Coach Brown/AD Benson Thread

[godanesgo99]

13 minutes ago, UA'08 said:

Blame the school then and not benson. He was brought in to make the transition to the best FCS football conference. I agree the money pumped into FCS football for all those full scholarships are a waste, but without the full buy in into football I don’t know how much of these donations you will still see. This I believe is the biggest issue between between the football and basketball diehards.

We could blame the school, but the administration that hired Benson to make that transition isn't there anymore, so I can only blame Benson. 

I'd love to see us climb the ladder, do well in the CAA and keep a nationally ranked football team. I have great season tickets in the stadium. That said: I put the name recognition and help to a Universities national reputation of doing well at FCS Football somewhere between Division 2 and Division 3 basketball. Most people do not consider FCS football as D1 football. It is what it is. Becoming a CAA Football powerhouse means jacks&i7 on national stage for anyone this isn't more than a casual sports fan.

The value in college athletics is twofold: First an foremost it builds school spirit and comradery among students on campus, but more importantly: national success gives name recognition to a school and goes a long way when job hunting and recruiters from across the country recognize the name of the school when reviewing resumes. I'd be willing to bet that winning the #1 party school in the country award like we did twice when I was there in the mid-late 90's was more valuable to the name recognition of a UA degree than winning a FCS national championship would be. 

I enjoy going to our football games, rooting for the team, and the whole environment around tailgating, but I stand by my words: Low/Mid-Major Basketball is a much more cost effective, and easier path to national name recognition than football will ever be at the FCS or even low FBS level in the Northeast. That auto-bid is worth its weight in name recognition gold when tens of millions of people fill out their March Madness brackets. The priority should be getting to the tournament 3-4 times a decade, build the resources and push for a multi-bid league.   

[Clickclack]

21 minutes ago, BestDaneSinceHamlet said:

Looks like Luscious Jordan is interested in the gig.. I'd be ok with that. 

No!

[UA1882]

7 minutes ago, BestDaneSinceHamlet said:

Point taken.  Sounds sensible to me.

I'm not an expert but one name off the top of my head is Patrick Beilein.  Son of former Michigan coach . Was an excellent D2 coach.  Got into trouble last year but has since apologized.  

I would love to see this happen . Would he stay a while . No. But can he coach . Hell yeah. I would not mind him at all. But that's just off the top of my head . 

Edited March 2, 2021 by UA1882

[BestDaneSinceHamlet]

1 minute ago, UA1882 said:

I'm not an expert but one name off the top of my head is Patrick Beilein.  Son of former Michigan coach . Was an excellent D2 coach.  Got into trouble last year but has since apologized.  

I would love to see this happen . Would he stay a while . No. But can he coach . Hell yeah. I would not mind him at all. But that's just off the top of my head . 

What was the trouble? I thought we wanted an upstanding citizen?

[UA1882]

1 minute ago, BestDaneSinceHamlet said:

What was the trouble? I thought we wanted an upstanding citizen?

I'm not 100 percent sure . I don't think anything crazy.  It was an undisclosed reason. 

[Clickclack]

3 minutes ago, BestDaneSinceHamlet said:

What was the trouble? I thought we wanted an upstanding citizen?

He slept with a colleague connected with the program while married...lol. 

[godanesgo99]

6 minutes ago, BestDaneSinceHamlet said:

What was the trouble? I thought we wanted an upstanding citizen?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2019/10/24/patrick-beilein-steps-down-niagara-head-coach/4083840002/

Don't quote me because I didn't dig beyond the initial search for any article, but I believe the "personal reasons" involved sexual harassment of a female coach, or it may have been cheating on his wife with a coworker. Something like that. 

I'll edit this comment if I find the right article about it. The news happened right after the LCC faithful were pushing for him to take that job after Fatsos left. 

Edit: Info is hard to find, but there is this: https://twitter.com/CoachingChanges/status/1187401556733370368?s=20

Edited March 2, 2021 by godanesgo99

[BestDaneSinceHamlet]

Just now, godanesgo99 said:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2019/10/24/patrick-beilein-steps-down-niagara-head-coach/4083840002/

Don't quote me because I didn't dig beyond the initial search for any article, but I believe the "personal reasons" involved sexual harassment of a female coach, or it may have been cheating on his wife with a coworker. Something like that. 

I'll edit this comment if I find the right article about it. The news happened right after the LCC faithful were pushing for him to take that job after Fatsos left. 

I'm all for forgiveness, but maybe let's take a pass on that.  With Browns' stellar record in the community, might be best to not give anyone any excuses..

 

[UA1882]

Just now, Clickclack said:

He slept with a colleague connected with the program while married...lol. 

Not great but coaches make mistakes. I don't think that's a deal breaker. (But maybe people won't agree) . I believe this guy can coach. We would not need to wait to interview coaches after the season.  He could get to work right away and see if he can keep anyone . Just a thought.  Not sure what everyone thinks about him . But he can coach . 

[UA'08]

New blood is coming in as one chapter closes. This is the fun part where we will see who the candidates are and all the speculation that revolves around the search. Should be exciting times.

[nysteve661]

19 minutes ago, godanesgo99 said:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2019/10/24/patrick-beilein-steps-down-niagara-head-coach/4083840002/

Don't quote me because I didn't dig beyond the initial search for any article, but I believe the "personal reasons" involved sexual harassment of a female coach, or it may have been cheating on his wife with a coworker. Something like that. 

I'll edit this comment if I find the right article about it. The news happened right after the LCC faithful were pushing for him to take that job after Fatsos left. 

Edit: Info is hard to find, but there is this: https://twitter.com/CoachingChanges/status/1187401556733370368?s=20

Thru my best friend, a Niagara alum, he had an affair( or attempted to) with a player on the women's basketball team, he was 30, she 18, he was married with two kids.  Resigned before coaching a game.  That was his personal reason to resign.  Not 100% fact but those in the know say that is what went down.

Edited March 2, 2021 by nysteve661

[UA1882]

Just now, nysteve661 said:

Thru my best friend, a Niagara alum, he had an affair with a player on the women's basketball team, he was 30, she 18, he was married with two kids.  Resigned before coaching a game.  That was his personal reason to resign.  Not 100% fact but those in the know say that is what went down.

The question is: is that a deal breaker for you? Or anyone.  If he was sorry and making himself a better person then I say it was a mistake and move on . 

[nysteve661]

3 minutes ago, UA1882 said:

The question is: is that a deal breaker for you? Or anyone.  If he was sorry and making himself a better person then I say it was a mistake and move on . 

His personal life is not my business when it comes to finding a head coach but if an interview finds out it was a student/athlete(the truth may be sealed at Niagara in a plea deal for all we know),  then that crosses a line where I would not touch him with a 10 ft pole even if he had a year at Niagara and led them to the Sweet 16.  

[Dane Pound]

3 hours ago, Clickclack said:

 The reality is Benson made the move he did after this staff pulled into the finish line at the end of the last 3 seasons in 5th, 7th and 6th place.

A solid No to this. The 5th place finish this year was not a result of coaching or players. It was at the whim of the AE conference schedule makers.

The lousy part of this decision is that whatever issues I've had with recruiting in the past couple of seasons, they seemed to figure it out this year. Horton, Kelly, Champion and Doles were all good recruits. On paper, we would have had a lot of talent returning next year.

Funny the way the arguments have gone. It seems like the alumni/fans furthest from Albany are mostly "OK" with the coaching change. While the alumni/fans closest to Albany aren't OK with it. The hard part for Benson and the Admins is that it's the people closest to Albany that go to games, etc.

 

[UA'08]

12 minutes ago, Dane Pound said:

A solid No to this. The 5th place finish this year was not a result of coaching or players. It was at the whim of the AE conference schedule makers.

The lousy part of this decision is that whatever issues I've had with recruiting in the past couple of seasons, they seemed to figure it out this year. Horton, Kelly, Champion and Doles were all good recruits. On paper, we would have had a lot of talent returning next year.

Funny the way the arguments have gone. It seems like the alumni/fans furthest from Albany are mostly "OK" with the coaching change. While the alumni/fans closest to Albany aren't OK with it. The hard part for Benson and the Admins is that it's the people closest to Albany that go to games, etc.

 

No doubt Brown was dealt a tough hand with a mess of a season. If there was no pandemic and he went out and brought them to another NCAA tournament and decided to take a job elsewhere would we hear all this trashing of Benson come out now? Apparently they live across the street from each other. Should be an interesting next couple of months.

I’m also absolutely tired of hearing we have talent on paper for next year over and over.

Edited March 2, 2021 by UA'08