[quote="Mike Zaun" post=290627][quote="richard A Steinfeld" post=290619]Mitch is not holding his weight. He has gone to no recruiting events and is not working w players on campus. IMO he has to be replaced by Rice or another competent , hard working assistant. A staff change has to be made. I’m not saying Mitch should leave. But, if he stays , he shouldn’t be the associate head coach, I don’t think I am being negative. If here is a flaw , it has to be corrected. If it isn’t, fans will rightfully be disappointed. Bottom line is a winnng program makes more money, gets positive publicity for the school and gets fans in the seats. A losing program doesn’t. If you want a winning program, the staff has to be constructed correctly and you have to work hard and smart, If you take into consideration Mitches salary. His position does not make sense.[/quote]
Being negative implies that someone has a tendency to focus on the negative aspects even if the facts are objectively positive. I don't see that occurring with anyone. All I see is a massive void that fans want filled at AC. Imagine saying your mother is being "negative" complaining that you don't do your homework. It's not negativity, it's an expectation of standards. When the standards are not being met, people rightly criticize. Just as a parent has given up the second they abandon their standards for their child's academics/etc., a fanbase has given up once they have no standards anymore.[/quote]
I see it as non stop negativity. Yes, we all want to win, Yes, we haven't won much in our marquee sport over a 25 year span. St John's isn't the Wilpons and the Mets, where spending is forwned upon in the name of profits. SJU was a school founded on providing lower cost education to masses of children of Catholic immigrants. Limited endowments, low tuition, low paid faculty and administration. They've tried to win at basketball and gradually increased salaries to where they pay their HC in the $2 million rnage which ranks among the highest paid. Schools with much larger endowments - BC and Georgetown - have found that having deep pockets doesn't easily translate to wins,
We have a league where every school has one revenue producing sport - basketball. Of course there will be breakout coaches - Mack at Xavier, Stevens at Butler, Wright at Nova. Most will move on at the first opportunity of super money (Mack, Stevens). Some are solid coaches who are loyal and will remain (McDermott at Creighton, Providence's Cooley).
HArd work doesn't guarantee success, money doesn't guarantee success. But the lack of success doesn't mean you aren't working hard, or you aren't spending enough. That's what competition is all about. SJU has tried stuff - the loyal promoted assistant FAILED and fired, apparently rock solid 1st black coach, Jarvis - FAILED and fired., The local superb recruiter FAILED and Fired, the scucessful UCLA coach with warts - FAILED and fired. Now, the hometown hero who without speed, vertical leap, or height made the HOF, who happens also to be a rock solid guy.
You want to be negative because we didn't win enough, didn't get the right players, didn't hire the right coach - be my guest.
Likely though, if someone rated your own personal record of success or failure with the same scrutiny, you would scream bloody murder. Some of us know, no most of us, no, nearly all of us know that being a fan, a true fan, means to endure all the pain of not winning, not being successful, and root like hell for that special player, game or season. Many of us measure success in small spoonfuls - like beating Duke or Nova, as formative to getting on the right path. Others point to a losing record (despite losing our 2nd best player) as indicative of disgusting, stomach churning failiure.
It's all about perspective. You're either driving an uber because it puts you over the top of break even in bills, or because you are a misrable failure at nearly 30 that can't make it on one job. With the latter view, I was a miserable failure until my 3rd kid was 10 years old and I could shed the every saturday 2nd job , that started as 2 nights, weekends and holidays till I could give it up. I never felt like a failure and neither should you. And as a fan, I don't think this edition of SJU basketball is a failure either. It's just a process, a long road to success, led by a few tough guys (Chris, Greg, and Matt) who I don't believe are quitters or bitchers. Right now its good enough for me.
Whether its good enough for you, that's your choice. But being negative is no red badge of courage either, and unless you are happy miserable, having a more positive outlook can't hurt.
