• Hi Guest,

    We've updated the site to combine all the forums that were part of the Big Sky Fans Network into one location. This will make it easier to navigate and participate in all the discussions for each school without having to have multiple accounts, etc. We are still working out some tweaks but please let us know if you notice anything.

    With the migration, in some circumstances, your username could have been merged with one of your other usernames from the other forums. If this is the case, you can request to change your username in your account details page of your profile.
  • Hi Guest, want to participate in the discussions, keep track of read/unread posts and more? Create your free account and increase the benefits of your eGriz.com experience today!
  • Guest, do want an ad free experience on BigSkyFans.com among other benefits? Upgrade your account today!

    Simply click your profile name > account upgrades > BigSky Club > choose between the year long subscription (two free months) or month to month

    Thanks for the continued support. Cheers!

Coaching Staff

A

ajwildcat

Active member
Ok this is hard for me to say but this loss is inexcusable and therefore the ENTIRE Coaching Staff MUST GO!!
Time for a whole new approach, WSU should NEVER lose to the Bad news Bears from Greeley. Jody Sears is a nice guy in a bad situation, I appreciate his hard work and effort, but it's time to start over. :thumbdown:
 
:+1: Clean house. Fire them all. And fire Bovee why they're at it for completely wrecking the football program in a matter of months. :x
 
I see your opinion but what do you think are the chances of the staff getting at least one more year to turn it around?
 
I'm not exactly sure what the difference is between 1-8 and 1-9 that suddenly has people changing their opinions about Sears... The numbers were stacked against him long before he was named the interim head coach- just review the statistics of his defenses at Eastern Washington and Washington State. As others have been saying, Sears appears to be a nice guy in a bad situation; however, having a sizable pity party does NOT count as qualification for leading a Division-I program.
 
To "CatBacker13": Yes, after readin the stats, I for one agree, but "pity-party" or not, some of us felt like the guy deserves every chance in a ugly, no fault of his own situation...he wanted to be the D Coor. only!...and the team defense did show improvement (until the last game, sadly). I read where the players respect & like him! Probably he's gone...should know shortly...if AD isn't in a daze!...IF surprisingly he's given a contract, make it as HC ONLY and let him hire his own staff (especially a new O Coor.)!!!!!!!!!! Want to point fingers? Mine is on JLS who screwed his alma mater for greed & fame (which he didn't find afterall, too bad, no pity here)!!!!!
 
AlumniWSU said:
Want to point fingers? Mine is on JLS who screwed his alma mater for greed & fame (which he didn't find afterall, too bad, no pity here)!!!!!
Click to expand...

Bovee hired the guy so I put just as much, or more, blame on him. As the AD it's his job to know who he is hiring. And he obviously didn't do his homework on John L.
 
SWeberCat02 said:
AlumniWSU said:
Want to point fingers? Mine is on JLS who screwed his alma mater for greed & fame (which he didn't find afterall, too bad, no pity here)!!!!!
Click to expand...

Bovee hired the guy so I put just as much, or more, blame on him. As the AD it's his job to know who he is hiring. And he obviously didn't do his homework on John L.
Click to expand...

Agreed. John L. did screw over the program. However, just as coaches are held accountable for the actions of their players, athletic directors should be accountable for the actions of their coaches. Anyone with an internet connection can read up on the shady history of John L. Let's not forget as well that the general perception created around the hiring of new coach was that it would be someone who could pick up where McBride left off. How does overhauling personnel (players and coaches) and defensive scheme (switching to a 3-3-5?) "pick up where McBride left off?" I read rumors about McBride being dissatisfied with the hiring process. If true, I wonder if it was because he disapproved of John L. and was ignored by Bovee? Just thinking out-loud...
 
No one realistically expected this team to win 8 or 9 games this year. But, with the talent of the current players, you could reasonably expect to win 5 or 6 games. This team will end up with 1 or 2 wins this year. I know that they were dealt a bad hand to start the season, but by only winning 1 or 2 games, the coaching staff has proven their ineptitude.

I say fire them all and start over. If the new coach wants to retain one or two assistant coaches to maintain some continuity with recruits and key players, that should be his choice, but most of these guys should be shown the door.
I hate to say it, but we are back in rebuilding mode and won't compete for a conference title for about another 3 or 4 years. I wish the new coaching staff well in their efforts to get Weber competitive once again.
 
In reading some of the posts here I am in amazement at what is being proffered. It is fairly common knowledge that McBride and John L. haven't been "best of friends" in the coaching community for quite a long time. So, of course, McBride wouldn't approve of his hiring.

I was in favor of hiring John L. because I thought that he would bring some discipline into a program that was sorely lacking it. McBride's teams underperformed relative to their talent level for some years. Yes, McBride was a helluva recruiter and definitely upgraded Weber's results in this area. But he was never able to get the results that all of us hoped for when he was hired. I was in favor of both of these hires at the time they were hired. And, the truth be known, so were most of you. But, overtime with McBride, I became disillusioned when he was never able to raise the program much above the 500 level. In my opinion, with the talent he had, he should have averaged at least 8 wins a season and he didn't come close to that. As for John L. Smith I was pleased when they hired him and pissed when he left so quickly. But how could one know that he was going to do such a thing? No one can be blamed for his erratic actions except himself. I believed that he would bring more discipline into the program and win more often than McBride did while keeping the recruiting at a high level. After all, he had a history of winning at a higher level than McBride did.

I am just as disappointed as anyone on this site about what has happened to the football program in the past year. And I blame John L. Smith for it... How can one blame Bovee? John L. had never left another program abruptly before winning at that place. There was no way to know that he would pull such a stunt at Weber.
 
baller said:
I am just as disappointed as anyone on this site about what has happened to the football program in the past year. And I blame John L. Smith for it... How can one blame Bovee? John L. had never left another program abruptly before winning at that place. There was no way to know that he would pull such a stunt at Weber.
Click to expand...
Of course no one could had foreseen the events that lead to John L leaving. But the guy hiring him should have known of his character and past actions. Don't forget that it was John L himself that pursued the Arkansas job. That should tell you all you need to know about his character. Not to mention that he was some $40 million in debt, had shown absolutely no integrity in the way he had left previous head coaching jobs, and hadn't been a head coach in six years. Fact is John L is a loser with serious issues and it was Bovee's job have seen that.
 
Of course John L. was a volatile personality. It is one of the traits that made him a successful coach. That alone should not have disqualified him to be hired as a head coach. If that were a prerequisite to be hired then most of the head coaches in America's better football programs would not have their jobs. Just notice that three head football coaches have been, in the past two weeks, accused or caught in volatile reactions to situations they faced in the course of their coaching, i.e., Idaho State, Washington State and Texas Tech. Again, I say that he never left a program in the lurch as he did Weber. He only left other jobs for better jobs and, even then, it was only after being successful enough to be attractive to a higher level program.

As for being $40 million in debt you need to understand the real story.

John L. was a part of a large group of investors who invested in real estate projects. All of them made the mistake of guaranteeing loans to fund the project that went belly-up. The lender went after each investor for the full 40 million so the only way out for John L. was to declare bankruptcy. He didn't really borrow $40 million. And the project was a victim of the fall in real estate prices brought on by the failure of our government to properly run the finances and maintain proper regulatory oversight of runaway financial institutions. I don't know anyone who foresaw this fall, including many who also lost millions and had to declare bankruptcy.

I am not an apologist for John L. I don't like what he did to Weber either. It was wrong! But don't say that Bovee should have known. He is not omniscient...
 
:agree: Too bad WSU only got $25K for the pain...hopefully hard lesson learned...maybe Bovee should really up the ante on ANY future buyouts--pure or putrid! :o
 
I'm left scratching my head over some of the above comments. Virtually everyone on this board was excited about John L. getting hired. We all thought it was an amazing hire by Bovee and that he had brought in the coach desperately needed to get Weber to that next level. Now, almost a year later, many members are gripping and moaning and calling for Bovee's head. Yes, he is the AD, Yes he is responsible to a degree for his department's coaches, but lets face it, if you were offered a job making 850K when you knew you were millions in debt, would you pass? No... I'm not a fan of John L., personally I think he is a total sleeze, but to put full blame on Bovee is idiotic at best. Time for a new coaching staff...Don Eck, who should have been our coach a year ago or whomever the search committe can find who can help the Cats recoup and rebuild quickly. Nice thing about this team, is that it is young and has a lot of experience coming back next year.
 
baller:

If you are not a John L. Smith fan, then why are you defending his hiring? Were there not other quality candidates to replace McBride who did not carry the baggage of John L.? There were certainly coaches who applied who were closer to McBride and could have made the transition easier. I think it was absolutely a "big-name" hire with little consideration given to much else. And again, as I already pointed out, the idea created around the hiring of a new coach was that McBride would be involved in the selection and that it would be someone who could pick up where he left off, not overhaul. Smith was the wrong choice for more than just the eventual reality that he snaked the program, and THAT is on the athletic director.
 
CatBacker13 said:
baller:

If you are not a John L. Smith fan, then why are you defending his hiring? Were there not other quality candidates to replace McBride who did not carry the baggage of John L.? There were certainly coaches who applied who were closer to McBride and could have made the transition easier. I think it was absolutely a "big-name" hire with little consideration given to much else. And again, as I already pointed out, the idea created around the hiring of a new coach was that McBride would be involved in the selection and that it would be someone who could pick up where he left off, not overhaul. Smith was the wrong choice for more than just the eventual reality that he snaked the program, and THAT is on the athletic director.
Click to expand...
:thumb: I agree 100% :thumb: Bovee went for the "popular" hire and DID NOT do his homework. That is entirely on him. Thanks for pushing the football program back into Shitsville in just 1 season. :ohno:
 
CatBacker13 said:
baller:

If you are not a John L. Smith fan, then why are you defending his hiring? Were there not other quality candidates to replace McBride who did not carry the baggage of John L.? There were certainly coaches who applied who were closer to McBride and could have made the transition easier. I think it was absolutely a "big-name" hire with little consideration given to much else. And again, as I already pointed out, the idea created around the hiring of a new coach was that McBride would be involved in the selection and that it would be someone who could pick up where he left off, not overhaul. Smith was the wrong choice for more than just the eventual reality that he snaked the program, and THAT is on the athletic director.
Click to expand...

its easy to say john L was a bad hire now. i was very excited when he was hired along with 99%. john L wanted a long term deal. it appeared our program would continue its move upward.
 
Also it won't matter who is hired to Coach next season, have you looked at the ridiculous schedule set up by Mr. Bovee? :roll: Maybe they are on the 10 year plan and just havn't told the fans. I wish WSU would let us fans in on their vision for the future and not try to keep everything a secret. Or do they even have any vision or direction? I honestly don't know. :thumbdown:
 
Unfortunately, after the loss to UNC I also think it is time to clean house. I like Bovee, I think he should stay he has done a lot for our athletic programs, just take a look at all the recent upgrades to all our athletic facilities.

On the subject of our football schedule this year or next, the only problem I have with them is the two FBS games, I LOVE the games vs McNeese State and SFA, these are opponents that we hardly ever see, and they are playing here too. Take one FBS game of our schedule a year and replace it with a home or even a road FCS team and I will be happy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top