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UB05

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1 minute ago, UB05 said:

Lol full page ad in the paper? Come on now. We’ll be lucky to get a twitter mention. He had it changed to Alabama theme before it was even announced, and hasn’t said a thing aside from 30 seconds of phone interview and a small piece through the athletics department. We were sold a load of crap by him. I don’t blame him one bit for leaving for $2.4 million per season, but the way it all went down is definitely showing he was full of sh*t all this time

Yeah seriously. He sold us a complete lie and his true colors just finally began to show. Him and Hurley are two peas in a pod 

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7 minutes ago, zigo230 said:

It looks desolate there. Not homey. But I’m sure his family are in shock. That kind of quick move will take some time to sink in.

Tonight the University of San Francisco promoted their associate coach to head coach.  He’s only 33. 

He played professionally and has been an assistant coach at three different D1 programs, including Auburn. 

 

USF attributes their strong defense this year to his coaching as he was in charge of defense. 

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1 minute ago, UB92 said:

Do you really think he was just blowing smoke the whole time?  I think he was really open in all of his interviews.  He literally said that he told his agent to say "no" to everything, but if there were offers that were life changing (I forget the words he used), to keep him in the loop.  To move from the MAC to the SEC (especially a team that is competitive) is unusual.  It isn't like he is replacing Drew at 0 - 18 in conference Vandy.    Oats, basically, skipped a step by staying at UB last year and having historic success for the team.

I think if you read too much else into this, you are looking for something that isn't there.  And I do expect Oats to be effusive in his thanks to Buffalo and UB over the next day.

I don't begrudge the man at all.  Offering Hawkins?  It is a cut-throat business.  

The next few days are crucial.  We need to get a coach in quickly (or promote someone from within) that can keep most of our players here -- especially the recruits.  I hope, hope, hope the seniors on team (CJ, etc.) can calm down the other players and convince them that there can still be something special here at UB next year and beyond.

Go Bulls.

I like your optimism, but yes I think he was blowing smoke. Saying he’d only leave for a dream job, telling his agent not to call him etc. Sorry but when a bottom rung SEC team is a dream job then him and I have different definitions of the term. Seems like he would’ve left for any P5 gig, and of course those offers would be coming after the season UB had. Hawkins getting the offer literally hours after he took the job is just crazy and shows how ready he was for this move. I don’t harbor ill will for what happened today, just how they happened. 

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3 minutes ago, UB05 said:

I like your optimism, but yes I think he was blowing smoke. Saying he’d only leave for a dream job, telling his agent not to call him etc. Sorry but when a bottom rung SEC team is a dream job then him and I have different definitions of the term. Seems like he would’ve left for any P5 gig, and of course those offers would be coming after the season UB had. Hawkins getting the offer literally hours after he took the job is just crazy and shows how ready he was for this move. I don’t harbor ill will for what happened today, just how they happened. 

Personally I hope Oats crashes and burns and truly gets humbled

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4 minutes ago, UB05 said:

I don’t harbor ill will for what happened today, just how they happened. 

That’s where I stand on this. Good for him getting a high-paying job. The way it all went down with a meeting, an immediate twitter profile change and the Hawkins offer all within hours just leaves a bad taste imo.

It also seems like players/recruits were caught off guard. Today’s events just don’t feel consistent with the Oats we were used to 🤷🏻‍♂️

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This DOES explain the inexplicable game vs. Texas Tech.  What a shame!

I know people move on but the way this went down is as bad as the way Hurley left.  He blows smoke about wanting to stay and then bolts for a mediocre job at best in my opinion.  Very disappointing as an Alum and fan.

That said,  I hope someone has a plan to defend the Fort UB!  

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1 minute ago, Jeseph said:

That’s where I stand on this. Good for him getting a high-paying job. The way it all went down with a meeting, an immediate twitter profile change and the Hawkins offer all within hours just leaves a bad taste imo.

It also seems like players/recruits were caught off guard. Today’s events just don’t feel consistent with the Oats we were used to 🤷🏻‍♂️

I would have to disagree. The moment Oats signed on that line he wasn't our guy anymore. He's does things to benefit Alabama now. Not Buffalo. Think about it this way if Oats was leaving a program to come to Buffalo, does this all look like Oats being Oats. I'm going with a hell yes on that one. 

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2 minutes ago, Jeseph said:

That’s where I stand on this. Good for him getting a high-paying job. The way it all went down with a meeting, an immediate twitter profile change and the Hawkins offer all within hours just leaves a bad taste imo.

It also seems like players/recruits were caught off guard. Today’s events just don’t feel consistent with the Oats we were used to 🤷🏻‍♂️

Yeah, the guy is a shark. I’m sure thats how he’s been such a successful coach. Unfortunately for us the other half of that double edged sword got us today. 

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1 minute ago, Jeseph said:

 Today’s events just don’t feel consistent with the Oats we were used to 🤷🏻‍♂️

Your are right about that.   Maybe more will come out about how this went down.  If he interviewed while preparing for an NCAA tournament game, I am sure he is not the first and won't be the last.  Certainly disappointing, though, if that was the case.  But I, generally, have a lower opinion of people than most.   I never really believed he was going to build this team into Gonzaga of the East.  But I thought it was more likely that he would stay (than Hurley or some other random coach).  So, for me, it went from "He is very, very likely to leave for a high paying job once the offer comes" to "He is very likely to leave for a high paying job once the offer comes".

I do hope that the AD had a plan in place for this and it did not catch him off guard.  I expect he did (does) have a plan and it is being executed now.  But we'll see.

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1 minute ago, UB92 said:

Your are right about that.   Maybe more will come out about how this went down.  If he interviewed while preparing for an NCAA tournament game, I am sure he is not the first and won't be the last.  Certainly disappointing, though, if that was the case.  But I, generally, have a lower opinion of people than most.   I never really believed he was going to build this team into Gonzaga of the East.  But I thought it was more likely that he would stay (than Hurley or some other random coach).  So, for me, it went from "He is very, very likely to leave for a high paying job once the offer comes" to "He is very likely to leave for a high paying job once the offer comes".

I do hope that the AD had a plan in place for this and it did not catch him off guard.  I expect he did (does) have a plan and it is being executed now.  But we'll see.

I just thought of a theory that might be a lil crazy. His buyout was super low for resigning. What if Oats went to our AD and was like 'Bama is going to offer me the job. My get me a new contract with a larger buyout. I'm looking for a silver lining here. Even as i'm typing this up it makes no sense to me. 

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His whining about "time to prepare" for TT would look especially bad now if he was really interviewing while in Tulsa.  

As long as we can manage to avoid a scorched earth scenario here I won't hold it against him. Bound to be some attrition among the current roster/recruits no matter what we do though.

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Scorched earth or not, I genuinely would love nothing more than to see him get fired after not meeting Bama’s lofty expectations of him. Call me bitter or whatever else fits, he’s a snake and he lied to all of us. His way of immediately changing his social media and hopping on a private flight down to Alabama leaves a bad taste. So does offering Hawkins within hours of the news breaking. 

The part that bothers me the most though? His wife’s cancer diagnosis was in his own words a “death sentence.” A rare form of cancer with a high mortality rate. Her doctors here in Buffalo helped her beat it and survive and the whole time the community rallied behind her and Oats. I’m a big fan of him demonstrating his gratitude for this by hopping on the first flight down south and poaching our recruits. It’s shameful really

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1 hour ago, everlast2504 said:

I would have to disagree. The moment Oats signed on that line he wasn't our guy anymore. He's does things to benefit Alabama now. Not Buffalo. Think about it this way if Oats was leaving a program to come to Buffalo, does this all look like Oats being Oats. I'm going with a hell yes on that one. 

3/17 Selection Sunday

3/18 UB travels to Tulsa

3/20 Bama loses in NIT

3/21 Bama and Avery Johnson start negotiating buyout

3/22 UB beats ASU

3/24 Buffalo loses in NCAA

3/27 Oats hired and in Bama

Unfortunately Bama blocks online tracking of their private plane. But obviously the Bama AD (via Arizona) knew about Oats.

I don't think Oats would interview the day before or the day of a game. I gotta think 3/18 or 3/19, Alabama took the short trip to Tulsa and slid Oats a number. Oats said yes in principle, and Bama went to work firing Johnson. Then you wait for UB to lose, give him a 24 hour period to give a solid answer once he's back home that would be 3/25... then 3/26 iron out a deal and on the plane 3/27.

In hindsight the emotion about losing the seniors, may have been intertwined with his emotion of knowing he was leaving. That said if my timeline is correct, he should have called a team meeting this morning and let his players know before the media tweeted it out. Oh well.

As far as "he lied to us"

My assumption is, he didn't know what "unreal" was until he saw all the zeros. I guess 'unreal' should have been a bad sign, because what does unreal mean? We took it probably as top 10, top 20 job in the nation... maybe Oats figured his ceiling was 1.5 million...if that was his belief, than 2.4+ is unreal. He's literally getting double what Hurley was paid to leave UB.

Some of the bad feelings then I think comes from the idea that many of us view him as a 4 million dollar coach, if you view him that way, he bailed on the cheap... but if he viewed himself as a million dollar coach, he's cashing out on an unreal offer.

 

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2 hours ago, everlast2504 said:

I just thought of a theory that might be a lil crazy. His buyout was super low for resigning. What if Oats went to our AD and was like 'Bama is going to offer me the job. My get me a new contract with a larger buyout. I'm looking for a silver lining here. Even as i'm typing this up it makes no sense to me. 

Honestly you're not crazy. Part of me thought of this too, almost like they both knew there was a high chance he'd be gone after the season and they made it so UB would get some cash out of it.

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2 hours ago, 961819 said:

Scorched earth or not, I genuinely would love nothing more than to see him get fired after not meeting Bama’s lofty expectations of him. Call me bitter or whatever else fits, he’s a snake and he lied to all of us. His way of immediately changing his social media and hopping on a private flight down to Alabama leaves a bad taste. So does offering Hawkins within hours of the news breaking. 

The part that bothers me the most though? His wife’s cancer diagnosis was in his own words a “death sentence.” A rare form of cancer with a high mortality rate. Her doctors here in Buffalo helped her beat it and survive and the whole time the community rallied behind her and Oats. I’m a big fan of him demonstrating his gratitude for this by hopping on the first flight down south and poaching our recruits. It’s shameful really

We all have our opinions on the matter and you have a right to be bitter, but Im the opposite. The guy gets a life changing money offer at a big school with great resources... you have to take it. I don't feel cheated or lied to at all. In fact most of his and ADs words were quite open to this potential. Heck as I mentioned above, it feels like they worked together on a buy out to help UB (not likely but its sort of a silver lining)

As far as the cancer thing, I thought selfishly that might be a strong sticking point but thats a very unfair point. They are of course immensely  appreciative of that, but Im supposed to be mad the guy chose to take life changing money? A dollar amount that sets him up very well. I can't deny him that. Its not life changing money and a lateral move either, its a huge step up.

That being said, the recruiting purge happens in these situations. It just does. Heck most players want to follow him where he goes naturally.

Best bet here is if you keep Hodgeson and its like a Hurley to Oats handoff where you lose some guys, keep one or two maybe and move on with enough momentum to keep going.

Its not fun, there pains here, but I don't know how I crucify a guy like Oats... I did Hurley, almost more so because I just don't like him as a person compared to Oats.

I just don't have the ill will here at all like I did when Hurley left, I just have the business mentality mixed with optimism for the future.

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40 minutes ago, xDerekRx said:

Honestly you're not crazy. Part of me thought of this too, almost like they both knew there was a high chance he'd be gone after the season and they made it so UB would get some cash out of it.

You're crazy. The contact negotiation was for a pay raise if he ended up staying, nothing more. He interviewed last year right after the new contract, and Hurley bailed right after a new contract. This isn't unusual. 

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8 hours ago, Kevin said:

Nope, we got this instead:

And apparently a big quick offer to Hawkins.

Is he talking his blue collar shirts and hard hats with him?

Had to take a shot at the weather, Nate? What happened to the temperature being the same inside the gym?

Edited by promotherobot
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