Where to go from here

[theDarkHawkReturns]

Yeah...let get a coach who will bang co-eds, try to bring in guys that cannot qualify academically, have nice rap sheets, and were in JUCO because they were run out of other programs. That's a great idea. Maybe we can even have the fun of an NCAA investigation and the associated loss of scholarships that come with it!

[brewcityitalian]

I am over the whole tourney thing now, a lot of schools didn't go to the CBI or CTI, I think Oakland may have went to a tourney though ?

As for Braun, she is not media saavy, she is better off getting a public relations person to speak for her cuz obviously she cannot do it competently.

But seriously, what has she done in 3 yearss, besides moving us back to the arena? Anybody, Anybody ?

[uwm97]

Let's get real: the fan base, while loyal, is minuscule for a school of 27,000 students and thousands of successful alumni throughout SE Wisconsin. The best avg attendance in school history was '04-'05 I believe l, which was around 5,000. Your average Wednesday night game in January is probably 2700-3000, depending on opponent. It's not like you're going to see a mass exodus of people desert the program when the base is small to begin with.

The donor issue is much bigger. And thie lack of a much larger donor network is embarrassing. I can tell you that I have several wealthy colleague with either undergraduate or graduate degree from UWM, yet no one would know it due to their vocal rooting interests for Marquette, Notre Dame, etc. Nicholas and Gruber are important donors; the problem is, there should be several of them in the network. This has been an utter failure for decades, and every chancellor shares in the blame. With the amount of money held by UWM alumni throughout the state and country (Nadella comes to mind), the fact that you can one or two wannabe kingmakers is a black eye on the fundraising mechanisms of this university.

[brewcityitalian]

I am not even mad about the firing, as this was his last year, and why put Jeter in a lame duck year of coaching, it was bad for the university and for him to be in that position, thus its a moot point and I am fine with him being let go.

I am not fine with the current state of the athletic department. That I am not fine with.

[pantherproud]

I agree with your vision totally. We should have left the horizon after 2006 but didnt. The problem I have is the first thing you listed is winning. We haven't done that consistently in 10 years. That's part of the funding problem. If we had at least maintained our standing as a winner we would have been fine but jeter let the program regress and we didn't have an AD long enough to make a change. I for one will donate even more now if we hire an upgrade for a coach. Time to get it right and reclaim our spot as a top flight mid major.

[brewcityitalian]

Mar 22, 2016 12:28:29 GMT -6 uwm97 said:

Let's get real: the fan base, while loyal, is minuscule for a school of 27,000 students and thousands of successful alumni throughout SE Wisconsin. The best avg attendance in school history was '04-'05 I believe l, which was around 5,000. Your average Wednesday night game in January is probably 2700-3000, depending on opponent. It's not like you're going to see a mass exodus of people desert the program when the base is small to begin with.

The donor issue is much bigger. And thie lack of a much larger donor network is embarrassing. I can tell you that I have several wealthy colleague with either undergraduate or graduate degree from UWM, yet no one would know it due to their vocal rooting interests for Marquette, Notre Dame, etc. Nicholas and Gruber are important donors; the problem is, there should be several of them in the network. This has been an utter failure for decades, and every chancellor shares in the blame. With the amount of money held by UWM alumni throughout the state and country (Nadella comes to mind), the fact that you can one or two wannabe kingmakers is a black eye on the fundraising mechanisms of this university.

Amen, keep preaching, that's exactly what I am talking about. And she is throwing it all away brick by brick.

SO true what you said, I don't know if I could of put that better myself.

[Spirit of Bruce]

That's funny, someone mentioned carnival barker, and brewcityitalian showed up...

[brewcityitalian]

i may not be on this board or twitter much, i apologize for that. But I am still very vocal, and yes i made it to 3 games year.

[PantherU]

Mar 22, 2016 12:28:29 GMT -6 uwm97 said:

Let's get real: the fan base, while loyal, is minuscule for a school of 27,000 students and thousands of successful alumni throughout SE Wisconsin. The best avg attendance in school history was '04-'05 I believe l, which was around 5,000. Your average Wednesday night game in January is probably 2700-3000, depending on opponent. It's not like you're going to see a mass exodus of people desert the program when the base is small to begin with.

The donor issue is much bigger. And thie lack of a much larger donor network is embarrassing. I can tell you that I have several wealthy colleague with either undergraduate or graduate degree from UWM, yet no one would know it due to their vocal rooting interests for Marquette, Notre Dame, etc. Nicholas and Gruber are important donors; the problem is, there should be several of them in the network. This has been an utter failure for decades, and every chancellor shares in the blame. With the amount of money held by UWM alumni throughout the state and country (Nadella comes to mind), the fact that you can one or two wannabe kingmakers is a black eye on the fundraising mechanisms of this university.

I think what you have to remember is that Nicholas is the only donor who has spoken to D'Amato that has been published thus far; he hinted on Bill Michaels' show and the Big Show that the next story will be much bigger, much deeper. That includes more people talking on the record, it has to.

[MKEPanthers45]

Players publicly speaking out on the radio and TV about all this. You'd think it would be impossible for Braun to survive this, sadly she will.

[milwsport]

I understand the anger for people who think RJ should still be heading up the program. However, maybe I'm reading too much into some of these posts but some people seem almost gleeful over the fallout. It seems like some of us want Braun hurt as a punishment.

I think she mishandled this thing from the word go and probably did so for her entire tenure here. Rather than bring in some donors and tell them she wanted to upgrade the program, she took actions that appear to have undermined the program. If you're giving big bucks you don't want to find out that the person with her hand out is doing less than she could to make sure they'll well spent.

That being said, I also think that all the negative publicity will hurt the program badly in the long run and hurt it even more than her actions. I'm beginning to wonder if it will survive this as a D-1 program.

[pantherproud]

I agree. Seems like 90% of the people on here are excited to tear the program down instead of trying to support it. I understand some of the frustrations but I think some of it needs to be kept in perspective. The rest of you that are such big Panther "fans" that you love seeing the program take some heat publicly should go cheer for the red and white. We don't want you hear anyway.

[skrapheap]

Mar 23, 2016 7:00:56 GMT -6 pantherproud said:

I agree. Seems like 90% of the people on here are excited to tear the program down instead of trying to support it. I understand some of the frustrations but I think some of it needs to be kept in perspective. The rest of you that are such big Panther "fans" that you love seeing the program take some heat publicly should go cheer for the red and white. We don't want you hear anyway.

Anonymity is such a blessing. You can talk any amount of nonsense without accountability for what you say.

To spell it out for you, no one on this board wants to tear down the program. A significant number of us have serious doubts that Amanda Braun posses the ability and temperment to lead the Athletic Department effectively and to build on what success the Department has had.

Speaking of success, how is it you believe that the men's basketball program has been successful since you cite lack of success as a reason Rob Jeter should have been fired long ago? "Mediocrity" is your preferred term...

[theDarkHawkReturns]

Mar 23, 2016 7:00:56 GMT -6 pantherproud said:

I agree. Seems like 90% of the people on here are excited to tear the program down instead of trying to support it. I understand some of the frustrations but I think some of it needs to be kept in perspective. The rest of you that are such big Panther "fans" that you love seeing the program take some heat publicly should go cheer for the red and white. We don't want you hear anyway.

Really?  Most of us where hear may years before you got your job in the Athletic Department....ooops....I mean started posting here.

I, for one, have been a Panther fan since the late 90's when I was attending classes there.  Actually, my first game goes back to the Von McDade days when I would go to games at the MECCA.

So, with all due respect, kiss off.

It is not us that created this dumpster fire.  We are only expressing our dissatisfaction with the piss poor leadership of this program, and we are FAR from alone in doing so.

[pantherproud]

That's great - i was probably sitting next to you at those MECCA games since I was there watching Von too. Still remember them giving Majerus's Utah team a run when Utah was #6 in the country. If you really have been a fan since then you would realize how far the program has come since Rick Cobb recruited guys and never made them go to class and lost a ton of games at the same time. That's why I'm posting...i don't understand why you are getting so much enjoyment out of this. You really want the program set back 20 years and go back to watching bad basketball like we did back then?? If so, keeping trying to fan the fire, moron.