Yeah can we link whatever confirming posts are public thank you
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If I saw Carla getting a 30% raise and then telling me that she was giving Mox more money than me after I spent two plus decades building National championship program then I’d probably leave too
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I, for one, won’t quite view the man the same but respect what the coach did here.
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Inevitably people are going to blame the AD whenever something like this happens, and whether it’s fair or not I would argue that’s part of her job. Athletic directors are inevitably the de facto figureheads for their athletic department, and the successes/failures that happen under their watch define how their resume is viewed.
Do I think Carla is fully to blame for this happening? Absolutely not, and I would hope people do hold that bit of nuance in their opinion. There are multiple factors that went into this situation that she had little to no control over. With that being said, based off what I’ve heard from people connected to the program, she didn’t handle this in the best way possible. And if we were able to rewind time I think there’s multiple things she would have done differently.
It is what it is, will say her last ditch efforts to fundraise in the past couple of days were VERY good, but still can’t lie and say I’m happy about how this turned out. I just hope the funds raised weren’t entirely contingent on Oak sticking around, because we could really use that amount of support going forward.
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I know you and Karl follow the program heavily. Always enjoys you covering games here. The whole situation sucks.
With the portal opening tomorrow, do (or Karl) think a potential rebuild like basketball will take place? I can’t imagine any of the signees will remain. Probably a good bet a majority of the roster looks elsewhere.
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I think there’s people on here who’ll blame Williams for anything and everything they disagree with and there’s people who will defend her no matter what.
I don’t that an AD’s job boils down to coaching hires and retention or simply win/loss records in any sport. Also that the job at Virginia isn’t as easy as some of our peer schools or as easy as some people like to think it is.
Starting with 125 million in athletic department revenue for 25 sports when many of our peers are working with over 150-180 mil revenue for 15 or fewer sports. And that other conferences distribute more media money and other schools make more ticket revenue. And our scholarships cost our AD more than other schools’ scholarships cost theirs.
You can say that the AD’s job is to raise more money and that’s absolutely true. She has increased revenue during her tenure, but maybe she should have raised it more.
But when there’s a finite amount of money and everyone wants and needs more, there’s going to be unhappy people. You just gotta make sure that the ones that you keep happy are the ones who can keep you employed and the ones you piss off aren’t the ones that’ll get you fired.
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Again my mentality with these types of things is always to remain pessimistic and be happy if it turns out better than expected.
With that being said I’m fully prepping for it to be a bloodbath. Losing BOC obviously hurts but nearly just as important is we’re also losing KMac, who is considered one of the best recruiters and talent evaluators in the country. A staple of our program has been loyalty, and in the NIL/portal era we haven’t really had much of an issue with starters transferring out because of how strong the culture is that Oak and KMac have built. So would assume it’s gonna work the opposite way now with those two leaving.
We really need to get a new coach hired ASAP so we can start doing some serious damage control.
If we were able to come up with the money and resources to close the gap with Miss State, then it kind of seems like the fractured relationship between Carla and Oak is the reason he’s still leaving?
Bernardino was a mutual parting of ways (well, not how he says it — much like Dom — and became an assistant at NC State (where we got DeSorbo from). But we failed with Augie Busch first.
I appreciate the response. Gotta hope now the right HC can come in and get things done quick.
And Mac’s plays at Liberty.
She’s gotta go
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To add to what UVAPride said, the baseball offseason works at a different pace and complexity because the draft rules are so different than the NBA draft.
Another big complexity is no one really knows if the roster is going to be 34 or 40 players next season.
And baseball rosters have a lot of turnover year over year anyway due to players leaving for the draft after 2 or 3 seasons.
Vultures are going to be circling our roster for sure. Non draft eligible guys like Becker, Nunnallee, and Valincius are going to be juicy targets for tampering.
Hopefully no one finds their way to Starkville but you have to figure some are going to. (throws up in mouth)
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And it’s started.
I’ve never witnessed an AD who gets disrespected like Dr. Carla Willlams. It’s embarrassing that our fanbase and alumni do this at every turn.
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Again the hope is that the funds that were raised in order to try and keep BOC remain committed, and weren’t contingent on BOC staying. If we can use that as part of our pitch then we’ll have a much better candidate pool to choose from.
The problem is — like hoops and football — is it sustainable?
The folks who are paying for a $14M basketball roster and $10M for the football portal — can they / will they do that every year?
(Mississippi State seems committed enough, but you can only take away from your basketball program for so long.)
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I don’t disagree, but the important thing right now is making a good enough pitch to get a new coach in. We gotta at least show in the short term that we’re committed.
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I’m pissed about losing Oak. Super pissed actually. I’ve been coming to grips with the possibility for some time now (since Lemonis was fired at State).
But I’m going to take the same approach I took with Coach Odom and support the next guy 100% when he gets in the door and builds his program.
I think we all should and get behind him to show everyone that UVA Baseball will not crumble but will stay strong and potent.
Unless we hire John Szefc. Then it will be F that guy.
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I expect Carla Williams’ future at UVA will be mostly determined by whether Tony Elliott gets it turned around, football steers the ship. With Ryan Odom being the wildcard…if he’s really successful in the next few years, it can help paint over football failures.
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This! The only thing I have to say about Carla is the fact she knew big schools were interested in him and throwing offers. Moment you hear that you have to be giving him program incentives and upgrades to the stadium. I think this falls on her…
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