Basketball Drops 71-68 Decision at Austin Peay in BracketBuster Game

[ysuindy]

   I am tired of hearing we are dealt a low budget and such.  Give me a break on that excuse by all of you.  That is getting old.  Do you think Robert Morris has a better budget than us? No but they just won 20 games and have post playesr that can play. 

http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/GetOneInstitutionData.aspx

Total men's basketball expenses:

Robert Morris $1,164,410

YSU $1,022,407

Try again.

[IAA Fan]

I do not agree with you Pride. You act as though anything below YSU is "chicken feed", and coach S' record at Gannon can just be dismissed. Not so.  You do not have the big-time players there, yet he could recruit. We already went through a coach that had a resume at a bigger basketball school, and what did it get us? ...nothing. Waters was a gamble at CSU ...a coach they cannot afford & questionable resume. Slocum is the type of person that you need to help bring long-term success to a program like ours. Before Slocum, when were you able to listen to a coach comment about some of the prep players tourney's, and some kids that he saw? When did we receive invites to the summer Pitt camp?

I do not want this to become a football thread, but think about this. Had coach H remained at HC/DC, the $$$ were invested and YSU brought in coach Monty at OC ...where would we be right now? Two lessons with this story:

1. Do not discount the $$$ invested in a program. Over $250k each brought us a lousy DC, and a great OC. In the mean time, a good DC in Restkis (who worked at YSU for about 1/5 of Kravitz salary) went to Miami. So as the university invests more in basketball ...the court, the lockers, weight rooms, etc.  we are seeing results.

2. You asked if any of us would keep a person with a mediocre record, comparing it to the business world? Well, as an administrator in the business world, I would understand what Slocum was hired into, what it is now. I see that his contract is due, and there has been marked improvements. Now, the smart admin asks the coach what caused the success, what caused the lack of success in years past (even before coach S was hired-in), and what is he going to do to keep this success going (and growing), and what can you (the coach) and I (the university) do to help you achieve this success, and prevent us from going back to a less successful environment?

If coach S has some good ideas, and we (YSU admin) can offer him the support that he requests ...he has a new contract (longer than 1-year). The alternative is self-explanatory.

[ItalianPenguin]

Just let idiots like YsuPride (there's a joke of a name) rant. It's one of the reasons our overall fan base is a joke. Some would rather see us lose. Pathetic.

[YSUGO]

Slocum, earned at least another year or 2.  He could have this year and didnt. I am not a big fan of him, BUT, he could have stayed at Gannon and got his 16-18 wins with out breaking a sweat.  But he decided to come to a program that was in the crapper due to Robic, and now he has got us to the point if he can reel of a couple of good years , he will get us out of the crapper.  We dont have money and I don't see the detractors donating 5k a year we need about a 100 of those to get a coach that you think we all deserve.  Mahoning Valley fans are cheap.  So unless you want to give up some Benjamins...Slocum is our Coach!!!

[YsuPride]

Indy- When you are spending over a Million $'s on basketball then what is $100,000 grand going to do to you.  Nothing.  I don't think the extra $100k plus gets them the better players than we got.  Robert Morris plays in what some would say a h.s sized arena in a piss poor conference yet they beat us each year and win 20 plus games.  The coaching staffsf are like politicians and have to convince players to come here so then Slocum must not be a good seller of our program.   

ItalianPenguin-Our fan base is a joke because we don't win and not because of posts on a website.  Some like myself want to have a winner that's why some of us are passionate about winning and hoping for change.

You guys must like losing but some of us don't. 
I wouldn't be attending games for 30 years if I wanted YSU to lose.  You have your opinions and I have mine that is what this board is for right? 

[ItalianPenguin]

Pride--believe me there's nobody that wants to win more than I do. But you have to look at reality, especially when it comes to basketball. We are in a conference where NOBODY plays scholarship football but us. That means the other schools have much higher budgets than we do. And as I stated...if Slocum was brought back on a 9-21 record, you can rest assured he'll be back next year. For what we pay, he may be as good as it gets. Budget restraints are bad now, and probably not going to get any better soon under this Governor. Football got all the dough.

[Big D]

Indy- When you are spending over a Million $'s on basketball then what is $100,000 grand going to do to you.  Nothing.  I don't think the extra $100k plus gets them the better players than we got.  Robert Morris plays in what some would say a h.s sized arena in a piss poor conference yet they beat us each year and win 20 plus games. 

You seriously don't have a clue.  Another 100K is almost 3 times YSU's current recruiting budget for basketball.  That means YSU's coaches can travel to more National AAU events to recruit instead of having to focus on regional events only.  I travel to most of the big summer events (I coach an AAU team).  YSU is the only HL team that isn't at all of the summer events.  The reason is your coaching staff cannot afford it.

In regards to Robert Morris, their coach has about a 10000X easier sales job at Robert Morris than he would have if he was trying to sell YSU to a recruit.  Robert Morris has a recent history of success.  I don't think YSU has had back to back winning seasons in the LIFETIME of most high school recruits.  Robert Morris has gone to the post season pretty consistently recently.  YSU has never played a post season game.  Robert Morris is in an absolutely great town: Pittsburgh.  YSU is in Youngstown.   Robert Morris plays in a small arena but they pack that little arena and they have loud loyal fans.  YSU plays in a mostly empty gym.  Can you see why a recruit might prefer to go to RM over YSU?

[YsuPride]

Big D-It is not easy to sell Robert Morris to recruits.  They don't fill the gym like you say.  Avg attendance is 1,400 with a 3,000 plus capacity.  Filled?   They only have recent history of winning because of coaches like Mike Rice and such.  I know Rice from his HS days at Boardman and have even spoke to him just when he was at RMU and he did say recruiting was very difficult at that school.   RMU has good coaches that can recruit and that is the difference.    If you say 100k is 3x our recruiting budget then we got some issues with the AD.  That is unacceptable.  Get rid of dead weight in our athletic dept to free up some cash and plus play at least 2 more money b-ball games and then the cash magically appears.   But that will never happen right?   I know Slocum will be given another year unfortunately so I guess we have to put up with this losing until he resigns.   

[Big D]

Big D-It is not easy to sell Robert Morris to recruits.  They don't fill the gym like you say.  Avg attendance is 1,400 with a 3,000 plus capacity.  Filled?   They only have recent history of winning because of coaches like Mike Rice and such.  I know Rice from his HS days at Boardman and have even spoke to him just when he was at RMU and he did say recruiting was very difficult at that school.   RMU has good coaches that can recruit and that is the difference.    If you say 100k is 3x our recruiting budget then we got some issues with the AD.  That is unacceptable.  Get rid of dead weight in our athletic dept to free up some cash and plus play at least 2 more money b-ball games and then the cash magically appears.   But that will never happen right?   I know Slocum will be given another year unfortunately so I guess we have to put up with this losing until he resigns.

RMU is over 70% capacity for league games.  They don't do as well for OOC games because they can't schedule good OOC teams to play at home.  Regardless, 1400 loud fans in a 3000 seat arena looks and sounds much more impressive than YSUs 2500 fans in your 6300 seat arena.  I have watched games at both places.  It's not even close in comparison.

In regards to recruiting.  Get a clue.  RMU is located in a great area to bring kids to.  Hell, they don't even have to drive more than 2 hours away to recruit if they don't want to.  They can recruit the Pittsburg/Philly area alone and make a great team with the 3rd and 4th tier talent from that area.  They have winning teams.  They compete for league championships.  They play in the NCAAs.  RMU is a very good PRIVATE school where you will get a great education.  YSU has none of those advantages.  Everyone in America knows where Pittsburg is.  Who in the hell has heard of Youngstown Ohio and who in their right mind would choose to live in Youngstown when they could pick Pittsburg.  YSU has no history of success to sell to recuits.  You are stuck recruiting primarily in Ohio due to your pathetic recruiting budget.  You have to compete against OSU, UC, X, UD, and all of the HL and MAC teams that recruit this area.  THE ONLY ADVANTAGE you could sell for YSU over RMU is that you are in a better conference and any recruit is going to look at that as a disadvantage because you have NEVER seriously been competitive in the HL.  Why would a kid want to go someplace that won't spend enough money to compete in their own conference when they could go to a place to win championships, get a better education, and live in a better area.

Hiring a new coach isn't going to get you any different results than keeping Slocum.  YSU needs to decide to make the same financial commitment to basketball as it did for football if you want to succeed.   As my high school coach used to say--you aren't going to win a gun fight when you go into it with a slingshot.

[YsuPride]

Last time I looked RMU is only 50 miles from y-town so I would guess we have the same recruiting area as they do.   We only have money to recruit Ohio but we recruit guys from Florida and Juco's all over.  You make a whole lot of sense then right?   I guess you can come up with all the excuses to not get rid of Slocum but his record here speaks for itself.  I wonder how many players will leave this year again so we can then sign YMCA talent at the last minute but we can blame that on budget and not the fact that his player turnover is his fault.  He recruits the best player for sure.

[YsuPride]

Maybe recruits don't want to come here because Slocum has zero personality and it aweful with the media.
He would rather make fun of Robb Smidt than answer questions and you know I am right on that.  Ask the local media.   I know of a few students at YSU who have players in their class and Slocum is not liked.  Wouldn't be surprised if Kendrick Perry transfers.

[IAA Fan]

Yes, and many "regular people" like that personality. I attend many football practices, and he is always there showing a young kid how to do something (and not just basketball). He stands at the entrance of football games and helps hand out the weekly give-a-ways. I don't see other coaches doing this. You will even see him at baseball games.

Sure he spars with the media, most of the time it is funny. Unfortunately he does not have the W/L record, or tenure, of a JoePA (who was just as bad or worse with the media), to let it slide. However, I have never heard any negativity from players.

[Big D]

Last time I looked RMU is only 50 miles from y-town so I would guess we have the same recruiting area as they do.   We only have money to recruit Ohio but we recruit guys from Florida and Juco's all over.  You make a whole lot of sense then right?   

You are located in the same general area as RMU.  You still can't compete with what they have to offer: better city, better education, consistent winner, NCAA tourneys, etc.  WSU is located an hour away from Cincinatti.  We aren't going to beat out Xavier for any recruits for all of the reason I listed above for you.  And I stand by what I said about Slocum's recruiting budget.  He primarily has to recruit Ohio AAU events and Ohio schools.  So you might want to take a look at the schedules of the teams where your recruits came from.  I bet you will see that most of those JUCO players played against one of Ohio's JC teams at some point in time.  And I know for a fact that Slocum saw Kendrick Perry (your florida kid) play at an AAU event in Columbus.  I was there.

[YSUGO]

Maybe recruits don't want to come here because Slocum has zero personality and it aweful with the media.
He would rather make fun of Robb Smidt than answer questions and you know I am right on that.  Ask the local media.   I know of a few students at YSU who have players in their class and Slocum is not liked.  Wouldn't be surprised if Kendrick Perry transfers.

Can't see Perry transferring, why wouldnt he done it last year...I think you are delusional!!!

[YsuPride]

I hear Perry is very homesick and this is coming from students who know him that I have been in contact with.  His brother I guess is in Columbus and that has kept him here.  I hope he doesn't leave but I am just letting you know what students in his classes tell me.  This is not being delusional but what I hear. Lets hope he stays.  Those students are ones that work for me after school.  I always ask them questions about players and such.   They fill me in.

Nice win tonight and I congratulate Slocum for now.  The crowd was pathetic though.