uhhh I am beginning to really worry if they dont get some huge corporate/tribal donor this is going to crash even worse than thought.

I would love to watch that! I think they would all bounce off each other really well :-)

I really like Samuel Akem. Always has good videos and seems like a fun guy to be around.

I don't think the portal situation is the reason we should fire him. I'm saying that I think a part of the issue with sustained success, funding and the portal are intersectional in the core issue of Les having such a long tenure at Davis and lacking the success to back keeping him on at this point. The energy is not in the building. While obviously the portal, attendance and funding have a ton of external context other than Les, I don't see how keeping him on and having a stagnant program with no juice (and this is from personal experience, talking to family and 10+ students) makes any sense. In the portal era losing a ton of guys in unfortunately the norm, but I also hear from everyone on here that he's an amazing recruiter... and then we have mediocre season after mediocre season... and then half the team leaves... and then we keep the coaching staff (which is the longest tenured in D1). Its insanity.

Fire Les. This is ridiculous.

Was hoping more would come with picnic day and everything

How’s the turnoutc

I worry about basketball donations. The hype for football is immeasurable (and we haven't even joined the MW for football) while basketball is at 20k coming into its first MW season.

100k+ now

l think the grill locations are the same company (also the meat co in esparto) as the steakhouse in winters.

I actually dont get how our pr teams are so all over the place (across athletics) :cry:

Big news: UCSB is leaving the Big West and joining the WCC. Our move to the MW continues to look better and better.

I just don't think he has the record to be as intense as he is.

Thank you. Everyone also talks about how hes "super consistent"... but super consistent at never doing anything other than almost winning our conference championship doesn't mean our transition to the MW is going to end up similarly results or improvement wise. Its going to be a transition with some down years adjusting to the MW im sure, but idk why we would keep a coach who has lead us to basically .500 in his time at Davis and expect that to rial up fans when we join the MW. Having a few bad years is probably gonna happen no matter what, but in what world does keeping a .500 coach in the Big West give us any excitement for the future in the MW?

Losing a good amount of players in the portal is going to happen in the modern d1 landscape, I get it, but everyone on this sub is always talking about his talent acquisition... who he then leads to a .500 season or almost winning the conference... yells at all the players and makes a buffoon out of himself on the court.... and then now they all transfer out? Every person I know in Davis (students or recent grads) has felt this team is not exciting, thinks Les has WAY to big of an attitude for his record (yelling and screaming and acting all tough while getting mediocre results). Its a small sample size but I don't know a single person who is excited about aggie basketball right now on campus, which is something we NEED as we move to the MW.

Stagnant attendance, stagnant results and keeping a coach because he "is loyal to the program" seems like a recipe for mediocrity long term.

People are gonna respond to this post and argue "what is our better option?!?!", "do you just expect us to fire les and win", "hes a great recruiter", all of these things hold some truth, but the central problem in my opinion is that expecting mediocre season over mediocre season is a hell of a lot less exciting than getting fresh blood in the building and having hope for the future in the new conference. In what world is going with the playbook where we enter the MW and just have Les lead us to a ton of .500 or below .500 seasons against better competition worth it? He's getting paid a ton of money, has gotten to keep his same damn coaching staff forever, and has kept the same attitude for years. I think hes probably a nice dude, I like how he interacts with the band and fans at games, but thats not the reason you keep a coach forever.

This is pretty much my take exactly. I think the eq team has been pretty successful considering its only been d1 for like 9 or 10 years. I think rocko has done a great job overall but this could have been handled better in a lot of ways it seems. My only hope is we get more transparency from the university for both the school, eq families and students sake (beyond that outside report that was mediocre at best in its depth). I think the reactions have had some hit and misses (and some valid points) from both sides, especially considering cutting a program is impossible to be painless, I just hope everything can get more clarity across the board.

Yes! They need to advertise this as much as possible, as soon as possible. Don't wait until a day before.

why can’t you say? It was literally a public and widely advertised event? Some of us don’t live in Davis and couldn’t make it.

anyone at the lunch? what was the news?

This is an awesome write-up. Thank you!