El Duque

Thanks for the voice of reasonableness.  I got on here to express opinion and as you correctly point out that is certainly my right.  Perhaps you and Mr Brightside have labored through 40 years of disappointment as I have - that is why Everhart appealed to me - we always were competitive.  So OK, let us move on.  What I see though is a continuation if coaching changes every four or five years and the same old treadmill we were on through the Née regime.  No I will not bet $500.  If I wanted a sure bet, would have bet on losing to Temple

So, I will continue to speak my mind Mr Brightside as should you.but hopefully with class like El Duque.  And no you do not need my name any more than I need yours

ElDuque wrote:

I know this will be an upopular opinion, but I think people ought to be allowed to say what they want here, within the boundaries of decorum, without fear of being ripped to shreds.

ED. I would agree with this 100%, but this doesn't seem to apply when anyone posts something that seems the least bit negative about RE's tenure. Just suggest that 1040 may have been a mistake, or that Ron made some errors, and you are ripped to shreds on this board. Yet Ferry is fair game for all sorts of criticism. Ferry is our coach now, and I just don't see how ripping him apart after one year is helping the program. Criticism of GA is a different matter. He's been here long enough to have a track record, and in my opinion, it's more than fair for people to have and express their opinions of his tenure. On the other hand, certain posters hate Ferry because he replaced Ron. This is unfair. Ferry deserves a fair chance to see what he can do.

duq81 wrote:

ElDuque wrote:

I know this will be an upopular opinion, but I think people ought to be allowed to say what they want here, within the boundaries of decorum, without fear of being ripped to shreds.

ED. I would agree with this 100%, but this doesn't seem to apply when anyone posts something that seems the least bit negative about RE's tenure. Just suggest that 1040 may have been a mistake, or that Ron made some errors, and you are ripped to shreds on this board. Yet Ferry is fair game for all sorts of criticism. Ferry is our coach now, and I just don't see how ripping him apart after one year is helping the program. Criticism of GA is a different matter. He's been here long enough to have a track record, and in my opinion, it's more than fair for people to have and express their opinions of his tenure. On the other hand, certain posters hate Ferry because he replaced Ron. This is unfair. Ferry deserves a fair chance to see what he can do.

duq81, what you say above is absolutely true - Coach Ferry deserves a fair chance to see what he can do. What gets my attention however are the predictions by you and others of how successful this coaching staff is going to be. An example from your post above: "Here we go with the Ferry bashing again. Do us a favor, and don't come around when the nice recruits we have coming in start to win big." Usually, these predictions of greatness are connected to RE bashing and defenses of his firing. So I say again - let's see what Ferry does in 2 or 3 years before we proclaim him to be the " next level" coach he was hired to be.


 

I'm a strong supporter of Ron Everhart and think he deserved better, but I don't blame last season on Ferry. Nor do I predict that it will be "crappy" in the future under Ferry. In fact I think there's a reasonable chance he will do well here. I just say it's unreasonable and unrealistic to predict he will be successful, usually in the context of defending Ron's firing, until we see what actually happens in the next 2 to 3 years - with emphasis on the word "actually."

The 1040 and Ron's recruits.

Seriously.

And very wrong, too. But enough about Ron, let's talk about Greg's record.


 

ElDuque wrote:

The 1040 and Ron's recruits.

Seriously.

Extremely serious on the 1040. I believe that Ron would be coaching at a BCS school right now if he had stuck to his original system. 1040 was fun during Ron's first year. The team was headed for a 6 win season, and Ron caught teams off guard with 1040, and brought some excitement to the fan base. His mistake was in thinking such a system could be the answer long term. I've gone over the weaknesses of that system many times, so I'm not going to do it here, but I believe Ron's second team was the most talented team on the Bluff since Rice's second year (which ironically was the most disappointing team since I've been following the Dukes) .We should have won more than 17 games, and I believe we would have if Ron had regarded 1040 for what it was, and gone back to his original game plan.

ElDuque wrote:

No, I mean are you guys serious about bringing up your complaints now?

You got your wish. He's been fired and disgraced and he's gone.

Never mind that he won 99 games with all of the poor talent that he recruited, or the lousy offense he ran. Ignore the trip to the A-10 finals, and three consecutive postseason trips.

Let's focus on your petty gripes. Mine, about the fact that we are #3 in the City of Pittsburgh and last in the A-10, mean nothing. I will shut up now and let smarter mibds prevail.

I bring up recruiting to highlight what I percieve to be the primary cause of why the program is in the current state it's in. It's not a gripe, it's an explanation. If recruiting hadn't been bad since June of 2009, it's probable that the program would be in better shape right now. Some other causes include mediocre or bad assistant coaching hires which conceivably lead to turnover as well as players adjusting to a new coach this past season.

Things are looking brighter from my perspective because recruiting looks better than it has in years. The smarter minds laying the foundation to prevail if you concentrate on their hits as well as their misses.I'm sick of people raining on our parade by dwelling on one bad season because they can't handle a little uncertainy or don't have enough patience to wait for the future to arrive. Bad seasons happen and they don't just happen overnight.

Last edited by steve19981 (4/22/2013 12:00 pm)

I can assure you, I will have no crow to eat. I hope Ferry's the most successful coach ever at DU, and I'm entitled to some happiness for the years of suffering I've invested. But winning won't change my mind one bit about the low class treatment RE received on the way out, to which Charlie, Greg, and the Board of Directors should be held accountable.


I also realize that ship has sailed, which disappoints me.  I also continue to be disappointed by the gratuitous attacks against RE.

ElDuque wrote:

I can assure you, I will have no crow to eat. I hope Ferry's the most successful coach ever at DU, and I'm entitled to some happiness for the years of suffering I've invested. But winning won't change my mind one bit about the low class treatment RE received on the way out, to which Charlie, Greg, and the Board of Directors should be held accountable.


I also realize that ship has sailed, which disappoints me.  I also continue to be disappointed by the gratuitous attacks against RE.

 
I haven't seen these "gratuitous" attacks against Ron Everhart that you refernce; but I do know that nothing you say is going to bring back Everhart.  So why not  get off your soapbox and quit attacking current players, and recruits that you have never seen play?  I'm sure you are aware that players, coaches and recruits read your comments, and that they can be damaging.  

I don't suppose you recognize that the state of the program is directly related to the fact that Ron didn't exactly set the world on fire recruiting his last three years.  In fact, one could make the case that with the exception of McConnell, who left, Ron didn't bring in one legitimate A-10 caliber player in his last three years at Duquesne.  This isn't an attack just the truth.

Mr. Bs, I was not adressing you, I was replying to Duq81 and his comment that I will be eating crow. I know you are Amodio's personal defense barrister on this board, so I am not surprised you spung to respond to my Amodio comment, and tried to paint me with a brush of your fanatsy on my comments on Ferry to deflect what I actually said.  Beside the Amodio comment tell me what you disagree with in my post (added again below)? 

First I agree with El Duque that DU fans should be allowed to speak their mind on this board (as long as they stay in bounds) without being ripped because they don't sing the same tune as the chior boys. We are not all going to agree, but we can all agree to disagree.

Secondly, nobody that I have seen on this board has expressed any hatred of Coach Ferry. Some like myself has questioned his coaching decisions, but hey that goes with the turff. I believe that just about all of us want Ferry to be successful and get us to the NCAA tourney and be the "next level" coach our illustrious AD has proclaimed him to be. Most are willing to give him time to get there as long as they see progress being made. With that being said next year Ferry will have 11 of his own players. I for one expect DU to have a winning season next year to give me hope that he is on the right path. Note I am not saying post season play, just a simple winning record. I am not willing to give him two or three more years of losing seasons. If he loses next year Amodio should be fired.

Finally, it is time to give up on the Ron bashing. Despite all his alleged issues Ron did what no other coach before him in 35 years was able to do in having four consecutive winning seasons. There are many of us who appreciated the job that Ron did in pulling us out of the mud, and felt like he deserved better from the University than being subjected to the humiliation of the leaked memo. Regardless of the views on Ron, the reality is that Ferry has cleaned house, and the Everhart era is over. Ferry is the coach and from this point forward should be judged on his own record. There should be no more Ron excuses.

Is that hatred or his opinion?  I would think most people would just chalk it up to a disgruntled fan and moved on. It certainly did not deserve a response of calling him a coward which I believed triggered this thread. 

I don't know what you are talking abou in your last sentance.  I have never accused anyone of drinking "Ferry kool aid".  I am going to say this one more time because no  matter how many times I say it it gets twisted. I want Ferry to succeed. I hope he succeeds, but the teams in the A10 are not standing still.  They are all recruiting very well.  I like this recruiting class on paper, but until I see these guys play against other A10 players I am going to reserve my superlatives.  I do not know what you are expecting, but to me nothing but a winning season next year will satisfy me that Ferry is the next level coach.  That is not bashing but my opinion.

Still don't see where you think I will be eating crow by my post.

Exactly DUQ81 and you are right CLK I do defend GA when all I saw was the irrational blame for letting RE go and the leaked memo, blah, blah, blah was all his master plan and fault, give me a break.  I even agreed with Jeralta, not a GA fan, that I thought he should be more proactive with the media and manipulate them more - even though I said easy that is easy for any of us to offer that advice.  You finally at least stated the Board, Charlie and GA are all responsible for the black mark that was the leak, but what you fail to see is that would only be true if they intentionally released such a statement!!  Believe it or not (profanity) happens sometimes that is unintentional, but I am tired of it all so go ahead with your belief that I am on retainer with GA I don't give a crap - I am sure your Xmas stocking will have a nice candy cane from RE in it - yours too ElDuq!!