Kerry Rupp has been fired at Louisiana Tech:
http://louisianatech.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1203581
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Kerry Rupp has been fired at Louisiana Tech:
http://louisianatech.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1203581
Good luck Rupp and Condie wherever you both land.
Good luck to Coach Rupp. Class guy. Rolled the sleeves up. Got out in the community.
Look for the official at 3.
Good luck Coach Rupp.
Now very interested to see the list of candidates.
I hate to see someone get fired, but Rupp had to go. Let the rebuilding of the Men's basketball program begin.
I think Rupp took a lot of gambles. If he hit on those gambles he would be the best thing since sliced bread. Unfortunately they didn't hit. Ulitmately W/L's is where the rubber meets the road though.
http://www.latechsports.com/sports/m...032311aaa.html
"Van De Velde said that the decision to end Rupp's tenure was reached following numerous discussions and consultations with University administrators and members of the Tech Athletics Council. The University will use external sources to buy out the final year of Rupp's five-year contract."
"Van De Velde will chair a search committee for the next head coach along with Dr. James Liberatos, Dr. Les Guice and Vice President for Advancement Corre Stegall. Van De Velde said that although no timetable has been set, the committee will conduct a thorough national search and will move as rapidly as possible to identify the best candidates around the nation."
"Upon completion of the search, the committee will then make recommendations to the Tech Athletics Council. All Louisiana Tech hires are subject to the approval of the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System."
Yeah a change needed to be made obviously, but I do wish Coach Rupp the best. He was a very nice guy when I met him and though he was putting all he had into it, it just wasn't working out. Hopefully he has great success wherever his career takes him next.
Now... I wonder where this search will take us!
Good luck to Rupp.
I previously posted that I never expected TECH administrators to take this action. I was wrong about this and really surprised that it happened.
Season 2 may have been the most anticipated season for Bulldawg basketball in 20 years. I'm sorry it didn't work out like we all anticipated. The start of Season 3 was very exciting and we were on the verge of getting new fans. It was fun.
Best wishes for Coach Rupp and staff in the future.
I wish Kerry and his staff, particularly Curtis Condie, the best of luck. Kerry was always gracious to me in my dealings with him, and I truly believe Condie worked his butt off for Louisiana Tech. Hopefully, they land of their feet quickly.
Good luck to Kerry Rupp and Curtis Condie. And fingers crossed for those in charge of finding us a basketball coach who will rebuild us into a program which wins consistently.
He did and so did Cody Feuger and Dusty May. I didn't get a chance to know the other members of the staff.
Curtis, Cody, and Dusty all did a great job and worked hard. I know they have good enough connections and they have great reputations. They will be fine. I'm glad they were here in Ruston and I got a chance to meet them. Good luck guys!
Was BVD with Floyd at ISU??
According to Fox & Co., this move didn't make Malone happy
We just said he was pissed I never said anything about him pulling money
Rupp is super nice guy, he built some excitement around our men's program, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. I wish him nothing but the best in the future. It was time for a change.
Frankly, I'm surprised that the administration pulled the trigger on this before it got obscenely out of hand (as they've done in the past). I find it uplifting and a sign of their commitment to the success of our sports programs... they are holding the leadership accountable for their W/L record. Hopefully we make a good hire.
So Karl supports finishing dead last in the WAC? Good to know. If thats what you're about Karl, we can probably do without your support.
Never met him!
No problem with Les being on the committee...bright :idea2: guy that thinks outside the box...he ain't sexy, but he is good.
Corre is no one's fool.
BVDV...met him once and that was one too many times. A clueless :huh: charlatain who hopes that his cluelessness is not discovered prior to his retirement!
I read that and was wondering, "How do you really feel?????" :icon_wink:
Funny I have the same perception of that clown and everyone else wants to give him a 'pass'.... with his "resume'" I hold him at a much higher standard than I did Jim, but seem to be getting less or at the best case -the same.... When is the committee going to be looking for his replacement? Can we say - two for one???? Maybe Tim will come if he can be the AD, too????
DFiH
Bruce (along with Dr. Liberatos being on the committee) brought in Sonny Dykes. 99% of Tech fans feel that was a great hire. Bruce also pulled the trigger on Rupp and most fans agreed with that.
Give him some credit, he is doing the right thing here. I promise they will bring in someone better than our last three or four mens bball hires.
What a really bad decision. We should have at least given him one more year so no buyout. I hate to break it to ya, but there isnt anybody better who we can bring in for this year. We are in a tight spot.
This has Dr. Engineer written all over it.
Im telling you, dont blame Bruce........
I agree Red. Most people don't realize how little money is directed to the basketball program. It is unfortunate he had Nikita go behind not only his back, but the entire Tech Admin's and leave with recruits that we were counting on getting to campus and contribute immediately. Little time was left for him to hire a new assistant and fill those holes that were left with the recruits leaving with Nikita. Everyone was shocked what happened and it was completely unexpected. It would have been difficult for any coach to recover from this. Brandon Gibson, arguably one of the leaders of the team and top players who was performing pretty good tore his ACL. I believe he should have been given the time to finish up his contract at least. I know the majority of you don't agree with this but o well.
Good luck with your future, coach Rupp. Thanks for your time here with us.
Go Bulldawgs!
Good luck Coach Rupp. Thanks for doing your best and I am sure you will find the right place to be successful.
Best wishes to Coach Rupp, Coach Condie, and the other coaches.
The effort of Rupp's first year team inspired me to become a season ticket holder (x 3) and I missed only 2 games total the last three years. Thanks, Coach Rupp.
Coach Condie was always approachable and interactive with the fans & had a smile and wave for us. Hope things go great for ya, Coach Condie.
A real mixed feeling day. Some sadness with this change as head coach, but for whatever reason things didn't work out, it is the best decision for the future of Bulldog basketball. Get us a winner please, Mr. VDV.
IMO, it doesn't matter who we bring in. If the funding for the Men's Basketball program doesn't increase, dramatically, then we wont be any better off than we were before.
Yeah, we might win a few more games with another coach, but we will never reach "that level" that everyone is hoping for, without a bigger commitment from the University.
BS -
The numbers have have posted and there was a dramatic increase in funding and we got less than we were getting before...
It's all about recruiting the talent, getting the talent on campus and then developing talent once it got here and this staff failed miserably in that area for basically 4 years -
Next year is going to very very tough, but lets face it, we were staring a season of less than 10 overall wins right in the face and I got tired of looking at the same 300 faces every night the last half of this season
I want a HC & staff who does one thing - makes NO excuses, I'm damn tired of excuses had enough of them the last 4 years to last me another 20
Signed DFM a greatful mbb season ticket holder as of 3:00 pm this afternoon
So Rupp puts himself in the position of playing second fiddle to Kikita Johnson re recruiting, and then Nikita jumps ship and takes his cargo with him. How can this scenario be anyone's fault but Kerry Rupp's.
Apparently Rupp had not taken the time nor made the effort to develop a relationship with the recruits that left with Nikita. Since there were only three or maybe four, how difficult could it have been for Rupp to be or become the catalyst to cause those kids to want to play at Tech regardless of where Nikita went.
Just appears to me that Rupp left the recruiting responsibility totally up to Nikita and it bit him in the butt more ways than one.
Successful head coaches do not behave this way, and success in college coaching begins with successful recruiting. Rupp reaped exactly what he sowed.
I'm not exactly a BVDV fanboy, but I think the evidence is pretty clear that he's not more than JO. The fact that this thread exists is exhibit A. The fact that new scheduling deals with CUSA schools have been signed for football are exhibit B. Those two things alone put him at least a step ahead. There are a lot of other positives that he has had a hand in that come to mind, but because they can be attributed to others I won't list them.
On the other hand, he does come off as a snake oil salesman, plus he was pretty short-sighted with the scheduling in football and got us into a bind next year. (But he turned around and put together a quite decent couple of series right after that--a far cry better than the rut we were in with JO.)
He's no world-beater, but he's also no JO.
Good job Bruce! First tough decision. A+. Broke with Tech tradition of letting mediocrity hang around because of money. Found the money, made the right decision. Thanks. Now bust your tail to get us a good coach.!
To be expected.
Rupp had 4 years and not too much to show for it. Not all his fault, but the buck stops with the HC. Had we shown up for the last game of the season, he might have survived.
I wish Rupp and the other coaches well as they move on.
By the way, hopefully the new guy will hire Terry Parker as an assistant.
Dykes a "great" hire? I certainly wouldn't call it that. Not right now, I wouldn't.
A "fair to good" hire??? Ummm, maybe. Will it turn out to be a great hire....someday? Maybe. And, I hope so.
As for Rupp....good riddance. Don't understand all the softy well-wishes. He further wrecked our MBB program, carry ya ass! (and take Sim with ya).
as for rupp: he took chances on some guys that could not stay out of trouble and it came back to bite him. seems as simple as that to me. i met him; nice guy but i just think the timing was right. it was malone's guy so i am sure he isn't happy, but it was hard to ignore the lack of success and ZERO buzz and attendance around this program. and losing by 40 at home the last game. your players can't quit on you to that degree and have any respect left in the locker room or administration.
as for dykes: i hope you are right. i did not feel intensity last year, very little sense of urgency during the games. i felt like i was watching day before walk throughs during some games. the only time i really saw some fire from dykes and the team last year was the boise game. i thought the most glaring example of this was the second half of the nevada game. bowl game on the line, at home, and close at half time and then we just quit. unfortunately, we did that vs southern miss, navy, and fresno at home too. he better learn how to finish.
i wonder if simoneaux is nervous?
JOakes was just lazy
Y'all are funny about, "Bruce finding the money". Amazing that some of you think that BVDV cares more about this program than those who approached him about making a change.
I sure hope you can deliver on that promise Jason.
I know that there is already plenty of ammo for the Bruce Bashers and the Bruce lovers. My opinion will be probably be solidified one way or the other by this hire.
It took guts to make today's move regardless of who ultimately made the call. I just hope that the reasoning behind the decision was more forward-thinking than a knee-jerk reaction to a 42 point home loss. Hopefully they were looking forward to selling CUSA on our membership.
I am still pessimistic after watching unending basketball mediocrity, at best, for the past 20 years at TECH. We have been through this hiring/firing deal before. Four 20 win seasons in 20 years does not make me optimistic. Zero NCAA appearances in 20 years does make me optimistic.
On the other hand, I am cautiously optimistic about this search because the timing indicates that maybe, just maybe, they are concerned about what message we are sending to CUSA. A final ground for optimism is that Bruce has made an excellent basketball hire before. He was the guy that hired Stew Morrill at Utah State. I would say that one worked out pretty well for our conference mates.
That's interesting reasoning to solidify a teetering opinion. We can't see the future, and we won't know if this is a good or bad hire until a few years down the road. BVDV can't control how the ball bounces, but he does control many other things. It's Bruce's job to put our coaches and players in the best position they can to succeed. That's how BVDV should be judged.
For example, Dooley set up Dykes with 7 "home" games and 5 "road" games with only 1 at a BCS venue. Dooley was successful for putting Dykes in a position to succeed. However, Dykes failed to take advantage of the situation. It's not the AD's fault that Dykes couldn't decide on a QB or Rufus couldn't fall on the ball in the end zone.
On the other hand, Joakes failed by lining up Auburn, Miami, and Tennessee in a 4-week stretch. Bicknell didn't fail by losing all those games because he didn't have a chance. Joakes didn't throw the pass to beat Bama or call the play to beat Michigan State. Joakes gave Rupp a huge budget increase over what Richard had. Richard failed, but does that mean he was a bad hire? What if he had the resources that Rupp had? What if Bicknell had the resources Dooley had?
Basically what I'm saying it would be foolish to judge BVDV based on this hire.
I will be judging on the process used and whether the hire is designed to place us in the best light possible with CUSA. I am interested in seeing if Bruce views this in light of its importance to the entire athletic program's future.
I don't currently have a negative opinion or positive opinion of Bruce, but I suspect I will have one or the other after this hire is done. I understand that we will not know how well the new coach will perform, but the ultimate perception of entire program will likely flow from the hire. CUSA is watching now, not 3 years from now.
Because of the importance of basketball to CUSA, this hire may end up being Bruce's legacy with TECH, much like the Morill hire is with Utah State.
Thats mainly what Im talking about. Van De Velde went through a thorough process to find Dykes. As you mentioned, he hired Utah State's head coach.
The last three times we hired someone for basketball, it was who someone else handed us (Floyd-Woolridge, Malone-Rupp), or it was who was here-Richard.
I think they will do a better job going out and screening through more people this time and get it done.
I'm really convinced that BVDV could not do anything that would make some on this board happy.
Also, I'm convinced that the only thing that would make the same population happy would be if Reneau left.
Does anyone know if the athletic director has had a team meeting with the players yet and their reaction?
There was a team meeting yesterday afternoon, but the players already knew. Coach didn't get the chance to tell them.
Thanks, that is what I guessed!
Not a FB thread but I COMPLETELY disagree with this statement. Dooley set him up with a good schedule but left him w/out a decent QB. Most important position on the field. Other positions like DT, were way below par. I could go on. As far as taking too long to select a QB, maybe, but he wasn't picking from a group of studs. Some of you act like we had Tebow sitting there with Colby and Hakmi and we just couldn't decide. We didn't. There wasn't much there and in the end he picked the best from an overall bad group. Now did he do that too late? Maybe, but after looking at film from his previous seasons I would have been very hesitant to pick him as well. Saying Dooley set him up for success considering his complete and utter failure to recruit certain positions while he was here is a stretch. Dooley as an AD get's an A+. Dooley as a HC?? IMO, over-rated.
[QUOTE=Saildawg;1062040]Does anyone know if the athletic director has had a team meeting with the players yet and their reaction?[/
The coaches had them up at the TAC early for workouts this morning.
You can't seperate the two in this situation. Dooley left too much of the cupboard bare. If you have a good schedule but a bad team it still doesn't matter. You think if we started Jenkins we go bowling, I think if we had a good QB instead of Jenkins we would have been bowling the year before. He wasn't a great QB last year. He was just the best of a bad group. I agree that Jenkins played the best out of all the QB's last year. I also think he was below average the two years leading up to last year and despite having all of that experience he did nothing to distinguish himself in the scrimmages leading up to the season opener. It's not like he made the decision easy for Dykes and Dykes just screwed up. It's a case of fans having the benefit of hindsight that the coach doesn't have.
I'm not saying Dykes didn't screw up at all. He was a first year HC and was always going to make mistakes and he did. I'm saying he was not set up for success.
And saying you can seperate the two is like saying I want you to cook a meal and I'm going to give you the best kitchen and utensils in the world to cook with. Top of the line appliances. Oh but by the way the groceries are crap. The meat is spoiled and the vegetables have mold all over them. Then when the meal comes out bad you blame the chef and tell him about how great the kitchen was. ....Get it. The two go hand in hand. The same guy was responsible for both the Kitchen and the groceries in it.
Also Dooley the AD should have hired a HC that could recruit better and not try to run an SEC offense in the WAC. Hell a blind squirell would have lucked into a decent QB by accident. I think decent QB's didn't want to play in that offense. And I use the term offense very loosely. What I saw was pathetic. I still remember running up the middle for no gain 3 times in a row at Boise that one year. :o