Mt. Rushmore of Xavier

[Masterofreality]

This hasn’t been asked for awhile, but we have a bunch of newbies on here.
Mine:

-Byron Larkin (Happy Birthday B!)
-David West
-Father Hoff (Top Jimmy)
-Dr. Bill Daily (without him, none of this happens)

[muskiefan82]

This is a really tough one. I need separate administrative, coaching, and player mountains.

Mt. Admin:
Sister Rose
Dr. Daily
Father Hoff
Joe Sunderman

Mt. Coaches
Bob Staak
Pete Gillen
Skip Prosser
Sean Miller

Mt. Players
Larkin (# 1 in points, brought the first NCAA victory to X, and is now one of the voices of Musketeer basketball)
West (National Player of the Year and he is THE DFW)
Posey (The definition of Xavier toughness in every way)
Holloway (True baller. Made of steel. Leader on the court.)

[xukeith]

My players:
West
Grant
Larkin
Holloway

Coaches:
Staak
Gillen
Matta
Miller

Admin
Bobinski
Fr. Hoff
Fleming
Christopher

[GoMuskies]

Christopher?!?

[nuts4xu]

Christopher?!?

Forget it, he's on a roll...

[Xville]

Daily
Hoff
Miller
Fleming

IMO this isn’t a player honor until X one day reaches that final four and/or championship and there is one player that stands out that gets us there.

[drudy23]

This hasn’t been asked for awhile, but we have a bunch of newbies on here.
Mine:

-Byron Larkin (Happy Birthday B!)
-David West
-Father Hoff (Top Jimmy)
-Dr. Bill Daily (without him, none of this happens)

Curious about Daily - what's his story? Big donor? Not sure I ever heard of him.

[Xavier]

Christopher?!?

How could you not? He’s hit home run hires in other sports and orchestrated a master plan of hiring the worst X bball coach in decades, nearly tanking the program in the process, just to bring back Sean. Great vision.


In all seriousness he has been awful in hiring coaches (all the way back to his BG days) but pretty good at raising money. The Cintas center improvements have been pretty nice under his watch, IMO. Luckily all the pieces fell in place for him to get Miller. As for the thread: Larkin, West, Blueitt (he was arguably the main guy on teams that got a 1 seed, 2 seed, elite 8 and Big East Championship. I’d vote on him being next number retired) having trouble with the last one so just go Holloway

If you go Coaches, you just can’t leave Mack off. He’s the most successful coach X has had. The program never higher than it was under him.

[bleedXblue]

Easy:

HOFF
LARKIN
WEST
GILLEN

[Final4]

Curious about Daily - what's his story? Big donor? Not sure I ever heard of him.

This isn’t an indictment of you…….you’re obviously young, I’m jealous. But when I see/hear someone say they’ve never heard of Bill Daily it makes me think about things from the past that may be of interest to some younger X fans (at least interest from a trivia perspective). Here’s one: there was one year in which four X players were selected in the same NBA draft.

[muskiefan82]

Curious about Daily - what's his story? Big donor? Not sure I ever heard of him.

https://goxavier.com/news/2018/12/1/athletic-department-xavier-athletics-remembers-dr-bill-daily

All Xavier basketball fans owe everything to Dr. Daily.

[Jehoya]

This isn’t an indictment of you…….you’re obviously young, I’m jealous. But when I see/hear someone say they’ve never heard of Bill Daily it makes me think about things from the past that may be of interest to some younger X fans (at least interest from a trivia perspective). Here’s one: there was one year in which four X players were selected in the same NBA draft.


wait...what? who? and what year was that?

[GoMuskies]

Probably a year when the NBA draft still lasted like 10 rounds.

Found it. 1984. A 2nd rounder, a 4th rounder a 9th rounder and a 10th rounder.

Victor Fleming (2), Jeff Jenkins (4), John Shimko (9), Dexter Bailey (10)

[muskiefan82]

Probably a year when the NBA draft still lasted like 10 rounds.

Found it. 1984. A 2nd rounder, a 4th rounder a 9th rounder and a 10th rounder.

Victor Fleming (2), Jeff Jenkins (4), John Shimko (9), Dexter Bailey (10)

That was back at the beginning of the fun. They were fun to watch. Shimko took more charges than anyone should be allowed to.

[D-West & PO-Z]

Players:

Larkin
West
Hill
Bluiett

Coaches:

Staak
Gillen
Miller
Mack

[D-West & PO-Z]

In 2004 3 players who played at Xavier were drafted, all in the 2nd round. Sato, Chalmers, and former Muskie David Young.

[GoMuskies]

David Young being drafted is still mind boggling.

[blueblood]

Players:

Larkin
West
Hill
Bluiett

Coaches:

Staak
Gillen
Miller
Mack

I like your lists . . . I'd have put Grant or Holloway over Bluiett but no big argument over any of them. Larkin, Hill and West are no brainers to me.

On coaches I'd (jokingly) have put Miller on twice and skipped Mack.

[xukeith]

Ok so I mistakenly added Christopher.

Scratch his name and substitute Jeff Fogelson

[muskiefan82]

Bobinski or Fogelson? That would be an interesting question. I have heard definite opinions on both. Personally, I think Bobinski did more for the program with his decision that Fogelson, but that is just me. Both had real impact.

[bjf123]

Byron Larkin (Happy Birthday B!)


So Byron and I share a birthday? Cool. The years, however, are way apart.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GoMuskies]

Fogelson was at Xavier when Cintas was designed, conceived and given the green light, right? If so, Fogelson goes on the Rushmore.

[X-band '01]

If Jeff Fogelson had his way, Tim Grgurich would have been head coach and not Pete Gillen. Thankfully he was overruled and Dr. Daily's suggestion of Gillen was accepted instead.

[X-band '01]

This hasn’t been asked for awhile, but we have a bunch of newbies on here.
Mine:

-Byron Larkin (Happy Birthday B!)
-David West
-Father Hoff (Top Jimmy)
-Dr. Bill Daily (without him, none of this happens)

No honorable mentions for Frs. Mulligan and DeUlio? ;-)

[UCGRAD4X]

No honorable mentions for Frs. Mulligan and DeUlio? ;-)

DeUnio's a turncoat. F' him.

[bobbiemcgee]

Bob Kohlhepp

[XUGRAD80]

I think that Gillen has to be on it because he is the coach that first took X onto the national scene. I give Stack tremendous credit for turning the program around too. He really got things started. But Gillen took us to a level that was just a step up from where they had ever been before. (At least in my memory)

[xudash]

No honorable mentions for Frs. Mulligan and DeUlio? ;-)

God bless Father Mulligan, but DAMN NO when it comes to him.

[SkyWalker]

I honestly believe Dr. Bill Daily was the father of Xavier basketball. We are witnessing his dream today.

[BigMoeMusketeer]

Bobinski or Fogelson? That would be an interesting question. I have heard definite opinions on both. Personally, I think Bobinski did more for the program with his decision that Fogelson, but that is just me. Both had real impact.

Fogelson's office smelled like a Marlboro testing lab. Always.
Bobinski hired Amy Waugh knowing he wouldn't be around long enough to see the dumpster fire for a nice person who was obviously not ready for that job.

Both are serious deductions.

[BigMoeMusketeer]

Bob Kohlhepp

Low-key GREAT answer. He wouldn't want the attention, but from naming the arena to Sean being back, and nearly everything in-between, none of it happens without Bob.

[bobbiemcgee]

And he's a billionaire.

[MHettel]

Fogelson’s son was cool as shit. Transferred to XU from Richmond as a junior, so he did t really “know” everyone that was in his class. I worked with him at Montgomery Inn (the original) so I helped “assimilate” him into the party scene and that dude fit RIGHT in.

He gave me a poster of Mr. White from reservoir dogs and I still have it!

[Masterofreality]

For those who are unfamiliar with Dr. Bill Daily, here is a primer:

If there is to be a Mount Rushmore of Xavier Greats, Dr. Bill Daily is on there for sure.
Dr. Daily was a Xavier contemporary of Honorary LHS Brother Bob Queenan and Former Xavier SID Jack Cherry- both who told this writer many great tales of the Good Doctor before I was lucky enough to make his acquaintance. He graduated from X in 1957 and began his association with XU Athletics as an Assistant Basketball Coach to Don Ruberg in 1964. He then became a Professor of Communication Arts in 1969 earning tenure in 1973. He became Chairman of the Communication Arts Department, and in 1975 began serving on Xavier's Athletic Board becoming the Chairman of such Board in 1977. He was inducted into Xavier's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007 and as an Honorary Lew Hirt Society Brother on February 23, 2011 during its Annual Meeting at BT Sorrentos.
Without Dr. Daily's strength, wit, persuasiveness and guile, Xavier would be a very different place today. In 1971, with Fr. O'Connor the school President and strong supporter of Athletics becoming ill, the school's trustees appointed a Provost-President in waiting in Father Robert Mulligan- most assuredly NOT a supporter of sports and a Philosophy Professor at Loyola Chicago. As soon as he could, Mulligan forced the dropping of football in 1973 and had his sights on dropping all of Xavier's Intercollegiate Sports to Division 3, with a thought to make Xavier a similar school to Loyola New Orleans. Thankfully, Dr. Daily was there to cajole the Athletic Board to dismiss Mulligan's horriffic ideas, and instead, along with Big Jim McCafferty formed plans for Xavier to emphasize Basketball and other sports as a way to make the University more successful and visible to the nation. Those plans resulted in the formation of Xavier's first conference affiliation- the Midwestern Cities Conference- which now operates as the Horizon League. Then Dr. Daily spearheaded the effort to remove Coach/Avid Golfer Tay Baker, who was more concerned with his handicap than recruiting, and hired the Coach to begin Xavier's turnaround- Bob Staak. Mulligan, after being embarrassed that his plans to de-emphasize athletics at Xavier were thwarted, moved on to St. Louis U in a lower capacity in 1982, and Xavier's program's were saved.
Dr. Daily, when Coach Staak went to Wake Forest, then made the decision to hire Pete Gillen over the call of some other Board Members who wanted Tim Grgurich, a mediocre former Head Coach at Pitt. When Peter was hired, Xavier's Basketball future success was secured- all because of the acumen and astute mind of Dr. Daily.
This writer had the opportunity to have dinners with Dr Daily and he was so entertaining. He also had season tickets in the section directly adjacent to this writers' seats. He was one of the funniest and most quick-witted folks I have ever met. Those who had him as a Professor say that he was the same way in the classroom and was quite the showman. He was also thankful for the appreciation that anyone showed to him, but was very modest in admitting his role. I never did not thank him for his work when I saw him. As Skip Prosser always said- "Never Delay Gratitude".
In summary, Xavier Basketball, Athletics, and the University as a whole would be nothing like we see now without Doctor Bill Daily.
He was one of a kind.

[nickgyp]

For those who are unfamiliar with Dr. Bill Daily, here is a primer:

If there is to be a Mount Rushmore of Xavier Greats, Dr. Bill Daily is on there for sure.
Dr. Daily was a Xavier contemporary of Honorary LHS Brother Bob Queenan and Former Xavier SID Jack Cherry- both who told this writer many great tales of the Good Doctor before I was lucky enough to make his acquaintance. He graduated from X in 1957 and began his association with XU Athletics as an Assistant Basketball Coach to Don Ruberg in 1964. He then became a Professor of Communication Arts in 1969 earning tenure in 1973. He became Chairman of the Communication Arts Department, and in 1975 began serving on Xavier's Athletic Board becoming the Chairman of such Board in 1977. He was inducted into Xavier's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007 and as an Honorary Lew Hirt Society Brother on February 23, 2011 during its Annual Meeting at BT Sorrentos.
Without Dr. Daily's strength, wit, persuasiveness and guile, Xavier would be a very different place today. In 1971, with Fr. O'Connor the school President and strong supporter of Athletics becoming ill, the school's trustees appointed a Provost-President in waiting in Father Robert Mulligan- most assuredly NOT a supporter of sports and a Philosophy Professor at Loyola Chicago. As soon as he could, Mulligan forced the dropping of football in 1973 and had his sights on dropping all of Xavier's Intercollegiate Sports to Division 3, with a thought to make Xavier a similar school to Loyola New Orleans. Thankfully, Dr. Daily was there to cajole the Athletic Board to dismiss Mulligan's horriffic ideas, and instead, along with Big Jim McCafferty formed plans for Xavier to emphasize Basketball and other sports as a way to make the University more successful and visible to the nation. Those plans resulted in the formation of Xavier's first conference affiliation- the Midwestern Cities Conference- which now operates as the Horizon League. Then Dr. Daily spearheaded the effort to remove Coach/Avid Golfer Tay Baker, who was more concerned with his handicap than recruiting, and hired the Coach to begin Xavier's turnaround- Bob Staak. Mulligan, after being embarrassed that his plans to de-emphasize athletics at Xavier were thwarted, moved on to St. Louis U in a lower capacity in 1982, and Xavier's program's were saved.
Dr. Daily, when Coach Staak went to Wake Forest, then made the decision to hire Pete Gillen over the call of some other Board Members who wanted Tim Grgurich, a mediocre former Head Coach at Pitt. When Peter was hired, Xavier's Basketball future success was secured- all because of the acumen and astute mind of Dr. Daily.
This writer had the opportunity to have dinners with Dr Daily and he was so entertaining. He also had season tickets in the section directly adjacent to this writers' seats. He was one of the funniest and most quick-witted folks I have ever met. Those who had him as a Professor say that he was the same way in the classroom and was quite the showman. He was also thankful for the appreciation that anyone showed to him, but was very modest in admitting his role. I never did not thank him for his work when I saw him. As Skip Prosser always said- "Never Delay Gratitude".
In summary, Xavier Basketball, Athletics, and the University as a whole would be nothing like we see now without Doctor Bill Daily.
He was one of a kind.

Nice primer, MOR. Attended Xavier during the Mulligan years. Everyone knows about my feelings about football but Xavier did survive some dark days of basketball in the late ‘70’s. Despite the talents of Nick Daniels, Joe Sunderman, Gary Massa and Connie Warren, the Muskies hoops future looked bleak. Daily’s vision and guidance brought Staak and Anthony Hicks, Victor Fleming and Jeff Jenkins to Victory Parkway. Pretty amazing turn-around; and the credit to Dr. Daily is well-deserved.

[XUGRAD80]

Forming the MCC was a huge step forward for Xavier’s Basketball program and the school in general. I’m not sure who gets the biggest credit for that, but whomever it was deserves a big thank you from today’s fans.

[D-West & PO-Z]

For those who are unfamiliar with Dr. Bill Daily, here is a primer:

If there is to be a Mount Rushmore of Xavier Greats, Dr. Bill Daily is on there for sure.
Dr. Daily was a Xavier contemporary of Honorary LHS Brother Bob Queenan and Former Xavier SID Jack Cherry- both who told this writer many great tales of the Good Doctor before I was lucky enough to make his acquaintance. He graduated from X in 1957 and began his association with XU Athletics as an Assistant Basketball Coach to Don Ruberg in 1964. He then became a Professor of Communication Arts in 1969 earning tenure in 1973. He became Chairman of the Communication Arts Department, and in 1975 began serving on Xavier's Athletic Board becoming the Chairman of such Board in 1977. He was inducted into Xavier's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007 and as an Honorary Lew Hirt Society Brother on February 23, 2011 during its Annual Meeting at BT Sorrentos.
Without Dr. Daily's strength, wit, persuasiveness and guile, Xavier would be a very different place today. In 1971, with Fr. O'Connor the school President and strong supporter of Athletics becoming ill, the school's trustees appointed a Provost-President in waiting in Father Robert Mulligan- most assuredly NOT a supporter of sports and a Philosophy Professor at Loyola Chicago. As soon as he could, Mulligan forced the dropping of football in 1973 and had his sights on dropping all of Xavier's Intercollegiate Sports to Division 3, with a thought to make Xavier a similar school to Loyola New Orleans. Thankfully, Dr. Daily was there to cajole the Athletic Board to dismiss Mulligan's horriffic ideas, and instead, along with Big Jim McCafferty formed plans for Xavier to emphasize Basketball and other sports as a way to make the University more successful and visible to the nation. Those plans resulted in the formation of Xavier's first conference affiliation- the Midwestern Cities Conference- which now operates as the Horizon League. Then Dr. Daily spearheaded the effort to remove Coach/Avid Golfer Tay Baker, who was more concerned with his handicap than recruiting, and hired the Coach to begin Xavier's turnaround- Bob Staak. Mulligan, after being embarrassed that his plans to de-emphasize athletics at Xavier were thwarted, moved on to St. Louis U in a lower capacity in 1982, and Xavier's program's were saved.
Dr. Daily, when Coach Staak went to Wake Forest, then made the decision to hire Pete Gillen over the call of some other Board Members who wanted Tim Grgurich, a mediocre former Head Coach at Pitt. When Peter was hired, Xavier's Basketball future success was secured- all because of the acumen and astute mind of Dr. Daily.
This writer had the opportunity to have dinners with Dr Daily and he was so entertaining. He also had season tickets in the section directly adjacent to this writers' seats. He was one of the funniest and most quick-witted folks I have ever met. Those who had him as a Professor say that he was the same way in the classroom and was quite the showman. He was also thankful for the appreciation that anyone showed to him, but was very modest in admitting his role. I never did not thank him for his work when I saw him. As Skip Prosser always said- "Never Delay Gratitude".
In summary, Xavier Basketball, Athletics, and the University as a whole would be nothing like we see now without Doctor Bill Daily.
He was one of a kind.

Thanks for the history MOR!

[X-band '01]

Forming the MCC was a huge step forward for Xavier’s Basketball program and the school in general. I’m not sure who gets the biggest credit for that, but whomever it was deserves a big thank you from today’s fans.

I think Detroit is the only charter member that's still in the MCC/Horizon.