440Rambler wrote:
This will probably be an unpopular opinion but when this happens for me, Porter will be persona non grata. In a vacuum I cant begrudge the man for furthering his career, but its hard to reconcile the way it would leave the program with his comments in the past. The entire thing comes off as very Bruce Pearly- to me & until these last 48 hours I did not think Porter was cut from that cloth. However, it will be hard to refute that he is exactly the same type of self promoter, say whatever needs to be said in order to advance his position type of guy. I'll always be excited to see the guys return to celebrate these last two seasons but Porter would not be welcomed back if I were in charge. All of that "don't run from happiness" talk now seems fabricated image booster that it clearly was the whole time.
I'm sure some will think I am being too harsh but think of how he will leave the program that he supposedly cares so much about...signing day is literally tomorrow and we will lose the entirety of our recruiting class. We have already lost two of our internal coaches who could have helped keep continuity. We will be making a hire well after most of the other musical chairs have already landed, leaving us with a limited candidate pool and limiting the replacements ability to recruit because again SIGNING DAY IS TOMORROW. On top of that given how lenient the NCAA has been with hardship waivers its hard to see how Lucas, Cam, Cooper, Christian and Frank don't all at least see what other options for them are out there. We have been making fun of Valpo in another thread but we are starring down at a similar reality thanks to Porter.
This whole thing will likely take us back to square one. I am hopeful that Watson can get it up and running again, but its very very disappointing that Porter chose the nuclear option as opposed to being valuing what he built here, living his words and executing a transition plan.
For the most part I actually agree with everything you said. Except I’m not going to feel like that until he actually accepts the St. John’s position. Taking an interview is expected, why wouldn’t you at least hear what the offer is. If he ever wants offers in the future being respectful and going makes sense. No way in hell LU would reject him after this, losing him sends us back very far.