Glad to have another Mets fan on the site!!  Thanks for the interview

Excited to announce that new AD Michael Lipitz will be coming on WRGW this Friday at 4 for his first sit down interview! Let us know if you all have any questions!

If you can't listen live, it will be available as a podcast on Spotify.

https://twitter.com/RothsteinAbe/status/1845885393633231159
 

GWU has a 100-year history in Men's BBall. But the last few years have not been great. And as the nature of the college basketball has changed it is up the to Administration, Alumni, Students and Donors to determine the future. GWU is one of the places with no Major College Football so the Men's BBall Team is the main athletic program of importance.

To maintain at the top of the A-10 requires money. That money is used to hire the right coach, coaching staff, who then scout and develop the players, and now prevent them from leaving after a year or after they have been developed. donors and Alumni now have an increased role in providing funds for both NIL and traditional donations to fund infrastructure, etc. Current students are expected to turn out and support the team in mass, especially when tickets are free, but actually paid for via their student fees.

This model works well at places like Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and to a lesser extent at places like UConn, UCLA, Texas. Although these could be the model to follow, the administration must set this as the goal, communicate this to the larger University community, then follow through with the resources and the framework.

Unfortunately, this model now requires a lot of University and Private cash, and those funds must be efficiently allocated, with little margin for error. (Last season Georgetown paid the K-State Transfer reportedly $240k and he averaged less than 5 points per game - that was wasted money at a lost opportunity cost.) 

I am not a GWU alum, nor am i privy to any financial data, but TO ME it seems like GWU is not either willing nor able to compete to be a top 4 or 5 team in the A-10. Maybe the New President can change the landscape, but without the rich alumni funding NIL and infrastructure upgrades GWU is likely to be in the bottom 2/3rds of the A-10 at best and the bottom 1/4 at worst.

If this is true then I would suggest dropping down to another conference, a readjustment of the basketball budget and priorities with the potential of dominating that conference and gaining multiple NCAA Tournament Selections (assuming smaller conferences wont get squeezed out by the Power 4).

IN MY opinion the exit of VCU or Dayton or any other perennial league powerhouse does not change the calculus. Loyola-Chicago entered the A-10 from a "lower" conference and what is their current program status vis-a-vie GWU? UMass is leaving the A-10 for football money, how does the GWU program stack up against them? The AAC is ranked just below the A-10, is there a school from that league that could prosper? and better financed than GWU?

The next 2 years might be make or break for the future of GWU basketball.

JUST MY OPINION

The Dude wrote:

The next 2 years are not make or break, they are for CC and the Squad, but not the program that's pretty absurd but on this niche fan site the absurd is the norm

CC and his Staff I 100% believe will be a success, if they are not the program and life goes on, worst case the next man will get his crack, the best case CC and Squad turn this thing all the way around, and he stays a long time or we lose him and the next guy inherits a turned around program

Mojo inherited a Chernoybl mess, Penders inherited the best decade in the history of the program, GW Basketball is a lot bigger than 1-2 years. The potential for sustained success is there, but its very difficult and if you want sustained success and first, a full turnaround, donate $ to the NIL and buy season tickets

Sky is falling paranoia doesn't help one bit but I guess its predictably slightly amusing?

 

Dude, for the first time in a while, I mostly agree with your take on the program. I have no delusions that we will  be elite, but I also do not see us leaving the Atlantic 10. I don’t see us dropping down, as some here have said. And I do believe that we can achieve sustained success as a program, at least as a top of the A10 level.  Not that we will…but I’m open to the possibility that the new direction of the athletic department and university may make a difference.   

Where you have lost me, though, as you have many times in the past, is in your assumption that us giving NIL money is going to do anything in the grand scheme of things to fix a very broken system.

We are lacking several things that will cause us to stay where we are and never move into the elite level, regardless of any NIL money we give.  It is a veritable, arms, race, and best any growth and resources we have are going to be matched by the more funded programs. 

We lack a football team, which means there’s no revenue coming in to support the rest of, or in our case, all of the other teams. Everyone in our conference feels that, of course. 

We lack access to a top tier conference, despite being in a very good television market, because of Georgetown and Maryland. We will never get in the big east and will never be better than third in media attention in our market. 

We lack the donor resources of a public state school, with tens of thousands, Or hundreds of thousands, Of alumni within drivable distance, like a Virginia Tech or even a James Madison.

And one of the very best strengths of our university, our diverse and truly international student body, is also, one of our greatest weaknesses for potential athletic support.  Students are just not focused on athletics as part of their reason for coming to, for staying at, or ultimately supporting the university. 

Honestly, our goal should not be to win the NCAA championship, or to be like your beloved Gonzaga, but rather to be a top team in our conference, qualify or make the NCAA tournament, and that should be enough.  Our best players will continue to be poached by power schools, and it’s no longer enough to recruit top athletes… But rather to find the diamond in the rough to have on our team for a year or two. 

We tend to focus on this board about all the things that we’re not, but my favorite posters are the ones who accept who and what we are and focus their attentions on realistic outcomes. They’re informed and educated.  Every new recruit that gets signed is a victory.

I look at being a GW fan as being similar to rooting for the cat in Schrodinger’s Cat.  Just like I know, the cat is alive until we open the box, our team is good enough to be undefeated and championship caliber until we start to play. I think that’s why I love the preseason and off-season enthusiasm so much.

But, dude, even if all of us donated to the NL fund, please do not think that that would solve the problem. The real problem is a system, in which colleges like GW are limited.  Outside of buying our way in as a basketball-only school into a major conference, something that will never happen, nor should it, let’s just embrace what we are and stop deluding ourselves that a little bit of money will actually make a difference.

Barry


(My apologies for any typos as I am dictating my comment.)

Hey guys, sorry we didn't get to all of the questions, but thought he gave a great interview and had some interesting things to say. Good reason to feel good about his leadership. Listen here on Spotify

https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/MODD1uh2NNb

 

Great job.  Fun read to get the hoops year started.  Loved the small articles with Coach.