staff

Thanks for the info on Kramer and I hope he does find his way back to basketball eventually but it certainly seems like he made the right decision!
I too agree with your take on where the blame lies if next season goes haywire...

SoCal_Pilot wrote:Thanks for the info on Kramer and I hope he does find his way back to basketball eventually but it certainly seems like he made the right decision!
I too agree with your take on where the blame lies if next season goes haywire...

I think due consideration for the current state of the program ought be shared with the folks who decided on the hire.

Maybe it’s time to break precedence and pony up the resources required to hire a proven, winning D1 coach. That would require more money for both a coach and the program. W have been going the route of hiring “promising young assistant” of Blazers with no college experience at all. That last category has proved particularly counterproductive.

Interesting you bring up resources, Geez. I get the impression that when the Pilots ended up with Coach Porter, it was less of an issue of resources and more that he was simply one of the leading candidates from the get go (with Kyle Smith being the other, and it doesn’t seem he ever seriously considered UP).

If the Pilots happen to go through a search again at some point in the next few seasons, then yeah..one really has to wonder how much $$$ will be available for the hire and if even that will be enough to entice someone experienced to pilot the Pilots back to relevancy.

https://twitter.com/russellyt/status/1161493584132104192
A buddy of mine who was a four year manager while at UP just added his name to the list of Pilot coaches on the West Coast!

SoCal_Pilot wrote:https://twitter.com/russellyt/status/1161493584132104192
A buddy of mine who was a four year manager while at UP just added his name to the list of Pilot coaches on the West Coast!

Wow, congratulations to Dane...I knew him when he was just a kid!

Thousand Oaks is a nice part of the country...but will he be able to afford to live there? Maybe live in Oxnard or Point Hueneme on someone's couch and commute.

That's a good question haha, I have no idea what his compensation package is like, I do know that he is getting his teaching credential at CLU because he had announced that on his Instagram right before graduating.

Want to make a difference in young men's lives while earning a good wage and benefits and helping the UP Men's Basketball Team towards better performance?

Rich Bennett and Whitney Robison have left, or will be leaving, their positions as Head Trainer and Director of Basketball Operations at UP, and interviews are being conducted to find their replacements...

https://up.hiretouch.com/job-details?jobID=57089&job=assistant-athletic-director-athletic-training

https://up.hiretouch.com/job-details?jobID=58300&job=director-of-operations-mens-basketball

DoubleDipper wrote:Said goodbye to Coach Bob Cantu and his family yesterday as they left Portland for their new home in Lawrence, Kansas.

Bob has accepted a position as an advisor/consultant on Coach Bill Self's coaching staff at the University of Kansas.

Nice to not only see him land on his feet, but also to get back to a high major program that was a #4 seed in last season's NCAA Tournament and is looking to be a contender for the National Championship...

Kansas may be hit with major sanctions, according to the K.C. Star. Related to the paying players mess going around. I'd link the article, but I got a bad pop-up when I opened it.

This link to the kc Star seems clean

https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article235316472.html

Or in this case, former staff. Rev's current team Georgia Tech has been hit with sanctions.
https://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2019/09/26/georgia-techs-postseason-ban-is-really-bad-news-for-kansas/

The NCAA is so mad at Kansas they are going to give Georgia Tech another year postseason ban.

Kansas is going to skate right through this unscathed just like UNC did, you just watch.

Dean Murdoch wrote:Kansas is going to skate right through this unscathed just like UNC did, you just watch.

I dunno…

The NCAA is alleging three Level I violations as well as a lack of institutional control and head coach control at KU, and those allegations are tied to Kansas' involvement in the pay-to-play scandal in which Adidas employees organized payments to college basketball recruits.

Sounds more serious than the somewhat insignificant and narrow violations at GT that were not part of the FBI investigations.  And if KU is in trouble, Louisville, LSU, Auburn and Arizona could be in even greater trouble if the NCAA continues to rely heavily on evidence presented at the federal trials last fall and spring.

Would hate to see former UP coaches Reveno and Cantu caught up in this, but yeah, I can see everyone's skepticism after the NCAA allowed UNC to skate free.

On the bright side, former Reveno assistant (just one year), Mitch Johnson has joined Gregg Popovich's staff with the San Antonio Spurs.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/spurs-round-out-coaching-staff/ar-AAHByVE

Geezaldinho wrote:The NCAA  is so mad at Kansas they are going to give Georgia Tech another year postseason ban.

The postseason ban of GT is rather insignificant considering the team's potential of going to the postseason without the ban.

The ban was the headline, but GT greatest hit is the fine of 2% of their basketball budget, the loss of one basketball scholarship for the next 4 seasons, and a slew of recruiting restrictions that include a two-month ban on communicating with recruits/prospects.

That latter restriction is going to drive Rev nuts!

Dean Murdoch wrote:Kansas is going to skate right through this unscathed just like UNC did, you just watch.

The rules are different for P 5’s

Rule 1:
No rules.

DoubleDipper wrote:

The ban was the headline, but GT greatest hit is the fine of 2% of their basketball budget,

Which will mean an 8% rise in season 5

The Pilots have a new Director of Basketball Operations, Faris Wasim.

Faris has a bachelor's and master's from the University of Virgina and was a manager on the UVA basketball team for five years, the last year as the senior manager on the 2019 National Championship UVA team.

That's Faris on the far right as the team celebrates their National Championship...

Seems like a good choice, a guy who's young but has serious experience in a super high level program! Welcome Faris!

Saw this on Twitter today. Congrats to Coach Rev.

https://ramblinwreck.com/eric-reveno-promoted-to-associate-head-basketball-coach/

DoubleDipper wrote:Said goodbye to Coach Bob Cantu and his family yesterday as they left Portland for their new home in Lawrence, Kansas.

Bob has accepted a position as an advisor/consultant on Coach Bill Self's coaching staff at the University of Kansas.

The recent kerfuffle in Lawrence made me wonder how Coach Cantu is doing...so I got in touch.

Turns out he's not in Lawrence, but instead living in his wife's hometown, Kansas City.  And instead of working with Coach Self, he's basically working for himself while still drawing a salary from UP until June, 2021.

He's spending time with his wife and step-daughter like never before, but also traveling the country attending games, practices and clinics at all levels of basketball, including the NBA, while learning from the best and making new contacts in anticipation of returning to coaching in the future.

He/we made no mention of the current state of the UP Men's Basketball program.

UW Green Bay fired their head coach yesterday. Seemed to be completely out of the blue given the timing of it and that Linc Darner was under contract until 2026.

Pilots AC Ben Johnson (UWGB alum and former assistant for the Phoenix) is among the first names linc-ed to the new opening.

@Bballscoop1 wrote: Names involved at Green Bay:

1. Gary Grzesk - HC - St Norbert College

2. Ben Johnson - AC - Portland

3. Brad Soderberg - AC - Virginia

All 3 guys are Dick Bennett guys!

Dean Murdoch wrote:UW Green Bay fired their head coach yesterday. Seemed to be completely out of the blue given the timing of it and that Linc Darner was under contract until 2026.

Four winning seasons in five years, both in conference and overall, including the last two. Must be something else going on.

Ben is a wonderful guy, an excellent coach, a Green Bay guy, and his time at UP is tenuous...I hope he gets the head coaching opportunity he deserves!

Dean Murdoch wrote:UW Green Bay fired their head coach yesterday. Seemed to be completely out of the blue given the timing of it and that Linc Darner was under contract until 2026.

Fun to read between the lines of Linc Darner's statement:

“I would like to thank former Chancellor Gary Miller and former Athletic Director Mary Ellen Gillespie for giving me the opportunity to coach at Green Bay. I would like to thank my staff, recruits and all current and former players who helped us make the NCAA Tournament, taking GB the furthest ever in the postseason to the CIT Finals and having the most up-tempo offense in the country.  Most importantly, I’m proud to have graduated my players at an extremely high rate including two perfect APR scores which was never done before at GB. I cannot wait to advance my career as a head basketball coach and am looking forward to new opportunities.”

Wonder if he'd like to "advance" his career at Portland...