Dave Rice

[Sellular1]

Leak? As in Rice himself confirming he had spoken with USF?

Nobody even had this guy on their radar until the offer was made. How can people be blaming MH or the search committee. It was obvious Rice was only going to use us to further his agenda at UNLV. The best way to do that is to leak the info. If he really wanted to come to USF he would have kept his mouth shut and met privately with the UNLV AD and Pres and told them his plan, then if they wanted to negotiate they could do it in private. That is not what Rice wanted however.

[hbryan]

 

Leak? As in Rice himself confirming he had spoken with USF?

Nobody even had this guy on their radar until the offer was made. How can people be blaming MH or the search committee. It was obvious Rice was only going to use us to further his agenda at UNLV. The best way to do that is to leak the info. If he really wanted to come to USF he would have kept his mouth shut and met privately with the UNLV AD and Pres and told them his plan, then if they wanted to negotiate they could do it in private. That is not what Rice wanted however.

 

 

He NEVER had an intention of coming here!!  He SHOULDN'T have been on the list in the first place.  He made it to the list but he NEVER should have been given an offer.  Common sense should have prevailed but it didn't. 

[usfgrad84]

Article clearly states that he DID NOT HAVE an offer.

Maybe we should just stop interviewing people and hope someone great jumps on board.

[hbryan]

Article clearly states that he DID NOT HAVE an offer.

Maybe we should just stop interviewing people and hope someone great jumps on board.

 

No, it said he did not have an "official offer", whatever the hell that means.  He had an understanding that the job was is if he wanted it, so I would call that an offer but I guess if it jwasn't signed, stamped, and sealed it wasn't an "official" offer.  How do you think that nonsense is playing across the country?

[JupiterBull]

This whole thing is weird.  "A solid offer"?  But nothing in writing.  For all we know, USF told him he's a strong candidate, gave him terms of what could be and told him to mull it over.  Perhaps UNLVs side took off with that, and hustled to keep him there.

 

The knock on Rice was that he could get the players, but couldn't motivate or coach 'em up.  Didn't we already have that in Heath?  We're SICK of that.

 

Again, weird, but since few thought he was on the radar and few were excited about him, I agree with the response of...NEXT!

[NCBull]

I really do think that MH's needs to plug the apparent hole that the leaks are emanating from. The only leaks that should be coming out are the ones that are meant to go out.

Unfortunately I think most of these leaks are from the candidate's side: Pitino opening his mouth about Masiello, and the UNLV AD about Rice.

There's not much that can be done about that

...except anticipate it.

[usfgrad84]

Sounds to me like Rice went back and told the AD something to the effect of "well I met with USF, the interview went very well. You know that job is paying about $1.2 and they have some great new facilities. You know, I can have that job if I want it."

Then the AD spins it to save her ass and says we will meet on Saturday and work it out.

Article doesn't say he turned it down. Sounds more like we said...thanks for interviewing we will keep your resume on file.

[Vega]

This whole thing is weird.  "A solid offer"?  But nothing in writing.  For all we know, USF told him he's a strong candidate, gave him terms of what could be and told him to mull it over.  Perhaps UNLVs side took off with that, and hustled to keep him there.

 

The knock on Rice was that he could get the players, but couldn't motivate or coach 'em up.  Didn't we already have that in Heath?  We're SICK of that.

 

Again, weird, but since few thought he was on the radar and few were excited about him, I agree with the response of...NEXT!

Well when the man is told he can have the job if he wants, that's basically an offer. Rice knew the numbers of the contract and the all the details of it. You are not going to be able to get any coach to consider your school without giving him some numbers to think about.

 

Yes Rice is Stan Heath at Arkansas, not USF. Frankly Rice probably isn't as good when you consider everything. Heath brought in top 10-20 classes too, but unlike Rice, Stan teams actually slightly improved. I would take Stan over Dave Rice in a head to head contest without question.

[NCBull]

Seems like the issue was that we wanted him, but in the midst of offering we figured out he wasn't that interested. So it ended up being "think about it", he left thinking it was basically a verbal offer (which it kind of was), and we left thinking it wasn't an official offer (which is also kind of true). We keep it under wraps, but he or more likely some staffer at UNLV leaks it and then it all comes unravelled.

I think we just need to realize this is a two-sided process, and while we want to keep it under wraps the other side may not want to. In this case, it actually worked in Rice's favor not to. I wish we would anticipate that possibility and be ready to respond in some way. We end up seeming like the ostrich with its head in the sand, hoping everything works out. Put one PR staffer at the ready with a thought out comment or two when the media comes calling.

[BullFan98]

Missing link in all of this is the sports agent. Sports agents are notorious for spinning and getting the most for their clients.