2200 days of Brad Edwards

[GMUgemini]

My favorite Jet was always Mark Sanchez. And Adam Gase is easily my favorite coach for them.

Not Hofstra alum Wayne Crebet?

 

[mkaufman1]

Ha! I’m also a Mets fan, I’m numb to disappointment.

 

[Falco]

Deion Sanders’ coaching staff’s message to recruits.
https://youtu.be/RSRWUtOdpJ8

View: https://youtu.be/RSRWUtOdpJ8


Damn they got me fired up.

 

[gmubrian]

Truly embarrassed to be an alum today, especially when it was nationally televised.

This brings up an interesting topic. Since the basketball Men's program has been pretty much an embarrassment since L left. It was pretty much an embarrassment prior to L. The Women's team has been an embarrassment from pretty much day 1 (going by memory on that).
I see about 5 main goals for having an athletics program at a university:

1. Public relations: It no longer serves to garner good publicity/marketing for the school.
2. Provide entertainment for students: Students barely go to Men's basketball games, so I gotta believe it is little to none at all other sports.
3. Fund raising: It has never been great at raising funds. It is pretty abysmal now. It has always operated at a loss.
4. Providing Athletic Education Avenues: You could do this much cheaper operating club sports or teaming with other local sports programs
5. Providing scholarships: You could do this for much less by just awarding scholarships or providing scholarships for club sports (see above)

To me it appears that the Mason AD is either failing completely or is unnecessarily expensive at trying to achieve the above goals. If I was scoring it with a possible 10 points (2 for each goal). I give it one pity point for public relations even though you could argue it should get negative points the way they seem to piss off alumni, 1 pity point for entertainment for students, 1 point for area 4 and 1 point for area 5. No points for area 3 because It seems to me that they spend as much or more on trying to get donations as they get in return. So that is 4 points and I think I was generous with those pity points. That is nowhere near 9 points. That is 40 percent folks. That is an F at every university (except maybe vcu).

If the AD doesn't do something drastic to make the basketball more respectable fast (like hire decent coaches), the school might as well shut down the basketball program all together. And since basketball is officially our focus sport (for title IX compliance), they might as well shutdown the AD completely or restructure it to be just club sports (to serve goals 4 and 5) at a much reduced operating loss.

 

[GMUgemini]

Technically, athletics was part of the original education mission of the university as participation in athletics was considered part of a well-rounded individual (see: Plato). But it morphed into all the other stuff you mention here.

 

[gmubrian]

Technically, athletics was part of the original education mission of the university as participation in athletics was considered part of a well-rounded individual (see: Plato). But it morphed into all the other stuff you mention here.

Intramural sorts wild seem to fill that portion of the mission.

 

[GMUgemini]

Intramural sorts wild seem to fill that portion of the mission.

Not exactly...not enough discipline or order in intramural sports...maybe club sports, for sure.

I think ultimately, your conclusions are correct, though, if you aren't trying to win at the D1 level, there's no reason to be D1 -- drop down to D2 or 3 and put more money into academics or student life.

 

[mkaufman1]

Based on my conversation yesterday, as incompetent as some of the basketball hiring has been, the athletics staff want nothing more than a program that alumni can rally around and be proud of.

We might think Mason half asses athletics, and they do but I do believe they are trying to win and will once again try and fix the problem. It starts with a coach. Duquesne did it. URI did it. Gw did it with Lonergan. Bonaventure did it with Schmidt etc.

 

[gmubrian]

...as incompetent as some of the basketball hiring has been, the athletics staff want nothing more than a program that alumni can rally around and be proud of.

.

They can WANT it all day long, but if they don’t make the right decisions, it will never happen. I had some hope when Brad was hired that things would turn around, but sadly, I have little hope for him at this point based on the track record so far and what I see come out of the AD, including coaches along with all other products.

He needed to blow up our AD when he came in. It was completely broken. He didn’t do that. He hit some of the low hanging fruit that was there, but if TOC hadn’t been completely incompetent, that wouldn’t have been available and Brad really wouldn’t have too many accomplishments under his belt.

Now, his most important action, hiring the Men’s basketball coach, has turned out to be a 6 year long failure. If he actually replaces Paulsen at the end of the year, I might still have the smallest sliver of hope for him, but I only give it 50/50 odds that he replaces Paulsen at the end the year based on what we have heard (not on any inside info).

 

[mkaufman1]

They can WANT it all day long, but if they don’t make the right decisions, it will never happen. I had some hope when Brad was hired that things would turn around, but sadly, I have little hope for him at this point based on the track record so far and what I see come out of the AD, including coaches along with all other products.

He needed to blow up our AD when he came in. It was completely broken. He didn’t do that. He hit some of the low hanging fruit that was there, but if TOC hadn’t been completely incompetent, that wouldn’t have been available and Brad really wouldn’t have too many accomplishments under his belt.

Now, his most important action, hiring the Men’s basketball coach, has turned out to be a 6 year long failure. If he actually replaces Paulsen at the end of the year, I might still have the smallest sliver of hope for him, but I only give it 50/50 odds that he replaces Paulsen at the end the year based on what we have heard (not on any inside info).

yeah I certainly agree with you. He cleared the very low bars, but the biggest bar to clear he has not gotten to where it needs to be even for his own career. It’s not easy to hire a coach, and when you look at Dave coming into Mason, he had good credentials just like many of the candidates.in general there has been some turnover in the department, but I think the big buzzkillers are still around. I don’t have proof but I have an inkling of who they are.

Unfortunately it really hasn’t worked out, and it looks like it’s back to the drawing board. Or so we hope.

Brad said some very confident and good things when Hewitt was tossed. It’s time he doubles down on his words and tries again.

 

[Patriotsince81]

I have had enough. I'm in the process of drafting a letter to Brad expressing my concerns about DP and the state of the program (Professional). Or, I'm getting ready to tell him that he f%cked up and that Dave needs to be fired (Blunt).

Have any of you sent emails or letters to Brad? If so, have you received a response? Through experience, do any of you know if Brad prefers professional or blunt? I am happy to send him either/both.

 

[tblack33]

I have had enough. I'm in the process of drafting a letter to Brad expressing my concerns about DP and the state of the program (Professional). Or, I'm getting ready to tell him that he f%cked up and that Dave needs to be fired (Blunt).

Have any of you sent emails or letters to Brad? If so, have you received a response? Through experience, do any of you know if Brad prefers professional or blunt? I am happy to send him either/both.

I've sent two, I received multiple responses following the second one I sent. Happy to send you over what I sent if you want to take a look. I kept it professional but very bluntly stated that I would no longer support the program financially if we did not make the NCAA tournament or move forward with a new head coach next season.

 

[Patriotsince81]

I've sent two, I received multiple responses following the second one I sent. Happy to send you over what I sent if you want to take a look. I kept it professional but very bluntly stated that I would no longer support the program financially if we did not make the NCAA tournament or move forward with a new head coach next season.

Thank you so much for your prompt response to my inquiry.

F off you ignorant douche, what took you so long?

 

[sleeperpick]

I have had enough. I'm in the process of drafting a letter to Brad expressing my concerns about DP and the state of the program (Professional). Or, I'm getting ready to tell him that he f%cked up and that Dave needs to be fired (Blunt).

Have any of you sent emails or letters to Brad? If so, have you received a response? Through experience, do any of you know if Brad prefers professional or blunt? I am happy to send him either/both.

Brad has never responded to my emails, both professional and blunt. But his staff has the second time. If you don't CC Zach or Lyndsay you 99% won't get a response.. They same to care, Brad not so much

 

[Patriotsince81]

Brad has never responded to my emails, both professional and blunt. But his staff has the second time. If you don't CC Zach or Lyndsay you 99% won't get a response.. They same to care, Brad not so much

Thanks. I mean, Brad went to South Carolina, not exactly a hotbed of academia. Wasn't sure whether to use my Mason education or use the vcu strategy of making my mark and drawing a picture.

 

[mkaufman1]

Honestly, I think Brad gets probably 1,000,000 emails and now more than ever that he probably doesn't respond unless he recognizes the name for the most part. I doubt that he doesn't care, its just a matter of priority because he is getting a lot at this point (which is good, it means people care).

The best method is like what @sleeperpick said. Either you can email Brad and forward it to Zack Greg and Lindsey, or put them on the CC line. For the most part, I think our bitching and moaning is being directed at the 3 of them and they handle it very well. It's important that we continue to speak up. I sent a very coherent, professional, and concerning email after the Norfolk State loss and while Zack, Lindsey and Greg didn't have much to add or say in return, they understood and appreciated it. Zack got in touch with me and we spoke on Friday, which is where I got much of the "nothing has been decided but they hear us and understand". I also get the vibe they are tired of losing because it certainly doesn't make their jobs easier. The last thing they want to deal with is the fanbase bitching and moaning at them about the product on the court.

Also, I did email president@gmu.edu but did not receive a response. At this point its probably not the best avenue but if people still send in concerns it probably is read by an assistant. I also sent a tweet at Dr Washington and Brad on Saturday, just to reiterate how I felt and will continue to do so.

 

[Patriotsince81]

I've sent two, I received multiple responses following the second one I sent. Happy to send you over what I sent if you want to take a look. I kept it professional but very bluntly stated that I would no longer support the program financially if we did not make the NCAA tournament or move forward with a new head coach next season.

Just out of curiosity what was the nature of the responses?

 

[tblack33]

Just out of curiosity what was the nature of the responses?

Similar to Matt's responses, they heard and understood, but not much beyond that. I also had brought up the management of the Mason Community Relations twitter account in my email so they apologized for that. Had a good phone call with him, and he stopped by our seats before the vcu game to introduce himself in person. Like Matt said, I'm going to continue to voice my concerns throughout the season if things don't improve, and will do it in the off season as well. I'm not going to go out without letting them hear it, and if they choose to renew Paulsen, it will be over my very loud, very public objections.

 

[tblack33]

Just out of curiosity what was the nature of the responses?

Regardless of what/any response you get, I think it's important for you to voice concern. You have the decades of supporting the program that most of us don't. If someone in your donor profile is voicing concern, I think you'll get a bit more attention.

 

[mkaufman1]

Similar to Matt's responses, they heard and understood, but not much beyond that. I also had brought up the management of the Mason Community Relations twitter account in my email so they apologized for that. Had a good phone call with him, and he stopped by our seats before the vcu game to introduce himself in person. Like Matt said, I'm going to continue to voice my concerns throughout the season if things don't improve, and will do it in the off season as well. I'm not going to go out without letting them hear it, and if they choose to renew Paulsen, it will be over my very loud, very public objections.

Brad wrote the generic answer back to you as well? That is good if so.

But yeah, everyone needs to speak up. I am encouraging even friends of mine who only go to a few games a year or are more casual fans to also speak up and talk about how the program is important to them, ties back to their college experience etc. Even if its a line of I am tired of losing and want to have fun at games again, that resonates. Doesn't matter if you have had tickets for 40 years like @Patriotsince81 or aren't even 40 years old.

We might think Mason doesn't go all in on athletics, but I don't think they are stupid. It worked when Hewitt was in the last year, and while that was already determined early on, the more we continue to speak up the better. I know they want it to be "fun to root for the program", so it obviously involves making decisions that try to make that happen.

Also, judging from the emails they are sending, they are already having trouble filling 200 seats this year with a pandemic. Imagine if they keep Paulsen next year post pandemic? Good grief.