AD Dave Harper was a guest on the FAN morning show today, and I must say I was very impressed.  He he came off very well prepared and should have given every Duquesne fan hope for the future.  I think he displayed a clear understanding of the hurdles that he faces and left me optimistic for the future.  Hopefully the new President will show the same commitment to building a successful program.

You'll know who's running the ship if that happens.

Ferry must win this year. Can't say that enough.

Westender wrote:

Who knows how things will turn out for Duquesne Athletics with Dave Harper taking over as AD? Only time will tell. I personally believe the search process was corrupted by the fact that coaches were on the search committee. It's not unheard of but certainly unusual to have a situation where subordinates play a vital role in the selection of their boss. It will be interesting to see what happens if Mr.Harper has to make a hard decision about the continued employment of a coach who was instrumental in helping him get the job.

 According to the President,  the Search Committee's job was to narrow the field and present candidates to the President, who was responsible for making the final choice.  So, although the coaches contributed to the selection of the "short list", they by no means made the final decision.  I doubt that their presence on the Committee will buy the coaches any more time if they don't win games and advance the programs.  That is already history.

Sorry but I still don't see it as being significant down the road.

The only way Harper can impact the athletic program is by raising money. Everything else is already taken care of. Hopefully, the school did not pay much for him.

levon1975 wrote:

rittersdiner wrote:

The only way Harper can impact the athletic program is by raising money. Everything else is already taken care of. Hopefully, the school did not pay much for him.

Well no, you are way off base, think about media relations and contracts, building fan interest, game day experience, developing student body interest, improved and more challenging scheduling, improving facilities, and that's just off the top of my head.
There is plenty of work to be done.

 
... Geez, Levon, I know you probably didn't mean it this way, and I don't want to beat a dead horse, but what you say ends up being a pretty scathing commentary about Greg Amodio. The new AD really does have his work cut out for him, because Amodio's accomplishments start with cutting a bunch of men's sports and end with adding women's bowling. The couple years of improvement we saw in men's BB are now just a memory, and the success of the women's team is tempered by their inability to get into the NCAA tournament. Even football, which produced an NFL player in Leigh Bodden, hasn't done much of anything lately.

I've said many times, in my mind, we've fallen behind Robert Morris as a program. People can dispute that any way they want, but the last time I checked, we haven't beaten them in basketball in years.

I'm still not sold on Ferry as a coach. I think we are saddled with an atrocious contract, thanks to Amodio. Many longtime ticket holders and supporters have been driven away. Student attendance seems to have disappeared. The city doesn't seem to care. Certainly the administration is guilty of lack of support.

God bless the new AD for wanting to take this job. I hope he's successful. It's not going to be easy.

ElDuque wrote:

levon1975 wrote:

rittersdiner wrote:

The only way Harper can impact the athletic program is by raising money. Everything else is already taken care of. Hopefully, the school did not pay much for him.

Well no, you are way off base, think about media relations and contracts, building fan interest, game day experience, developing student body interest, improved and more challenging scheduling, improving facilities, and that's just off the top of my head.
There is plenty of work to be done.

 
... Geez, Levon, I know you probably didn't mean it this way, and I don't want to beat a dead horse, but what you say ends up being a pretty scathing commentary about Greg Amodio. The new AD really does have his work cut out for him, because Amodio's accomplishments start with cutting a bunch of men's sports and end with adding women's bowling. The couple years of improvement we saw in men's BB are now just a memory, and the success of the women's team is tempered by their inability to get into the NCAA tournament. Even football, which produced an NFL player in Leigh Bodden, hasn't done much of anything lately.

I've said many times, in my mind, we've fallen behind Robert Morris as a program. People can dispute that any way they want, but the last time I checked, we haven't beaten them in basketball in years.

I'm still not sold on Ferry as a coach. I think we are saddled with an atrocious contract, thanks to Amodio. Many longtime ticket holders and supporters have been driven away. Student attendance seems to have disappeared. The city doesn't seem to care. Certainly the administration is guilty of lack of support.

God bless the new AD for wanting to take this job. I hope he's successful. It's not going to be easy.

 
You are correct, It wasn't meant to be an indictment of the work of the previous AD, but I guess my comments would lead to the conclusion that he was missing the mark in many ways.