A Sea Of Red

http://m.espn.go.com/ncb/story?storyId=9039583

I had not heard much about Meyer after he left Indiana. Winner if he'll get another HC opportunity down the road.

I found it hysterically ironic that Sportscenter played the clip of him and Crean right after the Liberty highlights.

Liberty makes the Big Dance --

Jeff Meyer makes SportsCenter --

Meyer wins again!!

What a shocker, Tom Crean being a d----- bag yet again.

I love IU but not sure what Creans point was. It was a sort of classless move IMO. Meyer was implicated in the IU mess but his transgressions were down the totem pole from Sampson et al.
I thought Meyer handled it perfectly. He was having a conversation with an IU assistant and when Crean started going crazy he just left. I would like to see Creans reaction about the incident. I'll have to look. Poor cricket from Tom, but good move by Jeff.
On a side note, if anyone is looking to get me an early Christmas gift Bob Knight has a new book

http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Negativ ... 054402771X

Did you see Crean's face? He was definately just trying play himself up. IU fans probably ate it up. Not that he needed to do that for them to worship him but I definitely think that was some artificial drama to pile on to him being an IU defender and savior. Kinda lame.

LUconn wrote:Did you see Crean's face? He was definately just trying play himself up. IU fans probably ate it up. Not that he needed to do that for them to worship him but I definitely think that was some artificial drama to pile on to him being an IU defender and savior. Kinda lame.

I agree he was playing for the cameras and it was sort of off putting. I mean that whole Oladipo thing could be done in the locker room. Although that kid is a stud and I believe one of our more astute posters pointed that out early in the year and was ridiculed for it.....

And he apologized. Rather quickly at that. So good for him

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... d-exchange

Great article about Coach Meyer. I realize this is a Michigan site, but this seems to portray him exactly as I remember him during his time here. And Meyer's reaction to Crean was pretty telling that he is still a classy guy.

http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1481920

Details his views on his time at Liberty:

"When I got there, the vision was to kind of be the Brigham Young of evangelical higher education; to compete at the highest level. We were fortunate to have success early, build a foundation of trust on campus. We moved through the ranks, continued that and grew with it. It was a great place for our family."

And a great era for Liberty basketball. Meyer's 1995-96 second place Big South team preceded a 23-9, first place team in 1996-97, one that was selling out to 6,000 fans and seemingly primed for future success. He became the school's all time winningest coach, earned Virginia SID coach of the year honors after leading the school to the biggest turnaround in NCAA history (from 5-23 in 1990-91 to 22-7 a year later, the program's first season in the Big South) and had become a fixture in the community.

Meyer left no stone unturned on the recruiting trail, traveling to Nigeria to land future first team all-conference selection Julius Nwosu and later Peter Aluma, who became the school's all-time leading shot blocker and later played professionally.

"We had it going," Meyer said. "But it's happened to a lot of coaches, and it happens at a lot of places - the bottom line, in my first meeting with the President and new athletic director (in 1997), it was really evident to me they had a plan for the future. I was not going to be part of that for whatever reason.

"When it happens to you, as wrong as you think the process is, you think it's the worst thing in the world that can happen. As I look back on it, it's the best thing that could have happened for my family and me - I look at it that way. You turn life's negatives into positives and move forward. That's what we've tried to do, try to take the high road the whole time and not be vindictive or resentful in that whole transition process."

Wow, that's a great read. I'm looking forward to Scar showing up to share Coach Meyer stories.

I'll share my own Jeff Meyer story. For many years, my father worked with Coach Meyer, and still enjoys a good relationship with him. In the summer of 1994, I was nine years old and obsessed with college basketball. I grew up in Morgantown, W.Va., and so my #1 team was WVU. At that time, I was also in the throes of a love affair with the Fab Five, so Michigan was my #2.

On a trip to Lynchburg that summer, my Dad took me to campus, where he made the rounds with friends - one of which was Coach Meyer. He asked me who my favorite teams were, and I sheepishly admitted that Liberty was just my #3. Coach Meyer asked me who was ahead of LU, and I explained. He commented that he wasn't going to mess with my #1, but that he wanted to show me something. Into the VCR in his office, he popped a highlight tape from that spring LU team's improbably run to the Big South title and NCAA Tournament. After the video, he asked me: "Now, where is Liberty." I told him they were solidly #2. He laughed and exulted, "Alright! I know I can't change #1."

To this day, Liberty is still my #2. (No, WVU is not my #1 any longer.) In a way, I owe part of my attendance at Liberty (and everything in my life that stems from my time there) to a young coach who took a few moments to show a nine-year-old boy a highlight tape.

Coach Meyer is all class in my book.

Coach used to show everyone that tape JK. That's a great story man. What a great article too. Jeff's career has been a blessing to him and his family.

So many Jeff Meyer stories but I love to tell them in person so I could do the impression that I mastered as a Freshman. I picked it up from the upperclassmen and passed it down to the underclassmen that eventually won the 1st NCAA Tournament bid in 1994.

I had a relationship with Crean too when I was a coach. Since my wife was from East Lansing, Crean always left me tickets to the Breslin Center and would allow me to hang out in the offices with he and Izzo and the rest of the staff. It makes me feel good to see him doing so well all the way back to when he coached D Wade and Marquette to the final 4. He is a great guy and a great coach and I was puzzled by his exchange with Jeff. I haven't even seen it yet to tell the truth since I was in Baltimore and DC all day with my boss but I hope to see it on Sports Center today. But believe me I heard about it. I got more emails and texts about that than the Liberty run to the Tourney!

I will validate the accuracy of. SCAR's impersonation skills

Crean, Cream or whatever his name is should be suspended by the NCAA for his actions. It's time the NCAA started cracking down on dirtbag coaches.

ballcoach15 wrote:Crean, Cream or whatever his name is should be suspended by the NCAA for his actions. It's time the NCAA started cracking down on dirtbag coaches.

I might agree with that if Crean hadn't already handled it and quickly. He called Meyer before he got on the team plane back to IU, before this became an 'issue' and I'm not sure what else he can do.
Also, it would fall to the B1G to issue discipline on this issue and again I'm not sure what punishment would fit 'the crime'.
Besides, Calipari still has a job

Jeff M is and has always been a class person. I would welcome him back to LU in the future, but I expect that opportunity to be extremely remote. He has a good gig now and will probably get a HC opportunity before long.
Layer deserves another year based on the finish this year. He too, is a great person and I like him a lot. However his future at LU will be determined by W&L's just like everyone else. It is not hard to find a good person to coach. The trick is to find a great person who can win as a coach.

flameshaw wrote: It is not hard to find a good person to coach. The trick is to find a great person who can win as a coach.

I don't agree with the first sentence, but I understand what you're trying to say.

The pressures and demands of the industry change far too many good people. It's sad to watch. But it doesn't justify behavior of this nature. Crean acted like an idiot. Sadly, too many IU fans are proud of him.

PH, I think your IU glasses may be shading your perception here. Crean had a choice before he acted. He looks borderline psychotic walking away from it, like the whole thing was planned. I know Coach Meyer to be a man of integrity, and the example he set not only be walking away but also by even accepting Crean's call and apology is something I'm not sure I could do in that moment.

Interesting. Meyer was moved out at LU after half the team got kicked out for an incident at Lynchburg College. Since then he's been on two very dirty coaching staffs at Mizzouri (Snyder) and Indiana (Sampson), both of which got sanctioned for recruiting violations. It seems he's either very unlucky or he's at least a part of the problem in each of those situations.

Why would someone with that history be welcomed back?

I will defer to some of the others who have more of a knowledge of him as far as a detailed explanation but my guess is that unless he was the one responsible for those violations, Im sure as a former coach he will get a look (and the one who brought Liberty its first conference title)

NotAJerry wrote:Interesting. Meyer was moved out at LU after half the team got kicked out for an incident at Lynchburg College. Since then he's been on two very dirty coaching staffs at Mizzouri (Snyder) and Indiana (Sampson), both of which got sanctioned for recruiting violations. It seems he's either very unlucky or he's at least a part of the problem in each of those situations.

Why would someone with that history be welcomed back?

I will take this one. The Snyder situation Meyer was not directly involved if I remember correctly. Kelvin Sampson came to IU with sanctions from his Oklahoma days and already had a rep for cheating. Not sure why a program like IU would hire him in the 1st place. Not a good fit. Meyer was involved in the IU incident which basically amounted to him giving a t shirt and a duffle bag to a recruit on a trip. The major violations were on Sampson though because he failed to tell his staff that they had limitations on their recruting efforts due to the sanctions that followed him from Oklahoma.

I talk to him fairly frequently and I can tell you that he is very happy working for his friend John Beilein and working in the Big 10. Also being in the Midwest is where he loves to be as an Indiana native. I don't think he would ever, ever, ever come back to Liberty if offered. That's just my opinion. He has never said one way or the other.

If he wants a head job again he will get one. I think he would have a chance to get a really good mid-major job. He would have been a good fit at Butler as a former assistant there but they have a coach for life in Brad Stevens now. Surprised Winthrop didn't hire him as a former assistant there but I don't know if he would have taken it.

As for the Liberty situation, Meyer was not fired. He was given sort of an ultimatum that he needed to win the Big South championship as we had just lost the last 2 tournament finals. He felt that he couldn't do it with the core of his team being dismissed for disciplinary reasons so he resigned with pay and was given a position as Assistant to the Chancelor which was basically a job in name to keep him on salary. He used that time to find another position which he did as an assistant with Gregg Marshall at Winthrop where he won 3 straight Big South Championships before going to Butler and getting them to the Sweet 16.

I have always wondered what happened with him and LU and you could never get a straight answer from anybody. I always figured there was some unpleasantness on one side or the other. Or both. It's probably more likely that people just don't really know the actual story.

SCAR wrote:As for the Liberty situation, Meyer was not fired. He was given sort of an ultimatum that he needed to win the Big South championship as we had just lost the last 2 tournament finals. He felt that he couldn't do it with the core of his team being dismissed for disciplinary reasons so he resigned with pay and was given a position as Assistant to the Chancelor which was basically a job in name to keep him on salary. He used that time to find another position which he did as an assistant with Gregg Marshall at Winthrop where he won 3 straight Big South Championships before going to Butler and getting them to the Sweet 16.

So we got greedy. I think we all would habe been happy to have replicated his last four year stretch over the last decade and a half... Here is hoping Layer gets his chance and we recognize how good we have it when the time comes!

Scar knows the real story. I think most of us would prefer to forget it.

JK37 wrote:

flameshaw wrote: It is not hard to find a good person to coach. The trick is to find a great person who can win as a coach.

I don't agree with the first sentence, but I understand what you're trying to say.

The pressures and demands of the industry change far too many good people. It's sad to watch. But it doesn't justify behavior of this nature. Crean acted like an idiot. Sadly, too many IU fans are proud of him.

PH, I think your IU glasses may be shading your perception here. Crean had a choice before he acted. He looks borderline psychotic walking away from it, like the whole thing was planned. I know Coach Meyer to be a man of integrity, and the example he set not only be walking away but also by even accepting Crean's call and apology is something I'm not sure I could do in that moment.

I'm not dismissing what he did because it was inexcusable. What was good was that before it blew up and became an issue he apologized. Normally, people wait UNTIL it is an issue then apologize. I thought it was great he handled his blunder that way. And would expect nothing less than complete class from Meyer.