steve19981 wrote:

Tejas_Duke wrote:

I see a lot of "facts" and inside info being thrown around here. I'm not calling anyone a liar or anything like that, but its easy to post unsubtantiated things on a message board, with no footnotes, other than "My third cousin's uncle's best friend knows someone who...................."

And that is what I seem to see here on both sides of the argument.

steve19981 wrote:

    Hogan never turned his back on athletics because he never gave a crap about them to begin with. (1) He needs to be put in charge of alumni relations or fund raising. He's very good at both, but is completely out of touch and lacks vision when it comes to making student life more enjoyable or attractive to prospective students.  If the organizations under his umbrella are failing to support the athletic programs as has been clearly outlined in the comprehensive plan, he is also failing the university in that regard. Personally, I think his vision of what college life ought to be is part of the reason why students quietly loathe the school (2) And you want to talk about ego....

    I gave Ron a solid 4 3/4 years and I will give Ferry the same. If Ferry does not work out, I will be an advocate, just like you, that Greg Amodio does not have a hand in the hiring of the next coach. As of right now, I see Amodio as the counter to Hogan, a man who is not afraid to crack a few eggs to make an omelet and not just kiss peoples behinds because they throw money his way. His department is elevating the exposure of the team by playing games in the CEC, the City Game is an event again, both basketball programs are funded over average in the league, and he has shown the capability of thinking outside the box to utilize and increase revenues in a different ways after a 30 year dearth of creativity from this university. And it's hard to say he doesn't want more for the program than we're gotten if he's willing to put his career on the line to get someone better than Everhart. Clearly, there are areas of his job that need improvement, but at the moment, I like what I see even if it hasn't translated to a ton of real success and it's probably taken a little longer turn everything around than hoped for. Not trying to convince you or anyone. Just stating my position.

    I'm not going to sit here and try to compare Ferry and Everhart, because let's both be honest, you're not going to listen to me anyway and I've already done plenty of it. What I would like to point out is that Ferry is the coach, Amodio is the AD and Hogan is the Vice President of student life and there is nothing either of us can do about it besides complain or advocate change on an internet message board or in my case write a blog about it. I love my school and I want whoever is in charge to be successful whether I agree with them or not. Sometimes we have to advocate change but in my opinion it's better to do that than hang onto the past.

____________

(1) Reading between the lines every conversation I've ever had with Fr Hogan about athletics.
(2) Based on my personal opinion as a student living on campus for four years from 99-03 and as a graduate student from 04-06.

Don't really see what else would need a citation. Everything else is opinion or my interpretation of events.

I was really refering to the Gary Duty and the Schammings pieces, which someone else has already called BS on , not the general statements about Hogan and his role in campus life completely sucking at DU, which does not need any citation.  I just can't believe the guy I remember as showing up drunk at Towers fire drills back in the mid 80s, and falling asleep during meetings with John Carroll is still in any way associated with the functioning of this university.

Clk you nailed it! No problem with coach Ferry. People from this area appreciate hard work honesty integrity!In fact everyone on this board is forgiving of ones faults & mistakes that's why we are Catholic. But ego ego ego does not play in this town.Thats why RE was respected by alumni students & media. The handling of Ron's termination was classless. In fact GA led Charlie to step in a pile of you know what. We are fortunate to have Charlie. If GA could eat some humble pie maybe it's a start but he can't it's the New York thing.Oh yeah Colleary another New Yorker smarter then us dumb yinzers.Bottom line you can't blame it on the students. Alumni & fans. Currentlt we have a recipe for disaster. Charlie we have a serious problem.winning will resolve this mess unfortunately our time for turnaround is limited with the new big east. I think we all love this University RE represented Duquesne above & beyond wins & losses.

One last thing, why do the Tamburitzans never perform at half time? Wouldn't that get some people in the stands who are not usually there?

Oh, and having the Jazz ensemble or whatever they are called perform at half time would be cool.

Last edited by DukesDan (12/18/2012 6:37 pm)

Kurt, the value to us having the printed quotes is that we can challenge their actions or inactions in relation to their printed statements. This is golden as far as i am concerned.

duqkurt wrote:

No matter whose side you are on this University is one dysfunctional mess.    This has been an eye opening thread.  I didn't know any of this stuff about Hogan, RE's fund raising or numerous other tales.

It is disheartening to say the least.  Their strategic plan isn't worth a dime.

I wouldn't say that. After all the first two goals that were mentioned to begin this thread happened and I can't speak to the 4th.

As far as I can tell, you don't move into the top tier in colleges and see some serious improvement in athletics if you have complete boobs driving the ship.

CLK,

Again when I think the time comes, Amodio will be held accountable if need be.   in the rare opportunity I need to contact him, he's been fine with me butI get that he is not the most personable guy. The good news is that he surrounds himself with people who are. Bryan Colonna (sp?) and Jared Kramer are both fantastic. I certainly think that Amodio could do better with this aspect.

I think real attendance has been declining ever since the year after the NIT at the AJP based on my eyeball test. The team has gotten fits and bursts in attendance win they've been doing well and for Red Outs,  but really the actual amount of people has probably slowly tapered off. If season ticket sales are down this year, it's not just that Ron is gone. I think low expectations, the McConnell's not renewing and the out of town fans who bought tickets last year for the NCAA  had an impact on the decline if there even is much of one.

Again when I think the time comes, Amodio will be held accountable if need be.   in the rare opportunity I need to contact him, he's been fine with me butI get that he is not the most personable guy. The good news is that he surrounds himself with people who are. Bryan Colonna (sp?) and Jared Kramer are both fantastic. I certainly think that Amodio could do better with this aspect.

I think real attendance has been declining ever since the year after the NIT at the AJP based on my eyeball test. The team has gotten fits and bursts in attendance win they've been doing well and for Red Outs,  but really the actual amount of people has probably slowly tapered off. If season ticket sales are down this year, it's not just that Ron is gone. I think low expectations, the McConnell's not renewing and the out of town fans who bought tickets last year for the NCAA  had an impact on the decline if there even is much of one.

Steve, I think we have a different interpretation of accountability.  This is what I wrote in a post above:

"It is great to have a vision, it is even better to accomplish goals.  I want to see the AD held accountable just like Ron was in meeting his goals.  I like Coach Ferry but he needs everyone else around him to do their jobs to help him reach his goals.  Not fair to him to have crappy game day experiences, decreasing fan attendence, apathetic student body and so on."

To me "accountability" is not looking back three years from now and saying well this guy really screwed I guess we should hold him accountable and fire him.  It is being accountable every day to fix problems and get the job done.  I really don't care what the reason is for decreasing attendance, student apathy, disgruntaled alum and so on.  Someone, in my opinion the AD, needs to be held accountable and fix the problems.  The first step is acknowledging there is a problem, accepting responsibility, and taking ownership to fix it.  I do not see that happening.

Listened to Amodio being interviewed during halftime of WMU game. Although he didn't sound like it's all glloom and doom, he didn't offer much of a picture of who Duquesne might end upbeing in a league with either.

My take (for what it's worth) is that there are going to be some substantial departures from the A10 who will be joining the 7 former Big East basketball schools.......and Duquesne will be left on the outside, looking in, in that scenario.

Basically, it seems like they will be dealing from a position of weakness, rather than one of strength and will take whatever is left to them. Sad, because the A10 really looks like a strong league right now and for the forseeable future.

Amodio takes no big action without the blessing and participation of CD and the Board.  That's just the way it works in organizations.  As you saw, deleting some sports to put money in others was an element in the Board-authored, Board-approved Strategic Plan yet GA got crucified as the figure head.  GA probably has more chained decision making then he was used to at Xavier.  If you don't believe this then the only other option is that he is doing things with full autonomy which certainly doesn't fit the culture of Duquesne.

Father Hogan's primary role in Student Life is to be a social butterfly and grease the wheels when trouble arises within the residence halls.  Too bad he was give keys to other departments.