I hope he can go to back to back NCAA tournaments for the first time in my lifetime.

I know we are myopic Rambler fanatics, but the Oklahoma job is a great job. It may be the best job in the Big 12, which means it's one of the top 15 jobs in the country. Great money, great facilities, built in fan base, great rivals, but by definition, it's the third biggest thing on campus behind football season and the spring football game. No pressure, no administration issues, no scheduling issues, etc - just basketball - we could not match that. Lon Kruger - the dullest basketball coach in America - lasted 8 years. It's not the money (although that helps) it's the fact that PM doesn't need to do all the other things.

As far as loyalty goes, didn't we fire every coach other than PM in the last 40 years? We look at Gonzaga - a unicorn - not comparable. No one gets to retire on their terms. St Joes fired their coach. It's part of being a high mid major. Get use to it. I would gladly have the coaching tree that Xavier, Dayton and Butler have. If you are not winning, then you get to keep your coach. If you win, this is the risk, Hopefully, other up and comers see our job as a stepping stone. It's an aspirational goal for me.

As far as Bobby Knight at Texas Tech, he averaged 21 wins a year and went the NCAAs 4 of 6 years. I would take that type of failure - year in and year out.

I have no doubt that the school wanted a big time basketball program, but they weren't really committed to it. We built a small facility in 1996, renovated it in 2010 - that nice, but it's hardly a big time commitment. We were busing kids 5 hours to games. We were not big time. Hell, we were barely mid-major. I remember there being a discussion to move us to Division III. The coaching salaries were in the mild to lower end of the pack in the MVC, which means they were terrible. Think about it, these other schools are located in Des Moines, Cedar Falls, Evansville. and they are paying more to live there? 400k in those towns is like a $1,000,000 in Chicago. From a cost of living perspective, you live like a king in those cities in comparison to what the same salary gets you a small apartment in Chicago. One of the reasons Porter could stay in the Northern Suburbs is that his family had money. No way is he able to send kids to private schools and live in a great neighborhood otherwise. Remember, a lot of these assistants don't make much and need to go from town to town. Hell, Billy Donovan made so much money at Florida that he built his kids a Catholic High School in Gainesville. PM got the school to commit. He succeeded twice, which will make it hard for the school administration to forget.

I might be reading too much into your use of the word "here", but to me it sounds like you may have unconsciously tipped your hand that you are a relative latecomer as a Rambler fan and were a season ticket holder somewhere else beforehand.

Do you mind telling us where you went to school and what your history is as a college basketball fan?

Not sure where you're going with this ,but no gatekeeping, please.

_________________
MBB Scholarship Chart

Going back 8 years brings us to the 2012-13 season. We're talking about someone who bought season tickers coming off a 5-11 Horizon League season. That doesn't sound like a bandwagon fan.

8 years season tix at the Gentile. I moved to Chicago area 16 years ago, played Division 1 hoops at a mid-major back in the 90s.

Met PM before the final four run from some mutual friends. I’ve never hung out with him, but I love the way he coach’s and gets his teams to play.

Should I provide my vaccination card as well??

Also — since you asked - as a college basketball fan, I was a 3rd generation Division 1 hooper in my family. I have a few friends that are D1 head coaches, a few that are D3 coach’s and plenty of friends that are assistants. I am a basketball dork. My father was a basketball dork, my Grandfather not as much.

I love the game.

Absolutely. We're grateful to have ANY fans, near/far, old/young, longtime or last week. So Rambling0101, WestCoast, Tulsa, AMDG, Rambler88, and anyone who hasn't joined or chimed in-- we're happy to have you on the board, and happy to have you pulling for the Ramblers.

This thread got a little sidetracked when there was speculation about recruits following Porter to Norman, and unfortunately, I made the sidetrack worse with a response. I don't want any hard feelings.... I'm only concerned that the history of the Moser regime at Loyola is portrayed accurately. It can be both accurate AND viewed entirely differently by many different parties, so let's keep that in mind during these well-meaning and civil disagreements.

Curious. The conversation that if anyone has an opinion other than Porter being a God is somehow not worthy or a jilted lover is ridiculous. There are ways of doing things and people differ. Mark Few was happy and he stayed at Gonzaga. Porter claimed to be happy, but left. Few took the attitude of “why not here” and Porter did not. I just do not believe he left for money. He was not exactly a pauper and the raise here at LU was substantial enough to insure his family and his kids’ families were gonna be just fine.

I believe he left because he felt he was not gonna win here, at least not to the level he wanted, i.e. a National Championship. If he did leave for that reason, then YES, I do question him and his rhetoric about being 100% in and happy here, the love of the Culture, the values, and love of Loyola. He is a good coach and no doubt he brought the program back. For that I am grateful, but pardon me if I am not ready to nominate him for sainthood. This is my opinion and, at least for now, this is America and I am entitled it.

Oh brother. "Culture," "values," "I'm happy here" etc etc -- aren't these obviously just buzzwords? Coachspeak? AKA fairly empty rhetoric. This was his job, what did you expect him to say? "Oh it's pretty OK here, but no I'm not 100% committed to this employer."

In fact, I hear from companies all the time that they are "100% committed to my satisfaction" and guess what? They aren't. I don't expect them to bend over backwards for me based on some boilerplate customer service language.