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

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By thepostman
Registration Days Posts
#574632
I love Coach McKay. I can't think of a better fit for our basketball program than him. I was so disappointed when he left for UVA but now that he is back it has been clear that was the right move for him. He is a better coach and it seems his perspective has improved.

He is arguably the greatest men's basketball coach in LU history and if success continues then it won't even be an argument anymore.

I'm just enjoying the ride.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#574633
I saw him eating at 5th and federal once. He literally bumped into me and apologized. Even offered to help me take the stuff to my car. He doesn’t know me from a can of paint. But it made a great impression
(No. I did not take him up on his offer. NO ONE touches my 5th and Federal!)
By flamehunter
Registration Days Posts
#574637
Great piece ASOR. Also, Game On featured Coach McKay in a piece a couple days ago. Y'all need to watch that as well.
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By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#574642
Purple Haize wrote:I saw him eating at 5th and federal once...Even offered to help me take the stuff to my car.
You had LEFTOVERS at 5th and Federal??? What happened to your manly appetite? :dontgetit
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By ElmersTwin
Posts
#574643
I saw Coach McKay driving a 6 seater golf cart by himself on Regents Parkway yesterday evening. Not sure why I found it so funny, but I did. That dude is something special.
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By FlamesHighontheTide
Registration Days Posts
#574645
I am not familiar with alot of the men's basketball coaches at LU except for Jeff Meyer, Randy Denton, Dale Layer and Ritchie McKay. When it comes to the greatest coach in LU history I personally judge that by three things: were they able to grow the program nationally? were they able to produce a consistent winner? championships?

All 4 of these coaches have led their respective teams to the NCAA Tournament once. Denton was viable due to Larry Blair. Layer was not fired when he should've been due to a unforeseen run in the Big South tournament, the grit of that team during the tournament was exciting to watch. Meyer spent 16 seasons at LU and was successful. He has 259 victories as LU's coach and helped them win their first ever D1 conference title as well as first appearance in NCAA Tournament. Meyer averaged roughly 17 wins per season at LU. Impressively Meyer only had 2 losing seasons in conference record and Meyer had 3 20 win seasons.

Meyer definitely grew the program nationally not only due to circumstances but also due to getting LU to their first ever NCAA tournament and first ever Big South Conference title. Consistent winner, 11 winning seasons out of 16 is consistent however there were some very rough patches in there too. Where it was up and down. Under Meyer, 1 regular season conference title and one conference tournament championship. However, Meyer is in my opinion the second best coach in LU history by far.

Now, may I introduce you to the greatest coach of all-time at LU: Coach McKay. In 6 seasons he has collected 123 wins, which is basically 21 a season. He has posted a share of the most wins in a season with 28 (shared with the NAIA national champs). He has more 20 win seasons than any coach in LU, all of this in 6 seasons. By the way since the 0-13 start in his second stint, the LU mens team is 84-41, which is a 67% winning percentage. 3 straight 20 win seasons and at LU he has never had a losing record in conference play. Meyer's first 6 seasons totaled 92 wins, which is not bad with 1 20 win season. McKay's first six seasons totaled 123 wins and 4 20+ win seasons.

McKay's leadership and this team has taken our bball program to new heights and with the growth of the university and McKay's style and leadership I believe we will continue to be blessed with good and potentially even great basketball. Why not Liberty?

McKay could be the first coach ever in LU history to lead the team to a 30 win season and a sweet 16 appearance.

Rest my case.
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#574647
All this talk about who is the greatest Liberty basketball coach and Hankey doesn't get mentioned once. :dontgetit
By flamehunter
Registration Days Posts
#574649
FlamesHighontheTide wrote:I am not familiar with alot of the men's basketball coaches at LU except for Jeff Meyer, Randy Denton, Dale Layer and Ritchie McKay.
Well, those coaches pretty much cover all but the first 8 or so seasons plus the Hanky years.
And they won an NCCAA championship, not NAIA.
And it's Dunton, not Denton (Jeff Meyer).
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By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#574650
And RD's last name is misspelled multiple times.
Is Hanky sort of the basketball version of Ken Karcher? :brownbag
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#574662
Cider Jim wrote:
Purple Haize wrote:I saw him eating at 5th and federal once...Even offered to help me take the stuff to my car.
You had LEFTOVERS at 5th and Federal??? What happened to your manly appetite? :dontgetit
It was a to go order. I had two hands I needed two bags!
By JK37
Registration Days Posts
#574663
Purple Haize wrote:I saw him eating at 5th and federal once. He literally bumped into me and apologized. Even offered to help me take the stuff to my car. He doesn’t know me from a can of paint. But it made a great impression
(No. I did not take him up on his offer. NO ONE touches my 5th and Federal!)
How geriatric must you look if he offered to help you to the car like the grocery boy at the Piggly Wiggly?!
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By LUOrange
Posts
#574710
Cider Jim wrote:And RD's last name is misspelled multiple times.
Is Hanky sort of the basketball version of Ken Karcher? :brownbag
Pretty much. He took over after Dunton's first stint as HC. He was legendary Assistant Coach who could recruit, but he was a horrible HC. He signed a highly recruited 6'9 PF named Chip Richmond, who got here and couldn't stand him so he dropped out of school before the fall semester even started. If anyone else knows the actual story on why Richmond left, I'd like to hear it. That was the hearsay I was told moons ago. Hankinson was let go when LU liked to leave termination letters on the coach's desk without contacting them. I think they did the same to Karcher.
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#574720
LUOrange wrote:
Cider Jim wrote:And RD's last name is misspelled multiple times.
Is Hanky sort of the basketball version of Ken Karcher? :brownbag
Pretty much. He took over after Dunton's first stint as HC. He was legendary Assistant Coach who could recruit, but he was a horrible HC. He signed a highly recruited 6'9 PF named Chip Richmond, who got here and couldn't stand him so he dropped out of school before the fall semester even started. If anyone else knows the actual story on why Richmond left, I'd like to hear it. That was the hearsay I was told moons ago. Hankinson was let go when LU liked to leave termination letters on the coach's desk without contacting them. I think they did the same to Karcher.
This is the first time I have heard that Richmond ever made it to campus. Are you sure he did? He and Antonio Burks, the highly rated point guard we also signed that year, did not qualify academically. Hanky knew when he signed them that it was unlikely either would ever play for us, but because of them we had the 25th rated recruiting class in the country that year. Burks went on to get his academic act together in JUCO before transferring to Memphis and ultimately playing 5 years in the NBA. Richmond, as far as I know, never played college basketball.
By JK37
Registration Days Posts
#574722
Hankinson’s basketball IQ was also off the charts. But he struggled to connect and teach. He was a master clinician, just couldn’t get it across to kids.

Can’t fully realize IQ’s potential without EQ.
Last edited by JK37 on March 16th, 2019, 12:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#574723
My guess is that Honors student Rob Attaway was the only player on the roster who had read Hanky's whole playbook and understood it. Study
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By LUOrange
Posts
#574735
oldflame wrote:
LUOrange wrote:
Cider Jim wrote:And RD's last name is misspelled multiple times.
Is Hanky sort of the basketball version of Ken Karcher? :brownbag
Pretty much. He took over after Dunton's first stint as HC. He was legendary Assistant Coach who could recruit, but he was a horrible HC. He signed a highly recruited 6'9 PF named Chip Richmond, who got here and couldn't stand him so he dropped out of school before the fall semester even started. If anyone else knows the actual story on why Richmond left, I'd like to hear it. That was the hearsay I was told moons ago. Hankinson was let go when LU liked to leave termination letters on the coach's desk without contacting them. I think they did the same to Karcher.
This is the first time I have heard that Richmond ever made it to campus. Are you sure he did? He and Antonio Burks, the highly rated point guard we also signed that year, did not qualify academically. Hanky knew when he signed them that it was unlikely either would ever play for us, but because of them we had the 25th rated recruiting class in the country that year. Burks went on to get his academic act together in JUCO before transferring to Memphis and ultimately playing 5 years in the NBA. Richmond, as far as I know, never played college basketball.
You're probably correct. Again, I was just repeating the hearsay i was told by other LU employees when I worked for LU back then.
By ballah09
Registration Days Posts
#574743
Richmond was a McDonald's All-American. Probably the best recruit to ever sign with Liberty but Oldflame is right. He signed him knowing he wouldn't qualify, same with Burks. I believe we had a higher rated class than Duke that year.
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By Jonathan Carone
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#575330
I'll start off by saying two things:

1) I love Ritchie and hope he never leaves.

2) I think he deserves a raise.

That said, we are not to the level of the teams mentioned as comparisons. Yet. We can get there, and I think VCU is the model of success we'd love to see, but we aren't there yet. Because of that, we shouldn't pay at that level yet. As great as this year was, we are still only one year off of going 9-9 in the Big South. We expect big things moving forward, but they haven't happened yet.

If I was Ian, I'd give an extension with a moderate pay raise ($50,000-$75,000). I'd add incentives and a yearly stair stepped raise over the course of the extension. If we continue having the success we think we can have, he'd get close to the $1-$1.2 million that VCU is at right now at the time of the next extension.

This year was really fun, but we have to remember it was only one year. All signs point to us being in the mix yearly, but we still have to prove it.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#575331
A Sea of Red wrote:An Investment Worth Making

http://www.aseaofred.com/an-investment-worth-making/
Good article. Cooley at Providence must have gotten a bump. We saw Providence a couple times at the NCAA tournament and that guy was great. We were shocked he was “only” making $400k. But back to RMK, he deserves to be on pay level par with Buzz at the very least. I think VCU is overpaying but that’s a pretty good number to aim at. My only question rises from something I used to know a lot more about and that’s Title IX in relation to pay scales. Crazy I know but there were issusss in the past about how much LU could pay one or the other. I’m not sure if there have been any changes or interpretations of that but RMK deserves every dime and a lifetime contract
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By jinxy
Registration Days Posts
#575335
100 percent agree with jon. Further we dont even know exactly what hes making right now since the last figure we had was over 2 to 3 years.

Also spot on with the program comps. 1 year doesnt make you the same. It can be and should be time will tell.

This year was incredible and the future looks brighter than ever. What the exact figure should be is tough to say since we dont have all info but we do need to move to extend him for sure.

Good problem to have rather than worrying about buy outs to get rid of coaches. Weve had enough of that to know that sucks.
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