URI Men's Basketball Program

[ramster]

Or, he meant those words. After all he said the low or mid major.

[RhodyKyle]

Maybe he means "we" as in all mid and low major schools. All mid and low majors are now just feeder schools for the high majors.

[section(105)]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the cost of the facility 4 million at first, then 5 million, now Thorr is saying 6.5?

.......yeh, maybe the costs are going up for state of the culinary arts, office(s) kitchens, dining services for the team chefs.......good grief.......where is college basketball going...... god forbid our student athletes dine on campus dining facilities......what’s next a florist area......

[DevRam]

Cox never referred to URI as a low major. Very clearly stated there is a problem for both mid and low major teams that needs to be addressed. I just don’t even understand people’s thought processes on this board sometimes.

[Ramulous]

I didn’t hear the piece. I only responded to what I read here

[DevRam]

I believed it at first as well especially after seeing 15 posts about it. I was shocked Cox would say anything like that. Then I watched the interview myself and realized that it wasn’t even true and yet again people are posting about nonsense.

[SmartyBarrett]

Maybe he means "we" as in all mid and low major schools. All mid and low majors are now just feeder schools for the high majors.

That's the way I took it as well. More of a "royal we".

[DevRam]

“Something we are going to have to adjust to, Being at mid major and low major levels.” He is clearly saying mid and low majors as a whole. Do you people really think Cox believes we are low major Power 5’s are the ones benefitting from this while us mid and low major schools will be at the back end of it. Does DevRam think we are low major. That is how y’all thinking. Cmon.

[DC_Rams]

Jesus Christ, some of you really need to get out of the house. It’s like you’re looking for shit to spin now.

[theblueram]

Jesus Christ, some of you really need to get out of the house. It’s like you’re looking for shit to spin now.

DC we can't get out of the house. That's the problem

[NYGFan_Section208]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the cost of the facility 4 million at first, then 5 million, now Thorr is saying 6.5?

.......yeh, maybe the costs are going up for state of the culinary arts, office(s) kitchens, dining services for the team chefs.......good grief.......where is college basketball going...... god forbid our student athletes dine on campus dining facilities......what’s next a florist area......

lol...florist...VERY well-played

[NYGFan_Section208]

I believed it at first as well especially after seeing 15 posts about it. I was shocked Cox would say anything like that. Then I watched the interview myself and realized that it wasn’t even true and yet again people are posting about nonsense.

removing all of the nonsense posting would suck quite a lot of the volume out of this place

[DC_Rams]

Jesus Christ, some of you really need to get out of the house. It’s like you’re looking for shit to spin now.

DC we can't get out of the house. That's the problem

Ha, take a walk around the block or something.

[DC_Rams]

[NYGFan_Section208]

Oyyyy..... 'what could have been...'

[rambone 78]

So HE was the rumored big donor that was interested in hiring Pitino.

Don't piss him off.

[hrstrat57]

Well all our “knowledgeable” posters that said it wasn’t a thing...

Enjoy the yummy crow.

[ATPTourFan]

Cox never referred to URI as a low major. Very clearly stated there is a problem for both mid and low major teams that needs to be addressed. I just don’t even understand people’s thought processes on this board sometimes.

Seriously, people need to chill and understand the above.

[reef]

Wow didn’t know Slick Rick and Ryan were friends interesting

[NYGFan_Section208]

Wow didn’t know Slick Rick and Ryan were friends interesting

face...palm...repeat.

https://gifimage.net/picard-double-facepalm-gif-1/

[ramster]

Wow didn’t know Slick Rick and Ryan were friends interesting

face...palm...repeat.

https://gifimage.net/picard-double-facepalm-gif-1/

F58E5F5F-F4F0-421E-8CC9-E58FDCDA307E.jpeg

[steviep123]

Pitino wasn’t a serious candidate because he never met with Thorr and Dooley wanted no part of it. He was toxic (and honestly still should be). All the donors in the world wouldn’t have changed that fact.

[rhodyfan3000]

Well all our “knowledgeable” posters that said it wasn’t a thing...

Enjoy the yummy crow.

No, just to rehash.

I told NYGiants fan that it was a pipedream.

Because it didn't happen when Ryan met with Pitino when Jim Baron was hired in 2001. It didn't happen when Ryan met with Pitino when Dan Hurley was hired. And I'm not in the loop anymore, but, did it happen when Ryan met with Pitino when David Cox was hired? Umm, that would be NO

And this isn't going to happen when Cox leaves for greener pastures either. It's not going to happen. So, this changes nothing, and you can eat your own crow. All Pitino got out of it was three free meals at some very fancy restaurants, I'm sure, but URI isn't going to touch Pitino, even if they were to double bag it.

[rambone 78]

Correct. Zero chance.

Dooley wanted no part of it.

Donors have wined and dined other coaches in the past, and nothing came of it.

Years ago, there was talk of Amaker of Harvard having dinner or meetings with boosters when Baron was on the hot seat.

But have to say, if Pitino had been hired here...would we now have a practice facility? Hmmm...….

[section(105)]

........would a practice facility have been completed if a Pitino came here, probably......wonder what special areas he would have planned for in the design.......

[rhodylaw]

Am I the only one who thinks any DMV player who goes P5 and isn’t happy will be on our radar to transfer to in the future. I see a lot more 4 star players coming our way, even if we are the second choice. Need the Mitchells to be successful, but I think they will dominate the A10

[NYGFan_Section208]

"Serious candidate" is subjective like "mid-major"...no official definition. But, I will hold that, if Tom Ryan met with Rick and wanted him here...regardless of what did or did not happen after that...he was a 'serious candidate.' Or, are you saying that the other powers that be...just totally ignored Mr. Ryan? (I wasn't there, so I guess that's possible...but I kinda doubt it)

[RamStock]

Correct. Zero chance.

Dooley wanted no part of it.

Donors have wined and dined other coaches in the past, and nothing came of it.

Years ago, there was talk of Amaker of Harvard having dinner or meetings with boosters when Baron was on the hot seat.

But have to say, if Pitino had been hired here...would we now have a practice facility? Hmmm...….

The answer is Yes on the practice facility. Construction would have been on the way.

He was never going to get hired because of Dooley and URI not wanting to look bad in the eye of public, the fear of losing the strong recruiting class from that year with the pressure put on by fans to hire Cox and they also felt a loyalty to him

I wonder what players or recruits from two years ago if any would still be on the URI roster or what the team would look like at this point? I wanted them to hire Cox and was definitely one who was scared to lose the recruits and current players at that time. One thing I did learn a couple years later is that there is no morale or honor in college basketball anymore and if you want to make a hire like Pitino to win you would be crazy not to if he can move the needle like a Harrick. I’m not sure what was the right move and hope that Cox can push the practice facility or whatever other enhancements will improve this program. It seems like we have been hearing about the practice facility for years, but it is almost as if they hope everyone forgets about it so it can continue to be pushed off.

[rambone 78]

One thing's for sure....if we are ever in a situation again like we were after Dan left, and it was a question of hiring Cox so we could keep recruits?

Well what has happened since should tell us.....forget about ever doing that again.

Not a slap at Cox in particular either.....

If recruits have to be sacrificed to hire from outside, so be it....they are likely to leave anyway.

Harrick moved the needle because he was a great coach...he won with Al's players, who stayed when Jim was hired.

That was a different time.

[RIFan]

I think he was making up a category between mid-major and high major (P-5)... like upper middle class. Since almost everybody not in the P5 & BE gets lumped into Mid major and we are clearly near the top of that group and as good, if not better than many of the lower level P-5 schools.

[ramster]

Well all our “knowledgeable” posters that said it wasn’t a thing...

Enjoy the yummy crow.

No, just to rehash.

I told NYGiants fan that it was a pipedream.

Because it didn't happen when Ryan met with Pitino when Jim Baron was hired in 2001. It didn't happen when Ryan met with Pitino when Dan Hurley was hired. And I'm not in the loop anymore, but, did it happen when Ryan met with Pitino when David Cox was hired? Umm, that would be NO

And this isn't going to happen when Cox leaves for greener pastures either. It's not going to happen. So, this changes nothing, and you can eat your own crow. All Pitino got out of it was three free meals at some very fancy restaurants, I'm sure, but URI isn't going to touch Pitino, even if they were to double bag it.

It was more than a pipe dream.
He met with Tom Ryan per Pitino in this article. Do you buy that?
Do you think he met or talked or communicated in other ways with anyone other than Tom Ryan?

[NYGFan_Section208]

Well all our “knowledgeable” posters that said it wasn’t a thing...

Enjoy the yummy crow.

No, just to rehash.

I told NYGiants fan that it was a pipedream.

Because it didn't happen when Ryan met with Pitino when Jim Baron was hired in 2001. It didn't happen when Ryan met with Pitino when Dan Hurley was hired. And I'm not in the loop anymore, but, did it happen when Ryan met with Pitino when David Cox was hired? Umm, that would be NO

And this isn't going to happen when Cox leaves for greener pastures either. It's not going to happen. So, this changes nothing, and you can eat your own crow. All Pitino got out of it was three free meals at some very fancy restaurants, I'm sure, but URI isn't going to touch Pitino, even if they were to double bag it.

It was more than a pipe dream.
He met with Tom Ryan per Pitino in this article. Do you buy that?
Do you think he met or talked or communicated in other ways with anyone other than Tom Ryan?

Does meeting withe Ryan qualify as 'serious' or not...I would say that it does. Unless you don't think Ryan is a serious player...You're entitled to think that, I would just heartily disagree. Not that it matters anymore anyway at this point...

[rambone 78]

208, I'm sure Dooley listens to Ryan....he would be crazy not to.

But in this case, there was zero chance in hell Dooley was going to hire him.

And I'm sure he told Ryan the reasons why...and Tom understood.

[LoveThoseRams]

i would rather Tom Ryan lead the charge to get a practice facility in the works, instead of meeting with sleezebag coaches. IMHO

[Rhody74]

Can we not rehash Pitino?

[Running Ram]

Tom Ryan wants to win and I get why, good money after bad isn't the best motivation for future donations/revenues. Not at all saying Slick isn't dirty, and glad we aren't trading two years of success for five years of sanctions, but it's easy to see why Tom Ryan would explore the idea of bringing a potential HOF coach here. He made the Ryan Center happen almost 20 years ago and here we are still flopping around mid A10 in results.

[rhodyfan3000]

I wasn't trying to rehash Pitino, I was just setting the record straight. Yes, Tom Ryan stepped up, but it's never going to happen. The end.

Stop using Pitino as a measuring stick against present and future coaches.

[RF1]

"Serious candidate" is subjective like "mid-major"...no official definition. But, I will hold that, if Tom Ryan met with Rick and wanted him here...regardless of what did or did not happen after that...he was a 'serious candidate.' Or, are you saying that the other powers that be...just totally ignored Mr. Ryan? (I wasn't there, so I guess that's possible...but I kinda doubt it)

My definition of a "serious candidate" is one that speaks and meets with the people that make the hiring decisions. Pitino does not meet that criteria.

[rhodyfan3000]

I'm glad we are talking about this, so that one day, when we go to hire another coach, and I sincerely hope it is three years from now, and only because Cox was so successful taking this team to two NCAA appearances that he got an offer he couldn't ignore...

... let's talk about serious candidates, and not labor under the delusion that we are going to hire Pitino, because as you know, 4th time's the charm.

People only were willing to entertain the idea, anyway, because we took a chance with Harrick, people thought that automatically opened the flood gates to doing that every hire.

[ramster]

I wasn't trying to rehash Pitino, I was just setting the record straight. Yes, Tom Ryan stepped up, but it's never going to happen. The end.

Stop using Pitino as a measuring stick against present and future coaches.

You agree Ryan talked with Pitino. Anyone else talk to Pitino? I agree let’s set the record straight.


It was more than a pipe dream.
He met with Tom Ryan per Pitino in this article. Do you buy that?
Do you think he met or talked or communicated in other ways with anyone other than Tom Ryan?

[Running Ram]

Stop using Pitino as a measuring stick against present and future coaches.

I hope you aren't referring to me 3000, because there's been one measuring stick in CBB for twenty years and I still can't spell his name, Coach K. Slick is no role model! and I sure don't consider him any kind of measuring stick. I'm just stating that Tom Ryan has millions of reasons to explore the viability of bringing in a big name coach, and it doesn't reflect poorly on him or the program to explore all options, it's the right thing to do.

[rhodyfan3000]

I wasn't trying to rehash Pitino, I was just setting the record straight. Yes, Tom Ryan stepped up, but it's never going to happen. The end.

Stop using Pitino as a measuring stick against present and future coaches.

You agree Ryan talked with Pitino. Anyone else talk to Pitino? I agree let’s set the record straight.


It was more than a pipe dream.
He met with Tom Ryan per Pitino in this article. Do you buy that?
Do you think he met or talked or communicated in other ways with anyone other than Tom Ryan?

When I first mentioned it last week to NYGiants, I said a high profile booster was meeting with Pitino when Baron was hired and also when Hurley was hired. Go back and read it. What more are you looking for? What is your beef?

[rhodyfan3000]

I hope you aren't referring to me 3000, because there's been one measuring stick in CBB for twenty years and I still can't spell his name, Coach K. Slick is no role model! and I sure don't consider him any kind of measuring stick. I'm just stating that Tom Ryan has millions of reasons to explore the viability of bringing in a big name coach, and it doesn't reflect poorly on him or the program to explore all options, it's the right thing to do.

No, I wasn't referring to you. I wasn't actually referring to anyone, I meant "going forward"

[rhodyfan3000]

You know what the downside is to entertaining nonsense like Rick Pitino coming here?

There is a downside.

You run to the Providence Journal and get them to print that right away, trying to build some sort of false excitement over nothing, and then a half dozen potential really good coaches out there, withdraw their name from the process. Let's NOT do that. Is that ok?

[Rhody15]

KMac took a little shot at Hurley/Rhody in the article when he wrote Pitino wanted to build a “Gonzaga of the East” program at Iona when Pitino hasn’t used that phrase once since he got hired.

[hrstrat57]

There no Pitino in URI future zero chance

The Iona buyout precludes. It’s Gael’s and done. The pure entertainment value watching Iona basketball will be great.

I believe if Cox hadn’t been such a strong candidate the boosters might have won. Unlike Jerry D, Cox deserved the job opportunity.

I’m thinking Cox has a solid year 3/4 and will make the necessary changes based on his mistakes. The University of Rhode Island with a 21-9 unfinished season will roll the dice on Cox for at least 2 more years as it should.

Talking Pitino now is nothing more than a distraction. I don’t believe anyone here started it, ProJo did. The URI booster courtship of Pitino occurred and it is a part of the Pitino legacy. I found it somewhat interesting (and disappointing) that he mentioned a desire to play Friartown but not our Rams.

Nice day, get outside folks and walk away from the keyboard.

B safe.

Go Rhody

[ramster]

I wasn't trying to rehash Pitino, I was just setting the record straight. Yes, Tom Ryan stepped up, but it's never going to happen. The end.

Stop using Pitino as a measuring stick against present and future coaches.

You agree Ryan talked with Pitino. Anyone else talk to Pitino? I agree let’s set the record straight.


It was more than a pipe dream.
He met with Tom Ryan per Pitino in this article. Do you buy that?
Do you think he met or talked or communicated in other ways with anyone other than Tom Ryan?

When I first mentioned it last week to NYGiants, I said a high profile booster was meeting with Pitino when Baron was hired and also when Hurley was hired. Go back and read it. What more are you looking for? What is your beef?

No beef. Just getting all the info out. It was not only Tom Ryan who net and talked to Pitino.
I was also none wanting URI to hire a Pitino. There were others besides NYG 208 who wanted Pitino. I still do. Sure I know it’s not likely to happen, that ship sailed.

https://www.golocalprov.com/sports/godf ... t-pitino-e

Bill Koch posted this. But note Thorr “never had direct contact with Thorr.”
Not sure how people define direct contact. When contacts like this with Pitino occur ADs and Presidents keep a distance. But it doesn’t mean they were not involved.

Tom Ryan and Bob Terino met with Rick Pitino. URI Fans can draw their own conclusions as to whether there was interest in Pitino or not.

Thorr Bjorn never had direct contact with Rick Pitino and never considered hiring him. Multiple scandals at Louisville made Pitino unemployable at the time -- frankly, that should still be the case.

[Running Ram]

You know what the downside is to entertaining nonsense like Rick Pitino coming here?

There is a downside.

You run to the Providence Journal and get them to print that right away, trying to build some sort of false excitement over nothing, and then a half dozen potential really good coaches out there, withdraw their name from the process. Let's NOT do that. Is that ok?

that's personal conjecture. There's absolutely no proof anyone withdrew from the process and makes no sense unless you are speaking of complete dopes that don't understand media, boosters and CBB in general, in which case let them withdraw their apps. There's an upside and a down side to every choice.

And no it's not ok, not exploring all options because of fear is less than bold and not usually prudent.

I'm not trying to be at odds here, nor am I wishing we had hired Slick, ever. But I sure as shit am glad Tom Ryan took an interest in Rhody MBB and if he wanted to entertain the idea of hiring Slick, good. I always said go "kick the tires" but don't listen to the sales man. So time will tell, but I'd bet Slick can't help himself and Iona will pay the price in some way.

[ramster]

You agree Ryan talked with Pitino. Anyone else talk to Pitino? I agree let’s set the record straight.


It was more than a pipe dream.
He met with Tom Ryan per Pitino in this article. Do you buy that?
Do you think he met or talked or communicated in other ways with anyone other than Tom Ryan?

When I first mentioned it last week to NYGiants, I said a high profile booster was meeting with Pitino when Baron was hired and also when Hurley was hired. Go back and read it. What more are you looking for? What is your beef?

No beef. Just getting all the info out. It was not only Tom Ryan who net and talked to Pitino.
I was also one wanting URI to hire a Pitino. There were others besides NYG-208 who wanted Pitino. I still do. Sure I know it’s not ever likely to happen now, that ship sailed.

This article from April 8, 2018 describes Bob Terino involvement.
https://www.golocalprov.com/sports/godf ... t-pitino-e

Bill Koch posted this. But note Thorr “never had direct contact with Thorr.”
Not sure how people define direct contact. When contacts like this with Pitino occur ADs and Presidents keep a distance. But it doesn’t mean they were not involved.

Tom Ryan and Bob Terino met with Rick Pitino. URI Fans can draw their own conclusions as to whether there was interest in Pitino or not.

Thorr Bjorn never had direct contact with Rick Pitino and never considered hiring him. Multiple scandals at Louisville made Pitino unemployable at the time -- frankly, that should still be the case.

Additional info regarding Pitino interest in URI from March 15, 2020 article

http://www.mobile.golocalprov.com/sport ... ch-at-iona

[RAM67]

Who gives a shit?