GW Hoops / Just Going To Come Out And Ask

**Posted by Long Suffering Fan** 4/08/2021 7:05 am

I was always under the impression that staying local was very important to ML. He was really a good fit at GW for so many reasons Nero will always remain in my hall of shame for his destruction of what had become a solid top 100 program that was generally able to compete with nearly any program in the country and put fannies in the seats of a Smith Center that has been a mausoleum since his departure.

**Posted by GW0509** 4/08/2021 7:32 am

If Patsos wanted to get back into coaching after his dismissal from Siena he could throw his hat in the ring as well. Maybe a 2-for-1 with ML and Jimmy teaming up as HC/AC.

Last edited by GW0509 (4/08/2021 7:34 am)

**Posted by Gwmayhem** 4/08/2021 8:56 am

Very disappointed to see this thread has been moved. It's actually a very timely and relevant discussion with the UMBC job having recently opened up. I hope that anyone who would like to contribute to the conversation will be able to find this thread, now in Rewind, and do so.

LSF, if you haven't seen this, you should check out what ML had to say on Twitter in response to his team's 5th anniversary of the NIT Championship. It certainly sums up the way many of us feel.

There are hopefully much better days ahead with JC at the helm but so far, there haven't been very many. That's just reality.

Last edited by Gwmayhem (4/08/2021 8:57 am)

**Posted by Mentzinger** 4/08/2021 12:02 pm

I'm trying to get him to be recruited to UMaine

**Posted by GWRising** 4/08/2021 12:58 pm

The Dude wrote:
Except that he was fired for his abusing his players, and Universities are not exactly scouring to hire guys who were fired for abusing their players.

Except when they find out the whole thing was gaslighted by certain individuals at GW. Did you miss the Deadspin article? You seem to know a lot about Mark Few but little to nothing about this.

**Posted by FredD** 4/08/2021 1:06 pm

My interest in this old story is about today. Are there structural weaknesses that helped this debacle unfold that are with us today? Are there still persons at GW whose flawed actions or flawed internal investigation led to the firing and later settlement?
Is the cost of the settlement still a factor today or going forward?

**Posted by The Dude** 4/08/2021 2:44 pm

...Gerry has a better chance of being named the next Coach there

**Posted by jf** 4/08/2021 3:07 pm

Believe both what happened in the past is highly relevant and especially how it has affected us today.
We are a bottom dweller and laughingstock of the A-10 and our OOC was terrible. Hoping for much better next year, of course, but that's the way it has been recently. The program has had great upheaval with 2 coaches in 5 years.
The actions were discredited by intensive reporting by someone who actually looked into both sides and documented with videos, emails and on the record sources. But they affect us today and may have changed the life of a incredibly loyal to GW coach and an assistant permanently. We've spent probably $5 million just on payouts to two participants (around $3 million to Lonergan) and maybe more as a result of this whole sordid affair and the truth hasn't fully come out. GW Rising is spot on regarding this point.
In any case, Fred D is especially right with his very relevant questions. We are in the midst of what could be a rebuild of a decade or more, and nearly 6 years in the best case scenario. Was it was worth it? Should we pretend it never happened, even as we eagerly look to a better future?

**Posted by Skittles** 4/08/2021 4:57 pm

ML would love to coach again I'm sure. He was very good at it and was really building a gem here. Unfortunately even though the hack job post article is widely known to be the bs it is a lot of schools are too afraid to touch him because of abuse being such a hot issue. Here's hoping a school does bite one of these days. I for one would love to see him continue what he started, building a program up and winning. UMBC would be lucky to have him. Hell we would be at this point

**Posted by Joel Joseph** 4/08/2021 5:02 pm

Dumb (Dude) and dumber (BP) single handedly drop GW Law into the 2nd tier of law schools.

FredD, this is still relevant because 10 times a year we hit some anniversary like the NIT Championship, winning the Hawaii Aloha Tourney, beating UVA, MD, etc and are reminded that not too long ago we could play with anyone in the Country.

Lonergan is living happily ever after courtesy of GW's incompetence and fat check. Even Nero cashed in on GW's incompetence years ago with a big payout to disappear.

Whether or not ML goes back to coaching is speculative right now - just like how long Nero's marriage lasts (fun fact - Tanya will be attending the ceremony next weekend) once his future hubby finds all his hidden sex tapes!

**Posted by FredD** 4/08/2021 7:58 pm

Sorry I don’t consider a debacle related anniversary relevant unless it spurs some good gallows humor. Shame on me for getting sucked into a pointless evergreen thread

**Posted by Joel Joseph** 4/09/2021 12:49 pm

Everything GW basketball related has been a "pointless evergreen thread" for the past 5 years and will continue to be until the GW administration adequately and transparently supports our D-1 program. You can't expect an apathetic student body to support a bad program the administration doesn't even care about.

Hartford, a team that represented the AE in this year's Tourney, may be going to D-3. Their athletic dept is bleeding money to the tune of $13 million a year (anybody know how much money we are losing every year?). Will we follow their lead?

**Posted by Gwmayhem** 4/09/2021 2:26 pm

It's hard to fathom that we as fans should be so callous as to not even care whether ML gets back into coaching again or not. I suppose you could make the case that this thread should only have been created if ML had been hired again or if he was an announced candidate for a position. However, as I explained, the UMBC job represented one of the very few opportunities where I could picture ML aggressively throwing his hat in the ring. Therefore, I thought it was a more than relevant topic.

This thread was moved solely due to a few bad apples who simply don't know how to control themselves whenever Mike's name comes up. If those bad apples weren't here, this thread would have consisted solely of intelligent and interesting discussion, and would subsequently not have been moved.

Guess which GW coach won the most games in a season? Guess which one led his team to its sole national championship? There's nothing pointless about a discussion that speculates whether he might be offered or accept a coaching job after being released on extremely dubious terms and receiving a huge settlement largely because these terms were so dubious.

**Posted by GW0509** 4/09/2021 2:35 pm

Joel Joseph wrote:
Everything GW basketball related has been a "pointless evergreen thread" for the past 5 years and will continue to be until the GW administration adequately and transparently supports our D-1 program. You can't expect an apathetic student body to support a bad program the administration doesn't even care about.

Hartford, a team that represented the AE in this year's Tourney, may be going to D-3. Their athletic dept is bleeding money to the tune of $13 million a year (anybody know how much money we are losing every year?). Will we follow their lead?

First off, we will never voluntarily leave the A-10; we would just become the doormat a la Fordham.

This is the classic chicken or the egg. Where has the school gotten a signal that there are alumni and a student body just itching to support the team like you suggest? My freshman year was the 2005-2006 season. My class knows how great the atmosphere can be at Smith Center when the team is winning. Yet I can count on two hands the number of my peers who were season ticket holders even during the best of the Lonergan years. And that was with the young alumni rate of like $99/seat! Unless we luck our way back into the tournament, no one is going to care enough to buy season tickets or even attend a stand alone game. No one under the age of 40 is banging on the door of TV or LeBlanc demanding the school increase its basketball funding.

Our alma mater has abysmal alumni giving rates across the board. The student's apathy is not due to the poor performance of the basketball team but instead is the outgrowth of a long term trend of younger people with a declining interest in sports. I remember quite a few conference games during the ML years where the visiting fans heavily outnumbered the students. Look at when we got the most attendance two years ago: it was when the Sunrise people unfurled a banner to protest fossil fuels. THAT's what students do on a weeknight these days.

I am with you that the school should be funding our program at the median level of A-10 schools and not towards the bottom. Our alumni are successful enough that they should be able to spare a few bucks to charter flights to Olean. However, given the funding challenges that our school has generally (even though they charge a king's ransom to attend) it makes logical sense that they support the team the way that they do.

Last edited by GW0509 (4/09/2021 2:37 pm)

**Posted by The Dude** 4/10/2021 3:04 pm

It is crystal clear, that the abuse at GW that led to his termination, was so beyond the bounds, is also preventing any re-entry into the Coaching ranks a half a decade later.

There were efforts made 5 years ago to deflect blame, to minimize the abuse, but his continuing, perpetual exile from the sport tells the real story.

**Posted by Skittles** 4/10/2021 3:54 pm

Actually no. Schools are too afraid to touch the homophobic Allegations. Exactly why they let Nero continue to try to Woo foreign players after firing their winning coach for the fake sources that sane AD trumped up after getting called out for his behavior to president Knapp.

**Posted by Skittles** 4/10/2021 3:56 pm

Also if exile is a sign which top school is Patrick leading now? Oh right.

**Posted by Skittles** 4/10/2021 3:58 pm

Yall really let this man recruit a player who got kicked out of the school he transferred out to, a player too dumb to pass summer school and actually play here, a player who put so much porn on his school tablet it broke, and a player who said his dad died to get out of a test collectively ruin the program

**Posted by Skittles** 4/10/2021 3:59 pm

Yep. THOSE were your sources.

**Posted by Skittles** 4/10/2021 6:24 pm

BrianPaul wrote:
Thank you "Skittles"

Especially for the information on the porn.

Best to you, "Joel Joseph" and "BC"

"BP"

Buddy unlike you and your 75 names on the other site I've only gone as Skittles. I don't need to make up people to agree with me cause frankly I don't give a solid crap If anyone does or not. I got info I give info and I love nothing more than correcting the Ill informed morons like you who firmly believe anything the post tells them. And I have sources!