SLU Fires Soderberg

[classof70]

As I said before, I like Soderberg.  I think he did a good job at SLU given the resources.  Clearly, recruiting was not his strength and as some have pointed out, interest and attendance had dropped.  I'm a season ticket holder and went to few games.  However, I wish they'd given him till the new stadium was completed.  That facility will really aid in recruiting.

Here's the word I've heard around the community.  Soderberg was a Father Biondi victim.  Biondi was obsessed with getting TIF tax credits (worth about $8 million) for the stadium from the State and wasn't going to do anything with the program until he knew about the credits.  Biondi,  fired Soderberg the day after the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that SLU could have the credits, essentially  holding, in agreement with the position of SLU, that tax credits to a Catholic school were not violative of the Missouri Constitution because SLU really wasn't a Catholic school.  Some people may agree with that finding anyway!    Biondi fired Soderberg the next day at the behest of the major contributor for the new stadium, who, ironically, is supposed to be real close to Kevin O'Neil. Can you imagine O'Neil and Biondi!  Soderberg hasn't commented.  BTW, Majerus is one of the names being thrown around for the job and one report says he's spoken to Biondi.

[muarmy81]

I know Majerus mentioned health issues for backing out of the USC job but if he takes the SLU position it might confirm that he's addicted to midwest living...

[mviale]

SLU, Xavier, Dayton, Depaul, Creighton, & Marquette are all very similar in terms of venue, basketball history and student population.  Guess who had risen to the top in the last 10 years - Marquette.  The difference is Tom Crean.

[BigSky]

SLU, Xavier, Dayton, Depaul, Creighton, & Marquette are all very similar in terms of venue, basketball history and student population.  Guess who had risen to the top in the last 10 years - Marquette.  The difference is Tom Crean.

Each place is different. 

First, it is debatable whether Marquette has had more success than Xavier who has had an elite 8 appearance and other NCAA wins in that stretch.

Xavier competes with UC in the same city, other schools don't have that in the list.
SLU has had outdated facilities, and tiny hoops budget and less than half of the employees of MU's Athletic Dept. 
Differences in conference affiliations.
All of those schools are not on equal playing fields, by a long shot.

Marquette has done well to become an almost annual NCAA team in the past 6 years or so.  Entering the Big East sets them apart from the other schools going forward.  Marquette has a huge hoops budget nowadays and therefore pressure is and should be extremely high on Crean to now move Marquette from the almost annual NCAA team....to a team that also competes for Big East Titles, and wins multiple NCAA games etc..much more often in future years.  Everything to this point has been so far so good.  But obviously he will need to step up the results, particularly in post-season, moving forward to appease the masses.

Tom Crean has done a lot, but he has had the support of Wild, Cords, boosters, money and free reign to do a lot of things that wouldn't necessarily happen at other places. 

[4everwarriors]

If the Warriors have "risen to the top" as you proclaim, it's due to the commitment of the University's administration to the men's basketball program. Crean is an intregal part of Marquette's commitment, but if TC left or was let go, I am convinced this program goes forward with the same or a super-charged version of MU's commitment to build an elite program once again.

[BigSky]

If the Warriors have "risen to the top" as you proclaim, it's due to the commitment of the University's administration to the men's basketball program. Crean is an intregal part of Marquette's commitment, but if TC left or was let go, I am convinced this program goes forward with the same or a super-charged version of MU's commitment to build an elite program once again.

But there is ZERO guarantee that the next coach can simply come in and do well, even if a great commitment is there.  People who think Marquette can just pluck anyone and have great success are unrealistic imo.  And people who think Crean is merely a small part of the process would be wrong too.  He's been a big part of the process.  He has been learning on the job of how to run a program.  It is a roll of the dice and often times it doesn't work out out.  Thankfully Marquette won't have to deal with that in the near future. 

In today's instant gratification society, and what have you done for me lately.....MU is alive and well and doing just fine. 

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

If the Warriors have "risen to the top" as you proclaim, it's due to the commitment of the University's administration to the men's basketball program. Crean is an intregal part of Marquette's commitment, but if TC left or was let go, I am convinced this program goes forward with the same or a super-charged version of MU's commitment to build an elite program once again.

I actually agree with most of what you say! (shocking, I know)

#1 it is pretty clear that the University has made a commitment to the hoops program, and they are reaping the benefits of having a nationally ranked team (admissions, applications, PR, donations, etc.)

#2 Crean is an intergral part of this, and in a way I think he got the ball rolling. The board of Trustees and the higher ups that run MU are now realizing that any $ that they spend on basketball will come back to them in terms of overall marketing and revenue (see above). Before Crean, I don't think the people running MU realized how important hoops could be to MU. Crean wasn't a big "splashy" hire, he was a top assistant who has really help build the MU program.

#3 (this is where I disagree) I'm not sold on the fact that MU could replace Crean and keep the ball rolling. I definately think it is possible to do so, I'm just not sure that it is as easy as it seems. If it was so easy, a lot of schools (Georgetown, SJU, Villinova, NC State Michigan, Minnesota etc) wouldn't have had such long or dramatic drop-offs after they had great success. They could have just replaced the coach and kept moving forward.

I'm not sure if MU will have a drop-off or not, but I just don't think its easy to replace Coach Crean.

[mviale]

If you cant sell it, it doesnt happen. Crean sold it whether you like his coaching skilz or not.