I have gone to every MAC Tourney since 2010. We used to go to MAC Fest at the Mall and see teams hanging out. When Groce was coach he was in the food court hanging and while watching games was the same with the guys. When Christian took over he sat as far away from the players as he could and clearly had no bond. Schaus messed up with Christian when he should have hired Boals. Now guys on here want Kennedys and Pitino? Jans? Are you kidding me? YOUNG. HUNGRY! MIDWEST!

Many very dedicated fans who have big expectations for men's basketball think Phillips would still be coaching if Campbell, Carter, and Dartis did not get injured.

And you can't say they are wrong because, yeah, well, you know that's just like uh your opinion man.

College basketball/football is what it is now and Arkley is pointing that out. You win no matter what or you are gone, even right here at Ohio.

Anyway, someone go get another pitcher and pour another round and we can keep arguing....

I'll never understand that argument that Christian was a great coach because Ohio won a MAC regular season title. First off, we "shared" it with Akron and second, we only "shared" it because Akron stubbed their toe against Kent State and Buffalo down the stretch. They beat Ohio both times during the regular season.

Here's another point to make:

If WINNING is what is most important here, then why in the hell did they allow for this complete waste of a season to occur? For me, you either value the other things that Saul brought that we've discussed here, or if you value WINNING above all, then you dismiss him at the end of last year. You can't have it both ways. If winning is most important, then the AD and the University's actions should reflect that.


From the article:
“It’s a business decision,” Schaus said Wednesday evening. “It’s a wins and losses decision entirely.”


Someone, please enlighten me what Jim Schaus has done over the last two years to help the business side of things to potentially improve things on the wins and losses side of things? Unless I'm mistaken, he's been publicly silent about this for nearly TWO YEARS. Some will say I have it in for him, and right now I do, because under his (or Nellis') lacking leadership, Ohio basketball is in this situation. Now, suddenly, it's all about "wins and losses entirely".

Want to increase your athletic department revenue with donations and ticket sales? Newsflash, this probably isn't the way to get people excited about the direction of your department Jim.

It’s a column, so I won’t join anyone trashing Arkley as a journalist… but I will trash his opinions in this piece. To say that the department was unfair and impatient is a horrible take. He mentions none of the many controllable factors that led to a 40-50 MAC record. He talks like 20 wins with our crap schedule and league-leading budget is a great accomplishment. And two 14-17 seasons with all of his own players in place? Chalk that up to mere bad luck. Never mind that we didn’t have the horses to compete for a title no matter who got injured. Never mind that the many transfers out (both good and bad players) reflect on his judgement, recruiting and coaching. Never mind that one or two injuries exposed just how bare the cupboard was every year in terms of talent. It’s been five years of different levels of disappointment and we’re all supposed to be patient? If these results are OK, then why bother paying attention?

One more time, tell me where the money is coming from to cut Saul and pay him for the last 2 years? We don’t have the money it would seem. You can argue about the 5 year contract and you’ve got a point, but once you signed you’re obligated to pay.

What a poor article...it just needed a violin.

This is a homer article which is no way surprising considering that I'm sure he had tons of access and is content with working in a tiny media market.

Most sports reporters are unrepentant homers, look no further than the fawning OSU coverage that you see from 90 percent of the reporters in Columbus.

Obviously, Saul's recruiting was a huge problem and no shit Sherlock you get paid to win. Sometime tell Arkley the Easter bunny isn't real too.

I wasn't aware there were even negotiations, much less a multi-year extension with a raise being sought. When did this take place?

Calm down. Arkley laid out a reasonable argument complete with a timeline that showed he turned around a bare cupboard into 2 very solid seasons, then injuries and a lack of extension hurt the results of the last 2. Nothing he said is unreasonable. Also, he is human...it is OK for him to like someone and defend them.

From the Plain Dealer article on MAC athletic operating costs it appears to me that even with the mandatory student fees and selling our souls to espn we still “operate” the athletic department at a multi-million dollar loss. Schaus had NO money to part ways with Saul early. And IF as some here say Saul was looking for an extension with a hefty raise there was NOTHING in his tenure here that would have supported that. Maybe that’s why Schaus turned his shoulder to ice in his dealings with Saul.

I’m NOT defending Schaus. He needs to look in the mirror as well and be held to account by his superiors. His last two b-ball hires have bombed big time. His next hire better be in the grand-slam category or we will be destined to watch the MAC tourney from Athens for the next decade.

I believe Schaus thought he hired himself a Rick Byrd type with Saul. Someone who could advance the program to a yearly contender who was not looking to take the next best offer out of Athens. My eyebrows however were raised early in Saul’s first year. That team he inherited had talent but also had a Bean. I heard Saul on a Russ post-game show kind of in an off-handed way say hey it’s what I’ve got to work with it’s not my fault. IF Bean was the cancer lots of people have intimated he was, Saul should have Kadeem Greened his ass out. Saul in the process imo lost his best recruit when Ryan Taylor departed. That first year actually started the downfall.

I’m also not trying to throw dirt on Saul’s grave. I wish he and his family the best in the future. I’ve been a faithful Bobcat since 1969. I absolutely loved being in the Convo during my 4 years on campus and in the years since. That said it was clearly time to go in a different direction. When we are offering schollies to a kid that chose West Liberty State College we are no longer on a path to even being relevant as a D1 program.

I’m not following you. Could you elaborate? Schaus left what on the table?

So you are saying he scored like Kadeem Green in the interview process?

(Using Kadeem Green as a verb is easily my new favorite thing in life. At least Jim Christian gave us one positive thing to hang onto)