Gannon

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Gannon


He just didn't get the wins. Even years like this one ... I can tell you nobody wanted to play them. I know first-hand Joe Lombardi had a ton of respect for playing against Gannon. I couldn't tell you that about many teams.

This year for example, no team in the league could sustain the two missing players Gannon had to deal with ... senior star big man just quits the team and then their best guard gets injured. It was doomed before it began.

Sometimes change is just good -- for both sides.

It will be hilarious if he gets the Clarion job to watch his team suffocate future Golden Knights' teams. Certainly don't bet against that happening, either.

[Guest]

Re: Gannon

He just didn't get the wins. Even years like this one ... I can tell you nobody wanted to play them. I know first-hand Joe Lombardi had a ton of respect for playing against Gannon. I couldn't tell you that about many teams.

This year for example, no team in the league could sustain the two missing players Gannon had to deal with ... senior star big man just quits the team and then their best guard gets injured. It was doomed before it began.

Sometimes change is just good -- for both sides.

It will be hilarious if he gets the Clarion job to watch his team suffocate future Golden Knights' teams. Certainly don't bet against that happening, either.

[IUPalum]

Re: Gannon

Hey BigIndians, don't bother bickering with the wanna be "MJ." He obviously doesn't know basketball and he's to stubborn to realize that. Gannon will suffer for this. Hopefully, for Gannon's sake it will get that garbage AD fired!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Gannon

Hey BigIndians, don't bother bickering with the wanna be "MJ." He obviously doesn't know basketball and he's to stubborn to realize that. Gannon will suffer for this. Hopefully, for Gannon's sake it will get that garbage AD fired!

I'm not bickering. I hope they hire Kevin Reynolds.

#freekevinreynolds

[Guest]

Re: Gannon

I'm not bickering. I hope they hire Kevin Reynolds.

#freekevinreynolds

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Gannon

Tell them we said hello. Lol. And, they should get rid of that clown football coach.

And, Joe's gonna bust them up again next year.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Gannon

Sadly I think the #freekevinreynolds campaign won't go anywhere. He can collect his full SRU paycheck and benefits for the next three seasons.

[Guest]

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Gannon

It's all what they want to spend. To try and lure a Chris Fite level it's going to take real cash.

This hire will likely tell you guys a lot about what GU thinks about basketball. If they hire some no-name assistant nobody has ever heard of for $65,000 a year ... probably means the glory days aren't coming back and JR was a cost-cut.

[ctrabs74]

Re: Gannon

Gotta admit .. the reading on the Gannon message board site is pretty entertaining. It's a fan base divided. The host had to issue some behavior threats last night.

JR's termination has been linked to such items as:

* Not recruiting now-Edinboro guard Jaryn Simpson ... it must be an Erie thing to put this kid in such high regard
-- side note: How about a real factor ... letting Armoni Foster and Malik Miller sign with IUP. Simpson isn't near their caliber. Not even close.
* $5 general admission tickets ---------------> thank goodness they don't have to pay KCAC prices.
* Facilities (yes, they are terrible ... however, not really sure that is/was JR's fault)
* No scoring (yet many on there are praising Mercyhurst's run to the E8) ... figure that one out.
* Poor player retention
* JR has the most wins in GU history but also the most losses in GU history
* Attendance (while failing to mention GU had the second highest in the entire PSAC) -----> Again, trouble realizing it's not 1987 in the Hammermill any longer.
* Season ticket holders are way down (well, having watched many GU games online ... the chairbacks resemble a senior citizen home)
* It snows too much in Erie. Recruiting suffers. ---> May be the best one yet. JR needed to control that snow better.
* GU football getting use of the Hammermill too often

That might be the one valid complaint about Reilly's tenure at Gannon. Wasn't it a couple years ago when several players transferred to LeMoyne en masse? Or am I misremembering the details?

[ctrabs74]

Re: Gannon

From @ENNgarydrapcho

Read into this what you want ....word is Cleve Wright was set to become the next Mercyhurst coach...until today ....and Stan Swank has stated in the recent past he wants to coach again.

Interesting... Doesn't Coach Swank get a pretty sizable pension from his tenure at Edinboro? (Not that I think that it matters, but do you think he'd be ready to come out of retirement at this stage in his career?)

[ctrabs74]

Re: Gannon

Be careful what you wish for ... grass is only greener some of the time.

It wasn't JR's fault his star big man decided to retire the summer entering his senior year. Nor was it his fault Webb missed the whole season.

JR ran a clean program and won way more than he lost. Seems the coach across town just missed the Final Four playing the same style.

He was a bit of an enigma at Gannon. Half the fans loved him. Half hated him. They sure loved him last year.

They just fired a coach who was one of the Deans of PSAC basketball. It's not an easy job there. The facilities are horrendously bad and dated. The Hammermill could be used to make a 1950s basketball movie.

For what it's worth, I'm almost amazed at how much turnover there's been among the PSAC coaching ranks. Yet, there are still six (seven, if you want to include future PSAC member Shepherd) men's basketball coaches who've hit the 10 year plateau (unless I'm missing a couple along the way).

Bob Rukavina, UPJ: 1989 (UPJ previously was D2 Independent, then WVIAC)
Bernie Driscoll, Kutztown: 2000
Jeff Wilson, East Stroudsburg: 2002
Gary Manchel, Mercyhurst: 2003 ('Hurst previously member of the GLIAC)
Joe Lombardi, IUP: 2006
Damien Blair, West Chester: 2008
Justin Namolik, Shepherd: 2009 (WVIAC/MEC; was interim head coach during at least part of 2008-2009 season)

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Gannon

Interesting... Doesn't Coach Swank get a pretty sizable pension from his tenure at Edinboro? (Not that I think that it matters, but do you think he'd be ready to come out of retirement at this stage in his career?)

I know it sounds weird for us working folk to say, but most I know who retire love it for a year .. then are bored out of their minds.

And, let's be honest, a full-time D2 basketball coach is a pretty sweet gig. I mean, what do they really do all off-season? There's only so much film you can watch in a day.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Gannon

Interesting... Doesn't Coach Swank get a pretty sizable pension from his tenure at Edinboro? (Not that I think that it matters, but do you think he'd be ready to come out of retirement at this stage in his career?)

He's getting that pension regardless. Maybe he wants to make some more cash.

Maybe he wasn't ready to retire but just wanted out of the Edinboro mess. A lot of them leave the game after 25 years, sit out a season and miss it like crazy. Hard to say.

You really saw the difference with him NOT on the sidelines this year for the Boro. They had a good season (not great). His experience isn't getting replaced in one year. Those old dogs can really work officials, too. The young pups get blown off.

Watch Lombardi and Manchel work refs ... work of art. Stan was the same way.

[boatcapt]

Re: Gannon

I know it sounds weird for us working folk to say, but most I know who retire love it for a year .. then are bored out of their minds.

And, let's be honest, a full-time D2 basketball coach is a pretty sweet gig. I mean, what do they really do all off-season? There's only so much film you can watch in a day.

VERY common particularly with people who have either been at the top of their "game" (Senior Management or successful business owner), or those who had some sort of active/dynamic position (law enforcement/military/fire fighter). You go from making life or death decisions or being responsible for pretty major businesses to your biggest decision of the week being do I want to eat Honey Nut Cheerios or Frosted Flakes for breakfast. Most of these people had worked well in excess of 40 hours per week before they retired...then one day you crash into ZERO hours. One thing I know for sure, 40 hours is a LOT of time to fill!!! Rightly or wrongly, people like this have all too often let their job define them and then all of a sudden, that is taken away. I have no problem believing that these types become bored and go back to work after a year...That's what I did almost to the day!!

I know people say it all the time, but develop hobbies before you retire. But I would add that you will need several hobbies and they should include things that you can do by yourself. You also need to make sure that all the hobbies you develop are not the ones that cost a lot of $'s to participate in! I had a few hobbies when I retired and found that I couldn't really afford to do them all because they were cost prohibitive and I was on a fixed income (at that point)...I hade plenty of money to dabble in them (4 or 5 hours a week) when I was making a full paycheck, but not nearly enough $ when I was trying to make them fill 20 hours a week and on a reduced fixed income!!! It's all well and good when you drive fast cars to pay for one day at the track when you are making six figures...quite another when you are trying to feed that habit four times a week on 3/4 of your previous salary!!!