing DePaul, our fans deserve a little euphoria, but we have plenty of work to do.
Saturday is a chance for our fans to finally wake up en masse and fill the Garden. Whatever the outcome, closing the season with 5 straight wins (as Rick promised almost unbelievably) warrants a big crowd and full support. Still then our ticket will not be punched until we win one or two games in the BET. Getting to semis would clinch it I believe.
Great ride this season, like a roller coaster. At times exhilarating, at times daunting, and often sick to my stomach.
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I don't see the university acquiring property near the school. property beast was referring to is the henley dorms which were met with a lot protests from the neighborbood. I am surprised the school has not bought the commercial properties by the school ( the old Sly fox) ie other properties.
That is great news
No plans for new arena or total CA makeover, but some continued smaller improvements hinted for CA
In my opinion, CA is way outdated and needs either a complete makeover or new facility.
No plans to build a new arena but will do some additional renovations/improvements within the existing space.
You would have to tear down the whole facility and rebuild on the spot. The basketball teams would have to find different places to play for at least three years to get it done. But it does not just affect those teams but others as well who use it for locker rooms, training rooms, practice and home field/court.
School should do some other facilities in areas like between the soccer and baseball field, behind the outfield fences on the baseball field and the parking lot near the ROTC building and the building itself and move some of those sports back of house training areas like the Auxiliary Gym and locker rooms for those teams and then the totally redo of CA becomes more feasible.
SJUDave
Well-known member
well said
Just to be clear, the new Health Sciences Building was being planned before Father Shanley arrived on campus. It will replace an aged St. Al's as the cornerstone of our healthcare careers training, and along with our new nursing program (also planned before Father Shanley arrived) will train thousands of new needed healthcare professionals in future years.Agree and have the utmost faith in Father S’s strategic planning experience and success. It is easy to take a position that differs from his priorities, but he is a tremendous steward of the University’s finances and fundraising ability. The new health services building is exhibit A of his capability. Trusting Father S is smart. He is highly competitive and gifted. His legacy will be remarkable.
The “Dominican” power person who chased him from Providence deserves our gratitude.
Father Shanley's deserves much credit for the evolution and elevation of Providence College during his time there. Providence for its part was able to capitalize on the surge in applications to Georgetown, Boston College, and Villanova to become an attractive next alternative for those not offered admission to those 3 schools. A big part of the attraction of Providence above Fordham, Holy Cross, Fairfield, Loyola Md, and a few other schools was a highly successful men's basketball team. By making the right hire of a mid major coach Cooley along with the redevelopment of the area surrounding the Dunk, investments in the campus infrastructure elevated the quality of student Providence attracts.
Shanley, whose dad was a partner in a sports marketing firm in Providence, is a sports nut. Surprisingly, Gempeshaw also understood the importance of a winning team in branding a university, as Shanley does. However, Gempeshaw, who guided St John's through a fiscal crisis precipitated by a large drop in enrollment and a market decline in our endowment investment, was a staunch fiscal conservative.
While Shanley deserves some credit for the hire of Pitino, at this time last year was staunchly against considering Rick. Our pie in the sky target fortuitously was Billy Donovan, who when approached, I believe politely declined but began to sell Shanley on Pitino.
I believe the architect of our resurgence is Rick himself. You don't hire a HOF coach with his resume and then not give him what he tells you he needs, namely a big arena schedule and facilities. Shanley deserves credit for supporting these things as does the BOT. Bill J., the chairman of the BOT, had an insanely successful career as the CFO of one of the most successful private equity firms in the country (it grew to $400 billion in assets under his watch). Bill was hugely in favor of a Pitino hire, and with a PE backround knew the risk reward potential is worth the gamble. As an owner of the Miami Marlins he is a deft analyst in investing in young talent to build a solid franchise.
My criticism of university employees in general is a decided lack of urgency. Pitino at 71 and Shanley at 65 know that sooner must happen before later and with a BOT led by Bill J., we know there is a very short fuse on the timeline to create a powerhouse.
It's breathtaking then that in the span of just 12 months, we have a basketball program transformed from the rotting carcass of a beached whale to perhaps a hungry shark a hair breath away from an at large NCAA bid. And within 10 months Rick gets approval on his basketball facility, which is something Mike Cragg had been working on since he arrived here. It took Rick selling, with Shanley and the BOT buying in, to commit the resouces.
Combine athletic success with the continued rise of Tobin, college of Pharmacy and other schools within sju, talented new Deans at Tobin, Ed, Pharmacy and the Law School and our future is very bright. Suffice to say that it's great to have a president Shanley who has overseen it before at Providence, but he is not solely respinsible.
Lots of great stuff hapoening!
Was that how it went down? We went to Billy first?
SJUDave
Well-known member
I would just like to piggy back off this post and say Mike Cragg deserves a lot of credit as well. For whatever reason he's been a punching bag for some disgruntled fans, but many don't understand how difficult of a job he inherited and has to do. This project has been one he has been hands on with and has been working on well before Rick Pitino got here. He had a major helping hand in doing these types of projects at Duke and he deserves a lot of credit for helping get this here as well.
It's also good he doesn't have an ego, and doesn't mind letting Pitino basically run the basketball program.
I'm editing this to be clear, I'm making a compliment. Other personalities wouldn't mix well at all.