Going to totally disagree with you having been at many meetings pre-Moser success that started building the DI basketball infrastructure that had happened previously. I am guessing w/o the Gentile Center there is no Moser at LU...One name I know for sure is Al Norville. and dont forget Fr.G and the ReImagine Loyola project.
At Loyola, we want to offer our students a better venue for intercollegiate and on-campus activities," says Rev. Michael J. Garanzini, S.J., president, Loyola University Chicago 2010
The five phases include:
Phase I. Intercollegiate Athletics Center
Ground has already been broken on the first phase of the reimagine campaign. The Intercollegiate Athletics Center, a three-story, state-of-the-art athletics facility, will offer a number of improved services for student-athletes.

Phase II. Joseph J. Gentile Center Renovation
Phase two will begin in summer 2011. Renovations will transform the Ramblers' home court into a true sports arenaa place to ignite the spirit of athletic competition.
Moser came here because LU had already made a commitment.

+1 We are so lucky to have Drew. It's fantastic how he has held things together. Look what happened at Texas Tech when Chris Beard went to Texas (equivalent of Moser going to DePaul). They also immediately went to their associate head coach, but practically the whole team blew up and scattered.

Toledo -

Very good opus, a couple of points.

1) Porter didn’t fail at Little Rock
2) ISU — maybe a fail. He had the recruiting pump primed and Jankovich rolled with it. But no matter, he became a great coach by working under Majerus.
3) I don’t think he failed here in the beginning, there isn’t a coach alive that could’ve won many games with that talent.
4) LOYOLA was NOT offering him $2.2 a year for 10 years, it was much lower. At Oklahoma with incentives he could make as much as $4m in a year.
5) He is competing at the highest level in his profession with the move to the Big12.
6) I really don’t think the majority of this board understands what he was able to do at Loyola and the enormity of it. In time, you will look back on this run and be amazed. There is no greater story than the run to the final 4 in modern college basketball. No facilities at the time to speak of, No 5 star talent, No PRACTICE gym...imagine Michigan having to get off the court because Men’s volleyball needed it’s practice time.
7) The publicity for the university- as 88 points out - is immeasurable.
8) It’s no secret that Watson nearly botched the whole thing after the final 4 with a very contentious negotiation.

Everybody wants to throw out Mark Few — and Ben Jacobson as the loyalists etc. Then trot out the failures from mid majors to power 5. What about Brey? Bielien? Beard? Calipari? Altman? Dick Bennett, Bo Ryan, Matt Painter, Nolan Richardson, Billy Donovan? The success stories are lengthy as well. I think it would be foolish to bet against PM.

Finally — in the last released college basketball budgets, LUC was 105 and Oklahoma 33. When your new budget is 3.4x your current budget, you’ve hit the big time.

Rambling I'm fairly certain most of this board, people who have been season ticket holders for decades, and participating in this forum and its predecessor for years and years before you created your account to white knight for porter absolutely understand the gravity of what was accomplished. We just all also understand that it took a village and not one person. Was Porter a great coach for us? Clearly yes! Did the school invest in hosting the CBI before he had a winning season? Also yes! Its not like the post final four was the first year they put money into this thing.

Season ticket holder for 8 years here and a frequent visitor to the site. And I will continue to be a season ticket holder for years to come.

So then you know they invested in the arena, and the phase 1 facilities before the winning started! Why are we trying to act that that didn't happen? You we're in Gentile when we paid $50k to host a post season tournament game even though we were sub .500 in the Valley! Why not just admit this stuff vs. reinventing a narrative that it was exclusively porter who helped the program become what it is today when you were there for it all!

And yes - it is like post final 4 is the first time they put money into this thing. CBI cost what - $50k?

Bottom line - we have a phenomenal mid major program and I hope Valentine leads us to several more MVC titles. I am very skeptical of him and wish the search was wider. But I hope I’m proven wrong.

Listen, when Greg Marshall made fun of the facilities years ago, he wasn’t kidding around. It was NOT a mid level facility. The Arena still isn’t, but the practice facility is fantastic...oh yea, that was built after the final 4. Why did our talent level increase on the team - recent success and facilities (as well as solid recruiting).

I’m not reinventing the narrative, in my mind he did build it all. A slightly better gym than East Aurora is not what I would call stepping on the gas by the administration.

What I am saying is simple: I don’t think there is another coach that could’ve taken a Horizon League afterthought to a final 4...then follow it up with a sweet 16.

The administration was brought along kicking and screaming and stumbled into a publicity goldmine. It was the coach, not the school.

Please at the golf outing this year tell Watson that Porter brought him along kicking and screaming to success town.

I want to perpetually be in the situation where the program's success makes Loyola's head and assistant coaches attractive to big programs.

The opportunity to springboard to a promotion both internally and externally is the best recruiting tool for great assistants in the future.

Stop being sour. This is a good problem.

Moser did a great job. He is a good coach but he is not singular in the profession. There are MANY good coaches out there. Hopefully Valentine is one of them.

The talent level on the roster for next year is as good as it has ever been. That's half the battle right there.