sparman
PhD Student
Posts: 1339
Reg: 12-08-04
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Coach Sydney Johnson 04-06-11 07:27 PM - Post#103521
In response to 1LotteryPick1969
Don't a lot of teams around the country use the Princeton Tetherball offense?
The modern interpretation is to untether from the traditionally more inflexible style. Either way, we have more titles than Penn, and no one remembers when Harvard last won.
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1LotteryPick1969
Postdoc
Posts: 2260
Age: 73
Loc: Sandy, Utah
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Coach Sydney Johnson 04-06-11 07:43 PM - Post#103522
In response to sparman
I'm sure someone is going to jump in and say this whole tetherball schtick is stupid, and has hijacked the thread, but honestly, I am getting several chuckles out of it (very funny besnoah), although Siver Maple seems a little bitter.
So, wasn't it a former Princeton tetherball player who quit the team and dropped out of school, who eventually became the tetherball advisor for John Heder in Napoleon Dynamite?
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Silver Maple
Postdoc
Posts: 3765
Loc: Westfield, New Jersey
Reg: 11-23-04
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04-06-11 09:59 PM - Post#103524
In response to 1LotteryPick1969
Bitter? Because I believe that tetherball should be what it was intended to be? A fast-paced, fun, backyard activity that can be played with a beer in your hand? A perfect pastime for those with the attention span of a gnat because a game rarely takes more than ninety seconds? If thinking that a tetherball game that takes nearly three hours to complete and in which the ball never gets above groin level is an abomination makes me bitter, then call me Campari.
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sparman
PhD Student
Posts: 1339
Reg: 12-08-04
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04-08-11 09:20 AM - Post#103704
In response to Silver Maple
We would, but then we couldn't call you a man of the people. Unless drinking parasitic insect acid is what makes one a man of the people.
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Silver Maple
Postdoc
Posts: 3765
Loc: Westfield, New Jersey
Reg: 11-23-04
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04-08-11 09:52 AM - Post#103706
In response to sparman
A number of third world populations obtain a significant proportion of their dietary calories and protein by eating bugs. That sounds pretty 'man of the people' to me.
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sparman
PhD Student
Posts: 1339
Reg: 12-08-04
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Coach Sydney Johnson 04-08-11 12:07 PM - Post#103722
In response to Silver Maple
OK, you're a man of the Third World people. I can live with that, and I'm sure they would love to bunk at your place for a while.
Are the bugs available on the Penn student meal plan?
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Mike Porter
Postdoc
Posts: 3614
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
Reg: 11-21-04
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04-08-11 01:32 PM - Post#103727
In response to sparman
I wouldn't say they are "available" in the meal plan, but I'm a realist, so it's probably safe to assume they are included free of charge.
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Chip Bayers
Professor
Posts: 6997
Loc: New York
Reg: 11-21-04
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04-08-11 11:20 PM - Post#103776
In response to Mike Porter
Developing World, please. Third World is out, not least because the Cold War ended more than 20 years ago.
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Tiger69
Postdoc
Posts: 2801
Reg: 11-23-04
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04-09-11 03:44 AM - Post#103781
In response to Chip Bayers
Can't we reminisce for the good old days of the Cold War?
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EddieAlberto
Freshman
Posts: 9
Age: 73
Reg: 03-21-11
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04-09-11 09:32 AM - Post#103785
In response to Tiger69
I don't feel bad for Princeton University or its basketball program. The decision to keep Sydney Johnson, or turn him loose, was completely within the University's control and the University made a business decision.
Obviously, noone can feel bad for Sydney Johnson. He too had a great option which was to leave for a job where the program is committed to winning, where he is wanted and where he will make more money. he just has to deal with the short term hypocrite label.
The ONLY victims in this situation (as is usually the case) are the returning players and the new recruits at Princeton, who chose Princeton as their university of choice to play basketball in large part because SJ was the head coach and they believed in his loyalty toward them. Those kids have no ability to control any part of this, and they are the ones who are now left scrambling to make the best of what has been dropped in their laps. Their options are far more limited than anyone else affected by this.
I can only imagine the last meeting between SJ and Doug Davis. "Hey Doug, thanks for that buzzer beater. I am now headed off to greener pastures. Good luck in your senior year with a new coach."
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cornellfan4
Masters Student
Posts: 543
Reg: 12-09-09
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Coach Sydney Johnson 04-09-11 10:06 AM - Post#103787
In response to EddieAlberto
I wouldnt call him a hypocrite, Johnson has a family too, he went for the money and better administrative support. Sure the kids get screwed but until the NCAA makes some changes the kids will always get screwed. They know that their coach could leave any given year. If they allow coaches to leave like that then the kids should be allowed to transfer anywhere without sitting out a year, its only fair.
The coaches make hundred of thousands to millions of dollars and the kids who do the actual work get $0. In the Ivies they dont even give them a scholarship for their work. At a lot of the big schools you hear about how they force the kids into easy majors and just push them through to stay eligible but they never graduate. The problem is if you pay the kids I dont know how much, is it the same at every school, does it depend on if you are a starter or not, and how do you avoid schools like UK paying extra
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penn62
PhD Student
Posts: 1053
Reg: 11-27-05
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04-09-11 10:27 PM - Post#103798
In response to cornellfan4
Why the usual assumption that the kids get screwed? The new coach whoever he may be could turn out to be a better leader than SJ. After all, SJ was not exactly loaded with head coaching experience.
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gokinsmen
Postdoc
Posts: 3634
Reg: 02-06-10
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Coach Sydney Johnson 04-09-11 11:08 PM - Post#103800
In response to penn62
Well, dealing with a sudden transition is always tough -- even if the new guy turns out to be great. And there's the incoming recruits who signed up for Princeton with the understanding that SJ would be there.
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cornellfan4
Masters Student
Posts: 543
Reg: 12-09-09
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04-09-11 11:37 PM - Post#103804
In response to gokinsmen
gokinsmen pretty much said it
To your comment about finding a better leader, I think PU will have a tough time finding a better coach, maybe as good but Johnson did about as good as a job you could do in 4 years from where PU was when he started
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EddieAlberto
Freshman
Posts: 9
Age: 73
Reg: 03-21-11
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04-10-11 12:05 PM - Post#103813
In response to penn62
My main point about the kids getting screwed is that they are the only parties without the ability to CONTROL any part of the situation.
There is nothing more exciting for a high school basketball player than to commit to a D1 university. Even in the Ivy League - I would say even more so in the Ivy League due the absence of scholarships - those kids committed to their schools for the love of the game. Then, before you barely have a chance to plan for your freshman year, the main reason that you committed to that school decides to leave. (The head coach is a huge part of the committment decision in 10 out of 10 cases). But, its now too late in the recruiting process to really look elsewhere, so now what? Again, its back to that lack of control issue which makes it so unfair for next year's freshmen class.
As for the returning players at Princeton, even if the next coach is Brian Earl or Tony Newsome or "a Princeton guy", its not SJ and SJ is the only guy who pulled the trigger and committed to recruit the guys that are there now. So, the next coach still requires essentially starting over, especially if they hire a guy like Earl who has never been a head coach before. So, next year's Princeton sophomores cannot be happy, yet do they really want to look somewhere else and sit out a yeat at this point?
Ask last year's Cornell seniors if things were a bit different playing for a guy like Donahue who recruited them and had been a head coach in the Ivy League for 10 years, as compared to playing for Courtney who had never been a head coach and had never even coached in the Ivy League. Not a criticism of Courtney, its just different and noone wants to do that going into their junior or senior years. Do you think Doug Davis is ticked off right now? I bet he is.
So, thats how the kids get screwed - the absence of meaningful choice and control.
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umbrellaman
Masters Student
Posts: 469
Reg: 11-21-04
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04-10-11 12:48 PM - Post#103815
In response to EddieAlberto
Of note, in the last 4 years - (prior to 2007-2010 seasons) there have been 183 coaching changes, representing 166 different colleges in Men's Division I. Note that there are 346 colleges in Division I, so there is about a 50% chance that a coach will leave a school during a player's four years.
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Tiger69
Postdoc
Posts: 2801
Reg: 11-23-04
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04-10-11 01:03 PM - Post#103817
In response to EddieAlberto
Well, sadly, any time a coach decides to leave for another position the players, present and recruits, are likely to feel a little resentment. No way to avoid that. Of course, the compensation, hopefully, is that the choice of the school outweighs the choice of the coach. I don't imagine that any of Princeton's current players regret's his decision to come here even though his coach has decided to move on. It is the job of Johnson's successor to persuade people like Clay Wilson that he is making the right decision to stick with Princeton because a) the university is more than just a basketball team, and b) the team will continue to be successful under Johnson's successor.
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puband09
Masters Student
Posts: 782
Reg: 12-19-09
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04-11-11 10:01 PM - Post#103926
In response to Tiger69
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95lTJb2jkZg#t =2m11s
Where have I heard THAT line before? Johnson was the ultimate salesman at Princeton, but this "passionate" act isn't going to work much longer.
Not that it needs to with his coaching abilities.
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T71
Sophomore
Posts: 161
Loc: Fort Lauderdale, FL
Reg: 11-23-04
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04-12-11 10:06 PM - Post#104002
In response to puband09
Hey, how can anyone question Sydney's sincerity?
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Tiger69
Postdoc
Posts: 2801
Reg: 11-23-04
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04-12-11 10:16 PM - Post#104004
In response to puband09
I noticed that he wasn't wearing his orange tie.
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