We will look back at this as the golden age of Loyola basketball. Porter has single handedly built this program from nothing.
And there are so many stories of personal sacrifices that he made to keep the program afloat during the dark days.
He is truly an icon.

He has given ten great years to Loyola and took a lot of crap starting out as a bottom feeder team in an inferior league.
Now we are one of the elites in the MVC. He gave us a FINAL FOUR TEAM, graduates his players, recruits students of high character and has demanded excellence and has not compromised.

Unfortunately there are limitations as to what Loyola can do to retain him. He has a great family, lives in a great suburb in a great house (Tom Ricketts former home) but perhaps it is time for him to shoot for the stars AND HE DESERVES THAT.

I could easily see him lured away by a P5 school. maybe Northwestern but I could really see Boston College., a Jesuit school in a great city and a great conference. Pat Kraft is AD there now and it would not surprise me a bit to see Porter go there.

So rather than worry about it, I just want to settle back and enjoy these moments. Porter would leave a great program in place but i would find it hard for anyone to replicate his success.

I agree, 100%. Heck, I recall conversations on here in 2017 about whether Porter should be given an extension, or maybe he wasn’t the long term solution (remember, Milton Doyle had just graduated, with no Tournament appearance in 6(?) years). Fast forward 4 seasons, and the fruits of his labor from the first handful of years is amazing.

Here’s a question he will have to ask, though: is the risk worth it? He could stay, finish his career here, and have a legendary, maybe HoF career. Or, he could go to a bigger program, where it’s (presumably) easier to get recruits and make the tournament. But...will that school have the patience that Loyola did to let him build a program? It’s always said that it’s “easier”, but, take a program like Illinois, for example. Great basketball history, great basketball State...and this will be the first time they’ve made the Tournament in a decade. A few underperforming recruiting classes did in Weber, patience ran out quickly with Groce, and some were starting to waiver about Underwood before this year. Groce is back at a mid major. Weber might be on the way out again at Kansas State (just three years after losing to some school in the Elite 8). They both got the paychecks, but they also got a lot more headaches.

It’s a question only he can answer. Like you, I wouldn’t fault him either way.

I'd be curious what was different for eg Nate Oats at Bama vs Shaka at Texas. Both made the jump from mid to high major coaching but with obviously different levels of success. Porter is great at getting the absolute most out of mid major guys by having them sell out completely for the team. Could he do the same with kids who are much higher graded recruits?

25 has it ALMOST correct ---`1963 IS the GOLDEN year IRELAND THE COACH PORTER IS fast nearing that with his results-- I do not believe he will desert LUC until he gets LUC BACK to what we were once--WE are but a step or two away--MONEY notwithstanding !!! --A MIDWEST GONZAGA

Look, I know 1985 to... let's say 2014... was a really, really long time. 29 years, only one 20-win season, only five winning seasons in that span. The in-between time between a trip to the Sweet Sixteen ranked #14 in the country to a season where a young Loyola team won the CBI. I know how difficult it was, I had a pretty high rate of attendance in that period despite the mostly dour results.

But saying that one person "single handedly built this program from nothing" is extreme.

Before and including 1985, Loyola had a National Championship, 2 NIT Runner-Up finishes, a #1 NBA Draft Pick, a Hall of Fame Coach, a key role in desegregating college basketball, three NCAA Sweet 16s, a #1 AP Top 25 Preseason ranking, an undefeated season (part of a 31-game winning streak stretching over three seasons), and a key role in instituting the goaltending rule. Loyola co-founded what became the Horizon League, helped to get the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams, and still holds the record for the largest margin of victory in an NCAA Tournament game.

Loyola was not "nothing" when Porter Moser got here-- there was a great history and a sizeable group of people who felt passionately about the program even through dark years, including you and me and probably 75% of the people on this board. Here are a few great memories from those "nothing" years:

1. The 2002 Horizon League Tournament, where Loyola was one shot away from the tournament, TWICE.
2. The rivalry with Butler from about 1998 to 2012. No other team in the league played Butler better than Loyola (they'll tell you that, too) and no other school gave them more crap about their boasting and big heads.
3. Great individual players, like Kenny Miller, Keith Gailes, Andre Moore, Kier Rogers, Kerman Ali, Javan Goodman, David Bailey, Blake Schilb, Majak Kou, Andy Polka, etc. ( Do you know who was a player that I really liked and thought he had great potential? Joe Estes. I though he had a great pull-up jumper that could have earned him a 6th man role at a lot of P5 programs.... but he ended up being a part-time starter with no defined role who had a few injuries.)
4. Upsets galore!! Wins over Wisconsin and DePaul at International Amphitheater in 1988-89. Purdue, Illinois State, and Northwestern in 1991-92. Beating Notre Dame in South Bend in 1993-94 ("Too much Matt Hawes!! -- ESPN) The many, many wins over Butler, even when they were ranked, at Hinkle Fieldhouse..... like 2007, when Loyola beat #15 Butler at Hinkle... or two years later in 2009 when a different Loyola team beat #15 Butler at Hinkle.... or or 2010 when Loyola had three shots at the basket down one at a packed Gentile, Butler's closest win in the 25-game win streak that ended in the national final. Probably my favorite was Feb. 13, 2003, when Loyola beat Butler by 10 in a year they went to the Sweet 16.
5. Humility.... Perspective.... And the uniquely Catholic concept-- Grace. Every Loyola fan during that period should have learned well those sensations. That's an asset that a lot of huge, winning programs don't have and something I hope we keep when we're doing well as a program.

I want Porter to stay, but he's earned the right to do whatever he wants and still have our love, support and admiration. He is a legend for us in the same way that Jerry or Coach Ireland is. I hope he gets a statue or some other recognition within or near the arena to immortalize his contributions. Anyone whose shared a drink with him after a game at Bruno's knows how much he's invested in us and it feels only right to be as invested in him, even if he leaves.

My only wish is that if he does leave he goes to another Jesuit school, since I prefer supporting Jesuit basketball teams.

I HAVE THE UTMOST RESPECT FOR JCT AND HIS COMMENTS AND ANALYSIS.
YES THERE WERE GOOD TIMES FOR SURE BUT IF YOU SPREAD OUT THOSE ACCOMPLISHMENTS SINCE 1985 OVER 29 YEARS IT IS PRETTY THIN GRUEL.
BEING A BOTTOM FEEDER IN THE HORIZON LEAGUE WAS A PRETTY LOW MARK.
I GUESS WE JUST HAVE A DIFFERENT DEFINITION OF SUCCESS. I JUST DO NOT SEE A WILL REY, KEN BURMEISTER, LARRY FARMER OR JIM WHITSELL BEING ABLE TO OVERCOME THE ODDS. PORTER DID!

25 hard to argue that these are good times and that Porter is a superb coach but I would add that no man is an island and that this has been a tag team effort.....I think Steve Watson and Coach have been Batman and Robin......and Father G and our current Pres....I might even throw a little Grace Calhouns way.... But even b4 the 63 Championship LU was a national team...Mid20s, early 30s...late 40s and dont forget not including the Championship of 63...we went to the Dance 4 times in the 60s...... BUt if you reference the modern era of college basketball which I would say starts with the influence of tv I think you are on the button...feels pretty good.
Some add ons. Leonard Sachs the LU coach from 23 through 41 with winning streaks of 32 and 21 and I think 1929 we were 16-0 with a #1 ranking...(while the cheerleaders did the Charleston)

Nate:
Your wisdom and insights amaze me. You are right on!

We are now ranked number 22! That feels good. We have great momentum behind us. Let's keep the streak going