yak-rbc wrote:

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/845337975500214273

"James Whitford is staying at Ball State and is no longer a candidate for the head coaching vacancy at Duquesne, per sources."

Back to the drawing board...

Jesus H. Christ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am so sick of this!  Bye guys, I'll be back in two months when we finally hire the head coach of CCAC Boyce!

I can't take this anymore. I am so disgusted at how far our program has fallen and how Amodio, Dougherty and Ferry have basically destroyed it!!!!!!!
 

this sucks

What a freaking disaster, I'm really close to saying screw this.

Brian wrote:

Disappointed in the ML II news, not nearly as shaken up over Whitford. 

This process has been a mess and these leaks have to stop. 

Yeah, especially when it's ESPN and Jeff Goodman.

Also I would be disappointed it wasn't Whitford, if you haven't noticed every time we get turned down we seem to go another rung down the ladder in terms of coaching talent.

Last edited by Duques102 (3/24/2017 1:40 pm)

You know what, I was lurking on the Pitt board, and someone mentioned Joe Lombardi from IUP. At this point, I'd take a look at him. His record is superb, and he's been an assistant at the D1 level. What do we have to lose at this point? He has extensive A10 experience as well. (Bona, LaSalle)

And with all of this good news, I am hanging my DO NOT DISTURB sign, here and on Twitter.

Someone text or email me when this is over.

duq81 wrote:

You know what, I was lurking on the Pitt board, and someone mentioned Joe Lombardi from IUP. At this point, I'd take a look at him. His record is superb, and he's been an assistant at the D1 level. What do we have to lose at this point? He has extensive A10 experience as well. (Bona, LaSalle)

I was open to him when he was a listed candidate in 2012. His son was on the staff here this season and no one was retained, so it is fair to ask would he even come here with what is going on right now?

Seems like we are witnessing the slow, cruel death of a program that was on life support.

This is extremely depressing.

Duques102 wrote:

Seems like we are witnessing the slow, cruel death of a program that was on life support.

This is extremely depressing.

I honestly did not think this would get worse, but I'm starting to question if remaining emotionally engaged is even worth it anymore
 

Lombardi satisfies the basic requirements of being a head coach and 
A10 experience.
He is 58 years old.  
If he is given a 6 year contract, this would take him to possible retirement.
Someone has to be head coach.  He would probably have the support from the public and media and expectations would be low.
He certainly would be affordable.
I would prefer some of the earlier candidates but at this point Harper is running out of options.
 

Duques102 wrote:

Econ69 wrote:

Lombardi satisfies the basic requirements of being a head coach and 
A10 experience.
He is 58 years old.  
If he is given a 6 year contract, this would take him to possible retirement.
Someone has to be head coach.  He would probably have the support from the public and media and expectations would be low.
He certainly would be affordable.
I would prefer some of the earlier candidates but at this point Harper is running out of options.
 

I would rather rehire Ferry. If Lombardi is the best we can do, we should just drop down to D2 so we won't get laughed at and then we can have one the best coaches in the country at that level!

We could be a power 5 d2 program!

I wouldn't hold coaching at IUP against Lombardi. Linc Darner beat Lombardi's IUP in the 2015 D2 title game and the next year was coaching Green Bay to the dance out of the Horizon League. Nathan Davis and Dave Paulsen were hired at Bucknell from D3 schools. The PSAC, as well as West Virginia's D2 conference are high level D2 leagues and Lombardi has experience coaching and recruiting talented players such as JR Bremmer to Bona and Rasual Butler to LaSalle among others. 
 

Duques102 wrote:

Brian wrote:

Duques102 wrote:

I would rather rehire Ferry. If Lombardi is the best we can do, we should just drop down to D2 so we won't get laughed at and then we can have one the best coaches in the country at that level!

We could be a power 5 d2 program!

I wouldn't hold coaching at IUP against Lombardi. Linc Darner beat Lombardi's IUP in the 2015 D2 title game and the next year was coaching Green Bay to the dance out of the Horizon League. Nathan Davis and Dave Paulsen were hired at Bucknell from D3 schools. The PSAC, as well as West Virginia's D2 conference are high level D2 leagues and Lombardi has experience coaching and recruiting talented players such as JR Bremmer to Bona and Rasual Butler to LaSalle among others. 
 

That's all fine and good, but what did we hear about when the coaching change was made? Multi Million dollar renovations, million dollar salary for the next guy, young core returning (which will be gone), houndreds of thousands for major search firm to aide in process.

None of that says hire the d2 coach from down the road. If Ferry couldn't make the jump from NEC to A10, I'm sure this guy will be a great fit.

It is fair to wonder if he'd do well as it is fair to ask of any potential hire. He may do well like previous coaches I mentioned or would unfortunately, be out of his league like Kim Anderson was going from D2 Central Missouri to Mizzou. Generally, IUP has played defense so I'd hope he'd at least be an upgrade there.

The renovations and salary offerings don't appear to be official so maybe it is another leak meant to raise expectations amongst us but may not be rooted in reality making it all the more disappointing.