In his fourth season as head coach, Bob Hamilton's team lost 8 of their first 9 games. I don't recall anyone suggesting that he should be fired, but then I wasn't in touch with any alumni in those days. He went on to post a 8-4 record in the FWC. My former room-mate had tried out and been cut from that team, but he pointed out to me that Hamilton used those early games to see what his players could do, what combinations worked best, to try new plays or defenses and get the players to understand how to work together as a team. In that and other seasons he scheduled games against the likes of Ohio State, Santa Clara (then a top ten team nationally) and Missouri, almost always on the road. He wanted to his team to learn from the best. May I suggest that Coach Les is doing something similar?

I’m not calling for the coach’s head; I’m just puzzled how the group I watched v USU and EWU, turned into the group the past two games. Everybody is obviously pressing. Our two best players, proven scorers, have really struggled to find the hoop. That tends to be infectious. It seems to be effecting us on both ends- they were shooting over 50% most of the game! Having Squire’s grittiness out there would help - I don’t see a similar player (Shaw disappeared again?)

I’d really like to see that early energy we brought v EWU on Wednesday, and get out of the gate early. Get Pepper and Manjon off to good shooting nights and see how that gets the rest going.

Coach Hamilton had no schollies, scheduled up, and played DI powers. Opposite here. Les is tight, and the team plays tight. No big men or depth. We got hammered on the boards and inside.

Is Les still having a preacher give pregame sermons?

Yeah I'm not necessarily starting the #FireLes movement. He's earned the time to address the current issues and try to get us out of this situation. BUT, there's no denying this was a catastrophic loss and we are in a huge hole. We lost and looked bad against a very average Sac st. team, and looked bad in the loss vs. Pepperdine. Up next is a "winnable" game against UOP. We need to come out strong from the tip.

I think we are in complete agreement. I was hoping for 5-0 or 4-1 after the first two games. Let’s get back to 4-5 after the homestand and get the train back on the tracks.

We were all pretty depressed after the first UCSD game last year, and we things corrected

Is Les still having a preacher give pregame sermons?

Is this hearsay or do you know this to be a fact? What's your source?

The former parents and players are the source. Including Muslim players. There is a sermon and a blessing at the team meal 3 or so hours before gametime. The sermon is 10-15 minutes.

I knew Les is pretty religious, but I didn't know all those details. Interesting.

Deleted post.

BGA- I could not agree more and it should stop immediately. I doubt Rocko had any idea of what he was getting into with his new job. Christian and most religious doctrines are antithetical to sports plain and simple. “Dear Lord, please help us defeat:. . . . . . . . ., as they are not worthy of winning and, by the way, if I hurt them, please forgive me as I was only trying to block him.” Give me a break! Wait til the faculty hear about this one. No rest for Rocko.

Movie, can you please clarify how you got this information? Is this is first hand information that came from speaking directly with "former parents and players." Also, how long ago did you hear this?

I think we should tap the breaks a bit on this. ADs have pretty close contact with the major sports and a ‘sermon’ wouldn’t slip under their radar.

I get that, Mike, and I certainly don't want this to get blown out of proportion based upon hearsay. That's why I have asked Movie the follow up questions about his statements. I think you make a good point though and, in thinking it over further, I will tap my own breaks and delete my post.

I'd like to think you're right and this would not slip by the AD if it were in fact happening. However, I am concerned. Too often, my own experiences with people, who are devoutly religious and believe that spreading "the truth" is part of their responsibility in life, does push a button for me so perhaps I responded too quickly to this.

Hmm, do atheist coaches discriminate against Christian, Muslim, and Jewish athletes? Sorry, but the implication of his faith some how influencing his choice of players and his coaching ability is really stretching it. This is all based on hearsay. And believe me, the major Sacramento newspaper would be all over it if he was having a church service before games.
With that said, motivational speakers come in different forms, and possibly he uses motivational speakers who might be a rabbi or pastor.

Is it hearsay if Movie spoke directly with "former parents and players?" I do not think it is to far a stretch to think that any devoutly religious coach might blur the boundaries, intentional or not, when it comes to keeping their personal, religious beliefs clearly separate from the team culture that they truly believe is best the team based upon their devout beliefs. My mistake is that I spoke too soon without knowing more about the factuality of these statements. I've deleted my post at this point.

I respect BGA’s decision, but the issue has been drawn by no fault of his or anyone else’s it’s just there for people to try and deal with now. It cannot be ignored. Maybe movie could clear the air here, but maybe we can just address the issue more or less academically or hypothetically without regard to Les. By the way I don’t think we have inferred anything regarding the effects religiously toned pregame speeches might have on recruiting or actual playing. The question is: are religiously oriented speeches or sports activity pregame appropriate at a nondenominational public university. I will let the law professors deal with the legal issue here, but that is not what we really are interested in. My opinion is NO. My prior post commented that most modern religions would not continence violent behaviors in sport. Football and basketball are at their worst very violent spectacles, thankfully not often. But I was actually wrong. The Shinto religion in Japan actively encouraged violent behavior towards adversaries and suicidal conduct if necessary. Recall the kamikazi? We almost had a Japanese player this year. What if he were Shinto? What guy could Les bring in to include him in the otherwise Christian “sermon”? But then again, we would probably praise him every time he got a tough rebound, right? Even if he hurt someone. Sports and religious belief= bad things. IMHO.

Well this string took an unexpected turn.

Here are some shots from the Aggie Game.

Academy of Arts vs UC Davis Men

When he was first here, I wasn't there. Sources are players, family, guests. The story has remained consistent for years.

This was a terrible loss. Reliance for years has been on small guards and forwards and shooting long 2 point and 3 point shots. Not utilizing the big men for shots in the paint and not enough penetrating for higher percentage shots. That is why we cannot hang onto any good big men. They transfer as they are not utilized enough or they don't come in the first place. As long as we rely on the long shot we will be a streaky program with inconsistent results.

Just like the other high performance speakers …business..sports etc he has had speak to the team ? Those have been occurring for years . What did the alleged unnamed family members say about them? Movie lover probably cannot name three of those speakers. These are team building experiences.

Interesting article in the Chronicle about Art U.