Rhody83 wrote:TruePoint wrote:There are only a few possible explanations:
1. Thorr forgot he was the athletic director and there are things to do.
2. Thorr has been on a mental vacation and just hasn’t felt like doing anything.
3. There is a plan in place to maximize the resources at the basketball program’s disposal in the way they feel will most benefit the program based on their grasp of all available information, and at this point that plan has not required any public pronouncements on the topics you’ve highlighted.
As a fan who wants something juicy every news cycle, I get that the lull can lead to frustration. I relate. But I think the most likely scenario is #3, so whether or not you’re comfortable with that comes down to whether you trust Thorr and his team and think they’re competent. I can only speak for myself, but I do trust them.
What scares me about Thorr is constantly hearing from Dan that they need to increase the Ast Coaches’ salary pool and doing next to nothing about it. There was no increase in Dan’s last extension. The 6% increase for next year is a joke. He can say one thing but his actions (6%) and inactions speak louder than his press conferences. You missed a few others in your list. 4) Big donors promised money to get Dan to stay but aren’t contributing without Dan here. 5) Not spending the money on MBB but using the money to support other sports (the allocation to all the sports of the MBB NCAA Tournament money is an example). The responsibility of marketing and promotion falls under Thorr. If he was doing a good job with that the public would know and be excited about the plans with the MBB. It would lead to increased season tickets, increased donations and help Coach Cox with recruiting. Lastly, if people think missing two Ast Coaches and one/two other staff for two months has no impact you are fooling yourself.
I don't know how (4) would make you disappointed at Thorr, though. Donors will eventually come thru with the money - as rambone said, they seem to have a wait-and-see attitude. That is unfortunate and frustrating, because this is a time when the program could really benefit from the support, but I have confidence that this staff and group of players will get the financial support engines firing again soon.
As far as (5), judging from Thorr's public statements and the athletic department's expenditures during his tenure as AD, I think he clearly gets that URI is a "basketball school" and needs to allocate his resources accordingly. But he cannot just let the other programs starve - a big reason for the investment in the basketball program is to try to produce revenues that are badly needed by the athletic department at large. Investing in the basketball program is a strategy intended to lift the athletic programs at URI, not just the basketball program. So no doubt that they understand that continued investment in the basketball program is vital, but you cannot just completely ignore your other sports. You have a responsibility to them, also.
The marketing stuff...I think we all agree that URI is playing that game left handed with its right arm voluntarily tied behind its back. We are just bad at it, and it definitely puts us at a disadvantage in terms of growing the brand. It is frustrating as hell, but it is hardly surprising. It has always been this way - in fact, I think it is better now than it has ever been, but that is not saying much at all.
He’s going to evolve into his role, realize you can’t always do everything that you want (Dan and Bobby wanted students behind the bench from day 1 but nope) and figure it out. I expect them to be conference champs in 2020.
