That’s awful news. My first thought based on the “new opportunities” comment is that another school came calling and offered him a bigger check. Hopefully that’s all that contributed to the decision and not other things behind the scenes.
Valpo Athletics has some strong momentum at the moment. They will need to hit another home run with the next AD hire to keep the positivity going.
At this venture we can assume all projects in development regarding athletics to be basically scrapped. No rennovations to the ARC no practice facilities, and most certainly no new ARC in the near future
If he pops up at a bigger school in the next few weeks I will breathe a little easier. If he makes a lateral or downward move it tells me he no longer believed the school is really committed to doing what's needed to succeed at the DI level.
@nativecheesehead The most likely theory is that someone offered him more money. Which is fairly easy to do given VUs track record
@nativecheesehead I tried looking online and saw Northern Iowa has an open Athletic Director position. Any other schools have AD openings that would make sense?
Couldn't be worse news...No wonder he didn't return my email!
Mary Evans should be buying rounds at the local pub somewhere. She just got a gift!
Overall, this is bad news as Small has been available, active and doing the right things.
Would it be bold to assume Powell is going to be heavily involved in the hiring process. I heard from someone in the athletics world at Valpo that a stipulation of his contract to coach was that they build him thay darn arena
Mary Evans should be buying rounds at the local pump somewhere. She just got a gift!
Overall, this is bad news as Small has been available, active and doing the right things.
Was just going to post the same thing! No way an interim if firing the head coach and now, the whole sports situation is in scramble mode. This is pretty shocking stuff. Was he here 2 years? I don't think so. I am praying that there isn't more to this, like, "the ship is sinking, might as well jump now and look for a life boat" 😩 😩
@vu72 I highly doubt the ship is sinking. We were already a shipwreck anyway. Hopefully we can find our davy jones to make a deal with so we can raise our black pearl
"to pursue new opportunities for him and his family..."
Yikes. If ever there was a need to know the story behind the story, it's this. Given the overall circumstances, this is as cryptic as it gets.
"to pursue new opportunities for him and his family..."
Yikes. If ever there was a need to know the story behind the story, it's this. Given the overall circumstances, this is as cryptic as it gets.
I totally agree. It's the kind of news one gets when someone is caught with "their hand in the cookie jar" or...in someone else's. Not trying to say anything about Small who was always very nice to me. It is just weird for a guy at that level to leave after less than two years. Hopefully his contract had buyout provisions if in fact another school came after him.
I agree with the abruptness of it and the vague wording. It could just be that the official announcement about his new position is not coming until later today or tomorrow and so he didn't want to say exactly what or where he's going next. Or he is leaving because something happened that wasn't handled well and he's choosing to get out before he can be "fired" as the fall guy.
