Welcome Coach Tony Skinn!

[GMU79]

It pains me to say this but vcu is closer to being Gonzaga of the east than any other school. Gonzaga is on a level by themselves but if anyone on the east is close, it would be vcu.

That, I can go along with.

 

[GMUgemini]

It pains me to say this but vcu is closer to being Gonzaga of the east than any other school. Gonzaga is on a level by themselves but if anyone on the east is close, it would be vcu.

It would have been Memphis until very recently (unless you don’t consider Tennessee to be “east”).

And let’s be clear, vcu is a stepping stone school too. They’ve gone to 4 NCAA tournaments in the last 5 years with 3 different coaches. Odom lasted 1 year there. Martelli is probably gone in no more than 3 years.

If you want to copy their success, we should be figuring out how they keep hiring great coach after great coach.

 

[Portlandian]

Something to aspire to as a program. Send some spies down to Richmond and find out their secret sauce.

 

[GMU79]

It would have been Memphis until very recently (unless you don’t consider Tennessee to be “east”).

And let’s be clear, vcu is a stepping stone school too. They’ve gone to 4 NCAA tournaments in the last 5 years with 3 different coaches. Odom lasted 1 year there. Martelli is probably gone in no more than 3 years.

If you want to copy their success, we should be figuring out how they keep hiring great coach after great coach.

Actually, Knoxville is about 300 miles farther east that Memphis. But yeah.

 

[gmujim92]

It would have been Memphis until very recently (unless you don’t consider Tennessee to be “east”).

And let’s be clear, vcu is a stepping stone school too. They’ve gone to 4 NCAA tournaments in the last 5 years with 3 different coaches. Odom lasted 1 year there. Martelli is probably gone in no more than 3 years.

If you want to copy their success, we should be figuring out how they keep hiring great coach after great coach.

It has very little to do with the individual coaches, who have been fairly hit or miss in their careers after leaving vcu. Their administration provides such incredible resources and they’ve had so much success that the program basically recruits itself now. You could probably win 20 games a season there.

 

[FullyChargedPatriot]

It is more of a school wide/administration/fan base/students dedication to men's basketball at vcu. GMU could be very good with the right coach, staff, and admin support. It is not that hard in men's basketball if you are in the right place.

 

[gmujim92]

Something to aspire to as a program. Send some spies down to Richmond and find out their secret sauce.

Straight cash homey

 

[Portlandian]

 

[Ben Chwarmer]

Pretty sure we did that last year. I’m not sure what his current buyout is but I doubt it stayed the same after we doubled his salary.

Yeah keep increasing it! Lol

 

[Old Ram]

It would have been Memphis until very recently (unless you don’t consider Tennessee to be “east”).

And let’s be clear, vcu is a stepping stone school too. They’ve gone to 4 NCAA tournaments in the last 5 years with 3 different coaches. Odom lasted 1 year there. Martelli is probably gone in no more than 3 years.

If you want to copy their success, we should be figuring out how they keep hiring great coach after great coach.

I think Odom was there two years.

Mason can experience similar success. It’s just going to take a decent amount of time and money. It isn’t going to happen overnight. Once successful, it makes it much easier to sustain success.

 

[gmujim92]

I think Odom was there two years.

Mason can experience similar success. It’s just going to take a decent amount of time and money. It isn’t going to happen overnight. Once successful, it makes it much easier to sustain success.

Most people don’t realize vcu has been quite good at basketball for most of the past 50 years … they were a single-digit seed in the NCAA tournament in 1982. It’s in their DNA.

Mason, meanwhile, didn’t even get its first bid until 1989.

The institutional investment in the programs is completely different, Mason has just lucked out over the years and had coaches who helped it punch above its weight class.

But in this era it’s harder than ever to compete consistently without spending $. Expecting the coaching staff to be able to overcome a 3X deficit in NIL is unrealistic.

 

[EXpatriot13]

The institutional investment in the programs is completely different, Mason has just lucked out over the years and had coaches who helped it punch above its weight class.

Basketball gave so much to Mason in that 2006-2011 window, just a massive acceleration of growth and development. Where would the school be today without that? We’re still paying for how shortsighted that Admin was.

Definite strides have been made with current leadership, but it’s obvious there are still the same blockers within slow walking our progress in areas where we need immediate action.

 

[gmujim92]

Basketball gave so much to Mason in that 2006-2011 window, just a massive acceleration of growth and development. Where would the school be today without that? We’re still paying for how shortsighted that Admin was.

Definite strides have been made with current leadership, but it’s obvious there are still the same blockers within slow walking our progress in areas where we need immediate action.

It’s an institutional culture problem. That’s why no matter how many of the faces change, the issues still persist. While vcu long ago embraced being identified as a “basketball school” and rally proudly behind doing what it takes to sustain high-level winning, Mason seemingly has done everything possible to resist such a label … to its detriment.

 

[GSII]

It’s an institutional culture problem. That’s why no matter how many of the faces change, the issues still persist. While vcu long ago embraced being identified as a “basketball school” and rally proudly behind doing what it takes to sustain high-level winning, Mason seemingly has done everything possible to resist such a label … to its detriment.

We doubled the HC Salary and increased the womens HC salary. However, Mason is severely lacking on the corporate donor side. Which is mind boggling.

 

[GMU79]

We doubled the HC Salary and increased the womens HC salary. However, Mason is severely lacking on the corporate donor side. Which is mind boggling.

Considering all the grads who have stayed in the area, and considering how Mason touts how much money it's grads make, you would think that at least a handful would have been basketball fans back in their day and would be willing to put some bucks into the team/s.

 

[2011WinOverVillanova]

Considering all the grads who have stayed in the area, and considering how Mason touts how much money it's grads make, you would think that at least a handful would have been basketball fans back in their day and would be willing to put some bucks into the team/s.

What if the fanbase hired a lobbyist to advocate to the board of visitors on our behalf?

 

[jruby]

Gonzaga of the East!!??
Please. Talk about hyperbole!

It would have been Memphis until very recently (unless you don’t consider Tennessee to be “east”).

And let’s be clear, vcu is a stepping stone school too. They’ve gone to 4 NCAA tournaments in the last 5 years with 3 different coaches. Odom lasted 1 year there. Martelli is probably gone in no more than 3 years.

If you want to copy their success, we should be figuring out how they keep hiring great coach after great coach.

I don't even think Martelli is anything special it's the fact the school is 100% invested in hoops, and used its art school for branding and marketing.

 

[NewPatriot]

It would have been Memphis until very recently (unless you don’t consider Tennessee to be “east”).

And let’s be clear, vcu is a stepping stone school too. They’ve gone to 4 NCAA tournaments in the last 5 years with 3 different coaches. Odom lasted 1 year there. Martelli is probably gone in no more than 3 years.

If you want to copy their success, we should be figuring out how they keep hiring great coach after great coach.

 

[Mason2005]

vcu has a formula with the type of players they get that just works every year. They value speed, def and 3pt shooting.