REFUTED: Travis Hines: A look into the ISU BBall program and the Athletic Dept

[jbindm]

I don't understand the fuss. It's a report built on anonymous sources who clearly have an axe to grind. Pollard and Hoiberg have publicly denied any rift. Unless/until Hines follows up with something concrete or reveals his sources to be on the up and up, I guess I don't really care.

 

[Mtowncyclone13]

I wanted a Surface but my old boss wouldn't buy it for me. Total bush league move.

See, that was easy.

This thread proves how challeging being in the public eye is. Everyone wants something and unless you give it to them they are mad and if you try to explain yourself you are "lying". I lived in that world for almost a decade. Glad to get out of it.

 

[IAStubborn]

Those aren't the headline, the national news outlets are leading with us being cheap and forcing our players to sleep in hotel ballrooms. And that would directly affect recruiting negatively.

Agree completly, bad lead, poorly written and would have preffered he didn't write it. I am just arguing with the those saying it is totally debunked. I thought the hotel thing was dumb from the get go but I kept reading and found other parts troubling.

 

[Clonefan32]

I might offer that the "nearly double digit" sources may not have all opined on each "charge". So to say there were multiple people saying the same thing could easily be merely a few.

I think Hines's track record would indicate otherwise. The guy has always been solid and well sourced.

 

[BBHMagic]

I don't know what he did, but it must not have been a huge secret. I had heard before that Fred didn't necessarily like JP. Apparently, Keith Murphy had heard the same. People act like the sources were some rogue, disgruntled former coaches. Who would that be? Who left the program on bad terms? Mann would be the only one I can think of. Again, I just can't imagine there are multiple people who are telling the same lie. There's something that was done or said by Fred that led people to believe this. I should say, there isn't anything inherently wrong with that. Fred wouldn't be the first person in the world to take issue with his boss. I just think it's disingenuous to come in now and say everyone's lying. Surely he has more important **** to be dealing with in the big leagues.

I also believe there's no way everyone is blatantly lying. There does seem to be too much smoke. I just think that perhaps whatever rumors are going around are probably overblown and charged by people with agendas. To me that just makes more sense with all the information we have.

 

[carvers4math]

Lets see who cancels their visits. 2 weeks and this story is not only refuted but dead.

I will certainly be watching to see what happens in the next few weeks with Norvelle, Long, and Maker.

 

[JP4CY]

The fact that CW would allow the title to be edited to add refuted says everything about this story.

CW has nothing to do with it.

 

[jbhtexas]

I know Legesse hasn't been mentioned but he edited and signed off on the article. So I'd say the blowback is for the Tribune in general. Not just Hines. I still don't get why they not only included such petty and easily refuted stuff, but they led with it and made it seem like a huge deal. A smaller article focusing on the issues surrounding Hoiberg's salary and how Jamie passive aggressively used it against him and stuff like that would have been higher quality and would have had a much greater impact. Because there is likely a lot more weight behind those claims. As it is, that stuff gets lost in the laughter and anger about how ridiculous the hotel and ticket stuff was.

Maybe they were just following conventional wisdom and leading with their strongest stuff??? Perhaps there really isn't any weight behind those other claims either.

In any case, I agree with you that it's mind boggling to include things in a story (and lead with them no less) that can be so easily refuted.

 

[Clonefan32]

I don't understand the fuss. It's a report built on anonymous sources who clearly have an axe to grind. Pollard and Hoiberg have publicly denied any rift. Unless/until Hines follows up with something concrete or reveals his sources to be on the up and up, I guess I don't really care.

I still want to know who that was associated with the program in the last 4 years would have an axe to grind? Mann seems to be the only person who left on bad terms. Otz, Sadler, Lutz, Abdelmassih all left for better positions. Charlie Henry is with the Bulls. Who are these people with axes to grind?

 

[IAStubborn]

I know Legesse hasn't been mentioned but he edited and signed off on the article. So I'd say the blowback is for the Tribune in general. Not just Hines. I still don't get why they not only included such petty and easily refuted stuff, but they led with it and made it seem like a huge deal. A smaller article focusing on the issues surrounding Hoiberg's salary and how Jamie passive aggressively used it against him and stuff like that would have been higher quality and would have had a much greater impact. Because there is likely a lot more weight behind those claims. As it is, that stuff gets lost in the laughter and anger about how ridiculous the hotel and ticket stuff was.

Well said. The point I have been trying to make albeit unsuccesfully.

 

[Leidang]

I might offer that the "nearly double digit" sources may not have all opined on each "charge". So to say there were multiple people saying the same thing could easily be merely a few.

Exactly my thought. There were a lot of points in the article. 1 guy tells the overall story. Then ask all the players separately if they had to check out early in Hawaii. Several say yes, 1 says yeah and I slept on my luggage in the ballroom. Bang there are a few more sources and a quote. Ping another person about whether they think Fred and Pollard got along. Someone says no I don't think they did.. bang there is another source, and another quote. You should be able to get to "near double digits" pretty quick.

 

[Clonefan32]

I also believe there's no way everyone is blatantly lying. There does seem to be too much smoke. I just think that perhaps whatever rumors are going around are probably overblown and charged by people with agendas. To me that just makes more sense with all the information we have.

Agreed. There may be a story here, but probably not a story that needs told. It appears to be a few pieces of anecdotal evidence that don't really lead to any conclusions either way. Fred being less-than-pleased with his employer a handful of times in 5 years in not really front page news.

 

[SpokaneCY]

I think Hines's track record would indicate otherwise. The guy has always been solid and well sourced.

Rookie mistakes on NOT verifying the easily verifiable info. Trust but verify.

 

[silvercybone]

I still want to know who that was associated with the program in the last 4 years would have an axe to grind? Mann seems to be the only person who left on bad terms. Otz, Sadler, Lutz, Abdelmassih all left for better positions. Charlie Henry is with the Bulls. Who are these people with axes to grind?

There are plenty of people who work for the program who aren't high profile... Could be a former grad assistant, or someone who tutored the team for all we know.

 

[cyclonedave25]

The fact that CW would allow the title to be edited to add refuted says everything about this story.

Page hits?

 

[BBHMagic]

I still want to know who that was associated with the program in the last 4 years would have an axe to grind? Mann seems to be the only person who left on bad terms. Otz, Sadler, Lutz, Abdelmassih all left for better positions. Charlie Henry is with the Bulls. Who are these people with axes to grind?

Donors that don't like Pollard. Other people in the AD. Maybe Corn said something that aligned with their current thoughts. That could have been enough confirmation to Hines.

 

[keepngoal]

Re: Travis Hines: A look into the ISU BBall program and the Athletic Dept

I have found this ironic as well. Pollard, with the multi-million dollar stadium renovates, coach driving the football program into the ground, one-for-four on hirings, can't afford any more bad press. Why is it universally assumed he is telling the truth?

When wasn't it in the ground? And what ISU AD has done better than one for four?

 

[clonedude]

Here's my take on this...

As with nearly everything in life, there is most likely some truth to both sides of this story, and the actual truth lies somewhere in between Hines' article and JP's side of it.

Now, do I think Hines should have wrote it.... no. Even though I do think Fred was not entirely happy here, and JP is definitely a cheap skate, I don't think Hines had enough to go with this article. The article was not entirely accurate by any means, and therefore should not have been written.

With that being said, it's obvious that Fred wasn't entirely happy here, and JP is partly responsible for that IMO. Yes, Fred has always wanted to coach in the NBA, but then why did he show interest in the Gophers job? Also, I think it's pretty well known that Fred did not care at all for how Leath and JP handled the whole Bubu situation. We had players on the football team playing every Saturday that had done worse than what Bubu was even falsely accused of doing, but yet Bubu wasn't allowed back. No consistency there whatsoever on Leath and JP's part.

When the rumors of Fred leaving started swirling, I and many others on here said that JP needs to put a 5 million dollar per year offer on the table for Fred, and if he turns it down, then fine. But JP never did that. And that is partly why we are where we are today. People are still wondering what the truth was behind Fred leaving. Did JP do everything he could to keep him? If he would have put a huge deal on the table and made it public, and Fred turns it down, then JP can at least say he did what he could.

But no, JP did no such thing. And so everyone was left to wonder if JP actually had pulled out all the stops to keep him in Ames? JP just said.... "Fred has told me that money isn't the reason he's leaving, so there is no point in making him a better offer."

Does that sound familiar? JP didn't give Hines any response because he felt the article had already been written and it wouldn't do any good. And he didn't offer Fred a huge deal because Fred had already made up his mind and wasn't going to stay. I just don't like the sound of either of those statements at all coming from the AD.

My opinion of JP wasn't that great before, and after today it's gone down a little bit more. However, he can really show me something if he in fact fires Rhoads after the season if we win less than 5 games this year, but I'm not confident that will happen. Every Cyclone friend of mine has told me that they don't think there is any way that Rhoads isn't back again next season. If that's true, then JP must go IMO.

Oh, and by the way, just because Fred refutes the article does not mean he was happy with JP. And even Fred saying that his relationship with JP was great doesn't mean it was either. Fred doesn't have much choice than to take the high road here. It does him no good to throw his former boss under the bus. It makes Fred look bad too.

 

[jbhtexas]

I still want to know who that was associated with the program in the last 4 years would have an axe to grind? Mann seems to be the only person who left on bad terms. Otz, Sadler, Lutz, Abdelmassih all left for better positions. Charlie Henry is with the Bulls. Who are these people with axes to grind?

Somebody apparently does, because several of the allegations made by Hines' sources were just plain wrong.

 

[IAStubborn]

Re: Travis Hines: A look into the ISU BBall program and the Athletic Dept

Like what? What did it tell us that we don't already know? I hope you're not saying it's ok to write articles smearing our athletic department with loads of false allegations as long as they throw in some facts that we already know.

Not even remotely what I said.