Dell'Omo is set to leave Robert Morris at the beginning of June 2015 to take over as the president of Rider University in his native New Jersey. He has just one request.

"This project goes well beyond me and includes all of the RMU senior management team, the Athletics Department, our Board of Trustees, and a number of significant external partners," he said. "All of these important players, and there will be more to come, will move this project forward in an aggressive, but careful, manner. All I ask is that the University invites me back for the first game in the new RMU event center."

Huh! Guy's leaving, but wants to leave his mark on the athletic program. Do our guys (Dr. Dougherty and Mr. Amodio) attend games at Palumbo?

Depends how the money is spent. The right coach, competitive facilities, effective promotion -- all of those things factor into building a strong and successful brand. But as you say, they don't guarantee Bo Diddley. The way we've done things -- hiring a lower level coach, chintzing on the facilities and promoting the program only among a handful of benefactors like Grammudder and Mr. Brightside -- has us where we are today. We're a bottom four team in the A-10, #3 in the city of Pittsburgh, and students and alumni don't care.

Who's complaining about RMU? We're jealous. We're all old enough to remember when Duquesne could beat Pitt and RMU was a second class citizen.

I said a couple years ago that we had fallen behind Bobby Mo, and I was treated like I'd lost my marbles. We're a perennial loser now, and Bobby Mo is tasting postseason success every year.

While I understand that Amodio and Ferry both have more job security than a Supreme Court justice, I still don't understand why. Unless our program has completely become the WalMartian in the velour yoga pants who has given up on life.

Web, is it about the number of seats in the arena, or is it about the quality of the program? To me, it's the latter. We're sadly lagging behind. The other big message here is that the retiring leader cares what's going on, and what his legacy will be. Do you see the same concern from Dr. Dougherty or Mr. Amodio?

Please share what that is with the rest of us, because I sure as heck don't see it.

Scotchngars wrote:

I wonder if RMU is looking to move up a conference? It makes sense with the 50mil committment. They beat Kentucky, they own us, they are better known in todays basketball fan base than Duquesne, No lame duck sit back and hide president there, Toole is staying, just saying not hating.

RMU is obviously preparing to leave the NEC, likely for the MAAC. Rider is a member of the MAAC. The MAAC has 11 teams, and RMU will fit in nicely. They will become a partner for the two western New York schools. The MAAC is no powerhouse, but it will still give RMU a much more attractive schedule. Also, it smartly will put their program in a solid spot regardless of what Duquesne does. The people at RMU are smart, they don't want to be in a position where they have to depend on us continuing to stink for them to be relevant. They realize that if by some miracle, Duquesne became a real power in the A10, there is no way they could compete with that from an NEC base. By going to the MAAC, they put themselves in a spot where even if the Dukes surpass them, they would still be in a spot where they could command a reasonable amount of attention, and be fairlt competitive with a better A10 program, provided their teams are good. Hell, from the MAAC, they'd even be in a position where they could occasionally beat Pitt. Very good move for Bobby Mo if this is the plan. This will be a tough pill for St. Francis to swallow though. They will really become an outlier, with only Mt. St Mary's even remotely close by. I wonder if the state (excuse me, commonwealth) would allow IUP to step up to D1, and take RMU's place in the NEC?
 

Remember that moving up to a more competitive conference also means that the competition for that one bid will be greater than the NEC could provide.  RMU has benefitted greatly by playing in a very weak conference.  Any league they move into is likely to remain a one-bid league, so they may find the route the the post season is not so easy. 

Just shows how much more RMU cares about basketball than duquesne does. Those bleacher were a huge improvement to the Palumbo, all $500 for paint. What a joke. They clearly think it's more important to build a brand new acting school or whatever they're building right next to the Palumbo.

Scotchngars wrote:

Duq81, I'm sure the last thing on RMU's presidents mind is how they compare to Duquesne in BB. That has been proven on the court for years, don't believe anyone else thinks we are relative to what their decision making is when it comes to spending ten's of millions of dollars towards their athletic programs.

They have seen the true rewards of investing in athletics to benefit the entire university, we sit silently and wait for the next acadamia decision maker to tell us what?

Let's look at the last year in the top adminstration of Duquesne as far as turn over, oh sorry to say turn over, no RE reference!

Provost gone, VP Business gone, top legal administrator gone, 2nd to finace gone, head of human resources gone, father Hogan change's positions, President Daugherty leaving, anyone think we don't know what the others who guide this University do? I believe basketball and any other atheletic sport is not a concern of the Board, when you look at what has to be replaced. At this point Amodio is stability in their eyes as far as that department of the University is concerned, if we keep him we won't have to form another search committee for the abondon ship that is obviously happening. 

 

Just a few observations, first, RM is proposing to raise 50 m. to build a multi-complex with a 4000 seat area. It would cost more today to build the Polumbo.  Plus, they are talking (hopefully 2018) future cost and over-runs may put this way in the future. It looks aggressive, especially for a school with an over-all campus that sucks.  Maybe they pull it off, it still is money spread over multiple units, not just one area, which makes me beleive, like their present dump they play in, it will likely, not be the big deal the article is aggressively playing up. As for DU, the Polumbo and the Consol is a HUGH attraction, Ron filled the Consol during the Streak, against Dayton when we smashed them. (I was there, it happened) Just find a coach,(again) that can deliver a winner, and you will fill our courts again. I don't care where we play if the coach stinks, and the team can't win. In short, find the coach, and don't worry about a second rate team from a second rate school that plays in a 3rd rate league, worry why we have Ferry instead?   

levon1975 wrote:

Remember that moving up to a more competitive conference also means that the competition for that one bid will be greater than the NEC could provide.  RMU has benefitted greatly by playing in a very weak conference.  Any league they move into is likely to remain a one-bid league, so they may find the route the the post season is not so easy. 

Levon, I don't think the step up in competition will be as much of a concern for Andy Toole as it has been for Jim Ferry.  Bobby Mo's win over Kentucky in the NIT a couple years ago showed he's not afraid of the competition. Unlike Ferry, I think Toole will step up his recruiting so that his team is competitive right away. Even if he stumbles at the beginning, Toole is playing with house money.

levon1975 wrote:

First off the step from NEC to A-10 was complicated by the fact that the clipboard was bare at Duquesne, and the disparity in leagues was much greater than NEC to MAAC.
Also, much is made of that KENTUCKY win but I reality it was a Kenyucky team that was not good, and most importantly didn't even want to play; and it was played at RMU due to scheduling issues at Rupp Arena. It was not that surprising to anyone who knew the circumstances going into the
Game.

You say that, but the truth is that Ferry won exactly one more game vs. D1 opponents this year with all his own players than he did his first year with the "empty cupboard" of which you speak. So either Ferry's not that good, or the players he's brought in aren't that good, or both. The numbers speak for themselves.

You guys are really too much.  I'm not the designated Jim Ferry defender here; I'll leave that to him. If he doesn't get it done, he'll meet with same fate as our previous coaches.   I'm just trying to point out what I perceive to be weaknesses in your arguments.  I believe the comments were about RMU anyway, and not the never-ending RE debate.  I don't think RE is coming back; but if by some bizarre turn of events that would happen,  I would support him, and hope for the best for the program.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iymXdRQDISg


= far too many DU fans for the last 38 years