2200 days of Brad Edwards

[mkaufman1]

I hope you are right and they aren't going to sit on their hands......

That is why its so crucial that everyone speaks up. Doesn't matter if you watch from 500 miles away, or you come to every game. Everyone needs to make their voice heard and explain that our men's program needs a change. They should know it anyway, but the more we write in and complain, the more a move is likely in my opinion.

LOL the schedule you outlined is tougher than what Dave will put together.

Haha, well we haven't scheduled Delaware State...yet.

 

[gmubrian]

He’s not just being evaluated on this year so I wish people would stop bringing up COVID. This season is not at all an outlier for Dave’s 6-year tenure; the pandemic is irrelevant and he’s not getting a “freebie” from what’s left of the fan base.

The only reason I think the panic-demic comes into play is the finances. All the lockdowns are causing financial strains for the university. Ticket sales are down, donations are down (those are necessarily caused by the lockdowns), enrollment is down. I don't think they will blame it directly, but I give it at around 50% chance that they decide they can't pay a coach $200k to go away with all the financial strain.

I know, I know, better coach, maybe cheaper coach, more revenue, etc. is the response, but will someone in the AD make that response. In my best "home alone" impersonation, "I don't think so".

 

[tblack33]

So most professional contract buyout clauses aren't paid in a lump sum. For example, Hewitt was paid out over 10+years after getting shit canned by Georgia Tech.

So that 200k becomes much easier to swallow if it's 40 grand over 5 years or something along those lines.

 

[mkaufman1]

Remember the incentives Dave hasn’t hit that are saved for too.

 

[gmubrian]

So most professional contract buyout clauses aren't paid in a lump sum. For example, Hewitt was paid out over 10+years after getting shit canned by Georgia Tech.

So that 200k becomes much easier to swallow if it's 40 grand over 5 years or something along those lines.

I am not talking about the actual payout. I am talking about the optics of a payout. Imagine the sensational headlines: “In the midst of a budgetary crisis, Mason pays white coach to have a 1 year vacation. Black assistant coaches let go immediately.”

 

[gmubrian]

Remember the incentives Dave hasn’t hit that are saved for too.

That could go both ways: look at all the money we are saving by keeping Paulsen since he isn’t hitting the incentives. Some new, young, energetic coach might be successful and cost us even more money.

 

[mkaufman1]

That could go both ways: look at all the money we are saving by keeping Paulsen since he isn’t hitting the incentives. Some new, young, energetic coach might be successful and cost us even more money.

You aren’t wrong. We can slice it 100 different ways.

but like I said, keep Dave and I wish them luck selling tickets to Maine Delaware state and uncw home games lol

 

[GSII]

Or.."Black Assistant promoted to Head Coach"

 

[The Great PATSby]

I am not talking about the actual payout. I am talking about the optics of a payout. Imagine the sensational headlines: “In the midst of a budgetary crisis, Mason pays white coach to have a 1 year vacation. Black assistant coaches let go immediately.”

So then the only viable option is fire Paulson now. Make Simpkins interim head Coach. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Get rid of Paulsen while seeing if Simpkins can coach which some have wondered.

 

[Pablo]

So then the only viable option is fire Paulson now. Make Simpkins interim head Coach. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Get rid of Paulsen while seeing if Simpkins can coach which some have wondered.

When has Mason ever fired a coach during the season, particularly with a 5-5 record?

 

[GMUgemini]

So then the only viable option is fire Paulson now. Make Simpkins interim head Coach. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Get rid of Paulsen while seeing if Simpkins can coach which some have wondered.

Brian is talking BS about optics here, and appears to be trying to turn our basketball discussions into cultural war politics.

Mason doesn't have a budgetary crisis, and as far as I can see from enrollment numbers has done just fine.

If you mean a budgetary crisis within the AD, that's where the benefit of having almost all of your budget come from student fees comes in. You could add up the last 5 years of ticket revenue for our entire AD and it would equal like 1 home game at an Ohio State football game (given we made $850,000 off of ticket sales in 2019 and Ohio State made $59 milllion).

 

[gmubrian]

Brian is talking BS about optics here, and appears to be trying to turn our basketball discussions into cultural war politics.

Mason doesn't have a budgetary crisis, and as far as I can see from enrollment numbers has done just fine.

If you mean a budgetary crisis within the AD, that's where the benefit of having almost all of your budget come from student fees comes in. You could add up the last 5 years of ticket revenue for our entire AD and it would equal like 1 home game at an Ohio State football game (given we made $850,000 off of ticket sales in 2019 and Ohio State made $59 milllion).

Fall semester might have been fine, but enrollment numbers are way down for Spring (at the current moment). Most adjunct professors are not being brought back this semester (at the current moment). Mason Patriot club donations and revenue are down. The budget situation at Mason is not looking good for the Spring semester unless something changes. I am not calling it a crisis, but I am saying that is what the headline would be if anyone had any interest using Mason for a provocative headline. Tell me with a straight face that isn't how most headlines read these days.

You don't think it is bad optics to pay a coach $200k to go away when Mason is in a belt tightening situation?

 

[GMUgemini]

Fall semester might have been fine, but enrollment numbers are way down for Spring (at the current moment). Most adjunct professors are not being brought back this semester (at the current moment). Mason Patriot club donations and revenue are down. The budget situation at Mason is not looking good for the Spring semester unless something changes. I am not calling it a crisis, but I am saying that is what the headline would be if anyone had any interest using Mason for a provocative headline. Tell me with a straight face that isn't how most headlines read these days.

You don't think it is bad optics to pay a coach $200k to go away when Mason is in a belt tightening situation?

Not likely to get many clicks or mileage out of it. How long did the Iona "controversy" last? I mean, who is even going to write the article? Student newspaper? Steve Goff isn't likely going to bat an eye...he covers a team that fired their coach mid-season in a league that lost $1 billion in 2020.

 

[gmubrian]

Not likely to get many clicks or mileage out of it. How long did the Iona "controversy" last? I mean, who is even going to write the article? Student newspaper? Steve Goff isn't likely going to bat an eye...he covers a team that fired their coach mid-season in a league that lost $1 billion in 2020.

I see you have dropped the argument that I am making up the budget issues at Mason and that it is bad optics to arguing it wont last long. I guess you agree, at least, with the optics part...

OK, I'll bite. I have no idea who would write it, I have a hard time predicting crazy that many levels deep. It wouldn't have to be a sports beat writer, though. A disgruntled Mason staff member who has had their pay cut could reach out to a writer at the Post, say. The current target of everyone's hate reporting will be long gone by March and they will be hunting for more scalps. Iona isn't in as woke a place as Mason. Mason is just minutes from one of the most woke cities in the world during a time of ever increasing wokeness and cancel culture.

It is the fear that the article could be written and your career canceled that could keep people from firing Paulsen at the end of the year given the circumstances. So, Brad can fight to have Dave at the end of this year and risk the bad optics or take the easy path and just wait for his contract to end a year later. So, Brad can avoid all risk at almost zero cost to him but the loss of 1 year of delay in getting a new coach. Can you name anything that Brad has done in his tenure that had any amount of risk associated with it?

From Brad's point of view, I don't see the upside for pushing for a buy out of Paulsen's contract at the end of the season. I guess hope is that his competitive nature is as strong as he has told us it is.

 

[GMUgemini]

Hyperbole will not serve you well here. No one is getting "canceled" for firing an underperforming coach, even in this environment, especially a white coach.

I'll tell you who IS watching, his alma mater...remember those rumors South Carolina might hire him as a successor AD? Playing it safe isn't going to cut it at an SEC school.

 

[gmujim92]

I see you have dropped the argument that I am making up the budget issues at Mason and that it is bad optics to arguing it wont last long. I guess you agree, at least, with the optics part...

OK, I'll bite. I have no idea who would write it, I have a hard time predicting crazy that many levels deep. It wouldn't have to be a sports beat writer, though. A disgruntled Mason staff member who has had their pay cut could reach out to a writer at the Post, say. The current target of everyone's hate reporting will be long gone by March and they will be hunting for more scalps. Iona isn't in as woke a place as Mason. Mason is just minutes from one of the most woke cities in the world during a time of ever increasing wokeness and cancel culture.

It is the fear that the article could be written and your career canceled that could keep people from firing Paulsen at the end of the year given the circumstances. So, Brad can fight to have Dave at the end of this year and risk the bad optics or take the easy path and just wait for his contract to end a year later. So, Brad can avoid all risk at almost zero cost to him but the loss of 1 year of delay in getting a new coach. Can you name anything that Brad has done in his tenure that had any amount of risk associated with it?

From Brad's point of view, I don't see the upside for pushing for a buy out of Paulsen's contract at the end of the season. I guess hope is that his competitive nature is as strong as he has told us it is.

If Dave’s buyout was more than $200k I would agree that Mason likely would not fire him for fear of bad optics during a global health emergency. But even in our current situation, that amount is not enough to cause much heartburn — it’s basically the change in Mason’s couch cushions, pandemic or not.

Making the right hire as head coach gives the AD a great opportunity to more than cover that $200,000 through increased donations and season ticket sales. Hopefully the president knows better than to be penny wise and pound foolish.

 

[GSII]

Who said he has to be fired? Maybe he "resigns" and a lower buyout is reached? Either way, Brad has to look out for the best interests of the program. Keeping DP another year isn't smart.

 

[Falco]

Who said he has to be fired? Maybe he "resigns" and a lower buyout is reached? Either way, Brad has to look out for the best interests of the program. Keeping DP another year isn't smart.

He can be the water boy

 

[JPgmuswim]

He can be the water boy

Not qualified for waterboy, he’d be passing out Mt. Dews by accident.

 

[mkaufman1]

He can be the water boy

To be fair Dave drinks a ton of water every game and stacks like 15 cups, so he'd probably be really good at this haha.