[belcherboy]

I know Dunton has done pretty well the past few years, but this year really looks bad. I live in Michigan and haven't been able to follow them, besides watching scores on espn.com, but is there some promise for the next couple of years. I don't think Dunton could get away with two seasons in a row with single digit wins. This year looks pretty much done, but what type of hope do they have that this won't happen again next year? I am always hoping they can turn the corner and become too much for the Big South.

I hope he can build an elite Big South program similar to the one the girls enjoy. We really need to have a program that is a Big South winner or runner up year in and year out.

Who knows, maybe we win the tournament and the season becomes a HUGE success!!

[LUconn]

No, he's not. The man has at the very least 2 more years after this one. Probably 3 but I'm only going to guarentee 2. 2-1-2. That's our regular season finish in his current tenure. At worst lets make it 2-1-2-9. That buys him 2 more years at least. I'd give him a 75% chance of turning this team around next year and probably having a good year after that, obviously depending on recruiting. I think the length of his career will be determined by his coaching staff. (that's just a guess by my part.)

[Stevev]

Part of me says that he should be fired and the other part says let him stay. I expected a little dropoff from original expectations when Dees, Miller, and Robinson left the team but in no means did I expect the team to be this freakin bad. I was thinking that Dunton did have time to find some adequate replacements for the departed but chose not to or relied on what he had already. Our rating right now is the same as team Hankinson had in his last year and I hate to admit it but the rating as of right now seems fair and accurate considering our results this year. This is his 4th year and I know he brought us to the promised land just 2 years ago but it would be unfair to Mel Hankinson since we fired him after his 4th season. We can't show any partiality here you know. We have to do what is right and fair and if Dunton's team finishes in the bottom of the BSC and does not win another div game then he should get the ax.

But on the other hand he does have the Providence transfere coming in and a JUCO, and word that he plans on releasing some of the deadbeats after the season so there is some degree of hope. Guys like Monroe, Risher, Stewart, and Eck have no eartly business on this team or are of div caliber. I guess Dunton took a chance with some of these guys and some of this may not be his fault. There is a chance he could turn things around especially if Brewington and Blair work together well, some of the first year players improve, and we find a respectable center we could make a dramatic turnaround if we give him that chance. But with this year as bad as it is and doesn't look to get any better can we afford to give him another chance? I would like to hear other's opinions on this matter.

[PAmedic]

DUNTON STAYS.

GUARANTEED.

I'm hearing that some of the other names STEVEV mentioned may not be here next season- more to come on that as it develops.

but DUNTON STAYS.

[Sly Fox]

I don't see any way Coach D is gone within the next couple of years short of a scandal. There clearly have been some major disappointments on the court and the coach has to take responsibility for that. But I think you guys are not realizing the impact of not only losing Dees but your top two frontcourt players. And both of those came so late there really wasn't much time to do anything about it. With Elijah and Rashad in the lineup, we wouldn't be in our current predicament. End of story. But that ship has sailed and we're trying to make do with what we have.

Brewington & McLean should be able to have an immediate impact next year in LB's senior season. Rish gave us a glimmer of hope at the point and Justin is finally getting a chance to play catch-up after his injury issues.

There is no denying how painful this season is to watch. But I haven't lost one bit of faith in Coach Dunton. In fact, I think he has carried himself with a great deal of class and dignity when obviously this is hard to handle from his perspective as well.

If the circumstances were not what they are, I could see our record meriting a change. But there's no way we make that move this year. Most of you know that I was one of those calling for change in the football program the past couple of seasons. But I don't see any correlation between the two programs other than very recent history.

[jimflamesfan]

Dunton does stay. He does deserve at least 2 more years.

Hankinson finished last in the conference every year, I believe...so even if we finish last this year...Dunton will stay.

Hopefully we do turn the corner next year...looks like this year is slipping away...question will be, can we make the Big South Tourney (finish 8th or above?)

[Hold My Own]

why is is this being discussed again....PEOPLE, HE WONT BE FIRED UNTIL YEAR 2008 AND THAT'S IF HE LOST EVERY GAME FROM HERE TO THEN...take my word for it.....he's been successful the past 3 years and in just 2 years brought what we couldnt find but once in 30+ years....RELAX....let's discuss things like, how's dewight going to fit in or, what players do you think are going to be asked to not come back and so on.... not upset sly, just cant understand what he's ever done to be on the hotseat time and time again, if we won the big south next year and came in 2nd the year after people would want his head then, and I dont know if it's a school thing or what....HELP ME SLY, WHYYYYYYY

[DSR]

he's been successful the past 3 years and in just 2 years brought what we couldnt find but once in 30+ years....

I agree that he isn't going anywhere and deserves to have a rebuilding year, but that is a ridiculous argument... in your example, he won the Big South and we had only done that one other time in 30 years... you can't say that we have been trying to win the Big South for 30+ years... we had only been in the BS for 12 years when he got the job. We can only win what we are in, and since we won a National Championship in NCCAA, I would calm down on the 30+ example.

One other clarification... Mel was bad but he actually only finished last 2 years, not all four.

Question... I am a little away from the program right now, has Coach Dunton taken any responsibility for the players that left the program and the fact that there was such a high turnover of coaches. I want to believe in his abilities but that whole situation is suspect.

Also, I was around back the first time he was there and I actually heard someone say (I believe it was a manager) that Coach Dunton had said that he was one of the 5 best x and o coaches in America. It's good to be confident but if that is true, shouldn't we be able to win even in a rebuilding year? If you are one of best coaches in America and "outcoached Dean Smith" shouldn't you win with anything?

[Stevev]

We should be winning more in a rebuilding year. Just look at our womens basketball team. They have rebuilding years and aren't even close to being this bad.

[guest forever]

How much longer does he have left on his current contract? I thought next year was the final year of the contract unless he's been given an extension. I don't see him getting fired after this season regardless of how they finish. If next year is the final year of his current deal and there is no improvement over this season then maybe a change is made. If what I've read about the Providence transfer and a couple of other players coming in, I don't see a repeat of this year's performance. The team should be better. Lets just hope the new players don't turn out like Elijah Miller and never even make it to the season.

[Chris Lang]

So fess up. Who's been the one sending my boss e-mails demanding we write "Fire Dunton" stories after every game?

[Hold My Own]

1st please do not compare Women's basketball with Mens basketball, we all know how good the Top 50 teams are in the country and then the complete drop off...rebuilding for them is completely different

2nd please do not bring what a Manager may or may not have heard b/c who knows...ya know?, Things from Jerry, Coach D, other Coach's are different.

I agree about the 30+ argument it was an exaggeration that's hard to pick up over the net....but some of you guys are just nuts....and unfortuantely I dont think Chris was joking and people writing the news and advance to write a story about letting him go....Jerry loves this guy

who was the chief recruiter last year?

[LUconn]

1st please do not compare Women's basketball with Mens basketball, we all know how good the Top 50 teams are in the country and then the complete drop off...rebuilding for them is completely different

This is a VERY important concept that we all need to learn and remember. I really don't believe that it keeps coming up.

[Chris Lang]

I'm not joking, HMO. Within 10 minutes of the Birmingham-Southern game ending, there was an e-mail sent to Steve saying "what excuse will he use this time? When is it going to be his fault? You need to write a story blaming Dunton" Same thing after UNCA.

[Sly Fox]

There's always some knucklehead making noise. Just don't the let the squeaky wheel overwhelm the masses on here that know differently. We had guys calling for Mack Brown's head after UT nearly lost to A&M thre day after Thanksgiving. No kidding.

[Ed Dantes]

You guys know that I'm frustrated with the lack of wins this year, and that I've gone on record as saying that Dunton is entitled to a five-year grace period from the moment he trimmed the nets at the Vines Center.

Here's what I'm thinking (and I'm on the Dunton stays side)... I don't think it's his fault, for reasons that we've laid out. But one thing I remember hearing about is how when Dunton won the cham-peen-ship that the brains behind the operation was Assistant Coach Bob Davies, who also worked extensively with the big men. Well, Davies is gone and our big men really, really, suck. To put it mildly. Maybe we need some good assistant coaches to help out.

[A.G.]

Rebuilding is the EXACT appropriate term for this year. Kind of like an extreme makeover, LU hoops edition. All sorts of players and asst coaches have come and gone. Coach D worked miracles with the mess he inherited from Mel, and the LU faithful has to believe that next year will be a complete 150 turnaround (a 180 turnaround might be a bit much) from this year. Another year of player and coach exodus, followed by a bottom 4 finish in the league, and then the morons might be justified in calling for his head, but please, not yet.

[Hold My Own]

Chris, do you see LU fans to be quicker to jump than fans you've been with in the past....b/c to me it seems like we should be more loyal to our Coach's and Staff but instead we want their head at the first sign of trouble...I just wanted to hear from an unbiased opinion, cause I dont think I'm to far off the mark by making that statement

[Guest]

I don't think he deserves to be fired at all. I just keep hearing about the expectations that Dr. Falwell and others have for our sports programs and if you can't be middle of the pack in the Big South, even in a rebuilding year, than we will never reach those expectations. The only reason I brought up the girls is because it is the Big South. Being the big dog in the Big South should not be difficult. I've never understood why we can't see a level of success similar (not necessarily like the girls winning 8-9 in a row) to that of the girls program. Coach Dunton seemed to be getting there, but seems to do poorly with player relations. I don't want to listen to the malcontents but it seems he has difficulty keeping players (again I could be understanding the player departures incorrectly). This goes back from his first coaching days at LU in the 90's.

If Dunton has another single digit win season and the expectations remain the same that Dr. Falwell continues to share than you have to consider a move. Again, it is the Big South. At the level at which our conference plays, how tough would it be to build a program that wins an NCAA tourney spot every 2-3 years (or better)? Especially if we ever want to reach the level of consideration for an at large bid (which will probably only come in a different conference).

[guest forever]

Is this the final year of Dunton's contract?

[krh44]

Dunton didn't seem to be worried about things yesterday during a interview. He said he was excited about the new AD and that no one was packing boxes yet. I worked with the team in the mid 90s and if your we at a practice you would have though he was the head coach. After the mess Mel left it was a extremely difficult task to rebuild the program. I don't know why the Dees and Robinson left. So I can't blame the coach for that but I don't think that Robinson hurt us leaving. I would like to know why it seems like we have such a high turnover ratio. Yes I like the rest hope that "Brew Pub" and Alex can turn things around quickly but I hold my breath to see if they take the court. If he doesn't are we going to be at the bottom of the RPIs again?

[Chris Lang]

Chris, do you see LU fans to be quicker to jump than fans you've been with in the past....b/c to me it seems like we should be more loyal to our Coach's and Staff but instead we want their head at the first sign of trouble...I just wanted to hear from an unbiased opinion, cause I dont think I'm to far off the mark by making that statement

With football, there was a predisposition that I noticed. Most fans were furious with the extension they gave Karcher, so they were all over him the second he started to struggle this year.

Dunton, because of Dees leaving, seems to be catching a lot of flack as a guy who runs players out of town. SCAR might have something better to say about that because he's got a better base of historical knowledge of the program than I do. From what I understood, Dees didn't like to play defense, and that doesn't sit well with Dunton. So they clashed. Then again, I haven't heard Dees' side of things. So it's tough to judge either way.

While Dunton has to take some blame for the struggles this season, it's pretty easy to understand why Liberty is playing so poorly. You lose those three guys (Robinson, Miller, Dees), then lose Tyler Baker to a preseason injury and pick up a couple of sub-par JCs to fill the holes in the frontcourt. You could definitely see this sort of problem happening. Should Dunton have recruited better? Sure, you can argue that. But when you lose two big men in September and October, it's nearly impossible to replace them.

If the entire team had quit on Dunton, I might feel differently about the whole thing. But they haven't. Risher's game yesterday should be evidence alone of that. If anybody has had a reason to quit, it's Evan, yet he's managed to work through academic and confidence issues and can still contribute like he did at Coastal.

As far as other places I've been ... they've been trying to run Mike Adras out of Northern Arizona for three years now. Of course, the Lumberjacks are 7-0 and leading the Big Sky at the halfway point, and people have shut up. The lesson: wins ease all the pain.

[Hold My Own]

Dees told me he left b/c Dunton was so hard on him (about D)...I just wish everyone would understand the tough situation LU was in with Football, they had 2 head coach's lined up and they both fell through so they did a good thing by giving him an extension so he could recruit (as I know I'm not telling you anything new Chris but not a lot of people understand or know) As I said at the FireHouse when everyone was up in arms I told them he was only as good as the buyout...but back to D

Miller leaving was out of our control, he couldnt spell his name
Dee's leaving hurt, but he didnt want to be coached, but him wanting to come back should say something for the school/program
Robinson leaving, I'm glad someone said something on here b/c I didnt notice he was gone (kidding, his big body was useful, but he couldnt handle the DI game)

I'm going to tell yall now, next year we will lose players heck 3 out of starting 5 will be different....but thats not a sign of instability it's b/c we dont have but 2 DI ball players on the entire team

[guest forever]

"Miller leaving was out of our control, he couldnt spell his name"

"we dont have but 2 DI ball players on the entire team"

If both of these statements are true then who is ultimately responsible? Who signed off on recruiting a player who can't spell his name and who gave the ok to offer scholarships to players that do not belong on a D1 basketball program?

[nickrichard]

HMO...you make some good points. But what you are saying also gives some credence to the point of this thread. You state that there are maybe 2 D 1 players on the team now. Add Dees and Miller to that and you still only make up 4. This is Dunton's 4th year. All of the kids on this team are his own, kids that he brought in. You can say whatever you want about kids leaving, but ultimately he is responsible for them leaving.

Say what you want about Hankinson, but there were a significant number of key contributers on Dunton's team that won the championship. Since then, there has been significant tunrover in both the players and staff. There has to be something to that???

I'm just saying that in a coaches 4th year, it should not be a rebuilding year. It is the first year that a coach has an entire team made up of his own players. I can understand the "We are young, inexperienced" excuses in years 1 and 2, but not in his 4th. And remember, the Big South is not exactly the ACC. We have won 1 game in a conference that is always near the bottom of the RPI rankings every year.

Just a couple of thought from FL.