fauowl said

I am fine with a coaching change.  I have seen plenty.  I was here long before Jarvis...and Walters...and Doherty...and Green...and Billerman. I believe I started following them in the Loomis era (before most of the current team members were born)--(yes, I am old as dirt).  There are a few missing pieces to this puzzle.  My hope is that they take care of some of the other missing pieces when they add the new coach...otherwise it will just be the same crap on a different day. I look forward to seeing who the new coach will be and the new found dedication to a basketball program at FAU.

Posted On: Mar 12th 2014, 8:02 AM #329800

I have been suffering since Sydney Green…and as horrible as everyone thinks Jarvis was, he was the most successful coach we have had and he brought in better talent.  If you were watching when Sydney was here you know what I am talking about…I look forward to the future, I must be an optimist!

Although he has the most wins, Jarvis is not the most "successful" coach. If you look at winning percentage its not even close.

That would be DOHerty (53.6%), The Other Guy (48.4%), and then Tim Loomis (41.2%).

Jarvis comes in 4th in win percentage at 40.7%.

On a side note:

Nobody cares about anything except "what have you done for me today". The key difference is back in Green's time then there was no internet (TON, FaceBook, Twitter) to bitch, moan, whine, and complain.

Otherwise take a look at these apples from his era:

1999-00  2-28, 0-18

2000-01  7-24, 5-13

2001-02  19-12, 13-7

2002-03  7-21, 3-13

2003-04  9-19, 6-14

2004-05  10-17, 10-10

and he couldn't convince his son to come play for him  

Matt Doherty is available

Rick said

Although he has the most wins, Jarvis is not the most "successful" coach. If you look at winning percentage its not even close.

That would be DOHerty (53.6%), The Other Guy (48.4%), and then Tim Loomis (41.2%).

Posted On: Mar 12th 2014, 10:19 AM #329808

Well, Matt Doherty is available…

Yes I can say the Internet has made it possible for alumni to keep up. I lived in GA from 1985 till 2000 and the only time I heard anything about FAU was if it made national news, which wasn't very often. The football team happened after the WWW came about and I was following the team from day 1. I didn't have a computer with Internet access in the early 1990s.

teambeer said

and he couldn't convince his son to come play for him  

Posted On: Mar 12th 2014, 10:43 AM #329809

+1

If Green convinced his son to go to FAU, it could have changed the entire program.  

fauowl said

teambeer said

and he couldn't convince his son to come play for him  

Posted On: Mar 12th 2014, 10:43 AM #329809

+1

If Green convinced his son to go to FAU, it could have changed the entire program.  

Posted On: Mar 12th 2014, 11:35 AM #329813

If you cant recruit you own son, well then who can you recruit?

Rick said

Nobody cares about anything except "what have you done for me today". The key difference is back in Green's time there was no internet (TON, FaceBook, Twitter) to b*tch, moan, whine, and complain.

I've been following basketball since before I was following football (though, admittedly, not as long as fauowl or Tim). I was in the Burrow for plenty of games when there were fewer than 500 people there, and I honestly didn't care because I loved being there. I brought, on several occasions, people who had no interest in FAU or basketball to the games with me to get them interested (I'm still doing this). I gave up shifts at work to see this team. I bought shirts, I donated money, I helped promote games, I went to Coaches Radio Show and even approached several basketball players on campus during their freshman years to personally thank them for choosing FAU.

But here's the thing…. and I hate to admit it.

Generally speaking, you paid to apply to FAU. You paid for classes. You paid for books. You might have paid for research or internship/externship credits. You paid for Athletics. You paid for Student Government who put on events related to Athletics and gave you "free" shirts. You paid for parking. And then, after 4+ years, you paid for your cap and gown. After you graduate, they contact you about donating more money.

FAU is a business. Its product is education. You are/were a customer.  University Athletics, too, is a business. Technically almost a side business. When you're a student, your Athletics Fees fund the department and in return you get "free" admission and "free" giveaways. When you're an alumnus, you pay for tickets, pay for parking and make donations. That's your relationship. You are still the customer. You were always the customer.

Yet it's the kind of business that needs you to believe you are part of a family - the FAU family. And you "must be loyal" to this family, meaning no matter what product they put out, you must pay for it. And then the forums say, not only must you pay for any product they put out despite the quality, but you must do so and you shouldn't complain about it because It's Your Team.

The question is: why?

Do we really think its a good use of money to attend bad games just so players feel better and coaches/recruits want to come here? Because it's a fraction of their decision along with the growth opportunities, the coaching relationships, the facilities, the location, etc?

If you went to a restaurant behind your house and were disappointed five times, do you owe it to the restaurant to keep eating there because it's your neighborhood restaurant? If your uncle owned a tire dealership and three of the tires you got from there blew out on the highway, are you supposed to keep buying tires from him?

Maybe, since without support those businesses could go under. Athletics won't go under. Clearly it won't go under. It's fair to say that most FAU programs are underperforming, sometimes for several years. Look at Jarvis' overall record. Look at Green's. We magically still have basketball (and other teams) because the student fees pay for Athletics even if they're losing.

Athletics owes it to themselves to put out the best product they can because it affects their business. There are the people on the internet that b*tch, whine, moan and complain about FAU teams as Rick mentioned and we villify them for not being "true fans."

But FAU Athletics' market is bigger than the diehards on TON, isn't it? They're also trying to sell to the people who are fans but don't post here (who may also be disappointed, and are showing so by not attending games) and the people who are potential fans (who are not attending games). Whether we complain or don't complain, donate $10,000 or donate $0, FAU technically still has an obligation to put out a better product for their own sake, not for TON's - although of course it's related.

If the next coach is successful, the students and community will notice. The next coach takes us to the Sweet 16 and somehow miraculously doesn't get hired away after that season, it will continue to grow. But we don't have any control over who Chun picks. Since no one has stepped up, I assume we can't donate our way to hiring a better coach. And I doubt we could have donated enough to get Jarvis to focus more on certain aspects of the game. The coach is everything. The choice of a coach is everything. This team doesn't wax and wane because of fans. It waxes and wanes because of coaching.

Feel free to log out and dice me up as a "Guest" to preserve your "street cred" here. It won't affect me emotionally but if it makes you feel better, go for it. Fact is, you can still love our teams and our university while recognizing that this is a business relationship. It's a rocky relationship but every now and then has its bragging rights. I'm sure every one of you has had that moment where you thought, "Is it worth it to be an FAU fan? It's just so hard sometimes." And yet we're all still here.

owl2Doc said

Rick said

Nobody cares about anything except "what have you done for me today". The key difference is back in Green's time there was no internet (TON, FaceBook, Twitter) to b*tch, moan, whine, and complain.

But here's the thing…. and I hate to admit it.

…

I'm sure every one of you has had that moment where you thought, "Is it worth it to be an FAU fan? It's just so hard sometimes." And yet we're all still here.

Posted On: Mar 12th 2014, 2:18 PM #329820

       

Post of the week material right there.

I will add this, in defense of the "you should support your school crowd" just a bit. I feel like the relationship is a lot like having a silly kid who keeps needing to borrow money. You're emotionally invested (at least some of us are) and even though they keep disappointing you, you want to help them out because they're "yours."

Would they have a better chance of learning their lesson if you stopped giving them support? Perhaps. But that's not a bond that's easily broken. Just ask a parent of a kid who's paid their rent at the last minute or gotten them out of jail or something crazy. I've always thought, "make em suffer", but it's not that easy.

This is a lot like FAU basketball. They keep getting into trouble, I keep opening my wallet! Because it was such a key part of a really special time in my life, I'll always look fondly back at it, even though they just got a DUI and I have to go get em out of jail again!   A few years ago, you got to see the potential that FAU basketball could have, and you started to think, maybe they're getting their act together. Now this…I'm back at the bail bondsman.