FIRE LOTTICH IMMEDIATELY!!

[valpofb16]

Correct in no way am I pushing for a D1 juggernaut in football. What I'm saying is at this point in time Valpo should look at:

1. Where lies their highest profit

2. What puts students at the school (engineering, nursing, football)

With todays technology the amount of student have today, not sure the ole' sports center ticker is a real add on

[justducky]

Wow!  This is the longest string of posts I can remember!

It should be a safe assumption that Chairback opened this thread with the intent of holding Matt's feet to the fire. BUT! SOMEHOW! UNEXPLAINABLY, this thread has shockingly been hijacked and diverted towards an informed and logical debate touching on the school's proper big picture success or survival strategy!
From time to time it is good to be reminded that there is more to life than basketball.

[usc4valpo]

basketball is part of the Valpo experience, - not everything, but it has had a decent history and success and should not be blown off.

Valpo is part of the MVC - act that you deserve to be part of it or go somewhere else.

Valpo losing it's identity or trying to find its identity doesn't help the problem either.

[JD24]

Well said 16. At this point in time, VU basketball (direct expense and income) probably takes a pretty big loss. Indirect P/L would also be a loss if the players are occupying dorm room you could sell or class seats you could sell.  I doubt that amounts to much in this enrollment climate at VU. Harder to quantify is the "buzz" and the presence of your name on the ESPN crawl line. If you aren't generating the "buzz" on campus or on TV, that drives recruitment upward, then competing in D-1 is less of a slam dunk. Posters on this board know how often we have kicked around the revenue effect of football on VU. I think someone even posted detailed costs and revenue figures once. Football always proves itself in how much net tuition revenue comes to the school from 60-80 male students who simply want to play the game without an athletic scholarship. Off the top of my head I don't know the  male-female ratio in colleges nationwide but I am pretty sure it is over 55% female.  (I attended in the wrong decade!)  So even though football generates little direct revenue and takes a direct net loss, it drives a lot of indirect revenue from enrollment.

It's an excellent point overall, but it doesn't necessarily support staying at D1 for football. I'd bet that a lot of the engineering students on the football team would be here anyway even if it was a D3 operation, because of the significant strength of the engineering school. That said, I don't think it would be clear sailing for VU if it went D3, especially for football, where you've got some of the strongest D3 programs around in schools like North Central, Wabash, and DePauw. Many of these top D3 squads would be atop the Pioneer League standings. So....no easy fix. My hope is that Coach Fox stays for a while and builds a competitive football program that can contend for the league title on a regular basis.

The fact that Valpo's football program is Div 1 is a selling point. When Saint Thomas went Div 1 last year, their fans were all excited about that prospect.

[David81]

Wow!  This is the longest string of posts I can remember!

It should be a safe assumption that Chairback opened this thread with the intent of holding Matt's feet to the fire. BUT! SOMEHOW! UNEXPLAINABLY, this thread has shockingly been hijacked and diverted towards an informed and logical debate touching on the school's proper big picture success or survival strategy!
From time to time it is good to be reminded that there is more to life than basketball.

I plead guilty to being among the hijackers, didn't intend it that way, but I see how the discussion has morphed.

Honestly, I'd be saddened if VU gave up on trying to establish itself as a successful mid-major sports program. It may be that the transfer portal has so poisoned the D1 game that most mid-majors are going to suffer from this new reality. If so, then VU will be joining many other quality academic institutions in confronting tough decisions.

The MBB coaching situation brings all of this up. This has been the school's marquee program since 1998, if not a bit earlier. Speaking personally, as an alum from the Rochlitz/Smith era, I didn't give the MBB program much attention until Bryce entered the scene. The run from there to Alec Peters was (yeah, using past tense) a really good one.

Quite understandably, those of you who cut your VU teeth during that 20-year run are especially dismayed. I hope for everyone's sake that a turnaround is in the offing.

[vu72]

It may be that the transfer portal has so poisoned the D1 game that most mid-majors are going to suffer from this new reality. If so, then VU will be joining many other quality academic institutions in confronting tough decisions.

It has worked both ways relative to the portal.  Witness the team who recently beat us (Murray State) has a roster made up of eight transfer and five freshman.  Basically their entire roster went into the portal last year when their coach left.  Yet some how that team beat us (albeit in overtime) at our place and now stands at 4-3 in conference  while we are 0-7. At the same time, Indiana State, currently sitting in first place in The Valley, has nine transfers on their roster. It is more than the portal being the problem.  I'll leave it at that.

[valpofb16]

Convo morphed because

Matt Lottich needs fired. Team starts games uninspired and he can't control runs with timeouts

University needs to fire him, but from what I've heard even if they wanted to they can't swallow the 345k.

Which alluded to conversation of how a high priced, outdated university does not have money. Where's that money going!?

Google provided answer. In 2014 Heckler paid himself 395k according to the Indystar. Third out of every Indiana private institution (Butler/Notre Dame 1&2) Butler has joined Big East for their athletic fundings and Notre Dame is a well oiled machine.

Now. 4&5 are Evansville (335k) and Earlham (356k). Earlham sports are all but dead and Evansville not far behind. Also. Heckler had zero President experience with a Drama major and Psychology master.

Uindy has the 4th best athletics for private schools in state , their president made 173k. That's nearly a quarter of a million dollar difference for one employee. Annually.

Uindy has 5600 undergrad. Meaning Valparaiso paid a Drama Major roughly 2.5 million more than Uindy, to manage less students from 2010-2020. Comedy of errors

There are reasons why Valpo is where it's at.

[historyman]

I like both viewpoints from 23 and 62

well, then I'll rate your viewpoint an 85. :-)

[beacons23]

This is great and just as I assumed...Heckler screwed up so much around this place....

[JD24]

Wow!  This is the longest string of posts I can remember!

It should be a safe assumption that Chairback opened this thread with the intent of holding Matt's feet to the fire. BUT! SOMEHOW! UNEXPLAINABLY, this thread has shockingly been hijacked and diverted towards an informed and logical debate touching on the school's proper big picture success or survival strategy! From time to time it is good to be reminded that there is more to life than basketball.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! HE'S LOST IT!!!!!!!!

[valpo64]

The start of the Belmont game was one of the best starts this season.  We were aggressive on offense, played at a faster pace, and defended pretty well finally getting off that "poor start" situation.  Then Matt substitutes at the point guard and things went down hill as we were leading 13-5 then got outscored  24-4.   Momentum was gone, offensive aggression ceased for the most part and things went downhill from there.  Why in the world did Coach break-up the 5 guys that started the on such a positive note, something they had been striving for?  They showed no effort in getting around screens on the top.  I must say I believe coaching was most responsible for last night's loss.

[VULB#62]

Wow!  This is the longest string of posts I can remember!

It should be a safe assumption that Chairback opened this thread with the intent of holding Matt's feet to the fire. BUT! SOMEHOW! UNEXPLAINABLY, this thread has shockingly been hijacked and diverted towards an informed and logical debate touching on the school's proper big picture success or survival strategy! From time to time it is good to be reminded that there is more to life than basketball.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! HE'S LOST IT!!!!!!!!

I have only one reaction to your reaction, JD  🤣 😎.   Well, maybe a couple 🙄

BTW, fellow contributors and fellow (and I am not making this up cuz I'm one two) a$$wholes, I lurked the whole time I was on self-induced sabbatical, but I really missed inserting my weirdness into this mess we call the Valpo Fan Forum. Of course, if I ever got to meet the any of you people in person, I probably wuddah been outta here years ago. 😜

[crusadermoe]

I think Heckler had a leadership role at UC-Denver.  So he didn't walk out of the faculty lounge with a pipe and board a flight to Valpo. Ha. But he definitely leaned toward drama and woke agendas. He got pretty political in his inauguration speech.

He may not have known anything about sports growing up. He didn't look comfortable in a baseball cap or seem to know how to wear one when one was handed to him at the first basketball game. I think he was also a vegan, making chats around a grill with coaches at a golf outing or a tailgate a little less natural. My sense is that Padilla can pull that off better but I don't know that.

[beacons23]

I think Heckler had a leadership role at UC-Denver.  So he didn't walk out of the faculty lounge with a pipe and board a flight to Valpo. Ha. But he definitely leaned toward drama and woke agendas. He got pretty political in his inauguration speech.

He may not have known anything about sports growing up. He didn't look comfortable in a baseball cap or seem to know how to wear one when one was handed to him at the first basketball game. I think he was also a vegan, making chats around a grill with coaches at a golf outing or a tailgate a little less natural. My sense is that Padilla can pull that off better but I don't know that.

Board hired him and the other admins who dismantled this place.
For a bunch of supposed"leaders" we sure ended up with some dopey adminstration.

[covufan]

Remembering those great years of Tom Smith and the stall offense at the Hilltop.

And the Harden number one salute to Smith


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[usc4valpo]

Specifically, How much money would Valpo eat if they dismissed Lottich today?

[may know]

Everyone is in agreement a coaching change should and will be made.

The only plot left is whether it happens before the season ends, during the last week, or the day after we're eliminated from Arch Madness.

We're in a two month purgatory right now where nothing really matters as we await the inevitable.

[Dr. T]

I'm still not understanding where the sources are that allegedly confirm this $345,000 buyout for ML's contract?...

[VULB#62]

Most assume that .......

# Because he is now being paid around that amount right now.

# And that he still has a valid extension going into 2023-24.

# And that most D-I HC contracts have buy-out clauses that kick in for firing for any reason other than cause.  And a losing coaching record is not considered cause.

That would mean that Matt would probably be contractually entitled to collect all or a negotiated portion of next year's salary.

At least that's my take on this issue.

[Just Sayin]

I'm still not understanding where the sources are that allegedly confirm this $345,000 buyout for ML's contract?...

Annual federal tax return lists salaries and other income for Matt, the president, and others.

[Just Sayin]

MVC Coaches Salary

Men's basketball
#* Porter Moser, Loyola — $1,096,244
Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa — $900,000
* Brian Wardle, Bradley — $708,920
Dan Muller, Illinois State — $564,000
Bryan Mullins, Southern Illinois — $475,000
Dana Ford, Missouri State — $438,368
* Matt Lottich, Valparaiso — $346,334
@ Darian DeVries, Drake — $334,706
Josh Schertz, Indiana State — $300,000
% Walter McCarty, Evansville — $225,619

https://www.news-leader.com/story/sports/college/msu/2021/06/30/missouri-valley-conference-what-head-coaches-making-contracts-bobby-petrino-amaka-agugua-hamilton/7765206002/

[usc4valpo]

DeVries will certainly be bagging more coin soon - he is doing well at Drake

[tiny707]

OK, but wasn't done immediately.

[elephtheria47]

It happened!!

[GoldenCrusader87]

Thank God it's not April 1 or I wouldn't have believed it — way to go Dr. Small & Co.!

Way to provide some hope for this program and in turn a commitment to the future — not only of this program but the institution and community.