Hoover, Shuler offer suggestions to WCU officials

Save your breathe Heath and Brad. Since you both actually understand the game and have had some exposure to a winning culture, your words have fallen on deaf ears.

Chaos abounds in Cullowhee. Maybe someday order will be the rule and not the exception. A search firm for WCU, please.

If I was on the Board of Trustees at Western Carolina, I would ask the rest of the Board Members to fire Chip Smith & ask John Bardo to resign or get fired. It is obvious that Western Carolina needs new management for that University. The Athletic Department should respect all recommendations made by people like Rep. Shuler and Brad Hoover. I hope Teddy Phillips takes advantage of this opportunity to make amends for his poor judgement regarding the Briggs fiasco. Western has a great opportunity to make a statement about the future of athletics at WCU and its role in the future growth of the university. Bardo & Smith appear to be two very incompetent boobs.

To echo what the others have said...as long as we have the same influenses on football that we do now, you can forget getting anyone that will cost a pretty penny. From being on the "inside" at WCU, football is pretty far down the list of things Bardo wants to accomplish. Has anyone forgot that he is trying to make that university be on the same "level" and James Madison? Please, you can forget about good football there as long as him and Chip are making the choices. And hopefully no one has forgot about the buddy buddy replationship they both share with Kent Briggs...who is still going to be at the university. He'll be around to voice his same conservative type thinking.
To Hoover and Shuler...you know we (everyone except Bardo and Smith) all care about your opinion and thank you for your interest, but when you talk to them, you might as well go run into a brick wall a few hundred times, you'll get further than talking with them.
To the Bardo wannabe....I mean Chip Smith....you are an athletic director, not Bardo's secretary. Sometimes I get you two confused. Go get a coach that'll bring money to the school, that's what you and him are all about anyways right? Money? That's all your going to get if you can spare a dime or two.
To the rest of the fans, I know I'm preachin' to the choir, but if we can all do one thing, we'll make a difference.
Chip's email address is: csmith@email.wcu.edu
Please let him know that we need to listen to experience (people like Hoover & Shuler), over Bardo, whom I know he signs his pay checks, but Chip baby, you gotta stand up for yourself.

Funny how Shuler, who has no collegiate ties to Western, gets the chancellor's ear while Hoover, a graduate and successful NFL player- way more successful that Shuler turned out- has his suggestions "not very well received."

How about a search firm for a new AD? I bet Charlie Cobb could make some good recommendations.

I'm embarrassed to be a grad.

Western has always fired its coachs at the end of their seasons. Which means they lost a years recruiting. WCU's athletic budgets make it almost impossible to compete in the Southern Conference. I had hope, when it fired coach Briggs in time to have him replaced by someone who would have time to recruit this year. I was wrong. It is all about the money. The school seems to feel that a coach should pay them to work there. I was wrong. It is business as usual in Cullowhee.

now chip, take your time buddy! there is always '09, and dont't listen to hoover, what does he know? i'll email you some names next month after the holidays, ho ho ho, lol

Western is dead in the water as long as Bardo and butt buddy Smith is there.

Hoover being ignored by WCU athletic administration? Figures and what else would you expect. They did the same thing with the baseball alumni over the summer.

You guys/girls that are down playing the University and staff call yourself alumni and supporters. The only support that you give Athletics is the negative comments that don't mean much. Maybe you should try the positive side and give support to this adminstration on hiring the best coach for the job. And you complain about the money that Western does not have, if you want a change that we can all be proud of, put your money where your mouth is and give to the Athletic Dept. The $100.00 dollars or so you may give can not even bring in a decent candidate and feed him and his wife lunch.

Shocker.....WCU A.D. ignores NFL player in regards to coaching concerns..........I will never give another dime to WCU again..........

WCU FOREVER wrote:

You guys/girls that are down playing the University and staff call yourself alumni and supporters. The only support that you give Athletics is the negative comments that don't mean much. Maybe you should try the positive side and give support to this adminstration on hiring the best coach for the job. And you complain about the money that Western does not have, if you want a change that we can all be proud of, put your money where your mouth is and give to the Athletic Dept. The $100.00 dollars or so you may give can not even bring in a decent candidate and feed him and his wife lunch.

Give me some positives there buddy.

Read it again - the article clearly stated that the WCU AD did not speak to Hoover. Hoover probably spoke to Bardo. Bardo has long been clueless regarding how to handle those of the athletic world. WCU had its ideal baseball coach (Raleigh) and failed to support the program at the level it should have. Raleigh & Co with proper support would have put WCU in the World Series, playing in Omaha on a huge stage with a national TV audience against schools like Arizona State and Texas. How much pride would we have all felt in our school then? How many would have then given to the school in general at that point in addition to the athletics dept? Bardo has no vision for these things. He also was a huge fan of former v-ball coach Michelle Hanson, who ended up getting fired because of her abusive ways down at N. Arizona. Same stuff was going on in Cullowhee months before her firing down there, but administration again - very clueless - or just too consumed with other things as they have always been understaffed. The sad thing is that we as alumni and fans can move on and say "same old Western", but the student-athletes there are the ones who are being robbed of opportunities. I am confident in the new baseball staff. I hope things go well and that program continues to progress. Certainly, women's b-ball and soccer are on firm ground. AD Smith plainly is not filling anyone with confidence in his abilities. A lot of good people have come and gone through WCU. It is too bad that the leadership there can't figure out the strengths of the place and how those strengths can be manifested nationally while still ensuring a great experience for EVERYONE there. They clearly lack a plan when it comes to anything that has to do with athletics. Hoover is a figure who should be heard, and if I were him, I'd go raise some hell up there. Go Catamounts!

I guess one of the best positives out of the whole situation is that you guys/girls are too busy complaining about the situation and not trying to get involved. I do not know what is worse, the ACT and their bogus news or the comments that are made and their unwarranted info. I am thrilled that you guys/girls are not the ones trying to hire us a football coach.

i guess "WCU Forever" is either chip's screen name.....i love wcu and will always, but enough is enough already

WCU FOREVER wrote:

I guess one of the best positives out of the whole situation is that you guys/girls are too busy complaining about the situation and not trying to get involved. I do not know what is worse, the ACT and their bogus news or the comments that are made and their unwarranted info. I am thrilled that you guys/girls are not the ones trying to hire us a football coach.

Hoover tried to "get involved" as you propose, and was shunned. Here is a guy with a TON of resources - money, connections, knowledge, etc. and he was not well received. So how do you propose we all "get involved"? Donating $ to this mess is not an option at this point. Incompetence is too clear after hiring a search firm 35 days into search. All these other schools who have hired a search firm did it from the beginning or just a few days in - not a month in. Go ahead and keep your blind faith WCU Forever. You would fit in well in the administration there if you need work = blind leading the blind.

Finding a good football coach takes time. If all of you remember that we rushed a coach in last time (briggs) and look what we got. Give this admin time, so what we may lose a year of recruiting this turn around is not going to be instant.

Well, you HAVE to listen to your current Congressman, right? But not listening to a guy who actually PLAYED in the Super Bowl from your school? Uh, yeah.

Shuler for AD in 2009. Hey, I can always dream can't I?

remember too that whoever gets to WCU he/she has to play with the players that are there. The players too include the same old staff. has anyone noticed how the assistant AD runs around and takes care of the basketballs at the half rather than connecting with the fans in the CATAMOUNT CLUB? The AD staff are to raise money, stroke the fans and uplift the students. there are managers for each team that needs to be "setting the stage". maybe moving equipment around and appearing workiing hard is a way of avoiding doing the job of AD and Asst. AD.
Western has never been able to connect with the alumni and other paying peoples. At least Deitz tried by making the W club. yet it is just another competition for the CATAmount club. Connecting is what it is all about. I have heard more than one student graduate and felt cheated. no school spirit. no traditions, no working to bring the students on board.
the challenge is just more than a coach. note too how unkempt all the facitilties are.nothing first class in sight.

Ok, a few things here.

One - Hoover most likely spoke to someone else in the athletic dept...and the article states that Chip Smith had tried to call Hoover, but hadn't been able to get ahold of him. Obviously, Chip Smith isn't ignoring Hoover. Also, Hoover says that a search firm is a bad choice...well, every major college that has gotten a great coach lately has used a search firm. UNC, UF, Alabama, Michigan, Arkansas...all of these places have used search firms, and all of these places have gotten great coaches.

Recruiting is not being impacted by us not having a staff right now. Don't forget that we're in the middle of the recruiting "dead period" right now, and so the coaches can't even communicate with the high school students.

Lastly, everyone keeps talking about Bardo and Smith not giving enough resources to the football/baseball/etc teams. I've got a news flash for everyone : WCU only has about 8,000 students. ASU has 16,000!!! Obviously ASU has tons more money to throw around, so they're always going to out-spend us. Until WCU's enrollment grows, they're not going to be able to compete financially. How to grow enrollment? By expanding the University...which seems an awful lot like what Bardo is doing now.....hrmmmm.....