We need a coach.

[ChitownSteve]

Thanks longliveskip and AH. Learning X’s President is fully cognizant of, and miffed with, the situation is the best basketball news that has been posted on this Board in some time.

One aspect about buyouts, Universities always know they will be paying out at least one more year than a Coach actually walks the sidelines. That reality is created by the recruiting aspect of the job. Any Coach who would literally be in the final year of the contract is incapable of attracting ball players. The extra year is simply sunk money and will always exist as part of a final separation.

[edgecliff hall]

What great news! Go Ms Colleen, do your job! JIM HOFF HAS YOUR BACK!

[JTG]

Even though we have a relatively small (some may say baby) endowment, we can afford the buyout. The program brings a lot of attention to the school. It is probably the most important component of the school that draws students, donors, corporate partnerships, etc…. They cant afford to let it flounder for too long.

It is not possible the endowment is less 1% of what the payout would be unless T Steele makes $5M a year.

It is roughly $260M. Lowest on the BE.

To be fair, it would probably be larger had the school not spent nearly half a billion, doubling the size of the campus. The elders on here remember a tiny school on Victory Parkway with a dozen buildings. When I come back for games I marvel at the size and scope of all that has been done since Basketball became prominent. I hope the new Prez understands that and unloads Steele, before he does more damage. Whatever it costs, it will be money well spent. # Miller Time

[Anti-Homer]

Even though we have a relatively small (some may say baby) endowment, we can afford the buyout. The program brings a lot of attention to the school. It is probably the most important component of the school that draws students, donors, corporate partnerships, etc…. They cant afford to let it flounder for too long.

It is not possible the endowment is less 1% of what the payout would be unless T Steele makes $5M a year.

It is roughly $260M. Lowest on the BE.

So around the 1% cutline. Is it worth paying this out or should X continue to watch the incalculable tarnishing to the brand/ edgecliff, the board awaits your wisdom on this.

[thecoach]

Does anyone know what the buyout is?

[Jesseandrippers]

It is not possible the endowment is less 1% of what the payout would be unless T Steele makes $5M a year.

It is roughly $260M. Lowest on the BE.

So around the 1% cutline. Is it worth paying this out or should X continue to watch the incalculable tarnishing to the brand/ edgecliff, the board awaits your wisdom on this.

I bestow upon thee my wisdom…time to move on. The cost of not making a change far outweighs the cost of changing.
In fairness, Travis is a nice guy and I dont like bad mouthing someone like that. He is still young and can find other situations that fit him better at this point.

When is the next trustee meeting? Please put me earlier on the agenda.

[Musketeer1]

I wrote the following in January of 2019. I have remained silent this season to avoid my comments becoming cumulative:

"It is tough to watch this team. I am not sure many of Steele's touted bona fides, his years at Mack's elbow, his reputation as a "good whiteboard guy," and, most commonly cited, his status as a known quantity capable of keeping the current players and grad commits in the fold, are panning out. We are going to learn a great deal about coach Steele during the remainder of the season. Can he improve these flawed players? Can he get them to play unselfishly? Can he get them to run a half-court offense that is vaguely identifiable? He ought not be given multiple seasons to learn on the job. Being on the brink of consistency among the elites is fleeting. If there are no signs of life by season's end, it is time to find someone who can do the job well. Today's recruits are committed to the now. If a school becomes irrelevant for even a season or two, a DePaul-like future awaits. The decline of their once nationally respected program ought to serve as a cautionary tale."

Unfortunately, my concerns have come to pass. The next hire is first a reclamation project rather than one to move the program to the next level. What a shame.

[JKC74]

Xavier will NEVER have a DePaul-like future ahead. They had one coach for 35+ years, Ray Meyer, his son (didn't work out), and a whole string of clunkers ever since. They even went as far as hiring the same loser twice within recent years after he was at UVA and set them back a few years. The fan base is terribly upset the way this season has devolved but you must know that ONE right move in hiring a coach or recruiting and signing a top player can turn around a lot of programs in a hurry, Xavier included. For those of you old enough to remember, UCONN used to be the doormat of the old Yankee Conference until they joined the BE and hired Jim Calhoun who lead their meteoric rise in College BB. The current administration knows how essential a successful BB program is not only to the school but also to the Cincinnati Community. We are all disappointed with the season but let's not be jumping off any bridges or bandwagons. To Quote General Mac Arthur: "We shall return"

[JKC74]

Wow. How far can the program slide? This is crazy. Xavier built it's reputation on being a hard nose physical team. We lack the fire and energy the old teams were know for. We are soft both physical and mentally. For 30 years we have had tough big players. Hill, Strong, the A- Train, Brian Grant, Reynolds, Cole, Murphy, Gaston, West, Basketball Jones and the list goes on .Freemantle is the softest Xavier Big Man in 40 years. Scruggs and Freemantle make mistakes that NO Decent coach would put up with. Freemantle is unalert on defense and his feet are NEVER in a athletic stance to give him a chance to defend. Scruggs makes lazy one handed passes off the dribble that he telegraphs Every game. He gets trapped every time the other team presses. On offense he regularly wastes 10 t0 12 seconds dribbling in place. The defense doesn't even need to defend for half of every possession. Freemantle and Scruggs can make any lazy mistake without any bench time. Edwards is raw but he is a old school Xavier Banger. He fights and scraps in there. Stanley is another guy who doesn't get the time he deserves. Edwards should have been getting 10-15 minutes a game this year. Steele has had 4 years now. It is obvious he can't coach. Substitution patterns are awful. We start every game flat. No defensive help that I can see. It is obvious to everyone that he is in over his head as a Head Coach. Does anyone believe another top 80 program would hire him? if we bring him back it is hard to imagine a different product. If we lose the high ranked recruits coming in than so be it. We need to start over with a new coach.

Kev,
You forgot Torraye Braggs, James Farr, Brian Thornton, Josh Duncan

[joeabe]

South Carolina just opened......