Bringing Back Porter

DoubleDipper wrote:

bullwinkle wrote:How utterly despairing.  After 20 years of being season ticket holders, going to the tournament, and being Pilot Club members, my wife and I gave it all up last year to send a message (also sent a letter to Leykam).  

For some perspective, this decision was made above the AD level and contrary to his plan...I hope he doesn't fall on his sword over it.

================================

If "they" overruled Leykam its because a) he had a $hitty plan or b) they had predisposition to run athletics at UP right into the ground once and for all.

Neither which is good for Leykam or UP.

Well I guess we can all take solace in the fact that like the CSC we'll always have Notre Dame to root for!

A friend of mine made a suggestion that could be passed onto Administration as one way to put lipstick on this pig:  Buy season tickets to see the women play.  You get the men's games as a bonus (you just need a strong stomach, a good book, or be willing to drink your way through the games).

DoubleDipper wrote:Everyone's investment portfolios are their lowest ever, including UP's and that of any "booster" who might have contributed to a buyout.

TP, who may have considered retirement now that his sons are gone from the team, also found his financial worth (on paper) greatly diminished and realized retirement was not an option.

S&P 500 up 9% today. Is it too late to reconsider?

up7587 wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:Everyone's investment portfolios are their lowest ever, including UP's and that of any "booster" who might have contributed to a buyout.

TP, who may have considered retirement now that his sons are gone from the team, also found his financial worth (on paper) greatly diminished and realized retirement was not an option.

S&P 500 up 9% today.  Is it too late to reconsider?

I sure hope his allocation was mostly bonds, not stocks...

Also still got a ways to go before the S&P 500 gains back all its losses. Think we're at the same time as 3 years ago.

Good news, now that I don't have to leave the house I'm finally getting some use out of those Porter t shirts they gave out to season ticket holders the year he was hired.

Is after the first exhibition game in the fall too early to fire your coach?

dholcombe wrote:Good news, now that I don't have to leave the house I'm finally getting some use out of those Porter t shirts they gave out to season ticket holders the year he was hired.

Is after the first exhibition game in the fall too early to fire your coach?

I still have the bottle of Porter beer in my garage refrigerator. I was waiting to pop the cap when they announced his leaving.

dholcombe wrote:Good news, now that I don't have to leave the house I'm finally getting some use out of those Porter t shirts they gave out to season ticket holders the year he was hired.

Who knew when we got the "Porter 30" t-shirts, it was a four year goal for D-1 wins? Just missed it, too.
16-17 10
17-18 7
18-19 5
19-20 7
Total 29

You guys are getting too gloomy. I’m  ready for next season.

This before yesterday's announcement that Porter would be staying at UP...

CBS Sports wrote:The unprecedented circumstances of the international coronavirus pandemic are slowing the sport's coaching carousel and appear to have temporarily cooled the seats of coaches under scrutiny in the major seven.

For larger schools, there is a belief among some athletic directors that the financial uncertainty brought on by the coronavirus threat that led to the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament is what has led to the unprecedented pause in firings.

Normally, paying a coach's buyout is not an issue for a power conference school. But the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament will have an impact on the budget of every Division I school. Plus, depending on the financial footing of a school's major boosters, there could be trouble wrangling up enough money to attract a top-flight candidate, athletic directors said.  

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/college-basketballs-coaching-carousel-slows-down-searches-get-more-complicated-amid-coronavirus-threat/

I was hesitant that there would be enough money for a buyout before coronavirus was even a thing and I suppose the uncertainty regarding the pandemic put the nail in the coffin.

But UP is far from the only school in this situation. Have other schools managed to fire and hire? Absolutely, but they are in the minority. I think the number is at 15 right now when there's usually 50-60 coaching changes in any given year.

https://accsports.com/acc-news/could-wake-forest-bring-back-danny-manning-for-another-season/ - Wake Forest and Boston College likely would have canned their coach in any other year, but not this year.

I don't like it. None of us like it. But I (kind of?) get it in this particular year in this particular environment.

At the very least, I hope this sets up the Pilots do so something like what Pepperdine did with Marty Wilson a couple of years back. A nice mid-February release saying Pepperdine was grateful for his tireless work, and Coach Wilson appreciative of the opportunity. Optics were good, and this allowed Pepperdine's AD Potts to get an early start on the coach search and they had Romar in place by Selection Sunday.

https://www.oregonlive.com/pilots/2020/03/canzano-university-of-portland-stands-by-mens-basketball-coach-terry-porter.html

John Canzano wrote:I wish Porter the best. Hope he pulls this out. But also, I wonder how much losing a guy known as a winner can take.

Apparently more than many UP fans.

Since UP is still paying Cantu apparently, can we bring him back as "interim" head coach? (How in the heck did we end up signing that long of a contract for him, btw? And then make the decision to let him go, knowing that we would have to pay him for 3 more years?! It also is clear that he was not the problem on the bench...)

I am surprised that Porter wanted to come back. Another year of all the travelling, odd work hours, stress, embarrassment, etc... without a son on the bench. What will be his motivation to try anything different or work harder with only a year left? Even worse, what if he lets it slide further? I guess things can't get much worse.

I understand that this is a difficult time to make a large financial commitment, but everyone saw this point coming a year ago, and 6 months ago, and 3 months ago... It just continues to show the lack of interest by the UP Administration that has been going on for decades. I have zero confidence that this will get any better until alumni, donors, fans (the few that are left), media, etc. start raising heck and demanding better.

I hope everyone who reads this forum is sending a letter to Waldschmidt Hall to demand better. Any volunteers to write a Beacon or Oregonian opinion piece?

UP now has a lame duck coach who has no interest other than "finishing what he started" which interprets to getting his paycheck. What reason would he have to recruit for next year or to keep the remaining players on the Bluff.

UP admin and AD have absolutely no desire or interest in having a .500 men's team. They should drop to NAIA level.

Porter has posted nothing on his twitter to celebrate his retention as head coach.

This program is at its lowest point in decades. The collective wisdom and good will of the athletic department leadership have not kept this program from falling off a cliff, or more topically, have not kept it from being put into a medically induced coma to be awakened next year.

Can't express how skeptical I am about this team. Next year will be hard to follow in any meaningful way.

Dean Murdoch wrote:

At the very least, I hope this sets up the Pilots do so something like what Pepperdine did with Marty Wilson a couple of years back. A nice mid-February release saying Pepperdine was grateful for his tireless work, and Coach Wilson appreciative of the opportunity. Optics were good, and this allowed Pepperdine's AD Potts to get an early start on the coach search and they had Romar in place by Selection Sunday.

Who are we kidding? Potts had Romar before he let Wilson go. There was no real search, just as there wasn’t when Scott let Reveno go.

The difference is Potts hired a proven D1 head coach.

https://soundcloud.com/kxtg-the-bald-faced-truth/bft-interview-scott-leykam-3

Leykam on Canzano's podcast talking about the decision to keep Coach Porter around.

Or, if you don't have 30 minutes - https://www.oregonlive.com/pilots/2020/03/university-of-portland-ad-defends-decision-to-retain-terry-porter-as-mens-basketball-coach.html?utm_campaign=oregonian_sf&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter - a couple of the key points are summarized there.

I will listen later.  This was the key thing I saw on the summary:

The big thing we’ve got to look at is recruiting. We have some open spots, we could have more.

I think that was more of a "reality of college basketball" observation. He had been talking about how many players were in the portal already with a significant amount being added each day.

That said, none of us should be shocked if one or more of the four returning non-seniors are thinking about a transfer.

Deaner, thanks for the timely heads-up to the podcast.

Excellent back-and-forth discussion, IMO...and it reminded me of the discussions we've had here on PN.

The frightening small-college reality of possible Athletic Department staff cuts across the board due to a lack of income is sobering considering how much money UP would have had to give Porter not to coach...

Deano - thanks for the link.

The interview was akin to putting lipstick on a pig.

Canzano did not bring the heat as he is fully qualified to do and as for AD Leykam, what can he say outside of bringing up Coach Meek and UP women's hoop every time he got the chance?

The part where Canzano quizzed Leykam on his grading criteria, which Leykam answered as league results, was super awkward listening. John throws out "1 and 31" and "10th, 9th, 10th, 10th in a ten team league" and Scott is like "well, yeah..."

Barring some miracle, Porter is not going to be back the following season. Therefore players are going to look at joining the Pilots only as their last best option. Kids that are borderline D-1, injury issues where no one really wants to take a chance on them, troublemakers, players that want a different role (like being the main man) vs. taking a perceived lessor role some place else.

If there is a season next year, here is what I suggest:  UP should cancel their ENTIRE pre-season schedule and volunteer to play money games on the road.  Even Canzano pointed out what wins Portland has had the last four years is made up from the lowest level D-1 and D-2 schools. Scheduling up that dreck to fake-look respectable is a waste of everyone's time. Sell your recruits on a full-on North American tour where you can pretty much guarantee there is going to be some NBA scout in attendance.

Charge fans for the home season games $5 a pop, open seating. Except for potential home games against GU or BYU. No reason to pay for it so no reason to charge for it.

Like I said, just put the lipstick on the pig, get it back out in the yard and hopefully get a little more fat on it for next year's slaughter.

Whether University of Portland is in the position because of poor planning, poor execution, bad luck or a combination of the three really doesn't matter at this point. We are where we are. UP better be taking a hard look at the planning and the execution because one will ever be able to time the bad luck.

Sad days indeed.

I believe the WCC expects each team to schedule a pre-season slate that they can be competitive with. The tanking strategy you suggest to play only payday games is not compatible with that. Rock and a hard place.

DoubleDipper wrote:For some perspective, this decision was made above the AD level and contrary to his plan...I hope he doesn't fall on his sword over it.

I'd love to see, in retrospect, what level the decision was made to fire Cantu.  If that was a head coach level decision, I can understand the AD and administration buy-off in supporting the head coach's decision.  And it's said that the administration won't spend?

But to allow that decision, and the resultant financial constraint that haunts us still, and then step in now to nix another (presumptive) termination . . .

Look, if you're prepared to allow the former, you've got to allow the latter.  It's not like this scenario (the one where we've continued roughly at or near our historical level of success) couldn't have been, and wasn't, foreseen.  I feel for Leykam in this situation, but it's not like he's blameless in his (unenviable) position, either.

I understand where we are at financially and the concern for committing such an amount of our finite resources to a single program, and even a single position.  I know how deeply, and negatively, this type of move would affect the morale of virtually every other employee at the University.  It's not like people come to work at UP for the money, or the resources, or the prestige.  The faculty has been fighting for years just to get their pay up to industry-level, and to see half a million dollars walk out the door for a sports team would be awfully crushing when the aim of the institution is first and foremost education.

But like has been said in this thread earlier, if you're going to field a DI men's basketball team, you have to be prepared to make this type of move, however painful.

And I'm not paying $22, or $15, or even probably $5 per person to watch this.

Go Pilots

This is not a D1 program don't charge D1 prices.

As for Leykam gushing over what a great guy Porter is. It reminds me of the old adage...Porter is a great guy, my brother is also a great guy. My brother shouldn't be UP's coach neither should Porter.

up7587 wrote:I believe the WCC expects each team to schedule a pre-season slate that they can be competitive with.  The tanking strategy you suggest to play only payday games is not compatible with that.  Rock and a hard place.

75'er: All that matters to league membership these days is NET rankings and Quad victories. Getting whipped by Quad 1/2 teams on the road might just give a better NET ranking versus sitting at home and playing Willamette and Evergreen.

Regardless, I honestly don't see what the WCC is going to do (or could do) about it unless it puts a stop payment on the NCAA checks Portland is currently stealing from teams that earned the money or teams that haven't given up trying (which is everyone but UP).

We can get back to a "winning" schedule in 2021.

VillaGorilla wrote:But like has been said in this thread earlier, if you're going to field a DI men's basketball team, you have to be prepared to make this type of move, however painful.

And I'm not paying $22, or $15, or even probably $5 per person to watch this.

Go Pilots

The scary part about this is usually (and again I stipulate we are in an unusual time) two things happen when an athletic department (the "front porch" of the university!) is teetering on a decision as to whether to give a revenue generating leadership another year or not.

1) Season ticket holders stop renewing in droves, a precursor to lots of tickets being left unsold

2) Donors either stop, or curtail, giving as a way to show their displeasure

The scary part is that UP administration and the Board know this.  And for them to make this decision tells me two things:

1) The Revenue UP derives from the sales of game tickets must already be so low that administration is not overly concerned that attendance (with the exception of GU/BYU) and revenue will drop substantially. Because the math states even a large percentage drop of not a lot a revenue equals not a lot of revenue.

2) Donors either a) don't care about MBB results, b) donors really like Porter and don't care about MBB results or c) some donors do care about MBB success but their displeasure, financial and otherwise, is not enough to move the needle.

Does what I have written above sound like your garden variety Division 1 program?  I think that answer is fairly obvious.  If there is no drive for excellence at the donor level or the fan level, there will be no drive for excellence at the administrative level.  This is regardless of the macro-economics.