A Sea Of Red

Liberty has never been known to do things like this the right way.

This was sudden for Jeff. That doesn't mean it was sudden for Jerry.

He had an important meeting to go to. He couldn't be bothered to do things the right way.

thepostman wrote:He had an important meeting to go to. He couldn't be bothered to do things the right way.

Seems like I read somewhere that a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Maybe we are dealing with something like that?

I am as far from an insider as you can get but I don't buy the "scale back" theory. We are building state of the art facilities all over campus! Too much invested already to go backwards! I think it is much more likely and in our corporate culture to challenge the NCAA and try and force our way up. (Could JFJR be in NY lobbying for the new administration to reign in the NCAA?) New conspiracy theory started right here.

Also, some very valid points made about the performance of the department as a whole. Take away the $ invested in facilities and staff and our teams just haven't performed as well as expected. Football,Baseball, Basketball, even Women's Basketball is down.

I liked how JB handled himself and represented our school. I wish him the best.
This transition could be really good for us. I am expecting better things to come, not worse.

Unless they start dismantling the practice facility instead of finishing it...then I retract this whole post.

You can not buy the scaling back but it's happening across the entire school, even while we build great buildings. There has been a 3% cut University wide the past couple years. They're finding where we have inefficient spending and eliminating it. And it's a good thing! We can't just throw money at problems and hope it fixes them. We have to be smart about how we use our resources.

You may want to pin this in the other forums so more people see this thread. I know I almost never visit General Sports.

Jonathan Carone wrote:You can not buy the scaling back but it's happening across the entire school, even while we build great buildings. There has been a 3% cut University wide the past couple years. They're finding where we have inefficient spending and eliminating it. And it's a good thing! We can't just throw money at problems and hope it fixes them. We have to be smart about how we use our resources.

But I thought that we had more money than we knew what to do with???

I say that in jest. I agree we should be good stewards with what we have been given but liberty tends to cut things that most colleges find important. We will spend millions on campus upgrades but our faculty and staff haven't been invested in like they should. That is where my skepticism comes when word leaks out liberty is making cuts across the board.

You aren't wrong with that skepticism. We need to pay our faculty and staff more. Ideally those aren't mutually exclusive but unfortunately our leadership feels like people are interchangeable. They'd rather invest in buildings than people.

Jonathan Carone wrote:You can not buy the scaling back but it's happening across the entire school, even while we build great buildings. There has been a 3% cut University wide the past couple years. They're finding where we have inefficient spending and eliminating it. And it's a good thing! We can't just throw money at problems and hope it fixes them. We have to be smart about how we use our resources.

I completely agree with the above. What I am not buying is the "give up on competing at the highest levels in all areas" slant. Streamlining and removing inefficiencies is just good business and if any head of a department can't see that then they need to be fired.

I expect the new AD and any new coaches to be upgrades or at least expected to be upgrades who can move us forward not "settling" for status quo or accepting our current station. That is not really our M.O.

There's a difference in settling and in being who you are. We can still pursue FBS football while only financing at an FCS level while we are still FCS.

The term "ineffeciencies" is IMHO a KIND way of putting how the AD has been spending $$$ Looks like the inflated salaries of our football coaching staff and the foolish handing out of contract extensions that don't appear to have been merited may be just the tip of the iceberg Having the resources we do is a blessing, but using them unwisely by throwing $$$ at every problem is not only poor stewardship, it can actually work against us by acting as a motivator for our opponents

Having said that, certainly not all the $$$ has been spent foolishly I believe JLFR was right on target in striking while the iron was hot on overall campus expansion, including athletic facilities, and that offering FCOA to all athletes gives us a unique advantage I do think they may have set the amount too high, and that could come back to bite us down the road

Jonathan Carone wrote:You can not buy the scaling back but it's happening across the entire school, even while we build great buildings. There has been a 3% cut University wide the past couple years. They're finding where we have inefficient spending and eliminating it. And it's a good thing! We can't just throw money at problems and hope it fixes them. We have to be smart about how we use our resources.

Jon- while curtailing spending can be good, just hatcheting every department by 3% is a very poor way to accomplish this. I know the person who first got these cuts rolling and he has since resigned (on his own terms). I also know that the way the administration did this sickens him and there are plenty of people who have been carrying more than there share of burdens who have seen the negative impacts of the cuts. Meanwhile, the VP of construction gets demoted because he is too much of a budget hawk and the higher ups see this as an impediment to their construction plans. How in the world the school chose Randy Smith to get involved in these types of changes is beyond me. I don't know him, but he certainly doesn't have the managerial chops to be in his position. There has not been a push to identify inefficiencies- just a mandate to cut. Many departments don't have inefficiencies; they are actually not even able to serve the students in the way they should because their profs don't have the time.

This should have its own thread, because the issues are beyond just the AD's resignation.

rogers3 wrote:

Jonathan Carone wrote:You can not buy the scaling back but it's happening across the entire school, even while we build great buildings. There has been a 3% cut University wide the past couple years. They're finding where we have inefficient spending and eliminating it. And it's a good thing! We can't just throw money at problems and hope it fixes them. We have to be smart about how we use our resources.

Jon- while curtailing spending can be good, just hatcheting every department by 3% is a very poor way to accomplish this. I know the person who first got these cuts rolling and he has since resigned (on his own terms). I also know that the way the administration did this sickens him and there are plenty of people who have been carrying more than there share of burdens who have seen the negative impacts of the cuts. Meanwhile, the VP of construction gets demoted because he is too much of a budget hawk and the higher ups see this as an impediment to their construction plans. How in the world the school chose Randy Smith to get involved in these types of changes is beyond me. I don't know him, but he certainly doesn't have the managerial chops to be in his position. There has not been a push to identify inefficiencies- just a mandate to cut. Many departments don't have inefficiencies; they are actually not even able to serve the students in the way they should because their profs don't have the time.

This should have its own thread, because the issues are beyond just the AD's resignation.

Wait. Are you telling me that the school is putting people in positions they are not qualified for while cutting back on the people who are in qualified positions? Why I never....

Jonathan Carone wrote:This was sudden for Jeff. That doesn't mean it was sudden for Jerry.

Then explain why he would fire JB on a Thursday, the day of a big game? I don't doubt that you have sources but the explanation sounds more like someone wanting to keep things quiet.

I also don't buy the "scaling back" argument. Not because we shouldn't do it...we absolutely should. I just know that the person who made the decision yesterday, has the same power over our budget...and it would be out of their nature to scale back our entire athletics department.

Based on Margaux's tweet, and other signs, if Gill is still our head coach for next season...I think it's pretty easy to see what happened with JB.

At this point, I hope we don't find an outsider for AD. The past year or so has been a roller coaster for athletics, we haven't replaced TG yet and it's possible that Jerry is on his way out. We need consistency somewhere. Mickey has been around LU for a long time and does a great job. Give him the position and clean up the messes.

Sorry if that was confusing. The "that's a good thing" was about eliminating inefficiencies, not the hard 3% cut. Baby kept us up all night so I'm a bit sleep deprived.

VAGolf wrote:

Jonathan Carone wrote:This was sudden for Jeff. That doesn't mean it was sudden for Jerry.

Then explain why he would fire JB on a Thursday, the day of a big game? I don't doubt that you have sources but the explanation sounds more like someone wanting to keep things quiet.

I also don't buy the "scaling back" argument. Not because we shouldn't do it...we absolutely should. I just know that the person who made the decision yesterday, has the same power over our budget...and it would be out of their nature to scale back our entire athletics department.

Based on Margaux's tweet, and other signs, if Gill is still our head coach for next season...I think it's pretty easy to see what happened with JB.

At this point, I hope we don't find an outsider for AD. The past year or so has been a roller coaster for athletics, we haven't replaced TG yet and it's possible that Jerry is on his way out. We need consistency somewhere. Mickey has been around LU for a long time and does a great job. Give him the position and clean up the messes.

Nope. LU will be going with an outsider for AD.

If you think Margaux Gill has any objective idea on what's going on then I don't know what to tell you.

Jonathan Carone wrote:If you think Margaux Gill has any objective idea on what's going on then I don't know what to tell you.

I didn't say that...you're smart enough to know what I said.

I know what you said. But you aren't the first to imply this was a difference in opinion with Jeff and Jerry about Gill or that Margaux was hinting something. Jerry has actively been working with the University lawyers all year to determine if we can lessen Gill's buyout. He agrees with Jeff that a change needs to be made. The decision to remove Jeff was made because we will be paying coaches in our main three sports who no longer coach here.

From reading her tweets it seems she bought into some of the rumors that were quickly floating around about Barber yesterday. She has since apologized and even said she spoke with the Barber family. She is young and made a stupid mistake on social media.

Jonathan Carone wrote:I know what you said. But you aren't the first to imply this was a difference in opinion with Jeff and Jerry about Gill or that Margaux was hinting something. Jerry has actively been working with the University lawyers all year to determine if we can lessen Gill's buyout. He agrees with Jeff that a change needs to be made. The decision to remove Jeff was made because we will be paying coaches in our main three sports who no longer coach here.

Apparently...not. I didn't say Margaux was hinting at anything. However, that doesn't mean that her tweet means nothing...and to assume such is incredibly naive. We know Gill's job is on the line...or at least was...Margaux's tweet showed excitement and relief about the AD being fired. I don't think she would be that excited if she felt Daddy's job was still on the line. Of course, that tweet doesn't mean everything but it shows what was being discussed at home.

Even if what you're stating above is the actual reasoning, there is still no logical explanation as to why it had to be done yesterday. You would tell him on Friday, let him have a weekend with his family and then break the news to the athletic department on Monday, while allowing Jeff to finish out the week if he desired. You don't ask someone to resign, effective immediately for the reason stated above.

Jonathan Carone wrote:I know what you said. But you aren't the first to imply this was a difference in opinion with Jeff and Jerry about Gill or that Margaux was hinting something. Jerry has actively been working with the University lawyers all year to determine if we can lessen Gill's buyout. He agrees with Jeff that a change needs to be made. The decision to remove Jeff was made because we will be paying coaches in our main three sports who no longer coach here.

If JB and JLFJR were\are on the same page as far as firing them is concermed, and JB was fired because we are paying coaches who no longer work for us, it's all about the extensions and whether they should have been offered or not and for how long, which leads to the question, did JB have the authority to grant those extensions on his own, or were they approved by his boss Everything I have heard about JR's management style would indicate the latter, in which case

The reality of college sports is that unlike an AD, you cannot let a coach's contract expire and pay him month to month Opposing recruiters will jump on that like a pack of starving Hyenas Even letting a coach enter his final year without an extension is almost unheard of You either extend the contract or you make a change but anything more than 2 years should be reserved for coaches who have had outstanding results (ie NOT Dale Layer)

VAGolf wrote:

Jonathan Carone wrote:I know what you said. But you aren't the first to imply this was a difference in opinion with Jeff and Jerry about Gill or that Margaux was hinting something. Jerry has actively been working with the University lawyers all year to determine if we can lessen Gill's buyout. He agrees with Jeff that a change needs to be made. The decision to remove Jeff was made because we will be paying coaches in our main three sports who no longer coach here.

Apparently...not. I didn't say Margaux was hinting at anything. However, that doesn't mean that her tweet means nothing...and to assume such is incredibly naive. We know Gill's job is on the line...or at least was...Margaux's tweet showed excitement and relief about the AD being fired. I don't think she would be that excited if she felt Daddy's job was still on the line. Of course, that tweet doesn't mean everything but it shows what was being discussed at home.

Even if what you're stating above is the actual reasoning, there is still no logical explanation as to why it had to be done yesterday. You would tell him on Friday, let him have a weekend with his family and then break the news to the athletic department on Monday, while allowing Jeff to finish out the week if he desired. You don't ask someone to resign, effective immediately for the reason stated above.

Jerry jr isn't known for his tact. I get what you're saying and it makes total sense but when it comes go major moves liberty rarely makes sense.

I used your comment about Margaux as a launchpad to discuss what a good deal of people are questioning: was this a difference in opinion between Jeff and Jerry. Margaux's tweets and Snapchat posts suggest that. I'm saying it wasn't a difference in opinion.