Mooney--an under appreciated coach.

[ManiBenton]

Promise you I'm not a troll. Love my Spiders so much i'm going up to Fordham to end the holidays! There are cautionary tales like St. joes has found out. Aside from a few years it's not like we're a dumpster fire. Everyone admits last year wasn't acceptable.

Martelli was 100 times more credible than Mooney has ever been. St joes made a dumb hire with Lange and now are paying the price of that. Completely different situation

 

[Arachnid]

Hi everyone,

I'm a first time poster but long time reader to the boards. My first Spider memory was going in 1997 to the Richmond UNC game at the Robbins Center when i was like 10. While I live up in Fairfax now, I try to make as many spiders games as I can. Anyway, finally had to get an account and register seeing some of the feedback on the Charleston Southern thread about Mooney. I don't think people appreciate him enough.

1. We went to NCAA 3 years ago and won a game against a Power 5 team that had just won big 10 tournament
2. The next year we were conference champions in the regular season. While it was disappointing to bow out against St. Joe's in A10 tournament it was a solid year.
3. We consistently lead the country in FT % and many times are in top 15 in 3 point percentage.
4. He is very classy and nice and we graduate our players. In short a great representer of our university.

I decided to do some research and see if I was off base but get this. He has a higher winning percentage than all but 2 Richmond coaches. He has a higher percentage than Wainwright, Bill Dooley, Lou Goetz, Carol Slone, Lewis Mills, Lester Hooker and even Malcom Pitt. Facts don't lie. I think fans have too high expectations. Little ole Richmond isn't going to go to the sweet 16 every year. But do we have a better coach than say Davidson, St Joe, or Loyola Chicago--unequivocally!! Enjoy what you have while you have it spider fans!!

Who is paying you to glamorize the losingist coach in UR Men’s basketball history? Maybe Carol Slone?
Have fun with your aggrandizement of mediocrity.

 

[RichmondNative]

The title of the post is “an under appreciated coach”. I don’t think that is true. I think he is appreciated by many, including the big donors.

The OP then lists 4 items that I guess he thinks are undervalued. The first problem I have is that #1, #2 and #3 are not accurate. 2021-2022 is the season that the Spiders won the A10 tournament. Saying “3 years ago” isn’t exactly right, which is why #2 is completely wrong. The following season 2022-2023 was Burton’s last year at UR and the Spiders had a losing record. It was the 2023-2024 season that the A10 regular season was won thanks to Jordan King et al. Then last season 2024-2025 was another losing season and of course was even worse than the 2022-2023 one, even with the 1st weak OOC schedule. #3 is incorrect as already pointed out by @vt4700. That leaves #4 which is the one thing that Mooney is OVER appreciated for. To me, the attributes listed are REQUIRED for the highest paid position on the UR campus if not for all coaches.

I will even say Mooney is a “good” coach, I simply think UR can do BETTER.

 

[SpiderWill]

The title of the post is “an under appreciated coach”. I don’t think that is true. I think he is appreciated by many, including the big donors.

The OP then lists 4 items that I guess he thinks are undervalued. The first problem I have is that #1, #2 and #3 are not accurate. 2021-2022 is the season that the Spiders won the A10 tournament. Saying “3 years ago” isn’t exactly right, which is why #2 is completely wrong. The following season 2022-2023 was Burton’s last year at UR and the Spiders had a losing record. It was the 2023-2024 season that the A10 regular season was won thanks to Jordan King et al. Then last season 2024-2025 was another losing season and of course was even worse than the 2022-2023 one, even with the 1st weak OOC schedule. #3 is incorrect as already pointed out by @vt4700. That leaves #4 which is the one thing that Mooney is OVER appreciated for. To me, the attributes listed are REQUIRED for the highest paid position on the UR campus if not for all coaches.

I will even say Mooney is a “good” coach, I simply think UR can do BETTER.

Tomato/tamatto--there have been 3 A-10 champs since we won it. It can be confusing on how to classify years VCU, Duquesne, VCU--to me that's 3 years removed with this season the 4th.

 

[carolinaspider]

Ok a lot of upgrades were put into the basketball program: locker rooms, practice facility,
RC upgrade, etc… Should be a diamond in the rough for recruiting, but our results from recruiting
has been so-so. Big negative for me in his tenure, is his record against our arch rival VCU. Coaches
have been fired with winning records simply for having little to no success against their rival. Last two
years of scheduling does not help recruiting one iota. There is no excuse and why can you not create
games with UVA or VaTech beyond scrimmage games. Also Asst Coaches play big role in recruiting.
Maybe there needs to be changes there. One change that has been a plus is our quicker pace of play.

 

[KE Spider]

Another plus is for the first time in two decades we actually try to O rebound.

 

[SpiderWill]

Ok a lot of upgrades were put into the basketball program: locker rooms, practice facility,
RC upgrade, etc… Should be a diamond in the rough for recruiting, but our results from recruiting
has been so-so. Big negative for me in his tenure, is his record against our arch rival VCU. Coaches
have been fired with winning records simply for having little to no success against their rival. Last two
years of scheduling does not help recruiting one iota. There is no excuse and why can you not create
games with UVA or VaTech beyond scrimmage games. Also Asst Coaches play big role in recruiting.
Maybe there needs to be changes there. One change that has been a plus is our quicker pace of play.

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

 

[Spiderp31]

I am always told before each game how Mooney has the most wins in Richmond history. That’s based on coaching the same team for over 20 years. And then other teams unaware that Mooney constantly underperforms. Yes we have twenty win seasons but mostly they end early. I still haven’t gotten over the Miami NIT game or the Virginia Tech NIT game. Both of those games were totally unacceptable in my opinion.

 

[Spiderguy]

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

This year VCU has played NC State, VT, Vanderbilt, and New Mexico.

We’ve played D3 Southern Va, VMI, Citadel, Gardner Webb.

 

[SpiderWill]

This year VCU has played NC State, VT, Vanderbilt, and New Mexico.

We’ve played D3 Southern Va, VMI, Citadel, Gardner Webb.

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.

 

[Spiderguy]

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.

Bottom line - VCU gets quality games, and Mooney schedules bad teams. You can debate or rationalize how VCU builds its schedule, but we should learn from them. These last 2 years of OOC Mooney schedules are an embarrassment and indefensible. That’s one reason the ticket office has run $5 and $10 promotions.

 

[whampas]

1. 3 total in 21 years?
2. I shudder to think of it. Not good but again, as much as I hate it, they are the standard of the league. What's Wake's or NC State's record against Duke--although i suppose they've fired coaches so maybe not the best example.
3. 2 i believe.

Of course, if you cherry pick those questions, it's not great, I admit. Do i wish we had a bit more success and made the tournament every year and can we be better--yes. But do i think he should be fired, no? But i know how hard he's working to fix it. When i'm in town I often go on jogs around campus and like clock work all the coaches are in at 8AM

If I was in Mooney's shoes, the competitive juices in me would be getting me to work at 6AM, unless I spent the night.

 

[RichmondNative]

These last 2 years of OOC Mooney schedules are an embarrassment and indefensible.

Just listened the the 3 Bid League podcast from just before Christmas and it included an interesting interview with Bob Black that included this statement about the OOC scheduling:

“But look, this schedule was not designed to be an at large schedule.
Nobody was kidding themselves about that. This was a schedule designed for wins. Remember, we only had 10 of them last year, really only eight, because two of them were non-division 1 wins.
So this was a schedule designed to get wins, to build confidence, to build momentum. And to feel in a good place going into 8-10 play. And I think that's been accomplished.”

From 3 Bid League: Gifts and Grievances, Dec 24, 2025

Gifts and Grievances

Podcast Episode · 3 Bid League · 12/24/2025 · 1h 52m

podcasts.apple.com

This material may be protected by copyright.

I have never heard such an honest answer from Bob Black on the Richmond radio waves. I have heard the same sort of difference when Mooney talks with podcasters etc outside of the RVA. Suddenly the usual script no longer applies. Very interesting to me.

 

[Spiderguy]

Just listened the the 3 Bid League podcast from just before Christmas and it included an interesting interview with Bob Black that included this statement about the OOC scheduling:

“But look, this schedule was not designed to be an at large schedule.
Nobody was kidding themselves about that. This was a schedule designed for wins. Remember, we only had 10 of them last year, really only eight, because two of them were non-division 1 wins.
So this was a schedule designed to get wins, to build confidence, to build momentum. And to feel in a good place going into 8-10 play. And I think that's been accomplished.”

From 3 Bid League: Gifts and Grievances, Dec 24, 2025

Gifts and Grievances

Podcast Episode · 3 Bid League · 12/24/2025 · 1h 52m

podcasts.apple.com

This material may be protected by copyright.

I have never heard such an honest answer from Bob Black on the Richmond radio waves. I have heard the same sort of difference when Mooney talks with podcasters etc outside of the RVA. Suddenly the usual script no longer applies. Very interesting to me.

Thx for that info. I get Bob’s angle, however it screams capitulation and attempting to win from the bottom up. It doesn’t represent a program that is supposed to be regarded as a solid mid major. Jeez - does Mooney need another 20 years to get on the right side of real scheduling and a consistently strong program? We have put plenty of resources into this program to settle for what Bob has described. Those long term fans should not settle for that type of attitude and reactionary status of the program. Where is the pride when settling for mediocrity?

 

[brooklyn brownstone]

So VCU plays in Maui while UR last year played in the single worst MTE ever put together, hosted by a D2 program (who we had to play), and this year we played in the kids table event of the 2 MTEs at Disney while the grown up teams played in an entirely different bracket that did not overlap. Results in those 2 awful MTEs? 3-2, 2-2 vs D1 competition, which tracks perfectly with Moon being a .500 coach.

VCU =/ UR when the MTE disparity is so high. MTEs are just about the most important aspect of an OOC schedule, you can bag 3 great games by being in the right one. Or you can take the path of least resistance and go wherever the Gazelle Group/Moon's agent tells you.

Using my 1 day visitor's pass here to the board to maximum effect.