Attended last night, and had a few thoughts:
- Attendance was reported around 230 or so - and they were pleased. I thought last year's gathering was much better attended.
- Roger Williams - meh. Leave that alone.
- Barbour, Chambers, Franklin, Sanderson and Rose were the coaches.
- Sandy Barbour said the right things, although when she was giving a presentation of her vision for the athletic department, it seemed like I was not at a Coaches Caravan, but more of a management seminar. Lots of use of appropriate management terms like "metrics". *sigh* Reference to donations - jokingly.
- Chambers was the first coach to come up and gave some great news about Tim Frazier getting a 2 year deal with the Trailblazers. He thinks DJ Newbill will get drafted - first Penn Stater since Calvin Booth.
- Sanderson was after Chambers and I have to say; I am impressed with this guy's sense of humor. He had a few wisecracks about Chambers (who is growing his hair out, while neither he or Franklin can). Said that wrestling is rebuilding.
- Rose came up and has a good low key humor about him. Made a veiled reference to donations, and then mentioned Joe and Joe's quote "I want your dollar, but I don't want your 2 cents". I looked at Barbour for a reaction and she was stoic. Was very pleased (obviously) with the National Championship this year.
-Franklin of course, was last. Really took over the room, and worked it to his advantage. Indicated his sister, brother in law and their kids were in the room....and when he searched them out, apparently they had left - which led to laughter in the room. Was very happy to be back in his home area, and talked about the scholarship limits, the loss of $72 Million from all the sanctions and the challenges with all of that. Had a couple of assistant coaches in the room who were supposed to be flying out of Philly this morning to Tampa (recruiting or a camp I guess).
- Q&A after the coaches, mostly softball questions that had probably been scrutinized and sanitized. I don't remember most of them, although someone asked Franklin about playing Pennsbury and Council Rock, schools he said he hated and still does (laughter and groans from the room).
Overall, a nice function. Pretty benign, which is what I kind of expected. Of the crowd, I would venture to guess the median age was around 45.
- Attendance was reported around 230 or so - and they were pleased. I thought last year's gathering was much better attended.
- Roger Williams - meh. Leave that alone.
- Barbour, Chambers, Franklin, Sanderson and Rose were the coaches.
- Sandy Barbour said the right things, although when she was giving a presentation of her vision for the athletic department, it seemed like I was not at a Coaches Caravan, but more of a management seminar. Lots of use of appropriate management terms like "metrics". *sigh* Reference to donations - jokingly.
- Chambers was the first coach to come up and gave some great news about Tim Frazier getting a 2 year deal with the Trailblazers. He thinks DJ Newbill will get drafted - first Penn Stater since Calvin Booth.
- Sanderson was after Chambers and I have to say; I am impressed with this guy's sense of humor. He had a few wisecracks about Chambers (who is growing his hair out, while neither he or Franklin can). Said that wrestling is rebuilding.
- Rose came up and has a good low key humor about him. Made a veiled reference to donations, and then mentioned Joe and Joe's quote "I want your dollar, but I don't want your 2 cents". I looked at Barbour for a reaction and she was stoic. Was very pleased (obviously) with the National Championship this year.
-Franklin of course, was last. Really took over the room, and worked it to his advantage. Indicated his sister, brother in law and their kids were in the room....and when he searched them out, apparently they had left - which led to laughter in the room. Was very happy to be back in his home area, and talked about the scholarship limits, the loss of $72 Million from all the sanctions and the challenges with all of that. Had a couple of assistant coaches in the room who were supposed to be flying out of Philly this morning to Tampa (recruiting or a camp I guess).
- Q&A after the coaches, mostly softball questions that had probably been scrutinized and sanitized. I don't remember most of them, although someone asked Franklin about playing Pennsbury and Council Rock, schools he said he hated and still does (laughter and groans from the room).
Overall, a nice function. Pretty benign, which is what I kind of expected. Of the crowd, I would venture to guess the median age was around 45.
