Bradley...WTH?

[Shox21]

Fire Jim Les to get publicly denied by Jeter from UWM. Holy crap the valley has tanked low. You guys need to figure it out. Not good for the valley to have all these illinois teams sucking.

It wasn't all that long ago that Sutton turned down the WSU job. I'm pretty sure an ORU coach turning down a school like WSU would not be considered good for the Valley...but there's always things behind the scenes that you don't know about and will never know about.

Was Sutton ever 'offered' the WSU job? I thought he and his wife were driving up to Wichita for the interview and while talking in the car decided they wanted to stay at ORU, so they turned around and went back home. So I didn't think he ever officially interviewed and therefore was never offered the job. Did I make that story up?

[SubGod22]

Fire Jim Les to get publicly denied by Jeter from UWM. Holy crap the valley has tanked low. You guys need to figure it out. Not good for the valley to have all these illinois teams sucking.

It wasn't all that long ago that Sutton turned down the WSU job. I'm pretty sure an ORU coach turning down a school like WSU would not be considered good for the Valley...but there's always things behind the scenes that you don't know about and will never know about.

Was Sutton ever 'offered' the WSU job? I thought he and his wife were driving up to Wichita for the interview and while talking in the car decided they wanted to stay at ORU, so they turned around and went back home. So I didn't think he ever officially interviewed and therefore was never offered the job. Did I make that story up?

That was one story that was around. I believe Sutton was our 2nd option if we couldn't get 3G away from the east coast.

[BradleyBrave]

Here's the truth on how things went down with Jeter. This is an email from someone with very close ties to MVC and Horizon League coaches.

I made some inquiries today and talked with someone (not at Bradley) who has direct knowledge of the Jeter offer. According to them, nearly everything reported so far has been wrong.

Bradley offered Jeter a five year deal at $450,000 per year. I don’t know where the $700,000 figure came from. If BU offered that to someone, it wasn’t to Jeter.

Jeter had three years remaining on his contract at Wisconsin-Milwaukee. UWM didn’t want to lose him and countered with a three year extension. No word if a salary bump was included.

Jeter then asked Bradley for a seven year contract but the university declined. BU did not want to enter into an agreement longer than five years.

I asked if the Bradley administration was a factor in his decision. No. Jeter never mentioned the president or the administration as a reason in not taking the job. The two extra years were the only sticking point.

So, believe what you want, but 450K is much more of a BU-type salary than any lucrative offer that Tribune or website hacks say Jeter turned down. Why ESPN Insider keeps quoting David Kaplan, a Jim Les 'buddy' and confidant for the past 20 years, who works for a newspaper 3 hours from Peoria is beyond me. Kaplan was wrong about Northern Illinois hire 3 times in 4 hours last night, and they're only 90 minutes or so away from Chicago.

[valleychamp]

If I were Bradley I would call Bobby Lutz. He was the lead assistant at Iowa State this year under first year head coach Fred Hoiberg. Prior to that, he had a long stint as head coach at UNC-Charlotte. He had a lot of success there including multiple trips to the NCAAs.

[UNIFanSince1983]

Bruce Pearl?

[bleach]

Bruce Pearl?

He would likely be a permanent fixture. Nobody else would have him. Oh well, there's always Barry!

[LJay]

IMHO, Bradley needs to get this done now!

I was a little iffy about CU offering McDermott so quickly but in hindsight the continuity and lack of drama due to the hire is paying dividends. Obviously we'll see if he can get CU to higher levels but I was wrong in my first negative reaction to Rass hiring so fast.

Rass stated later that for years he had a list of coaches to call that he kept current in case DA ever left and BU's AD (every school actually) should have a similar list that he is mining HARD!

[getreal4]

Bradley Admins management of this process certainly leaves a lot to be desired. Hope the Bradley fans get lucky and stumble into a good hire!

[AndShock]

IMHO, Bradley needs to get this done now!

I was a little iffy about CU offering McDermott so quickly but in hindsight the continuity and lack of drama due to the hire is paying dividends. Obviously we'll see if he can get CU to higher levels but I was wrong in my first negative reaction to Rass hiring so fast.

Rass stated later that for years he had a list of coaches to call that he kept current in case DA ever left and BU's AD (every school actually) should have a similar list that he is mining HARD!

I think the CU and BU situations are a tad different. CU was still a great program with the ability to compete right away. Bradley is in complete shambles and they need a total reboot. They need to find someone who is going to be able to take on that task. The only reason for Bradley to hire right away would be so the new coach could start working right away, I think continuity is the last thing they want.