I think we know where Cecil stands: https://www.tidesports.com/cecil-hurt-sooner-or-later-things-have-to-change-for-alabama-basketball/
CECIL HURT: Sooner or later, things have to change for Alabama basketball
- Thread starter dayhiker
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I think the decision to renovate, instead of demolish, Coleman Coliseum has said enough about where Alabama wants basketball.
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It's not the decision to gut and renovate that shows the commitment. It's the decision to wait until 2021 that shows where the real commitment is.
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Indeed. It could’ve started yesterday if the fervor was there. We need better facilities first, top tier talented coaches aren’t going to come and beg for facility upgrades right off the bat.
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The data is in teams that get new facilities win. Even if its just a new practice facility. I have said this before, who ever inherits that new gym is going to have a remarkable turn around for our program. It will effect the men and women.
Two words: Anthony Grant
Donovan isn’t going to the place that fired his close friend.
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I wonder what Billy Donavan would say about AG's tenure here? Did he ever comment on it. It's not like we fired a guy who did a great job.
Cecil basically is calling for his job. He talks of a need for change but how often has that ever happened in a program mired in mediocrity without a change at the top?
Put yourself in Greg Byrne's shoes. It's easy to say, "fire Johnson." Cecil's article says that the buyout goes from $9 million to $8 million in a few weeks.
My feeling is that another year of Johnson would do more than $1 million damage to the program, and you'd end up with no choice but to fire him in March of 2020, with high school level talent for the new guy to work with. So that would indicate a change now.
But then what? Or more properly, then who? I don't have a good answer for that one.
Here's my suggestion: Bite the bullet, demolish Coleman, and build a new 8,000 seat arena. Move the start date up to 2020. Pay $4 million for a new coach, and put in his contract that if the new arena doesn't start at that time, he is free to leave with his buyout.
I think those terms would attract someone we couldn't normally get.
The obvious downside is the cost. It would be expensive. But how expensive is having a basketball program in the doldrums for nearly two decades? I believe the donor support would respond to the commitment, and offset a lot of it.
OR
We decide we are perpetually a .500 team (.333 in the SEC), come to terms with that, and keep Johnson.
My feeling is that another year of Johnson would do more than $1 million damage to the program, and you'd end up with no choice but to fire him in March of 2020, with high school level talent for the new guy to work with. So that would indicate a change now.
But then what? Or more properly, then who? I don't have a good answer for that one.
Here's my suggestion: Bite the bullet, demolish Coleman, and build a new 8,000 seat arena. Move the start date up to 2020. Pay $4 million for a new coach, and put in his contract that if the new arena doesn't start at that time, he is free to leave with his buyout.
I think those terms would attract someone we couldn't normally get.
The obvious downside is the cost. It would be expensive. But how expensive is having a basketball program in the doldrums for nearly two decades? I believe the donor support would respond to the commitment, and offset a lot of it.
OR
We decide we are perpetually a .500 team (.333 in the SEC), come to terms with that, and keep Johnson.
I should add Doug Amos said last week he had been told by someone in Tuscaloosa that should know one explanation for the delay is donors earmarking their big donations for football.
The commitment issue might not necessarily be with those within the athletic department.
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The commitment issue might not necessarily be with those within the athletic department.
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Yep, the big question is "who?"
A change without a better "who" is not really going to help us without a commitment to a change of culture.
I completely agree with starting all over with a new facility. To me anything less is putting lipstick on a pig.
A change without a better "who" is not really going to help us without a commitment to a change of culture.
I completely agree with starting all over with a new facility. To me anything less is putting lipstick on a pig.
I was disappointed with the decision to not build a completely new arena from the ground up but I was MUCH more disappointed that we're waiting until 2021 to do anything.
Cecil is absolutely right. For once Auburn got it right, they built a new arena, hired a successful if not soiled coach which led to a change in their basketball culture. AU used to be where coaches went to bury their careers,now they are a regular fixture in the tourney. It seems not to bother our athletic administrators that we we are at best a mediocre program in the last 20 years.
Byrne needs to get out and beat the bushes to get donations for the basketball program. Part of that will be having a plan (I agree with Cecil 100%) for excellence. Mal had to do that to get donations flowing in for the football program. I understand that football is an easier sell to our boosters than basketball but I'm not convinced that we don't have donors that will donate to make improvements in the basketball program especially with Auburn, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State on the rise. We just have not had the strong plan of excellence in place to make that happen. I think Mal and Battle made good hires (at the time) and tried to do right by the basketball program but they were not basketball guys. Byrne is a basketball guy and I think he can get things going in the right direction. As much as I like the guy I think step one has to be replacing CAJ with a better coach.
Another thought on this matter, at some point it becomes pointless to continue spending more and more money on the football program because the return on the investment is just not going to be there. We've probably already peaked to a certain extent because we're seeing a decline in attendance and are having to spend millions to reduce the seating capacity of a stadium that we just spent millions on to increase the capacity. Hindsight is always 20/20 but if we'd been more wise with that money we could have invested more in the basketball program and still had one of the top 2-3 football programs in the country. Basketball is a money-maker for the AD. Not to the same extent as football but it is a money-maker. We should seek to increase basketball revenue because there is more ROI potential at this point than in football. Keep in mind that ROI is not always money but could be recognition for the university as a whole. It is a good selling point for the university to be in the NCAA tournament and winning games.
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It's bothersome to see Barners poking fun of our program as if they are a historically good program.
Saw one on Twitter last night say "You can't spell Crimson Tide without NIT."
Marty, from what Cecil writes, the Advertiser was wrong about the buyout dropping to six million. I'd bet on Cecil, any day...
Goal for next year, regardless of who the coach is,...... Get on the Opposite side of Kentucky in the SEC tournament bracket lol.
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I've never been a fan of the latest plans for BDS.
I'd much rather see us build a new basketball arena.
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