Now that I'm back from vacation (8 days in sunny Florida) and a trip to Athens, Ohio to broadcast the Brown-Ohio CBI Tournament game, I wanted to pass along my thanks to all of you who have taken the time to post comments on my blog.
I have read all of your comments and REALLY DO appreciate all of your kind words of support. It means alot to me, especially at this time when things are difficult for me and my family. I have even read the Journal's blog entries and want to thank all of the Score listeners who had nice things to say as well. As for those Score-haters who took their shots at the station's demise or myself, Gresh or Zo, what can I say? You're obviously happy to see the station close up shop and apparently not too concerned about any of us who lost our jobs. I respect your opinions and hope that you never have to face such a situation in your lives AND be criticized for it on internet bulletin boards. But enough about the nay-sayers.
I loved my job and the thousands of GREAT people who listened to the Score. I will miss talking to you, reading or replying to your e-mails and hanging out with you at various events. If you want to stay in touch, feel free to e-mail me at: scordischi@verizon.net
I would love to hear from you all.
As I said in an earlier blog, I do not know what is next for me professionally. I have had some offers for part time radio and TV stuff locally and may accept some of them. At the same time, I need a stable full-time job to support my wife and 2 young kids and the radio business does not neccessarily provide that stability. I have also been asked to talk to some people about full time employment which I will do shortly.
As for the person who wondered if I will continue to do Brown football and basketball, I certainly hope so! Brown has been GREAT to me and has told me that they would like me to continue doing their games. However, it will all depend upon what my next full time job is and whether or not I will be able to fit it into my schedule. Again, I certainly hope that I can.
Once again, many thanks to all of you and please keep in touch. I will try to update the blog periodically.
Thanks!
Scott
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
The End Is Here
You probably all know by now that the Score is no longer. Nobody is sadder than me about this.
I learned of my fate and the stations at 12 noon shortly before I arrived at work when my long-time colleague Andy Gresh called to give me the heads up. He said that he and Zo had just been canned and he believed that me and Crowe were next. He was right. I appreciate Gresh dropping the dime and preparing me for what was still an unpleasant situation.
I talked to some folks and the Journal and NBC-10 about whaqt happenned and I feel no different 24 hours later. While I knew that the Score was on somewhat shaky ground from a ratings and revenue standpoint, I assumed that we would be a viable station for the immediate future because I had just signed a new 3-year deal in January. I have to admit that I wondered about the future of the Score after the 1-year stint of former PD Jim Brinson, but the GM told me in December how eager she was to sign me to a new contract so I kind of exhaled and assumed that everything was alright for the time being. Guess not!
There's no question that this was a corporate decision. At the same time, however, I have to admit that WEEI's dominance really hurt the Score. They have a great product! Plus, Providence is essentially a sports suburb of Boston and with the Sox and Pats #1, they have the budget to have Brady, Belichick, Francona, Schilling, etc. That's tough to compete with when your budget isn't even close to theirs. And let's face it, if you're a New England sports fan, you WANT to hear from those guys. I know I do!
I'm both happy and sad that I didn't get to say both thankyou and goodbye to all of the loyal Score listeners Monday. However, even if I was given such an opportunity, I'm not sure that I would have been able to handle it well emotionally.
To me, the Score and it's listeners were like one big close family. That's what made things like our annual Miami trip and the Score Pool League so great! I can honestly say that some of the best friends in my life (DP, Fitzy, Ram, Chris Humm, Tom Vierra, Joe Costa, Craig Andreozzi, Jersey Red, Bryan Morry, John Crowe and so many more) were relationships that were cultivated with Score listeners. I believe that those relationships will remain strong and never die. In fact, we're already talking about keeping our own Miami trip alive with the likes of Carl and Krista from Newport and the whole gang. I will look forward to that every year.
In closing, I do want to thank everyone who took time out of their day to either listen to or call the Score. You made the last 10+ years of my life the greatest time of my life. I will forever be indebted to you for your patronage, support and most of all your friendship.
Sincerely,
Scott Cordischi
p.s. Anyone know where I can get a job? (lol)
I learned of my fate and the stations at 12 noon shortly before I arrived at work when my long-time colleague Andy Gresh called to give me the heads up. He said that he and Zo had just been canned and he believed that me and Crowe were next. He was right. I appreciate Gresh dropping the dime and preparing me for what was still an unpleasant situation.
I talked to some folks and the Journal and NBC-10 about whaqt happenned and I feel no different 24 hours later. While I knew that the Score was on somewhat shaky ground from a ratings and revenue standpoint, I assumed that we would be a viable station for the immediate future because I had just signed a new 3-year deal in January. I have to admit that I wondered about the future of the Score after the 1-year stint of former PD Jim Brinson, but the GM told me in December how eager she was to sign me to a new contract so I kind of exhaled and assumed that everything was alright for the time being. Guess not!
There's no question that this was a corporate decision. At the same time, however, I have to admit that WEEI's dominance really hurt the Score. They have a great product! Plus, Providence is essentially a sports suburb of Boston and with the Sox and Pats #1, they have the budget to have Brady, Belichick, Francona, Schilling, etc. That's tough to compete with when your budget isn't even close to theirs. And let's face it, if you're a New England sports fan, you WANT to hear from those guys. I know I do!
I'm both happy and sad that I didn't get to say both thankyou and goodbye to all of the loyal Score listeners Monday. However, even if I was given such an opportunity, I'm not sure that I would have been able to handle it well emotionally.
To me, the Score and it's listeners were like one big close family. That's what made things like our annual Miami trip and the Score Pool League so great! I can honestly say that some of the best friends in my life (DP, Fitzy, Ram, Chris Humm, Tom Vierra, Joe Costa, Craig Andreozzi, Jersey Red, Bryan Morry, John Crowe and so many more) were relationships that were cultivated with Score listeners. I believe that those relationships will remain strong and never die. In fact, we're already talking about keeping our own Miami trip alive with the likes of Carl and Krista from Newport and the whole gang. I will look forward to that every year.
In closing, I do want to thank everyone who took time out of their day to either listen to or call the Score. You made the last 10+ years of my life the greatest time of my life. I will forever be indebted to you for your patronage, support and most of all your friendship.
Sincerely,
Scott Cordischi
p.s. Anyone know where I can get a job? (lol)
Monday, March 3, 2008
Still Irate!
It's been 2 days since my Syracuse Orange turned in THE most pitiful game-ending performance I have seen from any college basketball team in my lifetime.
Syracuse, an NCAA Tournament bubble team, led Pittsburgh by 11 with 3:49 to play and LOST the game by FIVE! Disgusting!
After the game, Jim Boeheim talked about how it was his most disappointing loss in his 32 years as a coach and talked about how the turnovers did the team in. He said that his players should have called time outs to prevent some of the turnovers.
My response? Boeheim needs to accept a majority of the blame himself.
When you're up double digits with under 4 minutes to play, you need to tell your players to run the shot clock down to under 10 seconds on each possession before taking a shot. And if they can't do it, get somebody in the game that can and do a better job of coaching them in practice how to spread the floor and take care of the basketball.
Second, you need to make SURE your kids know that you have timeouts remaining and that they should use them at the first sign of trouble to prevent a turnover.
If that fails, coaches ARE allowed to call timeouts. How about burning a TO or two yourself Jimmy B?
Disgraceful!
This team has alot of talent and is fun to watch when they're playing well. They also have a bright future should Deonte Greene return next season. And this team may still play it's way back into the NCAA tournament picture.
Still, as a Syracuse alumnus and fan, I am still disgusted at how that game ended!
Having said that, since 1985 I have been a diehard SU fan and will continue to be one. I will be rooting just as hard for them Wednesday when they visit Seton Hall and Saturday when they host Marquette.
Thanks for letting me vent on this one!
Syracuse, an NCAA Tournament bubble team, led Pittsburgh by 11 with 3:49 to play and LOST the game by FIVE! Disgusting!
After the game, Jim Boeheim talked about how it was his most disappointing loss in his 32 years as a coach and talked about how the turnovers did the team in. He said that his players should have called time outs to prevent some of the turnovers.
My response? Boeheim needs to accept a majority of the blame himself.
When you're up double digits with under 4 minutes to play, you need to tell your players to run the shot clock down to under 10 seconds on each possession before taking a shot. And if they can't do it, get somebody in the game that can and do a better job of coaching them in practice how to spread the floor and take care of the basketball.
Second, you need to make SURE your kids know that you have timeouts remaining and that they should use them at the first sign of trouble to prevent a turnover.
If that fails, coaches ARE allowed to call timeouts. How about burning a TO or two yourself Jimmy B?
Disgraceful!
This team has alot of talent and is fun to watch when they're playing well. They also have a bright future should Deonte Greene return next season. And this team may still play it's way back into the NCAA tournament picture.
Still, as a Syracuse alumnus and fan, I am still disgusted at how that game ended!
Having said that, since 1985 I have been a diehard SU fan and will continue to be one. I will be rooting just as hard for them Wednesday when they visit Seton Hall and Saturday when they host Marquette.
Thanks for letting me vent on this one!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Random Thoughts
Alot has been made about Manny Ramirez not joining his Red Sox teammates in Washington DC on their visit to the White House and the Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital. Before I give you my opinion on this, you should know that I am someone whom will criticize Manny when I feel that he deserves the criticism. For instance, if he fails to hustle or refuses to play when his manager asks him to, that is unacceptable to me and I will criticize him for it. However, there are many other things that Manny gets criticized for unjustly and his non-trip to Washington may be one of them.
I've heard people speculate that Manny may not like President Bush or not approve or the war in Iraq. First of all, none of us know if any of this is true or even what his motive for not going on the trip was. So how, then, can we criticize him. Furthermore, if any of those things are true, I still don't have a problem with him not attending as it was his right as an American citizen and a human being not to go. No big deal!
Secondly, the Journal's Jim Donaldson wrote a column today on him not at least going on the trip to visit our injured veterans at the hospital which, admittedly, is a tougher one to defend him on. Still, I cannot criticize Manny for this either and here's why: I, nor does anyone else, know exactly what Manny may or may not do for charitable organizations including whether or not he ever visits hospitals to comfort sick children or veterans. Secondly, to those who do criticize Manny, how much charitable work do YOU do? I do as much as I can but still don't feel as if it is enough. Secondly, GM Theo Epstein and P Julian Tavarez also didn't manke the trip. Where are the columns criticizing them? Or do we just accept their absence as Theo being Theo and Julian being Julian. Give me a break!
Believe me when I tell you, I am as patriotic about my country as you will find. It infuriates me to see an American citizen burn our flag in protest but I begridgingly accept the fact that it is his or her right to do so. That's what makes this country so great. So count me among those who will not criticize Manny for his absence in Washington. Without knowing all the facts behind his absence, what he does for charitable work that we don't know about and given his rights as an American citizen, I'll choose to criticize him for something else.
-There's a good chance that democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will be in attendance at the Brown/Penn men's basketball game Saturday night at 6pm at the Pizzatola Sports Center on the campus of Brown University. Obama will speak at a rally earlier in the day at Rhode Island College and may stick around to watch his brother-in-law Craig Robinson coach the Bears in their game against the Quakers.
-I've seen many collapses in sports before and must say that this URI collapse is about as bad as it gets. If they make it to the NCAA tournament, however, all will be forgotten.
-Most of the PC Friar fans I talk to say that they do want a change in head coach at season's end but genuinely feel bad that things haven't worked out for the likeable Tim Welsh here.
-Get me through March Madness before I can get excited about the upcoming baseball season.
-Don't look now, but the Boston Bruins are only 6 points out of having the best record in the NHL's Eastern Conference. Something real good could be "Bruin" up in Boston!
-I'd be willing to bet alot on a Celtics/Pistons Eastern Conference Finals.
-If the Celts can add Cassell to the roster like they did PJ Brown, it will give them added depth to make a stong run at a 17th NBA title.
-With that said, Celtics fans have to be thrilled with the performance of Rajon Rondo this year at the point.
-If I'm Roger Clemens, I'm not sleeping very well at night these days.
-Ditto for Bill Bellichick until this damn Spygate II thing gets resolved.
-Speaking of that, will Matt Walsh please either hand over the evidence to the league or go away? This is getting to be real tedious.
-I never thought I'd live to see the day where Syracuse football was the doormat of the Big East conference and Syracuse men's basketball could miss the NCAA tournament 2 years in a row but that's what I'm looking at right now!
-Assante Samuel to the Philadelphia Eagles? I guess it's better than Samuel to the Jets.
-Patriots fans had to think that Tedy Bruschi would be back. I mean, really, could you picture him in any other uniform?
-WR/ST Kelly Washington has agreed to return to New England. Can he fill a hole in the WR corps?
-The Red Sox beat BC and Northeastern by a combined score of 39-0 in two 7-inning games yesterday. What's the matter, the Cranston Little League team was unavailable for action?
-They say 2-4 inches of snow are expected here in Providence overnight. I don't know about you, Tiger, but I'm getting the itch to play a little golf. Enough with the white stuff already!
-Speaking of Tiger, he is in a league of his own. My apologies to the Golden Bear but Tiger is the best golfer of all-time.
I've heard people speculate that Manny may not like President Bush or not approve or the war in Iraq. First of all, none of us know if any of this is true or even what his motive for not going on the trip was. So how, then, can we criticize him. Furthermore, if any of those things are true, I still don't have a problem with him not attending as it was his right as an American citizen and a human being not to go. No big deal!
Secondly, the Journal's Jim Donaldson wrote a column today on him not at least going on the trip to visit our injured veterans at the hospital which, admittedly, is a tougher one to defend him on. Still, I cannot criticize Manny for this either and here's why: I, nor does anyone else, know exactly what Manny may or may not do for charitable organizations including whether or not he ever visits hospitals to comfort sick children or veterans. Secondly, to those who do criticize Manny, how much charitable work do YOU do? I do as much as I can but still don't feel as if it is enough. Secondly, GM Theo Epstein and P Julian Tavarez also didn't manke the trip. Where are the columns criticizing them? Or do we just accept their absence as Theo being Theo and Julian being Julian. Give me a break!
Believe me when I tell you, I am as patriotic about my country as you will find. It infuriates me to see an American citizen burn our flag in protest but I begridgingly accept the fact that it is his or her right to do so. That's what makes this country so great. So count me among those who will not criticize Manny for his absence in Washington. Without knowing all the facts behind his absence, what he does for charitable work that we don't know about and given his rights as an American citizen, I'll choose to criticize him for something else.
-There's a good chance that democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will be in attendance at the Brown/Penn men's basketball game Saturday night at 6pm at the Pizzatola Sports Center on the campus of Brown University. Obama will speak at a rally earlier in the day at Rhode Island College and may stick around to watch his brother-in-law Craig Robinson coach the Bears in their game against the Quakers.
-I've seen many collapses in sports before and must say that this URI collapse is about as bad as it gets. If they make it to the NCAA tournament, however, all will be forgotten.
-Most of the PC Friar fans I talk to say that they do want a change in head coach at season's end but genuinely feel bad that things haven't worked out for the likeable Tim Welsh here.
-Get me through March Madness before I can get excited about the upcoming baseball season.
-Don't look now, but the Boston Bruins are only 6 points out of having the best record in the NHL's Eastern Conference. Something real good could be "Bruin" up in Boston!
-I'd be willing to bet alot on a Celtics/Pistons Eastern Conference Finals.
-If the Celts can add Cassell to the roster like they did PJ Brown, it will give them added depth to make a stong run at a 17th NBA title.
-With that said, Celtics fans have to be thrilled with the performance of Rajon Rondo this year at the point.
-If I'm Roger Clemens, I'm not sleeping very well at night these days.
-Ditto for Bill Bellichick until this damn Spygate II thing gets resolved.
-Speaking of that, will Matt Walsh please either hand over the evidence to the league or go away? This is getting to be real tedious.
-I never thought I'd live to see the day where Syracuse football was the doormat of the Big East conference and Syracuse men's basketball could miss the NCAA tournament 2 years in a row but that's what I'm looking at right now!
-Assante Samuel to the Philadelphia Eagles? I guess it's better than Samuel to the Jets.
-Patriots fans had to think that Tedy Bruschi would be back. I mean, really, could you picture him in any other uniform?
-WR/ST Kelly Washington has agreed to return to New England. Can he fill a hole in the WR corps?
-The Red Sox beat BC and Northeastern by a combined score of 39-0 in two 7-inning games yesterday. What's the matter, the Cranston Little League team was unavailable for action?
-They say 2-4 inches of snow are expected here in Providence overnight. I don't know about you, Tiger, but I'm getting the itch to play a little golf. Enough with the white stuff already!
-Speaking of Tiger, he is in a league of his own. My apologies to the Golden Bear but Tiger is the best golfer of all-time.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Weekend Ramblings
Could this weekend have ended up any worse for our 3 local Div. 1 men's basketball programs? The Rhody Rams have officially played their way off the bubble with a 3rd consecutive home loss in a "must" win game and have now lost 5 of their last 6. PC got drubbed in Morgantown by the West Virginia Mountaineers while Brown had a nice win Friday night at Columbia only to have their Ivy League title hopes dashed the following night at Cornell.
The Rams defense has been virtually nonexistent for the past few games. Granted, when you are an up-tempo high-scoring team, it's only natural that your defense will suffer a bit. But not to this extent. This team was scoring lots of points earlier in the season but they were also defending much better. Now, they're not. As much as we're all concerned about this team's losing skid coinciding with Jimmy Baron's struggles, I can't put alot of weight in that. The offense hasn't suffered! They're scoring a ton of points and their shooting percentages have been very good. It's the defense and, to a lesser extent, the turnovers that are killing them right not. With an RPI of 56, Rhody needs to win a minimum of 4 games (maybe 5) between their 3 remaining regular season games and the A-10 tourney to have a shot at making it to the Big Dance.
There's not much to say about the Friars other than it will be interesting to see what Bob Driscoll does at season's end. Does he stick with Welsh or let him go? The bet here is it's the latter. And who makes his short list of coaching candidates if there is a change? As for on the floor, I've had some people say to me that PC "gave up" in the 2nd half at West Virginia. I'm not going there. I just think that, among other things, this team's confidence is now gone making it twice a difficult to pull out of this rut.
The Brown Bears played a great 2nd half at Columbia Fri. night to beat the Lions setting up a huge game Saturday in Ithaca, NY where they lost to 1st place Cornell. For the Bears (3 down with 4 to go) there's still plenty to play for like a 19-win season (17 is the most wins for one season in Brown history) and a postseason berth in either the NIT or CBI. This weekend the Bears host Princeton & Penn with Saturday being senior night. Two of the all-time Brown greats will be honored that night in Barrington's Mark McAndrew (this Ivy League's leading scorer) and Damon Huffman. Big man Mark MacDonald will also be honored that night. The same night that the man who brought them to Brown (Glen Miller) returns to the East Side with his Penn Quakers. It's a 6pm start at the Pizzatola Sports Center. I highly reccommend checking it out!
The Rams defense has been virtually nonexistent for the past few games. Granted, when you are an up-tempo high-scoring team, it's only natural that your defense will suffer a bit. But not to this extent. This team was scoring lots of points earlier in the season but they were also defending much better. Now, they're not. As much as we're all concerned about this team's losing skid coinciding with Jimmy Baron's struggles, I can't put alot of weight in that. The offense hasn't suffered! They're scoring a ton of points and their shooting percentages have been very good. It's the defense and, to a lesser extent, the turnovers that are killing them right not. With an RPI of 56, Rhody needs to win a minimum of 4 games (maybe 5) between their 3 remaining regular season games and the A-10 tourney to have a shot at making it to the Big Dance.
There's not much to say about the Friars other than it will be interesting to see what Bob Driscoll does at season's end. Does he stick with Welsh or let him go? The bet here is it's the latter. And who makes his short list of coaching candidates if there is a change? As for on the floor, I've had some people say to me that PC "gave up" in the 2nd half at West Virginia. I'm not going there. I just think that, among other things, this team's confidence is now gone making it twice a difficult to pull out of this rut.
The Brown Bears played a great 2nd half at Columbia Fri. night to beat the Lions setting up a huge game Saturday in Ithaca, NY where they lost to 1st place Cornell. For the Bears (3 down with 4 to go) there's still plenty to play for like a 19-win season (17 is the most wins for one season in Brown history) and a postseason berth in either the NIT or CBI. This weekend the Bears host Princeton & Penn with Saturday being senior night. Two of the all-time Brown greats will be honored that night in Barrington's Mark McAndrew (this Ivy League's leading scorer) and Damon Huffman. Big man Mark MacDonald will also be honored that night. The same night that the man who brought them to Brown (Glen Miller) returns to the East Side with his Penn Quakers. It's a 6pm start at the Pizzatola Sports Center. I highly reccommend checking it out!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Let It Snow!
On the road with the Brown Bears here in the Big Apple where the Columbia Lions await our visit. The snow is coming down hard here! They're calling for 9-12" in thses parts. just talked to the wife who told me they're expecting far less back home in little Rhody.
If the Bears can pull off the weekend sweep of Columbia and Cornell, then the possibility of winning the Ivy League becomes very real. Anything less than a sweep and the Big Red will have all but wrapped up the title.
Watched the Rhody-UMass game on ESPN2 last night. A good shooting night for URI, but the turnovers (20) were a killer, particularly the one by Bitee and the one by Seawright in the games final minutes. Also, the Rams HAVE TO play better "D" or they're going nowhere. Scoring 91 is great but means nothing when you give up 98! And did anyone on URI even TRY to force Chris Lowe to his right? He obviously loves to go left and shredded the Rhody D by doing so. The Rams should have been sitting on his left hand forcing him to go right all the time. Bad job by URI there. And you have to wonder if Jimmy Baron is becoming URI' version this year of Weyme Efejuku (sp?) last year for the Friars. Remember the saying last year, "as Weyme goes, so go the Friars?" It looks like that's the motto for Rhody as of late, "as Jimmy goes, so go the Rams."
There's an article in today's NY Post about Tim Welsh possibly getting fired at season's end. Tim is very well liked and respected here in NY because of the fine job he did at Iona. They even refer to him as a great offensive coach which is hard to argue because statistically, his teams are usually very strong on that end of the floor.
Stay warm!
Talk to you later.
If the Bears can pull off the weekend sweep of Columbia and Cornell, then the possibility of winning the Ivy League becomes very real. Anything less than a sweep and the Big Red will have all but wrapped up the title.
Watched the Rhody-UMass game on ESPN2 last night. A good shooting night for URI, but the turnovers (20) were a killer, particularly the one by Bitee and the one by Seawright in the games final minutes. Also, the Rams HAVE TO play better "D" or they're going nowhere. Scoring 91 is great but means nothing when you give up 98! And did anyone on URI even TRY to force Chris Lowe to his right? He obviously loves to go left and shredded the Rhody D by doing so. The Rams should have been sitting on his left hand forcing him to go right all the time. Bad job by URI there. And you have to wonder if Jimmy Baron is becoming URI' version this year of Weyme Efejuku (sp?) last year for the Friars. Remember the saying last year, "as Weyme goes, so go the Friars?" It looks like that's the motto for Rhody as of late, "as Jimmy goes, so go the Rams."
There's an article in today's NY Post about Tim Welsh possibly getting fired at season's end. Tim is very well liked and respected here in NY because of the fine job he did at Iona. They even refer to him as a great offensive coach which is hard to argue because statistically, his teams are usually very strong on that end of the floor.
Stay warm!
Talk to you later.
Monday, February 18, 2008
From the Ryan Center
Figured we'd update the blog while here at the Rhody-Xavier game. At half, the Musketeers lead by 10, 44-34. I have to say that I am very impressed with Xavier having seen them in person for the first time. They move well on offense both with and without the ball. They penetrate the defense and dish to wide open shooters on the wing. They've got guys who can score inside and out. And they did a great job defending Jimmy Baron in the first half. I'll tell you what, if the Rams win this one it will be an excellent win! Even with a non-effective Drew Lavender (ankle), the Musketeers look to be the stronger of the two teams in my eyes. I hope the second half changes my opinion on that.
As for the Friars, I didn't get a chance to see their loss to Gtown yet. From following it on gametracker while doing the show down here today, it appeared that Weyme had a strong game. My big question is: why did McDermott take only 3 shots? (2-3 FG) I don't know if it was the Hoyas defense or what, but McDermott needs to assert himself to be much more of an offensive force for the Friars.
I also took an intersting call on the air tonight suggesting that I seem to be "harder" on Tim Welsh now that the Friars are no longer on the Score. Criticism accepted, but with explanation.
I must preface my remarks by saying that I like Tim Welsh, personally. He's a good man and someone who I consider a friend. For that reason, it can be difficult when criticizing the job that he does. But that is MY job - to critique the "pro" team in the state.
While I have in the past pointed out, and continue to believe, that PC is one of the toughest jobs in the Big East, I have also fairly pointed out that the Friars post season performance (particularly in the Big east Tourney) has been subpar under Welsh. This is not a new criticism that I have created.
Secondly, just as with Sharaud Curry's injury this year, there have been things like injuries to other key players in the past that have hurt PC while Tim has been here. The big difference is that this team had NCAA tournament expectations placed on it (rightly or wrongly) coming into the season and I have a hard time believing that 1 player (no matter who it is) can mean the difference between an NCAA Tournament appearance and no postseason appearance at all. If that's the case, then Curry is alot better than I give him credit for or the rest of the players aren't as good as I thought they were. take your pick.
Mainly, though, it is no secret that this was a critical year for Welsh who has 1 more year left on his contract after this season. He had delivered PC to the NCAA's twice in 9 years and the expectation was that they should be back there this year as well. His 1 win in 9 years at the BE Tourney is something that hurts his resume more than the 0-2 mark in the NCAA's. We knew that since the school didn't extend him before the season that they were taking the "wait and see" approach. If he makes it to the NCAA's or even a strong showing in the NIT, they would have likely extended him. Anything less than that and it would probably mean his dismissal. Why? Well, for all of the aforementioned reasons. Plus, Bob Driscoll would be hurting the future of the program by letting him coach out the final year of his contract. Recruiting can be a dirty business and coaches competing for the same players on the recruiting trail as PC would most certainly use his "lame duck" status against him and the school. Therefore, Driscoll was faced with making a decision on Tim's future at the end of the season one way or another. It has made this season a referendum on Welsh's coaching career here at PC.
I have taken my share of calls from Friar fans not happy with the job he's done over the past few years and I admit that I have said that a coaching change should NOT be made. Mainly because there were too many years and too much money left on Tim's contract so it made no financial sense for PC. But also because I don't think that Welsh has woefully underachieved here in Providence. His NCAA and NIT appearances have been close to on par with what I would expect out of a program like PC competing in such a tough conference. To me, it's been more about two things. The poor finish to what was otherwise a great 2003-04 season and the lack of wins at the Big East Tourney.
Now, with the fans all calling for his dismissal, Driscoll and Providence College are left with little choice. The fans want change and the College almost has to oblige. And I agree. It would be bad business not to.
Having said that, I hope that Welsh is treated better these last few home games than he has been because of what I said earlier. He is a good man. He wanted to make it work and stay here for a very long time. And nobody wanted him to succeed more than me. For a variety of reasons, that didn't happen.
I wish him well wherever he winds up.
As for the Friars, I didn't get a chance to see their loss to Gtown yet. From following it on gametracker while doing the show down here today, it appeared that Weyme had a strong game. My big question is: why did McDermott take only 3 shots? (2-3 FG) I don't know if it was the Hoyas defense or what, but McDermott needs to assert himself to be much more of an offensive force for the Friars.
I also took an intersting call on the air tonight suggesting that I seem to be "harder" on Tim Welsh now that the Friars are no longer on the Score. Criticism accepted, but with explanation.
I must preface my remarks by saying that I like Tim Welsh, personally. He's a good man and someone who I consider a friend. For that reason, it can be difficult when criticizing the job that he does. But that is MY job - to critique the "pro" team in the state.
While I have in the past pointed out, and continue to believe, that PC is one of the toughest jobs in the Big East, I have also fairly pointed out that the Friars post season performance (particularly in the Big east Tourney) has been subpar under Welsh. This is not a new criticism that I have created.
Secondly, just as with Sharaud Curry's injury this year, there have been things like injuries to other key players in the past that have hurt PC while Tim has been here. The big difference is that this team had NCAA tournament expectations placed on it (rightly or wrongly) coming into the season and I have a hard time believing that 1 player (no matter who it is) can mean the difference between an NCAA Tournament appearance and no postseason appearance at all. If that's the case, then Curry is alot better than I give him credit for or the rest of the players aren't as good as I thought they were. take your pick.
Mainly, though, it is no secret that this was a critical year for Welsh who has 1 more year left on his contract after this season. He had delivered PC to the NCAA's twice in 9 years and the expectation was that they should be back there this year as well. His 1 win in 9 years at the BE Tourney is something that hurts his resume more than the 0-2 mark in the NCAA's. We knew that since the school didn't extend him before the season that they were taking the "wait and see" approach. If he makes it to the NCAA's or even a strong showing in the NIT, they would have likely extended him. Anything less than that and it would probably mean his dismissal. Why? Well, for all of the aforementioned reasons. Plus, Bob Driscoll would be hurting the future of the program by letting him coach out the final year of his contract. Recruiting can be a dirty business and coaches competing for the same players on the recruiting trail as PC would most certainly use his "lame duck" status against him and the school. Therefore, Driscoll was faced with making a decision on Tim's future at the end of the season one way or another. It has made this season a referendum on Welsh's coaching career here at PC.
I have taken my share of calls from Friar fans not happy with the job he's done over the past few years and I admit that I have said that a coaching change should NOT be made. Mainly because there were too many years and too much money left on Tim's contract so it made no financial sense for PC. But also because I don't think that Welsh has woefully underachieved here in Providence. His NCAA and NIT appearances have been close to on par with what I would expect out of a program like PC competing in such a tough conference. To me, it's been more about two things. The poor finish to what was otherwise a great 2003-04 season and the lack of wins at the Big East Tourney.
Now, with the fans all calling for his dismissal, Driscoll and Providence College are left with little choice. The fans want change and the College almost has to oblige. And I agree. It would be bad business not to.
Having said that, I hope that Welsh is treated better these last few home games than he has been because of what I said earlier. He is a good man. He wanted to make it work and stay here for a very long time. And nobody wanted him to succeed more than me. For a variety of reasons, that didn't happen.
I wish him well wherever he winds up.
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