Haha, nice re-quote Frenas

AggieBaller98... I agree! bring on the calvary!..

I will take J. Mychal Reese any day of the week over a player who is only seeking his own personal glory, We are better off for his leaving now. He would not have been happy playing behind J. Mychal next year either. Let him go and let go of him. We have already improved the situation by recruiting Mr. Reese, who will be an all conference type of player. Kennedy has a few good years left in him, probably not as many as he would have hoped, but the man knows talent. He has quality assistants and he puts a lot of responsibility on them. The longer he is at A&M the players themselves will be the best recruiters because of the way that they will be treated, and the assistants do most of the day to day recruiting anyway. Kennedy is the head coach, but he has always delegated a great deal of responsibility to his assistants, even at Southeast Louisiana.

Good stuff, guys! I'm sold.

Would a non Ag post about the Arkansas Tech game? I was courtside when Roland shut Abrams down and we won. I was there when we lost to Tech in BCG's best year on a last second shot by jarius Jackson. I was there in G Rollie when Paul Pierce helped KU pull away from us in the last ten minutes and I have many more Aggie basketball memories if you wish to discuss them.

You're not a better Aggie for donating more to the 12th man or having an Ag Tag. I'd argue you were a worse Ag for trying to argue we should keep a coach that won't be able to recruit and doesn't appear to be able to coach on the sidelines, but I know you want the best for A&M just like I do.

I'm am entitled to a good basketball program and so is everyone that roots for us. To think otherwise is sad.

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AggieBaller98... I agree! bring on the calvary!..

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Calvary was where Christ was crucified.

Cavalry is the like the charge of the light brigade.

You might bookmark those next to the cheerleader/dance team selection.

I'm sorry ... president of what?

XL you too can f*** off.

Nicely done, echols.

BTW, profanity is the vocabulary of the inarticulate m****rf****r.

got your thread deleted how's that taste?

I suspect that was because of rightful concerns of copyright infringement rather than the content itself.

But, unlike you, I could be wrong about that.

Seriously, are 8 or 9 years old? Maybe 18 going on 8? I've seen some pretty immature stuff on this forum over the past decade +, but you really are in a class by yourself.

XL.. I was willing to leave will enough alone until method man brought up the troll comment. you and method man don't run this forum. And I've seen plenty of stupid combative immature comments from you. Calling me names makes you look just as immature. By the way BK will be HC as long as he wants the job..

Let's see ...

you think A&M has cheerleaders and can't tell the difference from a dance team that you claim you've seen many times in Reed

you can't spell (as an IT guy you'd think you would know how to use spell check if you're spelling challenged)

you described yourself as "handicapped", but when I agree with your own announcement, I'm calling you names

you drop the f-bomb one post up from where you chastise me about name calling

and then you confirm your troll status by stating BK will HC as long as he wants to be

Got it. Thanks.

[This message has been edited by XL2Win (edited 1/13/2012 10:34p).]

good inventory. How about damn near every post your make on this forum has to do with making a case against BK as a head coach.

How can you define someone as a troll that supports their HC. I would think logically the troll is the one bad mouthing the HC and program.

And yes, I am a president and I'm well into the 1%.. are you occupy wall street material?

My primary concern is the state of the basketball program. I've been going to A&M basketball games since Bob Rogers was head coach and Shelby Metcalf was an assistant coach. I've seen good years and I've seen bad years.

After I told Wally Groff it was time for Barone to go (3rd season), he told me that it was "his program". I told him clearly it was "our program" and he was "our employee". He hardly spoke to me since.

I said Melvin Watkins needed to go during the second season when it became obvious that he was a decent recruiter and a horrible coach. I listened to all the "he needs more time", "he needs his players", "one more season", etc and was called an enemy of Aggie basketball for saying so ... was banned twice for sticking with my opinion.

I was not a fan of the BCG hire. I thought we needed a higher profile coach to get us out of the deep hole that Barone and Watkins had dug for us. I was worried about his multiple issues with alcohol (thinking if you get caught twice then it's likely there's a whole bunch more times where you didn't get caught). I was right about the alcoholo and wrong about the coach. Once he was here I loved Billy Ball and how the team has so dramatically changed their work ethic. It generated great results and I was damned glad that I didn't get to pick somebody else.

I was not a great fan of Turgeon because I thought he dumbed down our defense and our offense looks a lot like what we have now ... lots of perimeter passing, not much penetration, a disaster against a zone and a motionless motion offense. On the other hand he produced and I respected and admired him for that. I thought his season in 2009-2010 was one of the best coaching jobs I've seen at A&M. I also thought his recruiting was sub-par for a program that had been to the post season for 7 straight seasons and in the dance for 6. I wasn't looking for him to leave but I wasn't crushed when he left either.

I was somewhat ambivalent about the BK hire. I thought he did a fine job at Murray State, but I also remember that Melvin Watkins had one good year in his gig before A&M so I knew a good player or two could make a good enough team to have some opportunity for success. I never dreamed that we would be where we are today.

I reiterate for you that this is NOT about Coach Kennedy as a coach. I think he probably had the ability to be pretty darn good. But the disease changed EVERYTHING. It's affected him personally, affected his performance and it's affected his ability to recruit. Coupled with the dramatic death spiral this team is in, I am convinced that he is no longer able to fill the requirements of the job and that we will need another coach. I absolutely believe that A&M should take whatever action is necessary and I just as firmly believe that action MUST be accomplished with concern, care, consideration and grace. But the program comes first and every HC ever hired knows that.

So, you can say what you want but I put my record of backing A&M basketball with almost anybody. And I got it from my dad who helped recruit, among others, Bennie Lenox, arguably one of the 2 best guards in Aggie basketball history. I've had my season tickets when you could roll a grenade into G Rollie or Reed and nobody would get hurt. NOBODY, but NOBODY cares more about this program than I do.

[This message has been edited by XL2Win (edited 1/13/2012 11:06p).]

Frenas...thanks for posting the start of this thread...very interesting link to read and most comments following the link...unfortunately it has been ruined on page 2 with the back and forth bickering...somebody get these two swords or dueling pistols

You guys quit calling me a troll and I'll have some civil conversation with you. My point is that if the disease is so severe that BK cannot do the job, then I would think he knows that and will step aside and bow out gracefully. He is a better judge of that than anyone else. In the short term it is fair to him and the program to let this season play itself out and see how he does with recruiting. I don't believe one season can destroy a program any more than one season can make a program. It would do more detriment to the program if the public perceives that BK was kicked to the curb. That would do damage to the A&M brand and may turn off future coaches and prospects. It appears to me that BK is working the job and he may not be 100%, but is giving it all he can.

I am particularly sensitve to this as I went through a significant health ordeal, but fought through it and am able to maintain a good level of productivity. Even without being 100%, I was able to do excellent work because of the expertise in my field.

Just because BK has parkinsons, doesn't all of a sudden make him an incompetent coach.

It's very possible he will do an excellent job as he may do things to compensate for his disease.


[This message has been edited by echols (edited 1/13/2012 11:19p).]

Simply not true. Nothing ruins a program like losing and not being able to recruit perpetuates that. We are getting DESTROYED in recruiting because everybody in the real world knows that the uncertainty is worse than the eventuality.

One season will not destroy a progam. At the end of the season BK and BB will evaluate next steps and if BK is not capable of continuing as HC, he will step down. By then, we will be able to grade his recruiting class. With the complete season and the recruiting class and BK's health, both will be able to determine next steps. It is highly unlikely that BK will step down before the end of the season or be asked to step down. I simply don't believe that will happen. If the program is in trouble with BK, it can be turned around with one good HC hire. All it takes at this level, with this sport, is one or two key recruits to make a program.

How do you know we are getting DESTROYED in recruiting? DESTROYED in ALL CAPS? Are you the father of a Top 50 recruit. No. I'm sure you are not. I'm also sure that you will come back and say that all the HS and AAU coaches are talking about his disease, but you won't offer a single name of any such coach or program.

Has the staff most likely taken some hits. I'm sure they have. Recruiting is a dirty business. However, if you think Cyprien and company can't combat what rival coaches and internet doctors like yourself are conjuring up, then you are really in a bad way over this situation.

Some of you guys need to relax. Big fan, troll, booster, whatever. Posting the same stuff over and over in every thread is annoying and serves no positive purpose whatsoever.

I think you are more wrong than right. If a program has a great, long history then I would buy that ... look at Kentucky under BCG as an example.

But GaTech, which has a much deeper history than we do, is an example where one crushing year has totally destroyed their ability to get coaches or recruits.

It's just a much deeper hole to dig out of if you don't have a broader history to overcome it. Every program has a down year, but this year has the markings of a total disaster and coupled with the health issues and uncertainty generated by those issues has/will continue to crush recruiting. And you're not going to build a program without players, I don't care who the coach is.

[This message has been edited by XL2Win (edited 1/14/2012 12:17a).]

Gundy ...

Look at the real world. Look at the recruits we do have ... two from the Brazos valley with direct family ties to A&M. Yes, they are very good but you can't live long on that kind of geographical spread in recruiting.

People with AAU ties here have repeatedly said that we are DEAD in the water when it comes to recruiting and the signings show it. We're having a hard time getting our visits filled. No big men, no serious leaning to us by top notch recruits. As BK's health issues expand, and they will because of the nature of the disease, even if BK is able to continue he will be rendered ineffectual on the recruiting trail. He already has been. Just an inconvenient truth for you, but true nonetheless.

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AG 2000 Parkinsons doesn't make you deaf, dumb and blind.

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Obviously, your knowledge about the disease's impact on the central nervous system and brain chemistry would not fill a thimble. Or, you were just making a bad joke.

Gundy, you have 18 posts. If you had been around here awhile you would know when some of the other knowledgable posters state that recruiting has dried up, it's true because there are many that DO have contacts.

And you're wrong about being able to combat the negative recruiting. In this case the negative is an acknowledged fact ... BK has Parkinson's and it's a fact that it is a progressively degenerative disease that will not get better. There is no amount of spin, no matter how agile, that can erase the huge cloud of uncertainty surrounding our coach and the program's future. Top prospects are not interested in playing what-if. A coaching change that precipitates a transfer takes a year of eligibility off a kid who might have aspirations of playing in the pros or at least for a top notch collegiate program. It's just a gamble most are not willing to take ... unless their parent(s) work for A&M.

It would be incredibly stupid to throw coaches and contacts under the bus on this forum. Many are names you probably wouldn't recognize anyway unless you are intimately involved at that level and it would destroy any confidence you might get in the future for them. It's kind of like naming a spy just prove you have one ...

[This message has been edited by XL2Win (edited 1/14/2012 12:14a).]

sharp ... that's actually very true. Becoming dumb (effective loss of the ability to verbally communicate) is one of the more common results of the disease. Memory loss is another common result and can even be induced by the meds.

At what point do you realize that the best we have is the best we are going to have if this continues?

If MT was still here, how would we look?

A lot better. Not top in conference, but better.

Obviously due to unforeseen factors that would not have occurred. if....

XL you claim that you didn't like the

Hiring of Barone - warranted bc we couldn't compete to save our lives
Hiring of Watkins - he brought in Wright and Acie Law
Hiring BCG - even though he took Watkins players and made us winners over night
Hiring Turgeon - took BCG's recruits and continued to win
Hiring Billy Kennedy

Aren't you ever happy? Seems to me that you don't know what good is if it hit you upside the head or could it be that you don't know anything at all about basketball?

Keep your cancerous comments to yourself, we get it BK's illness is a negative recruiting tool, talk about the plays on the court and leave your disappointments at the door.

I've done that. And if you were happy with Barone and Watkins, then you are part of the problem at A&M, where the legend is to dumb down expectations to meet performance.

And apparently you have reading comprehension issues. I said BCG wouldn't have been my choice but that I loved it when he got here and was a huge supporter of his style. I said I wasn't a big fan of Turgeon because he seemed to abandon the hustle attitude that BCG developed but I admired his sustenance of the program.

And I said I was ambivalent about Kennedy. Turgeon's belated departure didn't leave us with tons of options and I just didn't know much about him other than the obvious flash of success that he had at Murray, not unlike BCG at UTEP or Watkins at UNC-Greensboro, so I was uncertain about that. I thought he had potential until Parkinson's reared it's ugly head.

So, I've waited and watched and developed an opinion based on what I saw on the court and on the bench as well as the product, tempered with what talent is available. Isn't that how you evaluate coaches? Barone and Watkins had my support initially and both quickly proved that support was ill-placed.

So, pretty much this season is a wash, because we hired a coach that has to dismember our entire roster and recruit kids that fit his style. Hell, we don't need to "win" to recruit top kids for our program. The prestige of "A&M Basketball" will be enough to bring in some 4 stars and 5 stars.