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Next game- Bradley at Tulsa, Monday 3/31 at 7 pm

Gold said:
Nope, not at all. Did you not hear about the meltdown after the half time show this past season? Made some national newspapers. The Rice Band did this show about looking for Graham in hell, where they eventually found him in Tulsa (it was a really poor satire based off Dante's Inferno). The whole thing ended with a joke calling Graham a douchebag. Things haven't really been the same since between the two schools.

There's some serious dislike between the respective message boards for each school.

For those that don't know . . . Tulsa hired the Rice coach, Todd Graham, after we lost Steve Kragthorpe to Louisville. Graham had been our defensive coordinator the three years prior to him leaving for Rice. He was at Rice on year. From the sound of things, he was not happy with Rice's commitment to football and wanted to come back. The Houston media is still livid -- I would say Rice fans are livid, but as far as we can tell, Rice has one living fan (j/k).
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Not the one Rice fan :) But you did neglect to mention that Graham signed a big expensive contract with Rice and he left if Im not mistaken about 2 weeks after he did and possibly during a signing period.

Just from being an innocent observer, Grahams conduct was pretty poor in this situation, but its pretty much par for the course in college football. Rice fans might also be a little miffed since Graham took their program to their first bowl game in about 30 or more years. The Rice band was out of line but they are somewhat known for making statements with their music/marching.
 
houstontxbrave said:
Not the one Rice fan :) But you did neglect to mention that Graham signed a big expensive contract with Rice and he left if Im not mistaken about 2 weeks after he did and possibly during a signing period.

Just from being an innocent observer, Grahams conduct was pretty poor in this situation, but its pretty much par for the course in college football. Rice fans might also be a little miffed since Graham took their program to their first bowl game in about 30 or more years. The Rice band was out of line but they are somewhat known for making statements with their music/marching.
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There are conflicting opinions as to whether Graham signed the extension. It doesn't matter to Tulsa fans one way or another; we've lost so many coaches after signing contract extensions. That just gets a big, "so what?"

It may actually get worse. Some Texas paper claimed that Graham negotiated with TU while in the bathroom around the corner from where he was negotiating with Rice. It sounds more like sour grapes to me, but that's what they'll tell you down there.

Graham is a character. I really like him, but he says and does some stuff that makes some fans wince. He's a heck of a coach, though. I think TU is about 10 years ahead of Rice right now in terms of a team and facilities. I think he thinks he can do more here than Rice. Rice just has a bad situation, with a decaying stadium that is way too big for their needs and poor fan support (seats like 70,000; there were maximum 1,200 when we played there in November, and at least half were Tulsa fans). I was driving away from the game and they bounced the Rice post-game broadcast for a high school game. Deep down, I think the one living Rice fan knows all that.

It was Rice's first bowl game in over 40 years.

I have no problem with the Rice band going after Graham. It was to be expected. I also doubt he cares one way or another. I really didn't care for what they said about Tulsa and I thought the whole thing looked like they put it together the night before and had not yet practiced.
 
Gold said:
There are conflicting opinions as to whether Graham signed the extension. It doesn't matter to Tulsa fans one way or another; we've lost so many coaches after signing contract extensions. That just gets a big, "so what?"

It may actually get worse. Some Texas paper claimed that Graham negotiated with TU while in the bathroom around the corner from where he was negotiating with Rice. It sounds more like sour grapes to me, but that's what they'll tell you down there.

Graham is a character. I really like him, but he says and does some stuff that makes some fans wince. He's a heck of a coach, though. I think TU is about 10 years ahead of Rice right now in terms of a team and facilities. I think he thinks he can do more here than Rice. Rice just has a bad situation, with a decaying stadium that is way too big for their needs and poor fan support (seats like 70,000; there were maximum 1,200 when we played there in November, and at least half were Tulsa fans). I was driving away from the game and they bounced the Rice post-game broadcast for a high school game. Deep down, I think the one living Rice fan knows all that.

It was Rice's first bowl game in over 40 years.

I have no problem with the Rice band going after Graham. It was to be expected. I also doubt he cares one way or another. I really didn't care for what they said about Tulsa and I thought the whole thing looked like they put it together the night before and had not yet practiced.
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Honestly, just watching the Graham thing unfold at Rice it just reaked of pure College Football BS. He agreed to a contract but your right probably did not sign it, but the whole time was probably looking to get out of Rice. Its nothing new in College Football, but its so unprofessional, same goes for if Tulsa was negotiating with him while he was under ANY contract and did not get permission from Rice to even speak.

However it shook out, he is where he wants to be apparently and Rice is where it usually is, struggling. That program other then Mens Baseball is a complete joke. All anyone has to do is look at how they treated Willis Wilson, firing him after 16 years no home court, they played "home games" in 3 separate locations this season and 6 scholorship players, to see they really have little clue about division 1 athletics.

I do not blame Graham for leaving Rice but how he did it and likely how Tulsa coordinated negotiations with Graham is a little smelly.
 
So can we win one on the road in Tulsa?

Looking at their schedule, it doesn't look like they played that great on the road so I would hope we could defend our court and sneak out with one road win.

If I am reading their schedule correctly (and not including the conference tourney), it looks like they were 4-8 on the road and the combined record of the 4 teams they beat was 36-85.
 
houstontxbrave said:
Honestly, just watching the Graham thing unfold at Rice it just reaked of pure College Football BS. He agreed to a contract but your right probably did not sign it, but the whole time was probably looking to get out of Rice. Its nothing new in College Football, but its so unprofessional, same goes for if Tulsa was negotiating with him while he was under ANY contract and did not get permission from Rice to even speak.

However it shook out, he is where he wants to be apparently and Rice is where it usually is, struggling. That program other then Mens Baseball is a complete joke. All anyone has to do is look at how they treated Willis Wilson, firing him after 16 years no home court, they played "home games" in 3 separate locations this season and 6 scholorship players, to see they really have little clue about division 1 athletics.

I do not blame Graham for leaving Rice but how he did it and likely how Tulsa coordinated negotiations with Graham is a little smelly.
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Tulsa got permission to talk to Graham from the Rice AD. The only condition was that TU do something fast if they were going to move at all. That's why I really doubt the bathroom negotiation story, though TU might have sent a proxy to talk to him.

Rice offered a new contract, but when Graham got more money from TU, Rice wouldn't go up. That also made some people mad.

Graham was pretty much told not to leave TU for Rice. Kragthorpe must have known that either the Louisville or A&M jobs were coming open (he had clauses in his contract for both jobs, I think). He was the replacement all along. I don't think we even really looked at anyone else.

I agree that they are a joke in everything but baseball. A large portion of their faculty want them to drop D1 sports all together (true everywhere, I guess, but at Rice, they really mean it).

I think Wilson is a solid coach, but I also think his fate was sealed before this season. His two veteran assistants left and were replaced by young guys. Rice didn't have a home court and they had games with only a couple of hundred in attendance. They lost every CUSA game they played. That would get a lot of people fired anywhere.
 
Memories of Bradley/Tulsa

Memories of Bradley/Tulsa

I'm probably a little older than most of you...............I date back to Gamblin' Joe...............If my memory serves me right, here is a Bradley / Tulsa game: We were playing Tulsa - at Tulsa, Dick Versace was the coach, we had a player named Jenkins (I believe he was our center), and during the game he got clocked in the nose, blood all over. Versace pulled the team off the floor, they had to call in the police.

Was that Tulsa?
 
Drill said:
I'm probably a little older than most of you...............I date back to Gamblin' Joe...............If my memory serves me right, here is a Bradley / Tulsa game: We were playing Tulsa - at Tulsa, Dick Versace was the coach, we had a player named Jenkins (I believe he was our center), and during the game he got clocked in the nose, blood all over. Versace pulled the team off the floor, they had to call in the police.

Was that Tulsa?
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I remember listening to that game but I can't remember if it was Tulsa or if it was Wichita State. I actually have Robert Jenkins locker room stool in my basement. Kind of like a bar stool with no back on it and his name is in script with his number 33 and the word Braves under it. A worker at the Field House gave it to my father who held on to it for years and then gave it to me.
 
Drill said:
I'm probably a little older than most of you...............I date back to Gamblin' Joe...............If my memory serves me right, here is a Bradley / Tulsa game: We were playing Tulsa - at Tulsa, Dick Versace was the coach, we had a player named Jenkins (I believe he was our center), and during the game he got clocked in the nose, blood all over. Versace pulled the team off the floor, they had to call in the police.

Was that Tulsa?
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Yes it was Tulsa. A fan a few rows behind Versace threw something that hit him in the back of the head, and Versace turned around and started going up into the crowd after the guy. That's when things got ugly.
 
Tulsa Brave said:
Yes it was Tulsa. A fan a few rows behind Versace threw something that hit him in the back of the head, and Versace turned around and started going up into the crowd after the guy. That's when things got ugly.
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That doesn't sound like Versace....:).

Hey Tulsa....I excited for you getting your wish for BU to come to Tulsa. (Hope its ONLY for one game though)...when was the last time youi got to see BU in person? Thanks...Dru.
 
dogsrus said:
That doesn't sound like Versace....:).

Hey Tulsa....I excited for you getting your wish for BU to come to Tulsa. (Hope its ONLY for one game though)...when was the last time youi got to see BU in person? Thanks...Dru.
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March 7th in STL...that one didn't turn out so well...last time here in Tulsa though was 12 years ago...that was a BU victory.
 
Tulsa Brave said:
March 7th in STL...that one didn't turn out so well...last time here in Tulsa though was 12 years ago...that was a BU victory.
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Oh ok...I was thinking maybe it had been several years since you last got to see BU in person. Bring us home a victory Monday.

Hey, hows the weather in Tulsa. IF the series heads back there I'm considering a road trip with some golf on Saturday following the game.
 
Yesterday it was 87 here. Today it is cloudy, windy and only 48 at the moment. Pretty typical to see these wide ranges this time of year. "Normal" highs this time of year are in the upper 60s. So if you're lucky, it'll be nice when/if you come next week!
 
dogsrus said:
Oh ok...I was thinking maybe it had been several years since you last got to see BU in person. Bring us home a victory Monday.

Hey, hows the weather in Tulsa. IF the series heads back there I'm considering a road trip with some golf on Saturday following the game.
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Dru...that sounds like a great plan.....wonder if I have any personal days left.....:)
 
Tulsa Brave said:
Figure 8:15...that's how long it takes from near Expo Gardens to south Tulsa.
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OK....and I just happen ti live a few blocks from Expo. I would guess the Bus trip would be close to 9 hours.

Anyway...will use you as a guide TB if we decide to make the trip Friday. Hopefully Friday won't be needed but if so..hotel rec., along with good eatery and golf course if you don't mind.

If you golf we'd love to have you join us.
 
dogsrus said:
OK....and I just happen ti live a few blocks from Expo. I would guess the Bus trip would be close to 9 hours.

Anyway...will use you as a guide TB if we decide to make the trip Friday. Hopefully Friday won't be needed but if so..hotel rec., along with good eatery and golf course if you don't mind.

If you golf we'd love to have you join us.
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Sure no problem...I can give you suggestions if you need them. As far as golf goes, I've enjoyed it the few times I've ever gone, but it's probably been 6-7 years since I went at all. Don't know if you'll have the patience to put up with me! :)
 
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