Giannini on Biloxi radio

Our (the Southern Miss) AD was on a local radio show this evening via a pre-taped interview from the weekend. It was basically a re-hash of his quotes from the paper, but the leanings were pretty apparent as he talked.

He started out saying it was "premature" to deem UTEP the expansion invitee, and that every school had its pluses and minuses, and wasn't about just one thing. It was a matter of the whole picture, as in geography, overall strength of the program, market size, the ability to raise funds, and recent attendance numbers among other things.

It was at that point he began preaching the gospel of UTEP (Unless I specify, I'm either paraphrasing or quoting only as best I can remember.)

"Like when you look at UTEP. They have a large market there. They've got 800,000-2 million people there, and as you know [direct quote] TV markets are very important. When you look at their attendance, they averaged almost 30,000 for football last year [WHICH AGAIN I WILL POINT OUT IS A LIE UNLESS "ALMOST" MEANS "WITHIN 10,000!"]. So in their case, I'd say the negative is geography and the positive is their market."

In addition to one's ability to turn this interview into a drinking game--take a shot every time the AD says "market"--he didn't say a single, solitary word about Tech.

I have no idea why, but it appears our AD has sided with the Miners. My only guess is that in the wake of our hiring of Eustachy, he thinks we can be a power basketball conference if the stars align correctly.

Speaking of power conferences, something occurred to me earlier today. How is it all the old CUSA fans who whined, b!tched, and moaned about our football being shot to absolute hell with the addition of Tulsa, Rice and SMU are now suddenly in love with a school that sucks in the sport just as badly if not worse?

I just can't believe that armed with the knowledge that football pays the bills in any athletic program, an AD would push for a team to be included that will always bring a very small crowd to away games.

Get ready to sell a couple hundred tickets max to UTEP fans. Honestly, I think Hawaii brought more fans to Ruston than UTEP did to Shreveport.

Very true Dawgy....I believe CUSA will be extremely disappointed when they sell 4 hot dogs to just one UTEP fan at USM, Memphis, Tulane, and UAB home games. You won't find any Miner fans in Huntington, West Virginia.
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Honda Cn250 History

Would anyone care to comment on Giannini's illustrious record at ULM? Don't be shy to use parentheses whenever numbers are given, because that's what occurred on his watch. Perhaps he thinks losing money on football games is what you're supposed to do and that's why he wants to trade 4000 tix at $20 (ie Tech attendnce) for 100 tix at $20 (ie UTEP attendance) every other year. He must have gotten a graduate degree in finance at ULM while he was there.

How in the hell did Giannini ever get the USM job anyway? That guy is a redneck. Why would Southern Miss hire him?

HD

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Originally Posted by HogDawg

How in the hell did Giannini ever get the USM job anyway? That guy is a redneck. Why would Southern Miss hire him?

HD

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USM fans are still asking that same question.

Word in Monroe is that he barely saved his job 2 years ago.

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How is it all the old CUSA fans who whined, b!tched, and moaned about our football being shot to absolute hell with the addition of Tulsa, Rice and SMU are now suddenly in love with a school that sucks in the sport just as badly if not worse?

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According to Miner message boards, Mike Price is the messiah. He will take the old (a terrible football program) and make it new again. Another major thread mentions the fact that Disney is making a movie about a football team hailing from El Paso (UTEP b4 it joint the University of Texas system... can't remember the old name). This, they say, will be a "major marketing opportunity." Personally, I think wins against BCS schools such as MSU and Bama are a "major marketing opportunity", but what would I know? I only studied marketing at Tech for 4 years!

As far as C-USA's bread & butter, basketball, goes Tech is no slouch. Try a record top 25 run for the women and the WAC rookie of the year on for size!

I think I read that Disney was making a flick about the 1966 Texas Western basketball team....TW is now UTEP.

as far as the AD at Southern Miss, I believe most people in athletic departments believe in this statement--the best way to get rid of people is to pawn them off on some other program. You see this happen a lot

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Originally Posted by SummaCumDoggie

Another major thread mentions the fact that Disney is making a movie about a football team hailing from El Paso (UTEP b4 it joint the University of Texas system... can't remember the old name). This, they say, will be a "major marketing opportunity."

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That should have about as much impact for UTEP as "Waterboy" had for USL.

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Originally Posted by StrayDawg

[quote:98df20affa="SummaCumDoggie"]Another major thread mentions the fact that Disney is making a movie about a football team hailing from El Paso (UTEP b4 it joint the University of Texas system... can't remember the old name). This, they say, will be a "major marketing opportunity."

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That should have about as much impact for UTEP as "Waterboy" had for USL.[/quote:98df20affa]

What another Disney thriller? If it's anything like the "new" Alamo it will be about football and the 10 national championships they won in 4 years!

Did anyone see the "new" Alamo? Talk about let's revise history. The guys that wrote the historical accounts in the 1800's and early 1900's were all racists and hated Mexicans...we know today what really happened and will portray that in the movie...that's basically what the Disney people said and did. It is awful!

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That should have about as much impact for UTEP as "Waterboy" had for USL.

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Now THATS comedy!

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Did anyone see the "new" Alamo?

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I didn't go. The Wall Street Journal said it was gonna be a revisionist type movie, so I avoided it like the plague. They said Disney portrayed Daniel Crockett as a coward. Terrible.

I just saw Tulane's AD on the evening news and he said there was no recommendation made by the AD's. In fact, he said Tech is as much in the hunt as is UTEP. That's pretty sad if Giannini's inferiority complex from his days at ULM have carried over. I suspect he might be better served to promoting his own programs than politicking this issue or he might be job hunting before long. I do believe that he hasn't done jack in Hattisburg thus far.

That makes me feel better if Tulane's AD said that. I'm beginning to think the Prez's will use their head and vote for Tech. This is starting to look like some folks have their own agenda and are trying to push it through.

As I've stated elsewhere, Giannini got the job because the old farts with the old money on the search committee were impressed with his religious disposition more than anything else. Not that being born again or a Promise Keeper is remotely a bad thing, but that shouldn't give you a free pass when it comes to destroying the last football program you oversaw.

To be honest, I don't think he's doing that bad of a job overall. He's got facility rennovation plans on the board and he managed to bring in Eustachy, and there's no doubt our athletic program is growing.

However, how he does things constantly leaves a bad taste in my mouth. On more than one occassion, he's tried "peeing on people's legs and telling them it's raining." I caught him in a lie myself with the Nebraska/ESPN thing. Rather than saying, "It was a tough call, but we made it in what we think is in our best interest," he took the "There was nothing we could do about it" cop-out. He repeated the UTEP attendance lie (which he hasto know is a pile of crap) on the radio yesterday. He treated our last basketball coach like crap, forcing him to "resign" before the season was over so it'd look like he abandoned the team. (Giannini had to do some damage control when the coach then showed up at the last home game as a spectator). My honest thought on the man is that he's a sleaze. So far, a pretty effective one, but a sleaze nonetheless.