More of a beautiful disaster.

The alarm bell response against Porter from the outside seems to be that “he’s only had one good year!”

Far from it. He’s had one amazing year that most schools have never had and will likely never have. He’s also had a few other good years. If you ask me, this year was in many ways one of his best years. Last years team was loaded with seniors and little expectations. This year was loaded with underclassmen, only two seniors, unprecedented hype and expectations for Loyola, and saddled with a huge injury to a key starter most of the season. And he coached them 20 wins and a conference title. Was it what we wanted? No, but it was still a good season, a season most schools would love. Oh, and he’s following it all up with a top 70 recruiting class at a mid major school.

If outside eyes want to view that as a bad season, I’ll thank them for not wanting Porter and wish them good luck. They’ll need it with their standards.

Totally agree...to win the Valley Regular season this year was a great accomplishment....and you can say what you want but I think the regular season championship tops the Tournament even though it offers the greater reward.

Per Twitter, Porter will be meeting with St. John's tonight....

https://twitter.com/AdamZagoria/status/ ... 3457699840

Goodman is reporting he is the front runner for the job as well. This would be an all-time disaster for us, it'd give the entire recruiting class an out on their LOIs and allow them to join Mullins in Carbondale. And leave us with the dregs of the end of cycle HC hires.

It definitely would not be good for us, but I’m going to try and ignore the issue until it actually becomes one. Which hopefully it never does.

still dont buy it.
1. lu gave him good contract
2, got practice facility
3. kids still in school
however
if he thinks he will never be able to recruit at lu to fulfill professional goals...then maybe

course i always thought Hamiltons would be there

How much is Porter's buyout? Supposedly St. Johns' negotiations hit a stall with Cluess (Iona's coach) because of his $2+ million buyout.

I was at the basketball dinner last Tuesday, and his speech mentioned the very busy social and school schedules his kids have, his comfort with his home, and the continuing project of building the Loyola program. Add in New York traffic and real estate costs, and Saint John's would have to offer almost 3 x his salary to make it worth it for him. And you would have to think that after the last two years, he's got a looonnnnnggggg shelf life at Loyola, longer than the leash he'd get at St. John's.

This is the age of take the money and run. It is also in the nature of a mid major coach to constantly seek to improve his lot.
If he leaves, and I think it will happen, I wish Porter the best as he did a lot for the program. The real downside is the timing as it could and probably will wipe out a recruiting class and possibly set the program back. That is my big concern.I also was at the post season basketball program and I had thought all the speculation about leaving was over. But then you never know.
The Loyola job will be a desirable one. I just wish Mullins had not opted for SIU but my guess is when the other jobs fell through for Porter and that Porter was staying, Mullins felt he had to take the opportunity at SIU and I don't blame him.
This would also give Steve Watson a chance to put his stamp on the program.
Still all in all a lot of tire kicking going on with UNLV, Arkansas and Vandy but no brass ring. This really was the last big opening and again,
if it occurs, it will be a unique situation because no one has ever poached a coach (a little poetry there) from Loyola basketball.
Time to examine what the possibilities might be out there.

One last thought as I often tell people: "Be careful what you wish for?" If Chris Mullins, an icon, can get bounced from his alma mater and Lavin before that, this the SJ job can be a slippery slope. Think of Collier at Nebraska, Lickliter at Iowa and Drew at Vandy. All thought they could handle the step up.
New York is also a much different culture that the Midwest. I worked for Citi and spent a lot of time there and the patience level is a lot lower. And the competition in the Big East is a lot stiffer to say the least.

But, time to move on. Ready for a new era? I expect that is what will happen!

LOVE THOSE NY TAXES. Makes Illinois look good! Queens is not the north shore of Chicago. Great commute down the BQE.