LMU vs Bakersfield

[Guest]

By the way, I wrote that at

Reply #31 on Jan 8, 2008, 1:51pm

[lionboy]

Does anyone on here have any proof that our basketball program is a money producer. I personally would highly doubt, especially this year, that the basketball program is taking in more money than it is spending.
I don't think holding Lawton accountable for this teams struggles makes any sense personally. I think this team is essentially pretty good, other than the fact we have no inside presence and the players, for whatever reason, are playing like they are in high school. I think this has to start from the coach, I don't know what is going on on the inside. It seems to me that at this point the struggles this team is having are simply ridiculous. I think its too early to call for anyones head, but every game we lose by 30+ is absolutely unacceptable.

[Guest]

Lionboy,

Guarantee games now days pay anywhere from 50-80K. Which is pretty substantial. Not sure where those are on LMU's schedule but even if a game is a home and home (Boise and assume Mississippi) there can still be an exchange of $$$ just because a team wants to come to LA.

I also assume that the BTI classis in New Mexico paid pretty decently. That being said the travel costs were also taken care of.

Not to mention TV money from when the Lions are on TV.

As I stated in an earlier posts, conference shares are split evenly between conference members after the NCAA tournament. A conference share is in between 1-3 million.

Also, even though Gersten looks empty with 1,000 fans, assume 700 sold tickets @ 10 a piece (rounding) is $7,000 from tickets per game. With 15 home games you're looking at over $100,000 from ticket revenue. And it's more when WCC brings 2-3 thousand to Gersten/

Water Polo has 400 fans, 100 sold tickts, and they make $500. Not enough to pay for a meal on a road trip...

[lionspride]

We need to hold Husak and Lawton accountable for the direction of the Athletics Department (primarily Men's Basketball). Not making free throws, producing turnovers is the team's problem. Agree with that. But when you have a problem RECRUITING players that are able to successfully transition from high school to the DI level, you are talking about a COACH PROBLEM. Who is responsible for RT's performance....HUSAK. It is quite obvious that we cannot compete with other WCC schools with recruiting currently. Whose problem is that? Guest said its the ADMINISTRATION.....the UNIVERSITY. Now he is backing away from that and going after the facilities....He is discounting the power of writing to the President. When in reality, we are at a critical point in our program....TONS of capital improvements at the university over the last 7 years and very little directed toward Gersten and Men's Basketball.

Face it....quality DI recruits, quality DI coaches do not lose to DII schools. moderately skilled DI recruits and high quality DI coaches do not lose to DII schools. low quality DI recruits and high quality coaches should not lose to DII schools. low quality DI recruits and moderately quality coaches should not lose to DII schools. low quality DI recruits and low quality DI coaches may lose to DII (BUT NOT BY 30+ points).

SCOREBOARD does not lie..... CalState Bakersfield 98, LMU 64; Standings: 3-13.

Don't tell me nothing is wrong. Don't tell me writing to the President will not make an impact. He probably gets VERY VERY little mail from alumni anyway and even a small portion dealing with Athletics. SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE. We should not be satisfied with 3-13 and heading down the road to a 20+ lossing season. If you are satisfied with that don't waste your time writing to the president.

The only kudos I give Guest is the basketball CAN be and IS the LARGEST MONEY MAKER for LMU Athletics. More reason for the PRESIDENT to take notice of lost opportunity.

[smc4]

LMU does absolutely hold a higher academic benchmark for athletes than other schools. Dick Davey was lampooned on the Zags board for calling that out after he was fired. SCU, LMU, and Portland have the highest academic requirements for athletes, period. You think a USF basketball player could be accepted into LMU, no it won't happened. Don't get me started on Long Beach. As long as you can color inside the lines you are fast tracked in. That "fan" was ranting about general student academic requirements an entirely different subject. Teams that CHEAT also get ahead *cough* you know who.

Years back I would go to USC football parties. Boosters would pay for cars, houses, equipment, food, etc etc and they still do. the NCAA is a joke when it comes to this and doesn't even do anything when it is exposed to the media re: reggie bush.

[lmutex]

Amen MVL.

I think the crux of this debate comes down to this:

Would we sacrifice the academic/social priorities of our student-athletes team to build a winning program?

Because if we will, we can have another 89-91 run. When talking to a reputable source on the subject (i.e. faculty) he mentioned that boosters were "helping" our players during that time.

Just some food for thought.

[lmu]

I still don't buy it. It's too easy to use the academics excuse, our admission requirement may be a little higher than others but that's not an excuse. I've never heard a LMU coach complaining about our academics standard being too high for student-athletes. Not in b'ball, not in baseball, not in water polo, never.

Let's just lay off the whole academic excuse already, it sounds sour grape when we have to resort to it as a scapegoat. "yeah, our b'ball team sucks because we hold our academic standard high"

Right, that must be it.

[lionspride]

ACADEMICS is not an excuse to lose by 30+ to a DII transitioning DI school. Academics does not prevent you from having a .500 season.

I am going on record again....even if Tention and Co. pull out another miracle against the Zags on Saturday, I will still feel strongly about a CHANGE. I feel so strongly that my letter to Lawton was sent 30 minutes ago. DONE. I did my part and now it is up to the rest of you if you want change to happen in the Athletics Department and Men's Basketball.

Even if we win the Zags, we are 4-13. Wins and Losses never lie.

[Guest]

I swear MVL and I are not the same person.

Great post MVL -- EXACTLY what I've been saying.

Lionspride I'm not backing down on my stance -- I'm saying it's a combination of things.

I agree -- Coaches are responsible for the players they bring in and whether or not those players succeed or fail on the court. However, the institution can hinder or help a coaches ability to bring in even better players!!!

Four coaches in a row have failed. You don't think that they wanted better players?? or even busted their @ss to get them?? They couldn't get them done. And the reason why isn't because these coaches were incompetent....

LMUTex you are right on. There needs to be a balance because if you get a bunch of turds you end up alianating fans (what Bradley did, and even to a certain extent Pepperdine did with Westphaul and some of the kids he brought in.) But by allowing a few more kids entry your pool of prospects becomes bigger.

LMUTex, If LMU doesn't want to sacrifice those things to build a program than that is fine. I can accept that. But then I'm going to accept rebuilding years as well. Give RT time to build something. I'm not saying accept losing but be realistic.

If we want to win through a "quick fix" then other things need to change.

[lionspride]

RT win/loss record to date: 28-77. Enough said. That includes having two years with All-Conference Players (matty for 2 and worthy for 1) and All-Defensive Player. Mind you that those were not his players. Still we never were close to seeing a .500 season.

That is a .363 winning percentage for the last 2 1/2 seasons. I will conjecture RT ends the season with an overall 3 season winning percentage below .300 (more like at .250). Anybody satisfied with that?

THAT DOES NOT GET IT DONE. HOW MUCH MORE TIME DO YOU WANT TO WAIT.....until Pepperdine slides in the ocean from mudslides in 2012. 3 years is a enough to see POTENTIAL in a coach. Unfortunately, I don't see it. If it takes 5 years for an A.D. to make a decision, then the A.D. is incompetent or scared.