Price might be right for Lamar

[Birdseye]

http://www.americanpress.com/Gazzolo-column-2-27-14

 

Price has shown that he can coach at this level. Under PK, Lamar lost to Sam by 14. Under Tic it was a 3 point loss with the same players. Both losses under Tic have been under double digits. PK only had 3 that close out of his 12 losses.

 

Tic has also been seen out at local high school games, I assume trying to recruit.

[Lamar Pride]

Hiring Tic Price as the permanent head coach may not excite the masses, but he is a guy with the ability to turn the program around. His problems at Memphis are irrelevant and a distant memory. He owned up to his mistake, took responsibility for his actions and moved on. If every coach that had an issue in his past was disqualified from getting a head coaching job, many great coaches wouldn't be around the game. Tic won at UNO, he was winning at Memphis, he won at McNeese at a higher percentage than any Lamar coach since Abatemarco's 2 year stint in the 1980s. Tic has proven to the Lamar administration that he is a hard working team player. People in the administration like Tic Price. People in the community like Tic Price. Tic Price may not be an exciting choice, but he is a good coach, good recruiter and good member of the Lamar and Beaumont community. There is very little risk in hiring him, and I believe he is a good choice to help bring our program back.

[coachacola]

I can see Lamar hiring Tic Price too. It would continue the tradition of hiring the wrong guy to slowly kill the once proud Lamar basketball program. Pat Knight did his best to kill it but it still has a pulse. Price won't kill it, he'll put some band-aids on it so the program can limp along for a few more years.

[LU Cardinal]

I agree with Lamar Pride on Price but if Tic is hired at this point without a real search is really nothing more than a money deal for Lamar which is sad.

[geezer]

Unfortunately, hiring the next coach may be about money. Buying out Knight's contract will put a squeeze on the program. Similar to when Tubbs took over the program after firing Deane. Price is already on the payroll, he puts in a few years while LU rebuilds the budget. I don't like it but I can believe it's possible.

[LAZEEK]

Unfortunately, hiring the next coach may be about money. Buying out Knight's contract will put a squeeze on the program. Similar to when Tubbs took over the program after firing Deane. Price is already on the payroll, he puts in a few years while LU rebuilds the budget. I don't like it but I can believe it's possible.

 

No squeeze on program. Buyout came from a LU donor

[Knightman]

Lamar Pride, I understand what you say about Price's incident at Memphis being a long time ago and all of that, but here is where it is going to hurt him and Lamar in the long run if he is named the offical head coach, it is going to hurt him in the living rooms of the kids that he is trying to recruit, when you have those from a church background, they are going to do research on him, because it is all over the internet, and they are going to know, and I think that it is going to hurt him with the families of alot of kids!!!!!!!!!! That being said, I am all in favor of second chances, because I don't there is anybody on this board that hasn't benefitted from a second chance at some point in their life. And I don't care who the coach ends up being, I am here to support Lamar athletics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Go Cardinals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Knightman

[geezer]

Tic hasn't had 1 and 3/4 seasons with these players yet, but he is encountering the same problems that PK had, so the issues becomes are enough of these players coachable, can any coach get them to improve or do you have to replace several? Question if Tyran Lat leaves (not suggesting he might) since he never played does he count against Lamar's advancement to graduation rate for NCAA statistics?

[Card Nation]

I agree with you Knightman. I dont think Price is the right guy. The incident at Memphis is a big deal. Being the leader of young men comes with inherit responsibilities and he dropped the ball in a huge way. In addition he got fired from McNeese. Lets get somebody on their way up the ladder of success. If they fail on us we can at least say they had a good resume coming in

 

[LAZEEK]

He will be a senior next season. He lost a year of eligibility. I can assure you that Tyran, Hilliard, Holliday, Ross, Green and Norman will be back. Where will they go that they can play right away? D2? Unless there is a rule that they can leave and go play somewhere immediately since PK got fired.

[LAZEEK]

I don't really care who LU hires. At this point all I care about is getting it back to being fun going to games. Some good players, good wins and a more exciting team to watch. With that being said based on what I have been told Tic will be hired as the LU coach.

[Card Nation]

If he is the permanent coach, i hope he does great.

[LAZEEK]

Agreed

[Cardinalrule]

With all the potential coaches out there I simply CANNOT understand why ANYONE would actually want us to hire Tic Price!!!!!! I cannot think of one single good reason why we should hire him. I think it would be another giant mistake and disgraceful fir the university!!! What kind of message would we be sending to the fans, students, and community as a whole?? Well I guess since we will almost accept anyone with a pulse as a student why not hire an immoral, unethical, retread as our head basketball coach?. PUKE PUKE PUKE PUKE. We are so shortsighted it is disgusting!!!

[geezer]

Just trying to figure where any additional scholarships might come from? I agree that those guys are probably back. On Tyran, I thought he might be a special circumstance since the NCAA screwed him this year. The ones with more questions on will they be back are probably Hanncock, Blanks, Minton, Mattingly and Owens. Blanks seems like the most likely to leave. He has fought injuries and has gotten minimal playing time as a sophmore.

[coachacola]

With all the potential coaches out there I simply CANNOT understand why ANYONE would actually want us to hire Tic Price!!!!!! I cannot think of one single good reason why we should hire him. I think it would be another giant mistake and disgraceful fir the university!!! What kind of message would we be sending to the fans, students, and community as a whole?? Well I guess since we will almost accept anyone with a pulse as a student why not hire an immoral, unethical, retread as our head basketball coach?. PUKE PUKE PUKE PUKE. We are so shortsighted it is disgusting!!!

 

It makes even less sense to fire Pat Knight and then immediately hire another has-been coach. If I were that fan who ponied up that 400 grand to get rid of Knight I would demand my money back!!

[geezer]

It might be the same person that wants Tic as coach.

[LAZEEK]

It might be the same person that wants Tic as coach.

 

DING DING DING....we have a winner!!!!

[coachacola]

It might be the same person that wants Tic as coach.

 

DING DING DING....we have a winner!!!!

 

If that's the case then I hope they will at least be honest about it and go ahead and hire Price. I would find it rather insulting if they have a "search committee" and the end up hiring Price because I seriously doubt he'll be the best of the candidates.

[geezer]

While many of us just want to see Lamar have successful athletic programs that compete for conference champions year in and year out and in the case of basketball go to the NCAA Tourney regularly, in the end it is still too much about politics and money for what really happens and that doesn't matter what level of sporting activity your talking about.

[Card Nation]

I agree with you that politics and money play a factor across the board in all level of athletics, but i can't believe that one booster can personally fire and hire a college coach at all levels. I have to believe that Lamar has policies and procedures in place that are there to avoid this kind of thing. But, as is often the case, i could be wrong. ;-). Message to the booster: Do you realize how many people less fortunate than you you could have helped and how much 'good' you could have done with $400k? Instead you choose to fire and hire a basketball coach with it? I hope that this story and thread is exaggerated or just not true.

[geezer]

I can assure you that my posts are usually speculation and theory based on years of observation of sports at multiple levels. Probably 90% of everything posted is personal opinions and speculation. If LU had been winning then Knight would probably still have a job. The only case at LU that might actually have been only politics was Abetemarco in the 80s, where he basically insulted those with money that liked Patrizi's

[coachacola]

We're just speculating on who would want Price as head coach. If I donated 400k so Lamar could hire a better coach I would want thrm to hire the very best. I want the prez and the AD to actually search for the best guy and not pretend to with the intention all along to hire Price. I think they will try to hire the best guy.

[Card Nation]

Agreed.

[geezer]

The only real positive I could see to hiring Price is that at age 58 he probably is not looking to move to a higher profile school. Assuming it would take three years to really get LU back to competing for a conference championship, I think his age would become a factor for a higher profile school.