John

A shame more fans did not show up for the women’s games the last few years. Shame on the students who gave minimal support what with the size of the student population could not get more than a handful of students to games. It is even worse at Canisiusand Niagara.

Athletics is hard. You can’t control your job security, location etc. Whew I really feel sorry for these coaches who are making $100,000’s up to millions. This is just like the old boys club in the NFL. You take new jobs, get fired and get another job interview, have some good years and get a raise or take another job for millions. Some of these coaches get moving expenses, homes to live in. The people you should feel bad about are the fans making 20-30 thousand a year and supporting these teams that have coaches moving and leaving teams to pick up the pieces. I am done with the prima donas and the millionaires but I know let’s let our personal emotions enter into it!!!!

OH Yeah!!! They will be fine like Canisius and Niagara. Two programs in total shambles with the best players transferring, coaches fired,coaches in total burnout and crumbling fan bases!!!!!

One more thing: I am mad as hell and I can’t take it anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The crazy world of college underworld coaching!!! I think Hodgson would not be unemployed long. He could always take a job like Alex Wood did with Hurley as his personal assistant!!!!!This whole episode stinks to high heaven. Pro sports and now college sports stink to high heaven!!!!!

I will say again no one in their right mind can begrudge a person for taking a job with more money. Did everyone hear his interview after he signed his extension?? He thanked Alnutt, the president and the supporters. He talked about his kids loving school here and his wife etc. He said wee want to build this thing into a powerhouse . We have a great recruiting class coming in.Blah! Blah! Blah! He should of shut his mouth and said thank you instead of building everyone’s hopes up and especially if he knew at that time that he would take the next big offer he got. Sports in general are not about honesty, integrity,or humility. The sports culture is only about the money and I along with many in our family are done with it.

UB only got on this track because both teams started winning big time both in conference and in the tourney. That brought us national exposure and thus piqued the interest of the passionate fan base, the casual fan and even alumni all over the country. Those ancillary things are not possible in most cases without the winning. If we revert back to just another mid major team in a lower conference we will become an after thought again. Sadly it looks like we are going down that road. If Hodgson/Whitesell are not signed to new contracts all the momentum will be lost.

My opinion is the majority of these kids go to the school because of the basketball. They can still get an education and I still think that is what colleges do and of course provide tudors for all these high profile athletes. Let’s see someone is going to pick UB over Duke or Virginia because of the education!!!!!!

They went from 13,000 to 10,000??? I wonder why with such a great SEC pedicree!!! I think they had a lot of bad weather in Alabama but I don’t want to bad mouth the Alabama weather like Oats did to Buffalo when he got off his private plane in Alabama!!!!!

There is a major difference between the MAC and the SEC. namely the athletic talent and ability from the 1st player to the last player on the team. Alabama has to become one of the top tier teams in the SEC not in the bottoms half of the conference. If he ever gets to that point then he will have to maintain that and if not he will be gone faster than when he came there. The big question is will he be able to recruit the right mix of players and will he change his style of coaching strategy against these SEC powerhouses????

Again that is really my point. No one in their right mind would blame someone for taking an upgrade in a job and pay. All I am criticizing is his tone about this team and this community and again I say being happy here with his kids and wife and all the support he received from the fans and wanting to stay here and getting raises the last two years. The problem with all these coaches and people in high profile positions is they get too full of themselves and don’t know when to stop talking. Any fan that knows today’s sports culture knew Oats probably would not be here forever but his sales job made it seem like being here at least another year or two.

I wonder if Nick Sagan had to approve the hire??Alabama finished 9th out of 14 in the SEC. Their facility seats 15,000 and they had 13,000 per game last year. Did not find their attendance this year. Seen that four of their top players are transferring and Oats is supposed to be out recruiting!!!! Even more important for Alnutt to hire a coach to keep some of our players and to find other players to come here. I know Hodgson does not have head coaching experience but all these coaches have to start sometime and no better time than now.

I hope you took some pictures to remind you of the good ole days!!!! Hopefully Oats sold the house to UB for $1.00 so Alnutt can give it to the next coach as part of his contract!!!!! Oats can afford it now. Hey is there any water in Alabama for Oats’s boat???? Maybe he can make a man made lake????

Agree. He sure had us all fooled with his sales job.He is like all th other coaches and people in high positions. Their job is the greatest and all the fans are the best. I truly think it could of been toned down about how he wants to build UB into the next Gonzaga and kept talking about all the good recruits coming in. Just another great sales job. Is his house in Grand Island up for sale yet or is it already sold??? Maybe he can donate it and take it off his taxes!!!! The worst part of it is us fans buy into it because “hope springs eternal.”

Sadly we as passionate fans bought all that Nate was selling.Sadly even the people that we think are intelligent have a common sense and they think they are more important because of all the praise and accolades that are reaped on them have none. All of these coaches if they lose their jobs should become car salesmen because as they say there is a sucker born everyday.

The big question is how is he going to recruit against the big boys. Avery Johnson and Anthony Grant had bigger name recognition than Nate and could not compete against the big boys. Sadly Nate will be laughing and enjoying life with the increase in salary but like so many other coaches if he loses his job will revert back to a lesser college or a mid-major and he will continue to live comfortably as fans like us have to suffer watching the roller coaster with all the ups and downs.

Do agree. As long as we are in th MAC versus the AAC or A-10 the coaches salaries are going to be disproportionately lower and thus with a ton of success a coach is going to be offered another job with more pay. Unfortunately that is never going to change. I can not fault Nate for taking the Alabama job but what I am upset about is is talk about wanting to be the next Gonzaga and getting all our hopes up that he really wanted to stay. He should of toned it down because he truly had in his mind that he would be leaving if he was offered a higher paying job. Our family have been big time college supporters for almost our entire lives but truly just like our interest in pro sports has waned because of the obscene money we have had discussions about college sports also becoming a total money grab. Sadly ourenjoyment and support have now been started to come into question. Sadly we will start looking for other avenues to start enjoying life without sports in general. There are many members of our family who could care less about sports and are living a happy life. Look what has happened at Canisius and Niagara over the last few years and you can see their programs are decimated with little fan support. It has been a wonderful 4/5 years and we will have those memories and good luck to all in the future.

If UB wants to keep any of the recruits it has to be Hodgson and Whitesell staying and Alnutt has to act within the next day or two. Otherwise we will probably see a wholesale defection.

It is 100% about the money no matter what someone says. The A-10 versus the MAC. Just a lot more money conference wise in the A-10.

I understand what you are saying about pull up jumpers. With the advent of the 3 pointer for the most part the jump shot has gone by the wayside. Against TTwhen UB could not get to the rim the pull up jumper would of been a nice option. When your 3’s are not working isn’t a coach or team suppposed to change strategy? Just saying it would of been a nice option. The bottom line is if a team has a bad shooting night and can’t adjust their game strategy they are probably going to lose. In our case with only 4 loses all year our strategy worked very good. Go Bulls!!!!

Also thank you Cierra. Watching your play the last two years has been incredible. There are many players who have one part of their game that is outstanding but your game in all facets has been a pleasure to witness. The overall 3’s, the uncanny drives to the basket, the no look passes, the assists, the steals and the leadership and most of all the humble and wonderful person you are. You will be successful in life and hope to see you play in the WNBA. Go Bulls!!!!!

Do agree. We said that right from the start of the game. They were hitting shots from all over the court, turnaround 3’s etc and were making their foul shots. We had a lot of games this year where we did shoot the lights out and also played a lockdown defensive game. Go Bulls!!!!

Another big difference between the Arizona game last year and the TT game was we really neutralized Arizona’s guards and really spread them out on the defensive end and Arizona was not known for their defense. The biggest factor was we made shots where TT was known as a very good defensive team and neutralized us on the offensive end. Go Bulls!!!!

Do agree. Wofford is to be commended and put up a good fight. A total difference between the Southern Conference and teams they are playing in the tourney. The Wofford game was different than the UB game in that other players stepped up when Magee had an off game. That’s what is so great about basketball that you never know from one game to the next who is going to go off the charts shooting the ball and who is going to struggle. Go Bulls!!!!!

Football is king but I am not sure that is accurate at UB. It is harder in football at the MAC level because of scheduling and non conference scheduling. The only way I can see football becoming king is if we do what the basketball teams have done. We would have to be the top team in the MAC for 4/5 years to even get the fan support and national attention that would be needed. Is UB making money with the football program and is it drawing some of the top quality players at this level? As we have seen in basketball winning at a very high level is what draws the better players. Our family will continue to support the football team along with other sports at UB. Go Bulls!!!!