eu96
New Member
Posts: 256
|
Post by eu96 on Apr 7, 2024 16:15:06 GMT -5
I know Kennedy has his defenders on here in force, however those defenders are slowly becoming apologists. Elon baseball has been flat out mediocre for a number of seasons now. However, this year we are flat out terrible. 1-8 in conf?? Kinda tough watching programs like Campbell start to run laps around us. Man, Elon athletics are struggling right now
|
|
|
Post by euphoenix99 on Apr 8, 2024 13:44:10 GMT -5
No argument from me on how bad they are this year. I've gotten so accustomed to Kennedy working magic, but this season is a lost cause. The pitching is terrible. Not sure how much of that can attributed to the new pitching coach or if it's just a whiff on recruiting. I know they lost one of the weekend starters in his first game of the season, but that doesn't explain how bad everyone else is.
With all that said, they did just finish second in the 7th ranked conference (RPI) last season, however they haven't been to the NCAA tourney since joining the CAA. I get both sides of it. There are a lot of lingering problems in Elon athletics and in my opinion Kennedy isn't one of them at the moment.
A separate observation I was discussing with someone this past weekend. It seems there's a direct correlation between facility upgrades and teams getting worse. Women's basketball was killing it the final years in Alumni and have been mediocre to bad since moving into Schar. Men's hoops and volleyball haven't received the anticipated bump that typically comes with better facilities. Softball has a great facility, but can't seem to be anything better than a .500 team. Baseball finally got some well-deserved upgrades and it looks like we're on pace for one of the worst seasons in D1. The facility upgrades are great, but they aren't translating into success.
Go Phoenix!
|
|
eu96
New Member
Posts: 256
|
Post by eu96 on Apr 10, 2024 8:39:15 GMT -5
I disagree somewhat about Kennedy. I think Elon has been on a glide slope towards mediocrity for some time now. The question is where is the bottom? And are we going to simply wait till we hit it, or are we going to honest and be proactive.
There is always a danger in comparison. However, a natural measuring stick is HPU, everyone’s favorite school to roll our eyes at. I’m guilty of it to. I think Nido is a used car salesman. The school is leveraged to the hilt financially. But the school is succeeding, and a big part of that is their athletics program. Their facilities are nice, as are ours. However, they have a 100% commitment from their administration to have winning teams. And that commitment manifests itself into results. They fired their basketball coach a few years ago about 7 games!!! Don’t tell me Nido didn’t sign off on that . And look at the results…HPU basketball has risen to heights we could only dream off. Soccer, lacrosse, baseball, they are passing us as well. At this rate, they won’t be in the Big South much longer. HPU understands sports are the “front porch” of any university. Elon to say the least, does not share this mentality.
|
|
|
Post by euphoenix99 on Apr 10, 2024 10:25:36 GMT -5
I disagree somewhat about Kennedy. I think Elon has been on a glide slope towards mediocrity for some time now. The question is where is the bottom? And are we going to simply wait till we hit it, or are we going to honest and be proactive. There is always a danger in comparison. However, a natural measuring stick is HPU, everyone’s favorite school to roll our eyes at. I’m guilty of it to. I think Nido is a used car salesman. The school is leveraged to the hilt financially. But the school is succeeding, and a big part of that is their athletics program. Their facilities are nice, as are ours. However, they have a 100% commitment from their administration to have winning teams. And that commitment manifests itself into results. They fired their basketball coach a few years ago about 7 games!!! Don’t tell me Nido didn’t sign off on that . And look at the results…HPU basketball has risen to heights we could only dream off. Soccer, lacrosse, baseball, they are passing us as well. At this rate, they won’t be in the Big South much longer. HPU understands sports are the “front porch” of any university. Elon to say the least, does not share this mentality. Last night didn't help my case. No hit and run ruled in the same game. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse. That's what I get for trying to be positive. I agree on your comparison. Very few schools at our level do everything well, but we don't seem to be doing anything well. Schools that look just like us are simply doing it better. Furman, Wofford, Samford for sure and Campbell and HPU to some extent. There's at least a vibe of being pointed in the right direction at those schools. Right now Elon's vision seems to be let's come back next year with zero changes and hope things get better. Some of these coaches have nowhere to go but up, which is even more concerning because it'll look like progress is being made. Snapshot of team sports to date: Football: 6-5 Men's Soccer: 6-8-4 Women's Soccer: 3-9-5 Volleyball: 5-22 Men's Hoops: 13-19 Women's Hoops: 11-21 Softball: 14-24 Baseball: 11-21 Lacrosse: 6-7 We're clearly not doing it right and we're essentially giving Strawley 2 years before she has to do anything about it. No one expects a scorched earth clean house approach, but there is so much low hanging fruit and we continue to slow walk everything. Go Phoenix!
|
|
fc97
Elon Only
Posts: 650
|
Post by fc97 on May 8, 2024 14:26:22 GMT -5
What do you expect from a woke as hell administration and school
|
|
|
Post by fearthephoenix on May 9, 2024 15:47:13 GMT -5
What do you expect from a woke as hell administration and school Find me a higher education institution that doesn’t fit your dumbass definition of “woke”. You are an absolute joke for even saying that. We KNOW the University Administration does not truly invest in athletics. This ain’t new, but if you want change, raise hell with Connie, Dooley, and others.
|
|
fc97
Elon Only
Posts: 650
|
Post by fc97 on May 10, 2024 0:26:08 GMT -5
For the first part: VMI, Liberty, BYU, Campbell, Charleston Southern just to rattle off a few quickly.
For the second part, I didn’t give a definition of woke. But the fact is the university has been more interested in political stances than athletics success for at least 5 years, since HB1 was a thing.
Defensive much?
|
|
|
Post by fearthephoenix on May 10, 2024 19:35:16 GMT -5
For the first part: VMI, Liberty, BYU, Campbell, Charleston Southern just to rattle off a few quickly. For the second part, I didn’t give a definition of woke. But the fact is the university has been more interested in political stances than athletics success for at least 5 years, since HB1 was a thing. Defensive much? Very defensive because it is simply a horrible take. Of course, a private liberal arts institution in Burlington, NC is going to have to make statements considering the heart of the student body is from the Northeast. You have to market to the families that are paying over $60k to have their kids go to school at Elon. Also, I could easily pick apart those schools that you listed but why waste my time? At the end of the day, our athletic department is underperforming and I am currently watching A&T beat the absolute snot out of us in baseball. However, I’ll give you this. Campbell has had solid success recently because the University Administration has fully invested in athletics. That has not happened here and we can fire and hire whoever we want. However, until Book and company fully embraces the challenge, I don’t see immediate change.
|
|
|
Post by epx on May 12, 2024 21:47:32 GMT -5
For the first part: VMI, Liberty, BYU, Campbell, Charleston Southern just to rattle off a few quickly. For the second part, I didn’t give a definition of woke. But the fact is the university has been more interested in political stances than athletics success for at least 5 years, since HB1 was a thing. Defensive much? At the end of the day, our athletic department is underperforming and I am currently watching A&T beat the absolute snot out of us in baseball. However, I’ll give you this. Campbell has had solid success recently because the University Administration has fully invested in athletics. That has not happened here and we can fire and hire whoever we want. However, until Book and company fully embraces the challenge, I don’t see immediate change. Absolute truth. Campbell stacks scholarships & Elon doesn't. This means that there are a significant number of Campbell baseball players that have 100% scholarships or only slightly under that. Elon is falling behind academically as well. Campbell has a med school, a law school and a pharmacy school, along with engineering, cyber security etc., etc. High Point U. doesn't have football, but all of their other sports are equal or better than Elon. Plus their campus is nicer and better equipped. HPU also has a pharmacy school. Both of those schools are considerably more conservative than Elon which, in the current political climate makes them more attractive to the average parent. I love Elon, but they've gotten caught up in the woke culture because that's what the Ivy's do and Book, et. al., think that makes us better. They better start thinking ahead before it's too late.
|
|
|
Post by epx on May 12, 2024 22:27:51 GMT -5
What do you expect from a woke as hell administration and school Find me a higher education institution that doesn’t fit your dumbass definition of “woke”. You are an absolute joke for even saying that.Duke, NCSU, Campbell, HPU, UNCW. This current culture stems back to when the idiot marketers at Elon started calling us "Harvard of the South", which is so unf**king believably stupid. At the very best, Elon is no better than the 6th best academic institution in North Carolina, let alone the entire southern region of the United States. Regarding athletics, Elon is so far away from having an identity, it's funny. Silly. We can't figure out 1 sport, much less 17. For Book, et.al., sports is just some aggravation they have to deal with while they're chasing the stupid dream of being an Ivy League school. Elon could learn so much from schools like HPU and Campbell, but they put their fingers in their ears and pinch their collective noses when considering schools like HPU and Campbell because an "Elite academic institution" like Elon should never be mentioned in the same sentence as those redneck deplorables. Well, let's make sure to wave as they pass us by, becoming respectable academic institutions while we try to sniff the plantar surface of Harvard's feet, and the dinosaur Ivy League model.
|
|
fc97
Elon Only
Posts: 650
|
Post by fc97 on May 14, 2024 13:03:55 GMT -5
Truth, it’s not just me, this is an artificial, created and marketed image that we have that has separated alumni from the school. They’re right, we have neglected go-to degrees and schools. When High Point for a pharmacy school, I knew we were on the wrong track.
When we talk about creating an image for where the students come from, I call BS. To act like there are no conservative and centrist or even traditional liberals in target recruits states is silliness.
We’ve lost out on new schools for academics and are forcing o social sciences. We have no marketing via sports. We have no niche calling of getting good speakers the the local metros care about. Heck, doing something like the Quintilian poll gives the college an image and we gave up o.n the Elon poll.
Right now trying to be like an ivy is not a selling point. HP and Campbell did not do that, neither did Furman and Samford. We’ve screwed the pooch here across the board, and it is image politics driving it. They need to unwind this stuff and reset, fast.
If UNCW and W&M go SoCon then we will be out of luck. The CAS has no cohesiveness holding it together; we have no school identity holding alumni and students together, and we are losing diploma value for employers who care about that.
|
|
|
Post by epx on May 14, 2024 18:14:33 GMT -5
Probably not the place for this, but in the past 24 hours UNC, VCU and GMU all dumped their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, (DEI), departments. UNC will be using these funds to beef up their campus police. All 3 should be applauded. Teach the students how to think, not what to think, and common sense will make the world a much better place!!!
|
|
|
Post by fearthephoenix on May 17, 2024 23:24:18 GMT -5
Probably not the place for this, but in the past 24 hours UNC, VCU and GMU all dumped their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, (DEI), departments. UNC will be using these funds to beef up their campus police. All 3 should be applauded. Teach the students how to think, not what to think, and common sense will make the world a much better place!!! Yes. Let’s dump the DEI departments at a University where the majority of the racial diversity comes from your student-athletes. Sad but not surprised by these takes. Go ask the student-athletes of diverse backgrounds about their experiences and what it would look like without intentional inclusion opportunities for them. Let me know what you find out. Additionally, you are applauding VCU and GMU for what exactly? Their Governor did an audit and their schools faced potential ramifications for not doing what believes. Really disappointing.
|
|
|
Post by epx on May 18, 2024 14:42:08 GMT -5
Diversity is a positive for sure. Inclusion, with regard to race, ethnicity and demographic/financial background is also a positive. I agree with Diversity and Inclusion. That "E" doesn't stand for Equality, which means equal opportunity or "leveling the playing field". It stands for Equity which means equal outcome. I'd be willing to bet that the student athletes you speak of would be pretty upset if the coaches split all the playing time equally for all the players at each position regardless of whether they've earned playing time. That's called equity. Give all students an A because they attended all their classes regardless of whether they earned the grade. That's equity. Pay everyone at the company the same salary as long as they show up regardless of how good a job they do - equity. That's called communism and it doesn't work. It never has worked and simply never will work because of human nature. In my opinion, I don't care whether you're black or white, male or female, gay or straight if you're the best at your job/position etc., you should be rewarded.
I don't know if you have ever said we should fire a coach because he/she isn't performing, but if you have, you don't believe in equity either.
|
|
|
Post by fearthephoenix on May 18, 2024 17:58:27 GMT -5
Respectfully, that’s not what equity is. Equity is the recognition that everyone starts at different places and resources are provided to ensure there is equal opportunity. Google can further educate you.
Also, we just finished the worst season in Elon D-1 history and the team simply just didn’t compete at all today. Might be time to revisit the pitching coach.
|
|