Sunday Dinner with Coach Looie

Some nitpicks on a nice afternoon.

They could have been prepared in advance with a taped video message from Coach in the event he couldn't make it, or a zoom link live if he was up to it.

With coach's absence it lost the feel of a birthday party, albeit 3+ months early.

Since Father Shanley loves to project that coaches makes players better human beings, would have liked to have heard live testimonials to that effect from players in attendance and video from prominent players absent. Instead we got Ray Romano, Dave Sims, and John Franco. Even hearing from Mahoney, Rutledge or Alumni Hall would have been more intimate and relevant.

Jayson Williams loves Carnesecca and loves a mic. His standup routine as auctioneer was not great.

I wish the executive leadership would mix a little more at these events. Touches with all donors can only help raise more $ but sitting together misses that opportunity.

Still a nice event. An italian Sunday Supper should leave everyone completely full and the event fell short of expectations
 
Beasts of the East said:
Some nitpicks on a nice afternoon.

They could have been prepared in advance with a taped video message from Coach in the event he couldn't make it, or a zoom link live if he was up to it.

With coach's absence it lost the feel of a birthday party, albeit 3+ months early.

Since Father Shanley loves to project that coaches makes players better human beings, would have liked to have heard live testimonials to that effect from players in attendance and video from prominent players absent. Instead we got Ray Romano, Dave Sims, and John Franco. Even hearing from Mahoney, Rutledge or Alumni Hall would have been more intimate and relevant.

Jayson Williams loves Carnesecca and loves a mic. His standup routine as auctioneer was not great.

I wish the executive leadership would mix a little more at these events. Touches with all donors can only help raise more $ but sitting together misses that opportunity.

Still a nice event. An italian Sunday Supper should leave everyone completely full and the event fell short of expectations
Click to expand...
Very valid points that you made . Of course , Louie not being up to attend had to put a little disappointment over the Event to start with
Good ideas you posed on having more interaction between donors and players, former players , etc .
It look liked the Event was well attended and considering it was $ 1000 a person that shows a indication that interest in the Program has been rekindled significantly under Pitino.
Now all we need is to have performance on the Court get to the levels we all want to see and a place in the Tourney .
3 BE bids last year was a disgrace and the Conference was slighted terribly .
But , that’s a different topic for another time .
 
SLYFOXX1968 said:
Very valid points that you made . Of course , Louie not being up to attend had to put a little disappointment over the Event to start with
Good ideas you posed on having more interaction between donors and players, former players , etc .
It look liked the Event was well attended and considering it was $ 1000 a person that shows a indication that interest in the Program has been rekindled significantly under Pitino.
Now all we need is to have performance on the Court get to the levels we all want to see and a place in the Tourney .
3 BE bids last year was a disgrace and the Conference was slighted terribly .
But , that’s a different topic for another time .
Click to expand...
I think that topic has been beaten to death, especially by me. 😂
 
Beasts of the East said:
Some nitpicks on a nice afternoon.

They could have been prepared in advance with a taped video message from Coach in the event he couldn't make it, or a zoom link live if he was up to it.

With coach's absence it lost the feel of a birthday party, albeit 3+ months early.

Since Father Shanley loves to project that coaches makes players better human beings, would have liked to have heard live testimonials to that effect from players in attendance and video from prominent players absent. Instead we got Ray Romano, Dave Sims, and John Franco. Even hearing from Mahoney, Rutledge or Alumni Hall would have been more intimate and relevant.

Jayson Williams loves Carnesecca and loves a mic. His standup routine as auctioneer was not great.

I wish the executive leadership would mix a little more at these events. Touches with all donors can only help raise more $ but sitting together misses that opportunity.

Still a nice event. An italian Sunday Supper should leave everyone completely full and the event fell short of expectations
Click to expand...
~A short Video, from Louie wasn't done?, A big Miss there.

~"Coaches making players better human being", and our new coach (LOUISVILLE debacles?), let's just leave that one alone, but were Ray Romano, Dave Sims and John Franco there in person, if, on video, nice, but unnecessary.

~Jayson, you take the good with the bad.

~Executive leadership all sitting together is a bigger MISS than anything else.

~I dated an Italian gal from Bay Ridge, her mother was such a fantastic cook, I never left a meal there without being completely (actually) over-filled --- bad job Russo's.
 
Coach had all intentions on being there but wasn’t feeling up to it. He also might not have been up to doing a zoom or video. As someone who has been around a parent who made it to 100 birthdays, I understand how that could happen.

I testimonial from a former player or two would have been nice.

I didn’t think Jayson was bad and his handling of a couple of the auction items where he disregarded the normal raise point and jumped to a higher figure worked. Also the decision to go from naming one race horse to two (I don’t know who was involved) when you had two bidders was brilliant. The winner lowered his bid to what the runner up last bidder and both won and more money was raised. I don’t recall what that final number was but they did the same thing for a 20 person suite to one of oour games. Instead of taking the winning bid of $36K, they had two winning bids at $32.5K. The high bidder was a former poster on the old site whose handle IIRC was “US Congress”.
 
SJU85 said:
Coach had all intentions on being there but wasn’t feeling up to it. He also might not have been up to doing a zoom or video. As someone who has been around a parent who made it to 100 birthdays, I understand how that could happen.

I testimonial from a former player or two would have been nice.

I didn’t think Jayson was bad and his handling of a couple of the auction items where he disregarded the normal raise point and jumped to a higher figure worked. Also the decision to go from naming one race horse to two (I don’t know who was involved) when you had two bidders was brilliant. The winner lowered his bid to what the runner up last bidder and both won and more money was raised. I don’t recall what that final number was but they did the same thing for a 20 person suite to one of oour games. Instead of taking the winning bid of $36K, they had two winning bids at $32.5K. The high bidder was a former poster on the old site whose handle IIRC was “US Congress”.
Click to expand...
USC ! Haven't heard about him in a while. Mike is a good dude
 
Last edited:
SJU85 said:
Coach had all intentions on being there but wasn’t feeling up to it. He also might not have been up to doing a zoom or video. As someone who has been around a parent who made it to 100 birthdays, I understand how that could happen.

I testimonial from a former player or two would have been nice.

I didn’t think Jayson was bad and his handling of a couple of the auction items where he disregarded the normal raise point and jumped to a higher figure worked. Also the decision to go from naming one race horse to two (I don’t know who was involved) when you had two bidders was brilliant. The winner lowered his bid to what the runner up last bidder and both won and more money was raised. I don’t recall what that final number was but they did the same thing for a 20 person suite to one of oour games. Instead of taking the winning bid of $36K, they had two winning bids at $32.5K. The high bidder was a former poster on the old site whose handle IIRC was “US Congress”.
Click to expand...
Beck jumped when the horse naming bid ended, and said hold on. The bid became a two person horserace and Beck asked the losing bidder if he would name another horse for his last bid, then asked the winner if it would be okay and lowered that winning bid to the same amount. Great move. The higher winning bid was by an alum named Matt whose son was a team manager under Anderson and Pitino.

The Villanova suite auction is always lively. We have a few generous donors whose kids went to Nova and they give the tix to their kids to distribute. Smartly we had two suites and two winners. Again Beck jumped in to offer the second suite.
 
Beasts of the East said:
Beck jumped when the horse naming bid ended, and said hold on. The bid became a two person horserace and Beck asked the losing bidder if he would name another horse for his last bid, then asked the winner if it would be okay and lowered that winning bid to the same amount. Great move. The higher winning bid was by an alum named Matt whose son was a team manager under Anderson and Pitino.

The Villanova suite auction is always lively. We have a few generous donors whose kids went to Nova and they give the tix to their kids to distribute. Smartly we had two suites and two winners. Again Beck jumped in to offer the second suite.
Click to expand...
I thought it was Beck but wasn’t sure. Great job by him.
 
Beasts of the East said:
Some nitpicks on a nice afternoon.

They could have been prepared in advance with a taped video message from Coach in the event he couldn't make it, or a zoom link live if he was up to it.

With coach's absence it lost the feel of a birthday party, albeit 3+ months early.

Since Father Shanley loves to project that coaches makes players better human beings, would have liked to have heard live testimonials to that effect from players in attendance and video from prominent players absent. Instead we got Ray Romano, Dave Sims, and John Franco. Even hearing from Mahoney, Rutledge or Alumni Hall would have been more intimate and relevant.

Jayson Williams loves Carnesecca and loves a mic. His standup routine as auctioneer was not great.

I wish the executive leadership would mix a little more at these events. Touches with all donors can only help raise more $ but sitting together misses that opportunity.

Still a nice event. An italian Sunday Supper should leave everyone completely full and the event fell short of expectations
Click to expand...
All excellent points.
 
SLYFOXX1968 said:
Very valid points that you made . Of course , Louie not being up to attend had to put a little disappointment over the Event to start with
Good ideas you posed on having more interaction between donors and players, former players , etc .
It look liked the Event was well attended and considering it was $ 1000 a person that shows a indication that interest in the Program has been rekindled significantly under Pitino.
Now all we need is to have performance on the Court get to the levels we all want to see and a place in the Tourney .
3 BE bids last year was a disgrace and the Conference was slighted terribly .
But , that’s a different topic for another time .
Click to expand...
Even a taped interview with Coach would have posed risk of covid exposure. Better to be safe.
 
I cannot believe they did not have the courtesy to tell the guests beforehand that Looie was not going to be there. That's crazy. The marketing for this had been structured around him for months. I understand that with last-minute health issues it would have been tough for him to make an appearance/do a Zoom thing etc. but at least let people know before they go and offer refunds. Unbelievably bad PR by our athletic department. I had contemplated going only to see him. Glad I ultimately was unable to make it.
 
FriendofJohnnie said:
I cannot believe they did not have the courtesy to tell the guests beforehand that Looie was not going to be there. That's crazy. The marketing for this had been structured around him for months. I understand that with last-minute health issues it would have been tough for him to make an appearance/do a Zoom thing etc. but at least let people know before they go and offer refunds. Unbelievably bad PR by our athletic department. I had contemplated going only to see him. Glad I ultimately was unable to make it.
Click to expand...
I don’t think it is bad PR at all and other than everyone wishing he had been there, I am not aware off anyone making a big deal out of it. It was a great event, people enjoyed being there and catching up with old friends. I could be wrong and others who were there can chime in of course.
 
SJU85 said:
I don’t think it is bad PR at all and other than everyone wishing he had been there, I am not aware off anyone making a big deal out of it. It was a great event, people enjoyed being there and catching up with old friends. I could be wrong and others who were there can chime in of course.
Click to expand...
Agreed. It was a fundraiser for SJU basketball which replaced the usual dinner. Not at all surprising that Coach couldn't make it but also understandable. I was there to help kick off the season and had a good time. Even met a friend from my college days I probably hadn't seen in 40 years. And no one I knew complained either.

And considering the fact that there was an open bar all afternoon with a generous cocktail hour food wise along with a full dinner, not a bad investment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top