re: Basketball Recruiting Discussion

Where the frick did LSU ever come from?

Listen I get it if the guy is regional, but when they start getting these kids Like this kid from Jersey?

yea "bag men bag men" but then after they get em... they suck. (as in the team)

SEE BEN SIMMONS

Outside forces at work here...being an UA school kills us on the bball recruiting front

Yea, we'll never land elite prospects from state unless it is a legacy like Dozier. I hate UA so much.

Wrong thread, but we will get a few that will make you happy

Ray apologetics like rooster and ironically im sure SOS will fly in soon, but Ray is in over his head. I was recruited by ray and chad, love both but i can see both are/were in over thier head. Ray held the department hostage after 3 consecutive national title berths. He isnt AD material, i have been tolf by former USC coaches, they love him but also feel he is above his head and they arent fans of him holding the AD hostage like he did.

quote:

---

Wrong thread, but we will get a few that will make you happy

---

You posted about McClendon in here that's why I posted in this thread.

You need to quit looking at porn and multi tasking at the same time bro.

quote:

---

Ray apologetics like rooster and ironically im sure SOS will fly in soon, but Ray is in over his head. I was recruited by ray and chad, love both but i can see both are/were in over thier head. Ray held the department hostage after 3 consecutive national title berths. He isnt AD material, i have been tolf by former USC coaches, they love him but also feel he is above his head and they arent fans of him holding the AD hostage like he did.

---

I'm not a Ray Tanner fan as an AD.

He's changed a lot since he became AD.

He did earn the right though and we would have lost him to Texas had we not done the deal and it would have been bad optics for the program.

But I am not a Ray Tanner apologist in the least. I don't trust him and have had major run-ins with him over a couple of different issues. These days if I see him on the elevator we don't even acknowledge one another. There are plenty of Ray arse-kissers out there ... I'm not one of them. I respect him as a man and he has gotten better as an AD while learning OJT but it has cost us at times.

I agree completely, that he dropped the ball with the Under Armour deal among other things.

Some say Charlie Bloom has far too much influence with Ray and that Charlie is positioned as Ray's heir apparent. I'm not sure the BoTs will go along with that when the time comes but in all likelihood that is what is going to eventually happen.

quote:

---

I just ask why do you say that?
did his resume say that?

---

Well ... Ray always wanted the job. He had told me, and others, that over the years. He lobbied for the job to be his one day.

He also turned down other opportunities to coach at places, the biggest one being Texas of course, in order to stay here as the AD in waiting. He also had overtures from his alma mater to come back there.

He was loyal to us and we were loyal to him and he used his good buddy Skip Bertman at LSU as president when he presented his case ... although his interview process was predetermined and soft at best. It was his job, he was ordained.

And he's learned over the years. Learned the political aspects of the game. Learned how to fight for budgets and learned how to network for coaching positions that need filling ... although he's only had a few so far.

He's a coach's AD ... meaning our coaches all love the guy. He's been there and they understand that. And he's done a decent job with the fund rasing although Jeff Crane handles most of that while Charles Waddell handles most of the personnel stuff and Charlie Bloom ... hell, who knows what Charlie is doing. Spring Sports and Online stuff I guess. But anyways, Ray earned the right and got the job and he's not been bad ... he's just not been great.

He does not always keep his word with the big boosters but he's good at giving lip service. He reacts most of the time rather than being proactive ... and that's usually not good. He doesn't always necessarily fight for us ... he gives-in to the politicians too much. And he's gotten like so many in college sports are today ... he feels somewhat entitled at times, like he expects us to just roll with the punches. He forgets who he is really working for and treats our program like a publicly traded corporation ... like big business. So the program has lost a lot of it's personal feel under Ray.

Mike McGee was the finest AD we've ever had.

Hyman took a lot of credit for things Mike had already put into motion.

Ray is more of an overseer, someone hired to maintain more than advance. Now, if Ray catches fire and starts really advancing us on all fronts both in terms of winning and financially ... then Ray could go down as one of the greatest.

His upcoming priorities are going to be:

Continuing to increase our Emergency Fund.
Get our bills paid in full.
Upgrade the stadium ... particularly the lower East Side.
Add new luxury boxes while bettering the overall amenities throughout the stadium.
Upgrade the track facilities.
Hire new coaches to replace Curtis Fry and Mark Berson.
Deal with rising football coaches' salaries, particularly if we win big this season.
Selling his budget demands over the next three years ... gonna be tough. Our BoTs are tough.
Overseeing the possible additions of two more sports ... one women's, one men's although I have been told it could be two women's sports.

So he'll have his plate full and it's going to be interesting to see how well he does. He's getting better at the day-to-day stuff but he needs to be better at the PR stuff.

He's also too cosy with some in the media. He's got to be very careful with that and learn to never, not ever, trust any of them.

quote:

---

shocked Texas would prefer him over Del Conte ,just looking at that guys resume, he's been the AD at TCU, Rice, Associate AD at Zona, and then other roles in the AD at Washington State and Cal Poly.

---

I believe that was more about Ray taking the Texas baseball job