|
Post by unafied on Jun 22, 2018 19:36:24 GMT -6
Just listened to the interview. Some really good stuff here.
- Coach went over the seven new guys he has brought in, outlining their strengths and what they bring to the team - He talked about the coaching staff and how much he values having a prior relationship with each of them, and just how important he thinks relationships are - Talked a little about Flowers Hall, and seemed excited with the progress being made on it - Lots of good information about the schedule. He said the fans would be “unbelievably excited” with the schedule. Mentioned a big rival from our past playing IN FLORENCE, a fact he was very proud of. Also said we will play some other in-state schools, an ACC team, an A10 team, and a Final Four team from one of the previous three years.
I’m more impressed every time I hear him speak. I think UNA has a good one with Coach Pujol. Check out the link below.
|
|
|
Post by catscratchfever4 on Jun 22, 2018 21:51:22 GMT -6
The thing coach said that I liked the most is that it IS important for the fan base to to hear what is going on with the program on a regular basis.
|
|
|
Post by brandon on Jun 22, 2018 22:59:54 GMT -6
I would bet the A-10 school is Dayton or VCU. Grant is the head man at Dayton now so I figure it's him.
Final 4 team from the past few years? South Carolina? He has connections with Frank Martin.
ACC is anyone's guess
An old rival at home? Who used to be our biggest rival in Basketball? JSU, Troy, Middle Tennessee State, UT-MARTIN?
I'm sure South Alabama will be on our schedule, that will probably become our biggest rival in all sports not named football in the next few years. Too many connections with the two schools. Not to mention the North-South thing.(North Alabama and South Alabama are almost like 2 different states when I think about it.
I figure UAB will be on it.
All in all, I'm proud to have this guy as our coach. I like his attitude.
|
|
|
Post by tuna85 on Jun 23, 2018 4:44:52 GMT -6
The thing coach said that I liked the most is that it IS important for the fan base to to hear what is going on with the program on a regular basis. Amen brother Ben!!!
|
|
|
Post by unafied on Jun 23, 2018 5:00:00 GMT -6
I would bet the A-10 school is Dayton or VCU. Grant is the head man at Dayton now so I figure it's him. Final 4 team from the past few years? South Carolina? He has connections with Frank Martin. ACC is anyone's guess An old rival at home? Who used to be our biggest rival in Basketball? JSU, Troy, Middle Tennessee State, UT-MARTIN? I'm sure South Alabama will be on our schedule, that will probably become our biggest rival in all sports not named football in the next few years. Too many connections with the two schools. Not to mention the North-South thing.(North Alabama and South Alabama are almost like 2 different states when I think about it. I figure UAB will be on it. All in all, I'm proud to have this guy as our coach. I like his attitude. I’d say you’re probably spot-on with the schedule. The man seems to be all about connections, which of course is not a bad thing. I get the impression he is well-liked by his peers.
|
|
|
Post by unafied on Jun 23, 2018 7:09:10 GMT -6
The thing coach said that I liked the most is that it IS important for the fan base to to hear what is going on with the program on a regular basis. One of the big reasons Pujol was originally my last choice for the job was that he had spent time under Anthony Grant. Now, Grant may be the greatest guy in the world (he seems like a nice guy). But one of the big criticisms I heard during his time at Alabama, and after, was an overall lack of engagement both in recruiting and in promoting the program. Avery Johnson, on the other hand, is constantly on talk shows, ESPN, participating in events around Alabama, etc. I'm not saying Grant never did any of those things, but a lot of the Bama basketball fans I know say he didn't do it enough. Now obviously Johnson has a bit of celebrity outside his role at Alabama, but still. As a basketball coach in Alabama, you have to work a little harder to get the fans excited about the product. That's just the way it is. Thankfully, so far it doesn't seem like Pujol is very much like Grant in this regard. Obviously an assistant doesn't have to take on the personality of his head coach, but I did project Grant's shortcomings on him, right or wrong. Hopefully we will be seeing a lot more of this overall engagement with the public and promotion of the program in the future.
|
|
|
Post by brandon on Jun 23, 2018 8:08:36 GMT -6
I would bet the A-10 school is Dayton or VCU. Grant is the head man at Dayton now so I figure it's him. Final 4 team from the past few years? South Carolina? He has connections with Frank Martin. ACC is anyone's guess An old rival at home? Who used to be our biggest rival in Basketball? JSU, Troy, Middle Tennessee State, UT-MARTIN? I'm sure South Alabama will be on our schedule, that will probably become our biggest rival in all sports not named football in the next few years. Too many connections with the two schools. Not to mention the North-South thing.(North Alabama and South Alabama are almost like 2 different states when I think about it. I figure UAB will be on it. All in all, I'm proud to have this guy as our coach. I like his attitude. I’d say you’re probably spot-on with the schedule. The man seems to be all about connections, which of course is not a bad thing. I get the impression he is well-liked by his peers. It can cause us to get exposure early, something that I'm sure most lesser known programs get the opportunity to have. Just like the tournament we will be in in December, to date, we are the only A-Sun school in a tournament, and to be a transitional program at that. Now we all want wins, but just having the exposure is a big deal as well.
|
|
|
Post by catscratchfever4 on Jun 23, 2018 14:11:03 GMT -6
I would bet the A-10 school is Dayton or VCU. Grant is the head man at Dayton now so I figure it's him. Final 4 team from the past few years? South Carolina? He has connections with Frank Martin. ACC is anyone's guess An old rival at home? Who used to be our biggest rival in Basketball? JSU, Troy, Middle Tennessee State, UT-MARTIN? I'm sure South Alabama will be on our schedule, that will probably become our biggest rival in all sports not named football in the next few years. Too many connections with the two schools. Not to mention the North-South thing.(North Alabama and South Alabama are almost like 2 different states when I think about it. I figure UAB will be on it. All in all, I'm proud to have this guy as our coach. I like his attitude. Hands down the biggest basketball rival was Jax State, mostly because of proximity. We had some very memorable postseason wars with the Trojans in the '70s into the '90s. We also had a short-lived rivalry with D1 Tennessee State in the mid 80's. Going farther back, we had rivalries with David Lipscomb and Belmont, once again because of convenience. None of these were as fiery as the Jax State games. Many years we played them more than twice with NCAA implications. For a stretch of a few years, a UNA student would roam the opposite sideline from the Gamecocks' Bill Jones, dressed in a black coat and tie. He would mimic Jones who was very animated on the sidelines with his "pretty boy" style in front of 4000 fired up Lions and JSU fans. DANG I MMISS THOSE DAYS! Comcast used to televise all the home games on tape delay. I wonder where those tapes are.
|
|
|
Post by unafied on Jun 23, 2018 15:00:20 GMT -6
I would bet the A-10 school is Dayton or VCU. Grant is the head man at Dayton now so I figure it's him. Final 4 team from the past few years? South Carolina? He has connections with Frank Martin. ACC is anyone's guess An old rival at home? Who used to be our biggest rival in Basketball? JSU, Troy, Middle Tennessee State, UT-MARTIN? I'm sure South Alabama will be on our schedule, that will probably become our biggest rival in all sports not named football in the next few years. Too many connections with the two schools. Not to mention the North-South thing.(North Alabama and South Alabama are almost like 2 different states when I think about it. I figure UAB will be on it. All in all, I'm proud to have this guy as our coach. I like his attitude. Hands down the biggest basketball rival was Jax State, mostly because of proximity. We had some very memorable postseason wars with the Trojans in the '70s into the '90s. We also had a short-lived rivalry with D1 Tennessee State in the mid 80's. Going farther back, we had rivalries with David Lipscomb and Belmont, once again because of convenience. None of these were as fiery as the Jax State games. Many years we played them more than twice with NCAA implications. For a stretch of a few years, a UNA student would roam the opposite sideline from the Gamecocks' Bill Jones, dressed in a black coat and tie. He would mimic Jones who was very animated on the sidelines with his "pretty boy" style in front of 4000 fired up Lions and JSU fans. DANG I MMISS THOSE DAYS! Comcast used to televise all the home games on tape delay. I wonder where those tapes are. It’s stories like this that just prove we need to try to schedule JSU in as many sports as possible. I still think of them as our biggest rival, even if I got around to following UNA sports after the Gamecocks were already gone. I DO remember going to the ‘92 football playoff game where we lost to them, and my dad essentially saying “we hate these guys!”. I’m sure that has a lot to do with how I feel. Football is one thing, but there’s really no reason we can’t bring back a rockin’ basketball rivalry with them. But I really want to see it in every sport, easily more than any other team. Honestly, kudos to whatever school, JSU or whoever, that agreed to come to Florence this year. Nobody HAS to go to a school that’s in transition. But that’s certainly a goodwill gesture on that school’s part, I would think.
|
|
|
Post by brandon on Jun 23, 2018 15:30:07 GMT -6
Agree 100%.
I just didn't know if another school, from way before my time would have been considered a great rivalry. That's where the Middle Tennessee State come from. I know I have heard peaple talk about UNA playing them and they didn't really like each other. Go 🦁 beat 🐓
|
|
|
Post by brandon on Jun 23, 2018 15:36:24 GMT -6
I still believe UNA and South Alabama will become a huge rivalry over the next few years.
Especially after last year.
Just think about this, we could potentially have an OOC schedule in all sports like with all these schools every year
UA AU A&M JSU UAB Samford Troy (state) South Alabama Bama State
You could also have a very fun beginning of the season baseball tournament with just Alabama schools.
|
|
|
Post by catscratchfever4 on Jun 23, 2018 16:34:34 GMT -6
I still believe UNA and South Alabama will become a huge rivalry over the next few years. Especially after last year. Just think about this, we could potentially have an OOC schedule in all sports like with all these schools every year UA AU A&M JSU UAB Samford Troy (state) South Alabama Bama State You could also have a very fun beginning of the season baseball tournament with just Alabama schools. Baseball would probably be the only men's sport you could do that in. Call it THE BATTLE FOR BAMA!
THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL.....
As for women's sports, they could probably do it in every sport except basketball.
|
|
|
Post by catscratchfever4 on Jun 23, 2018 16:57:51 GMT -6
Agree 100%. I just didn't know if another school, from way before my time would have been considered a great rivalry. That's where the Middle Tennessee State come from. I know I have heard peaple talk about UNA playing them and they didn't really like each other. Go 🦁 beat 🐓 We played them at their place and lost 67-60 in '79. The last time we played them was here in 1981. I must have been somewhere watching Snuffy Smith's Central Wildcats put a beat down on somebody. The only way I ever missed a game of either school is if they were playing at the same time. They beat us in OT by one point. 2 games later, Vandy smoked us in Memorial Gym in from of 15k. I wasn't embarrassed after the game, I was furious. They were a bunch of big brawny guys, two of which had successful NBA careers and we were small (except for our 6-11 center who was swatting Commodore shots early on) and quick but the refs allowed rough, physical play........ for one team. When the other team (us) tried to play the same game, our guys quickly started fouling out. We rebounded by beating David Lipscomb at Flowers.
The Tennessee State rivalry was the one that put UNA basketball on the map in more ways than one. They had a history of putting big men in the pros in all sports. Here's a quick list of NFL Tigers:
Richard Dent Onzy Elam Joe Gilliam Mike Hegman Sylvester Hicks Claude Humphrey Ed "Too Tall" Jones
Jim Kelly Greg Kindle Loaird McCreary Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie Harold Rice Anthony Shelton Jim Thaxton Mike Jones Larry Kinnebrew Steve Moore Herman Hunter Gilbert Renfroe Malcolm Taylor
17 NBA players. The best known were: Robert Covington, Dick Barnett, Ted McClain, John Barnhill, Truck Robinson, Monti Davis, Lloyd Neal, Anthony Mason and Carlos Rogers.
From '76 through '80, those games were intense and gave us our first sell-out crowd! We lost but gave them all they wanted. We knew we were coming. The next season we knocked them off in front of a completely full house, not even any standing room left as people had completely packed the catwalk in the top of the gym as well as what normally had been the steps up the bleachers and any other nook or cranny people could wedge themselves into! In early '77, the Lions rolled into Nashville with a perfect 11-0 record and beat the Tigers by nine. It got scary near the end. There were maybe 30 UNA fans and a house full of Tigers. With a few minutes left, UNA was up by 10 or 12 and went into the delay game with Jimmy Armstrong handling the ball. He was a great free throw shooter and he cashed in. The TSU crowd was getting nasty by the time the Lions had won by 9. The cops had to clear a way out for the UNA fans. We had to go down a narrow hallway to get out of Kean's Little Garden. The cops formed a chain on either side of the hallway, pinning the TSU crazies to the wall until we could get out. Then we had to walk across a dark yard for about a hundred yards with loud commotion behind us. When we finally made it to the car, we took off in a hurry. I told my dad we were going the wrong way on a one way street but we got out alive. Ahhhh, fun times. The series ended 5-4 in favor of TSU but that series more than any other (except maybe the series with Nichols state) put us in the big time.
Even though we lost one of our top players a couple of days before the game, winning that one let us know that we would be a title contender that year and we were. We reached the Final Four but as Bill Jones said later: We played like a bunch of scared country boys in the big city. NO ONE played up to par. The next night everyone had settled down and the Lions trounced future D1 Sacred Heart by 93-77. We had let the ultimate prize slip away but finishing number three in the nation wasn't bad.
The last two times we played Belmont, we beat them on the road and the series mysteriously was canceled.
|
|
|
Post by northalaspectator on Jun 23, 2018 21:09:56 GMT -6
Agree 100%. I just didn't know if another school, from way before my time would have been considered a great rivalry. That's where the Middle Tennessee State come from. I know I have heard peaple talk about UNA playing them and they didn't really like each other. Go 🦁 beat 🐓 We played them at their place and lost 67-60 in '79. The last time we played them was here in 1981. I must have been somewhere watching Snuffy Smith's Central Wildcats put a beat down on somebody. The only way I ever missed a game of either school is if they were playing at the same time. They beat us in OT by one point. 2 games later, Vandy smoked us in Memorial Gym in from of 15k. I wasn't embarrassed after the game, I was furious. They were a bunch of big brawny guys, two of which had successful NBA careers and we were small (except for our 6-11 center who was swatting Commodore shots early on) and quick but the refs allowed rough, physical play........ for one team. When the other team (us) tried to play the same game, our guys quickly started fouling out. We rebounded by beating David Lipscomb at Flowers.
The Tennessee State rivalry was the one that put UNA basketball on the map in more ways than one. They had a history of putting big men in the pros in all sports. Here's a quick list of NFL Tigers:
Richard Dent Onzy Elam Joe Gilliam Mike Hegman Sylvester Hicks Claude Humphrey Ed "Too Tall" Jones
Jim Kelly Greg Kindle Loaird McCreary Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie Harold Rice Anthony Shelton Jim Thaxton Mike Jones Larry Kinnebrew Steve Moore Herman Hunter Gilbert Renfroe Malcolm Taylor
17 NBA players. The best known were: Robert Covington, Dick Barnett, Ted McClain, John Barnhill, Truck Robinson, Monti Davis, Lloyd Neal, Anthony Mason and Carlos Rogers.
From '76 through '80, those games were intense and gave us our first sell-out crowd! We lost but gave them all they wanted. We knew we were coming. The next season we knocked them off in front of a completely full house, not even any standing room left as people had completely packed the catwalk in the top of the gym as well as what normally had been the steps up the bleachers and any other nook or cranny people could wedge themselves into! The Lions rolled into Nashville with a perfect record and beat the Tigers by nine. It got scary near the end. There were maybe 30 UNA fans and a house full of Tigers. With a few minutes left, UNA was up by 10 or 12 and went into the delay game with Jimmy Armstrong handling the ball. He was a great free throw shooter and he cashed in. The TSU crowd was getting nasty by the time the Lions had won by 9. The cops had to clear a way out for the UNA fans. We had to go down a narrow hallway to get out of Kean's Little Garden. The cops formed a chain on either side of the hallway, pinning the TSU crazies to the wall until we could get out. Then we had to walk across a dark yard about for about a hundred yards with loud commotion behind us. When we finally made it to the car, we took off in a hurry. I told my dad we were going the wrong way on a one way street but we got out alive. Ahhhh, fun times. The series ended 5-4 in favor of TSU but that series more than any other (except maybe the series with Nichols state) put us in the big time.
Even though we lost one of our top players a couple of days before the game, winning that one let us know that we would be a title contender that year and we were. We reached the Final Four but as Bill Jones said later: We played like a bunch of scared country boys in the big city. NO ONE played up to par. The next night everyone had settled down and the Lions trounced future D1 Sacred Heart by 93-77. We had let the ultimate prize slip away but finishing number three in the nation wasn't bad.
The last two times we played Belmont, we beat them on the road and the series mysteriously was canceled.
Those were days when it was fun to watch. I started watching Men’s Basketball when Bill E. Jones was the Coach and then the first game when Bill L Jones became the Coach. Watching Otis Boddie and others turn men’s basketball around in this area. Very Large and emotional crowd games with Tennessee State, Jacksonville State, Troy, and Nicholas State. The Thursday March 10, 1977 game with Cal Poly-SLO was absolutely the turning point game. Then the 1980 game (after a sick and hurt Otis had his great performance in Warrensburg, Missouri) against California-Riverside (the quickest sellout of any game in Flowers Hall.)
|
|
|
Post by brandon on Jun 23, 2018 22:54:11 GMT -6
I would think some film would still be at UNA. I wish someone would get it and put all this stuff on YouTube. Would be great to have our historian giving the back stories on all of the games.
|
|