Folks, not much has changed since last night, at least in what I've been told.
The eveningsun.com is reporting that the Mount will address the issue further at a press conference before tonight's game.
But....
I don't expect to ever see Robert Burke on the Mount bench again. The chances start with zero and end with percent.
Sort of mixed feelings from me on this one. I don't think we ever got to really see if Robert Burke's vision of a basketball program and the players that he wanted to employ would work at this level. Yet, I'm pretty anxious to see if this change puts a little charge and excitement back within the basketball program. That element has definitely been lacking in recent days, months, .... However, I don't believe that was the culprit for Burke's demise.
Either way the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights are in town tonight and the players have to put this behind them.
Young (at least he looks that way) Coach Matt Henry will get the chance to try to lead this team into the playoffs. They probably need four wins to do so. Let's see how everybody responds.
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Not sorry to hear this news myself. Burke did nothing to impress. It all started with Jean Cajou's bad treatment. I don't know what was behind all that, but he deserved more respect than that after 3 solid years at the Mount. After that, look at all the defections from the program. Many were solid players. The program was in a downward spiral since Burke arrived. Time to clean house and start again.
ReplyDeleteThis marriage was never a good fit & I felt it from the first time I ever shook Coach Burke's hand. He didn't have the "It" factor, or maybe it was because he wasn't as engaging or as passionate as Milan OR as legendary as Coach Phelan. Needless to say, Coach Burke & the Mount were like oil & water. I think it's interesting to see if called "paid Administrative leave." It's almost as if they are paying Burke to stay home & not Coach. That's what NFL teams do to players like TO, Haynesworth, or Randy Moss!!!
ReplyDeleteThe task at hand now shifts to closing out the year on a high note. I know that I wrote about the season being over on here a couple of days ago, but who knows, maybe this will spark the club? It also is important that the Athletic Department handle this process from start to finish. No Bradley Hall admins involved, please. I have the utmost confidence in Lynne, Hardisky, & staff to go after the right person for this job. Someone who has an affliation w/ the Mount. Someone who understands the Mount Community. Someone who wants to see this program be successful & can take it to the next level.
I know there aren't many former Mount hoop players who are coaches now, but the obvious one is Jamion Christian, who is assistant coaching down at VCU right now. He would be a the TOP of my short list.
So best of luck to Coach Burke on his future endeavors, but this is ultimately the best decision for both parties & I'm glad that everyone moved quickly on this so that it couldn't get any uglier.
Due to the fact that the administration went through this process less than two seasons ago, I would hope that they can quickly come up with a short list and move quickly from there. I would normally say take your time but yet another recruiting class is in jeopardy and while there are questions about some of the recruits, to lose Greg Graves would be a real blow.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Christian should be on the short list along with a few others. My feeling is that you go either with someone like Christian who has obvious ties to the Mount and who is also part of a good program or you go with a young, enthusastic assistant at a top tier program(consistent NCAA tourney qualifyers from elite conferences).
In many ways, this decision will be much bigger than the decision to hire Burke with longer term inplications relative to the perception of the program with recruits, H.S. coaches, AAU coaches, etc.
I really hope that the administration doesn't settle for mediocrity because they are looking for another coach who might not get lured away in a few years by a bigger program. That might be a good problem to have considering that would indicate that the program experienced significant success. Does anyone really feel that the Hurleys are going to last that long at Wagner? I'm sure they will be happy to take the success that they bring and then build from there when they leave for a bigger program.
I also hope that Powell doesn't place too much emphasis on hiring a Catholic. If he simply hires a quality person both on and off the court, it will certainly live up to the the teachings of the Church. That was clearly one of the primary factors in hiring Burke.
@Kevin
ReplyDeleteCo-sign on Jamion. I think we need somebody who understands the school and can recruit. He is the type of dynamic personality that we need.