Mooney--an under appreciated coach.

[SpiderWill]

I appreciate those that welcome me, even those that called me a VCU fan. I do root for the A-10 out of conference!

One other thing I want to point out was the way the Charlotte A-10 tournament incident was handled. I know he had a talking to after that, and I cant say for a fact, but I'm sure that set back some fire. No way to quantify it, and i'm not an insider, but I don't think the administration had his back with that. It was a horrendous call--shows his fire and how much he wants to win.

What if you were a teacher and the principal came in and starting critiquing a lesson you did.

 

[whampas]

I appreciate those that welcome me, even those that called me a VCU fan. I do root for the A-10 out of conference!

One other thing I want to point out was the way the Charlotte A-10 tournament incident was handled. I know he had a talking to after that, and I cant say for a fact, but I'm sure that set back some fire. No way to quantify it, and i'm not an insider, but I don't think the administration had his back with that. It was a horrendous call--shows his fire and how much he wants to win.

What if you were a teacher and the principal came in and starting critiquing a lesson you did.

I'd find a new job which speaks volumes of what he thinks of his own marketability.

 

[sman]

shows his fire? he lost control and it hurt us. did he think losing his shit was going to change the call?

 

[Urmite]

I would be curious what the cumulative quad record is over the 8 seasons of NET for all the teams in the A-10.

They may be a good indicator of scheduling and performance. And where we stand in the A10.
As well as showing which staffs accomplish more.

 

[vt4700]

I would say a good time for this thread title would have been after our 24 and 23 win seasons in 2020, 2022, and 2024. Not after a 10 win season which saw losses to Marist, Charlotte, Bucknell, La Tech, Belmont, W&M, and Fla Gulf Coast, followed by 3 more OOC losses this year to Furman, Elon, and Ch Southern.

 

[spider_hoss]

we won 8 D1 games last year. our NET was 258 ... out of 364.
with our budget, that's remarkably bad.

Mooney's response to winning 8 D1 games was to schedule even softer to pad this year's record.
if he's under .500 in A10 games this season, the only reason he wouldn't be in danger would be the cost to terminate ... not that he's doing good enough.

Thing is he does just enough at the right time to dupe the powers that be into an extension, and we're stuck with him for longer. Luckily, his "we need to stick together for 4 years" line doesn't really work in today's NCAA, and we're seeing more and more in season firings.

 

[urdead7956]

SpiderWill aka Chris Mooney

 

[Urmite]

SpiderWill aka Chris Mooney

I thought he was time traveling VT from some previous season…

 

[carolinaspider]

Understood--i have great respect for the consistency of VCU.

VT/Vandy and South Florida were in Atlantis. They get better tournaments than us for sure--they are in Maui next year. New Mexico was from Odom having a relationship from his days at Utah State. NC State was with the Wade connection.

Then VCU coaches must have a history of connections, that Mooney does not. He and Tony Bennett had a good relationship but that seemed to mostly result in scrimmages. Why does Mooney not use more of his Philly connections? Games with Penn or Nova or Temple? When living up north in 70s, saw Spiders play in a triple header at the Palestra and several Big 5 schools. I don't believe this BS about difficulty of getting good games when our A10 peers are having some higher level OOC games. Mooney has been here 20 freaking years and should have plenty of connections with other coaches to create stronger schedules. Who knows maybe UR is not liked by others and refuse to play us.

 

[sman]

I don't think Mooney likes to coach against anyone he likes. hasn't he's verbalized that he won't play his former players who are coaching?

 

[SFspidur]

I don't think Mooney likes to coach against anyone he likes. hasn't he's verbalized that he won't play his former players who are coaching?

Yes, he has clearly said he wants to cheer for them, not play them.

No, I don't have any interest in scheduling these guys at all. I want to cheer for them every game and hope they do great and I don't want to ever have to play against them.

Have any of them called to try?

Not that I've gotten heard of. I'm a couple phone calls away from that initial scheduling call. So, I don't believe so.

He even suggested in the W&M postgame that he doesn't want to renew that series because Earl is there now.

Coach, this is the end of this deal, right?

Yes.

I wonder if you're interested in extending.

Yeah, not necessarily, John. Not necessarily. You know, we always like the in-state games and those discussions will take place during the off season. But, you know, I think the world of of Brian and their program. Thought they played very well tonight. I know they have a tough stretch coming up as well. So, we'll see. You know, generally there are enough teams out there you don't have to play somebody that you know and care about and root for. But we'll see.

 

[sman]

Yes, he has clearly said he wants to cheer for them, not play them.

He even suggested in the W&M postgame that he doesn't want to renew that series because Earl is there now.

that's so ridiculous. play teams that are good games for the program, not that his former players are at schools that would be great games for Richmond. but maybe they're trying to land a good game and you'd be doing them a favor. anything is better than a D2 game.

friendly competition is a good thing. wonder if other coaches feel that way.

 

[RichmondNative]

He even suggested in the W&M postgame that he doesn't want to renew that series because Earl is there now.

Apparently I skipped this press conference. I agree with @sman that avoiding coaches you know is ridiculous, especially a team that is a historical rival. I like Earl as a coach and he is doing a great job improving W&M’s status in basketball.

 

[Eight Legger]

I would say a good time for this thread title would have been after our 24 and 23 win seasons in 2020, 2022, and 2024. Not after a 10 win season which saw losses to Marist, Charlotte, Bucknell, La Tech, Belmont, W&M, and Fla Gulf Coast, followed by 3 more OOC losses this year to Furman, Elon, and Ch Southern.

Exactly. Like when in the history of Richmond basketball has it been ok to have this many terrible losses to clearly lesser programs? It’s just absurd. And he will sell it after the season as “Hey, we won 10 OOC games and played a tough A10 schedule and finished the year with 17 wins” or whatever. As if it’s some kind of actual accomplishment. It’s not.

 

[*23*]

It's just like everything with our program, excuses, excuses, excuses. Don't play them, but go find some good games somewhere. Again, as most of us suspected, moon scheduled this year to stay aboe the .555555 line.

 

[Spiderguy]

It's just like everything with our program, excuses, excuses, excuses. Don't play them, but go find some good games somewhere. Again, as most of us suspected, moon scheduled this year to stay aboe the .555555 line.

Thank goodness after scratching and convincing we were able to schedule Southern Va this year. A tough game to get, but we got it. I’m afraid that if Mooney likes their coach then that’ll be another lost opportunity. With our criteria, it’s just getting tougher and tougher to schedule.

 

[vt4700]

Exactly. Like when in the history of Richmond basketball has it been ok to have this many terrible losses to clearly lesser programs? It’s just absurd. And he will sell it after the season as “Hey, we won 10 OOC games and played a tough A10 schedule and finished the year with 17 wins” or whatever. As if it’s some kind of actual accomplishment. It’s not.

Yep, that is 10 pretty bad losses in 2 years, and doesn't even count bad A-10 losses. No matter if we have a young team, old team, inexperienced team, or experienced team, we should never lose more than maybe 2 or 3 games against these types of teams in a 2 year stretch, and 3 is being pretty generous. 10? Just mind boggling how bad that is.

 

[Spiders4ever]

Yep, that is 10 pretty bad losses in 2 years, and doesn't even count bad A-10 losses. No matter if we have a young team, old team, inexperienced team, or experienced team, we should never lose more than maybe 2 or 3 games against these types of teams in a 2 year stretch, and 3 is being pretty generous. 10? Just mind boggling how bad that is.

Hit the portal hard. No excuses.

 

[KE Spider]

Yep, that is 10 pretty bad losses in 2 years, and doesn't even count bad A-10 losses. No matter if we have a young team, old team, inexperienced team, or experienced team, we should never lose more than maybe 2 or 3 games against these types of teams in a 2 year stretch, and 3 is being pretty generous. 10? Just mind boggling how bad that is.

This is what you get when you allow someone to stay well past their sell by date.

 

[Spideralways]

VCU can't get those games either, NC State relationship with Wade aside. Wade, Rhoades, Odom all have spoken of it. Life as an upper mid major

They kick our ass. That alone is enough to get him tossed