Scott Sutton Released

[tmh8286]

17 hours ago, Old Titan said:

I've been sequestered at the Hard Rock Resort & Casino in Catoosa for the past couple of days, taking part in my company's annual franchisee meeting.

(Ironically, my presentation last year at this same meeting of 250 attendees representing over 150 stores in 10 states was "Crisis Management 101: Accountability When It Matters Most".

Anyway, I just spent the last couple of hours getting caught up on things on pages 6 through 13 of this thread, and here are a couple of my initial thoughts:

1.  My head hurts.

2.  I'm really thirsty.

3.  I feel like I need a shower.

Seriously, here's all I feel like saying right now, while I further contemplate yet another wordy manifesto:  we honestly have one of the most erudite fan forums it has ever been my pleasure to read. Post after post after post of enlightened, sincere and insightful opinions from all angles of this very complicated and very messy divorce.  You are ALL to be commended for keeping the vast majority of the banter above-board and civil (with a couple of passionate yet forgivable exceptions).  And, as this saga continues to unfold, I personally look forward to your continued input on these pages, as we all continue to wrap our collective brains around this terrible mess.

"Uninformed fan base", FormerSID? 

Hardly. 

Naive?

Maybe.

Forgiving to a fault?

Could be.

But (and here's what I LOVE about this group), willing to listen, debate, and admit when they're wrong?

You bet your sweet bippy.

Now, if only the so-called "adults in the room" on this deal accorded themselves as well....

Wow, OT, that was a really, really nice post.  I enjoyed every word of it!!

 

[TrueBlue82]

29 minutes ago, tmh8286 said:

Rob Marshall posted some comments on Facebook, in response to some negative comments there, that sum up my feelings to a tee.  I asked him if I could share them with you guys  on the board and he said I could:

(1) It's pretty clear, ORU didn't handle this very well. I do 100% believe their "intentions" were good, however if the desire was ultimately to go in a different direction with the MBB program, then make that decision...period. Fire the head coach (and tell him directly in person), hold a press conference to explain 'why' the decision was made and then move on with the search for the next head coach. Instead ORU, from I believe a 'good' but extremely non-conventional place and (my opinion) out of genuine goodwill & appreciation for Coach Sutton, tried to "negotiate" with him to make their decision feel better to everyone including Scott. Had they really thought about it though, they would have expected their "offer" would not be accepted by Scott or any other self-respecting head coach.

(2) However, I do believe they made a good business decision to make the coaching change. The excuses of a 'faith tests' and an 'anti-tattoo' policy didn't impact the W-L record...truth is they lost a lot of games they shouldn't have lost. ORU has the second biggest MBB budget in the Summit League behind only Denver University and has had enough talent & resources to be much better than 78-85 the last five seasons (NOTE...ORU baseball continues to have high level of success nationally with only 11.7 scholarships to complete a full team roster of up to 27 players and are "handicapped" by the same recruiting guidelines as all ORU athletics programs).

Scott Sutton is a friend...I've known him for nearly 25 years and there is not a better guy than him - he's a top shelf person! And he's been a loyal employee to ORU for 20+ years and during his time the MBB program has had some periods of really good success just not recently. That's what makes business decisions involving a great person like Scott incredibly difficult to make and always very painful.

So, I'm sorry for any embarrassment you may feel from all of this as a fellow alumni...it's certainly not been fun to follow in the local news for me either partially out of compassion for the Sutton family and also cringing for my alma mater as it takes numerous PR hits across many mediums (social media as well as print & on-air media). I'll end with this final thought...it was incredibly complicated and given the chance at a re-do, I believe ORU would have made the same business decision but would have executed it very differently. Can't get the milk back in the bottle now though so just have to clean it up & move forward.

Let me quickly add one more thing and this is important... it's very easy for me or any of us to play arm-chair QB here and judge for better or worse how this all was handled. I know there is likely a lot of important data missing from my analysis...so I'm willing to give EVERYONE a pass on what 'I think' could/should have been done differently and allow for a reset from here going forward. Business decision made, I support it... I love Scott Sutton and wish him all the success he deserves in whatever is next for him & his family - they are great people! I love ORU and want it's MBB program to consistently win conference championships, regularly go to the NCAA tournament and occasionally make some fun March Madness memories for alums like me to get excited about and to be a little extra proud of our alma mater about! #ORU

Thanks for posting this, Doc - and for Rob's willingness to have his comments shared here.  Very well written, and right in line with my thoughts on the matter.

[vcboy2000]

Great post, OT. 

Phenomenal summary, Rob.

[ORUalum]

in all this controversy, self inflicted wounds, poor crisis management and upheaval......a silver lining.

"I've got six to ten that could walk in here tomorrow.......I've been blown away."    ---- Mike Carter asked about the quality of applicants. 

[Otis 83]

A few scattered thoughts on all this nonsense.  In no particular order.

I think it is pretty easy to argue that it was time for a change.  I liked Scott a lot as our coach and was truly pulling for him to right the ship.   Actually thought it might be this year after I watched the Michigan State game.  He showed a lot of loyalty and it could be argued he was the perfect fit for our school.  A guy who understood and was comfortable with the mission.  I would argue we will never have a coach approach his years of service.  We are probably back on the “hire a great coach and watch TU hire him” treadmill.   Which is actually better than one of the alternatives.

Even if you are in the “this was say past due” camp I don’t how anyone can defend how it was done.  I watched the chapel clip and the presser.  There’s a right way to do this and this wasn’t it.  I had to lay off 5 employees last summer.  The first one was a manager in California.  He knew it was coming.  There was no secret that layoffs were in the works.  He was a long time employee who had made great contributions to our company.  So I scheduled a time (it was crazy, we both had it on our calendars) and I flew out to California and told him face to face.  I thanked him for his many years of great service and wished him the best.  It sucked.  He took it like a pro and told me I needn’t have bothered to fly out there.  But that’s how you do it right.  After I talked to him I called everyone on his team, individually, and let them know.  While the conversation was difficult the logistics were not rocket science. 

The ORU president and AD are too busy to schedule a press conference the day they fire the basketball coach?

So there was a rush because it was almost national signing day?  Then don’t let it drag on this long.  I still don’t understand the coach for a year and then get paid for your last year thing.  Maybe that was MC trying to give Scott a soft landing.  I don’t get it.  Let Scott go as soon as the season is over (and hold a presser that day) and EVERYONE feels better about this thing. 

The whole tattoo thing is confusing and just sounds like a 50 something year old white preacher who just doesn’t get it.  FWIW.

This is what happens when you hire someone with no higher education experience to run a major institution of higher learning.  Our website touts his business acumen.  I guess that doesn’t include Human Resources.

It’s hard to say the University made recruiting too hard when the baseball team beats OU the next night.  Was Billy just picking on basketball and the baseball guys get to sign anyone they want?  Doubt it.

Couldn’t someone have taught Billy how to say Nzekwesi’s name?  Someone put a lot of time into writing his statement (has he ever used confluence in a sermon?).  Take the extra time to work out the difficult pronunciations.

Did the basketball team sign anybody whose dad didn’t play for us?

Best line from my commencement speech "I understand that at ORU the wages of sin is $50"  Thanks for the memories Bob.

My friend Richie shook Rosie Greer's hand when he crossed the stage to get his diploma  

Will we better off for this?  Could be.  Maybe even probably.  But this business just makes my stomach hurt because it didn’t have to go down this way.  We could have had the high road on this and not look like a bunch of boobs to the world we are trying to evangelize. 

Im going back to baseball. 

[theeagleman5]

3 Final words.......WILSON MUST GO!!!  

[ORUalum]

11 minutes ago, theeagleman5 said:

3 Final words.......WILSON MUST GO!!!  

ORU Board Extends President William Wilson's Contract Through 2021

[ORUalum]

not a lot of meat there........refused to comment on several topics.

what i learned?  Sutton spoke to Richard for the first time in 5 years.......so there's that.

Bill Haisten: Scott and Kim Sutton discuss the end of an 18-year coaching run at ORU

Quote

Sutton chose not to discuss the recruiting policy....

...

While Scott Sutton didn’t want to discuss any of the Wilson-Sean Sutton background.....

...

“Tulsa is by far the best place I’ve ever lived and ORU is such a special place,” Sutton said, “and that was a big reason why it was so hard to pull the trigger on taking another job. I love raising our family here.

“That’s why we stayed so long. When you’re happy, why mess with it? We were happy."

 

[ORUTerry]

[theeagleman5]

Not much new info added in this article but just more indication of the integrity and class of our former coach and my friend Scott Sutton. Yes...it was probably time for change but it was botched so badly by the administration and a poor reflection on ORU and how Christians should handle things. Shame on Billy Wilson....not sure how he sits in the pew this morning with his self righteous attitude.....

[ORUIllini]

What's the chances that if Frank Haith has another down year at Tulsa and is let go, Scott becomes a candidate there?.......and potentially reunited with DaQuan Jeffries....wouldn't that be ironic...

[ORUJason]

I think the chances of Scott getting the TU job in one year are about 1 in 10,000.  After running the ORU program off the rails over the last couple years and releasing key details from his firing and employment at ORU that he knew would cast his former employer in a bad light, do you really think TU would want to hire ORU's castoff?

[theeagleman5]

I guess no chance that Scott will be doing color on the GEB men's basketball broadcasts next season?......might be interesting....would love to hear him say something like...."hey, Coach Perry really blundered ....I wouldn't have gone with the big line up in this situation; this is the perfect spot for a four guard rotation".....

[ORUalum]

Tram gets in a few more digs.....

 

Change of address: After 22 years at 81st and Lewis, Scott Sutton is looking for another job - NewsOK

by Berry Tramel   Published: May 21, 2017

[TrueBlue82]

43 minutes ago, ORUalum said:

Tram gets in a few more digs.....

 

Change of address: After 22 years at 81st and Lewis, Scott Sutton is looking for another job - NewsOK

by Berry Tramel   Published: May 21, 2017

Thanks for an incredibly insightful article, Barry.  The horse is still dead...

[ORU82]

Does Sutton realize that every time one of these "articles" appears blaming some unknown "rule" which allegedly hindered him from recruiting "better" players, he is basically throwing his players under the bus?  In other words, I could have done better but all I could get were these bad players who caused me to lose.  Nice way to trash your former players coach.  You are truly a stand up guy.  (Please note sarcasm)

[EagleManiac]

1 hour ago, ORU82 said:

Does Sutton realize that every time one of these "articles" appears blaming some unknown "rule" which allegedly hindered him from recruiting "better" players, he is basically throwing his players under the bus?  In other words, I could have done better but all I could get were these bad players who caused me to lose.  Nice way to trash your former players coach.  You are truly a stand up guy.  (Please note sarcasm)

This article is written by Berry Trammel, not Scott. Scott never mentioned his players, or the "rule" here except to say that he was proud of his teams and cherished the memories. He served ORU with class for 22 years, and, for the most part, has continued to be positive about his experience at ORU. 

To insinuate that he is not a stand up guy is baseless, and is in direct opposition of countless posts on this board.

[WingMaaaan]

2 hours ago, ORU82 said:

Does Sutton realize that every time one of these "articles" appears blaming some unknown "rule" which allegedly hindered him from recruiting "better" players, he is basically throwing his players under the bus?  In other words, I could have done better but all I could get were these bad players who caused me to lose.  Nice way to trash your former players coach.  You are truly a stand up guy.  (Please note sarcasm)

This is his attempt to survive. The narrative that it was suddenly impossible to recruit at ORU is an easy one to sell to ADs not intimately familiar with our program. The reality of his complacency and inability to retain his most successful assistant coaches is understandably not the story he wants to use as his primary selling point.