MBB: Northwest Conference

[A Buc Forever]

And you can make that 51 polls since they'll be in the pre-season top 25 to start next year... 

Rat,

Try not to rub it in too much.  Although, being a Whitworth fan reminds me of that Mac Davis song, "Oh Lord it's hard to be humble..."

[formercat]

So Bridgeland was offered the job at Linfield, but turned it down.  Makes ya wonder how being 40 minutes from Portland and having overall better facilities than Whitman that Linfield could lose out to them?  A birdy from eastern Washington told me Bridgeland would have had to take a substantial pay cut, the money for the program was much less than that at Linfield, and the amount of time he would have had to spend doing other duties that where not related to the program was much greater too. There is also some other juicy rumors out there, but I cannot divulge too much at once.

[catmac567]

I am not surprised that Bridgeland would turn down Linfield's offer.  Nothing is allowed to
challenge football and baseball for funding at Linfield.   I have heard that Greg Garrison,
Linfield alum and former coach at Corvallis High School has received consideration, whether or not he is still in the running I do not know.   

[(509)Rat]

Before you guys go blaming the basketball budget on the University....I'm sure Doty set up and ran his own banquets, golf events, made his own business contacts and got a lot of his own sponsors all of which generated money just for the basketball program right?

That's what Hayford did. Whitworth (the University itself) has little to do with why the basketball program flies to every game outside of Spokane and Walla Walla. It's why they can schedule tourneys on NYE in NYC, Xmas in Hawaii, multiple trips south and to the midwest in a season, etc. Whitworth's budget is a direct result of the head coach generating revenue for his own program, and hopefully Logie is able to tap many of the same resources...

[catmac567]

Larry did some of what you mentioned, but he never got full cooperation from
the College or the department on getting dates for his camps and other fund raising events.  Plus not having a full-time assistant really limited what he could do.  I do
put a good portion of the lack of budget on the non-cooperation of the Athletic Director and the College for this situation.

[formercat]

Before you guys go blaming the basketball budget on the University....I'm sure Doty set up and ran his own banquets, golf events, made his own business contacts and got a lot of his own sponsors all of which generated money just for the basketball program right?

Not to take away from anything Hayford did, but Whithworth is the only D3 school and only Gonzaga as the other 4 year institution in a city of 200,000 people. McMinnville is 30,000 people with 4 other schools in the greater Willamette area. Also, Linfield seemed to find 10,000 dollars very quickly when the football team wanted out of there contract with Western Oregon a couple of years ago.

[A Buc Forever]

Before you guys go blaming the basketball budget on the University....I'm sure Doty set up and ran his own banquets, golf events, made his own business contacts and got a lot of his own sponsors all of which generated money just for the basketball program right?

Not to take away from anything Hayford did, but Whithworth is the only D3 school and only Gonzaga as the other 4 year institution in a city of 200,000 people. McMinnville is 30,000 people with 4 other schools in the greater Willamette area. Also, Linfield seemed to find 10,000 dollars very quickly when the football team wanted out of there contract with Western Oregon a couple of years ago.

Wait, isn't Lewis and Clark in Portland?  Tacoma's population is 200,000 plus or minus 10k. Not to mention the population the Willamette Valley schools have to draw from in Portland and even Seattle.   The population of Spokane and the city of Spokane itself were more of a hinderance to Hayford than an advantage (calm down Rat--I love Spokane but just stating most people's opinion). 

Maybe Bridgeland used Linfield for a little leverage.  Wouldn't be the first coach to use an interview at another school to get what he wants back home.

[formercat]

Maybe Bridgeland used Linfield for a little leverage.  Wouldn't be the first coach to use an interview at another school to get what he wants back home.

Had Linfield been able to give Bridgeland the equivelant of what he had at Whitman, I think he leaves Whitman.  Since Linfield did not, I do agree with your statement that he ended up using the opportunity for leverage.

Also, not sure with what Lewis and Clark and the Tacoma schools have to do with the population size of McMinnville. The larger the population the greater chance to pull sponsorship money from surrounding businesses was my point.

[A Buc Forever]

Formercat,

    I was commenting on the Portland and Tacoma schools because you seemed to be suggesting that Hayford's success was due to being in wonderful and populous Spokane.  Every school has it's geographic and situational advantages and disadvantages.  I don't think that Linfield is that bad geographically--especially compared to Whitworth.  No snow to speak of at Linfield.  Twice as many people within a 50 mile radius.  Located in a small town with a nice down town area that is easy access for the students, etc.  You might not have the money Whitman has, but you aren't out in the middle of no where and there seem to be plenty of great football coaches that have worked there and believe me, they weren't there for the money.

[(509)Rat]

Don't worry A Buc, I didn't take any offense. Eastern Washington is what it is...and that's 2 semi-metropolitan areas (Spokane and the Tri-Cities), with nothing else that's within a 5 hour drive. Whitworth has done a good job of getting quality players from central and eastern wa over the years, but those guys have been a small part of why Whitworth has been so successful.

Don't think you have good players near Linfield? Then why will two of your state's best d3 prospects be up in Spokane next fall to play basketball? The new Whitworth staff seems to like Portland just fine.

As for your birdy, just say coach casey told you about Bridgeland's reservations. Remember us Whitworth fans know who he is 

The Linfield football contract is weak too. They did what EVERY other NWC school has done (and for the record they were very late to the party as WC11 would probably tell you) which is get rid of non-d3 teams on the schedule. Ask the guys on the 2007 Whitworth team what losing to an NAIA team can do to your playoff hopes....even when you are the champ of one of the better conferences in the country. You HAVE to do whatever you can to schedule non-conference d-3 games which isn't easy in the NWC. So the $10k investment led to a playoff run and 80+ incoming freshman who may not have come to your school otherwise. 80 x $35k...I'm no mathematician but that's a butt load of money for the UNIVERSITY.

[wildcat11]

The Linfield football contract is weak too. They did what EVERY other NWC school has done (and for the record they were very late to the party as WC11 would probably tell you) which is get rid of non-d3 teams on the schedule. Ask the guys on the 2007 Whitworth team what losing to an NAIA team can do to your playoff hopes....even when you are the champ of one of the better conferences in the country. You HAVE to do whatever you can to schedule non-conference d-3 games which isn't easy in the NWC. So the $10k investment led to a playoff run and 80+ incoming freshman who may not have come to your school otherwise. 80 x $35k...I'm no mathematician but that's a butt load of money for the UNIVERSITY.

Amen. That 10K WOU buyout wound up being a fantastic move by Linfield.

[playball]

The Linfield football contract is weak too. They did what EVERY other NWC school has done (and for the record they were very late to the party as WC11 would probably tell you) which is get rid of non-d3 teams on the schedule. Ask the guys on the 2007 Whitworth team what losing to an NAIA team can do to your playoff hopes....even when you are the champ of one of the better conferences in the country. You HAVE to do whatever you can to schedule non-conference d-3 games which isn't easy in the NWC. So the $10k investment led to a playoff run and 80+ incoming freshman who may not have come to your school otherwise. 80 x $35k...I'm no mathematician but that's a butt load of money for the UNIVERSITY.

Amen. That 10K WOU buyout wound up being a fantastic move by Linfield.

When money seems to be tight in an athletic department, that 10k is a bit of change to change hands.  Rat, you say 80 student athletes wouldn't come to Linfield IF we were to lose to Western?  Fat chance, kids are flocking to the school for football for thee "streak" alone.  Also, what does fulfilling a contract have to do with playoffs when you are winning the conference on a regular basis?  But this is a basketball board.  And the basketball team at Linfield missed out on a good coach for whatever reasons which is too bad since I believe that Bridgeland could have turned it around for the team.

[wildcat11]

When money seems to be tight in an athletic department, that 10k is a bit of change to change hands.  Rat, you say 80 student athletes wouldn't come to Linfield IF we were to lose to Western?  Fat chance, kids are flocking to the school for football for thee "streak" alone.  Also, what does fulfilling a contract have to do with playoffs when you are winning the conference on a regular basis?  But this is a basketball board.  And the basketball team at Linfield missed out on a good coach for whatever reasons which is too bad since I believe that Bridgeland could have turned it around for the team.

After the 'Cats 2009 final four playoff run Linfield brought in their largest recruiting class in program history.  The second largest class was after the 2004 National Title.  Success in the playoffs has a direct impact in the interest in a program.  Rat is 100% correct.  Buying out that WOU game and replacing with Occidental (a top 25 DIII at the time) allowed Linfield to secure an 8th DIII game (they played SOU in 2009) and helped secure more home playoff games when Linfield went undefeated in the regular season that year.  Again, it was a good move.

And the basketball team at Linfield missed out on a good coach for whatever reasons which is too bad since I believe that Bridgeland could have turned it around for the team.

100% agree.

[catmac567]

It is too bad that the Linfield Athletic Department will not spend a few extra dollars to make all sports competitive.  The sacred god of football has to have everything.  It also time for Linfield to hire an Athletic Director that is not a football coach or a baseball coach. The best thing for the College would be for the streak in Football to end.  Some humility would be a good thing.

[A Buc Forever]

What happened with Hironaka at Linfield?  I heard he interviewed also.  His resume is as good or better than Bridgeland's.  Getting him would not be a step down from Bridgeland--one could argue a step up.