GW fires Lonergan

[RF1]

[reef]

Bye bye Mikey bye bye

[TruePoint]

It will be interesting what will come out in terms of details of their investigation that lead to them pulling the trigger. We know the broad strokes but eventually some specifics will come out.

[TruePoint]

Just browsing a GW board quickly, it seems like that whole situation is a complete mess. I was kind of oblivious to how messed up it was, I guess in the offseason I've been too busy to stay up to date. Seems like a lot of their fans totally back Lonergan and hate the AD, and they perceive this as basically a war between the two and even believe that the AD planted the WP story that started this thing. But then again Lonergan has had some success there so what do you expect from fans? Probably not an objective opinion about the alleged misdeeds of their successful coach.

It's also interesting that one fan said "only at GW" - I think every fan base says that whenever something bad happens to their program.

[RhowdyRam02]

Wow, this takes a Friday news dump to a whole new level, couldn't announce it much later than this.

It's not really a surprise after the article that came out, whether it was accurate or not though the amount of transfers certainly made it look like there was a fire there. Talk about tough timing for whoever steps in there.

[SmartyBarrett]

A tiny amount of additional detail here: http://www.cbssports.com/college-basket ... yer-abuse/

Guy sounds like he's a real piece of garbage. I bet this gets worse.

[adam914]

They had a recruit on campus for an official visit this weekend to. Wonder how that turned out...

[Billyboy78]

I guess it's too late for the freshmen to get out of their commitments, since they've been in school for a couple of weeks. I wonder if that's why the AD waited. If you recall, Kevin Marfo, who we recruited pretty heavily, is one of them. One player, Anthony Swan, has already announced that he's transferring. I believe he's a junior.

[ramster]

GW ranked #58
Predicted Marfo in starting line up as well as Mergin Sina's son
Really a pretty strong starting 5
Tyler Cavanaugh should be one of the A10s best players again
Will
Be interesting to see who gets the HC job. Not a bad situation talent wise to walk into
Projected Starting Five:
Jaren Sina, Junior, Guard, DNP last season
Yuta Wantanabe, Junior, Guard, 8.4 points per game
Patrick Steeves, Senior, Guard, 9.1 points per game (at Harvard)
Kevin Marfo, Freshman, Forward, DNP last season
Tyler Cavanaugh, Senior, Forward, 16.8 points per game

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/13527

[ramster]

From ESPN.......

"According to the sources, the team -- which has eight new players, including seven freshmen -- and staff had developed great chemistry during a summer trip to Japan and were excited about the upperclassmen leadership for the season.
A source told ESPN that Lonergan left campus at midday Friday and didn't tell anyone why. George Washington also had a recruit on campus for an official visit Friday and Lonergan unexpectedly didn't show up for dinner with him, a source said."

[ramster]

Interesting news about the athletic department itself in the Washington Post article

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/c ... story.html

[SmartyBarrett]

[ATPTourFan]

So my guess is this doesn't qualify as a with-cause termination which means GW will be on the hook for the bulk of Lonegran's salary through the original term of the contract. I hope this doesn't hinder GW's ability to hire a top coach and continue their success in the league.

[theblueram]

Verbal abuse??? hahahahah. What a bunch of pansies.

[zporiri]

Verbal abuse??? hahahahah. What a bunch of pansies.

Really? It's called abuse for a reason

[RhowdyRam02]

Don't try to reason with theblueram. Just look at their work in the political thread

[Ram1019]

Verbal abuse??? hahahahah. What a bunch of pansies.

Wow

[reef]

Did they name a new coach ??

[Shaolin Swat]

Did they name a new coach ??

He's still listed on their roster as the Associate Head Coach, but I believe I read that Hajj Turner running the team in the interim. If I can find a link, I'll share it here.

[Blue Man]

I tend to fall in line with Blue Ram on this..."verbal abuse" has such a wide range of possibilities these days. If it's a Mike Rice situation, the firing would be justified - but nothing in what I read makes it seem that way. It just seems like it's 2016 PC culture and the school is terrified of naughty words at a closed practice making its way to the wrong social justice group to whine about.

Again, if it's something legitimate, the timing is ridiculously unfortunate 6 weeks out from the season. If not, it's just another casualty of PC culture run amok on college campuses.

[TruePoint]

I think the larger point here is that the players thought it was bullshit. Many of them left and others that were still there either didn't want to play or wanted a new coach. You can't totally let the inmates run the asylum, I guess. But the players aren't obligated to be there. If they viewed the coach's conduct as inappropriate rising to the level of toxic, the school did the right thing even if they weren't legally obligated to do so.

But for the record, I do think based on what I read that the coach had to go and I don't expect him to ever be given a program at this level again.

[ATPTourFan]

I listen to the ESPN College Basketball podcast with Andy Katz and Seth Greenberg and today they opened with talk about the firing of Lonergan.

They mentioned that GW is indeed firing him FOR CAUSE, which surprised me. Obviously Lonergan's lawyers are contesting that.

http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=17596761

[NYGFan_Section208]

I think the larger point here is that the players thought it was bullshit. Many of them left and others that were still there either didn't want to play or wanted a new coach. You can't totally let the inmates run the asylum, I guess. But the players aren't obligated to be there. If they viewed the coach's conduct as inappropriate rising to the level of toxic, the school did the right thing even if they weren't legally obligated to do so.

But for the record, I do think based on what I read that the coach had to go and I don't expect him to ever be given a program at this level again.

Well...mark it down, I completely agree.....

[Bill Koch]

Derrick Gordon coming out was courageous. And if the allegations here in the Matt Norlander piece are true that Lonergan referred to Gordon as 'the gay kid' while scouting/talking about UMass, that's completely unacceptable. If Dan Hurley did something similar and it surfaced I'm certain my bosses at the Journal would call for his firing, and I would feel the same.

Also keep in mind that Lonergan is disputing the process with GW. He's not disputing the events. That wording is critical. It's two entirely different things.

[Blue Man]

Derrick Gordon coming out was courageous. And if the allegations here in the Matt Norlander piece are true that Lonergan referred to Gordon as 'the gay kid' while scouting/talking about UMass, that's completely unacceptable. If Dan Hurley did something similar and it surfaced I'm certain my bosses at the Journal would call for his firing, and I would feel the same.

Also keep in mind that Lonergan is disputing the process with GW. He's not disputing the events. That wording is critical. It's two entirely different things.

Isn't that kind of a really soft reason to fire someone? If someone comes out nationally as gay and makes it a story, and someone else in a non-public conversation calls them gay...I fail to see a problem.

[Bill Koch]

Sure, when it's put it that way, it seems harmless enough. But consider the following:

-- Thirteen players on a team, one African-American. Referring to him repeatedly as 'the black kid' would be a problem, private or not.
-- Thirteen players on a team, one is autistic. Referring to him repeatedly as 'the disabled kid' or 'the special kid' would be a problem, private or not.

Also, this -- what if Lonergan had a player at GW who was still in the closet? Would that player feel comfortable in practice if his coach is going on and on about 'the gay kid' at UMass? What if he said, 'Okay, 5-on-5, give me Garino, Cavanaugh, Watanabe, Mitola and the gay kid against......'

If he wouldn't do that about one of his own players -- or, better, one of his own children -- he shouldn't be doing it about someone else.

[TruePoint]

It is intentionally obtuse to pretend like calling him "the gay kid" was merely and innocently descriptive and not pejorative.

[Ramulous]

"That little faggot with the earring and the makeup...yeah buddy that's his own hair.... That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he's a millionaire"

With apologies to my gay siblings....just for reference....

[Iggy1979]

maybe they'll promote Chris Holm.

[Bos8]

They've hired Maurice Joseph. I remember us recruiting him as a transfer out of I believe it was Michigan State, before he decided to join Lonegran at Vermont.

[ace]

I'm kind of intrigued by the dynamics of all this. They reportedly interviewed all three assistants for the job and then hired Joseph, seemingly skipping over the associate head coach Turner. Joseph is a 2009 graduate and has been at GW for five years, initially being hired in 2011 as the assistant DBO. That's quite a quick progression. That's like Chris Martin coaching the 2020-21 Rams.

[Iggy1979]

Turner has been with Lonergan for 11 years, was probably deemed too loyal to him. Agree that's young to become an A10 head coach, though.