Basketball 2015-16

I wanted to demonstrate the precipitous decline of the program under Courtney.

Cornell loses yet again, this time to Princeton 60-74.

Not surprisingly, Cornell gets destroyed by Yale. Yale can clinch with a win against Columbia tomorrow.

Also I can definitely see Courtney getting fired now but I don't think it will happen and I don't exactly want it to.

9 consecutive Ivy losses. Ugarte, what would it take for you to think a change should be made?

CAS
9 consecutive Ivy losses. Ugarte, what would it take for you to think a change should be made?

A scandal, tbh. It's not like I'm happy with the results I just don't remember the last time we fired our basketball coach.

So you don't think coaches need to run a competitive program? As long as there is no scandal, they should have lifetime employment?

ugarte
Not surprisingly, Cornell gets destroyed by Yale. Yale can clinch with a win against Columbia tomorrow.

Also I can definitely see Courtney getting fired now but I don't think it will happen and I don't exactly want it to.

He certainly deserves to be fired.

if people on campus were held to the same standard as a coach you would have 90% of them fired now.

upprdeck
if people on campus were held to the same standard as a coach you would have 90% of them fired now.

If Harvard undergrads performed at the level of our basketball program. .....
they'd graduate with honors.
Eh?

ugarte

CAS
9 consecutive Ivy losses. Ugarte, what would it take for you to think a change should be made?

A scandal, tbh. It's not like I'm happy with the results I just don't remember the last time we fired our basketball coach.

Cornell fired basketball coach Tony Coma in the early '70s. Coma lost the support of black and then white players; he had been brought in from a heavily black college in hopes he could restore peace with black players on the team. He had drinking issues. The coaches committed minor recruiting violations, to wit paying application fees for prospective players. And it all made Sports Illustrated (which Coma said coming into the program was one of his goals) under the headline "Low in Cayuga's Waters." The real issue was Cornell didn't do much research into his background at his previous stop, Cheyney State (PA). Frank Dolson, sports editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer at the time, said afterwards people in the media who knew him were surprised that Cornell didn't vet more thoroughly. (Coma finished his career coaching girls HS basketball and passed on 20 years ago at 63, so R.I.P.)

Recall the Coma problems came late in the era of athletic director/athletic dean and Olympian Bob Kane '36, a dapper gentleman, a big macher in the US Olympic committee, and well liked by alumni but perhaps not equipped to handle a different era of athletes post-1960s.


What we have in 2016 is a coach who hasn't succeeded in the W column. Far cry from a program that wasn't under control.

Cornell beats Brown 75-71 ends the season in a tie for last place in the Ivy League with Brown.

Ken711
Cornell beats Brown 75-71 ends the season in a tie for last place in the Ivy League with Brown.

I believe you mean a tie for 7th.

ugarte

Ken711
Cornell beats Brown 75-71 ends the season in a tie for last place in the Ivy League with Brown.

I believe you mean a tie for 7th.

Cellar dwellers?

Well, Bill was arrested for DWI in Syracuse driving back from a stripper club years ago.

[nypost.com]

Courtney is good as gone now.

Speaking of arrests...



Cornell Basketball Player Xavier Eaglin '19 Arrested on Rape Charges

Ken711
[nypost.com]

Courtney is good as gone now.

Wishful thinking.

Ken711
[nypost.com]

Courtney is good as gone now.

A player being arrested does not necessarily equal loss of institutional control. Most obviously, the guy may be innocent.

Trotsky

Ken711
[nypost.com]

Courtney is good as gone now.

A player being arrested does not necessarily equal loss of institutional control. Most obviously, the guy may be innocent.

His record alone is more than justification for letting him go. This program needs a fresh new start more than ever now.

Ken711

Trotsky

Ken711
[nypost.com]

Courtney is good as gone now.

A player being arrested does not necessarily equal loss of institutional control. Most obviously, the guy may be innocent.

His record alone is more than justification for letting him go. This program needs a fresh new start more than ever now.

That may be true - you've certainly said as much - but using a rape charge against a player - with no reason to believe that Courtney had any reason to suspect this defect of character - is unfair. Even cheap. If - and I've never seen anything to suggest this - there had been prior accusations and Courtney helped sweep them under the rug, I'd pack up his office myself.

Hmmmm....let's see how this plays out. The athletic department has had several issues with sexual assault over the years but only 2 made the press and one was Pete Mesko (currently in prison). Very glad the university has a new policy to address these issues and eliminate the department from intervening...or anyone but proper officials for that matter. No one wants bad press but hopefully coverage of such issues will result in men thinking before assault.

Oh...Yale is also going through a similar issue.

Ken711

Trotsky

Ken711
[nypost.com]

Courtney is good as gone now.

A player being arrested does not necessarily equal loss of institutional control. Most obviously, the guy may be innocent.

His record alone is more than justification for letting him go. This program needs a fresh new start more than ever now.

I agree Courtney needs to be gone, but only because of his dismal performance as coach, and not because one of his players has been arrested.

Ken711

Trotsky

Ken711
[nypost.com]

Courtney is good as gone now.

A player being arrested does not necessarily equal loss of institutional control. Most obviously, the guy may be innocent.

His record alone is more than justification for letting him go. This program needs a fresh new start more than ever now.

I've got no argument with you re: his record. I'm just saying an accusation shouldn't factor into the equation at all, and even a conviction only factors in if there's reason to believe the program was negligent (or god forbid obstructionist) in its response.

Trotsky

Ken711

Trotsky

Ken711
[nypost.com]

Courtney is good as gone now.

A player being arrested does not necessarily equal loss of institutional control. Most obviously, the guy may be innocent.

His record alone is more than justification for letting him go. This program needs a fresh new start more than ever now.

I've got no argument with you re: his record. I'm just saying an accusation shouldn't factor into the equation at all, and even a conviction only factors in if there's reason to believe the program was negligent (or god forbid obstructionist) in its response.

Agreed.

Given no change has been made to date, I'm guessing Courtney (27-57 in Ivies) will return for his 7th year as coach. Running a competitive program is not a necessity in Andy's athletic dep't.

Ken711
[nypost.com]

Courtney is good as gone now.

Not at all a sure thing. This is only one player accused of rape.

It probably would have to be something much worse, like upperclassmen encouraging freshmen on the team to drink beer, to justify AN firing a coach.

The Score sent out an alert that he's fired.

underskill
The Score sent out an alert that he's fired.

Must've been because of the email I sent to the Noel just this morning expressing my opinion that the coach needed to go.

Seriously, it's sad to see anyone lose a job, especially a person as well-liked as Courtney was. But if you're in the coaching business, you do need to win at least a bit; Courtney never showed any signs of turning things around.

Well, not renewed. This makes sense to me. I can see searching for another guy but eating the cost of any remaining years would have been a mistake (or at least against type for the administration).

I assume Courtney knew the writing was on the wall when he wasn't offered an extension after last year (nor would I say he earned it).

Finally a good decision. Now let's see him hire a great coach!

Congratulations to Yale on their first Tournament victory. No question here... I guarantee a victory for the Blue-And-White on Saturday.....

Yale making a late run on Duke in the Upper Class Twit of the Year Bowl.

The administration should consider recruiting Zach Spiker as the next head coach. He was instrumental if not the key recruiter of the Foote, Dale, Whitman era. As a recruiter he is relentless and has proven to have solid bench coaching skills....something Courtney could not ever improve upon. Noel hired Courtney because he had solid resume as an assistant. Charisma can only take a team so far.

shasta1
The administration should consider recruiting Zach Spiker as the next head coach. He was instrumental if not the key recruiter of the Foote, Dale, Whitman era. As a recruiter he is relentless and has proven to have solid bench coaching skills....something Courtney could not ever improve upon. Noel hired Courtney because he had solid resume as an assistant. Charisma can only take a team so far.

I think Spiker getting away a year before Donahue left was a bummer for the administration. He'd have been a no-brainer to step in if the Army job didn't open up when it did. Who knows if he'd want to leave that gig; Army is frequently a stepping stone job (Bob Knight and Coach K come to mind) and I'm not sure Cornell is a big enough step up.

Twitter says we're looking at Brian Earl, Zach Spiker, and Kevin App:

Hearing that Tommy Amaker was at Stanford today for an interview and that Cornell is looking at Brian Earl, Zach Spiker and Kevin App.

— IvyHoopsOnline (@IvyHoopsOnline) March 22, 2016

Kevin and Brian Earl hmmm....shooting for the moon once again from Noel.

shasta1
Kevin and Brian Earl hmmm....shooting for the moon once again from Noel.

Bob Kane "shot for the moon" once and got Ned Harkness.

Al DeFlorio

shasta1
Kevin and Brian Earl hmmm....shooting for the moon once again from Noel.

Bob Kane "shot for the moon" once and got Ned Harkness.

Wasn't Harkness woefully underpaid at RPI in the 1960s, something like $10,000 ($75,000 today) at the time?

billhoward

Al DeFlorio

shasta1
Kevin and Brian Earl hmmm....shooting for the moon once again from Noel.

Bob Kane "shot for the moon" once and got Ned Harkness.

Wasn't Harkness woefully underpaid at RPI in the 1960s, something like $10,000 ($75,000 today) at the time?

Isn't this a truism? You're talking about one of the best, perhaps the best, college coaches in history. Name one other coach who put up record-breaking, undefeated seasons in two different sports. By definition, Ned Harkness was woefully underpaid.

shasta1
Kevin and Brian Earl hmmm....shooting for the moon once again from Noel.

What do you expect? Administration doesn't prioritize athletics. Facilities are woeful. Andy will be lucky to find a good one.

Zach Spiker off the board, he is hired as the new coach at Drexel.

Wow...you are able to name one shoot for the moon and it wasn't Noel's hire. Look at his hire's during his tenure, they basically suck! He takes the easy way out as much as possible and hires assistant coaches OR kids like Archer.

they should take a look at the guy GT just let go..

upprdeck
they should take a look at the guy GT just let go..

Wonder why he got canned? Did a great job at Dayton and finally looked like he was turning Tech around...he'll get a much better job than Cornell.

The non-NCAA tournaments are not meaningful but still... Columbia beat Norfolk State, Ball State and NJIT in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament and will face UC-Irvine in the finals.

I had a friend who was a serious Duke and UVa fan. She called the NIT the National Losers' Tournament.

ugarte
The non-NCAA tournaments are not meaningful but still... Columbia beat Norfolk State, Ball State and NJIT in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament and will face UC-Irvine in the finals.

Columbia won. And their coach promptly left to take over at San Fransisco.

Former Cornell assistant and current Penn assistant Nat Graham will be interviewed in Houston by Andy Noel.

Ken711
Former Cornell assistant and current Penn assistant Nat Graham will be interviewed in Houston by Andy Noel.

The Cornell Basketball Blog has been pushing for Nat so hard, you have to wonder if he gets a cut of his first year salary. Nat may well prove to be a great coach, but hiring him feels a lot like trying to live in the past. A happy, warm past, but the past nonetheless.

mountainred

Ken711
Former Cornell assistant and current Penn assistant Nat Graham will be interviewed in Houston by Andy Noel.

The Cornell Basketball Blog has been pushing for Nat so hard, you have to wonder if he gets a cut of his first year salary. Nat may well prove to be a great coach, but hiring him feels a lot like trying to live in the past. A happy, warm past, but the past nonetheless.

I hear you. Definitely not an "outside the Cornell family" type of hire.

EASY way out again for Andy. Nat is a nice guy but can he actually coach from the bench?

I took the phys. ed. basketball course back in Fall '05 and Nat Graham was our instructor. Great gym teacher!

shasta1
EASY way out again for Andy. Nat is a nice guy but can he actually coach from the bench?

Has Nat been hired or just interviewed?

It may be premature to accuse Andy of taking the easy way out. Then again, none of the candidates mentioned here are very accomplished.

Swampy

shasta1
EASY way out again for Andy. Nat is a nice guy but can he actually coach from the bench?

Has Nat been hired or just interviewed?

It may be premature to accuse Andy of taking the easy way out. Then again, none of the candidates mentioned here are very accomplished.

I have zero insider information, but I think he's just one of several interviewees.

Cornell basketball is an entry-level job, but that's okay. Cornell was the first head coach gig for 7 of our last 8 coaches. I'd rate 4 (Donahue, Jan VBK, Dement, and Miller) as successful in Ithaca, 2 (BC and Walker) as unsuccessful and 1 (Bluitt) as in-between as he left the program better than he found it, but that's not saying much because he found a dumpster fire. I'm okay with a first time coach but a Donahue protege doesn't match well with the current roster. Do you really want to see these guys take more three's?

mountainred

Swampy

shasta1
EASY way out again for Andy. Nat is a nice guy but can he actually coach from the bench?

Has Nat been hired or just interviewed?

It may be premature to accuse Andy of taking the easy way out. Then again, none of the candidates mentioned here are very accomplished.

I have zero insider information, but I think he's just one of several interviewees.

Cornell basketball is an entry-level job, but that's okay. Cornell was the first head coach gig for 7 of our last 8 coaches. I'd rate 4 (Donahue, Jan VBK, Dement, and Miller) as successful in Ithaca, 2 (BC and Walker) as unsuccessful and 1 (Bluitt) as in-between as he left the program better than he found it, but that's not saying much because he found a dumpster fire. I'm okay with a first time coach but a Donahue protege doesn't match well with the current roster. Do you really want to see these guys take more three's?

I'm not necessarily pro- or anti- Nat, but in terms of him running Donahue's system, I think that would still be a step up from the <<null>> system we've been running the past few years on offense....

Swampy
It may be premature to accuse Andy of ...

Not here it isn't

billhoward

Swampy
It may be premature to accuse Andy of ...

Not here it isn't

Wins thread.