A couple of comments on the comments regarding the "what do you think of CTS performance so far" question:
I don't think you can ding CTS for Okojie leaving. CTS did everything he could to keep him. The NIL demands from Okojie were just too much (ridiculous comes to mind). In the end, the fact that Okojie made it solely about money makes him not a good fit for our program. If we could have met his demands, it would have created dissension throughout the rest of the team. Mason does not have the NIL resources to bring in people that are making top tier demands for NIL money. We need people that are going to look at the whole picture (Coach, team, program, school, NIL, etc.) and not just the NIL aspect. That is how Tony is building our team and he seems to be a master at it based on the evidence so far.
I find it interesting that the people that were scheduled to go with the team on the Bahamas trip, the ones whose vacation plans were changed at the last minute, aren't nearly as upset about it being canceled as other fans. It is being called a disaster or other sky is falling type adjectives. I don't see it as that big of a deal. Yes, it was some bad publicity, but, that has already died off. We got all of the extra practicing in, the only thing we lost was a couple of practice games and a little bit of an island travel reward for the team. I know Tony takes responsibility as the head coach and would say that in response to my comment here, but, I don't know if he was actually the one responsible for whatever double checks were missed or if it was someone above/outside his management. Maybe/maybe not. I know I'll be in the minority here, but, when you hire what was a reputable (at least at the time) company that specializes in these things to handle all the planning, if you have to double check every single step of the process, you kind of defeat the purpose of hiring the company in the first place. So, I am not sure how much we can even criticize whoever had responsibility for interacting with this company. The issue was known before anyone went anywhere without a reservation. The school tried to make alternate plans, but, when considering what they knew had fallen through, not knowing if other things were not taken care of, and the exorbitant cost of making alternate plans (like last second charters) that it was best to cancel.
My gut was to give him a 10, but, I'll give him a 9.9/10 at this point to leave myself a little room for some small thing he might not have done perfectly.
I don't think you can ding CTS for Okojie leaving. CTS did everything he could to keep him. The NIL demands from Okojie were just too much (ridiculous comes to mind). In the end, the fact that Okojie made it solely about money makes him not a good fit for our program. If we could have met his demands, it would have created dissension throughout the rest of the team. Mason does not have the NIL resources to bring in people that are making top tier demands for NIL money. We need people that are going to look at the whole picture (Coach, team, program, school, NIL, etc.) and not just the NIL aspect. That is how Tony is building our team and he seems to be a master at it based on the evidence so far.
I find it interesting that the people that were scheduled to go with the team on the Bahamas trip, the ones whose vacation plans were changed at the last minute, aren't nearly as upset about it being canceled as other fans. It is being called a disaster or other sky is falling type adjectives. I don't see it as that big of a deal. Yes, it was some bad publicity, but, that has already died off. We got all of the extra practicing in, the only thing we lost was a couple of practice games and a little bit of an island travel reward for the team. I know Tony takes responsibility as the head coach and would say that in response to my comment here, but, I don't know if he was actually the one responsible for whatever double checks were missed or if it was someone above/outside his management. Maybe/maybe not. I know I'll be in the minority here, but, when you hire what was a reputable (at least at the time) company that specializes in these things to handle all the planning, if you have to double check every single step of the process, you kind of defeat the purpose of hiring the company in the first place. So, I am not sure how much we can even criticize whoever had responsibility for interacting with this company. The issue was known before anyone went anywhere without a reservation. The school tried to make alternate plans, but, when considering what they knew had fallen through, not knowing if other things were not taken care of, and the exorbitant cost of making alternate plans (like last second charters) that it was best to cancel.
My gut was to give him a 10, but, I'll give him a 9.9/10 at this point to leave myself a little room for some small thing he might not have done perfectly.
