The "BCG just wanted a lifetime committment" thing is the silliest thing I've heard yet. Everyone knew BCG could have had anything, and I mean ANYTHING, he wanted, if he would commit to a longer term deal. I wonder if Pat Foster was Lopez's source, and he's just spinning one side of the story.

nice call cs69

Byrne is HERE trying to find us a basketball coach and Clyde is over in Kentucky feeding wildcat nation the same spiel he fed us and UTEP just a few years before. I won't believe any article that tries to twist the fact that Byrne was the bad guy in this deal. Clyde had gotten a raise the last two years and should have known another deal was in the works.

Truth is Clyde got his nose out of joint about something and tramped himself to Arkansas to the point that they fired a 20 win coach thinking he was going to sign on the dotted line. By that time UK was in the picture and Clyde not only stiffed Arkansas but tabled a damn generous deal to extend his stay at A&M. Clyde's actions were to the point that it would be detrimental to the program to bring him back for another year. There would be a 99.99% chance that he would have been looking for another job in 2008. That is not the way to build a consistent winning program. You cannot recruit to that.

The deal about construction delays were because of input suggested by both basketball coaches that needed to be reviewed and approved by both the coordinating board and the BOR. Once started the New facility will go up in no time.

I am okay with Clyde being long gone, he wasn't going to put down any roots here anyway. I never figured he would be a lifer around here, but I at least thought that he would stay long enough to solidify the program into a national contender but that didn't happen. He got the itch to move and left a couple of years too soon. You are not going to establish any continuity with a suitcase coach like Gillispie. Hopefully Turgeon can pick up the baton and take us to the next level. If he stays seven years and wins then that is all you can expect for a program with as little basketball tradition as A&M has.

Make no mistake about it we are greatly behind the curve because we did not parlay the success of the 70's and early 80's into a new facility and a step up in coaching talent between the period of 1983-2004. It was a 20 year period of basketball oblivion around these parts. It will take awhile to put that behind us. We just have to make another good hire and continue on with the building program already in the works. That shouldn't stop just because clyde took a ride out of town.

...so poor FBG, once he had been disrespected by Byrne he had to take the KFC job as his safety net?!!!!!!?

are you phuking kidding me?

...also he was told that the KFC job would be hell after day one but since he hadn't been dealt with honestly he had to fall on the grenade?!!!!!?

poor FBG was forced to take the KFC job by that dishonest A.D. that took away his dream job where he wanted to spend the rest of his life at a place he loved with the kind of kids he loved to coach ....RIIIIIIIIIGHTTTTTTTT

pure and simple damage control by FBG tools to help recruiting in Texas for KFC

[This message has been edited by bogustrumper (edited 4/9/2007 6:01a).]

Ok, so how many people on this Board would be mad at your bosses for working behind your back trying to give you a substantial raise? Exactly. Lopez is a hack!

Exactly roboag. That's exactly what I was thinking.

In Byrne we trust...what is Lopez smoking now?

I trust Byrne. Why?

Cause $Bill is money!

If all this is true, then Byrne has a major problem with either someone on his staff who can't keep his/her mouth shut, or his wife is talking to the media. I doubt either is true. I don't buy much of this stuff.

Dumb article. No logic.

Agg2000' you hit the nail on the head with the recruiting aspect.

mallen nailed it, Pat Foster or even BCG gave him that story.

After reading all this, and reading the article twice, I agree with the early poster who said someone else got their ego bruised by being left out of the loop and is whining to the press. This guy is just throwing gas on the fire by giving a "source" credibility. When you are dealing with jocks, management and a huge corporation, there are plenty of HUGE egos to deal with.

"ROGER - OUT"

Who the hell is TKC ??

Its a shame they stopped teaching reading comprehension in schools 25 years ago. Many of you could have used it.

My guess would be that 5% of that article is true. The rest is pure nonsense.

Very interesting, but the life time contract thing is something that throws me- sounds like his reliable source was TKC.

I never did like Broyles and this proves why. He is an a$$, a cheat, and so is Pat Foster. They interfered with our program. Put your cards on the table after the season is over. I wonder how this affected our performance down the stretch. This is just like Bear Bryant and Alabama did to us in the 50's. Cost us a national championship.

MT will do great for his vast experience will bring good credibility.

Also this issue about working behind billy's back with the BOR. What was BB supposed to do? Have billy in the board room?



[This message has been edited by Houstonag (edited 4/9/2007 7:30a).]

This blog makes zero sense. The timing is off. FBCG had already expected the job on Fri before he was in LA. If FBCG wanted to stay, why didn't he sign the deal in Atlanta?

I like John Lopez, but to me this is the key to the whole article (and the reason why I'm not down on Bill Byrne):

quote:

---

Here's how the puzzle pieces fit: As the Aggie basketball season was winding down, former University of Houston coach Pat Foster, a close friend of Gillispie's worked as an intermediary between the University of Arkansas and Gillispie.

---

I don't see how you can write that line and then turn around and defend TKC about how he really, really wanted the lifetime committment from A&M. If you want a comittment, you show that you are committed. You don't flirt with Arkansas reps in the middle of your conference season, whether it was through an intermediary or not.

A lot of b.s. in that story, and here's one HUGE inconsistency which proves it:

quote:

---

The Hogs were working behind the scenes as far back as early-February, with an eye on Gillispie as Stan Heath's replacement....

Meanwhile, Gillispie tried to stay out of the fray as he tried to win a Big 12 title and take this team to the Final Four. He spoke with Foster only occasionally, telling his friend he was happy at A&M, but come the end of the season they would talk seriously about it again...

Broyles continued to talk with Foster and felt confident they would get Gillispie, to the point that he didn't even compile a second list of potential candidates.

Gillispie spoke with Foster after the Aggies were eliminated in the Sweet 16....

---

Sorry, you don't leap from point A to point Q when trying to string a story together.

If BCG was happy at A&M and looking for a lifetime commitment, then there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY the story goes much further from that point, unless Foster is a complete idiot or double-talking conniving twit.

Obviously, Lopez is being fed information by either or both (1) someone in TKC's camp--probably Pat Foster; or (2) somone in the A&M athletic department who is unhappy about being cut out of the coaching search (a name comes to mind, but it would be pure conjecture on my part).

Who knows if any of it is true, but there are some things that pieced together with what we've been hearing elsewhere:

1. Broyles totally misread Billy's intentions. Who's fault that was, I don't know, but I still don't think that Billy really wanted the Arkansas job. It just wasn't a big enough of a step up.

2. Gillispie probably did call or attempt to call Byrne to give Byrne a chance to counter Kentucky's offer. I doubt that he was in earnest about staying and begged Byrne to let him come back. He just wanted to use us to max out the offer from Kentucky.

That sneaky Bill Bryne!!!

After getting 2 straight $300K raises after his first 2 seasons, Byrne SURPRISED everyone (including BCG) by working on a contract extension and raise????

WTF????

Who could have seen that coming? I totally understand how BCG was shocked. What kind of commitment does it show to give a guy raises every year and build a $22 million practice facility.

BB definitely screwed this one up!

It doesn't make much sense. BCG had a very long contract with incentives for staying, new facilities being built practically in his honor, and is offered massive raises every year he was here. What more could we do to show commitment?

I have no doubt Byrne has a big ego and won't take crap from coaches, but I can't believe this is how everything went down.

I do have one concern, though. I think Byrne may really limit searches on future coaches to people he thinks he can have control over. That could be a negative thing. That said, I like Turgeon more than Kruger and Majerus anyway. Had the two latter names been Dixon and Floyd, I may be a little upset.

The main point to take from this article: A&M is now a school that good coaches want to work for now.

This is starting to sound like the Jimmy Johnson-Jerry Jones fiasco.

Amen

That article is pure, unadulterated BULLCRAP. I do not believe one word of it. TKC did exactly what he set out to do and got what he wanted. Good riddance to him and welcome Mark Turgeon ! Onward and upward.

Seems very speculative.

Agracer: TKC = the kentucky coach, aka FBG.

This is a rotten article and I can't believe an Aggie fell for this crap. We need a real journalism school.

agrace,

TKC=FBG or BFG or FBCG...lol

So, in reality, TKC = "The Kentucky Coach"

quote:

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Once started the New facility will go up in no time.

---

Once started, the new facility will proceed at a measured pace. A large part of it will be underground and the water table will have to be dealt with. It will be built right, which means it won't go up lickety split.

ATTENTION: LOPEZ IS A DIPSH*T WITH NO CREDIBILITY.

THAT CONCLUDES THIS PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT.

It's a blog, has anybody called him out in the comments section yet?

He hasn't released any of the comments.