UNO @ SIU

[Bluejay09Bear06]

LET. IT. GO. I'm sick and tired of any good coming SIU's way being translated into being about MSU's woes this year. Bearland is in enough pain. Last time I checked, none of the MSU posters made the decision to fire Barry. I like BH, but I still think it was the best decision for BOTH parties. LET. IT. GO.

[agrinut]

Not to dwell too much on the Bears, but as Barry Hinson wins another game against a D-1 team, meanwhile, Bear-Nation is on full scale suicide watch. Missouri State fans are now debating the merits of black vs. white coaches. Embarrassing.

I don't know that those posters are really fans, unless you are talking about fanning a fire.

[MoValley John]

LET. IT. GO. I'm sick and tired of any good coming SIU's way being translated into being about MSU's woes this year. Bearland is in enough pain. Last time I checked, none of the MSU posters made the decision to fire Barry. I like BH, but I still think it was the best decision for BOTH parties. LET. IT. GO.

Actually, they are. Sure, the administration fired Barry, but that's a cop out. It was those exact fans that were calling for him to be fired. No, wait, they were demanding that he be fired. Posters were threatening to cut off donations, others were calling for a complete change in administration staff if Barry wasn't fired. If it were a movie, those exact posters would be the ones with pitchforks and torches, descending on the jail demanding a lynching.

People, myself included, warned those posters of what could happen. Those exact posters threatened and ganged up on anyone who had the nads to defend the man. After Barry was fired, those are the same posters that mocked Barry for being the DOBO at Kansas. They referred to him as the water boy and the guy that carries the clipboard.

After all of that, after the countless times anyone that defended Barry was ridiculed, we are simply supposed to forget it and move on? That isn't how it works. Its time to own it and learn, not pretend this didn't happen.

[Ricardo del Rio]

It is always a good idea to know which side of your bread has been buttered.

[Bluejay09Bear06]

we are simply supposed to forget it and move on?

Yes, it's called being an adult. Guess what, MVC board, it's December 2012. Doug McDermott decommitted from Northern Iowa and Missouri State fired Barry Hinson. Both of those things happened LAST DECADE. We have an entirely new generation of players at both schools who have nothing to do with any past decisions. Let it go.

By the way, if you think the MSU message board posters have or had any pull with the administration or A.D., you are more delusional than I thought.

[MoValley John]

we are simply supposed to forget it and move on?

Yes, it's called being an adult. Guess what, MVC board, it's December 2012. Doug McDermott decommitted from Northern Iowa and Missouri State fired Barry Hinson. Both of those things happened LAST DECADE. We have an entirely new generation of players at both schools who have nothing to do with any past decisions. Let it go.

By the way, if you think the MSU message board posters have or had any pull with the administration or A.D., you are more delusional than I thought.

Not. Gonna. Happen.
If its not me, its somebody else. And do you call the behavior of those Bears fans "adult?". Nope. As far as the influence internet posters have, they have more than you think. Coaches and AD's will tell you that that they don't read this garbage, and most don't. At the same time, there are people who have as part of their job responsibility, to keep up on message boards. And it wasn't isolated to the message board, either. The News Leader was full of it with reader comments as well. You may want to revise history, deny this happened and throw out the "adult" card, but what happened at Missouri State was a mob scene. It was embarrassing.

Like I said, own it.

[BCPanther]

The damage the McDouchies did to our program competitively and financially will not be forgotten by UNI fans for a long, long time. We won't know the full extent for a decade and it gets exponentially worse if Creighton leaves for a Catholic League...

[Bluejay09Bear06]

Not. Gonna. Happen.
If its not me, its somebody else. And do you call the behavior of those Bears fans "adult?". Nope. As far as the influence internet posters have, they have more than you think. Coaches and AD's will tell you that that they don't read this garbage, and most don't. At the same time, there are people who have as part of their job responsibility, to keep up on message boards. And it wasn't isolated to the message board, either. The News Leader was full of it with reader comments as well. You may want to revise history, deny this happened and throw out the "adult" card, but what happened at Missouri State was a mob scene. It was embarrassing.

Like I said, own it.

What is there to own? If you don't think the decision to fire Barry Hinson was controversial, you weren't paying attention. It caused extremely mixed reactions in the fanbase. Some segments of the fanbase even boycotted Zo's first years (uh, sign guy, anyone?).

Even the people that supported the decision knew it was a risk; that there a good chance we were departing with consistently decent/good, but not great, teams for a chance to take it to the next level. Read: CHANCE. We then hired a coach who brought a Valley championship banner to Springfield in 3 years and at that point the supporters of the decision to fire Barry looked like geniuses and I think that clouds everyone's recollection of the circumstances.

The point is this: SIU's improvement does nothing but benefit this league. Stop making this about MSU and a tough, contested decision that was made last decade.

[MoValley John]

Decade is a funny and convenient word to use. Yes, it was the last decade, but it was only five years ago. In fact, this is the fifth. So yes, it happened in the last decade, but it wasn't a decade ago.

As for the controversy, I was actually in favor of Barry going, but I wouldn't stand by idly as Bears fans distorted Barry's reputation and name. Furthermore, I made a point of emphasis that if Barry were fired, the next coach needed to be paid at a level that met the expectations of the fans and the university. Missouri State fired Barry, who was making next to nothing and hired Cuonzo at the low end of the Valley pay scale. I warned then that it wasn't enough and if he was successful he would bolt at the first opportunity. He did. Bears fans countered that when he left, they were working on upping his salary. Too little, too late. His deal should have been waiting for him, on his desk, as soon as he got into the locker room after beating Wichita State and cutting down the nets. As for the lusk hire, all we heard about was that MSU was going to pay $650,000- $700,000 for the new coach. Nope. It was $350,000, still at the low end of the Valley. You are now at the point that you were warned, the revolving door. Missouri State's fix is to invest more in the sport, otherwise, accept the fact that you are now getting lapped by Evansville.

[Bluejay09Bear06]

We've come full circle now. It's gone from SIU's surprisingly good start to bashing MSU for a decision made more than a presidential term ago and now it's all about you. "I" warned MSU! "I" told them to cough up more money! "I" said to have a check waiting after beating Wichita! Pathetic.