Yet another polarizing discussion on the current state of USF Athletics

[Brad]

1 minute ago, Friscobull said:

being able to pursue the substandard academic student put us in a death spiral

I think it was far more than that.  Our team was not made up of substandard academic students.

[NewEnglandBull]

17 minutes ago, Triple B said:

Are you saying we screwed the pooch by firing CJL? If not, how did we allow what happened happen ...?

 

9 minutes ago, Friscobull said:

I will answer for him, hindsight shows it was a terrible decision.  Even if people agreed with it, the handcuffing of Skippy being able to pursue the substandard academic student put us in a death spiral and that is on that witch. 

Yes, it was a bad decision but as Frisco said that is hindsight. At the time there were many people (even on this board) who wanted a change. I don’t like people saying “told you so” when they were probably right out front saying “get rid of him” or saying nothing at all. To say Jim was not culpable with his attitude however is a bit too much for me. If this job was so important to him he should have at least considered developing a better working relationship with not only the administration but with the media as well. Judy was also terrible throughout and I agree with what others have said here she was looking to hire a sheep who would follow her rules. 

Edited June 8, 2022 by NewEnglandBull

[usf97]

I think several were on this board were ready to move on from CJL in 2009. I was one of them. USF athletics appeared to be on an upward trajectory and it appeared that CJL had peaked. He was a victim of his own success and unrealistic raised expectations with no additional resources. 

We saw the new baseball stadium coming (2011), then the remodel of the Sundome (2015) and then nothing. 

Had we known in 2009 that no IPF was coming for 13 more years, that ESPN & TV were going to blow up that conference model, we would have had a very different opinion of what USF's future was going to look like and saw the need not for a "potential upgrade" but continuity.  

 

 

[NewEnglandBull]

1 hour ago, usf97 said:

I think several were on this board were ready to move on from CJL in 2009. I was one of them. USF athletics appeared to be on an upward trajectory and it appeared that CJL had peaked. He was a victim of his own success and unrealistic raised expectations with no additional resources. 

We saw the new baseball stadium coming (2011), then the remodel of the Sundome (2015) and then nothing. 

Had we known in 2009 that no IPF was coming for 13 more years, that ESPN & TV were going to blow up that conference model, we would have had a very different opinion of what USF's future was going to look like and saw the need not for a "potential upgrade" but continuity.  

 

 

Someone on this board has to have to the power to read into the future. They need to step up and do their **** job 

[Mission9]

3 hours ago, NewEnglandBull said:

 

 At the time there were many people (even on this board) who wanted a change. I don’t like people saying “told you so” when they were probably right out front saying “get rid of him” or saying nothing at all. To say Jim was not culpable with his attitude however is a bit too much for me. If this job was so important to him he should have at least considered developing a better working relationship with not only the administration but with the media as well. 

I know you were not referring to me, as I was not to you earlier, but I want to address this.  Just speaking on what we knew before the Louisville game in '09 ( strictly performance), while I may have had criticisms of some things in the program, I thought it irrational to want to fire Leavitt.  I even tried to engage those I thought were not total malcontents by trying to get them to tell me who USF could not only pursue but could afford who would do better. These people seemed to think just anyone could, which I found absurd.   I take no solace in knowing I was right.  I would rather have been wrong and ol Skippy (or anyone else) took USF to a championship.  Leavitt did himself no favors by warring with the media but I have seen much better coaches do the same so it is hard to be to critical of that. 

Finally, you do realize there are some of us who are somewhere between the guys with weird pent up frustrations who hated Leavitt and those who said they saw him walk on water (esoteric reference to one of the greatest moments in local AM radio history)?  

[Brad]

Unrelated side note:  I think Nick Saban is a *****.

[Friscobull]

4 hours ago, Brad said:

I think it was far more than that.  Our team was not made up of substandard academic students.

Agreed, I have heard the apologists come to his rescue so often I guess fell victim to their propaganda, skippy was a lazy POS.  

[Triple B]

3 hours ago, Triple B said:

Are you saying we screwed the pooch by firing CJL? If not, how did we allow what happened happen ...?

 

3 hours ago, Friscobull said:

I will answer for him, hindsight shows it was a terrible decision.  Even if people agreed with it, the handcuffing of Skippy being able to pursue the substandard academic student put us in a death spiral and that is on that witch. 

I guess I didn't clarify "what happened".  What you're saying can definitely be backed up by cause and effect when talking the "what happened" being the documented "death spiral" #1 of 2011-2013.

My "what happened" is the relegation and subsequent missing of the latest realignment. There's really no hard evidence that we allowed that to happen with so many unknowns of what would have happened if we didn't fire CJL or didn't hinder Skip's recruiting to some degree.

[CousinRicky]

28 minutes ago, Friscobull said:

Agreed, I have heard the apologists come to his rescue so often I guess fell victim to their propaganda, skippy was a lazy POS.  

That is extremely harsh and not true. 

[NewEnglandBull]

1 hour ago, Mission9 said:

I know you were not referring to me, as I was not to you earlier, but I want to address this.  Just speaking on what we knew before the Louisville game in '09 ( strictly performance), while I may have had criticisms of some things in the program, I thought it irrational to want to fire Leavitt.  I even tried to engage those I thought were not total malcontents by trying to get them to tell me who USF could not only pursue but could afford who would do better. These people seemed to think just anyone could, which I found absurd.   I take no solace in knowing I was right.  I would rather have been wrong and ol Skippy (or anyone else) took USF to a championship.  Leavitt did himself no favors by warring with the media but I have seen much better coaches do the same so it is hard to be to critical of that. 

Finally, you do realize there are some of us who are somewhere between the guys with weird pent up frustrations who hated Leavitt and those who said they saw him walk on water (esoteric reference to one of the greatest moments in local AM radio history)?  

It’s, that would include me as well. But, unlike many here, I don’t really sit here and dwell on and on what happened and what could have been. Time to move on.