Oh, cry me a river Sol

[sidbona99]

This came from today's South Bend Tribune as part of the ND beat writer's news and notes column. I do like that he blames the culture of losing that he created on his reason for failing. What a putz.


Back in business

Four months of soul searching allowed former Irish assistant Anthony Solomon to realize that he wanted to be a part of the 2007-08 college basketball season in some capacity.

Solomon was fired last March following four seasons as head coach at St. Bonaventure. Still set to be paid this season by the school, Solomon could have sat out to spend more time with his wife and three children. But he needed to coach, even if that meant returning to his previous role as an assistant.

Solomon accepted an offer last month to join coach Brian Gregory's staff at the University of Dayton.

"When you have a chance to lead a basketball program, it's different when you're the head coach," Solomon said by phone from his offices on Dayton's campus last week. "You don't know and understand it until you've been in it. I'll be an even better assistant coach because I know the anxiety and the number of things you have to address on a daily basis."

Solomon was 24-88 at St. Bonaventure after leaving Notre Dame following the Sweet 16 season of 2002-03. Optimistic that he could get the program turned around the day he landed in Olean, N.Y., Solomon instead saw a culture of losing take a toll on him and his family. That's why finding the right fit was so important.

"I wanted my family to be around a good campus environment," he said. "We came out and visited and knew this was the right move."

[GoPadres]

I don't see a problem with Sol's statement. He doesn't ever say that he was not to blame for the culture of losing. He merely says the losing took a toll on his family. He wanted his next job to be with a winning program and in a good environment. Having attended Dayton, I know it is both. Hard to blame a guy for wanting to do right by his family.

[bigdobber]

Some guys have the ability to lead and others are good with following a direction. Sol falls into the latter camp. I think the 4 months of "soul searching" was more like "why can"t my resume get a bite?" Sol's 4 years were marked by losses, player and assistant coach turnover and alienating the fan base. I think Sol showed that he is ineffective as a head coach on many levels. He will never get the opportunity he was given at Bonas. Nice guy, lousy coach is how he will be remembered. Good luck at Dayton.

[stoversghost]

I agree with Sidney99. By using the term "culture of losing" Sol is referencing a broader issue than simply his role and responsibility. It's a dart thrown at the school; it's a means of slyly implying that the problems were with others and the program as a whole and not with him and his monstrous lack of ability, ingenuity and foresight. The man is small, both in stature and in mind. Good riddance. I'm sure the kids at Dayton will warm to his "fine young men" horsecrap.

[sbu79]

Slo has very good skills at spinning his message. He was a commuications (or something like that) major. It's just too bad for us that he obviously took more from his college days in the area of his rhetorical abilities than in his basketball abilities.

[b4life]

I have a feeling Sol is going to hear it from the Rowdys when he comes back into town.

[presstowin]

Sol is gone. Why keep bringing him up? Let's move on. He's just unhappy memories!

[az63]

Because he brought it up by trying to deflect the blame.

He created the culture of losing.

[West End Stench]

I'm not even sure what the hell to think of this thread.

Are we mad at Solomon or the ND Beat Writer?

I'm by no means a fan of COACH Anthony Solomon, but will somebody please point out to me where

sidbona99 said:

...he blames the culture of losing that he created on his reason for failing.

or where

az63 said:

he brought it up by trying to deflect the blame.

or where

stoversghost said:

By using the term "culture of losing" Sol is referencing a broader issue than simply his role and responsibility. It's a dart thrown at the school; it's a means of slyly implying that the problems were with others and the program as a whole and not with him and his monstrous lack of ability, ingenuity and foresight.

comes up in this article? Solomon doesn't spin a thing in his quotes, so I'm not too sure where you're seeing this. If you're referring to the beat writer's statement, "Solomon instead saw a culture of losing take a toll on him and his family." Then I think you're venting your frustration(?) on the wrong person.

Regardless, it's a pretty harmless statement that I think you guys may have looked into for a little too long, lay off the Haterade and let's forget about this guy.

[Copenhagen]

Some of the posts here are pretty hardcore.

A previous regime started the losing trend and the 3-4 recovery period was a tall if not impossible situation that even an experienced head coach would have been severely challenged.

To Coach Sol's credit, he was close to some high end players and for whatever reason they didn't materialize but if they did work out they would have compensated for his coaching.

I would bet that our new Coach would say his road to recovery (a .500 record) was a little bit easier than if he started 3-4 years ago.

[sbu87]

I agree with Copenehagen's statements, it would have been a very difficult task to turn the team around in short order. I also agree that the statement about the culture of losing should be linked to the reporter and not to Coach Sol.

That being said, I do take exception to Coach Sol's statement, "I wanted my family to be around a good campus environment". By making this comment, to me, Coach Sol is eluding that SBU doesn't have a good campus environment. I understand that perhaps several years of underachieving, and the resulting increasing pressure, can change a person's outlook on their environment but I don't think it's fair statement.

[clubhouse]

sbu87, I don't agree. That statement is a reflection on his view of Dayton. It has no meaning associated with SBU. Remember, Sol was fired. He didn't leave SBU on his own, or because Dayton provided his family with a good campus environment.

[sbu79]

The writer didn't just sit down at his keyboard and bang out an article. Chances are slim that he has the personal knowledge of SBU to be able to do that. I have no doubt he interviewed Solomon and that Solomon was the source for the culture of losing concept.

Go back and look at the articles that have popped up over the past couple of years about Solomon (not including any by local writers who actually follow the program). They have all exhibited a very effective spin that only compliments Anthony.

[sbu79]

The writer didn't just sit down at his keyboard and bang out an article. Chances are slim that he has the personal knowledge of SBU to be able to do that. I have no doubt he interviewed Solomon and that Solomon was the source for the culture of losing concept.

Go back and look at the articles that have popped up over the past couple of years about Solomon (not including any by local writers who actually follow the program). They have all exhibited a very effective spin that only compliments Anthony.

I will grant that the good campus environment quote comes across more harshly than it may have been intended.

[towniegrad]

Time to focus on schmidt and sbu .the solomon sbu report is in. He was better for sbu than vbk,but not as good as baron.