One poster, who denies that there were personal attacks, repeatedly referred to him as "Jimmy." That was demeaning and personal and is an example of what he did not deserve. 

If the team has to play at the convention center and similar sites next year, it makes sense to me to keep the current coach. At the end of the peripatetic season, bring in a new coach to reopen the PC with a bang. Start fresh in both areas. 

There are interesting comments on the Fordham board about Duquesne's poor coaching. It is obvious to the other teams, even those near the bottom of the league. 

Some thoughts on the question of whether our failure as a basketball program is the result of inadequate institutional support, deficiencies in coaching, a black cloud or a combination of all of the above.

You may recall that when Ron was fired, the AD had difficulty finding a coach and ultimately settled on, let's say, his third or fourth option. That tells us that the institution is not viewed favorably by the coaching community. When coach Ferry was hired, he made sure that his salary was significantly higher than what was paid to Ron and that he had a long term commitment from the school. Even then, he was reported to have asked if anyone could win here. So I think the fundamental issue is school support. And I don't think that support necessarily has to do with the recruiting budget, but has more to do with the facilities. Pittsburgh is a good place to recruit to, but our facilities simply don't cut it. Sprucing up the locker room doesn't cut it. The school has not done enough. Look at the facilities of the teams in our conference. Why come here?

That said, coach Ferry could have done better with the teams that he had in place, particularly on defense. So some of the blame for the recent years lies with him. As an example, St. Bonaventure does not have great facilities, is located in an outpost for the Army Calvary and does not have the same budget as us, but out-performs us. Coaching plays a role there. However, St. Bona is an exception in that it over achieves expectations. Most schools don't. 

We have a disinterested student body because there is no enjoyment in coming to the games. We have a disinterested alumni base for the same reason. This last year I did not renew my season tickets after more than 30 years. I did so because I sometimes left Palumbo angry. There was no joy in Mudville. The school needs to take a good hard look at itself and determine if it wants to have a good basketball program. It appears that Mr. Harper is undertaking that analysi

He was head coach for four years. The first two he got to the dance and the last two his team went 11-21. This was the first year his team consisted of all players he recruited. He has two years left on his contract at $850K per year. He won with Majerus' players (which he helped recruit as an assistant), but not with his own players. St Louis is committed to winning. 

I don't recall that there ever was one while he was here. 

PistolPete: I share your frustration with the status of the program. However, I think it is demeaning to call Coach Ferry "Jimmy" as you did. He is a good man who is trying his best and he deserves our respect.  

Congrats. Job 1 done. 

Our record in the league so far has been predictable. We lost the games we should have and won the game we should have. Saturday against the Bonnies will show a lot as to who we are. This is an important game to win. 

The key to determining how good we are is not the out of conference record, but our record in the league. We can control who we schedule OOC, and we certainly did not schedule murderer's row. It will be our league record that will determine if we get to a post-season tournament, which is the goal. A winning record for the year is not the goal. Yes we are doing much better pre-season than in prior years. No losses to the NJITs of this world. That is a good thing and shows progress. Let's hope the Dukes can compete well in the league. Then we will have something to celebrate.    

The ACC coaches picked Pitt to finish in the bottom of their league this season. The A10 coaches picked us to finish in the bottom of the league this season. Perhaps both teams are a little better than bottom feeders, but this game shows how very, very far we are from being a good team. Pitt was bigger and more athletic. They dominated inside. They kept Micah from getting shots off by playing a bigger and faster defender on him. We are a one dimensional team and Pitt took one half of that outside dimension away from us. Our defense was poor, a problem that has been discussed to death on this board. Plain and simple, we have a long way to go in the program. 

Developing our big men is the key to THIS year. 

After the PSU game I posted that we need to develop an inside game to help when the outside shots are not dropping. We don't have any semblance of balance offensively. Pepperdine is smaller than we are, which could have led to us focusing on inside play, but we are too young/inexperienced to do that (hopefully not too untalented).