Strong Praise For Neil Sullivan
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Yes folks, it's me again, Angry John. I would like to take this time give my support to Neil Sullivan and go into some details on the outstanding work he does in regard to the University of Dayton's Men's and Women's Basketball programs.
For starters, he has hired good basketball coaches. He hit it out of left field with the hiring of Coach Tamika Williams-Jeter. She has a great basketball pedigree as a player and a coach. No doubt she will have great success in her future here at UD. Coach Shauna Green was another one of his great hires. Her A-10 and NCAA success speaks for itself. Coach Anthony Grant was another one of his very good hires. What I like about this selection was that Neil went after an experienced coach, who coached at the highest levels. By being able to pick an alumnus with this background, he is betting on that he found a coach who would not treat UD as a stepping stone job that would leave after 3-5 years after success. When a coach leaves at the mid to high major level it takes a period of time to rebuild with current transfer portal situation. You try to get a coach to stay 8-10 years and treat the job as a destination job. Continuity for a period of time can bring success. Coach Grant brought us great success in 2020 and should again next year. As an alumnus, he takes ownership in the program, which some previous good coaches we had did not.
Secondly, Neil has done a good job of scheduling out of conference games for both the men and women. Sure he catches some criticism on not bringing in enough big name teams for home games or not going out on the road enough to play a non return game with a blue blood program. Sure, I could see that once in awhile when your team is loaded. This scheduling situation is very tough in Men's Basketball because many of the Power 6 programs do not want to play and lose to UD. In Woman's Basketball, you have way less of that problem. Neil has been able to get UConn and South Carolina for games at the Arena. As difficult as it is to understanding all the different metric systems, Neil has a good grasp of how they work. Each year he does find up and coming teams to visit the Arena for buy games. Regardless, how some people feel, he develops an out of conference schedule that will get you in the NCAA Tournament if you win 9-11 of them. Just don't stub your toe in the Conference schedule.
Thirdly, UD's First Four is run superbly and in a first class manner. Nobody runs an NCAA Tournament game like UD. Former AD Tom Ferricks laid the foundation model, which has been carried on and improved on by all UD AD's. Neil has carried on the tradition.
Fourthly, the latest upgrade to the Arena was a huge success. Sure, I might have done somethings different, like increase sitting in the corners of the Arena, but then it might have been too costly to do or the structure would not have allowed it. I am not an architect. Overall, the Arena has been turned into a high end 21st century arena. One of the best in the country for college basketball.
I told you guys I support the Administration 85% of the time and I am a positive glass is half full kind of guy. Not some grumpy old man that biatches all the time.
For starters, he has hired good basketball coaches. He hit it out of left field with the hiring of Coach Tamika Williams-Jeter. She has a great basketball pedigree as a player and a coach. No doubt she will have great success in her future here at UD. Coach Shauna Green was another one of his great hires. Her A-10 and NCAA success speaks for itself. Coach Anthony Grant was another one of his very good hires. What I like about this selection was that Neil went after an experienced coach, who coached at the highest levels. By being able to pick an alumnus with this background, he is betting on that he found a coach who would not treat UD as a stepping stone job that would leave after 3-5 years after success. When a coach leaves at the mid to high major level it takes a period of time to rebuild with current transfer portal situation. You try to get a coach to stay 8-10 years and treat the job as a destination job. Continuity for a period of time can bring success. Coach Grant brought us great success in 2020 and should again next year. As an alumnus, he takes ownership in the program, which some previous good coaches we had did not.
Secondly, Neil has done a good job of scheduling out of conference games for both the men and women. Sure he catches some criticism on not bringing in enough big name teams for home games or not going out on the road enough to play a non return game with a blue blood program. Sure, I could see that once in awhile when your team is loaded. This scheduling situation is very tough in Men's Basketball because many of the Power 6 programs do not want to play and lose to UD. In Woman's Basketball, you have way less of that problem. Neil has been able to get UConn and South Carolina for games at the Arena. As difficult as it is to understanding all the different metric systems, Neil has a good grasp of how they work. Each year he does find up and coming teams to visit the Arena for buy games. Regardless, how some people feel, he develops an out of conference schedule that will get you in the NCAA Tournament if you win 9-11 of them. Just don't stub your toe in the Conference schedule.
Thirdly, UD's First Four is run superbly and in a first class manner. Nobody runs an NCAA Tournament game like UD. Former AD Tom Ferricks laid the foundation model, which has been carried on and improved on by all UD AD's. Neil has carried on the tradition.
Fourthly, the latest upgrade to the Arena was a huge success. Sure, I might have done somethings different, like increase sitting in the corners of the Arena, but then it might have been too costly to do or the structure would not have allowed it. I am not an architect. Overall, the Arena has been turned into a high end 21st century arena. One of the best in the country for college basketball.
I told you guys I support the Administration 85% of the time and I am a positive glass is half full kind of guy. Not some grumpy old man that biatches all the time.