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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2019 17:13:06 GMT -6
Maybe Lettenberger should have just showed up to the friggin' barbecue? I have never seen such a severe case of axe-grinding in my life- holy wow. I was a fan of his in his playing days but man please stay away from this program. mediamilwaukee.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Braun-Emails_.pdfI am cautiously optimistic that this 2019-2020 team can battle us back to respectability. The structural issues that'll outlast this team however, have me far more pessimistic. I don't know why you would actively root against the 1 thing that ties former students back to the University. Read the emails gleefully downplaying the importance of the men's basketball program. It just makes me sick to know this is who is in charge of everything on Downer Ave. Only Andy Geiger was more of a threat to the future of Milwaukee Panther Hoops.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2019 17:16:42 GMT -6
This will be year three of me not caring about this program or University. Sad. Gotta. Keep. The. Faiiiiiiiitttth. lbvs. The current team has nothing to do with the madness at the top; 'gotta support them, no?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2019 17:48:12 GMT -6
What the hell I paused my blog and haven't had chance to vent following what all happened after the '14-'15 season.... So.
First, again to Justin Leternberger- WTH man? I have 'friends' who I literally went to grade school with who sometimes go weeks without returning my texts. Family too! People ignore text messages occasionally in the 21st Century (esp. after no-shows to cookouts lol). Rob Jeter was not at all the person you hate-painted him as. That's shady af what you said (probably never imagining it would become part of the internet forever). You should apologize. And not feel entitled to some reply that'll mend your fragile Panther heart.
Second Amanda Braun, this is not a persecution. We thought you might be horrible as AD for this University; you proved it. People are fed up and want to see a competent, enthusiastic AD with vision. That's it. That's all. That's the beef.
Finally, Pat Baldwin- just win, win, win and all this mess that you should not have inherited will go away long enough for us to forget the past and focus squarely on you, the team- and most importantly on the future.
PS: But the AD HAS TO GO at some point- the fish rots from the head. So much shadiness/duplicity/conspiring/political maneuvering. That should not be a feature of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Athletic Department.
PPS: I used to attend virtually every home game at the Cell/Arena from 2007-2014. I wrote a blog about the Panthers in hopes of inspiring new Panther fans who maybe like me, didn't know a lot of people on campus and were fortunate to have a connection to the school and the alum and its rich history. Sure my life has changed and has left less time for following my favorite sports teams. But I cannot remember the last time a Panther hoops game on TV was "can't-miss" event for me. It used to be must-see TV (or radio) every. single. game.
Part of it is the absence of continuity since and the nature of what went down in Spring of 2015. Part of it is feeling like nobody in leadership position at UWM has any guts or integrity to call out (and remove) divisive, organizationally-destructive behavior that should not represent UWM. What happened to doing things the right way? Treating people professionally and with respect? Part of it is truly feeling like the university is actively trying to wind down men's basketball because they are penny-wise and pound foolish and don't understand the intangible benefits of marketing your university - (to prospective undergraduate students, prospective graduate and doctoral students and student researchers, prospective faculty and senior researchers, prospective corporate and non-profit partners, prospective donors)- through the exposure received in men's college basketball, esp. in March tournament time.
You cannot put a price on the pride people feel for their university when their team is getting local buzz and national coverage- it really is a big deal and needs to be taken seriously if the idea of Milwaukee Athletics excellence Braun claims to espouse (but only Bud Haidet truly mastered) is ever going to become a reality for Milwaukee again.
I miss the days when even though there were different factions and everyone would debate like hell right about what the right direction for the future was- at least then, we all cared. November is only 3 months away... What the heck happened?
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Post by Duct_Tape_Pounce on Aug 8, 2019 0:04:42 GMT -6
I understand that Amanda Braun has not been a good AD, and it’s disappointing that her contract has been extended without any real success. Rereading some of those emails reaffirms my disappointment in those decisions.. I also understand that the last few seasons have been disappointing. I also understand that priorities change, and a college basketball program won’t always take on a high level of importance in everyone’s life throughout their lives.
Having said that, I do feel like if you are letting a bad athletic director take away your enjoyment and support of a program, that’s at least kind of on you too. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of claims of sabotage of the program, and while I know that is often said out of frustration, by not going to games and blaming the AD for your absence, you’re kind of helping her “sabotage” the program. A lot of people (and not just on this board) seem to want Amanda Braun to fail much more than they want the Panthers to succeed. I’ll be at as many games as I can attend this year (hopefully all the home games) hoping that the Panthers win, even if that means Amanda Braun will get undeserved credit for their success.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2019 9:51:24 GMT -6
I know. You're right. It sucks and I'll try harder to care again.
I miss rooting for this team.
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Post by BBFran on Aug 8, 2019 18:10:27 GMT -6
As of March 2016 it was immediately obvious to many of us (in fact, to thousands of us, as the attendance collapse conclusively demonstrates) that the last thing that our current athletic administration wanted was for our men’s basketball program to be successful. It has been powerfully effective since then in achieving what it wanted instead.
A friend posed this challenge recently: name ONE thing that is better about the program today than in February of 2016.
Can’t do it.
The few hundred people who actually still care about or pay attention to this program have been reduced to hoping against hope that some time in the next couple seasons, in a drastically worse conference, the team will just achieve a winning record. Something it did every year but two between 2009 and 2016 playing in a much better league.
We have already lost THREE FULL YEARS. How much evidence does anyone need that without a change at the top, this program is going nowhere? If you still want to attend the games and support the team that way, nobody is stopping you. But blaming fans who have chosen otherwise because they have recognized the obvious about what the University actually thinks about the program is ridiculous.
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Post by Duct_Tape_Pounce on Aug 11, 2019 21:54:35 GMT -6
I will stand by my statement that if you are letting a bad AD destroy your enjoyment of a basketball team, that's your own prerogative. You have every right to do that. But it does seem a bit disingenuous to consistently state (and re-state and re-state) that attendance is low while actively doing your part to lower attendance. And to answer your question, while I know the program isn't in great shape, I will say that I can think of one thing off the top of my head that is better than March 2016. The athletic department seems a lot more motivated to raise attendance that it did in 2016 (or any year since Brian Morgan left, really). I have been impressed with Adam Schemm so far. A few years back, the basketball season ticket order forms came really late in the summer. I want to say I didn't receive it until middle August. I called the athletic department about this, and in all reality, it felt like they tried to get me off the phone. This year, the order form was received in spring, they made a conscious effort to get orders in early, they seem to be doing a better job at advertising season tickets (at least on social media), and when I did call them for something, they were friendly and helpful. I know it's a small thing, but I do feel like this it's a step toward bringing attendance up a bit.
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Post by BBFran on Aug 12, 2019 21:27:52 GMT -6
I'm not letting a bad AD destroy my enjoyment of the program. Like thousands of other fans, I'm voting with my feet (not to mention my checkbook) to let the administration know that I'm not going to support a program that IT is so obviously not interested in supporting. There's utterly no other explanation for the University's failure to make a change.
The truly sad thing is that the damage that has been done to the program may be so thorough and permanent that it will never again achieve anything like the fan interest and success it found so consistently for that glorious (and now quickly receding) 17 year period. We can only conclude that the University administration is far more comfortable with our men's basketball program forever partying like it's 1999 -- and that whether the program lives, dies or permanently flounders is of no concern whatsoever to them in their evaluation of the AD's job performance. I truly feel sorry for PBS and his players. This isn't what they signed up for. But the coach at least should have known what he was getting into. It's not like it wasn't pretty damn obvious.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Aug 13, 2019 7:56:26 GMT -6
Not that it will make one dent in their position on men's basketball, but at least we know that they know how we feel ... and that somehow makes me feel just a LITTLE better.
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Post by steveisback on Aug 13, 2019 8:30:03 GMT -6
Agree with both Paul and Fran above. It is totally appropriate to make our views known. We do care but at some point one has the right and sometimes obligation to "vote with our feet" when a situation becomes intolerable. This is not endemic to just Panther hoops. I agree that this is an extreme situation. Personally I still love and care deeply about this program as I know you guys do but in good faith voting with my feet also. Actually, I started in 2015 as I got fed up and tired with the whole Rob Jeter tenure of 5th place finishes and unfulfilled potential one game over .500 over 11 years in D 1 . A new voice was needed. Was that better than what we had now ? Yes. History will bear out in the long run but the one thing I think we can agree on is that Braun is a disaster. Not sure it can survive her tenure . One area where I do disagree is that this was an intentional plan by the administration and Braun to torpedo mens basketball. That would be like saying the search committees that hired such stalwarts as Koonce, Costello, Geiger and Braun intentionally tried to hire horrible people to sabotage the program. Just a long pattern of gross incompetence. I wish Coach Baldwin and the team well. I will follow and maybe occasionaly attend a game but until Braun is gone not going to give the satisfaction of buying season tickets again or donating.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Aug 13, 2019 9:00:21 GMT -6
I also wish PBS and his players all the best!
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Post by nickpanther on Aug 13, 2019 14:44:43 GMT -6
i was a student at UWM during the peak of Pearl. those were heady times, nearly going to 4 straight dances, winning our way to the Sweet 16, etc. my take on the Jeter situation, personally the handling of his exit was EXTREMELY poorly handled. frankly our program has never really recovered from that. we're 36-63 over the past 3 seasons. Rob was the winningest coach in the programs modern history, and one of only 3 coaches ( Penwell 186, Rebholz 126) to win 100 games with UWM as coach. yes at a certain point you have to consider whether to make a change ( whether the teams underachieve, the coach makes too much, etc). to get fans back in the seats, the team has to win, and win regularly. i'm talking 20+ wins here.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Aug 13, 2019 15:55:20 GMT -6
Forget all that, Nick. That's next-level stuff. When will we merely get our post-Purge record back to .500?
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Post by BBFran on Aug 13, 2019 16:35:49 GMT -6
Forget all that, Nick. That's next-level stuff. When will we merely get our post-Purge record back to .500? It took three miserable seasons to dig that -27 hole. In a BEST case scenario it would take at least that many to climb back to even. I mean, does anybody think there’s a chance in hell? We are looking up at five teams at least in the HL this year, bad as it is. WSU, NKU, UIC, GB and OU. All have more experienced rosters and coaches. A “good” season would be a top half finish in the league, an overall record around .500, and a win in the HLT. But at least it would give the 700 person average crowds something better than the abject misery since 2016.
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Post by nickpanther on Aug 13, 2019 17:34:19 GMT -6
you do have to start somewhere god. ending the 11 game losing streak and getting some long winning streaks, will help carve off some of that hole. this is year 3 for Baldwin, his system should be fully in place by now. frankly i think to stick with baldwin long term, we have to start winning, and do some damage in the conference tourney.
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