Nice story. Thanks for sharing. I feel like I'm one of the few people on here who never held ill will toward that guy for a) not being Groce and b) taking an ACC job for a massive pay hike.

While I agree this was a nice gesture I have never been a fan of JC. I was never in favor of his hire and consequently the program has suffered since his departure. Too many different coaches in too short a time to have any hope of being a consistently winning program.
The ironic thing about his leaving is both schools have had disappointing results.
I make this prediction; BC will struggle under JC. He had a loosing season LY and is currently in the same position this year. If he has another loosing season he will be on the hot seat to win in his 3rd year.



GO BOBCATS

I always thought of JC as a tough guy with a big heart off the court. I wish him the best.

That was a class act and the proper reward for hard work and dedication to a cause. Thanks for sharing.

I thought this was about the kid getting a scholarship from Jim Christian. As to be expected, some have hijacked the thread into another general discussion of JC.

If you think that ....you may have just lost a ton of credibility here....or you may just be trying to prove cluelessness. JG came here for his first head coaching job. I met him a couple of days later on July 3rd, 2008....at no time did he ever allude to or talk about any other or bigger job till it got put on his doorstep. Your assertion is unfounded and revisionist.

The whole argument is silly to me because almost every job in college sports is a way station. That's especially true at the MAC level, where head football coaches make less than half what P5 assistants do and head basketball coaches make a quarter or less what P5 coaches do. Yet here we are years later still trying to vilify guys who left our one-bid league to more than double their pay in leagues that send a majority of their teams to the Tourney. If Saul Phillips somehow makes a Sweet 16 run in the near future, you can rest assured that he'll be the next disloyal villain. His kids won't be graduating from Athens High if he's as successful as we all hope he will be here. That's just life when you're a "have not" in a world run by the "haves."

Agreed and Ohio's just as guilty as anyone else on getting (I was going to say "poaching" but that's too harsh a term) coaches from a lower level and increasing their pay. Example: our current coach. Ohio gave him a 300% pay raise to leave North Dakota State. So Ohio does the same thing. It's all part of the game.

Coach Groce and Coach Christian are great guys, I wish nothing but the best for both of them. Coach Groce seems to get more love though I certainly remember the times he was pilloried on this board. I related this story some time ago, but it is worth repeating. When the Bobcat off season travelling circus (for lack of a better word) was in Columbus, I spoke with Coach Solich and Coach Christian. You got the feeling they were down to earth guys. Coach Solich seemed a little shy, which I certainly can understand when you are in a room full of strangers and you never now what somebody is going to ask.

Coach Christian seemed very comfortable in his skin. I don't think I have ever seen a coach act quite like this. He was honest and engaging. He seemed very interested in my idea about he MAC tournament returning to Columbus. He was eager to learn about the days when the MAC tournament was in Columbus, and how that success could be replicated.

Everyone has their own style, I recall seeing Coach Danny Nee at Sunday morning Mass at Christ the King and he was the first one out, which I can understand because he didn't want to be barraged by people asking him questions. Coach Billy Hahn (on the other hand) would hold the door and engage people in conversation as they were leaving. I don't think Coach Hahn was Catholic but went with his wife, which might explain why he wanted to be polite to everyone since he might have felt like he wanted to be approachable. I don't know but I do know that everyone has their own style, and I wish some on the board would give Coach Christian the benefit of the doubt.

Everybody is making this a character study. It isn't that complicated with me. Ohio was more fun to watch when Groce was coach.

We'll just have to disagree that Groce and Christian coached in the same style.

And I loved watching Ohio even during Groce's first season. I remember being in Muncie watching us play terribly, but turning to the guy next to me and saying "This is horrible basketball, but I now GET where he's aiming." You could see the pace he wanted, the complete fearlessness he wanted them to play with. The way he ran a timeout was even different than anything we'd had before or since. There was an energy.

Maybe for some that's just window dressing. I don't think it is. I think it mattered. I think it's way we were a terror for other teams in tourney situations.

Then I think about D.J. Cooper's final game in The Q against Akron and the lack of energy, the stilted offense. The exact same team as the season before and it had no juice.

I'm not seeing how a comparison of Coaches Groce and Christian relates to Coach Christian giving a walkon a scholarship at BC.