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I would presume that Coach Perry got a raise. He was the third assistant under Coach Sutton, worked his but off during interim, and has been promoted to the associate head coach (maybe out of necessity to keep him or recognition for his hard work and loyalty). Upshaw's might have stayed the same since it doesn't seem like his job title changed. I wouldn't be surprise if the rest of those guys took a pay cut just like Coach Mills. Hester's contract wasn't renewed this year by Houston (some say for performance, others say he was replaced by another coach that was bringing in a top recruit with him). Given their head coach's history, the latter seems possible. As far as Patterson goes, when your head coach is making $1 million a year it's not a stretch to see the video coordinator/ scheduler making at least $100k. Again, this is all speculation and conjecture. Just some thoughts to add to the discussion.

Can we make Eli look tougher? I know...I know... I can dream though, right?

Looks like the folks who make Baylor's facilities look so great are on their way up to Tulsa.

Perfect 70-75 degree conditions for baseball in Fargo this weekend as the Golden Eagles attempt to clinch the #1 seed in the post season tournament. 2 wins out of 3 will probably do the trick unless WIU sweeps at South Dakota State, The Bison are 22-21 overall and 12-9 in the Summit and have been up and down....ORU continues its' consistent play and at 32-11 is having the best season in the past 5-6 years....TheEagleman can't recall when we have had such solid starting and bullpen pitching with 7-8 guys all getting the job done every week.....the pitching staff alone gives ORU a chance to advance in an NCAA regional.....it's not impossible if we get a favorable draw and avoid one of the National seeds....but first things first....let's clinch the Summit #1 seed.....GO BLUE!....

James "Papi" Conley 1 James Conley Height: 6' 3" Weight: 170 Year: So. Hometown: Derby, KS High School: Derby Position: G Conley helps Hutch win its third national title By ADAM SUDERMAN sports@derbyinformer.com Mar 27, 2017 James ‘Papi’ Conley is an NJCAA national champion. Just over one year after falling in the title game to Salt Lake, Conley and his six sophomore teammates were crowned champions after an 84-58 romping of Eastern Florida State. The Blue Dragons won their third title (1988, 1994 and 2017) and Conley said it’s still settling in. “It was like a dream come true,” the Derby native said. “It was a true blessing that we actually went out there and did what we needed to do. We did it as a team and got the job done.” After watching Conley don Panther green for four years, Derby coach Brett Flory said he knew his former guard would come through at Hutchinson Community College. “I’m very proud of him,” Flory said. “Papi has been on a mission ever since last year’s championship game loss. Their whole team was on a mission. They had one goal in mind all summer and all fall and it was really cool to see them be able to accomplish that.” The Derby native said preparation for this game began seconds after last year’s loss to the Bruins. “Right after the game, all the sophomores from last year told us that we deserve to go out and win it (this year),” Conley said. “Right after that, me, Samajae (Haynes-Jones) and Shakur (Juiston) came together and wanted to make this season the best that we could.” Conley’s mother, Ann, witnessed the celebration of her son’s national championship victory and said her son has worked tirelessly for this moment. “It wasn’t so much of a surprise to us as much as it was an honor,” Ann said. “We knew what he was capable of and he’s always been a part of championship teams. He doesn’t like losing and he tries his hardest on the court to help his team win.” In playing under coach Steve Eck at Hutchinson Community College, the win struck close to home for Conley and his family. The Blue Dragon guard is one of many family members to play for Eck, dating back to when he led Wichita South to one of the greatest stretches in City League history in the 1980s. “We knew Coach Eck would make a better player out of him,” Ann said. “From the first time he started looking at him, we knew we wanted him to go there and be coached by one of the greatest coaches in Kansas.” In Conley’s sophomore season, the Blue Dragons averaged an astounding 92.6 points per game. Their March 5 win vs. Independence Community College (78-54) was the only game that they scored less than 80 points. The former Panther averaged 9.2 points per game and started 35 of their 37 games. “He’s a pure point guard at that level,” Flory said. “You don’t go to play for Coach Eck at Hutch unless you want to play with other great players. He could have gone a lot of places if he wanted to score points and all that, but he wanted to win and play with other great players.” Conley was also a part of a stifling Hutch defense, winning games by an average of 19 points. “He’s the one that allowed us to establish our pressure defense from day one,” Flory said. “It was and has been the cornerstone of our program. We built it around him in those first four years that I was here. He took that mentality right to Hutchinson and coach Eck has won a zillion games for a reason. His guys guard.” Conley was often the glue that was needed to fix any cracks the last two seasons. “I just try to do whatever I can to get the job done no matter if it’s on the offensive or defensive end,” Conley said. “Whatever my team needs, I try to go out there and deliver.” Ann said the Derby community has been instrumental in her son’s life, helping bring out the best player during his Blue Dragon career. “The support was tremendous and it helped Papi know that people believed in him,” she said. “This is not the end. He still has a long ways to go and he’s got that support.” The next home in Conley’s collegiate career has yet to be named, however, he’ll be one of many Hutch players to play at the D-II level or higher. Haynes-Jones has signed with Wichita State and Juiston, the MVP of the NJCAA National Tournament, has offers from Kansas, UConn, Oklahoma, UNLV, Iowa State and VCU among others. Emporia State and Coppin State have offered Conley, but the sophomore said Evansville, Nebraska-Omaha and Morehead State have all reached out to him in recent weeks. “They told me to keep playing hard and doing what I’m doing and they’ll keep in touch with me,” Conley said of what he’s hearing from colleges. “Hopefully they’ll call soon and I’ll get some more offers.”

This is what I thought as well. If they do anything like what they did at Baylor, it doesn't look cheap (of course I don't really know about the cost of these things). Also, looking at the staff that Coach Mills has, I don't think ORU made him go cheap there. Perry and Upshaw are making the same as they did under Sutton I presume. Patterson was director of Video Operations at Baylor, so he's getting a promotion in coming here, but I don't know what kind of pay he would be getting. I doubt it's much different than Stricker was getting. Hester came from Houston, a relatively large and rich program, to a seemingly equal position here at ORU. I doubt he's taking a significant pay cut just to be at ORU. Overall, with the staff Coach Mills has hired and the D1 Design group coming in, it looks like they're giving Mills the resources to succeed at a championship level. I can't wait for the season to start!

Our locker room is actually pretty nice. It was remodeled several years ago, but I guess could always use a face lift. Nice to see that the new coaching staff is trying to put their mark on things. Bring back the flame....

Maybe it's time with all the changes to have Nike come up with something new, uniform wise.....maybe even throw in something with the flame!