Fire Larry Lyons

[Birdman85]

With all the talk of firing Muller why are more not calling for Lyons head? His department to me is going completely backwards. There isn't much to be excited about with Redbird athletics.

 

[gobirds72]

With all the talk of firing Muller why are more not calling for Lyons head? His department to me is going completely backwards. There isn't much to be excited about with Redbird athletics.

I think Larry needs to do the right thing and step down! He has been here long enough to see that a new face is needed!

 

[ricohill]

100 percent agree with this. Larry needed to be a one year AD and go back to his old position when they found a real AD. Larry isn't the only one. They need to completely clean house in the athletic department. I would say 75% of the athletic department isn't good at or qualified to do their job. Larry has pretty much destroyed the athletic department.

I said it in the game thread. I'm done donating until he is gone. I usually think withholding your donation is bad for the program, but keeping this athletic department in place is worse. He has to go and I hope other join in and stop supporting ISU until there is a change.

 

[Birdman07]

I don't think anyone has the balls not renew his contract.

 

[ISU FAN 1]

Muller ... Lyons ... isn’t this an indictment that travels all the way to the office of President Dietz?

https://youtu.be/ROxvT8KKdFw

 

[gobirds85]

This would be a great start. He has proven to be ineffective at best. There are a few good people in athletics. He isn't one of them.

 

[ricohill]

It sounds like Larry is sticking around 2 or 3 more years then retire. Dietz isn't going to fire him. Dietz doesn't care enough as long as they aren't losing money. Dietz doesn't have the fire of Bowman to try to make athletics top notch. We are sinking and there doesn't appear to be any hope on the horizon.

 

[JHBird]

He always looks like he's just collecting a salary to me. I'd like to see somebody come in with a real vision.

 

[Redbirdwarrior]

While the big name sports have been way more bark than bite recently, I have really been happy with women's athletics at ISU over that same time. Still, I don't think it is asking too much for a first rate university to be able to succeed in all fronts athletically.

Note: I know there was a joke about President Dietz- please let it continue to be a joke. Athletics is a very small part of what we do at Illinois State University and, overall, Dietz has done an INCREDIBLE job in his tenure. He has made everyone just about forget about the embarrassment that came before him and brought back the same or great levels of respect that were evolved by Dr. Al Bowman, who was and is a great leader.

I'm on board with finding a new AD. You know, Sheahon Zenger is currently available...

 

[Buffett]

Ill take the guy with the red shoes over Lyons

 

[ricohill]

Dietz has done fine as President. However, he can't let Lyons continue to destroy the athletics department. It's too important to the school. They really need a leader that has a vision and will hold people accountable. There are too many people that shouldn't be in their jobs and get away with a low level of performance expectations.

A run to the NCAA Tournament in basketball would be huge for the school. Just look at this from UCF and LSU.
https://twitter.com/frntofficesport/status/1080326375221936133

 

[Redbirdwarrior]

Dietz has done fine as President. However, he can't let Lyons continue to destroy the athletics department. It's too important to the school. They really need a leader that has a vision and will hold people accountable. There are too many people that shouldn't be in their jobs and get away with a low level of performance expectations.

A run to the NCAA Tournament in basketball would be huge for the school. Just look at this from UCF and LSU.
https://twitter.com/frntofficesport/status/1080326375221936133

Cool. Google searches for admissions does not a student make. Illinois State isn't hurting for applicants. Again, I agree that Lyons is no longer an asset, but let's not lay this out like ISU's admissions relies on Basketball making the show or football going FBS.

We have spoken about this here a lot and if you want to focus on revenue generation and name recognition as a school, you shouldn't be looking at the "Tri-Tower" area of campus. You should be looking at the quad and asking which building we'd have to tear down to build a college of engineering, medicine or law (Give me Centennials East and West and Williams Hall, for the record).

One advantage of ISU not being an "Athletics first" university is that the university is not wounded when major sports are in a hole.

 

[Buffett]

It is the big donors with the pocketbooks/leverage who have the say so

 

[ricohill]

Dietz has done fine as President. However, he can't let Lyons continue to destroy the athletics department. It's too important to the school. They really need a leader that has a vision and will hold people accountable. There are too many people that shouldn't be in their jobs and get away with a low level of performance expectations.

A run to the NCAA Tournament in basketball would be huge for the school. Just look at this from UCF and LSU.
https://twitter.com/frntofficesport/status/1080326375221936133

Cool. Google searches for admissions does not a student make. Illinois State isn't hurting for applicants. Again, I agree that Lyons is no longer an asset, but let's not lay this out like ISU's admissions relies on Basketball making the show or football going FBS.

We have spoken about this here a lot and if you want to focus on revenue generation and name recognition as a school, you shouldn't be looking at the "Tri-Tower" area of campus. You should be looking at the quad and asking which building we'd have to tear down to build a college of engineering, medicine or law (Give me Centennials East and West and Williams Hall, for the record).

One advantage of ISU not being an "Athletics first" university is that the university is not wounded when major sports are in a hole.

There is study after study that shows winning in the NCAA Tournament has a huge positive impact on a University. More applicants, leads to a better pool of applicants, which leads to an increased academic profile. Not to mention the millions of dollars it brings in to the University.

Will ISU as a University survive without success in basketball? Yes, but there are huge advantages to winning in March.

The bigger issue is how does the athletic department survive if they continue this trend in Men's Basketball and Football? They are losing donors left and right. Going to get worse when they jack up WSF donations next year.

On top of that there is no plan for fundraising within the athletic department. Just randomly asking people for money is not going to get it done.

Until Dietz holds Lyons accountable (which it is too late) or fires him this is only going to get worse.

 

[isuquinndog]

BU went to the Sweet 16. They have sucked since then. Or are you not claiming it helps athletics?

 

[gobirds85]

BU went to the Sweet 16. They have sucked since then. Or are you not claiming it helps athletics?

It's bu. They always suck but their soccer team is fan tas tic.

If there is anyone out there who likes the direction we are heading overall...please, please, please let me know what you see. Maybe you see something I cannot. Maybe my vision is considerably worse than previously diagnosed. Maybe I need to drink some Kool-Aid and experience Redbird nirvana?

I will be VERY disappointed if we re-sign lyons.

 

[Birdman07]

Becoming a research school and adding medicine, law, or engineering would help a ton too. It's not just basketball and football.

 

[Reggie Redbird]

It sounds like Larry is sticking around 2 or 3 more years then retire. Dietz isn't going to fire him. Dietz doesn't care enough as long as they aren't losing money. Dietz doesn't have the fire of Bowman to try to make athletics top notch. We are sinking and there doesn't appear to be any hope on the horizon.

As an FYI, Bowman was the one who first said Lyons was not even a candidate for the job. Then two years later named him to the full-time job before he left. Dietz would have had to buy out another AD at big money or keep him at least for a while. While Dietz is now in position to make his own decision, he did not realistically have that option the first few years.

 

[WoodlandWarrior]

Zero need for a law school.....too many under-employed lawyers now. Would absolutely support the development of an engineering program.

 

[ricohill]

BU went to the Sweet 16. They have sucked since then. Or are you not claiming it helps athletics?

Articles on the impact of winning in the NCAA Tournament

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/03/the-march-madness-application-bump/519846/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-03-13/march-madness-more-students-apply-to-schools-that-break-brackets

UMBC got the equivalent of $33 million in advertising by beating Virginia
https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/basketball/mens/bs-md-ci-umbc-ncaa-impact-20180318-story.html

Not that BU was great, but they won 21, 22, and 22 games the next three seasons after the Sweet 16 and finished in the top half of the league each of those seasons. They weren't great, but no different than any team under Muller outside of the MVC Champ team. If Les was at ISU we would have given him a 7 year contract extension.