DFW's Statement

[SFHoya99]

SaxaCD85 said:

I understand, but I think the difference in this case was that his first comment was prompted by e-mails and board postings -- he wasn't saying it to sound "plugged in" -- he was reluctant to say anything at all, but only did because of the questions he was getting. That's a far cry from the "I know something really cool, but I can't tell you what it is" kind of posts.

Normally, I'd agree with you, Saxa. But since DFW left the extremely leading message -- unsolicited -- that he was unsure about the methods of the search, I think people have a right to complain.

That's like saying, "You should've been there last night..." or something then never disclosing. DFW made a rather melodramatic post stating his concern, then said he was placated with no explanation. Maybe that's not rude, and he's certainly not required to do anything, but it certainly is annoying to all of us who were curious. I mean, aside from scheduling, when was the last time DFW even hinted at publicly criticizing the program?

[SaxaCD]

But, see, I'm saying that I thought that comment WAS specifically solicited. I don't think he was going to comment at all, except he mentioned in that same post the number of people who had sent him e-mails, which I presume were asking him why he hadn't put his "take" on the hire up on the board. I acknowledge that I might be extrapolating a bit too much here, but I think DFW might have been caught in between a rock (not wanting to comment at all until he spoke with some people) and a hard place (curious board members asking for him to give his thoughts on the hire immediately). So he tried to split the difference, acknowledging that he was in fact aware of the hire, but that he also wanted more info for his own piece of mind. I suppose keeping silent completely might've been the best way to go here, since there's always this "I must know what you know" mentality on the net, but I don't think his motives were bad, or he was trying to keep anybody in the dark about anything.

Would be nice to hear a recap on the meeting though, i will admit that.

[KHoyaNYC]

SFHoya hit the nail on the head with that post. Well put.

[SFHoya99]

SaxaCD85 said:

But, see, I'm saying that I thought that comment WAS specifically solicited. I don't think he was going to comment at all, except he mentioned in that same post the number of people who had sent him e-mails, which I presume were asking him why he hadn't put his "take" on the hire up on the board. I acknowledge that I might be extrapolating a bit too much here, but I think DFW might have been caught in between a rock (not wanting to comment at all until he spoke with some people) and a hard place (curious board members asking for him to give his thoughts on the hire immediately). So he tried to split the difference, acknowledging that he was in fact aware of the hire, but that he also wanted more info for his own piece of mind. I suppose keeping silent completely might've been the best way to go here, since there's always this "I must know what you know" mentality on the net, but I don't think his motives were bad, or he was trying to keep anybody in the dark about anything.

Would be nice to hear a recap on the meeting though, i will admit that.

I see what you're saying. But I can also understand Big Dog's POV.

[SaxaCD]

I guess I can, too. Just something to argue about waiting for real basketball stuff to happen!

[EasyEd]

I was looking for DFW's statement to say something like this:

I am very satisfied that a true national search was conducted. Over XX candidates expressed interest. Of these, approximately YY were thought to have some real merit. And, from these, approximately ZZ were actually interviewed before selecting JTIII.

I don't think this would violate anyone's confidence and it did not mention any candidates' names. It would certainly say more than "committee exercised a high standard of due diligence throughout the process....it was a very positive meeting".

Of course, my real preference would be that Georgetown would issue a similar statement.

[hoyatables]

All right, you all are officially insane. Except for Saxa.

I read this post first, no knowledge of tboy's other post (EDIT: I glossed it over)- the one that set "Big Dog" off. And all DFW basically said is that whatever concerns he had about the process--ones echoed by insiders and outsiders--were alleviated by the conversation with Mr. Rienzo. DFW said that it was intended to be a "brief" recap, and again said it was a short summary. you know, maybe the guy just hopped on after a long day at work and didnt feel like recapping the enitre meeting from start to finish. Since he found that they were thorough, he thought he would pass it along to us, which i thought was pretty decent of him to do. If folks have a problem with the way the Athletic Dept and Administration did the search, then complain to them. DFW hasn't bought any special privileges of access; he may have earned them through years of dedicated service, but this isn't a "haves and havenots" deal. Not saying that we arent dedicated fans--we are and probably deserve to know the details too--but lets face it, this is Georgetown. You really expect full disclosure? Did we ever learn of the other "candidates" for the president position when Jack took over? and at least time they formally had a process, rather than just handing over the reigns midseason.

I mean, come on folks. Maybe tboy's post was more provocative. But for pete's sake, lay off of DFW here. This admin has been closed off about basketball for years.

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in the stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings."

[SFHoya99]

hoyatables said:

All right, you all are officially insane. Except for Saxa.

I read this post first, no knowledge of tboy's other post - the one that set "Big Dog" off. And all DFW basically said is that whatever concerns he had about the process--ones echoed by insiders and outsiders--were alleviated by the conversation with Mr. Rienzo. DFW said that it was intended to be a "brief" recap, and again said it was a short summary. you know, maybe the guy just hopped on after a long day at work and didnt feel like recapping the enitre meeting from start to finish. Since he found that they were thorough, he thought he would pass it along to us, which i thought was pretty decent of him to do. If folks have a problem with the way the Athletic Dept and Administration did the search, then complain to them. DFW hasn't bought any special privileges of access; he may have earned them through years of dedicated service, but this isn't a "haves and havenots" deal. Not saying that we arent dedicated fans--we are and probably deserve to know the details too--but lets face it, this is Georgetown. You really expect full disclosure? Did we ever learn of the other "candidates" for the president position when Jack took over? and at least time they formally had a process, rather than just handing over the reigns midseason.

I mean, come on folks. Maybe tboy's post was more provocative. But for pete's sake, lay off of DFW here. This admin has been closed off about basketball for years.

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in the stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings."

So are you saying we're taking this all too seriously? ;D

[hoyatables]

SFHoya? Us, take things [glow=red,2,300]too[/glow] seriously? Never!!

[Big Dog]

Its a good thing we have level-headed people like "hoyatables" around to keep us all in line.

tboy's post WAS "look at me, I'm an insider" and as such worthy of the rebuke which I gave it.

DFW's was typically vague and mysterious. I'm not upset about that, its pretty much consistent with the way he usually posts. What upsets me is that its pretty clear he could respond with a more detailed, analytical, free-from-controversy, not-violating-any-trust information but he won't out of stubbornness because of this thread. That's counter-productive.

I couldn't care less about being invited or not to "John Carroll weekend" or any other fat cat or non-fat cat alumni event, unless it features a prominent (as in prominence external to Georgetown) speaker or deals with Hoya athletics. I just want some information that I can't see any justifiable reason to keep secret. Call me curious. Just because Hoya Paranoia has been around for a while doesn't make it a good policy. That sounds like the old Craig Esherick defense, something with which hoyatables was probably very familiar.

[hoyatables]

Dude, chill out. I think DFW does plenty to provide all Hoya fans with a wealth of information. Not his job to keep you in the loop.

You're right to be curious--and we all are. My point is just that Georgetown has a history of this kind of secrecy--in basketball and in other areas--and it's not all that surprising. And I don't think DFW was trying to rub your face, or anyone else, in it with his initial post.

As for the crack about Craig Esherick? Low blow and just petty.

[Madgesdiq]

DFW and T-boys posts should contain as much detail as my post after attending the Hoya Hoop Club meeting at the Big East tournament.

[hoyaboy1]

DFW has the right to share as little or as much as he wants, but I will say this: he seems to go out of his way to hint in every post that he knows more than he is saying.

That's very annoying.

[Joe Hoya]

hoyaboy1 said:

DFW has the right to share as little or as much as he wants, but I will say this: he seems to go out of his way to hint in every post that he knows more than he is saying.

That's very annoying.

Then that's your problem. It's every poster's choice to say as much or as little as they want. Those who are fortunate enough to meet with people in the seats of power generally share the info that they obtain, but they do not have to; it is not their duty in life to be the eyes and ears of the HoyaTalk population. No matter how much you or anyone else (and I'm looking one post up) has learned and shared in the past, nobody has any obligation to do the same. To those who know things and share, thank you. To those who know but keep quiet, well, that's fine too.

[Big Dog]

That's NOT keeping quiet, Joe Hoya. Its saying "I was at this meeting, things were discussed, I'm not going to tell you what they were." If they want to be silent, then say nothing. If they want to share, share. If they want to be annoying, keep it up.


By the way, hoyatables, if you want to avoid low blows, then don't refer to people in quotation marks. Its condescending.

[hoyatables]

My apologies. I did it merely to denote your name as a poster, nothing more.

[1803]

Here is the only recap you really need. DeGoia did not want to fire Esherick after the season. Then it was brought to his attention how truly unhappy the alumni and fans were. This was not not just a bunch of drunken yahoos with unrealistic expectations booing at home games. There were serious observers, some of whom read and post on this board, who felt that Esherick was truly running the program into the ground. That does not make them Esh haters, just people who watched the games. DeGoia's hand was forced, and he obviously looked foolish after his vote on confidence in the Washington Times 11 days before he fired Craig.

So here we have a university president who just made a fool of himself, showing the famous Georgetown tin ear before reversing course and firing Craig when he realized he had no other choice. So what was he supposed to do? Did you want Joe Lang to be the public face of the search? He was the one who lobbied for Craig's extension in the first place, and his numerous public statements about the great job Craig was doing seemed ridiculous in the wake of the firing. Even at the Hoyas Unlimited Event in New York he was talking about how help was on the way. People were just not buying it. Craig had shown himself to be a mediocre head coach at best, and the people who care about the program decided that mediocre was not good enough through 2009.

So now you have a university president with some egg on his face, and an AD with the same. They made the smart move, calling on two of the biggest hitters out there to conduct the search. Higgins and Rienzo were given very specific criteria. They needed someone with no hint of scandal in their past, preferably a head coach, and someone who is going to pay more than lip service to academics. Take a look around the college basketball world, and tell me how many of these guys are out there. Not that many. Then you narrow it down to which of those guys wants the job, and you thin out the field a little more. JTIII was a big winner in the Ivies, he comes from a school with a better academic reputation than Georgetown, and he is not the kind of person who will be looking for a higher profile college job if he can turn the Hoyas around. I think the search committee did a great job, and I am truly happy that JT III is our new head baskeball coach.

[HoyaNJ5]

1803 said:

Here is the only recap you really need. DeGoia did not want to fire Esherick after the season. Then it was brought to his attention how truly unhappy the alumni and fans were. This was not not just a bunch of drunken yahoos with unrealistic expectations booing at home games. There were serious observers, some of whom read and post on this board, who felt that Esherick was truly running the program into the ground. That does not make them Esh haters, just people who watched the games. DeGoia's hand was forced, and he obviously looked foolish after his vote on confidence in the Washington Times 11 days before he fired Craig.

So here we have a university president who just made a fool of himself, showing the famous Georgetown tin ear before reversing course and firing Craig when he realized he had no other choice. So what was he supposed to do? Did you want Joe Lang to be the public face of the search? He was the one who lobbied for Craig's extension in the first place, and his numerous public statements about the great job Craig was doing seemed ridiculous in the wake of the firing. Even at the Hoyas Unlimited Event in New York he was talking about how help was on the way. People were just not buying it. Craig had shown himself to be a mediocre head coach at best, and the people who care about the program decided that mediocre was not good enough through 2009.

So now you have a university president with some egg on his face, and an AD with the same. They made the smart move, calling on two of the biggest hitters out there to conduct the search. Higgins and Rienzo were given very specific criteria. They needed someone with no hint of scandal in their past, preferably a head coach, and someone who is going to pay more than lip service to academics. Take a look around the college basketball world, and tell me how many of these guys are out there. Not that many. Then you narrow it down to which of those guys wants the job, and you thin out the field a little more. JTIII was a big winner in the Ivies, he comes from a school with a better academic reputation than Georgetown, and he is not the kind of person who will be looking for a higher profile college job if he can turn the Hoyas around. I think the search committee did a great job, and I am truly happy that JT III is our new head baskeball coach.

1803-

I agree with your post completely. Couldn't have said it better.

[MEGAFAN]

Very well stated...

GO HOYAS!!!

[KHoyaNYC]

Well said, but I think you forgot one key ingredient - Esherick's bizarre and damaging comments around the time the season was coming to a close ("I'll be here another 30 years" "I think 99 percent of the people that would evaluate it would think I've done a heck of a job" etc. etc.).