Drake student paper calls for firing Phelps

[Red]

I haven't ever followed Drake closely but do they have the money to buy out his contract? Who do the fans think they're going to get? Bring back Keno!

[tribecalledquest]

Letting Simons get mono is a really bad coaching move. Fire his a$$.

If not for injuries and illness, DU would seem to be solidly in the hunt for 3rd. That's WAY better than anyone expected from DU in the pre-season.

I'm not a DU fan, but it looks to me like Phelps is doing a reasonable job. If Simons was still healthy, I think DU would be in the hunt for 3rd. Add in VanDeest and DU looks solid for 3rd. Isn't there yet another player injured?

Drake was sort of the surprise of the Valley until the last couple of weeks and maybe the schedule played into that some. But DU returns most players and I would sure give him another year consider all the injuries they had to overcome.

I wouldn't be dead set against giving Phelps another season. Drake returns 6 starters next year (all 5 from this year, + Seth Van Deest who was a 2-year starter before getting hurt before this season). They will also add Reece Uhlenhopp back into the mix plus 3 solid recruits coming in.

But, I also understand the sentiments of those who want him gone now. If he doesn't show significant progress next season, then it is clear he's in over his head.

I think Phelps deserves the chance to see it through next year. He had a couple highly touted recruiting classes with the Simons group and then Rice, etc. At least let him coach those guys as upperclassmen. If Drake doesn't do much next year then you look into it again.

[DUBulldog]

I haven't ever followed Drake closely but do they have the money to buy out his contract? Who do the fans think they're going to get? Bring back Keno!

I don't think there are many that would want Keno back. As far as the money....I have no idea, because outside of Phelps, the Drake admin, and maybe a few others, nobody knows how many years left on his contract.

But, you do bring up a good point. Who do they get? The current AD and the current President are the ones who hired Phelps. If they didn't do a good job finding a coach following a 28 win season (when there was presumably more interest in the job opening), then why would Drake fans expect them to make a good selection this time?

[BirdmanBB]

Drake has been unlucky with the injury bug. A team with a healthy simons, Rice and Van Deest next year is going to do some damage. In fact, for as strong as the valley seemed out of conference this year, more teams will be even better next year. Outside of Bradley becuase they are rebuilding, the whole valley looks to be on an uptick.

[ACECARD]

The Aces worst loss this year was to Drake. They turned us everyway, but loose. Didn't appear to me that they had a coach that should be fired, but I guess you can't base a whole season on just one game. It will be very interesting to see how we play them up there on Sunday, coming off the Creighton game. I bet it will be close either way.

[Jet915]

Assuming Rice comes back, he probably deserves another year w/Rice and Simons plus the others who were injured this year. If Drake isn't top 3-4 next year, he should go...

[Haha]

He took over a team that lost Adam Eme-something a rather. Also he took over a team that hadn't really won outside of that one year in a long long time.

Did he recruit Rice? Did he recruit the big guy thats hurt? Did he recruit kissing crazy Ben?

Geez I don't get some Drake fans, the 28 win season was an abnormal season, it was NOT the norm. So why is that the standard you hold against this coach?

He seems to be building up something descent there. Why not wait till after next year. Seems like Drake will be battling at the top next season.

EDIT:

Now that I think about it I hope they do fire him. Maybe a few key transfers out, maybe a lost recruiting season. Then thats one extra team WSU will not have to worry about next season. Because as of right now thats one of the teams I'm confident WSU will finish behind in the standings next year.

They have been terrible for a long time, so therefore, they should just "be happy" with sub-par results? Thats BS.

I knew somebody would take it this way. No don't suck, strive to move up, which they are. What I'm saying is using a 28-4 season as a standard when it was NOT anywhere close to the norm is foolish.

1.) is Drake going to be projected top 3 next year? Yes
2.) Outside of some unfortunate injuries and bad timing on mono Drake would be battling it out for 3rd right now.

If it's year 5 and he sucks still then fire him. However Drake is lining up for a fine year next year and firing a coach because he couldn't repeat 28-4 magic which probably another 100 seasons worth of Drake coaches couldn't either doesn't mean you fire him. Like I said I hope they do, I hope some talent transfers, I hope they lose a class, I hope they suck next year. One more notch my team moves up so whatever.

I really believe CU/DU/ISUR will be battling it out next year at the top, not sure how that is me saying they should suck forever.

[DUBulldog]

He took over a team that lost Adam Eme-something a rather. Also he took over a team that hadn't really won outside of that one year in a long long time.

Did he recruit Rice? Did he recruit the big guy thats hurt? Did he recruit kissing crazy Ben?

Geez I don't get some Drake fans, the 28 win season was an abnormal season, it was NOT the norm. So why is that the standard you hold against this coach?

He seems to be building up something descent there. Why not wait till after next year. Seems like Drake will be battling at the top next season.

EDIT:

Now that I think about it I hope they do fire him. Maybe a few key transfers out, maybe a lost recruiting season. Then thats one extra team WSU will not have to worry about next season. Because as of right now thats one of the teams I'm confident WSU will finish behind in the standings next year.

They have been terrible for a long time, so therefore, they should just "be happy" with sub-par results? Thats BS.

I knew somebody would take it this way. No don't suck, strive to move up, which they are. What I'm saying is using a 28-4 season as a standard when it was NOT anywhere close to the norm is foolish.

And, what Valleychamp and I are both saying is that no Drake fans are using the 28-4 season as a standard. 4 years of Phelps, 4 years of Thursday play (probably). As Drake fans, we expect more than that. We don't expect 28-4. But, there is a whole lot of space between where Phelps has been at and 28-4. We want somewhere in the middle.

[Haha]

And, what Valleychamp and I are both saying is that no Drake fans are using the 28-4 season as a standard. 4 years of Phelps, 4 years of Thursday play (probably). As Drake fans, we expect more than that. We don't expect 28-4. But, there is a whole lot of space between where Phelps has been at and 28-4. We want somewhere in the middle.

You will have better than the middle next year. Or alternately you can fire him now...which I see zero benefit. You are 4 years into this experiment with a promising 5th year coming up, why cut the cord now?

If the talent was all leaving after this year and the team was just really bad I could understand and would even agree but that simply isn't the case.

[DUBulldog]

And, what Valleychamp and I are both saying is that no Drake fans are using the 28-4 season as a standard. 4 years of Phelps, 4 years of Thursday play (probably). As Drake fans, we expect more than that. We don't expect 28-4. But, there is a whole lot of space between where Phelps has been at and 28-4. We want somewhere in the middle.

You will have better than the middle next year. Or alternately you can fire him now...which I see zero benefit. You are 4 years into this experiment with a promising 5th year coming up, why cut the cord now?

If the talent was all leaving after this year and the team was just really bad I could understand and would even agree but that simply isn't the case.

I agree with what you say, and for that reason it makes sense to bring him back next year. But, surely you can see why Drake fans have not been happy with his performance so far.