Unfortunately I disagree WashPa.  Players this year like Erin Waskowiak, who was recruited by Villanova and Syracuse (both top 25 programs) that SMS got to go to DU will now wind up at Pitt.

duqkurt wrote:

FAM wrote:

Just as the ARmpitt blocked Shell from going to Arizona our AD can block any of our players from transferring to Pitt.  I just hope he has the colunes to do it.

He damn well better. 

If any players that Duquesne's former coaching staff recruitied ask to be relieved from the National Letter of Intent (NLI) and if I were the AD, I would not even consider the request until the new head coach is hired and had a chance to talk to the recruits and their families.  If the recruits still do not want to come to Duquesne after meeting the new coach and wish to be set free of the NLI, I would not release them to play for Pitt, WVU, Robert Morris, St. Francis, and all A-10 teams.  Of course, they could enter those schools if they chose to; however, they would not be able to get any athletic scholarship money for their freshman year. 

Keep in mind that Suzie and her staff's salaries were paid with Duquesne University's funds for the purpose of recruiting good students who met Duquesne's academic standards and were very good basketball players.  I liken this somewhat to the R & D section of a corportation who pays its staff to develop new medicines to address a particular disease.  If the researchers are successful in developing a miracle cure, doesn't the corporation earn the patent for that drug even if the reseachers gain employment with a competing firm?  The product of the staff time spent on recruiting was supposed to benefit Duquesne University by bringing these players to the Bluff and not to Pitt, WVU, etc.  While a restricted release from the NLI as I propose doesn't require the recruits to attend Duquesne, it does limit the ability of those players to play immediately for local and A-10 rivals.  

While I'm sure that playing for Suzie McConnell-Serio and her assistant coaches was a big attraction for the  recruits' decision to come to Duquesne, I would have to imagine that Duquesne's academic reputation, attractive campus, and the location in the Downtown of America's Most Liveable City were also factors.  The possible loss of a sizeable amount of financial assistance for their college eduction should make any recruit and their families think long and hard about about not fufilling her written commitment to Duquesne University. 

Last edited by godukes1970 (4/23/2013 10:14 am)

Jeralta wrote:

This proves the age old reality that players go to schools for the coaches not the really cool biology professor. If they have your major that is even better. Point is that we tend to over estimate the campus, religious affiliation, dining hall and brick walkway when we hope high schoolers will come here. It sucks when coaches leave the players high and dry. As much as i love SMS, she pulled a todd graham.

I'm not going to accuse her of pulling a Todd Graham. There is always a chance that your coach will leave for more money, or a bigger school. Todd left after one year. Suzie was here long enough to have quite a bit of success. It just sucks that she's going to Pitt.

She whined at the end about not getting the at large bid.  Like she didn't have anything to do with that. (0-3, in the biggest games in DU history to that point.). 

Rather than stay and finish what she started....she ran up the street to them. 
It is almost like she wants to take her frustration out on DU.  It is not our fault that she couldn't get the them into the tournament.  

I wonder what her team thinks.  One day she is there.  The next her entire staff is coaching the team. they beat 4 years in a row.  I looked on a couple of their twitter accounts.  Just silence on that day.  No happy horse sh*t best wishes tweets that some members of the DU staff sent her. (FYI I would have fired anyone that publicly congratulated her on Twitter on a  Duquesne labelled account. See Duqcheer or Nicole Bucholtz.). 

Finally, I think Pitt tampered. They waited over 3 weeks after their season to fire Agnus.   The timing of which was a few days after DU was eliminated. They probably called SMS and told her the job was hers then.  Everything else was just smoke and mirrors. 

 

Last edited by duqkurt (4/22/2013 10:32 pm)

Duq81, based on the timing do you believe they talked to her before firing Agnus?  

Last edited by duqkurt (4/22/2013 10:34 pm)

WashPa,

Alex Gensler (Upper St. Clair) admitted she never considered DU before SMS was hired in her interview with Axelrod.  Floyd had at least one BCS offer in Minnesota as well as solid programs like Dayton and Princeton, both of who were top 50 teams at the time.  It's also hard to say how highly recruited some of the others like Belma would have been, as Nurkic committed before even going thru the recruiting process and then wasn't reevaluated by the major services her senior year. 

The bigger question going forward will be whether DU will be able to keep players like Cassidy Walsh, also of Seton La Salle, as local products that want to stay home.  Even if we lose a Floyd or Gensler once every two or three years it still will be a decent dropoff in terms of being able to recruit locally.

Last edited by rogabee (4/23/2013 1:57 am)

rogabee wrote:

WashPa,

Alex Gensler (Upper St. Clair) admitted she never considered DU before SMS was hired in her interview with Axelrod.  Floyd had at least one BCS offer in Minnesota as well as solid programs like Dayton and Princeton, both of who were top 50 teams at the time.  It's also hard to say how highly recruited some of the others like Belma would have been, as Nurkic committed before even going thru the recruiting process and then wasn't reevaluated by the major services her senior year. 

The bigger question going forward will be whether DU will be able to keep players like Cassidy Walsh, also of Seton La Salle, as local products that want to stay home.  Even if we lose a Floyd or Gensler once every two or three years it still will be a decent dropoff in terms of being able to recruit locally.

Is there a prospective coach (Burt? Vincent? Someone else?) who would maintain the level of recruiting? I remember Dan Durkin always seemed to recruit a couple very good players (Hlede, Friday), but could never surround his stars with enough talent and depth to be a top 30 program.

Duq81, I'm sure they're connected locally, but how many times are we going to lose those players to SMS now?  My guess is the Gensler/Floyd/Waskowiak types that are good locally will be going to Pitt (SMS was getting them above Agnus as it was...now at Pitt in the ACC it seems like a slam dunk), leaving us forced to recruit more outside the local area.

I'm not so sure that we don't want someone with outside connections as much as the local ones given how SMS may put up a wall around the upper eschelon local kids.  While it'd be nice to get the locals, I'm just wondering how good of the locals we'll be able to get.

I don't think you can build a winner in the ACC with local talent alone and I think players like Gensler and Floyd would be better suited for Duquesne and the A-10. They're nice players, but if Suzie continues to recruit the same caliber of women at Pitt as she did at Duquesne,  I think the city game stays very competitive for some time. SMS needs to branch out and recruit nationally more than Duquesne does. Otherwise, SMS will build another nice A-10 program that just happens to play in the ACC. There are more A-10/midmajor caliber talent locally than there is ACC caliber talent so I don't see us getting starved out.

And she hasn't exactly put up a wall locally at Duquesne. Look at the last 5-6 fab fives. The top players weren't coming to Duquesne. E, Belma and eventually Bresnehan are really the only ones that did. She needs to and might be in a better position to land those players at the end of the day that doesn't effect Duquesne.

That said, I'd like to see Duquesne recruit more broadly reguardless of what SMS does.

Last edited by steve19981 (4/24/2013 12:32 am)

Any rumors on actual candidates? I know some of you guys have ties to Greg ... overhearing anything on the golf course? Over lunch?

ElDuque wrote:

Any rumors on actual candidates? I know some of you guys have ties to Greg ... overhearing anything on the golf course? Over lunch?

 
I saw this on Twitter.  Not sure how reliable it is.

Atticus Finch‏@wbballhoopscoop1h Duquesne: Stetson HC and Appalachian St HC are in the mix for this job. @WFBCBasketball

CLK wrote:

ElDuque wrote:

Any rumors on actual candidates? I know some of you guys have ties to Greg ... overhearing anything on the golf course? Over lunch?

 
I saw this on Twitter.  Not sure how reliable it is.

Atticus Finch‏@wbballhoopscoop1h Duquesne: Stetson HC and Appalachian St HC are in the mix for this job. @WFBCBasketball

Well, while the Stetson coach has a good resume, Darcie's is better. If she wants the job, Greg damn well better hire her. This is as much of a no brainer, and a home run hire, as Suzie was for Pitt. Steve Pederson is as much of a numbskull as GA is, and he had enough sense to make the right hire. I'm going to be pissed if Darcie wants the job, and GA hires a lesser candidate.