Marshall interview

[ABC]

You asked a simple question - you received a simple answer.

No feelings hurt on this end, just noted the difference between the current AD and his predecessor.

Obviously you are his new lap dog and easily irritated by any comment remotely critical.

Get used to it. 8)

As always, an intelligent response. Clearly your feelings were hurt. I should ask why in the world ES should remember your name? I don't.

I have concerns, but find it quite simple to refute simpletons like you that base your judgment on whether or not he can remember your name.

Let me know next time your apply for the SASO or ICAA or Alumni Board or any other body that can use your brilliance to further the University.

When did you send your letter to Dr. Beggs asking for Sexton's resignation?

I do find it interesting when arguments are made that aren't backed up by any facts.

But this is a message board.

[ABC]

Seems to me we are all dancing around the key issues here. I'm convinced he is a really nice guy, he gets out to events, he talks to people and remembers their names, he is really sociable, and is apparently quite adept in the area of financial management.

But, inspite of all this BS, what I want to see and hear concerns whether or not the man has any Vision (which starts with a Capital V and stands for Victories in all sports), and if so, just what is it?

I simply would like to have him answer three questions.

Outline in detail (year by year in each category) your plans for WSU Sports and where we will headed during the next:

1. 5 years - Specifically cover basketball, baseball, and projections
for football.

2. 10 years - Same as above.

3. 15 years - Same as above

Please send me Schaus' 5,10 and 15 year plans.

[ShockerFever]

I haven't met Sexton but had a similar experience with Schaus. Though our meetings were few and short, he remembered who I was. The man was sharp with a memory like a black hole.

So in order to be a good AD, one must remember every Shocker fan's face & name the 2nd time they see them. That counts me out.

It's nice to have an athletic director that is personal with the people that are making him money. We don't need a weekly Sunday sermon, but just a brief update every now and then. It's a good skill to have. Is it the sole reason to decide how good an AD is? Of course not. But I'm not seeing anything that resembles "speak softly and carry a big stick". I'm seeing a "speak softly and carrying a twig."

By the way, I still don't know what ES's voice sounds like.

[ShockerFever]

ShockRef was asked about the differences in his meetings between the two. His first point was simply about professionalism and how ES came off and he left it at that until somebody asked for a comparisson to his meetings with JS. It was that simple. He even went as far as saying it would be difficult to come up with negative things about the man.

From simple observations though, JS was more outgoing and engaging than ES. They definitely have different traits and ideas on how to go about things. But with the success that JS had and the feelings he generated from much of the faithful it can't be easy to follow him and be very much different in approach. ES's lack of communication with the masses is what's brought up all these questions about him. I don't think anyone wants him to fail, but they aren't sure if he'll succeed. Nobody wants to take a step back after the gains we accomplished under JS and staying put isn't going to please most either. Progress must continue and I hope ES has a vision/idea on how to achieve that.

\

You are way off base here.

I knew/know both personally. If you think JS is more engaging than ES then you clearly don't know either.

You say ES has lack of communication to the masses, yet I posted his state of the athletic department brochure. Where/when/how did JS communicate to the masses?

My experience with JS is that he didn't give a damn what Shockers fans or supporters wanted. That's not to say he didn't do things that we liked, but that's not why he took those particular actions.

He was great at patronizing you to make you think he cared; but he didn't care.

This criticsm of ES is intruiging. And as the Mad Hatter states, there is nothing concrete. Just ShockRefs feelings being hurt that ES couldn't remember his name. BFD.

I think your personal relationship with ES is clouding your judgment and giving you a wicked a$$ bias in the discussion.

If you stack up the positive things that JS has done compared to those that ES has done in a particular time span, I think you'll see ES is coming up a bit short.

And I still don't know what his voice sounds like.

[vbird53]

One major concern that I have is that both our basketball and baseball programs were on the brink of NCAA births this year, but neither made it. To me, it seems like we kind of bent over and took it. Many could argue whether we deserved it or not, but I could make the exact same argument for the teams that did in fact get the birth.

How is that going to change in the future? I'm sure it's not the last time we're going to be sitting on the fence, needing a nudge into the promised land. What is going to force our way into the conversation?

[Ricardo del Rio]

Seems to me we are all dancing around the key issues here. I'm convinced he is a really nice guy, he gets out to events, he talks to people and remembers their names, he is really sociable, and is apparently quite adept in the area of financial management.

But, inspite of all this BS, what I want to see and hear concerns whether or not the man has any Vision (which starts with a Capital V and stands for Victories in all sports), and if so, just what is it?

I simply would like to have him answer three questions.

Outline in detail (year by year in each category) your plans for WSU Sports and where we will headed during the next:

1. 5 years - Specifically cover basketball, baseball, and projections
for football.

2. 10 years - Same as above.

3. 15 years - Same as above

Fund raising (development) - yes

Finanacial management - not so yes yet. However, in the black two years running.

[ShockTalk]

One major concern that I have is that both our basketball and baseball programs were on the brink of NCAA births this year, but neither made it. To me, it seems like we kind of bent over and took it. Many could argue whether we deserved it or not, but I could make the exact same argument for the teams that did in fact get the birth.

How is that going to change in the future? I'm sure it's not the last time we're going to be sitting on the fence, needing a nudge into the promised land. What is going to force our way into the conversation?

Near perfection. As long as we're a part of the "current" MVC, for both baseball and basketball, it will take a near error free non-con and error free conference play. You must assume we are in a one bid conference.

We could make a big splash in a quality game in basketball and it would go a long way in make up for any small stumbles, but the Valley needs to require more of its members. They must improve their scheduling and improve the depth of quality within each sport so that it can become a multiple bid conference.

[shocker3]

I think that those of you who haven't heard Eric Sexton's voice, must not be going to very many games.

I have talked to Mr. Sexton several times over the last two years.

I have found him to be a lot more friendly and open than JS. And he is certainly a lot more loyal to WSU than JS. JS was more concerned about building his resume, Eric is concerned about WSU's future.

[Snapshot9]

The MVC, I believe, will continue much like it has in the past. Now, if improved scheduling comes along when most of the MVC teams are mature (Juniors and Seniors), then they might get multiple bids to the Big Dance.

The MVC is basically a 2 bidder at best. We hear all the crying about scheduling, but most coaches won't play anyone for fear of losing to better teams, especially in November and December. We kind of stepped out of that line of thinking when we played Pittsburgh and Texas Tech.

So, I am asking, are we afraid of the Big Boys or not? If not, then schedule some games with them, and let the chips fall where they might.

[shocker3]

ShockRef was asked about the differences in his meetings between the two. His first point was simply about professionalism and how ES came off and he left it at that until somebody asked for a comparisson to his meetings with JS. It was that simple. He even went as far as saying it would be difficult to come up with negative things about the man.

From simple observations though, JS was more outgoing and engaging than ES. They definitely have different traits and ideas on how to go about things. But with the success that JS had and the feelings he generated from much of the faithful it can't be easy to follow him and be very much different in approach. ES's lack of communication with the masses is what's brought up all these questions about him. I don't think anyone wants him to fail, but they aren't sure if he'll succeed. Nobody wants to take a step back after the gains we accomplished under JS and staying put isn't going to please most either. Progress must continue and I hope ES has a vision/idea on how to achieve that.

\

You are way off base here.

I knew/know both personally. If you think JS is more engaging than ES then you clearly don't know either.

You say ES has lack of communication to the masses, yet I posted his state of the athletic department brochure. Where/when/how did JS communicate to the masses?

My experience with JS is that he didn't give a damn what Shockers fans or supporters wanted. That's not to say he didn't do things that we liked, but that's not why he took those particular actions.

He was great at patronizing you to make you think he cared; but he didn't care.

This criticsm of ES is intruiging. And as the Mad Hatter states, there is nothing concrete. Just ShockRefs feelings being hurt that ES couldn't remember his name. BFD.

I know them both very well (I even know JS's son pretty well, he was an intern for a good friend of mine) and I totally agree with ABC.

JS did a lot of things that Shocker fans liked but he did them to improve his resume.

His goal to get his next job many times was good for the Shocker nation, but I think a lot of times it hurt as well.

Eric isn't looking to go anywhere else. He is a Shocker. His dad is a Shocker. He is loyal to WSU and his goals are to improve this university.

[ShockerFever]

I think that those of you who haven't heard Eric Sexton's voice, must not be going to very many games.

I have talked to Mr. Sexton several times over the last two years.

I have found him to be a lot more friendly and open than JS. And he is certainly a lot more loyal to WSU than JS. JS was more concerned about building his resume, Eric is concerned about WSU's future.

I'm a basketball season ticket holder and have been to a good number of baseball games this year. I've seen him on the court during pre tipoff ceremonies but I still have not heard his voice. But then again... this is only year 3 of the ES Administration.. :roll:

There is also one more glaring problem with your post. What exactly is ES's concern for WSU's future, considering we haven't heard his plans for it?

[shocker3]

I think that those of you who haven't heard Eric Sexton's voice, must not be going to very many games.

I have talked to Mr. Sexton several times over the last two years.

I have found him to be a lot more friendly and open than JS. And he is certainly a lot more loyal to WSU than JS. JS was more concerned about building his resume, Eric is concerned about WSU's future.

I'm a basketball season ticket holder and have been to good number of baseball games this year. I've seen him on the court during pre tipoff ceremonies but I still have not heard his voice. But then again... this is only year 3 of the ES Administration.. :roll:

There is also one more glaring problem with your post. What exactly is ES's concern for WSU's future, considering we haven't heard his plans for it?

I think ABC did a good job of listing many of Mr. Sexton's accomplishments during his first two years of being AD.

One example, Eric Sexton overseeing the Indoor Practice Facility and the improvements to our baseball facilities. He understands that we have to keep improving our facilities or we will move backwards. Many on this board have expressed concerns and doubts about these improvements, but they are very necessary if we want to have a good future in college baseball.

One of my pet peeves with JS was his lack of vision with KOCH arena. It made no sense to me to do a total renovation and not expand the seating capacity. But it was in HIS best interest to make the arena a little smaller. It made it easier for him to sell it out to make his resume look better. A 12-13,000 seat arena would have been better for WSU's future but that didn't coincide with improving JS's resume.

We won't have those kind of conflicts with Mr. Sexton.

Another example is Mr. Sexton improving our TV coverage. We have the best TV package since the early to mid 80s. Again Mr. Sexton understands that more TV exposure is extremely important to WSU's future.

It was not in JS's best interest to greatly improve the TV package, he thought it would be easier to sell out the arena if there were fewer games on TV. That is one of the reason's he cancelled the Shocker Channel (which we had had since 1981).

I got very frustrated with JS when the WSU-USC from Vegas game was not televised. That was only one of 3 games against BCS teams that year, and JS could care less if that game was on TV.

One of the reason's universities have athletic teams is to promote the university. More TV exposure of athletic games gives the university more exposure. But if your #1 goal is making sure every game is sold out so that it makes your resume look better than you don't care about whether the university gets additional coverage.

[Aargh]

One of my pet peeves with JS was his lack of vision with KOCH arena. It made no sense to me to do a total renovation and not expand the seating capacity. But it was in HIS best interest to make the arena a little smaller. It made it easier for him to sell it out to make his resume look better. A 12-13,000 seat arena would have been better for WSU's future but that didn't coincide with improving JS's resume.

Raising the capacity requires enlarging the bowl. You can't just go up. That creates a wall and you can't sell seats on a wall.

If you enlarge the bowl, you're starting from scratch with all the structural components. Reusing the original structural components allowed the renovations to be done at a surprisingly small cost.

There were several articles written on this subject during the renovation. As I recall, raising the capacity would have doubled or tripled the cost and JS didn't believe the funding could be raised quickly enough (if at all). Koch was in such bad need of a rehab that another 5 or 10 years of fund raising wasn't a good option.

[ShockerFever]

Uh, ABC's list had a lot of inaccuracies in it and when compared to JS's positive impacts, there is no comparison. One inaccuracy, for example, is the Maui Classic. That was put together under JS. We were rumored to be apart of that tournament since 2007. ES had nothing to do with it.

Are you seriously complaining about Roundhouse Renaissance? Wow. Raising the seating capacity would have totally taken away the history and "roundhouse appearance" of the facility that JS wanted to maintain. You might as well just built a whole new building if you wanted more seats because it wasn't gonna be possible any other way. Maybe you're not a "history" or "tradition" guy. This was a very asinine assertion. To think that JS was trying to "pad" his resume by having more sellouts. It made financial sense. Wouldn't you prefer your university to be selling out its arena? I know I would.

And I have no idea what you meant in this statement:

We won't have those kind of conflicts with Mr. Sexton.

What the hell does that even mean? Are you suggesting ES is scheming about a new arena with a 16,000 seat capacity?

Even more cynical was your television argument. Take a look back at our tv coverage when JS got here. Maybe 4 or 5 games max per year on tv in both basketball and baseball COMBINED. And now look where we are. The difference is night and day. ES is just maintaining what JS built up. If I recall, Shockervision was implemented by JS. I think that was a pretty good idea, don't ya think? It simply isn't comparable between JS and ES in the media/tv department. Not even close.

My God.. get off the guy's cahoonies for a second and take a look at reality.

[shox1989]

I think that those of you who haven't heard Eric Sexton's voice, must not be going to very many games.

I have talked to Mr. Sexton several times over the last two years.

I have found him to be a lot more friendly and open than JS. And he is certainly a lot more loyal to WSU than JS. JS was more concerned about building his resume, Eric is concerned about WSU's future.

I'm a basketball season ticket holder and have been to good number of baseball games this year. I've seen him on the court during pre tipoff ceremonies but I still have not heard his voice. But then again... this is only year 3 of the ES Administration.. :roll:

There is also one more glaring problem with your post. What exactly is ES's concern for WSU's future, considering we haven't heard his plans for it?

I think ABC did a good job of listing many of Mr. Sexton's accomplishments during his first two years of being AD.

One example, Eric Sexton overseeing the Indoor Practice Facility and the improvements to our baseball facilities. He understands that we have to keep improving our facilities or we will move backwards. Many on this board have expressed concerns and doubts about these improvements, but they are very necessary if we want to have a good future in college baseball.

One of my pet peeves with JS was his lack of vision with KOCH arena. It made no sense to me to do a total renovation and not expand the seating capacity. But it was in HIS best interest to make the arena a little smaller. It made it easier for him to sell it out to make his resume look better. A 12-13,000 seat arena would have been better for WSU's future but that didn't coincide with improving JS's resume.

We won't have those kind of conflicts with Mr. Sexton.

Another example is Mr. Sexton improving our TV coverage. We have the best TV package since the early to mid 80s. Again Mr. Sexton understands that more TV exposure is extremely important to WSU's future.

It was not in JS's best interest to greatly improve the TV package, he thought it would be easier to sell out the arena if there were fewer games on TV. That is one of the reason's he cancelled the Shocker Channel (which we had had since 1981).

I got very frustrated with JS when the WSU-USC from Vegas game was not televised. That was only one of 3 games against BCS teams that year, and JS could care less if that game was on TV.

One of the reason's universities have athletic teams is to promote the university. More TV exposure of athletic games gives the university more exposure. But if your #1 goal is making sure every game is sold out so that it makes your resume look better than you don't care about whether the university gets additional coverage.

Those are good points. My only real gripe with Sexton is that he hasn't articulated a vision to bring back football. But Schaus never did either.

I will agree that I have found Sexton to be friendlier and more genuine when I talk to him at games. Schaus always seemed kind of fake to me, kind of like a used car salesman.

I always wondered why they didn't increase the size of the arena when they did the reconstruction. As I recall reading articles at the time, it wouldn't have cost much more if you did it then, but trying to go it now would cost a lot.

Also good points on the Tv package. Before Schaus you could get all of the home games on TV if you subscribed to the shocker channel and you could usually get about 6 to 8 games more a year on regular TV. Schaus dumped the Shocker channel and eventually got more games on TV but they were on the news and weather cable channel, very few on regular TV.
If you didn't have COX you didn't get to see much Shocker basketball.

Sexton did a great job with this years TV package. As I recall there were 9 games on NATIONAL TV (espn, espnu or espn2) We haven't had that in a long time.