• Welcome to BradleyFans.com! Visitors are welcome, but we encourage you to sign up and register as a member. It's free and takes only a few seconds. Just click on the link to Register at the top right of the page, and follow instructions. If you have any problems or questions, click on the link at the bottom right of the page to Contact Us.

Articles about MVC coaches

Da Coach

Da Coach

Moderator
Staff member
A couple new articles about MVC coaches-

Indiana State's new coach Kevin McKenna took the job March 29. But he didn't sign his contract until last Friday. He'll have a guaranteed compensation of $200,000 per year for 5 years. He'll also have incentive bonuses for winning titles or awards, making the postseason, and for attendance increases.
http://www.tribstar.com/sports/local_story_164233642.html

A writer for the Evansville Courier Press wrote this article :
"Simmons will be just fine".
but it is not much about new coach Marty Simmons, but rather a hit piece in which the writer vents his anger toward their previous coach Steve Merfeld (now an assistant at Bradley). He makes some ridiculous statements about Evansville losing several games a year because officials hated Steve Merfeld and whistled extra calls against the Aces just to stick it to Merf.
http://www.courierpress.com/blogs/university-evansville-sports/2007/jun/13/marty1/

And in case anyone missed it, here is an article about Jim Les and his optimism for next year from the Springfield Journal Register--
http://www.sj-r.com/sections/sports/stories/116583.asp
 
If you read that Evansville article, the guy is actually claiming Bradley will lose 2 or 3 extra games a year because we now have Merfeld, and that's how many games his sideline antics cost them. The guy says Bradley seems to always get the breaks and that's why we beat Evansville!!
He also has really intelligent statements about Merf like...

"(Merfeld)...chided them with an air that sceamed he thought he was smarter than they could ever hope to be."

(what does "sceamed" mean??)

"Bradley won't be getting those breaks any more, either. That's where Merfeld landed as an assistant for Jim Les, a curious hire at best."

Hey, Steve Ford....maybe when you coach a team to the Sweet Sixteen, we can call your judgement "curious"??
 
It's always a lot easier to rip people, like this guy is doing, after they leave town. He was there for 5 years, I wonder if this writer ever wrote those things while he was the Evansville coach. And he was fired 2 months ago, but it's interesting that he waits until a couple days after Merf has moved to Peoria to rip him.
 
Wow, those are pretty bold statements against Merfeld from that reporter. I'll tell you one thing, Merfeld's relationship with the refs didn't prevent Matt "flop into the defender" Webster from getting his share of calls last year.

This reporter is either a friend of Simmons or had a personal problem with Merfeld. I wonder what he'll be saying in a few years if Simmons has a losing record at UE.
 
The reporter's claim is strong in saying Evansville gets fewer foul calls than their opponents, and it is a clear difference due to the antics of Merfeld and the fact that the refs don't like him, and react by giving him unfavorable treatment.
If you don't think that's what the article is saying, let me know, but I think it's pretty clear...

Well...here are some actual facts, not just bigoted, anti-Merf rhetoric....

2006-2007
Total fouls called on the season against UE: 598
Total fouls called on the season against UE's opponents: 614
(the difference is only 0.5 fouls per game -- BUT more were actually called on the opponents)

Fouls on UE in conference games:358
Fouls on UE's opponents in conference games: 348
(the difference is again, only 1/2 foul per game...not likely it would even be noticed!)

FT's shot by UE on the season: 678
FT's shot by UE's opponents: 616
(WOW...this one is going to be very hard for the writer to explain!!)

Turnovers whistled against UE: 399
Turnovers whistled against UE's opponents: 393
(a difference of only about one in every five game span!!)

so..................I'd say the actual facts dispute this guy's griping.

meanwhile, maybe he should check out the stats for BU

Fould again BU: 647
Fouls against BU's opponents: 462

Fould again BU (in conf.): 344
Fouls against BU's opponents (in conf.): 290

FT shot by BU: 618
FT shot by opponents: 727

FT shot by BU (in conf.):293
FT shot by BU's opponents (in conf.):395
(NEARLY 35% MORE!!)

I'd say we have lots more ammo to make the claims this guy is making then he does at UE.
 
I agree. Webster and Evansville seemed to get their share of the calls in the games I saw. I thought I'd check the actual numbers--

In 31 games, Evansville shot 678 free throws (for comparison, Bradley in 35 games shot 618). Here are the actual numbers--
Team.....total games....MVC games...total FT..FT/game...MVC FT..MVC FT/game
Drake.........32................18..............794.........24.8........390..........21.6
MissouriSt..33.................18..............727.........22.0........422...........23.4
Evansville....31................18..............678........21.9........353...........19.7
Creighton....33................18..............710........21.5........380...........21.1
So.Ill.........36.................18..............748.........20.8........363...........20.1
No.Iowa......31................18..............620........20.0........359...........19.9
In.State......31................18..............602........19.4........303...........16.9
WichitaSt...31................18...............589........19.0........334............18.6
ILLSt.........31.................18..............557.........17.9........311...........17.3
Bradley......35.................18..............618.........17.7........293...........16.3

So, in reality, Evansville got a lot of foul calls in their favor. They were barely behind Missori State for the 2nd most Free Throws per game at 21.9 FT/game. In just conference games, they didn't get quite as many calls, but still fared far better than Bradley and several other teams.
It looks to me like the MVC officials stick it to Jim Les a lot more than Steve Merfeld!
 
Not necessarily ignorant, just obviously biased and letting his bias steer his agenda and affect the stuff he writes.
Sound familiar??
 
meth said:
Not necessarily ignorant, just obviously biased and letting his bias steer his agenda and affect the stuff he writes.
Sound familiar??
Click to expand...

ERRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...............

--CRASH--

BOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!!

Look out - another member of the Drive-by media!

:twisted:
 
We might get more calls with an inside game!

We might get more calls with an inside game!

I'm not sure we really got the shaft - playing a 4 guard offense didn't help us get to the free throw line much - but we did have a ton of 3's! And having JJ guard a guy like Webster or some of the other active post and pf players in the league usually resulted in a foul against! JJ was as tough a player that I've seen here in decades and he could play the baseline with the best - but he had only so much stamina and he gave it his all, but fouls eventually do come to those who get worn down! Hopefully we'll have an inside presence next season and Merf will use his experience to help develop it on both ends of the court! I for one expect those ft numbers to balance out in our favor!

Don't you?
 
Re: We might get more calls with an inside game!

Re: We might get more calls with an inside game!

daPAWW1 said:
I'm not sure we really got the shaft - playing a 4 guard offense didn't help us get to the free throw line much - but we did have a ton of 3's! And having JJ guard a guy like Webster or some of the other active post and pf players in the league usually resulted in a foul against! JJ was as tough a player that I've seen here in decades and he could play the baseline with the best - but he had only so much stamina and he gave it his all, but fouls eventually do come to those who get worn down! Hopefully we'll have an inside presence next season and Merf will use his experience to help develop it on both ends of the court! I for one expect those ft numbers to balance out in our favor!

Don't you?
Click to expand...

It's a good point that a more post-oriented offense probably would/will get more calls, whether it be from the man gaurding the player with the ball, or guards collapsing. Well said re: JJ also, he certainly gave it his all for 40 minutes.
 
Re: We might get more calls with an inside game!

Re: We might get more calls with an inside game!

daPAWW1 said:
I'm not sure we really got the shaft - playing a 4 guard offense didn't help us get to the free throw line much - but we did have a ton of 3's! And having JJ guard a guy like Webster or some of the other active post and pf players in the league usually resulted in a foul against! JJ was as tough a player that I've seen here in decades and he could play the baseline with the best - but he had only so much stamina and he gave it his all, but fouls eventually do come to those who get worn down! Hopefully we'll have an inside presence next season and Merf will use his experience to help develop it on both ends of the court! I for one expect those ft numbers to balance out in our favor!

Don't you?
Click to expand...

I mostly agree, but then how do you explain that Drake shot way more FTs per game than any team? They played a 3 guard offense, too, and were ostly a perimeter team, like BU.
 
Drake?

Drake?

I can't argue your point on Drake, however I would have to look at their shot stats. I did see Drake play 5 times last year 2 against BU, 2 against MSU and once in the tourney! Just from recall (and I'm getting old) I beleive they played a bit more within the 3 point arc than BU. I don't think they shot worth a t-d but I do beleive they may have put up more shots within the arc than we did and probably got more rebounds and calls in there as well! I'm not knocking JL's plan last season I'm just saying we did not have an inside presence, which unfortunately or fortunately - whichever way you look at it resulted in us having one of the worst rebounding teams and least fouls against records in the league! Obviously, the high percentage on 3's made up for most of those short comings - and as a result led to one of the best 'team' seasons I've witnessed since 1988.

So I realize JC got slapped on the wrist and hand on about 50% of his 3's but rarely ever got a call (in fact it would be interesting to see how many fouls were called on 3's in this league) - but other than that, hopefully we'll balance it all out next season!
 
Re: Drake?

Re: Drake?

daPAWW1 said:
I'm not knocking JL's plan last season I'm just saying we did not have an inside presence, which unfortunately or fortunately - whichever way you look at it resulted in us having one of the worst rebounding teams and least fouls against records in the league!
Click to expand...

Not picking on you or your comments personally (I agree with what you said)...

I just want to add by saying....

Going in, looking at what we had and expecting we'd be out-rebounded and not expect to get to the free throw line as much as other teams due to our roster... Coach Les and the team coulda easily said the heck with it, throw the towel in, and figure it as a rebuilding year. We were picked to do poorly and coulda easily satisfied the mouthpieces.

But I think it says a lot about Coach Les and his coaching staff and team... they fought and overcame so much.

I almost feel as proud if not more of this past season than I do of the Sweet 16.

Now load the team with great guards and talented able big men surrounded by knowledgeable coaches... LOOK OUT!!!
 
Smitty, that guy might have written those same things about Steve M over the past 5 years. Don't forget, we have local sportswriters? who havn't been too fond of Coach Les the past 5 years.
Tornado, I think he meant screamed, but what does fould again mean?
 
MacabreMob said:
bert notorius said:
Are assistant coaches even allowed to have sideline antics?
Click to expand...

Maybe... heck, the B-Televen and the NCAA allow AD's to have scoretable/press-row antics. :wink:
Click to expand...

Different. That was "somebody's" boss. An asst coach would be an underling. If my asst is altering the game flow negatively, I might have to kick him in the keester. :wink:

I guess the more dominant a character the former head coach was, the harder it would be to take a back seat role on the sideline.
 
I don't think Merfeld will have any trouble converting to the role an assistant usually plays on the bench. He was an assistant coach for 10 years (1986-95) at Bowling Green State University under Jim Larranaga.


Here is an interesting article I came across-- it is written by Steve Ford, the Evansville Courier-Press writer who wrote the top article ripping Steve Merfeld now that he's gone from Evansville.
It appears that back in February, he was on the other side of this Merfeld vs. the officials debate.
You gotta read this! I have never seen a writer say some of the things this guy does in this article ripping the MVC officials--
http://www.courierpress.com/blogs/university-evansville-sports/2007/feb/05/aces12/

Has anyone in their life ever seen a writer so blatant in their over-the-top criticism of game officials? Remember, the MVC upped officials pay a year ago to among the highest levels in the US to attract better officials for their games.
Here are a few quotes from him.:
--Welcome to another bizarre Saturday night in the Missouri Valley Conference
--It doesn't really matter who's playing, though, because one thing's for certain on a Saturday night in the Valley: the game will be ugly because the officials are going to stink.
--Saturday's home game for the University of Evansville...was just another prime example of what has become a running joke in the MVC.
--It's all about Saturday night officiating crews. Since all the good referees worked earlier in the day in marquee games, the guys who work Saturday nights are leftovers.
--We're talking bad leftovers here, something like serving the surviving snacks from your New Years party for the Super Bowl. They tend to be stale, crumbly and not so good.
--Actually, that's being kind. Saturday's crew at Roberts Stadium was awful, not worthy of a junior varsity game at the high school level. In fact, that's exactly what they reminded me of, only these guys should know better.
--Let's get their names straight. The lead official, the guy with the shaved head, was Mark Mayhood. The other two, whom I can't differentiate, were Terry Oglesby and Gene Grimshaw. We'll consider them an entry
--They robbed the game of any flow and 5,592 fans of any enjoyment.
--If it was up to me they'd never work in the Missouri Valley Conference again, not even on Saturday night.


And here is some that contradicts his blog at the top of this thread:
--There were three technicals, including two against Merfeld. I don't blame him for either.
--The first game (sic) when Eric Coleman, a long-armed beast of a rebounder for the Panthers, came flying through the lane and treated the rim as if it were a trapeze. He pulled it down, hung there, and swung back and forth.
--Somehow all three Saturday night foo-flingers missed something that could easily be used as an example of a rim-hanging technical foul in an officiating class. It was an unexcusable miss by all three.
--Merfeld's second came when the Aces were attempting, one of many times, to get back into the game....There was no...(foul), I saw it on tape, in slow-motion even, so I know this is fact.
--If there was contact...
--When the whistle came...My first reaction, the one I shouted out loud and I rarely ever react openly to ANYTHING at a game, was that it was the worst call I'd ever seen.
--Whether it was or not, Merfeld seemed to agree and literally came unglued. At least he got his money's worth on his way to his ejection.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top