Akeem Springs to Minnesota

[Jimmy Lemke]

Akeem's going to Minnesota. Jeff Goodman broke it.

[dylanrocks]

It's with more tears that I write this ...

KABOOOOOOOOM!

All of this was completely avoidable.

[TheDarkHawkReturns]

Best of luck, Akeem. God bless you. You will always have a family in Milwaukee.

[dylanrocks]

Best of luck, Akeem. God bless you. You will always have a family in Milwaukee.

Amen!

Let's support these players like real Panthers should, not tear down their character and pick apart their shortcomings.

[BBF]

The exodus of truly good people continues.

Debacle!!!!!

[Buppie05]

This truly sucks, but I wish him the best. I'm puzzled as to why he would choose Minnesota, one of the worst teams in all of division 1 last year. However, I can't blame him for wanting a change of scenery.

[dylanrocks]

Akeem, Austin and Matt are unequivocally three of the top 25-30 players in UWM's Division 1 history.

So Derick Kelly and I are wondering whom it will get through free agency and the draft to replace them.

[lutzow10]

It seems like this was a move based on the school not athletics. Minnesota Basketball is thr opposite of attractive, but the campus and their academics are very appealing. Either way I wish him the best!

[Goose85]

Talked to Springs quite a bit at the pro am this past summer. He was very excited to work and play against the professional guys there and be challenged. I believe connections and networking helped him to get into some of the better 'pick up' games in town as well.

A really good kid who worked hard and wanted better things for UWM hoops. I watched and cheered for him this past season and will do the same while at Min.
Was hoping to see him play another year here, but wish him the best of luck as a Gopher.

[dylanrocks]

I'll echo much of what Goose wrote.

Austin and Akeem are good players and good people.

Things were trending up here.

[Montana87]

All because of Amanda Braun! This train wreck, dumpster fire, embarrassment, ever continuing nightmare WOULD NEVER happen if it was not for HER. And that is a fact. Bill Johnson was right. Dave Nicholas is right. Matzek was right. D'Amato was right. Akeem, Austin and now Jordan are ALL right. TJ is now smiling that he was LIED to by her! The head must be cut to save the body, or whatever body is left #FIRE THE LIAR! Now!!!!

[FrankTheTank]

All because of Amanda Braun! This train wreck, dumpster fire, embarrassment, ever continuing nightmare WOULD NEVER happen if it was not for HER. And that is a fact. Bill Johnson was right. Dave Nicholas is right. Matzek was right. D'Amato was right. Akeem, Austin and now Jordan are ALL right. TJ is now smiling that he was LIED to by her! The head must be cut to save the body, or whatever body is left #FIRE THE LIAR! Now!!!!

I think what is also to make note of is how AB or any other of our failed Athletic Director's arrived here. It starts at the top....the Chancellor's are just as much to blame, if not more so, considering they are the ones who hired them. We need a complete shake up from the top down - and until that happens the dumpster fire on downer (that has such a great ring to it :)) will continue to burn.

To quote Billy Joel: We didnt start the fire, it was always burning.....

[Jimmy Lemke]

I think what is also to make note of is how AB or any other of our failed Athletic Director's arrived here. It starts at the top....the Chancellor's are just as much to blame, if not more so, considering they are the ones who hired them. We need a complete shake up from the top down - and until that happens the dumpster fire on downer (that has such a great ring to it :)) will continue to burn.

To quote Billy Joel: We didnt start the fire, it was always burning.....

Starts with Santiago. We recommended that if he hires George Koonce, he should immediately hire a strong Senior Associate AD to run the day-to-day operations, especially concerning the finance side of things. Chuck Lang had left for San Diego State in 2007, and from then until his retirement Bud Haidet ran the finance part of the department in addition to his AD duties. It was an untenable situation to throw someone into who had no experience with such matters.

We (when I say 'We,' I mean the Search and Screen Committee) envisioned Koonce as a figurehead who spent his day shaking hands with donors and sponsors, and closed in on big donations to the university for major projects. We knew he would be overmatched in the day-to-day operations, so we pushed Santiago in the final meeting that if he would choose to hire Koonce, he should hire a strong associate AD with administrative experience.

If Santiago was unwilling to do that, even if it's just a few months, then he should pass on Koonce and hire Paul Schlickmann from Stony Brook, an associate AD who did the heavy lifting in raising money for football facility upgrades and had extensive experience running the books. I would have also been fine with Vince Sweeney - who had been my original choice because he had been the guy who created the Wisconsin Badgers' modern 'brand,' including the Motion W and official Bucky marks. Sweeney had a lot of great ideas, one of which I have co-opted into my personal 10-year plan for the university - creation of a Sports Administration/Management degree and a Sports Marketing degree within the business school. Those programs have gotten much more popular nationwide as the business of sports grows, and in Wisconsin there's really only two programs, one at La Crosse and one at Cardinal Stritch. I was talked out of backing Sweeney towards the end in favor of Koonce. That person was pushed by Santiago to support Koonce, something I've only found out very recently - that tells me that Santiago had no interest in hearing what the SSC had to say, and just got Koonce in there.

Then Lovell screwed up, THREE TIMES. Once, because he was a neophyte and got glossy eyes when he saw the Big East Deputy AD who had already been a D-I AD (btw, Costello left Delaware State within a year after being named AD, but no one pressed him on this). The second time, Lovell was so worried he'd screw up that he went to Jon LeCrone, who helped him get the guy who would ensure we'd remain in the Horizon League. The third time, he got leaned on - hard - by the senator. At least that's how the story goes, I haven't been able to get confirmation. No worries, the NAACP will!