How long before Belmont or Murray State win MVC?

[E-Villan]

the incident came up that got Marshall fired...

That's one heck of a way to say "When our head coach physically assaulted one of our student athletes.."

I'm really looking forward to the HOF Classic in KC this November.

You seem surprised. This is the same fanbase that was fine with Ben Christensen throwing a 95MPH fastball to the temple of Anthony Molina, who was in the on-deck circle.

They actually gave that POS a standing ovation at a sports banquet just a couple of weeks afterwards.

[Stickboy46]

I dont know the details, but in cases like what you describe, pressure comes from other areas that would keep an AD from making the decision. this can include fans, but more likely includes alumni/donors, or the school president.

If it were solely Boatright, how the hell did he get a 37.5% salary increase? Do you mean a pay cut?

I also dont understand what your position is on this...

You talk about saving Marshall's job, but that what Marshall did was worthy of firing for cause but Boatright didn't do that. SO which is it? Does Boatright deserve to be fired for keeping Marshall, or fired for not firing him?

First off .. Marshall 100% should have been fired for what he did. Just putting that out there before I go on since i know the pitchforks are out saying all Shocker fans wanted to keep him. I didn't.

As far as Boatright. No he didn't mean a pay cut. Boatright got a 37% raise .. in October 2020 ... in the middle of the Marshall Investigation ... in the middle of the pandemic when the athletic department was bleeding money and having to cut jobs ... he got a massive raise. Then a month later they fire Marshall with zero transparency. Even worse, the raise wasn't publically announced until like a year later.

Boatright obviously knew about what happened and probably knew more and somehow blackmailed that into a raise. Its the only thing that makes sense to give someone that massive of a raise in that timing.

Outside of that .. there was zero vision from Boatright and in general things were trending in the wrong direction. I'm a donor to WSU .. I heard ZERO from WSU or the athletic department over the last 3-4 years about any sort of vision. No facilities plan, no idea where money was going .. no idea why I should donate more. All I got was a standard renewal each year asking me to donate more to the general fund (which had no plan besides keeping the lights on). Boatright had burnt bridges with a lot of our donor base because he was frankly .. an ahole. Very few people had good interactions with him.

Overall, it was time to move on. Too many red flags. The one the media publicized was about him dropping the ball on NIL.. but that was just the last straw in a long list of failures.

[Aargh]

At the time of the "incident" involving Shaq Morris and Marshall, there were options. Marshall could have been terminated with cause - no buyout. Chances are good that something could have been done to rectify the problem at that time, put some additional phrases into his contract, and everybody goes on with their lives. Boatright chose "none of the above".

Instead of dealing with an obvious problem, he ignored it. I wasn't in Marshall's corner on this issue. Boatright's handling of the whole situation up until Marshall's termination cost the athletic department millions of dollars in donations that were a direct result of Marshall's influence with the donors.

Saal is 180 degrees removed from Boatright. He's done more with two press conferences than Boatright did throughout his entire career at WSU.

Unless Murray State makes a great hire, their athletics might have a hiccup. It seems that Saal set Murray up for success even if he left.

[RacerJoeD]

How is it Boatright’s fault that he got a raise?

[mvfcfan]

Here's a twist. What are the chances of UIC being a better add long term than either one of Murray and Belmont?

[BCPanther]

Here's a twist. What are the chances of UIC being a better add long term than either one of Murray and Belmont?

If they get the new arena and continue to invest, the chance exists. They've got a steeper curve coming in but it's not out of the realm of possibility.

[VUGrad1314]

There is absolutely a chance that UIC could become the best add of the three especially if we look at the department holistically across all sports. It all comes down to how they handle the transition to a tougher league but with more in state games to potentially boost fan interest and engagement and how good their investments are. Money alone doesn't buy wins even though it helps. If they can find the right people and couple that with invigorated fan support and strong investment they can and will be a great add.

[Purple35]

There is absolutely a chance that UIC could become the best add of the three especially if we look at the department holistically across all sports. It all comes down to how they handle the transition to a tougher league but with more in state games to potentially boost fan interest and engagement and how good their investments are. Money alone doesn't buy wins even though it helps. If they can find the right people and couple that with invigorated fan support and strong investment they can and will be a great add.

Thumbs up observation. It's perception to think they are marginally similar to Chicago State or any other commuter school with a 'team.' It is the University of Illinois (Chicago) and there are plenty of people who matriculated through there. They would like nothing more than be the ascendant sports program in one of the most mature sports markets in the nation.
As Loyola learned, putting in the work is worth it.

Not sure what their overall sports programs are doing, but there is value in a UIC education. For some sports, that appeal is hard to ignore. Whether they exceed Murray or Belmont depends on what we intend to measure. Being 'pretty good' at everything is a nice goal.

[Dawgbit]

They are in the middle of one of the biggest and best recruiting bases in the country also. It is interesting food for thought.

[tribecalledquest]

There is absolutely a chance that UIC could become the best add of the three especially if we look at the department holistically across all sports. It all comes down to how they handle the transition to a tougher league but with more in state games to potentially boost fan interest and engagement and how good their investments are. Money alone doesn't buy wins even though it helps. If they can find the right people and couple that with invigorated fan support and strong investment they can and will be a great add.

Thumbs up observation. It's perception to think they are marginally similar to Chicago State or any other commuter school with a 'team.' It is the University of Illinois (Chicago) and there are plenty of people who matriculated through there. They would like nothing more than be the ascendant sports program in one of the most mature sports markets in the nation.
As Loyola learned, putting in the work is worth it.

Not sure what their overall sports programs are doing, but there is value in a UIC education. For some sports, that appeal is hard to ignore. Whether they exceed Murray or Belmont depends on what we intend to measure. Being 'pretty good' at everything is a nice goal.

The baseball team has perennially been one of the best in the Horizon League, as has the men's soccer program. The VB team won the Horizon and made the NCAA Tournament. The WBB program is awful.