re: LSU basketball class of 2023 impact

Woodward sacrificed basketball for football. It is what it is. Wade was not going to be protected, even though paying players was done by others and is now legal by NCAA.

McMahon looked like as good a choice as any from the outside. Who knows what was available considering the situation?

The base rate chances of success for an unproven mid major coach making it at a school like lsu are low. Considering this fact, it was dumb to offer such a long contract and big buyout. There were likely other short term options IMO that would have been better if the concern was pending sanctions which may or may not happen.



None of the answers will be known to the outside. It is clear to me that the McMahon contract was not smart.

I'm not anywhere near as angry as my posts lead you to believe. That's a big problem with texting for instance, over face to face or even phone conversations.

I think we would be having a healthy and spirited argument if we were at an event shooting the bull so to speak. We just can't do that effectively here on the rant.

Responding directly to your question about it being acceptable for a HC to purposefully break recruiting rules, the answer is slightly complicated. From a moral standpoint, of course it's wrong to not play by the rules. However, the horse is already out of the barn in that respect. If you, or someone(s) working on your behalf aren't doing it, you have ZERO CHANCE of being competitive.

All these HCs, ADs, and presidents, etc... trot out the company line of "doing it the right way", and "not running afoul of NCAA rules." That's all a bunch of BS. Every single one of those people know that the vast majority of these kids aren't getting to their schools on the straight and narrow road. It's hypocritical when they fire underlings for doing exactly what needs to be done in order to not get fired for not winning enough.

Lastly, it FLABBERGASTS me that you actually believe that a school in football or men's basketball has run a clean program and won a national title in AT LEAST the last 50 years. Are you serious Clark?? If you ever get a chance to attend an EYBL event where all the top players gather to play games (along with many of the top name college coaches in attendance), do it. Strike up a few conversations with some of the EYBL coaches. When you speak to them, make sure they know you believe some highly competitive programs win without FLAGRANTLY breaking the recruiting rules. Notice their reaction after you tell them this.

Just one more thing, which is an anecdote from my time attending these EYBL tournaments with my son. A few years back, I think it may have been the Jones error, we were hot after a top 10 overall player, a PG named Malik Newman. He had us, Kentucky, and others as his finalists.

I talked to one of the EYBL coaches. He was in his mid 30s black, 75 lbs overweight. I had my LSU gear on and asked him if we had a shot at Newman. He giggled and said "no shot". I said where's he going? And he said "Mississippi st. GUARANTEED." I though he was crazy because all reports had him down to LSU and Kentucky. A few minutes after our conversation, I saw this same coach bear hugging Coach Calipari. I had an idea after that this dude knew what he was talking about. Newman ended up going to starkvegas because they had purchased him. He transferred a couple other places and ended up at Kansas. I have plenty of other of these stories, but this post is already ridiculously long.

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woodward shouldnt be asking him questions, he should just accept that wade pays players because thats how the sport works.

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Like I said in my post above, even if you take a very cynical view on how the sport works, at some point the AD cannot just ignore the problem. That is clear in Wade's case because of the public nature of the FBI investigation. If the administration does nothing, it becomes implicated in possible illegal activity. It can't just not ask questions once it gets to that point.

I think LSU does draw the line somewhere. I don't know where that is, but the evidence suggests Wade crossed it and lied about it to LSU to keep his job. If Wade doesn't want to abide by the standards he agreed to in return for getting paid a few million dollars a year, he could just leave.

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What evidence suggests he lied to keep his job?

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The existence of the renegotiated contract making it easier to fire Wade. We won't know for sure what Wade's comments were or what was LSU's line that he crossed because neither party has an interest in making that public. I saw that Wade even agreed not to sue LSU for firing him for cause when he renegotiated the contract.

Both LSU and Wade agreed that if certain contingencies happened, LSU could fire Wade for cause and Wade could not sue LSU for wrongful termination. All 3 of those things happened.

Other things besides Wade lying could have happened. I think this is what most likely happened.

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even if you take a very cynical view on how the sport works, at some point the AD cannot just ignore the problem

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i dont think its a cynical viewpoint at all. its great that players are paid. i am happy for them.

i also disagree whether the AD can ignore it. he can and should. let the NCAA do whatever dumb shite they do, and then move forward. no need to help them.