Fire Dave Paulsen / Hire Tony Skinn

[GMUgemini]

The president is rocking a Cayman Islands champs tshirt today proudly. DP plays out his contract here.

The new president will decide after next season whether to extend him or fire him. He will not go into a contract year without certainty (unless we want to be as idiotic as JMU who did this with Brady).

 

[Walter]

DP in Mtn Dew Superbowl commercial

 

[GSII]

Arent we already at next year? Other than AJ, if Kier and Boyd dont return then this is it plus the new guys. If aj leaves then its more pressure on the new guys especially Henry.

With all 3 schollys filled, you cant fit Kier and Boyd on roster so what happens there? Say Kier stays and Boyd leaves. Someone has to transfer. For both to stay 2 tranfers have to happen. Unlikely 2 transfer. Say both Kier and Boyd do not return. Then you have a young team again and we are back to what we are seeing currently. If AJ and JDS leaves, then we would have room for Kier and Boyd.

Seems like alot of roster issues forthcoming.

As for the McKays, they know Lil Dave is not cut out for this despite what they may say publicly.

Next year is huge on two major fronts. Performance AND recruiting. Both have to take a major step up.

 

[GMUgemini]

Arent we already at next year? Other than AJ, if Kier and Boyd dont return then this is it plus the new guys. If aj leaves then its more pressure on the new guys especially Henry.

With all 3 schollys filled, you cant fit Kier and Boyd on roster so what happens there? Say Kier stays and Boyd leaves. Someone has to transfer. For both to stay 2 tranfers have to happen. Unlikely 2 transfer. Say both Kier and Boyd do not return. Then you have a young team again and we are back to what we are seeing currently. If AJ and JDS leaves, then we would have room for Kier and Boyd.

Seems like alot of roster issues forthcoming.

As for the McKays, they know Lil Dave is not cut out for this despite what they may say publicly.

Next year is huge on two major fronts. Performance AND recruiting. Both have to take a major step up.

Yes, unless others transfer, assuming AJ stays, this will most likely be our lineup next year. Caveat being, we haven't seen Haidara play since the third game of the season, so you'd have to add him as depth. Second caveat being, we have Polite, Kolek, and Henry coming in, but we have no idea how much they'll be able to give from day one.

If AJ leaves, there is a question of if either Boyd or Kier returns or if they both still leave and we go in with 12 players again or Paulsen goes out looking for a transfer.

If AJ and JDS both leave, that leaves space for both Boyd or Kier to come back, or gives us an option for one transfer, one late signing freshman, or again, go into the season with a short bench.

If Hartwell doesn't like being benched, maybe he leaves and we lose AJ, JDS, and Hartwell. In that case, Paulsen can kiss his job goodbye, unless he pulls some magic recruiting out of his butt.

edit: I've said before that if AJ leaves, but Kier can come back for a fifth season at 100% (no guarantee with a surgically repaired foot), it won't be horrible. You shift Miller over to the 4 spot, Kier replaces Miller at the 3 and Henry and Mar can backup Miller and you'll have some interchange between Greene, Kier, and Miller at the 2, 3, and 4 spots. Would love AJ to come back, though.

 

[Walter]

If AJ doesn't come back, I see no way we get close to a top 4 finish.

 

[Falco]

AJ isn’t going anywhere. Kier will be back if they can get a waiver for his medical redshirt and Boyd is done at Mason.

Should Kier get the fifth year, here is what the roster will look like (pending any other changes):

Seniors: Kier, Wilson, Greene, Calixte, Mar

Juniors: Miller, Hartwell, JDS

Sophomores: XJ, Oduro

Freshmen: Daddy, Polite, Henry, Kolek

That’s 14 players for 13 spots, meaning someone would have to go.

Regardless, if Dave can’t do something significant with that team, I think everyone will be more than ready to move on.

Jds is gone. At least he should leave.

 

[sleeperpick]

AJ isn’t going anywhere. Kier will be back if they can get a waiver for his medical redshirt and Boyd is done at Mason.

Should Kier get the fifth year, here is what the roster will look like (pending any other changes):

Seniors: Kier, Wilson, Greene, Calixte, Mar

Juniors: Miller, Hartwell, JDS

Sophomores: XJ, Oduro

Freshmen: Daddy, Polite, Henry, Kolek

That’s 14 players for 13 spots, meaning someone would have to go.

Regardless, if Dave can’t do something significant with that team, I think everyone will be more than ready to move on.

Jim, I don't mean to be the guy who pulls receipts but you are very often wrong about your gut feelings (ken pom, Wisconsin, Richmond, Nebraska, Paulsen, recruits being A10 ready etc) AJ is definitely not 100% coming back. I agree with you Boyd is done at Mason and I hope Kier gets his medical hardship for a 5th year but it is so borderline it is crazy.

We shall see

 

[gmujim92]

Jds is gone. At least he should leave.

Depending on what else happens, it may not be his decision to make.

 

[GSII]

Why would AJ sit one play one? He would grad transfer wouldn't he?

 

[sleeperpick]

You are totally right, I shouldn’t have even brought it up. I’m going to delete my posts and you should do the same.

I think that’s fair

 

[KAOriginal]

Boyd wont be back.
Kier will not get a waiver..(buh bye)
AJ gone
JDS gone.

Just my gut feeling....

 

[masonjoe]

AJ has to graduate first, not a given...

 

[Falco]

AJ has to graduate first, not a given...

I've read this a couple times by multiple posters. Is there any reason to believe he wont graduate?

 

[Herndon]

Woof. Back from California, and this thread has gotten considerably less silly in the month I've been gone.

 

[sleeperpick]

Woof. Back from California, and this thread has gotten considerably less silly in the month I've been gone.

makes sense since you weren't a part of the thread...

 

[gmubrian]

Apparently the issue is that DP has a lot of support from the people that matter, including the McKays. Bottom line is he 100% will be back next year unfortunately.

They just do not see enough complaints about DP to warrant a change this year. A “Fire Dave Paulsen” cheer at homecoming could prove a bit embarrassing to Brad and others and could at least let them know SOMEONE isn’t happy with what’s going on.

The outrage about Paulsen is very much limited to these boards.

I had mentioned similar situation related to the Hewitt days when we were two years out from the end of his contract. I suspect the makeup of our donor/fanbase hasn't changed significantly since then. Hewitt did significantly worse (steady decline versus slow rise to a single flop year we are headed towards) at this point in his tenure (2 years from contract end) and very few people outside of the boards had any thought that he wasn't getting the job done. And even on the boards here, even though many seemed to call for his head anonymously, not that many were willing to do so in person/publicly. I wouldn't be surprised if the AD has received fewer than 10 complaints.

 

[sleeperpick]

I had mentioned similar situation related to the Hewitt days when we were two years out from the end of his contract. I suspect the makeup of our donor/fanbase hasn't changed significantly since then. Hewitt did significantly worse (steady decline versus slow rise to a single flop year we are headed towards) at this point in his tenure (2 years from contract end) and very few people outside of the boards had any thought that he wasn't getting the job done. And even on the boards here, even though many seemed to call for his head anonymously, not that many were willing to do so in person/publicly. I wouldn't be surprised if the AD has received fewer than 10 complaints.

I know of at least 4 complaints personally with another 2-4 waiting until after A10 tournament to launch there's. But I personally haven't heard anything back from Brad so who knows what happens.

 

[gmubrian]

The new president will decide after next season whether to extend him or fire him. He will not go into a contract year without certainty (unless we want to be as idiotic as JMU who did this with Brady).

I hope we couldn't possibly screw it up as badly as JMU did with Brady. Not because Mason admins aren't as incompetent, but because it was a perfect storm for JMU. First, they let the coach go into the final year of his contract without a renewal or firing him (I could see us doing that). Where it differs, (I am going off of memory) is that the top of the CAA disappeared. vcu, ODU and GMU were the perennial top teams. UNCW had already melted down with their poor administrative hirings. vcu had just left the conference. ODU had an alcoholic, who showed up drunk to games coaching them and were focusing on football, so they had taken a nosedive. We had hired Hewitt and were mid-nosedive. JMU finished 4th in conference and won the tournament in a very weak CAA that year. JMU was basically forced to renew Brady after "delivering" a tournament appearance.

Even if we were dumb enough to enter Paulsen's last year without a renewal, I would be very surprised if DP could pull a Brady and go to the NCAA tourney at that point, thus, essentially, forcing a renewal. And if he did go to the tournament, maybe he would deserve a renewal at that point. That would be because he had earned it, not because everyone else in the league got out of his way.

 

[mkaufman1]

I had mentioned similar situation related to the Hewitt days when we were two years out from the end of his contract. I suspect the makeup of our donor/fanbase hasn't changed significantly since then. Hewitt did significantly worse (steady decline versus slow rise to a single flop year we are headed towards) at this point in his tenure (2 years from contract end) and very few people outside of the boards had any thought that he wasn't getting the job done. And even on the boards here, even though many seemed to call for his head anonymously, not that many were willing to do so in person/publicly. I wouldn't be surprised if the AD has received fewer than 10 complaints.

Judging from the amount of complaining alone after press conferences and on social media outlets, I have to think the AD has been receiving some complaints and even got some after last years disappointments. It might be a fairly small number but I have to think its there.

The big thing about public complaints is that I always tell people to share their ideas or have conversations with the people in the helm because there could always be a method to the madness (not necessarily you, we know your story ). I know for me, I’m waiting until post A10 tournament to voice any complaining and its merely to share that I hope decisions are made in the future if necessary to benefit the program the most. It won’t be calling for anyone’s head, but it certainly will plant the seed and give me something to follow up on if necessary. I am debating about even not showing up in Brooklyn or at Fordham as that would be a big statement to those that know me in the AD, but I probably am too loyal and a sucker for punishment to actually do that.

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

Even though I've been told money is not as big of an issue as we think ..... all this number crunching about Paulsen's buyout reminds me, man, how useful would that $250K GMUBrian was willing to donate come in handy right now?

That's why you don't piss off people who not only have the money but willing to spend it to make real change. You may not like Brian's terms, but a savy AD would find a way to make it work. You can't ask someone to donate large sums of money and have no say where it goes. Not trying to bring that saga back to discussion, I just think it should be a learning lesson for the entire Atheltic Department.

If you want to keep this entire thing a mom and pop operation, then go back to the CAA. Because that shit will not work for Mason in the A10. Some will say "look at the Bonnies, they do more with less" well, we ain't the Bonnies and we never will be. We need to "do more with more".