Breaking: Rodney Tention has been fired

[lionspride]

lmutex said:

First, let me say that I'm ok with the decision. I guess Husak saw the writing on the wall, and didn't want to go down with RT if things went (further) south next year.

Lionspride, your b*tching and moaning didn't result in anything. All you are is a clown, spouting off your self-importance on a message board. I would hope that you would use the same energy to help rebuild LMU's program as you did to besmirch it, but that would result of more of your brain-dead ramblings. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, as they say. Also, your treatment of dead3man on this board, who is a parent of a kid on this team, is appalling.

As for possible replacements, what big name would want to come here? The past two coaches haven't come close to completing a recruiting class.

lmutex.....two days ago you said my posts are ridiculous and I don't know crap about basketball. Who called it. And NOW you are saying you are "OK" with the decision. You are a hypocrite/flip flopper. You change your mind like the wind off of Marina del Rey. You, Dead3man, and others on this board were trying to crush my thought of the truth and dismiss reality. Reality is that Tention is out and we are looking forward to the new coaching announcement. I was the one sticking my neck out with an opinion on this board for the last 3 months about situation. It was a sad situation and something I did not like doing, but it needed to be written because it was for the betterment of our program. I took the unfavorable position and I was hammered by mostly everyone on this board. So don't come in here and now dismiss boosters writing letters to the administration. And that same energy is REBUILDING the LMU program. Getting a new coach in here that can take us to the next level. It was obvious that Rodney would not be able to do that. The booster discontent made Husak uncomfortable. The administration was on him.

Just sit back on your hands lmutex and "make no waves" because you like to settle for mediocrity. Just sit back and enjoy the Husak upcoming Husak announcement about the new coach.

I challenge this board to drop a check (I don't care what amount it is....$5k, $250, or $1) and send it to Husak as a donation to the LionsFund in support of his decision. If you want to rebuild a program, show support in what the administration has decided to do. Yes, put your money where your mouth is. If you don't have a $1 to spare, then atleast write the letter to Husak giving encouragement for the decision and say you are looking forward to a big time coach on the LMU campus.

[ldawg]

I always though for awhile that Tention did not have what it takes to be a head coach. He had a nice background and was a good guy but his heart never seemed to be 100% in it and I don't think he realized how difficult it was in the modern WCC. You could tell from his body language or in interviews how frustrated and resigned he was to challenges. Not really motivating or inspiring and at this level you need a mix of both if you want to have a prayer. I think he would have done fine given time with better players coming in but I'm not sure if he'd ever get over the hump. I think this was the right move. Husak speaks to the Loyolan about his double talk.

---

Following a 5-26 season, including a 2-12 WCC record, Loyola Marymount's Rodney Tention resigned as men's head basketball coach, the university released in a statement Wednesday. The former USF standout player came to LMU after eight seasons as an assistant at the University of Arizona under Hall of Fame Coach Lute Olson.

In his three full seasons at LMU, Tention compiled a 30-61 record. He coached three players to All-WCC First-Team honors, and one player received the WCC Defender of the Year award. The year before Tention's arrival, then coach Steve Aggers finished with an 11-17 record (3-11, WCC), also finishing last in the conference.

In 2005-2006, Tention's first season, he led the team to a second place finish in the conference. But this year, the team finished with its lowest RPI ranking in its history, ranking 309 out of 341 Division I teams in the country.

"You would hope that we could be competitive in every game," said LMU Athletics Director Dr. Bill Husak. "We were not. We finished last in the conference. Our RPI was near the bottom. It's a compilation of those kinds of things."

Despite the down year, the news came as a shock to many in the LMU community, including standout freshman guard Orlando Johnson.

"I feel pretty hurt," said Johnson. "We had some great coaches. I just don't know what to do right now. I'm really confused about some things. I really feel like I've been lied to. I feel as if we were about to build something, but we just took some more steps backwards."

When contacted by the Loyolan on Wednesday afternoon, coach Tention declined to comment.

"Coach Tention had a very young team," said Dr. Husak. "They are very close to their players, and the players are very close to the coaching staff. That coaching staff is chock full of good people."

Tention's exit came just two days after first year coach Bill Grier of San Diego upset St. Mary's and top-seeded Gonzaga to earn the school's first NCAA tournament bid since 2003.

"I really don't have any institutional envy," said Dr. Husak. "It's not about San Diego, it's not about Pepperdine, and it's not about any other institutions. It's just really about LMU. Our goal is try and create that kind of success, to graduate our student athletes in four years, and to make them grow as people, but it's also to win championships."

Last month, the Los Angeles Times' Robyn Norwood spoke to Dr. Husak about the state of the program and Coach Tention. In the article Husak said, "I really believe a way to go ahead and establish a solid program is not to make coaching changes drastically or frequently. I think Rodney Tention is a great fit for our institution and a good coach who will only get better and better, and we are prepared to grow with him." When asked about his previous comments to the Times, Husak responded, saying:

"At that point in time, according to my recollection, we had just gone ahead and won two games. We beat San Francisco. We beat Portland. We played Gonzaga pretty tough at home. If you look at our performances after that time you can see that those three games were not indicative of the way the rest of our season was going to go."

Since the story was printed in the L.A. Times, the Lions lost six straight games, finishing the season on an eight game losing streak, completing the worst year during Tention's tenure.

In his first season, the Lions came within inches of securing an upset victory over the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the 2006 WCC Championship game, and barely missed out on the school's first NCAA Tournament birth since 1990.

Last season, leading scorer Brandon Worthy suffered a season-ending knee injury in December. This season, with much of their experience gone, the Lions lost by an average of more than 18 points, the greatest loss-differential in school history.

LMU does not currently have a list of coaching candidates available, but is going to begin its search for a head coach immediately.

"Well, if I had somebody tomorrow, I would announce him tomorrow," said Husak. "We did not plan on looking for a coach. I did not have anyone in my back pocket. That would be unfair to Coach Tention and the staff."

As the search begins, Husak hopes to bring stability and success to the program.

"This is where I stand on stability. I don't know whether success breeds stability, or stability breeds success. I do feel that instability breeds failure. I want to have someone who can come in here and build that program, want to build that program, and get excited about it. Someone who can take this young group of men that we have and mold them and make them better. I want to recruit the best coach that we can."

Tention's resignation at LMU marks the fifth West Coast Conference coaching change since the end of last season. Pepperdine's Vance Walberg and San Francisco's Jessie Evans both left during this season.

[lmu]

lionspride said:

Well, well, well....it looks like the letter writing campaign hit home and Lawton delivered. I think Lawton had a talk with Elena Bove, SVP of Student Affairs, who oversees Athletics among other student area departments. Bove got Lawton's message across to Husak and Husak is worried about his own job. He had to act. I just want to know where they are getting the cash to pull this off. I give the administration all the credit in the world on this, but that credit is temporary. Full credit will be extended when they have announced a replacement. It better be a very experienced, big name that costs over $350,000 = $400,000. Few is making $400,000. We need to make a statement here.

Oh, I just have to throw this one in for all those on this board who are not a fan of mine and think I do not know anything about basketball. LIONSPRIDE brought his "A" game to this board and followed through with a couple of letters to the administration. Everything I say is based on facts and circumstances when talking with current players, their parents, and LMU administration (Lawton and the AD). For those of you like lmutex, Dead3man, alert2, and others that excuse my postings as ridiculous or "all fluff and no stuff", think again and recognize. I apologize to the others on this board for the boasting but these guys took big time swipes at me and I continued to take it. In the end, I was DEADon.

Thanks to ironlion for the shout out of my wish coming true. However, the wish is not complete. Husak and and the administration needs to come through with a big name. They have already made a huge commitment (eating 2 years of RT's contract). Let's don't half@ss it. Let's get it right. Do it once and do it right this time. Lawton listened, Lawton delivered (the cash), and Lawton is serious about winning. I hope Husak can make it happen now that he has the cash. No excuses.

Lost in this is Rodney Tention. The guy was very honorable and is a nice guy (2 times that I have spoken directly with him). His recruiting strategy was the down fall and his player rotations this year never stopped. I wish Rodney and his family the best. I am hopeful, that Rodney will definitely land on his feet. Maybe he even goes back to UofA with Lute as an assistant. Who knows, maybe Gore-Man at USF hires him (I sincerely doubt it, but anything is possible!).

Fanblade, sometimes you just have to lay down the banhammer to this board. You don't want fans throwing fans off the bus, but it's exactly this type of message that's throwing fans off the bus. Don't be surprise to see more of us opting out if post like this continue to be allowed on this board. Many of us already expressed dissatisfaction, even disgust, with lionspride, maybe that gives you a clue as to what to do now?

A player's father already went into silent mode, why do you think that's the case? This post should have never been allowed in the first place. A repeat violation should warrant a ban, lionspride has stepped over the line waaaaay too many times.

[smc4]

The sad thing is, and this is what the "power that be" probably saw was that next season where do you think LMU would land on the pre-season rankings? Best case scenerio 7th? Not good. Time to look forward.

[LMUpepbander]

I haven't weighed in since posting the story, so here's my thoughts on this.

Recruiting was obviously his downfall, especially with his hiring bringing with it all sorts of hope on his Arizona recruiting pipelines, and his wife being the PE teacher at powerhouse Westchester High. Now, we are left with a team full of a bunch of guards (reminiscent of the New York Knicks), with the only recruit from Westchester sitting the year out.

His halftime adjustments were not existent. More likely than not, we would be holding on at the half, only to have a 20-4 run in the second half be the dagger. The last straw there was the 3 point halftime deficit to USF blowing up into a 19 point loss.

He only seemed to show any emotion to argue a call. When the team was falling apart on the court, he'd send in a complete line change and would look resigned. That's not the way to motivate your team.

So, the move was due. There were too many holes to warrant another year.



Oh, and I so hope that the next coach ditches those God awful uniforms. They almost looked WNBA in a way. Maybe they can change to something like, oh, I don't know...

[upstonehouse]

Hey guys... hadn't seen this posted yet. It's from Andy Katz' blog on ESPN.com. Both Mark Few and Billy Grier called the firing "awful", which I guess isn't surprising considering coaches tend to have each other's backs.

Also... would be nice if Katz would talk to a non-GU affiliated coach once and a while.

insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3291310&searchName=katz_andy

"LOS ANGELES -- Quick hitters for Thursday:

• Rodney Tention said late Wednesday night that he's not a quitter. Read into that if you want. The reality is Tention was forced out at Loyola Marymount -- after just three seasons.

His apparent forceout is just the latest WCC move that makes this league look like the NBA. LMU is the third opening this season in the conference. San Francisco forced out Jessie Evans on Dec. 26 and likely will face a lawsuit soon. Evans' representative, Gary O'Hagan, said the former coach was given an ultimatum on Dec. 26: either be fired or say you need a leave of absence based on medical reasons. O'Hagan said Evans was asked to lie, which he refused to do, so he took the leave of absence without saying why. Evans is essentially looking for a settlement, and if not, a lawsuit could follow. USF hired Eddie Sutton for two months to finish the season. Sutton wanted to get his 800th career win -- and did.

Meanwhile, Pepperdine's Vance Walberg resigned in January. Pepperdine went with assistant Eric Bridgeland for the remainder of the season before naming former head coach Tom Asbury as head coach.

Now the LMU job is open.

A year ago, San Diego bumped out Brad Holland, and Santa Clara dropped longtime coach Dick Davey in what amounted to a forceout.

San Diego hired former Gonzaga assistant Bill Grier, while Santa Clara hired former UCLA assistant Kerry Keating. Next season, only three of the eight coaches -- Gonzaga's Mark Few, Saint Mary's Randy Bennett and Portland's Eric Reveno -- will have been in the league for more than two years.

Clearly, the WCC bottom dwellers are feeling that they've got to keep up with Gonzaga and are quick to pull the trigger on their coaches.

"It's a horrible decision,'' Few said of forcing out Tention. "They've had bad luck. A year ago, they were right there with us [beat Gonzaga at home]. The people making the decisions have no idea what it takes to fix these programs."

Grier, whose San Diego team beat Gonzaga in the WCC final to possibly put three teams into the Dance (Gonzaga, San Diego and Saint Mary's), doesn't agree with the decision, either.

"It's not right; it's awful,'' Grier said. "I feel awful for him.''

LMU finished 5-26 overall and 2-12 in the WCC. A year ago, in Tention's second season, the Lions finished 13-18 and 5-9 in the league. "

[lionspride]

upstonehouse said:

Hey guys... hadn't seen this posted yet. It's from Andy Katz' blog on ESPN.com. Both Mark Few and Billy Grier called the firing "awful", which I guess isn't surprising considering coaches tend to have each other's backs.

Also... would be nice if Katz would talk to a non-GU affiliated coach once and a while.

insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3291310&searchName=katz_andy

"LOS ANGELES -- Quick hitters for Thursday:

• Rodney Tention said late Wednesday night that he's not a quitter. Read into that if you want. The reality is Tention was forced out at Loyola Marymount -- after just three seasons.

His apparent forceout is just the latest WCC move that makes this league look like the NBA. LMU is the third opening this season in the conference. San Francisco forced out Jessie Evans on Dec. 26 and likely will face a lawsuit soon. Evans' representative, Gary O'Hagan, said the former coach was given an ultimatum on Dec. 26: either be fired or say you need a leave of absence based on medical reasons. O'Hagan said Evans was asked to lie, which he refused to do, so he took the leave of absence without saying why. Evans is essentially looking for a settlement, and if not, a lawsuit could follow. USF hired Eddie Sutton for two months to finish the season. Sutton wanted to get his 800th career win -- and did.

Meanwhile, Pepperdine's Vance Walberg resigned in January. Pepperdine went with assistant Eric Bridgeland for the remainder of the season before naming former head coach Tom Asbury as head coach.

Now the LMU job is open.

A year ago, San Diego bumped out Brad Holland, and Santa Clara dropped longtime coach Dick Davey in what amounted to a forceout.

San Diego hired former Gonzaga assistant Bill Grier, while Santa Clara hired former UCLA assistant Kerry Keating. Next season, only three of the eight coaches -- Gonzaga's Mark Few, Saint Mary's Randy Bennett and Portland's Eric Reveno -- will have been in the league for more than two years.

Clearly, the WCC bottom dwellers are feeling that they've got to keep up with Gonzaga and are quick to pull the trigger on their coaches.

"It's a horrible decision,'' Few said of forcing out Tention. "They've had bad luck. A year ago, they were right there with us [beat Gonzaga at home]. The people making the decisions have no idea what it takes to fix these programs."

Grier, whose San Diego team beat Gonzaga in the WCC final to possibly put three teams into the Dance (Gonzaga, San Diego and Saint Mary's), doesn't agree with the decision, either.

"It's not right; it's awful,'' Grier said. "I feel awful for him.''

LMU finished 5-26 overall and 2-12 in the WCC. A year ago, in Tention's second season, the Lions finished 13-18 and 5-9 in the league. "

Sure...Few and Grier are going to say that. They want a guaranteed two wins on their schedule when playing us every year. The coaching circles are tight anyway as upstonehouse says. Few and Grier are just worried that LMU is very serious this time about winning and are going to put the money up for a big time coach. If LMU wants to...it could shake the WCC at its core. Will it happen, well....Lawton, Bove, and Husak will the chance to do so. Let's see if they deliver.

[lmutex]

You never cease to amaze me, lionspride.

Way to break it down.

[ironlions]

I like your jersey designs Pepbander. However, the LMU font brings bad memories of the Bradley years. Personally, I would love to make grey and navy more predominate in our jerseys.

I took the liberty of taking your designs to base my ideas off of.

[LMUpepbander]

I don't know about more navy. There's already too many blue road uniforms in the league (Pepp, St. Mary's, USD, Gonzaga).

The problem with the font is that our hands are tied with the prevalence of the arching LMU as a logo. Generic fonts don't work well with that in play, as can be seen in the times new roman road jerseys.

I actually used the font I did because that was what was featured on the road jerseys we sported from 2004-2007, which is pretty much the only hope we've had for 18 years.

[fanblade]

All those examples would be major improvements! We need to ditch the new designs. They looks like crossing guard uniforms. You two's designs are much classier and professional. I am not sure who pushed the current designs. But that may have been reason enough for a pink slip.

[greendoberman]

Two more names who were fired that may fit the profile we are looking for:

Tim Welsh
John Brady

I'd consider Welsh more seriously than Brady.

and I agree with fanblade, stick to the topic at hand.

[formerlmufan]

If you think this was a good decision then think of next year's team without OJ and TD. I hope for the players sake that they win some games, but it will be hard without the support of the administration.

LMU Athletics has set the bar too high for themselves. They have standards and expectations that they can't support. I hope, but am not positive, that Lawton and Bove did not have a hand in this. It is pretty sad that the fate of a program would be decided by them.

Coach Tention was a blown layup away from the Tourney in year one, a blown ACL away in year two, and in year 3 he had a group of kids who were, and I stress "were," more ambitious about winning at LMU than anyone.

11 coaches in 31 years is just not going to get it done. And enough already about the LMU tradition....an Elite 8 run in 1990 with two players who fell into your laps and were getting paid anyway is not tradition.

[ironlions]

We don't need any formerlmufans on here.

Go Lions

[smc4]

Seriously. Formerfan take your pissy rant and shove it.