some schools bring more fans than does Fairfield to Fairfield home games.
Absolutely not true. More non Stag fans do go to the WBA but not more than Fairfield fans and not in Alumni Hall on campus. The WBA in downtown Bridgeport has had no buzz for many years now.
Now how would you know that when you don’t go to games?
Also not true again. You don't know me or anything about me. Don't waste my time with more of your b.s. nonsense.
I did experience academic snobbery from a senior athletic dept official at American U when Loyola made the move.
I have posted this previously on this board. She indicated there was a feeling that Loyola was not at the academic standard of the other schools in the conference. (and as the conversation continued, she included FU when I suggested we might make a great addition).
But the reality is Loyola (or FU) academic standards are similar to the rest of the Patriot (of course except the service academies) and would have similar constraints on who they can accept.
It directly relates to how you can compete. Yes, St Peters U provides an excellent option and service to the Jersey City community.
When you are recruiting players we are not all the same. When you have a 91% acceptance rate and much lower admission and overall academic standards, your pool of recruits and who you can accept academically gets much larger.
You think maybe one of the major reasons Fordham is the the doormat of the A10 might be who they are willing to accept academically?
You need to compete in a conference were the playing field is level so all schools are somewhat following the same rules.
Same with many other MAAC Schools. It's not an inner city thing or snobbery. I would include Iona and Rider, both in affluent communities in this group where academics may not be a priority.
When you get to the power conferences, all bets are off. There is just too much money involved. So here academics are not a major issue for athletics as long as they can cover the NCAA minimums.
Last Edit: Mar 17, 2020 6:28:56 GMT -5 by paulie74
FYI: As per the Forbes Rankings, Fordham is ranked 4th in the 14 school A-10, behind Davidson(48) GW(78), and Richmond(83). Fordham is at 141. The A-10 has 6 member schools in the Top 200, 12 of 14 in the Top 400, with URI(444) and St Bonaventue(NR) accounting for the other 2.
In the MAAC, Fairfield is tops at 135. Marist(189) and Manhattan(200) are the only other schools in the Top 200. The MAAC has 3 schools not in the Top 600 in Monmouth, St Peter's and Niagara and 2 more schools not in the Top 400 (Canisius 458 and Rider at 478)
The rest of the MAAC: Quinnipiac 215, Siena 285, and Iona at 390.
A very interesting part about the MAAC in the article 5 big questions looming over Rick Pitino in his return to college basketball.
5. Who is celebrating the most? The once-proud Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference has fallen in a rut. Long a threat to deliver a March darling, the MAAC’s relevancy has plummeted in recent years. The league finished 28th of 32 leagues in 2019 in KenPom rankings, an astounding fall for a league that earned two bids to the NCAA tournament in 2012. (The average KenPom league finish for the MAAC from 2006 to 2011 was 16.5.)
Coaches and administrators in recent years point to questionable league-mandated scheduling practices, a mostly non-linear television contract that’s hurt exposure and the rise of the Ivy and Patriot League. For years, the MAAC was the third-best league in the northeast corridor behind the Big East and Atlantic 10. That’s no longer the case.
There’s also been significant sideline brain drain, as coaches like Fran Fraschilla (Manhattan to St. John’s), John Beilein (Canisius to Richmond) and Kevin Willard (Iona to Seton Hall) all used the league as a launching pad. The last coach to jump up to a power conference from the MAAC was Ed Cooley from Fairfield to Providence in 2011.
MAAC Commissioner Rich Ensor has been in his job since 1988. Pitino’s presence presents unprecedented opportunities for exposure for the league. Is it well positioned to exploit them?
All very interesting questions about Mr. Pitino. However, his history has shown that he is a mutt. He will bring some instant uplift to New Rochelle, without a doubt. Then after a couple of years he will leave and a mess will be left behind.
There's a reason it is difficult to compete with Iona. They do things that other MAAC schools simply would not do.
If I were an alumnus, I would be quite embarrassed by this hire.
Fairfield would be better off associating with Patriot League schools than any school that would hire Pitino.
I've never said it before, but I think it's time to get out of the MAAC.
Iona has a 95% admission rate - and lower standards than that for jocks. No surprise that they hired Pitino - I agree I think we have more in common with the Patriot League schools than the likes of Iona.
Iona Basketball: What to expect with Gaels hire of Rick Pitino
Everyone by this point knows the story. With Cluess at the helm, the Gaels were the class of the MAAC, winning the conference tournament four years in a row. Iona lost this season to Saint Peter’s in the quarterfinal round of the MAAC tournament. Their early exit and the abrubt end of the College Basketball season gave Iona the inside to hire their next coach. That next coach is the one and only Rick Pitino.
Pitino does not come without his baggage, he also brings wins and an uptick in recruiting that a school like Iona is going to take full advantage of. Pitino is a coach who going to make Iona even better and a bigger force in the MAAC than they already are. It is only a matter of time until the Gaels get their first five-star recruit.
The fans in New Rochelle are going to have to take the good with the bad when it comes to Pitino. He operates at a win at all cost mentality and he does win a lot. What can Gael fans expect out of Pitino?....
No matter your opinion on Pitino the man, the one thing that can not be disputed is he wins, and he wins a lot. Lets just cut right to the chase. He cheated at Louisville in regard to paying recruits families and AAU teams to secure a commitment to play basketball for him. There were numerous other transgressions that Coach Pitino was guilty of, but what ultimately led to his demise at Lousiville was the FBI investigation into his recruiting tactics....
Watch out for the Gaels to be one of the better mid-majors in the next couple of years. The Gaels hit a home run with this hire even given the baggage that comes with Pitino.
Gael fans enjoy your run! It will short based on Pitinos history.Pitino most certainly will leave at the first opportunity. When the bubble burst at that time and the effluent comes rolling out, the stink left behind in New Rochelle will be overwhelming.
“I took the job wanting it to be my last job,” Pitino told the New York Post in a phone interview. “I spoke to numerous people about it, and I’m glad I’m ending [my career] with a small Catholic school that has the potential to be built up into a major power, regardless of what people think. I’m super excited about it. It’s a perfect fit at a perfect time in my life.”
Rick Pitino Says He Was 'Blackballed' from CBB Before Becoming Iona Head Coach
Iona men's basketball coach Rick Pitino appeared on the Dan Patrick Show Monday and discussed what led him to the job as well as his next moves. "I was blackballed incorrectly for two-and-a-half years," he said of his time away from college basketball.
The coach emphatically said he wouldn't schedule a matchup against Louisville, but there could be a game against another of his former teams. "I would love to schedule Kentucky in the Garden in the Jimmy V Classic," he said Monday, per Adam Zagoria of the New York Times. "I think that would be a great draw and that would be exciting and I hope John [Calipari] would entertain that."
"I would love to schedule Kentucky in the Garden in the Jimmy V Classic," he said Monday, per Adam Zagoria of the New York Times. "I think that would be a great draw and that would be exciting and I hope John [Calipari] would entertain that."
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Though i doubt there will be, I'd hope that coaches and schools stay away from Iona/Pitino. Scheduling them means that you're ok with him.
Rick Pitino on Iona plans, Knicks drama, impact of NCAA exile By Steve SerbyMarch 21, 2020 |
New Iona coach Rick Pitino — who has also been at the helm for the Knicks and Kentucky Wildcats and was ousted by Louisville amid a scandal before coaching in Greece — takes a time out for some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby
Q: Where is the level of your PHD — passionate, hungry, driven? A: I would say it’s no different than the first day I took over the Knicks, and I was probably in my early 30s then. It’s even more so today because I’ve learned two important facets of basketball — I learned what not to say and what not to do, and I learned what to do. Experience teaches you those two things, or three things. The EuroLeague really helped me develop a total different mindset with offenses. It was a great learning experience for me. I think it’s the best form of basketball there is to be played on offense. Defensively, their standards don’t hold up to the way we play it.
Q: The mindset is different in what way? A: The passing, the cutting. … They play with a 24-second clock, but they’ll move the basketball sometimes six, seven passes in a span of six, seven seconds, to create movement and good shots. It may end up in a pick-and-roll like we do, but they’ll create all that movement because their defensive rules are just like college. They can sit in the three-second lane.
Also in the Sunday NY POST by sports columnist Mike Vaccaro:
"It will always be important to remember that no matter how many games Rick Pitino wins at Iona - and I have no doubt that he is going to win an awful lot of games at Iona - he is inheriting an already great program from Tim Cluess, he is not rebuilding one."