AB Battlers Men's Basketball 2021-2022

[JDonAB92]

Nope. I am not interested in being there when the curtain comes down. And I really could care less at this point. I have been there for the good days. That is enough for me.

Have fun if you go. Two of my running mates are going to the MEC tournament. You know them. PM if you want their numbers. I am not going. Take care.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Nope. I am not interested in being there when the curtain comes down. And I really could care less at this point. I have been there for the good days. That is enough for me.

Have fun if you go. Two of my running mates are going to the MEC tournament. You know them. PM if you want their numbers. I am not going. Take care.

Is the arena being torn down or is the school closing? What is going on?

[JDonAB92]

Another loss. Another losing season. It is the 4th straight losing season. We haven't had 4 straight losing seasons since the early to mid 1970s. 40-63 in four seasons which is a 38.8% winning percentage.

[Columbuseer]

Another loss. Another losing season. It is the 4th straight losing season. We haven't had 4 straight losing seasons since the early to mid 1970s. 40-63 in four seasons which is a 38.8% winning percentage.

I watched the game. Imho, they have significant talent, but play AAU style with too much 1 on 1, too many heat check shots with no one under that are taken early in the shot clock. They had the opportunity to get Concord in serious foul trouble, but did not exploit it.

[JDonAB92]

We had two starters go down with injuries during the last two games of the regular season, and they couldn't go last night. I don't fault any one last night. We battled hard. We came out strong and took a good early lead. Things break down when you have guys in there that rarely play.

I am talking about the body of work over four years. We just seem stuck and never any progress. Every year we play in the preliminary round because we are some #7-9 seed. I get you have a down year or two, but I never see us get over the top. The record is what it is and has to be evaluated.

It is nothing personal either. I like Stephen Dye. He was a great D2 players.....led us to 3 WVIAC tournament titles and 4 NCAA tournaments and 1 regional final. He was a tremendous player. But as a head coach, he has had 7 straight losing seasons if you include his last 3 at Glenville. It may not matter come May or June with the state of the school.

[Columbuseer]

We had two starters go down with injuries during the last two games of the regular season, and they couldn't go last night. I don't fault any one last night. We battled hard. We came out strong and took a good early lead. Things break down when you have guys in there that rarely play.

I am talking about the body of work over four years. We just seem stuck and never any progress. Every year we play in the preliminary round because we are some #7-9 seed. I get you have a down year or two, but I never see us get over the top. The record is what it is and has to be evaluated.

It is nothing personal either. I like Stephen Dye. He was a great D2 players.....led us to 3 WVIAC tournament titles and 4 NCAA tournaments and 1 regional final. He was a tremendous player. But as a head coach, he has had 7 straight losing seasons if you include his last 3 at Glenville. It may not matter come May or June with the state of the school.

I read recently that AB has retained Dwyer and Associates to chart future path, including mergers, etc. Is the future of the school a serious, immediate concern?

https://www.theintermountain.com/new...or-the-future/

[JDonAB92]

Yes....immediate.

And I can tell you that there is one other school, not as bad as us, but still in some serious trouble as well. It isn't too hard to figure that one out.

[Columbuseer]

Yes....immediate.

And I can tell you that there is one other school, not as bad as us, but still in some serious trouble as well. It isn't too hard to figure that one out.

I can guess. Under 500 full time students, most of whom are athletes. I call it the Urbana business model, which ultimately failed for Urbana.

[JDonAB92]

That and poor financial management by prior regimes. I am not going to get into it all here. Water under the bridge. But we have been through 3 presidents since 2009. I think the current president, who announced he will retire in June, couldn't do a lot more. He gets blamed by a lot of people. But he was thrown a complete mess in terms of finances. He rectified a lot of problems by re-financing a lot of the debt with smart moves. He didn't take out the debt. He didn't do the poor financial management. The prior president was given the keys to the financial management. When you are going to invest in the school by taking out loans, you hire a financial adviser. We didn't! It showed!

In 2009, we had 600 full-time students enrolled and people panicked. The economy was at a tough time in America. It happens. But when the economy is bad, then it is tougher on private schools. We had good academic programs at the time. We operated a small athletic department very well. We had success in multiple sports. The president retired.....a guy that was good at raising money, but had no vision. If we had strengthened the academic portion, then we would have been fine at bringing it back up to 800 students. And this idea that "football saved the school".......uhhhhh, we might want to look at the debt sheet for facilities and facilities management.

We had a very successful athletic director who was an alum. He had the vision and the right mind-set to start football back around 2008. We had an athletic field that needed some renovations but it was doable at a much lower cost and he had a plan to add a little bit every five years. BOT refused to listen to him. They wanted an outsider and got one. He built the new field down below the basketball arena. We spent a lot of money on that and new dorms. He hired his brother as AD. Not good. The retention of students during that time was awful. He hired a lot of people that he wanted loyal to him and created a bunch of paid positions for that. And I could go on and on.

It is just a matter of time probably.

[JDonAB92]

Huge commitment for AB. I have to admit that things are shapely up nicely for next season. Keeping fingers crossed.

[JDonAB92]

10 men's basketball players finished the spring semester with a GPA of 3.0 or higher.

Devin Haid, a 6'5" small forward from Cuyahoga Community College is headed to AB. He averaged 20 ppg and 7.1 rpg as a freshman leading Tri-C to 24 wins. He was 1st-team all-conference and 1st-team all region selection last season. This is a huge impact signee.

Stone Edwards, a 6'6" forward from Toledo Start HS is head to AB. He can play inside or outside.

The Battlers will open up November 10th against Pitt-Johnstown at Indiana, PA. We are still involved with some other quality recruits/transfers.

[JDonAB92]

Got news we signed a real good HS player out of Ohio who played for Archbishop Hoban, a school that went 26-3 this past season.

I will give Coach Dye a ton of credit. He may be assembling one of the better AB teams in the past 9 years amidst a lot of adversity when it comes to the school's condition. He is also graduating every single one of his players. I have never seen a coach at AB get all of his players to graduate like Dye has.

[Columbuseer]

Got news we signed a real good HS player out of Ohio who played for Archbishop Hoban, a school that went 26-3 this past season.

I will give Coach Dye a ton of credit. He may be assembling one of the better AB teams in the past 9 years amidst a lot of adversity when it comes to the school's condition. He is also graduating every single one of his players. I have never seen a coach at AB get all of his players to graduate like Dye has.

That is great news to hear about the 100% graduation rate. I am very happy for AB and Coach Dye. Glad to hear they are getting some promising players.