I appreciate your point of view.
I can assure you that I'm not a Braun supporter but rather a supporter for the Milwaukee Panthers men's basketball program.
My loyalties do not lie with a single AD or a coach but rather with the basketball program as a whole.
I thought with my crack about a baseball table and your response that we had pretty much cleared this up.
I think in the long term that getting a new coach may be a great positive. The past head coach was here for 11 years and it was quite clear that his record was not one of excellence. 1 or 2 top three Horizon League finishes in the past 10 seasons was not going to get the program to next level.
I agree. As Rob Jeter's biggest (ok that's the last self-deprecating fat joke) supporter, even I knew last year was going to be it in all likelihood. And I absolutely agree that the results of the past 10 years are not what we're looking for.
That said, I think we should at least acknowledge here that our program's success that preceded Rob Jeter's tenure wasn't achieved on the same playing field that Jeter's staff played on. As long as we can all acknowledge that Pearl's staff wasn't squeaky clean, especially in comparison to Jeter's staff, then we can move on.
It's possible that the next hire is a complete bust. But this time around hopefully a contract is agreed on which doesn't make it extremely difficult financially to move on from a coach if the team's not performing at a high level. Let's not forget that if it wasn't for the contract that Jeter had that he may have been fired after the 2009-2010 season or the 2012-2013 season.
What I was glad to see from Braun is having the standard of excellence for the basketball program and not settling to become an also-ran of the Horizon League.
I don't think Braun, or whoever negotiates the next contract on behalf of the university, will leave the next contract open-ended without a buyout. I'll add a few points:
- I'd like there to be a buyout on both sides. If the coach succeeds and wants to move up, I'd like to see the university compensated.
- This doesn't mean I want the buyout to be a dollar amount for the coach if he wants to leave. Say a high-major wants to hire the coach. They can avoid paying the buyout specifically by signing a 2-for-2 contract with UWM. Several coaches have this clause on their contract; the example I point out the most is Jeff Capel, who had to play a 2-for-2 with VCU after he left to take over Oklahoma.
- The buyout should decrease as it gets closer to the end of the contract. Say, 500k before year 3, 350k before year 4, 200k before year 5, etc.
I do like the below quote from Amanda Braun in regards to finding a new head coach:
"I think pretty generically it's somebody that believes in the success that we can achieve, shares our values with regard to excellence and education," she said. "Cares a lot about being a part of something bigger than themselves on a campus and in a community.
"And, you know, a little bit of fire. Definitely want to get some fire."www.jsonline.com/sports/rob-jeter-fired-as-uwm-mens-basketball-coach-b99689696z1-372401751.htmlThat's a money quote. It was nicely prepared. I would have hoped she would have been more prepared in her other media appearances. So let's recap...she wants a coach who:
- Has 'fire.' Passionate, I'm guessing.
- 'Cares about being part of something bigger than themselves...' Sounds like someone who would be loyal to UWM.
- '...and in a community.' Someone who will be active and engaged in the community.
- 'shares our values with regard to excellence and education.' So, someone who can whip the team into shape so they achieve at a high level academically.
- 'Believes in the success we can achieve.' Someone who thinks UWM can achieve better on the court.
You know what?
I can think of someone:
Just joshin' ya. I get that it's over. But if she wants to achieve at a higher level, she needs to be able to support basketball at a much higher level than she has been.
I started following the Milwaukee Panthers when I was in high school during Bruce Pearl's years when my Brother attended UWM. He graduated in 2005 for the Lubar School of Business at UWM. I remember the excitement that the teams had during those years.
I remember watching highlights of "the shot" by Clay Tucker on the nightly news to garner the Panther's first victory over a ranked team against #25 Butler in 2002.
I remember watching the first nationally televised Panthers game which was on ESPN2 at Southern Illinois in February of the 2002-2003 season part of the Bracket Buster event. I remember attending the 2003 Horizon League Championship at the Arena and the excitement and enthusiasm in the building and how the Panthers jumped on butler and never looked back. I remember the students rushing the court.
I remember the Panthers first NCAA tournament game in 2003 and how a heartbreaking loss it was of 70-69 to Notre Dame and the look that Dylan Page had to win. I remember attending the Panthers game against Cleveland State in 2004 to clinch the regular season Horizon league title at the Klotsche center and getting Dylan Page to autograph my Panthers hat.
Then there was the 2004-2005 season and the magical run to the Sweet Sixteen.
I remember all those things as well. Those were great.
They were also achieved through questionable means. Time for the program to admit that Bruce Pearl had a lot longer leash than Rob Jeter did. He had support of the program and university, and I will point to two people that brought that support:
1. Nancy Zimpher. 2. Bud Haidet.
We have not had an athletics-minded chancellor since Nancy Zimpher. I'm not saying the chancellor needs to put athletics over academics, or research. But the chancellor needs to be willing to make athletics - specifically men's basketball - a priority. They need to be able to spend more - oh yes - and they need to be able to
The Athletic Director, on the other hand, needs to sell the chancellor on all the things that athletics needs to succeed, at every step of the way. It appears as if the only thing Amanda Braun has sold the chancellor on is spending 500k to have a guy sit at home for a year, making the announcement right before the chancellor himself announced major cuts to the university in academics and research.
That's a hell of a sales job, actually. I'll give Amanda that. However this is a public university, so there's always a money trail. And if any media investigations uncover less-than-kosher ways that the buyout was funded, Braun - and anyone who approved it - better start filling out their resumes.
I myself did not attend UWM. I attended another university and graduated from there, but I still have followed the program through the years.
It felt like the program has been stuck in neutral for the past 10 years. I'm excited to see what a new coach can do with this program. Are my expectations high? Yes, but it's been done before here, and it can be done again. Are there challenges here? Yes. But with the right coach in place I believe we don't have to settle for less than desirable results, we can aim high and strive for excellence.
Okay then. We'll keep up appearances.
I believe the reason this program is stuck in neutral since 2010 is because Rob Jeter has spent his time running for his life from athletic directors who are either inept (Costello), out to fire him (Braun), or both (Koonce). Or, you know, were straight-up there to keep this program in the Horizon League at all costs (Geiger).
If Bud Haidet is ten years younger? I doubt we're having this discussion right now. The man batted damn near 1.000 in hiring coaches for sports teams. Seriously, go sport to sport:
- Track/XC: Pete Corfeld. Still there, 27 years later. Has more Horizon League Championships (48) than
six schools in all sports. I think Bud hammered that one out of the freaking park.
- Baseball: Jerry Augustine, Scott Doffek. Everyone knows Scotty really ran the show, but Bud hired them both. Unfortunately, in 9 years Scotty only has 1 regular season title and 1 tournament title. By Amanda's standards for basketball, Scotty should be on his way out as well. So if Scotty is still the head coach after this season, you'll know whether or not her 'goals' for MBB were bullsh*t or not.
- Volleyball: Kathy Litzau, Susie Johnson. They only won, like, a crapload of titles in a row. 1997-2013 with at least one conference title (regular season or tournament). That's incredible. Bud hired them both.
- Women's Basketball: Sandy Botham. Winningest coach in Horizon League women's basketball history, got moved out six years after her last conference title. Rob Jeter will be six years removed from his last conference title in 2020. Don't discount our 2014 championship. Fluky or not, it f***ing happened.
- Soccer: Men - Louis Bennett, Jon Coleman. Louis was an incredible hire, and Jon Coleman might have done better if Bud didn't allow Bob Spielmann to be on Coleman's staff. That caused a toxic situation in men's soccer. Women - Laura Moynihan, Susie Moynihan, Mike Moynihan/David Nikolic. Winners. That's the only word you need. Mike and David built women's soccer into a top 3 program in the midwest, all levels. Sarah Hagen will always be remembered, graduating 9th in NCAA scoring history. But they had a ton of players that killed at every position on the field.
- Swimming: Hired Dave Clark and then Erica Janssen (Beine), the latter of which built the program that owned the conference in the earlier part of this decade.
- Men's basketball: Ric Cobb (failure), Bo Ryan, Bruce Pearl, Rob Jeter. All three of those men had a huge hand in the Sweet 16. Rob Jeter was the main recruiter of Adrian Tigert and Chris Hill, and also discovered Dylan Page. Another player, seen as a Pearl recruit, was steered here by Jeter when UW didn't have an open scholarship. Pearl's teams were incredible, but they wouldn't have made it as far as they did without Rob Jeter recruits.
Which reminds me, just how close the difference is between success and not-good-enough. What happens if Brandon Cotton's shot falls in 2005, then UWM misses the NCAA and goes to their second NIT? Pearl's four years would have been Nothing/NCAA/NIT/NIT. Are those the years of someone that's done so much better than Jeter? Then take Jeter. What happens if Ricky Franklin's shot goes in at Butler in the 2010 semifinals, they go on to beat Wright State and go to the NCAA in 2010? And Anthony Hill isn't shut down in the first half in 2011? Jeter could very well have had four NCAA Tournaments in 2006, 2010, 2011, and 2014. If that's the case, we're not having this conversation.
Am I saying that Jeter's tenure is the same as Pearl's? No. I'm just trying to point out that as a mid-major, the difference is razor-thin. If JJ Panoske doesn't foul out against Green Bay three weeks ago, when we're up 5, do they run the paint and win by nine?
I just want you guys to see this for what it is - Rob Jeter - for all the faults of his program - their biggest fault was being the second-best team in a one-bid conference to the
best mid-major team in the history of college basketball. That's pretty ridiculous.
Bud Haidet was huge for us in hiring coaches. I wish we could contract him to hire the next coach.
If Amanda Braun were looking to hire the best coach, she should call Bud Haidet and get some advice. Then again, my guess is he probably wouldn't take her phone call.
