Dan McDonnell speaks...
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I’m sorry there was a lot of talking last night. I can’t remember what he said at the end. Was he talking about the ND debacle?
Can’t have any bent nickels. Not sure if he was talking about basketball, baseball or teams in general.
I wasn't expecting a left turn, so I wasn't taking note of every word. But I THINK I heard one of his motivational topics morph into a lecture to the audience. Did you get any of that?
Well yeah. We have to move forward together, players, coaches, fans, concession stand workers, community, etc
If I'm right, it was vague however he said it. But that's a break from anyone or anything I've heard esp. from someone representing U of L. I get to hear Jeff Walz speaking informally at his coach's shows, and he has never touched on that subject--yet.
Part of it was probably the crowd. You had a broad spectrum of people there from the top of the university to the other extreme. You probably spotted Mark Jurich. Folks with $$ like Jim Patterson. And longtimers like me who are dug in with their positions.
That message is you try to prove yourself right, you might lay waste to programs like his own. McDonnell had just been talking about coming out for games. I think he's concerned...
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I shook hands with Tyra and introduced myself to Heird. He seemed surprised I approached him because I’m a nobody.
That's part of the problem. I was by myself with Heird in the men's room before it started. He didn't say a word. I recall Tyra walking through a room of fans and hardly saying anything. Those guys should be going out of their way to connect with fans esp. now. (Of course, Tyra doesn't matter anymore.)
This reconnect stuff is a two-way street, and I think a major coach will tell you that. U of L needs to project a message of "we're changing--give us a second chance." Then follow up words with actions. U of L has to start this process, not fans. They're the leaders...
Yeah I don’t think people knew who Heird was. He should have gone table to table. Hey, if you don’t know me I’m Josh Heird… and we are going to get Louisville back on track..
I talked recently to a former coach under Heird. That's not Heird's style. Everything he is and does is internal to operations.
Which is unfortunately the exact opposite of what this place needs now. I'm even willing to sacrifice a new AD's skills at managing athletics if he's good at public relations. Dire need of money and fan support...
I know he’s only been on the job a week but he should have been able to speak from the cuff instead of looking at a binder.
I thought the same thing even though I’m willing to cut a new guy some slack at public speaking. He comes across as stiff and robotic. That’s not a good style for what we need.
My wife is trying to correspond indirectly with McDonnell’s wife. She can confirm what his message was or wasn’t about…
Coach McD used an inspirational video from Skip Bertman, recognized as one the best if not best college coaches. He compared players on a team (any team or group working toward a single goal) to a stack of nickels. Put them all together and they make a nice stack. However, if one of the nickels is bent, you can put maybe 1 on top and still be able to stand up. If you have two, it definitely won’t work and you can’t fit them in either at the bottom or middle and the stack falls over. Some of us were wondering if he was talking not just about baseball but all teams or groups. He also kind of expanded the “team” or “group” to include all components, fans, players, coaches’ parents, concession stand workers… All have to be united to achieve one common goal.
Yep, and I still haven't received confirmation about what I THINK I heard.
There was a not-so-subliminal message throughout the earlier program--first hour--about what we've accomplished and how good things were. Numerous videos of a packed stadium and how great the fans are.
And I think there's a question how much of that continues. You look at women's basketball where less than half of the seats sold are actually used. In fact, it's lower than football and men's basketball. IMO that's inexcusable.
A guy like McDonnell can shoot straight and not bear any consequences, even in front of people in his athletics chain of command. However, he can only control so much as a successful head coach. If he says we need to get on the same page, paraphrasing, I interpret that as stop fighting and figure out a solution. Appealing to a roomful of people engaged in that conflict is all he can do...
There was a not-so-subliminal message throughout the earlier program--first hour--about what we've accomplished and how good things were. Numerous videos of a packed stadium and how great the fans are.
And I think there's a question how much of that continues. You look at women's basketball where less than half of the seats sold are actually used. In fact, it's lower than football and men's basketball. IMO that's inexcusable.
A guy like McDonnell can shoot straight and not bear any consequences, even in front of people in his athletics chain of command. However, he can only control so much as a successful head coach. If he says we need to get on the same page, paraphrasing, I interpret that as stop fighting and figure out a solution. Appealing to a roomful of people engaged in that conflict is all he can do...
Don't we have kind of the same problem with baseball? Seems that there are many Cardinal baseball fans that buy season tickets only to have them for the Regional and Super Regional.
Could he have been talking to them?
Baseball is more dictated by weather. When it’s cold, it’s hard for fans to just sit there for 3 hours. When the weather warms, it’s standing room only.
I'm just asking. Do you mean standing room only for the NCAA? It's certainly not like that for weekend series in April and May.
I usually won’t sit in the berm unless it’s the UK game but yes sometimes we have had trouble getting stadium seats for ACC games. And if you have been on for those games, the crowd definitely gets into the 2 strike clap and foot stomping. Yeah I can easily get midweek games unless it’s Kentucky.
Obviously,we're not talking about the last 2 seasons,but if we go back pre Covid,I'm sure there were some weekend series that stadium seats were hard to get. That doesn't mean they were used,just sold.
Every time I hear Coach speak on the radio or news he speaks to the fan base about getting in the seats. He wants more people in the seats.
Last season showed how glaringly apparent this issue has become. Maybe even with CDM,Idk.
People standing outside the stadium that's nearly empty because of no shows.
I'm not getting on season ticket holders. I would prefer,weather permitting,that everybody get away from the TV screen and get behind the team during the season like they do for the NCAA Tournament.
Coach probably feels the same way...
I think we all agree the University and Athletics haven’t been aligned. The fans have been divided for a long time. People living in the past and really not moving forward.
It is true when things are aligned individually, team, athletic department and university great things can be accomplished. That is what is missing. Now how you get that back is the challenge.
It is true when things are aligned individually, team, athletic department and university great things can be accomplished. That is what is missing. Now how you get that back is the challenge.
What I don’t think Dan takes into consideration is we are not a college town like Starkville MS or even other SEC schools that draw huge crowds. Louisville has a AAA professional baseball team that draws a pretty good fan base. I don’t know if that carrries over to the NBA scenario.
If I recall correctly, they make it pretty easy to let them know if you have season tix and aren't going to make it that they can resell your seats. Additionally, for some games I couldn't make I definitely listed the tickets for $5 on the exchange they make available just to make sure the tickets got used. More communication about this might be a good way of making sure anyone who wants to go to the game can easily get in.
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