I just can’t see giving the benefit of the doubt with the history of this program.
Entire MBB team enters transfer portal?
- Thread starter Thus Spoke Mainer
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Yes, making the tournament three times in four years would have transformed the program completely. But he did not do it! We are saying what if he did this, what if he did that - but none of it happened.
Covid was a shame for the 2020 team but it was more like a great month than a great season. After their long winning streak they ended up at 11-9 in the B1G because, just like every other year, the rest of the league figured out PSU and Chambers had absolutely no adjustments to counter it.
At least four guys who played for Chambers found their way to the NBA in some form (Frazier, Carr, Reaves, Stevens), which was totally unprecedented at Penn State, and he had one NIT appearance to show for it.
Shrubbery is a fun Monty Python reference. If you haven't seen it, my daughter highly recommends their Holy Grail movie, with the caveat their is a naughty seen that we fast forward through. Personally I think the saying has the makings of a great student section group. Second, Penn State isn't even his number one priority. I'd say that warrants a little good humored derision. When he actually starts showing up on campus and doing his best for the program I will reevaluate whether it is warranted or not.
I should have read your post first, although in full disclosure, autocorrect doesn't change Shrubbery on my phone.
She’s also fired him and replaced him with an actual big ten level coach.
Whether people like her or not she is not the AD who destroyed this program.
People seem to want to have it both ways on here. First people say Chambers is breaking through in recruiting, and got fired without cause, then they say Sandy took too long to fire him.
Just face it, she gave him more than a fair chance. It was somebody else who screwed this program up almost beyond repair. It just is a fact.
I'm just asking at what point does it become her responsibility. She's been on the job almost a decade. If she didn't think Chambers was up to the task, then she could have gotten rid of him. She had already seen his work for several years before she gave him a new contract. The program was making strides before she decided to remove him with a sham investigation, that she chose to disclose publicly was occurring. She couldn't even find anything to fire him with cause. Incredulously she didn't prepare for firing him and instead let the program languish for a year. Then, when the team en masse decides to transfer out, potentially causing several more seasons of a rebuild, she's perfectly happy with letting the new guy prioritize the opposition. Everything I listed occurred under Sandy's personal discretion and responsibility. No one else's, and definitely not someone from ten plus years ago.
“We are the knights that say Ni”...
love the movie, hate the nickname. My time on the Purdue board taught me his nickname is Shrew. I like this much better and I’m sure he would as well.
Have to agree on both accounts. That nickname is just not going to stick no matter how many times it gets posted.
How do you know it was a sham investigation? You have no idea what he was investigated for and what was found.
I know the process, I know its stated intentions (per Sandy), and I know the quotes of those who should have been involved. Apparently soviet style tactics now pass for trustworthy.
"Sham investigation"..."couldn't find anything to fire him"...not forcing Shrewsberry to break his agreement with Purdue and see them through the end of the season, as every other coach in his position would do...seems like you really look at things through an unbiased lens.
Could you imagine someone like Pry bailing on our team heading into the playoffs because he took a new job that was agreed to start after the season? Just because some guys at the new school were looking to transfer, as anyone that was paying attention expected to happen?
Guess that's where we're different...I care about my school's integrity, how the coaches treat people, etc. I don't want them to sweep issues under the rug if it means more wins on the field/court. And I'm not going to talk out my ass and declare something being a "sham", simply because I think we would have won more games had it not happened.
Sandy disclosed they would do an investigation. She said what they were looking for. Many players, the people who actually would have had first hand information, stated they were not interviewed. This is all public information. If psu had had cause, no way they agree to a settlement.
Does anyone else find it odd when a coach preaches he only wants players 100% committed even as he continues to coach the opposition? I love a lot of the things you listed. I just disagree that PSU has done them.
And if Chambers did absolutely nothing wrong, no way he doesn't say a peep and signs an NDA. You really think Pat Chambers would just go away quietly and not defend himself?
So again, you'd have no issues if we run the table this year, and on the eve of the playoff, Pry or Yurcich bail because they are going to take a new job after the season ends and want a head start on it?
For the right sum of money, absolutely he would. Hey, just because he's right doesn't mean he still doesn't lose. How many companies would ever hire someone still caught up in litigation against their old company? Sometimes you have to recognize the situation and cut your losses.
I don't have a problem when coaches leave, and especially not for better opportunities.
I don't speak for anyone else, just me. Someone takes over a function/organization, they own it from day one. Granted they can't accomplish everything overnight, but Barbour had more than enough time. Just because you inherited something that was FUBAR is not an excused to do nothing. She had enough justification to fire Chambers solely based on his record but she didn't. She did nothing for six years, six fvcking years.
This criticism for the coach wanting to stay with his former team through the tournament is ridiculous. It’s not a meaningless bowl game. I’ve had a situation where changing jobs, and was involved with something important at current job, and told future employer that I couldn’t start with just the typical 2 week notice. The new employer respected my commitment. It’s what responsible people do.
It is ridiculous. Maybe Shrewsberry was ready to accept but understandably hesitant about bailing before the tournament, and allowing for that delay closed the deal. But no, it is just assumed that PSU is dumb and everyone takes advantage of PSU. It is kind of absurd.
Most people agreed with the Chambers extension on the grounds that the 2015 and 2016 recruiting classes were our best ever (or close to it) and he should be able to see them through their time at PSU, and he couldn’t keep recruiting as a lame duck.
Almost everyone thought he should be fired if they missed the tournament this year, but now they are mad because he got let go before the season instead?
If your new company thought your position critical enough that it needed to be filled right away you would have been there, or they would have found someone else. You also would have known before any job offer because they would have told you beforehand that such and such a date was non-negotiable. PSU's current situation is critical enough that failing to get the new guy in right now could cause several more years of damage. While I am mildly annoyed at Shrubbery, I am stunned at Sandy and PSU's disregard for the program.
So your thesis is that he got bought off because he was going to spill the beans about something?
Do you know how bizarre that sounds?
LOL, I'm sure that everyone would have been extremely interested in the PSU job when we issued one of the most ridiculous demands that I've ever heard. Want to make no one take the PSU job seriously? Do exactly as you just proposed.
I don't agree with this at all. We don't know how long ago they identified him as the guy they wanted, or how much uncertainty there was around plan B. This is a very small price to pay and if they go deep into the tournament it is free publicity for us.
We offer you the job, but you must immediately relocate to State College on the Monday after the season is over, even though we don't have practice again for more than 200 days. You cannot see your current team through the tournament under any circumstances and you cannot stay at Purdue for even one minute. Otherwise, no deal.
The response would be that Shrewsberry says no thanks and looks for another job.
Sounds like a great way to make your program into a freaking laughingstock among every coach in America. Come to think of it, maybe this is exactly how our old AD approached things.
Well then, you say it is better to accept some one of lessor quality as long as they can start immediately.
Say you work at a company that has been having problems. They want to recruit a top rainmaker to turn things around. You could get a guy, a guy you really want, from another firm that has been doing quite well. He has been working on a major contract/merger/new product for over six months. That project will be completed in a couple of weeks and the guy want says he is in if you are willing to wait a couple weeks. Says he will even do some consulting for you while the other project is completed. You gonna tell him forget it?
No, he got bought off to not take them to court for breach of contract in case they tried to withhold payment (which I truly doubt they tried), but more importantly to keep him from badmouthing the program and damaging it that way. I have little doubt that the reasons PSU had for firing him met any of the contract language for probable or performance related issues, and thus had to fully pay the remainder of his contract, maybe even a little more. Often for public relations reasons companies prefer not to disclose the details of the proverbial golden parachutes they hand out. I've already gone over Chambers incentives for agreeing to something like this.
You are completely making this up out of thin air!
They could have fired him for any reason they wanted, including the fact that he was here longer than either of Dunn or DeChellis, and went to zero NCAA tournaments. The school would have bought out his contract for that exact reason at about this time.
Th expectation by some that he should drop everything Purdue related and come here immediately is silly.
Did Steve S. drop everything with Bama or did he stay on to win a NC before heading to Texas Longhorns? We all know the answer.
Did Steve S. drop everything with Bama or did he stay on to win a NC before heading to Texas Longhorns? We all know the answer.
But they weren't using those performance related reasons. In fact, Sandy had praised his performance. I know, I know, those pesky details. I've been very up front that this is my opinion, and these are the things that draw me to these conclusions. So, why do you think PSU insisted on a nondisclosure clause? Unless you've got a crap lawyer, those do cost money.
Yeah, I think a coach at any level in any sport leaving a team during a playoff run is the exception rather than a norm.
Wonder if he's allowed to recruit for PSU until he's done at Purdue.
Purdue is playing in a tournament for the national championship. How many months until Penn States next game? It’s not like Shrew can’t spend some time hiring coaches and talking to potential transfer recruits. The idea that being full time at Penn State right away is life or death for the future of the program is laughable. We just had our head coach resign 30 days before the season started and we performed about as expected.
