If roundball is your blood, this is the place to discuss the Flames as they move into the Ritchie McKay era for the 2nd time.

Moderators: jcmanson, Sly Fox, BuryYourDuke

By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#547865
Reportedly, he will be hired as HC at Charlotte. Liberty has 5 former UVA employees on their basketball staff. I would think the chances are good Tony may want to get one of them back. Ritchie isn't going anywhere, and I would be shocked if Soucie left him at this point. Vic Sfera would be the likeliest candidate, not to replace Sanchez as associate HC, but as an assistant, with Brad Soderburg or Jason Williford moving up. Marcus Conrad might be a candidate for Player Development, with everyone else moving "up a notch".

If he doesn't look to LU, don't be surprised to see him hire away one of the assistants at Loyola-Chicago, who also run the same system.

Another interesting Liberty connection is that the man Sanchez will be replacing, Mark Price, is the father of our 2018 signee, Josh Price. (Still hoping Mark will move to the Burg and be a volunteer assistant.)
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#548369
A Sea of Red wrote:Vic Sfera will be joining Sanchez at UNCC as an assistant, sources say.
No surprise there.
Come on Ritchie, he may not take it, but you gotta offer that job to Mark Price!
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#548370
olldflame wrote:
A Sea of Red wrote:Vic Sfera will be joining Sanchez at UNCC as an assistant, sources say.

Come on Ritchie, he may not take it, but you gotta offer that job to Mark Price!
I’m not sure I disagree with that assessment
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By jcmanson
Registration Days Posts
#548372
Jayson Gee is a name to watch. I also wouldn't be shocked to see Ritchie promote Marcus Conrad.
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#548375
jcmanson wrote:Jayson Gee is a name to watch. I also wouldn't be shocked to see Ritchie promote Marcus Conrad.

Gee was rated as one of the top recruiters in the nation as an assistant at Wright State. It's just almost impossible to get good players to come to Farmville. Ritchie has spoken VERY highly of him, and he would be 100% on board with the school mission.

Absolutely nothing against Marcus, but promoting him would be a Turner Gill move. If the likes of Jason Gee (or Mark Price :wink: ) are available and interested, you gotta go that route IMHO.
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#548376
ballcoach15 wrote:I doubt if Sourcie will ever leave McKay. He's been with him at every stop, I believe.
Did anyone suggest Soucie might be leaving? That will happen when H*** freezes over. (Of course Don Henley liked to use that phrase too.)
By flamehunter
Registration Days Posts
#548380
olldflame wrote:
Jonathan Carone wrote:Why did you censor Hell?
Force of habit. :oldhag
Me too. Still don't use language that many Christians do out of fear my mom will wash my mouth out. She's 400 miles away. We were raised in a different time.
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#548388
How's this for a staff? Hire Gee and persuade Price to volunteer the next few years, when he will be bringing in half a mil a year from Charlotte. If we paid him, it would just come off of the money he gets from them anyway, so it wouldn't really make a difference financially, and he wouldn't count against the NCAA limit for assistants because we aren't paying him. I'm sure there would be restrictions regarding things like recruiting, but still...........
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#548400
Quite a soap opera in Charlotte athletics the past several months. Prior to her firing Mark Price, there was a petition circulating to fire long-time (28 years) AD Judy Rose over the wretched state of the overall program (especially football). Apparently her response was to fire Price after a 3-6 start to the season, and with almost 4 years left on his $500,000/yr contract. The team went 3-17 under interem coach Houston Fancher. Rose announced her retirement in January. In fairness, she had been at the school a total of 43 years, and is probably right at 65 now, which is fortunate for her, because her days were likely numbered anyway. Her replacement is former Florida associate AD Mike Hill. His first act (he actually does not even officially work there til this summer) was to fire Fancher and staff. He then made a solid hire in Ron Sanchez. Hopefully with Hill's background he can right the ship for their athletic program. It makes no sense that the only D1 program in a huge population center like Charlotte should be that bad across the board in athletics.
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#548401
Let's keep in mind that while coach Vic ended up going to join Sanchez at Charlotte, there is still an opening on the UVA staff, and it would not be at all surprising to see them poach Conrad, Chelsea Mangino (her father is on Bennett's staff) or even Kyle Getter.
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#548482
Sfera to Charlotte is now official. I would expect to see us hire someone in the next week or 2. I've heard a ton of good things about Marcus Conrad, but he has only 1 year in his first paying job after being a grad assistant for 2 years. Personally, I would like to see them go with someone more experienced, but I certainly trust Ritchie's judgment.
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#548495
Here's a name that just popped into my head, and I know Ritchie thinks really highly of him. Jason Eaker. Didn't leave under the best of circumstances, but that is all behind him. I have no idea if he would be interested in what would basically be a lateral move (but probably better paid).
By JK37
Registration Days Posts
#548848
Jason’s got some family effects of a move to consider. He did show up at the quarterfinal game in BSC Tourney at UNCA. Mercer was playing across town in SoCon Tourney.
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By Sly Fox
Registration Days Posts
#548991
JK37 is spot on in regard to family. But Jason will always be LU family in my book. His gig at Mercer turned out to be a really great place for him to be the past few years.
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#549003
Well, we can definitively cross Jason Eaker off the list for the assistant coaching position. He is the new HC at Oklahoma Baptist. Congrats! I think we all have known for quite a while that he was destined to be a HC. It was just a question of whether he would wait for a D1 opportunity or start a bit earlier at a lower level. The Bison program is in good hands.
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