MVC Games - Mon 12/4-Sun 12/10

[goramblers2011]

Inexcusable loss for Missouri State. Oral Roberts is a BAD team.

[PantherSigEp]

How much will it cost to buy out Lusk's contract? I can offer $5. Can we take up a collection?

[bleach]

How much will it cost to buy out Lusk's contract? I can offer $5. Can we take up a collection?

I don't think money is the issue. I don't think the AD wants him gone.

[uniftw]

How much will it cost to buy out Lusk's contract? I can offer $5. Can we take up a collection?

I don't think money is the issue. I don't think the AD wants him gone.

He's put up with these results for 8 years now, what's the point of moving on?

Same situation in Evansville, really.

You've shown the fans, donors, players, coaches, and conference you think he's doing an acceptable job and that the program is at an acceptable place. Surely there can't be anymore justification now than there was 2 years ago.

[scotte101]

How much will it cost to buy out Lusk's contract? I can offer $5. Can we take up a collection?

I don't think money is the issue. I don't think the AD wants him gone.

He's put up with these results for 8 years now, what's the point of moving on?

Same situation in Evansville, really.

You've shown the fans, donors, players, coaches, and conference you think he's doing an acceptable job and that the program is at an acceptable place. Surely there can't be anymore justification now than there was 2 years ago.

As a diehard Bears fan, MSU Alum, and now a season ticket holder (side note: first year...pretty pumped to have them and start a tradition with my kids), I can't possibly agree with this post any more. It's sad unfortunately. I am not one to call for someone to lose their job, but I think most of us would lose our job with the results we've seen in Springfield the last 7 seasons. By all accounts, Lusk is a good man, but it's pretty evident that he's not a very good coach. The roster we have this season is incredible and I expect a lot of wins, but to me anything short of the NCAA tourney is a failure. If we get there and he's the coach, I'll give him his props. That's only fair.

This ORU game though...wow...

[uniftw]

In general, I take out the first two or three years of each coaches tenure out as they are mostly the previous coaches players and "program" foundation.

Taking the first three years out of Lusk's stats he is

11-20 (5-13)
13-19 (8-10)
17-16 (7-11)
9-3 (0-0) but they have looked far from impressive given their SoS so far

That is 50-58 46.3% (20-34 37.0%)

Including his first 3 he is 97-109 (47.1) 45-64 (41.3)

He's actually getting worse the longer he's there, HOWEVER, he's been shown to be at an acceptable level the entire time by the AD. He has 2 winning seasons, and one of them was 1 game over .500. Never been over .500 in conference play

No contrast that to Barry Hinson being fired after 9 years where he went 169-117 (59.1) and 95-67 (58.6). Only once did he finish below .500 - his second season.

I don't get it at MSU. You don't keep a coach that struggles to get to .500 and finish top half of the conference for 7-8+ years unless that is the standard of acceptance. So far I have no reason to believe that isn't the case at MSU and Evansville. They both may as well keep their coaches and avoid having to pay the buy out, search firm, and new coach contract.

[ahunte1]

In general, I take out the first two or three years of each coaches tenure out as they are mostly the previous coaches players and "program" foundation.

Taking the first three years out of Lusk's stats he is

11-20 (5-13)
13-19 (8-10)
17-16 (7-11)
9-3 (0-0) but they have looked far from impressive given their SoS so far

That is 50-58 46.3% (20-34 37.0%)

Including his first 3 he is 97-109 (47.1) 45-64 (41.3)

This got me curious about Moser because I think it is a fair way to judge. If you take out Moser's first three years (two in HL, one in MVC) he is:

24-13 (8-10)
15-17 (7-11)
18-14 (8-10)
10-1 (0-0)

That's 67-45 overall (.598) and 23-31 in conference (.426).

The first three years were rough. Something like 32-69 with less than 10 conference wins.

[Khan4Cats]

A lot of longer term Valley fans remember Moser from his stint at Illinois State and judge (pre-judged) him by that. He has definitely shown improvement and has built what appears to be a solid program for this year (with some good prospects still). As a UNI fan, he has certainly found a way to go toe to toe with the Panthers since joining the Valley. Still has to prove he can get above .500, but is trending in the right direction overall.

[Khan4Cats]

So far I was dead wrong about the prospects of the UNI season (and I am very happy about that). I did not expect the progress of your Freshmen from last year, nor the incoming Freshman making that big of an impact like they all have. On paper, it looked bleak. Fortunately, they don't play games on paper.

Also, Carlson has become much more efficient on the offensive end than he was a year ago. Congrats to UNI.

So far so good. I know I was among several UNI fans arguing that UNI would still be in the top tier despite last years' results because of Jake's history of developing players and what we saw. I know a lot of fans just looked at losing Morgan as being a massive blow, but sometimes it seemed the whole team was waiting for Jeremy to do something last year. This year they are able to play into their roles, and the other thing Jake does in addition to developing players, is finding the right pieces to plug into place and making the sum greater than the individual parts. Still have two big tests before conference (iowa State (N) and home with Xavier). At least split those and we head into conference with a tremendous non-con (already been pretty good). We'll see how the grind of Valley play goes as those teams, minus Valpo, are familiar with us.

[ahunte1]

A lot of longer term Valley fans remember Moser from his stint at Illinois State and judge (pre-judged) him by that. He has definitely shown improvement and has built what appears to be a solid program for this year (with some good prospects still). As a UNI fan, he has certainly found a way to go toe to toe with the Panthers since joining the Valley. Still has to prove he can get above .500, but is trending in the right direction overall.

Just wish we could beat SIU and Illinois State, too!