Ironduke81 wrote:

Unlike GA who constantly attempted to interject his thoughts throuhout REs tenure. Tom Donahoe Pittsburgh grandson of Davy Lawrence GM Steelers President Bills lets see A-10- Vs. NFL .Polished communicator former athlete media savy. Duq81 you have no idea as to the reason why Cowher stayed & as for the Bills bad ownership Ralph Wilson very old just stepped down.Why am I even arguing this point Donahoe would bring Duquesne major street credibility. Do we need another minor AD or 3rd rung asst from the X? Robert Morris AD hell NO!

Tom Donahoe has never run an NCAA college program.  Major street cred with who?    Why do think a failed NFL GM will bring this magic identity to the athletic program?

You might not like the choice of the RMU athletic director but I want someone that has experience in building an athletic program.  He has done way more than us with way less funds. 

Thanks guys, appreciate the welcome!  To take things forward I think it all boils down to allocated resources.  Why?  Continued and increased resources (Charlie are you listening - $$$$) towards MBall ultimately should help get better recruits which at the end of the day is the baseline key to success.  Better players should lead to more wins, more interest/fans, more donations etc. etc.  As BBall at a school of DU's size is the straw that stirs the drink I believe this will in turn help the balance of the athletic programs.  So efforts by all should be focused on persuading leadership to further this objective.  This pursuit should continue no matter what happens with the Catholic 7, which I also believe is overrated, and which is not the end all be all.  As I think GT, Villanova et al. have no interest in inviting us, and we can't control whether they do or don't, we should just continue to invest in ourselves and make DU the best it can be.  If we pursue excellence the other pieces will fall in place - which in terms of better conference invite may simply mean a few years down the line.  I suspect and hear that JF and staff are hitting the recruiting trail hard, which they should be doing, and hopefully they can improve and build on what they did in year 1.  GO DUKES!!   

Duq81 Bobby Mo AD brilliant maybe he could have some pull in getting Duquesne into the NEC

Maybe one thats in a deep pile of sh#t. Its not about the dailey operation its about a presence in this city with media fans & alumni. A monkey could do the day to day operations. No thanks for an assistant AD from New York.A pro that can handle big venues been there done it. Its coach Ferrys ship lets get him some help. Again no Catholic 7 GA has failed. Dont give me your BS about Catholic 7 schools over rated. Fox tv contract 400-500 mil 10-12 years HELLO! 

Just what exactly did Amodio do to you Iron Duke 81, steal your first born????........It appears to me that you conveniently ignore all the upgrades to the program and argue that GA had nothing to do with them, while claiming all the daily operations are child's play, but hey, maybe you have a background in sports management that we are unaware of.  But since you were, I am told, on the Committee that hired GA in the first place maybe you should be the last person to be making recommendations about Athletic Directors.  Clearly you can see that I, and I can assure you many others, believe the program has taken positive steps forward since GA was hired.  Can he do better, sure we all can do better, and you undboubtedly read my earlier post about his future riding with Ferry (a gutsy move in my view), but my read of the guy is that he is highly competitive and wants to push us to greater heights, despite certain naysayers.  You say he is a "failure" if we don't get into the new conference, but maybe you can enlighten me, do you know whether or not he has outlined the options to CD?  Issued a game plan?  Has he continued to advocate for more upgrades and increased funding?  Does he unilaterally decide whether or not we make a play to get in and spend all the necessary money?  Sit back and think for a moment, we have no "control" over what the Catholic 7 decides to do no matter how much lipstick we put on.  Control what you can control and continue to strive to improve your brand, but maybe that makes too much sense for some.

Hmm, Clk, I am not apologizing for anyone, GA included, I am only giving a different perspective than the few of you on the Board who think GA hasn't improved the "program".  You seem to forget that everyone's dissapointment is in part rooted in the fact that we started to taste some success as a program only to regress, but that is not unusual when you are laying a foundation.  GA made his choice after year one and that was RE, so maybe you would have a better argument if you said GA should have made a change sooner with the Coach - and I can only imagine how that would have gone over.  I do go to most home games and am well aware of the lack of interest, but read my earlier post, winning will again solve a lot of the problems and it has to be on a sustainable level.  Whether that will happen or not during JF's tenure remains to be seen, but that is the issue and that will determine the fate of JF and GA!!  One final point, most people I talk to continue to support the program and they don't feel alienated by anything that GA has done, nor do they disagree with his decision making, but rumor has it he was responsible for the fiscal cliff too, so maybe you are right!

Thanks Scotch, I do appreciate the courtesy!  And you are right about the scotch.  Anyway I respect the reasonable perspective and argument.  I truly wonder why the heck students don't come to any games, generally and certainly outside of this year.  As an alum when we had to go the arena we would have relished the Palumbo venue.  I too have questioned what they are doing in the department, but they have tried meeting with students, greeks, promo's etc.  I think the last 35 five years has created a certain apathy towards BBall and sports in general at the Bluff and the prior AD Min (before Charlie) was happy to let that happen.  As to some of the winning during Ron's tenure, that certainly helped, and there were periods of interest and better attendance, but I think because of the history we needed more of an incremental sustained improvement to keep the interest.  I guess in retrospect we may have been better off with 10, 14, 18 wins and then start trying to hold it in the 20 win area.  Just thoughts and hopefully that will happen over the next 2 years or I too will have exhausted my patience.  I look forward to talking about recruiting as that will be the tell tale sign and we can all focus on what we love - BBALL!

Mr. Bs you are certainly entitled to your opinions. It is funny, however, how some people can justify firing Ron for not being successful enough, and yet refuse to hold Amodio accountable for his lack of success.  Despite being given more resources than any prior AD  it is a fact that no sport under Amodio has had made the NCAA in his 7 year tenure.  No Mr. Bs Amodio is not responsible for the fiscal cliff, but he is responsible for the zero return on the investments made by Dr. D and the Board.  My biggest gripe with him is the dysfunctionality that he caused in the Men's program by undermining Ron (you can go back and read Scotch's posts concering this matter) and the firing of Ron.  You say you are not an Amodio Apologist, but your very first post you say: " Now some of you have argued that GA is responsible for this "leak" to the press when RE was let go. C'mon, people in positions of authority don't do things that intentionally make them look bad...... It was unfortunate that someone along the line leaked that out, but there are many board members and people that work for them and I don't put that on GA or CD. "  Right, it was a Board member and one of their staff not your friend Greg who leaked it to the Cincy media.  Where did Amodio work before he came to Duquesne?  The leak of that memo crushed a man who many respected and deserved better, and caused a hail storm of bad publicity for the University   If I am a Board I would want to find out where the leak originated and hold that person or persons responsible. 


 

You sure sound like Greg's spin man. Even before Amodio was hired many Alum had been demanding an increase in investment by the Board. Credit given to Dr. D not Greg for the decision to increase spending. You can disagree all you want that your buddy Greg has not squandered the resources he was provided, but it does not change the fact that after 7 years no team under Amodio has an NCAA invite. I don't know what business you claim to run, but any business I have been associated with requires performance measures and daily accountability.  I also find your theory that some Board member leaked the memo to embarrass Amodio absurd.  I am not going to go back and repost what has been posted by other this forum about the firing.  You can go back and find them.  As I have said previously, I have little energy for this joke of a program.  If you are content with the leadership and performance of the AD, then god bless you.  I see a man rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic while the boat is sinking.

Last edited by CLK (2/03/2013 2:54 pm)

Clk, I don't have a quarrel with you or anyone else who I don't even know, but you misconstrue my point about the leak, my point is that anyone could have done that!  Not necessarily saying it was a Board member, but somewhere someone in the loop, let it out.  Who knows who all had access to the email or decided to share it with a buddy that follows DU Bball if you see what I mean. Maybe someone didn't want to stick it to Greg or CD, maybe they just wanted to scoop the story - who the hell really knows.  I also think your point about RE being accountable but GA is not is being misconstued.  Amodio certainly should be accountable and will be held to that with the hiring of JF - as he should be.  I don't think any AD gets canned over the hiring of one Coach who did have some success but plateaued and was not trending well in my opinion.  Now it sounds like you follow all the sports and I admit I really am only interested in hoops, so you have a valid point there with regard to A-10 championships.  The question should be asked by CD about the progress of the remaining programs and you would think they talk about that regularly, none of us really know, but you would think they review objectives and progress.  Again, I am all about hoops for better or worse.  That being said I believe the elimination of a couple of the programs, I forget which ones, made sense as resources should be focused - especially for a school our size - and I believe several other schools did the same thing.  I also believe GA is passionate about the BBall program and has laid the necessary foundation.  The only thing we really disagree on is the RE situation and I feel I've outlined by rationale sensibly in that regard, but we both can believe what we want to believe - no problem there.  You obviously have a passion for what goes on at the Bluff and I commend you for it.  Go Dukes.

Mr. Brightside, what was the relationship like between Ron and Greg?

EL D I couldn't say with absolute certainty, but my perspective is that they were certainly two different types of personalities.  Greg is more direct and seems to be more business and Ron definitely has more charm and is warmer if you can describe someone like that.  I've been around both and I like both, just different styles, but beyond that I truly don't know.  GA never said anything negative about RE in my presence and I did over hear him say to another alum/supporter, and this was over a year ago (I think the guy was asking about extending RE) that he told Ronnie (paraphrasing, but this is the gist of it)  no one wants you to succeed more than me.  Anyway, to switch gears I think it all boils down primarily to talent level (recruiting) and that the ability to attract better players increases when resources continue to be expended on the program -  hopefully the admin will continue in that direction and Ferry can deliver the goods - or else he and GA are in trouble.  If you get any scoop on recruits please post and I'll do likewise.  Thanks.

ElDuque wrote:

I'm too far away and too disconnected to provide any insight into recruiting or any other topic, unless I get lucky and find a tweet or something.

I'd heard different takes on the relationship between the two, and while I suspect that the public face of bother was supportive and respectful, that behind closed doors there may have been something that could have been as simple as a disagreement or as complicated as a shared understanding that they weren't meshing. I've never presumed one or the other to be at fault, because when two people are at odds, both are usually wrong. And my perception is based on how things played out at the end, more than anything that happened along the way.

It's water under the bridge now, but I think both or either could have done something to change the situation, if any of my perception is true.

What I hope now is that Amodio and Ferry don't hit the same turbulance. I suspect Dr. D. is away of the previous relationship and would have low tolerance of a repeat.
 

 
For what it is worth, everything that Scotch has said about the breakdown of the relationship between Ron and GA is what I have heard from other sources. So, it appears that Scotch's reports have some credibility. I can tell you that I have had many conversations with Ron over the years he was here, some of a personal nature, and he never said a negative word to me about GA.