John

Let’s face it the longer this goes on Hodgson must feel like he has been screwed and probably has no chance of the HC job. How would you feel??? I am tire of being lied to, deceived and will tell Oats if our family ever sees him.

Loyalty and stability are worth absolutely nothing people like Oats and the rest of the hypocrites of this world. Yes, this is a business like others have tried in other posts of making excuses for Oats. All our family and others have said is just be honest and have some integrity. We have said before he should not of signed that extension and told Alnutt that he would like to stay but if the”dream job” comes up he is out of here. Do not get the hopes up of all the fans who have started to see success like none other experienced in past years and of players and recruits that you want to stay. If this is business than lets call it that and lets not call it sports anymore. If this is how it is then our family and many others we have talked with want no part of it. The excuse makers and supporters can continue to go to games with 2,000 or less fans with no excitement and proclaim you are great fans. We will choose our venues like at the high school or lower levels where there is no politics and you sports fans can use the main excuse of college sports now is just business and trample over anyone to make the almighty buck.

We have lost coaches mainly because they failed and never got us over the hump to be competitive or one of the better teams in the MAC. That’s a big difference than where we are now with a HC candidate in place like Bryan Hodgson who has been a big part of that success. We will falll back into the also ran program and our fan base will be in shambles les like Niagara and Canisius and like so many other programs. Decisions are made by individuals that think they have the intelligence to make decisions but are lacking in common sense and listening to the fans who have been thru ups and downs for more years than some of these people have been on this earth.

If Alnutt does not hire Hodgson we will be decimated, lose all our momentum, lose our season ticket base which is our family along with many other fans I have talked to. Hodgson is loved and respected in this community and deserves a chance based on what he has accomplished here along with the other coaches. He is the best recruiter we have had with times all over the country. All of the successful coaches once started out as assistants and we don’t need to handier head coaches that have been fired and did not succeed in their jobs. Rob Lanier has had a ties to this community for years along with the other potential candidates.No Reggie as looks and acts like he is in burnout mode and said when he was here that it is too hard to recruit to UB. Every day that goes by is another downward negative reaction by many fans. Bryan Hodgson gives us the best chance to succeed and as a first time HC would be more inclined to stay here for several years and why we would want to hire any coach who fans are talking about leaving as soon as they had some success. As each ay goes by all hope is further and further away

On this site our family have been very critical of how this all went down so our family have to give him kudos for giving us some successful years. I repeat if he had any integrity he would not of signed the extension when I would think between himself and his agent(who by the way could care less about the local fan base) knew what opportunities were out there and what was coming up. Don’t sign an extension and get everyone’s hopes up for staying another year or two. Our family are intelligent and have common sense and knew Oats was going to be gone within a year or so. But don’t deceive us and think we are all some stupid fans. If our family ever have a chance we will explain our perspective for what it is worth but doubtful he will understand or even read it. Classless is a good word and description. I am sure he will be alright because Sabin is in that same category.

Comparing apples and oranges. When he signed his extension for $837,000 our family was going to take up a collection for him. Again the majority of fans on this site just care about the money, money,money!!!! I thought he would get his Grand Island home paid off and have a paid home in Alabama???????

He does have coaching experience. What many coaches don’t have his recruiting experience and look what he has done here. How do you think the majority of coaches got their start. They were assistant coaches. Hodgson has all the attributes of a good coach. His big plus is he knows our players, our conference and has been successful and his reputation is top notch among the fans with knowledge. he would be a first time coach in the MAC, not in the ACC or SEC. All the the names mentioned for HC are retreads or assistant coaches or they have been fired from HC jobs. This is a disaster waiting to happen just like Canisius and Niagara.and I can name many other programs if you need intelligent input.

He will tell you what you want to hear. He came in as a humble grass roots type guy and like all the people when they get in a position of power and influence will forget about the consequences of his words and his actions. Who in his right mind signs a contract extension with up to 1 million tells everyone he loves it here and get everyone's Hopes up and bolts the first sign of more money. You probably won’t have to worry about that because if he doe not turn your team around he will be gone in 4/5 years.

The fans on this site still do not get it and after my many opinions will not understand. After listening to so many defend these high profile supposed good people we are done with this entire episode. I repeat one more time: honesty, integrity, accountability and responsibility are gone in sports. Why as fans do we continue to attend thes events and support people who care less about us????

Here we go talking about the money issue again. What about what you are doing to the fan base and the players on the team when we feel betrayed. Oh, lets not get personal or emotional!!!Let’s be happy Oats can support his family and have his dream job. What about the dreams and fans that live and die with the team???? Without Hodgson and keeping this team somewhat together we will become like the also fans we were before Hurley/Oats.

On that note: Wjhen you talk about a quality coach. What kind of coach would all the big name coaches in all the major schools like Duke, Va, kentucky just to name a few if they were at Niagara, Canisius and even some of the MAC school?? The way they are talked about like the greatest thing since sliced bread. If they could not attract the best players in the nation do you think they would win all their games???? I am tired of putting all these high profile people on this pedestal. I feel really bad for Calipari because he has to deal with all the best freshmen in the country. Stop with the nonsense.

Agree. As I have been saying until I am blue in the face. Wjhy does it always have to be about the almighty buck???? I am tired of hearing that Oats or somebody else can’t support his family on $800,000 to 1 million. That’s great he went to Alabama because the taxes are less and he will have more for his kids education. Let’s go to Alalabma with their tornados, hurracaines and heat and the Alabama football team and live in utopia. Our family have been talking to many fans and season ticket holders and here is our final take: There is no way Oats should of signed that contract extension when he did. He should of told Alnutt thanks but we need to wait until the season is over and see what happens with other offers. He of course can thank Alnutt for all the support but it would not be right or fair to get all the fan base on the high that I might be staying. By signing it not only got the media, the fan base and last but not least the players on the team here and the recruits that he would be staying. So in the final analysis yes Oats along with many other coaches turned the program around but he has done what many have done they justify their actions and could care less about who they hurt along the way. On the Hodgson front: the common sense and intelligent course for Alnutt is to hire Hodgson who is known in the community and has been around the fan base even more than Oats and who would have a chance to keep the majority of the team intact. For many of the season ticket holders dit is a no brainer. Dear Mark Alnutt do the right thing. This fan base will go back to the last days of Reggie with marginal players and no fan support.

The irony of this whole episode is that Alnutt should not of offered Oats a contract extension and raise which in turn got all the fans excited about Oats staying at least another year or two. How about Oats being upfront with Alnutt and saying all indications are my dream job is coming sooner rather than later with all the job openings that are out there now and in the future. I have a better idea let’s get out of Division 1sports and go Division 2 or 3 and no worries about money or disappointing the fan base.

You are crazy to think everyone in this world would jump solely based on money. Sadly that has become the reality in today’s world. If you can’t survive on &800,000 to one million dolllars then shame on you. It is sad that people base all their success and supposed happiness on how much money they can make.

As another fan on this site said: This is business and you can not or do not want to understand!!!! I do understand and will refuse to be part of it. Honesty, accountability and responsibility are what was instilled in my family from early age and believe it to this day. For many the motto is: the ends justify the means???????

That’s a good observation. you might be on to something!! From here on out let’s not believe anything a coach or someone in any high profile position says. Let’s believe they are all selling us a bill of goods based on their point of view to take advantage of their position. Better yet let’s stop following any sport and listening to people who feed us such a line of crap that the result is we think they are being honest. I do not agree with the statement from one person that this is how the business is and people do not want to understand it. Our family knows how this sports business is and it has been brewing for years an we have had enough. Instead of Oats starting off how great all is start by saying Hey if my dream job comes I am out of here but I m happy here and thanks for all your support and giving me an extension and thanks fans for your support but I am out of here if my dream job comes along. Kudos to all the faithful fans who somehow want to enjoy the game of basketball and continue to support UB or another team.

Gonzaga and UB are two different overall cases but do agree loyalty in many cases is not even a word in today’s world of sports have in their vocabulary or probably know how to spell. There is no clear cut right or wrong answer to loyalty. The justification for making most decisions is the MONEY and the ends justify the means. The big question is how much money is enough money?? We alll have to answer that in our own walk in life. In Mark Few’s case &1.7 million and being comfortable and successful where he is now is enough. In Oats case $800,000 to &1 million in Buffalo is not enough and he can justify anyway he wants. We don’t have to agree based on our own circumstances.

I am happy you know that for a fact. All security blankets eventually have to be replaced. In Avery’s case like in most of the higher profile jobs he was given his 3-5 years to turn Alabama into one of the better teams in the SEC and failed so on to the next coach. I wil wait for Oats to say he wants Alabama to be the Gonzaga of the south.

It can be tough on kids.but kids are resilient. They still do not know or have experienced how unfair the world can be. Our family have been through family struggles and having family in Vietnam and have struggled to make ends meet but we have made it without millions of dollars. We have experienced sports at it’s most enjoyable and sadly sports culture in today’s world has lost it’s innocence and luster for many of us.

I am upset and angry but I would never wish that on anyone. Besides with Nick Sabin Oats will have a big time security blanket.

Agree. Those were good times. We seen some soccer. We had a nephew on the track team and went to the MAC championships. Those were the best of times and now we are in the worst of times. One step in front of the other.I have always ended my comments with Go Bulls!!!!. I can’t do that now and don’t know if our family will do it again.

A loss is a loss. Who don’t get any points for a loss at this time of the year.

You are kidding right. 20 students????? Shameful for a college of this size. We used o have peer pressure growing up but that probably is not politically correct today??????

Alabama probably borrowed Nick Saban’s plane. I wonder if Oats had to pay for the gas??I think I found out why Oats went to Alabama. The gas is cheaper. I wonder if he gets a company car??

That is an interesting comment. Here is a novel idea: Let’s not love or worship our people in high profile jobs like coaches who become so full of themselves and their self importance that they lose all sense of accountability and responsibility and all sense of humility. Love of sports in general is gone.