In Praise of CKE’s Accomplishments at George Mason

[mkaufman1]

It is based on my memory but I'll admit my memory may be confusing message board chatter with actual facts.

He took the CoC job at half of what we paid the walking PR machine. We could have easily had him.

I hadn't seen that Pat Kelsey wanted the job -- not saying it isn't true, but where did you find that?

Kelsey was interested in the mason job and liked by Brad. But it never really got anywhere in terms of interview etc.

 

[psyclone]

Kelsey was interested in the mason job and liked by Brad. But it never really got anywhere in terms of interview etc.

I'm guessing that once the hype machine got moving on English, there was no stopping it. The guy is really well-connected. Every tv game, the announcers would comment on how well-regarded he was by Barnes and others.

 

[GMU79]

His biggest achievement (if it was him) was bringing back the "Geoge" on the uniforms.

Several years ago the bookstore was actually selling tee shirts that said PATROITS.
Natinals anyone?

 

[FlPatriot]

Several years ago the bookstore was actually selling tee shirts that said PTROITS.
Natinals anyone?

And this was prior to post pandemic inflation…any new orders will be captioned ‘tits’.

 

[GSII]

Aint it lonely overlooking the Potomac watching Patrick Ewing walk to his car every night?

 

[JimP]

My vibe since day 1 was that he was using Mason as a stepping stone.

I may be completly wrong so correct me if I am but based on his social media, I'm pretty sure he rented an apartment in Arlington and that he didn't move his family out here. Who would do that if you didn't plan on being here long term?

2nd. He hit the portal hard and wanted to win right away both years. He wanted to win right away and not build from the ground up. The quicker he wins, the quicker he gets a better gig.

3rd. Based on our current roster, we were going to be worse next season. Especially if JO left which is most likely the case. He probably figured he needed to leave now otherwise he's stuck at Mason without an extension and potentially would have to go back to being an assistant eventually.

It is what it is I guess. He did whats best for him. It just sucks and hurts that we were used. Wish he could've at least got us into the NCAAT.

I feel like he may very well have left last year if he could've. His name was in the mix at places already. I'm guessing the administration f'ed up and English was always gonna use GMU just as long as he needed to.

 

[KAOriginal]

I'm not trying to read too deep in KEs actions. I think he came here with the idea to be successful. But we all have to admit Mason is a rung on the ladder.

I know Barnes said go there...cut your teeth at a better than average league in a GOOD area, no over expectations from school and see what happens. It's logical from a professional view.

What happened was out of anyone's control. Timing is everything. Of course Barnes called Providence the same way L probably called GW for Caputo.

It is what is.

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

This thread will be around and active for years to come. It will be second only to the coach L and hate threads. I look forward to reveling in Providence’s misery and being thankful CKE gave us the opportunity to fast track Coach Tony to a hall of fame coaching career.

Tony once but punched someone in a game and that lead to a final four. Well he’s already nut punched Providence, so a national championship is certainly in our future.

English is a fraud of a coach. All glitter no gold. This is all a blessing in disguise.

 

[FlPatriot]

This thread will be around and active for years to come. It will be second only to the coach L and hate threads. I look forward to reveling in Providence’s misery and being thankful CKE gave us the opportunity to fast track Coach Tony to a hall of fame coaching career.

Tony once but punched someone in a game and that lead to a final four. Well he’s already nut punched Providence, so a national championship is certainly in our future.

English is a fraud of a coach. All glitter no gold. This is all a blessing in disguise.

I agree with your assessment and think the AD will be cleaned up as part of the process.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Tony once but punched someone in a game and that lead to a final four. Well he’s already nut punched Providence, so a national championship is certainly in our future.

Our new motto. Want to play GMU? Get ready to get punched in the nads!

 

[gmujim92]

Surprised nobody is giving Kim credit for getting “George” back on the jerseys and taking us back to the classic uniforms. Those were great changes.

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

Surprised nobody is giving Kim credit for getting “George” back on the jerseys and taking us back to the classic uniforms. Those were great changes.

He also convinced the administration to add 5th Avenue bars to vending machine near the weight room. Kim’s legacy will endure for time eternal.

 

[Verdad]

Surprised nobody is giving Kim credit for getting “George” back on the jerseys and taking us back to the classic uniforms. Those were great changes.

Someone did earlier

 

[Falco]

Kelsey was interested in the mason job and liked by Brad. But it never really got anywhere in terms of interview etc.

Hire him now

 

[gmujim92]

Hire him now

That ship has sailed

 

[mkaufman1]

Hire him now

He is probably on his way to a power 5 if he has any interest of leaving CofC- we're just going to probably go in a different direction.

 

[Walter]

It is good to see that some coaches still get a payday the old fashioned way, that is, by earning it.

 

[gmubrian]

Realizing it's a day to be overly critical of Kim, but there are plenty of small and somewhat more significant changes he did make in two years. Off the top of my head a few off-the-court ones are:

- Re-connected with alumni players. Final Four guys, Dre Smith, Mike Mo, Herring, etc. all became regulars around the program again.
- Opened the doors to practices and team events to fans and donors.
- Hid tickets and swag around campus, provided free food and worked hard to get students engaged in the program.
- Started the George Mason Experience
- Made sure gamedays had a DJ to compliment the band and get the crowd more engaged
- We finally got a coach's show
- Got the arena to show replays of controversial calls (ask Urgo how much he liked that)
- Upped the program's social media/video game 10-fold
- Helped promote the NIL Collective
- Did more genuine donor outreach than any coach we've had, OCM included
- At least got cosmetic changes done to the coach's offices (more to come on RAC improvements)

On-court was certainly a mixed bag but we did see a lot of changes, which sort of flies in the face of the "content with the status quo" statement we've heard.

I gave this post a like, but also wanted express my concurrence with this in this manner as well! The man was working 20x7 (gotta sleep a little) to do everything he could for the program (and obviously himself by extension).

 

[gmubrian]

My vibe since day 1 was that he was using Mason as a stepping stone.

I may be completly wrong so correct me if I am but based on his social media, I'm pretty sure he rented an apartment in Arlington and that he didn't move his family out here. Who would do that if you didn't plan on being here long term?

2nd. He hit the portal hard and wanted to win right away both years. He wanted to win right away and not build from the ground up. The quicker he wins, the quicker he gets a better gig.

3rd. Based on our current roster, we were going to be worse next season. Especially if JO left which is most likely the case. He probably figured he needed to leave now otherwise he's stuck at Mason without an extension and potentially would have to go back to being an assistant eventually.

It is what it is I guess. He did whats best for him. It just sucks and hurts that we were used. Wish he could've at least got us into the NCAAT.

I'll point out what I believe and know to be wrong:

1. I was told he owned the his place, but I don't have proof, thought, he ABSOLUTELY DID move his family out here.

2. We all wanted him to hit the portal hard to fill in with the gaping holes that were left in our roster. Making that some sort of argument that he was planning on leaving is a little disingenuous. He also brought us our best ever commitment in his first season in Fernandez and a pretty good looking group of freshmen this coming year. Let's try to be fair and not cherry pick information.

3. While earlier in the year I would have said JO was 30 percent staying 70 leaving, I am pretty sure it was about 95% staying 5% leaving (maybe higher for staying) before this coaching change came along. There were serious discussions to make sure there was sufficient NIL money for Josh to make it an easy decision for him to stay.

All in all it doesn't seem like the actions of a coach that was planning to leave imminently just a couple of weeks ago. I have other data points on that as well, but I am not here to start a new blame session, just to correct the record as I know it on a person that I have a great amount of respect for.

 

[Walter]

I never want to hear #RockWithUs again. It always sounded like a slogan for an 80s classic rock FM station.