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Post by sader1970 on May 4, 2022 10:25:22 GMT -5
Lent being over, I've been very hesitant to get back onto Crossports as looking back, my Lenten hiatus has probably not been the act of penance it's intended to be and has been in the past and more like a blessed relief.
That said, I did try to "catch up" on posts but there have literally been thousands upon thousands since I left. Impossible task and honestly some of them were a great reminder why I periodically walk away from here.
It looks like there is a lot of optimism for football, not much for the "minor" sports and none whatsoever in men's basketball (one or two diehard exceptions).
While I couldn't give a care about the topic of changing leagues because: 1. no one else wants us and 2. more importantly, Holy Cross has no intention or desire for moving from the PL, I do appreciate on a message board that people find the topic fascinating like how many angels can fit on the head of a pin.
Now, a more serious observation/comment about Crusader men's basketball:
It appears in my absence that a bunch more of our players have hit the transfer portal. While we don't know their reasons, a reasonable conclusion might be that they don't like being on a losing team; don't think they can see the team winning in the future; don't like playing for the current staff; can't handle the academics; just generally hate Holy Cross and/or Worcester. Since a couple were starters, it is likely not based on dissatisfaction with playing time.
I did watch the video clip of the practice with guest Malcolm Miller. I also watched the football practice clip. Coming down to personalities, Chesney looks, as my Irish grandfather called it, "real." Nelson's clip looked forced and staged. That's one man's opinion. Admittedly subjective.
My honest hope was that Kit was going to send Nelson packing ("pack up your troubles in your old, kit bag and smile, smile, smile?") while I was gone. Unsurprisingly at Holy Cross, that didn't happen. And before someone says I want him gone because I "don't like him," I thought that Carmody and Willard had crappy personalities; Kearney and Brown, very good personalities. Didn't want Ralph to leave, glad the other three did. [still pissed at Ricky for "stealing" Ralph; Sean's leaving was timed correctly; Bill should have left 2 years before; Milan had his chances- timing was right] My opinion is based on if they are/were good coaches or not. Nelson is NOT a good coach. That's been established to any reasonable observer. He's had more than enough time to establish his bona fides. For all the allegedly great recruits he has brought in, they are either not successful on the court or they bail on the program.
Putting my little money where my mouth is, I have done/will do two things: 1. my donations to the CAF have gone to football (as usual, doesn't take championships for my $ to go there) and to women's basketball. NO money going to men's basketball as long as Nelson remains the coach 2. For the first time in 23 years that I've been back to New England, I will not be renewing my basketball season tickets. One of my classmates who resides in Worcester has had tickets for far longer than I have and he stopped renewing his season tickets last season.
I still don't want the team to fail because they represent Holy Cross. I will root for them from afar. They just aren't getting either my money or helping NAD shout "you, you, you . . . . on YOU!" in person.
Peace.
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Post by Tom on May 4, 2022 10:38:34 GMT -5
Putting my little money where my mouth is, I have done/will do two things: 1. my donations to the CAF have gone to football (as usual, doesn't take championships for my $ to go there) and to women's basketball. NO money going to men's basketball as long as Nelson remains the coach I haven't been paying close attention, but is this even an option? I thought as some sort of Title IX thing, donations were made to "basketball" not "men's basketball" or "women's basketball"
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Post by hchoops on May 4, 2022 10:51:33 GMT -5
sader1970 Welcome back I hope you let Kit and the CAF know about the reasons for your donation changes.
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Post by sader1970 on May 4, 2022 12:13:28 GMT -5
Tom, yes, it been an option for about 2-3 years. They make you jump through some small hoops but they did reverse the title IX "equal shares for men & women" deal. I think they realized that instead of getting more $ to the ladies that it was counterproductive and NOT required by title IX.
hoops, I sent them one check to the Development staff contact that I know with a letter specifying how much was to go to the Holy Cross Fund; the football program; and the ladies basketball program and the reason why I was not donating to the men's basketball team. PM'd you what I wrote to HC.
As Class Correspondent (sort of - that's another story), I am able to check on donations by all Classmates including myself and it showed the 3 individual donations made per my wishes.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on May 4, 2022 13:38:54 GMT -5
Welcome back. I value your insights
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Post by DiMarz on May 4, 2022 13:47:50 GMT -5
Welcome back...I still will get my tickets, have had them since '74...They are a reason to get out of the house in the winter....Dinner and a game....I am not as "religious " about the team as I used to be, however I have been through tough times before and made it out alive....(The Raynor years)
If they win, they will come.....
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Post by longsuffering on May 4, 2022 13:58:53 GMT -5
Welcome back. A couple of early wins and you'll be driving north like a moth to a porch light.🙂
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Post by sader1970 on May 4, 2022 14:53:18 GMT -5
Perhaps. Perhaps not. It won't be just about the Ws and Ls. I'm past that with Nelson. I've got to be convinced that this guy has come to internalize what it means to be a Crusader. While it's always easier when you are born into the Purple family or earn it via a degree, there are some notable folks who have adopted Purple blood like Non Alum Dave; Bob Chesney; Fr. K; Bob 4acre; yes, even Tom Gilmore and Bill Gibbons.
Some who have visited the hill are "carpetbaggers" who arrive looking to make a quick buck and the day they set foot atop Mt. St. James are looking for their next gig and have no interest in what the College stands for and any success inures to their benefit. We've had some ADs and coaches that fit that description.
Losing a boatload of players, not just the occasional few, leads me to believe the current staff either does not know or cannot communicate to recruits that playing for Holy Cross means more than just what happens on the Hart court, the Blaney Gym or the Smith Performance Center. Pretty hard to keep players if you don't think Holy Cross is special yourself and think of it as a mere pit stop in your career.
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Post by longsuffering on May 4, 2022 17:06:35 GMT -5
I was resentful when BN's arrival ushered in the transient era of HC BB. But then the rest of college basketball caught up and in many cases passed us with their own revolving doors.
At this point, I don't have any resentment of BN because FADMB handed him a long term contract based on no record as a previous head coach and current AD Kit has declined to spend the money to replace him based on performance.
So I can only expect our current staff to keep working it, as it appears they are doing, and hope that the upcoming season's patched together roster clicks vs the patched together rosters of our opponents.
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Post by crusader1970 on May 4, 2022 18:20:17 GMT -5
sader1970 Welcome back I hope you let Kit and the CAF know about the reasons for your donation changes. I wrote a very respectful long email to Kit several weeks ago on the basketball program and he hasn't shown me the courtesy of a simple acknowledgement or a response.
I have contributed to the CAF for basketball for many years and will be switching 100% of my contribution to football this year.
I'll write Kit and let him know why.
I don't expect a response.
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Post by longsuffering on May 4, 2022 18:43:52 GMT -5
sader1970 Welcome back I hope you let Kit and the CAF know about the reasons for your donation changes. I wrote a very respectful long email to Kit several weeks ago on the basketball program and he hasn't shown me the courtesy of a simple acknowledgement or a response.
I have contributed to the CAF for basketball for many years and will be switching 100% of my contribution to football this year.
I'll write Kit and let him know why.
I don't expect a response.
The audience that would actually read, appreciate and respond to your missive is right here.
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Post by hchoops on May 4, 2022 18:50:40 GMT -5
sader1970 Welcome back I hope you let Kit and the CAF know about the reasons for your donation changes. I wrote a very respectful long email to Kit several weeks ago on the basketball program and he hasn't shown me the courtesy of a simple acknowledgement or a response.
I have contributed to the CAF for basketball for many years and will be switching 100% of my contribution to football this year.
I'll write Kit and let him know why.
I don't expect a response.
Just a suggestion Send an email saying what you have done and why to the Development Office and /or CAF
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Post by sader1970 on May 4, 2022 19:16:24 GMT -5
As I already informed my classmate, I wrote two emails to Kit at the email addresses I figured were his based on the Holy Cross email address format. He responded to neither. While neither kicked back, I was never sure that either one was exactly correct since neither he nor Nelson's email addresses are listed on the HC athletic website, though many other coaches and staff members are. So, maybe he never got my notes.
But having an "unlisted" email address leads me to believe that neither Kit nor Brett are looking for easy 2-way dialogue with the fans/alums/others and prefer one-way communications.
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Post by Sons of Vaval on May 4, 2022 19:47:36 GMT -5
There isn’t much interest in HC athletics, beyond football, these days.
It’s a shame that Kit doesn’t have his email public. If someone is interested enough in our terrible athletics program to send him in an email, he should be welcoming it.
I haven’t been all that impressed by Kit in his first several months. Let’s see how he does with some of his first big decisions and hires.
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Post by Tom on May 4, 2022 19:48:18 GMT -5
I wrote a very respectful long email to Kit several weeks ago on the basketball program and he hasn't shown me the courtesy of a simple acknowledgement or a response.
I have contributed to the CAF for basketball for many years and will be switching 100% of my contribution to football this year.
I'll write Kit and let him know why.
I don't expect a response.
Just a suggestion Send an email saying what you have done and why to the Development Office and /or CAF Do we think that the Development office will care if someone switches their dollars from basketball to football , if, at the end of the day, the dollar figure remains unchanged?
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on May 4, 2022 19:53:35 GMT -5
If I were AD I would be courting the fans big-time in group meetings and via phone calls and handwritten notes. I know there’d probably be some fear of a fan/alum venting his spleen fur 30 minutes but I’d still give it a try.
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Post by Sons of Vaval on May 4, 2022 20:04:29 GMT -5
The AD at HC should be the best marketing guy in the athletic department. Not seeing that at all. Still early.
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Post by HC92 on May 4, 2022 20:12:29 GMT -5
I talked to Kit once. He seemed interested in my thoughts as a loyal and long-term fan. Nonetheless, he has to at least master the art of acknowledging the communications he gets from fans and donors.
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Post by longsuffering on May 4, 2022 22:57:42 GMT -5
sader1970 Welcome back I hope you let Kit and the CAF know about the reasons for your donation changes. I wrote a very respectful long email to Kit several weeks ago on the basketball program and he hasn't shown me the courtesy of a simple acknowledgement or a response.
I have contributed to the CAF for basketball for many years and will be switching 100% of my contribution to football this year.
I'll write Kit and let him know why.
I don't expect a response.
Kit has an email adress up now in the athletic staff directory on goholycross.com. It is athleticdirector@holycross.edu. He also has a Twitter handle of @kithugheshc. Nick Smith is listed as Associate Athletic Director for External Relations. Perhaps contact with the public is part of his portfolio. But if so, any significant outreach would have included Crossporters and been copied to Crossports so I doubt it.
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Post by thecrossisback on May 5, 2022 4:17:59 GMT -5
Welcome back...I still will get my tickets, have had them since '74...They are a reason to get out of the house in the winter....Dinner and a game....I am not as "religious " about the team as I used to be, however I have been through tough times before and made it out alive....(The Raynor years) I agree with this the transfer portal has worn me out.
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Post by ts1970 on May 5, 2022 5:17:49 GMT -5
As I already informed my classmate, I wrote two emails to Kit at the email addresses I figured were his based on the Holy Cross email address format. He responded to neither. While neither kicked back, I was never sure that either one was exactly correct since neither he nor Nelson's email addresses are listed on the HC athletic website, though many other coaches and staff members are. So, maybe he never got my notes. But having an "unlisted" email address leads me to believe that neither Kit nor Brett are looking for easy 2-way dialogue with the fans/alums/others and prefer one-way communications. It’s....... Chughes@holycross.edu
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Post by Xmassader on May 5, 2022 6:34:04 GMT -5
The AD at HC should be the best marketing guy in the athletic department. Not seeing that at all. Still early. And the best program performance evaluator. Still early on that aspect as well.
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Post by sader1970 on May 5, 2022 7:11:27 GMT -5
Yep. Just confirmed Kit has an email address on the athletics website now (does he read Crossports?). He definitely had not had it up there. Note that Nelson doesn't have one (twitter doesn't count for anyone on staff IMHO). Pretty sure Chesney had one there but not there now and thought Magarity had hers there but also not there now. Riga has no email but women's hockey coach does as does baseball coach. Guessing Kit gave head coaches a choice. I would imagine that emails from the fans, as few as there are, might become burdensome for some coaches with a choice of not responding or not responding timely which might alienate fans. Certainly, wouldn't want a coach to be distracted from his/her primary duties. I can see it now: "The reason our record is 2-27 is because I was writing all these dopey emails to the fans and didn't have as much time to train and practice with my players."
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Post by lou on May 5, 2022 7:35:12 GMT -5
It's not the CIA. I can't think of a business that doesn't make emails available. How do other ADS and coaches reach these people, if they need to?
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Post by Ignutz on May 5, 2022 7:48:29 GMT -5
sader1970 Welcome back I hope you let Kit and the CAF know about the reasons for your donation changes. I wrote a very respectful long email to Kit several weeks ago on the basketball program and he hasn't shown me the courtesy of a simple acknowledgement or a response.
I have contributed to the CAF for basketball for many years and will be switching 100% of my contribution to football this year.
I'll write Kit and let him know why.
I don't expect a response.
When the phone doesn't ring, you'll know it's him.
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