Stating the obvious, it doesn't really matter what happened so, aside from genuine human curiousity, we should just move on. It is terribly unfortunate, should the rumors play out to be true, that a "trip of a lifetime" for many of the players is now scarred by the actions of those who were supposed to be there as chaperones for their well-being. I am 100% behind CC to salvage this season but, longer-term, it's a perfect opportunity to reset the entire program and hope for better fortunes than those over the past decade or so....
Actually the obvious is all the players, coaches and support staff of the team know what happened because they were in Costa Rica and either saw the alleged “incident “ or have been told about the alleged “incident “ by those who witnessed it. It’s the fans and supporters of the program who are trying to understand exactly what occurred. I’m sure it’s unpleasant to be a player right now as I would think many of their classmates are trying to find out from them what exactly happened. Some fans definitely simply want to move on. Others would prefer there to be one second hand narrative about what happened instead of the two conflicting second hand narratives currently existing.
Post by reindeerfan on Oct 20, 2023 9:05:48 GMT -5
I am less concerned about the "dirt" and learning exactly what happened, than I am in an announcement regarding Johns and the coaching staff. We don't really need to know exactly what happened but understanding the impact to the program is something that should be communicated. I continue to think it is poor execution not to have an announcement specifically indicating that Bryan Dougher has left the program and/or if Johns will continue to coach at Fairfield.
It would be nice if what really happened could fade away into the sunset without “mainstream “ media attention, but history has shown that a coverup can be worse than the actual incident. I’m not saying there’s a coverup here because I don’t know what really happened. And yes, there could be NDA’s that limit what can be revealed, but the lack of clarity could still be interpreted as an attempt to coverup.
Post by reindeerfan on Oct 20, 2023 9:52:58 GMT -5
I terminated someone once who had violated the law and as part of the termination I signed an NDA not to publicly discuss what this individual had done. But the entire organization found out, even though I never communicated it. There were just too many other people that knew what really happened.. we have the same situation here. The entire team knows what happened, It won't be kept under wraps forever....
I saw a briefly posted tweet that seemed to indicate Johns was definitely not cavorting with CR hookers. If that's true - then we're running out of Johns (joke intended). It might be time to send a few erstwhile board members down to CR to mingle with some locals and conduct our own investigation.
If what it seems is true and we have lost no recruits, have added two great assistants and represented ourselves well at Meet the Stags Night, a lot of credit is due to Coach Casey and the rest of the staff and team. This is a highly unusual situation and they have handled it very well imho. Injuries happen and they will have an impact in our ooc games but I can’t blame those on the coaching staff or team. Let’s hope for the best and give them the support they have earned.
Post by stagsmadness on Mar 25, 2024 12:42:28 GMT -5
I thought this was an interesting post from the Stony Brook board prior to the St Peters game. All the post about about the turmoil this team overcame, which is true, but no one blames Fairfield admin for creating the turmoil. Media, fanbase, no one or held them accountable for their lack of transparency regarding "the stepping down" which everyone knows was a termination. Only time will tell if Casey was the savior or just holding the water with Jay's recruits. But remember, Jay also recruited this team with zero NIL $$.
I thought this was an interesting post from the Stony Brook board prior to the St Peters game. All the post about about the turmoil this team overcame, which is true, but no one blames Fairfield admin for creating the turmoil. Media, fanbase, no one or held them accountable for their lack of transparency regarding "the stepping down" which everyone knows was a termination. Only time will tell if Casey was the savior or just holding the water with Jay's recruits. But remember, Jay also recruited this team with zero NIL $$.
I assume the administration was not more transparent because they have on interest in 1) airing dirty laundry and 2) there was probably some kind of separation agreement with all parties.
With respect to what happened... and I'm only going off what I've seen on Twitter and discussed on this board... I don't see the administration shouldering any blame. I actually applaud them for taking a principled stand... one that put the university above any short term negative impact on the basketball program.
I think we all give JY some credit for assembling the roster. I think there was also a lot of luck. If anyone on this board predicted the fortuitous emergence of Leach/Fields/Goodine as star players... all at the same time (likely preventing a one-by-one loss to the portal)... please raise your hand! Also, JY did assemble a roster that (regardless of Yetna's health) was perilously thin up front. The Stags (barely) got through some rough days - but it was looking like a major blunder.
I thought this was an interesting post from the Stony Brook board prior to the St Peters game. All the post about about the turmoil this team overcame, which is true, but no one blames Fairfield admin for creating the turmoil. Media, fanbase, no one or held them accountable for their lack of transparency regarding "the stepping down" which everyone knows was a termination. Only time will tell if Casey was the savior or just holding the water with Jay's recruits. But remember, Jay also recruited this team with zero NIL $$.
I assume the administration was not more transparent because they have on interest in 1) airing dirty laundry and 2) there was probably some kind of separation agreement with all parties.
With respect to what happened... and I'm only going off what I've seen on Twitter and discussed on this board... I don't see the administration shouldering any blame. I actually applaud them for taking a principled stand... one that put the university above any short term negative impact on the basketball program.
I think we all give JY some credit for assembling the roster. I think there was also a lot of luck. If anyone on this board predicted the fortuitous emergence of Leach/Fields/Goodine as star players... all at the same time (likely preventing a one-by-one loss to the portal)... please raise your hand! Also, JY did assemble a roster that (regardless of Yetna's health) was perilously thin up front. The Stags (barely) got through some rough days - but it was looking like a major blunder.
Well I actually think there were some that were fairly confident coming into the season. I was high on Goodine and Leach. I also thought Yetna would be an impact player. So I thought we would do well when Leach recovered and Yetna was ready to go. I really felt we had a top 4 team. But as things go in sports, I do think even the believers were surprised about a few things. I never envisioned Fields becoming the player he was this year. He went from being a marginal three point shooter to an excellent one. He became a scorer. I never would have predicted him as a top ten conference scorer. So I would agree with you that even the most optimistic among us had lots of surprises this season.
Regarding the Young situation. I wasn't critical about the school for a variety of reasons. 1) There was clearly a confidentiality agreement put in place, and they couldn't openly discuss things. 2) I believe there had to be a reason to require this change. 3) The fact that the team held together is a testament to some people doing some things right.
So all in all, I think this was handled about as well as you could hope. For the most part the university gets a good grade on this matter in my mind.
Last Edit: Mar 25, 2024 16:25:20 GMT -5 by reindeerfan
let's be honest about the administration. If they were doing their job, Young should have been fired in May 2023. if he were here this year, we would be lucky to be 500. A leopard doesn't change his spots. We also don't know who recruited whom. Thank God for small favors.
Post by ctghostman on Mar 25, 2024 18:38:34 GMT -5
Things worked out a heck of a lot better (so far) than i expected. Other than Fields who far surpassed last year, we had nothing proven and injury concerns. Recruiting was excellent though extremely risky - we passed on a few kids and got Yenta and Smith pretty much last minute. Leach and Goodine (pre injury) weren’t starters on last years 7th place (maaC) team.
The Lord works in mysterious ways. 6 months ago, the FF Men's program was entering a season led by a coach who had 4 straight losing seasons (as Rave said, Young should have been gone) and who favored a boring, slow down, style of basketball. Fast forward, and FF is coming off a 20 + win season, has a coach with a solid contract who loves to play up tempo basketball and has an assistant with great NYC connections. Coach Casey has completely transformed FF's reputation and is adding to that by continuing to win in a post season tournament that I am usually not fond of playing in. IMO, the pool of players that FF can tap into for next season, both prep and portal, has doubled over last season. Here's hoping they have the NIL figured out and can bring in some superior talent.
Couldn’t agree more, we are lucky to have Casey and this group of players. This season was the breath of fresh air we all needed, and we have a nice core for next year too!
If anyone should be “held accountable” it’s JY. Coaches are responsible for adequately monitoring and controlling their program. Whatever happened in CR falls directly under that remit.
To be fair on style, on the ill fated Costa Rica trip, our game pace was much faster than previous years. We don’t know how that would have carried over to the regular season.