[HenryGale]

Real...last time I checked, attendance and budget were not any of the reasons listed why RD's contract was not renewed.

[Hold My Own]

Budget was an alleged reason...attendance never was mentioned as a reason

[TallyW]

Boooo...

LUreal... that was lame.

Look at how far we've come!!!! We lost to VMI in the opening round of the tourney... Our RPI is near the bottom and we can't compete year after year in a conference near the bottom of all conferences... the highest RPI we've had in 6 years is 168... but that was only for a few weeks... and a team in our conference actually held a higher RPI even then... that's when we won the whole tourney... For the most part we've hung out in the high 200's... Great... it's not 315... but is that our goal?

JB has EVERY RIGHT to make decisions to bring in people he feels more comfortable with... he has a job to do too. In a few years we'll be looking at every sport and asking "Has JB done what it takes to move our Atheletics forward? Keeping an average coach in one of the two profile sports wouldn't be the best decision.

Even if the new hire flops I say that JB has the right and responsibility to do what he believes is in the best interest of the University.... that's why we hired him. If he is wrong... so be it... but to cry about him making a decision... that's lame.

[Purple Haize]

Wow, LUREAL, I am sure you along with others are glad there is not drug testing on this board. What the crap are you smoking? I am not sure you can say the JB has a big ego, especially compared to all the other big ego's on the campus. An AD who wants to be out front?? Scandoluous I say (but not type too well) He is the AD and he should lead and his coaches should FOLLOW!
How far have we come??? What was are RPI during RD's first season and what was it last year? Not seeing a HUGE jump on that one.
And what underhanded stuff would you be talking about?? Attendance numbers are usually INFLATED, as has been documented on SEVERAL occsasions. Do you have specifics on the budget? It is common knowledge that it wasn't a strong point on the MBB side so not sure what could be underhanded about that, with the possible exception that he stay IN the budget.
And finally, RD's departure was handled with a TON more class and professionalism than the dismissal of the last two men's basketball coaches. And those two did have one common theme.
It is obvious that you are suffering from RD Kool Aid withdrawl and we can all sympathize with that. Perhaps A and E can run an "Intervention" special for those in your boat. You could really be an example to many. Soon you could be back to your old self and just rail against the posters on this board!@! You can do it and we can help!

[SuperJon]

Wow. lureal, where do you get off saying that stuff?

[RagingTireFire]

Never let it be said that I don't pile on. And, for the record, I think that LUreal picks up his mail at the Dunton mailbox.

Barber is an ad with the big ego who wants to be out in front.

I have no problem w/ an AD being out front. As far as egoes go, I've never seen JB's in action but I know that, as of 2/28, we dumped a massive one off the mountain.

dunton never had a fair shake because barber wants his own man.

Dunton worked through a five-year contract and we're no better off after year 5 than we were after year 2. How much more fair does it get?

my friends who are close to barber say he cast negatives all year and there is some underhanded stuff going on with attendance, budgets and lying.

Yeah, I'm sure you have a ton of friends "who are close to Barber". You might know a barber.

so we can all have opinions on where the program was headed.

Some opinions more valid than others.

but obviously even chris lang says should compete for the title next year.

That doesn't exactly bolster your case. If we should compete for the title next year, why couldn't we compete for the title this year? We had the Big South's all-time leading scorer for cripes sake!

So Prov 14:15 says it is wise to look into a matter before jumping to conclusions.

Personally, I love it when disgruntled people start quoting Scripture on sports-related messageboards. Especially, when it's taken so far out of context.

As fans we can all get caught up our emotional disappointments of tough losses,

...and coach-firings...

but realize where dunton brought us from and where we were headed.

Where exactly were we headed?

if someone is determined to make a case against any of us they can find some angles.

Again, some angles more valid than others. Or just plain valid in general.

this will be interesting to watch as the future unfolds.

I'm counting on it.

[grm]

Jeff Barber has every right to do what he did, & I wish the new coach well.

Having said that, I am very sure that Jeff had made his decision before the first game was played. That would put him in the same mindset as many on the board. That's still o.k..

Now, just for the record, Jeff was negative about anything good that the team did during the year, and had very early (again, before the 1st game was played) brought up budget issues, vague references to non-cooperation, and NCAA guidlines, among other things. These things were set forth in a very serious light to RD, stating them clearly as grounds for dismissal - and I would say, all of them without foundation. He got the green light from The Rev. several weeks ago & pulled the hammer back about two hours after the VMI loss, then fired away at 10:00 the next morning (Wed). Randy had until 5:00 p.m. Friday to vacate his office, and his 14 years of service were not deemed enough by Jeff to gain him an extra 48 hours through Sunday evening, despite his personal request through the highest channels. Probably just coincidence, but security happened by at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Nadine (Randy's wife) was still there at the time, but the office was cleared and Randy was gone. In addition to the internet blurb off the News & Advance from Chris Lang that said that "winning the Big South would not have been enough" (that statement was strangely absent from the article in the paper the new morning), Jeff also told the basketball coaches that "if he had made the final four, it might have been tough to not bring him back" (and then tried to frame it as a joke).

That's the way it was. It makes some of us happy, and some of us sad. It's within the scope of the AD's job description, and it's not all that unusual for a new AD to make some big moves soon after taking the job. Coaches knew something was coming at someone, and with Randy's profile and personality, some were not surprised that it was Randy.

One more time: It was all within the scope of the AD's job, and he had the necessary "sign-offs" to do it. There was no sin on RD's part, and no character lapses (unless you count the vague references earlier cited in this post).

It is what it is. Some of you don't like RD, - I'm not too happy with some others.

[Purple Haize]

GRM - And how do you know those were baseless statements with regards to NCAA academics, budget etc? Track record?

[thepostman]

There are some half truths to what lureal is saying...people close to the situation or even people still on staff are very upset about the whole situation...but from everything I have heard said I think they are simply upset about losing their jobs or the fact that they may soon be losing their jobs...So therefore they are making things up in their head about how things were...there really is no grounds or proof for the things they or lureal has spoken of....

but to be fair to lureal some of this stuff is being said....but it just is people bitter about how it went down....which I think when you lose your job is a natural feeling....

with that said we all know this was the right move at the right time....if you look at things objectivly you would know that

but holy crap its over with....no need to keep bringing it back up lureal

[grm]

Purple..

I'm taking Randy's word, and the testimony of his staff.

[flameshaw]

LUnreal,
Some pretty scandalous stuff with no backup. I think you are full of stuff that make tomatoes grow. You might ought to ask yourself why Dunton's name isn't being mentioned at schools where former LU athletic employees are working. One is going from D2 to D1 and has an opening, I asked someone in the AD's office why don't you hire Randy, I won't tell you what he said, (because I can't prove it) but I don't think RD is waiting by the phone for that one.
GWebb didn't do to well last year, Chuck Burch hired Rick Reeves for the WBB team, ........I will let you fill in the rest of the story here based on your thoughts.

[Hold My Own]

Chuck Burch hired Rick Reeves for the WBB team, ........I will let you fill in the rest of the story here based on your thoughts.

well that wasnt a real shocker though...nor a move that will give Chuck job security for the next 10 years

[Libertine]

...nor a move that will give Chuck job security for the next 10 years

[olldflame]

I think some opinions expressed by LU fans on this board may be skewed because we have become accustomed to a situation which is not normal or healthy in an athletic program. It can be argued that we have not had a "real" AD possibly since as far back as Terry Don Phillip's departure. I hope this is not construed as being an insult to Kim Grahm, Chuck Burch and others, but I never had the feeling that any of them had full authority to run the program and make major decisions such as hire/fire coaches in major sports like MBB, which JB clearly does.

In the "real world" of college athletics, for an AD to be "out front" and make decisions/changes based on his own evaluation and judgement is not a sign of an inflated ego, but rather of leadership, which is part of their job! If these decisions do not have successful outcomes, the AD will himself be evaluated by the University administration, and can be replaced if indicated. All normal stuff. We can agree or disagree with JB's decision to let RD go, but IMHO it is out of line to say it is an ego thing. To this point I have seen no indication that JB has any motivation other than to bring winning programs/teams to the mountain.

[mrich]

amen

[mrich]

Purple..

I'm taking Randy's word, and the testimony of his staff.

Now we are resorting to first name basis. Better watch out!!

[grm]

Rich, there is nothing to watch out for.

[Purple Haize]

You might want to take past experiences and hard numbers into account as well

[Chris Lang]

grm: Just an FYI on the blurb about making the NCAA tournament not being enough to save his job. It was absent from the next day's paper because I wrote that story like a second-day story. I wanted everyone's voices -- coaches, players, administration -- out there and I just tried to get out of the way.

That statement was legit though. I asked that question for a very valid reason, because I have been around a situation before (at Montana) where a decision to fire a coach was made long before a run to the NCAA tournament was made. That year, Montana finished fifth in the Big Sky and made an upset run to the NCAAs, but the school fired Don Holst anyway. So I specifically asked Barber if winning the Big South tournament would have been enough to save his job, and Barber said so.

I know the mansion was upset about that comment, but what was said was said. The comment hammered home the point that the decision was made well before the tournament began.

[grm]

Yes Chris -

I have never doubted the accuracy of one word of any of your quotes, and did not doubt this one whatsoever. Your observations and reporting instincts are on target as usual. I had wished that some of the players had given you some different quotes, and, as an RD man, thought that maybe they were a bit innocent/naive on some things, but again, I never doubted for one second that they were in any way misquoted or misrepresented.

I think you have brought great coverage to the program, and I have enjoyed tremendously the interaction and thank you for it. Coaching is a tough business, and even more so at this level. My dream was for Randy & Liberty to work together successfully, but different people have different dreams.

[grm]

Also Chris,

I knew that the mansion was upset. I really don't blame the mansion, because it opened things up that did not need to be opened up. If I were JB, (and I wanted RD out) I would have simply said that RD served the University well, and that I felt it was time for a change. The mansion obviously wished he had done so, and I know that the mansion made its wishes known
in certain circles. It means something that, with RD gone, JB has made statements like "Randy left the program a lot better than he found it." showing that, if he was stupid in what he said, he is at least capable of learning on the job. The one I mentioned about the Final Four was outrageous... but ....

Anyway - Thanks & God bless

[WWJFD]

Grm,

Nice story line on the last days of RD at LU. Either you saw that first hand or have some credible inside source. I am surprised the admin's on the board allowed that post to stay. That almost seemed unfair to those involved. I thought it was pretty clear that JB had no love for RD, thus the detailed account could have been left off the board. Oh well.

[Chris Lang]

grm ... don't worry, I wasn't trying to say anyone was accusing me of misquoting or anything. It's just that some seem to think that Barber quote just came out of nowhere. It really didn't. It was a response to a direct question. Just wanted to make that clear to everyone.

BTW, it was a pleasure meeting you when you were in the Burg. All the best to you.

[mrich]

Now, just for the record, Jeff was negative about anything good that the team did during the year, and had very early (again, before the 1st game was played) brought up budget issues, vague references to non-cooperation, and NCAA guidlines, among other things. These things were set forth in a very serious light to RD, stating them clearly as grounds for dismissal - and I would say, all of them without foundation. there at the time, but the office was cleared and Randy was gone. In addition to the internet blurb off the News & Advance from Chris Lang that said that "winning the Big South would not have been enough" (that statement was strangely absent from the article in the paper the new morning), Jeff also told the basketball coaches that "if he had made the final four, it might have been tough to not bring him back" (and then tried to frame it as a joke).
It is what it is. Some of you don't like RD, - I'm not too happy with some others.

I don't know about all of you, but this is getting a little old. All the so called "personality conflict" between RD and JB is not one sided. Yeah maybe they didn't like one another, but you deal. If RD wanted to keep his job he would have adjusted, and dealt with the problems. What did he think would happen? The boss usually wins in this situation, and thats life.

[Sly Fox]

Frankly this discussion is not productive for anyone. Hopefully everybody has gotten this out of their system so we can move forward. Suffice it to say there clearly was a difference in opinion of the state of the program and the man who is ultimately responsible to make a decision did just that. He'll be held accountable for his moves just as Coach Dunton was held accountable for his record.