Good deal Pete. We will be there as well! This is when our program needs support...when things are not going as well as we expect and as well as our coaches and kids expect.
BShot44, To continue to stand with our programs does not mean that we are only drinking green kool-aid or that we are satisfied with how things are going. My drinks are not even green! Understand the process of building a winning, and respected college program. Lots of moving parts....new recruiting class every year, bigger stronger faster kids pushing their bodies to the limits every day, with many resulting in serious injuries that they may very well take with them to graduation and beyond. If our players are willing to put in the time, effort and hard work, then I am willing to enjoy the process of following programs that are doing things the right way, and realize that all goals may not be reached in the time frame that we are thinking of. Many things happen that can throw the process off track or off schedule. The past two years all you have to do is look at the X-rays and MRI's of the kids that we were counting on to lead us to the top of the league to see a major factor to what is happening. Is this an "excuse" ? No, it is reality, and it is something that happens to many teams and many programs.
Hopefully our administration has an understanding of the difficult journey that is building and maintaining athletic programs at or near the competitive top of our league If they do, then we will likely see "#extension" versus
"#14 months"
Listen, we have to support our program, but we do not have to support mediocrity. We have the worst recruiting class on paper this year, our players are not improving. If Saul does not show that he can lead us to the tournament, there will be a lot of guys that believe that they can, we will just need to find one that can get it done. We ALL support the program, some of us have been critical, just like a loving parent, boss or sibling would do. Your claims are like saying that someone doesn't love their child because they punished he or she for not doing his or her school work. Some of us see that the program is regressing and we need to right the ship. We have had numerous injuries this year but that does not nullify the fact that we are being out recruited every year. Solich gets out recruited every year but he has a system where he develops his players and they do enough to keep him employed. On the basketball side of things, there is a lot of stagnation. We love the program, we don't worship Saul. Hopefully, Saul can save his job, but we should not pay a competitive wage for mediocrity. We know that other schools in the conference have better athletes and we don't even strategize on defense to put teams in difficult positions. How can we win if we don't have the best players or no strategies to overcome our short comings? We have pushed certain narratives like our players have higher basketball IQ's or that Saul is the smartest coach in the league and none of these narratives have proven to be true. 14 months is what Saul has, after that we would put he and our program at a disadvantage. If we give him anything less than a three year extension, that might make our recruiting even worst because their is no commitment and if we give him four years and he continues to flounder, we will have a huge payout and a complete rehab on our hands, because the new coach may find his recruits unsuitable to win the MAC with. Win or go home. This is a tee ball league, he makes over a half million dollars.