TheTastyGreek

Every day we don't lose is another day of sweet, nourishing harvest.

If the conference tournament started today, the impact would be so calamitous, it absolutely boggles the mind. Somehow, two entire weeks would have disappeared from our linear progression of time. EVEN IF WE ASSUME that this were a complete segmented removal, and not some sort of extended two-week FlashForward type of gap in the collective consciousness... The missing part of the calendar would have almost incalculable, disastrous impacts across every part of the globe. Just to pick a very miniscule example... IF the conference tournament started today, we'd have lost 40% of the annual harvest window for Temple oranges. FORTY PERCENT! Just the year before, a terrible hurricane season reduced citrus yields in Florida by 32%. This hypothetical Tournament Starts Today scenario would force a 25% worse impact on TEMPLE ORANGES ALONE than an entire year of historically destructive hurricane activity! And that's just TEMPLE ORANGES! What about avocados? Asparagus? Apricots? I HAVEN'T EVEN GOTTEN TO FRUITS AND VEGETABLES THAT START WITH THE LETTER B! And there would still be 24 MORE LETTERS WORTH OF FOOD PRODUCTS POTENTIALLY IMPACTED!!! Frankly, even a thought experiment like this opens doorways to horror so traumatic, I can barely steady my hands enough to type this response. Let the tournament come when it comes. Live in the now. Be present in the day we have before us. Each one is a precious gift. Make the most of it, friends. And, enjoy a Temple orange. ...while you still can?

I don't think so. With a home run hire and the sort of fan support that justifies these expectations and hard decisions... I wouldn't be surprised if they're the next Boise State.

In trying times like these, I turn to the wise words of MATTHEW 28:18-20 from the MOP* translation of the good book: And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth and on YouTube. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations that reject AdBlock, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to like, comment, subscribe, and observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world, so long as you don't use the DuckDuckGo browser. * - Monetized Online Preacher

Will they bring back the fireworks of shame? I sort of miss that tradition.

I haven't felt this excited and optimistic since we beat ULM in 2007.

You hush. This is the only good thing to happen in the Eric Morris era.

@rojomojo -- Any suggestions or references about the cost of gasoline?

I feel like there's been entirely too much focus on swag. Meanwhile, teams actually win games with rizz and drip. You can't be based if you're not takin' it steezy. Anyone that's all about swag is gonna end up mid-lit, at best. If you want to play to slay? Rizz is the way. Also, helmet stickers.

https://pac-4.com/

Bad measurables, eh? Just gotta coach yourself up, buddy.

Or, Amanda Wurlitzer McCollum, I suppose.

Good thing his dad didn't fall for the wrong baseball movie, or we'd have a QB named Morris Buttermaker McCollum instead.

Did she take many other official visits before signing day?

I remember that Mc-whatever guy, I think. Dude that worked here before Hodge, right? Anyway, good luck to him. Or, thoughts and prayers, whatever happens to be going on. Didn't bother reading.

One day soon, he'll have his name hanging in our Hall of Fame, right between Derek Thompson and Diet Coke Boy.

Well, he's a West Virginia guy now... So, it's really more of a rickety stool or upturned crate.

Marveling at guys with full sets of teeth that can read the text on their championship shirts. Be nice. He has to go back to live in West Virginia tomorrow.

He's a West Virginia guy now. I'm just glad he wore his fancy overalls, and buckled both straps.

Frankly, if McCasland is gone? The real question is, who does Ross Hodge bring in as his lead assistant? Because that's the guy you hope to have this same conversation about in 2-4 years.

Coaches come and go. Consistent programs, the ones that turn non-basketball schools into Basketball Schools, promote from within when that happens. They don't go looking for their next head coach once the man in the chair moves on. They have that guy right there, ready to go. They already made that next hire and started on-the-job training when they hired their first or second assistant. You don't need to worry about "getting their guys in" or whether or not "their system" works with the talent on hand. All the players already know them. Everyone in the incoming recruiting class already went through a recruiting cycle with them on the staff. They've been running the system already, and any changes they may want to make are likely incremental, and certainly informed by the talent on hand well beyond what anyone outside the building could possibly know. It doesn't take a year, or two, or three (or NEVER) for them to get up to speed. They don't have to establish local connections and build recruiting pipelines. They've already been doing it for you for years. Successfully, or else the previous coach wouldn't have been hired away. If you're someone that's annoyed by salary inflation or length of contracts? Historically, promote-from-within hires get less money and shorter contracts than people hired from outside of a program. They're cheaper, easier to move on from if you do have issues, but generally more successful, faster, than people who come in and remake a program in their own image. If a promote-from-within guy has head coach experience elsewhere? Great! Excellent bonus. If they don't? It's nothing like hiring a career assistant from outside the building. They already know the institution, the department, they have stability and connections and awareness of the circumstances and challenges of their new job. They aren't starting from scratch. They're just taking on a bigger burden beyond what they already did successfully at your school. When you're building a program... An actual PROGRAM, not a boom-and-bust, cross your fingers and hope one out of every two or three big outside hires succeeds, too? You promote from within, maintain what's working, minimize disruption, and keep the train rolling along. That's how schools where basketball was an afterthought become serious, then dangerous, then household names. Jared Mosley would have been a tremendous hire as our AD back when Wren Baker got the job. We were ridiculously fortunate to get both. One left, as people inevitably will outside of maybe 10 institutions in college sports. And the other slid over one desk and we haven't missed a step. Ross Hodge would have been a great hire back when we brought in McCasland. We were ridiculously fortunate to get both. WHEN McCasland leaves (whether this year, next, or somewhere else down the line), we're in an ideal position as long as Hodge hasn't left first. This is the easiest, no-brainer hire in the history of NT sports. Unless Hodge gets stupid money to go be a Big 12 assistant and declines the job? He's the guy. Maybe he fails. Most coaches do. But, it's the rare, beautiful situation where the sure thing and safe bet aren't settling for low expectations. He's the smart pick, the easy pick, the safe pick, and the best pick, all in one package.

Are they renting, or buying???

GWTOGwistfullyMT