Majerus: Snowed in and sounding off...again

[Muskie]

St. Louis Dispatch (http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/slu/story/30AC2E60652BDCA6862576C60017DED5?OpenDocument)

"PHILADELPHIA — St. Louis U. rallied for its biggest comeback victory of the season in a 56-52 win over St. Joseph's on Tuesday night, but coach Rick Majerus cared less about the gutty results on a two-game Philadelphia swing that began last Thursday than about how long his team has been away from home.

The outspoken Billikens coach, often previously critical of his team's alignment with the Atlantic 10 Conference, blasted SLU's affiliation with the A-10 — and his own school in the process — in his strongest comments to date."

[BandAid]

Maybe the Pac-10 wants them...:p

[Muskie]

I learned that Majerus will fly in to a city two days before a game to get a full practice in. So it kind of throws water on the taking the kids out of school argument. Although Charter flights would certainly lessen the time.

Does X do this? I suspect Sash knows this answer?

[Muskie]

Sash has confirmed that X does not fly into game venues 2 days before.

[bobbiemcgee]

I would fly to Florida a week before.....cocktails on South Beach first.

[DC Muskie]

Hoe does Rick recruit players knowing that the league Rick plays in he wants no part of?

It's really amazing to me how public he is making this. How do you sell the idea to players and parents to come play for you when the players know you'll have them miss class?

Either SLU needs to decide it's committed to the A-10 or Rick needs to leave.

[boozehound]

Hoe does Rick recruit players knowing that the league Rick plays in he wants no part of?

It's really amazing to me how public he is making this. How do you sell the idea to players and parents to come play for you when the players know you'll have them miss class?

Either SLU needs to decide it's committed to the A-10 or Rick needs to leave.

This pretty much sums it up for me. Regardless of how you feel about him he is not handling this particularly well. I don't really see how it benefits him to make his feels this public on the matter. I really wonder if it is going to come to a point where SLU's administration cuts him loose. It doesn't look like he is giving them a lot of options; if they aren't going to get out of the A-10 then they may be forced to get rid of Majerus if he really feels that strongly about this issue.

[xsteve1]

Would he be saying this if SLU was in the Big East? You sure as heck don't hear this from Marquette or DePaul.

[Snipe]

I do admire a lot about Rick.

He does take the money the basketball program gives him, but questions they way they got the money.

I have heard that a lot of this is because they cancelled his charter flights in a cost cutting move and he wants them restored. In the end I am afraid this is more about money, perks and power than anything else. And Rick enjoys making a stink, he is usally good for one every year.

He is a hell of a coach though and SLU's future for the next couple years looks rock solid. I dread going to play them there.

[boozehound]

I do admire a lot about Rick.

He does take the money the basketball program gives him, but questions they way they got the money.

I have heard that a lot of this is because they cancelled his charter flights in a cost cutting move and he wants them restored. In the end I am afraid this is more about money, perks and power than anything else. And Rick enjoys making a stink, he is usally good for one every year.

He is a hell of a coach though and SLU's future for the next couple years looks rock solid. I dread going to play them there.

This, I think, is the part the makes it tough for SLU. The program is definitely headed in the right direction and Majerus can coach. If he wasn't such a good coach they may have already fired him and found someone else.

Put yourself in a SLU fan's shoes for a minute, imagine that Mack was badmouthing the administration and the conference as much as Majerus is. How would you feel about that? You like your coach, but you also love your school. It is a tough spot.

I also understand Majerus being upset about the charter flights. That is a big perk to lose...

[drudy23]

Does anyone else feel there is more to the story than the "let's do this for the kid's" attitude he has in the article?

I agree that the MWC is probably a better fit for them, but I'm not so sure wants make to make the jump for the kids.

[DC Muskie]

I was thinking about this some more when reading about the Big East on another thread.

Do you think Buzz Williams is complaining about all the travel Marquette has to do to play in east coast dominated league? Heck he's got to fly his team to Florida every other year to play a conference game!

This has got to effect SLU's recruiting, or Rick is a flat out genius. How can you recruit a kid to play in the A-10 and then have that kid turn around and by the time his career is over, playing in the MVC?

Also, with all of this travel concerns, Rick has a kid from Oregon, and two kids from Australia on his team. Do you think a kid from Australia really gives a crap about having to make the trip to DC?

Okay, that last part doesn't really make sense, but neither does Rick. It's really amazing how this guy has made this so public.

[MADXSTER]

In a time when most teams would love to go to a higher profile conference, Rick is talking of doing the opposite. What gives??

It would be different for other teams, say

Northwestern does not belong in the Big 10, maybe the IVY
Fordham does not belong in the A10, maybe...not sure

Saint Louis....you travel a little more but you're in a higher profile conference.

If Xavier was invited to join the ACC, my guess is that they would take it despite the additional travel. Might even try to start up the football(scholarship) team again. They would beat Duke at least.

[Titanxman04]

Does anyone else equate Majerus to the conglomerate of the bad children from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?

He just bitches and moans to get his way, eats WAY too much (not like I have room to talk), and whines whenever he can due to the lack of attention he gets.

Someone just slap him, kick him out of our conference, and move on.

[xubrew]

Put yourself in a SLU fan's shoes for a minute, imagine that Mack was badmouthing the administration and the conference as much as Majerus is. How would you feel about that? You like your coach, but you also love your school. It is a tough spot.

up until this season the majority of this forum had been badmouthing the atlantic ten for the better part of the past six or seven years and seemed to be of the opinion that it was holding xavier back, so most would have probably applauded such criticism. :D

in all seriousness, flying is expensive, and departments probably want to avoid it if they can, but i don't see why that would concern rick majerus. employing majerus as a coach is also expensive. the baseball coach has much more grounds to complain that majerus does, and majerus is getting his salary regardless. it's just a drain on the department, but not on him.

it also doesn't really effect missed class time that much. i'm pretty sure they don't fly to dayton and xavier. they leave the day before the game on a bus, and come back after the game. if they're leaving for an east coast stint against richmond and gw, they leave the day before the gw game and fly back after the richmond game. the amount of class time missed is no more than what a bus trip is.

if you look at slu's schedule it looks as though they only flew four times not counting the conference tournament, which i believe is during spring break. that's four times more than what a handful of schools will fly in an entire season, but that's still not a lot.

i wouldn't blame slu one bit if they wanted out of the atlantic ten and into the valley because of the travel expenses it would save. however, it really wouldn't save all that much time. a bus trip from saint louis to omaha is longer than a flight from saint louis to philadelphia. it's just a lot cheaper. it's also worth noting that slu's old conference wasn't a whole lot better with schools in tampa, charlotte, birmingham, houston, dallas, milwaukee and new orleans. and look at the mountain west where utah is. san diego and new mexico were both over ten hours by bus, so they almost assuredly flew. that's two flights in the mwc as compared to three in the atlantic ten. i fail to see a huge difference in the amount of classtime missed.

[Cheesehead]

I guess Rick wasn't informed of their conference affiliation when he was hired. AS someone who follows Marquette, I can say I have not heard or read about Buzz Williams whining about the travel. I can assure you that Marquette is thrilled to be in the Big East.

I think he he is trying to make a power play w/ the administration for dropping the charter flights. I used to like the guy but more and more he comes across as an inflated douche bag.

[ballyhoohoo]

Did he recently get "Kevin Smith"-ed on a flight? I magine Rick would need two or three seats, that is if his gravitational force did not prevent the plane from taking off. I am not a slender guy, but have some repsect for your self Rickey boy