Sun Belt Tournament 2026

[311neers]

Yes. I’m not saying that I agree but yes. Back to back season ending collapses makes the seat pretty warm among those few that care and fund the program.

Hard to believe you could replace him with equal success for the the salary we have to play with.

Sometimes you need new blood to get people/admin on board with more funding.
Doesn’t promise success but it could be a way to inject more into the programs.
Not saying that’s the right move, but if a big donor said “I’ll give $250k for this coach”…maybe you do it?

[Stonewall]

If you were there you saw who was sitting behind the bench. An unhappy lot. Style of play has been well discussed on this Board, lack of “excitement” . At some point, it will be time to shake things up.

[BambooRdApp]

Yes. I’m not saying that I agree but yes. Back to back season ending collapses makes the seat pretty warm among those few that care and fund the program.

Hard to believe you could replace him with equal success for the the salary we have to play with.

Sometimes you need new blood to get people/admin on board with more funding.
Doesn’t promise success but it could be a way to inject more into the programs.
Not saying that’s the right move, but if a big donor said “I’ll give $250k for this coach”…maybe you do it?

Is that what we did with the DLo experiment?..and we got a 50 spot out on us on Harrisonburg all the whole he is on his iPad with his son during the game while taking said beating

[appst89]

If you were there you saw who was sitting behind the bench. An unhappy lot. Style of play has been well discussed on this Board, lack of “excitement” . At some point, it will be time to shake things up.

The only proven coach we have is going to get run off for not being exciting enough (when another $250k in funding could probably make him really exciting) yet we throw all the money we can muster at another coach who has never won anything.

There is nothing that could be more illustrative of the complete train wreck our athletic department is.

[311neers]

Yes. I’m not saying that I agree but yes. Back to back season ending collapses makes the seat pretty warm among those few that care and fund the program.

Hard to believe you could replace him with equal success for the the salary we have to play with.

Sometimes you need new blood to get people/admin on board with more funding.
Doesn’t promise success but it could be a way to inject more into the programs.
Not saying that’s the right move, but if a big donor said “I’ll give $250k for this coach”…maybe you do it?

Is that what we did with the DLo experiment?..and we got a 50 spot out on us on Harrisonburg all the whole he is on his iPad with his son during the game while taking said beating

We could do better than Clark.
I’m not sure we can find someone better than Kerns. I think we’ve got a good staff, just short on dollars and the style of play is just too slow for today’s game.

[311neers]

If you were there you saw who was sitting behind the bench. An unhappy lot. Style of play has been well discussed on this Board, lack of “excitement” . At some point, it will be time to shake things up.

The only proven coach we have is going to get run off for not being exciting enough (when another $250k in funding could probably make him really exciting) yet we throw all the money we can muster at another coach who has never won anything.

There is nothing that could be more illustrative of the complete train wreck our athletic department is.

The simple thing would be to give our good coach the extra money as opposed to taking the risk to find a better one. But there’s a couple of donors that call the shots.

Happened at State for Will Wade. And he choked down the stretch.

[311neers]

Would it be legal to let a “sponsor” make an ROI on his donation?

If a donor/sponsor gives $250k and we win the title or NCAA birth, could they get an 8% return on their investment? Obviously the school would make the money, but could we pay back that donor?

Seems fishy/I know nothing.

[BambooRdApp]

Yes. I’m not saying that I agree but yes. Back to back season ending collapses makes the seat pretty warm among those few that care and fund the program.

Hard to believe you could replace him with equal success for the the salary we have to play with.

Sometimes you need new blood to get people/admin on board with more funding.
Doesn’t promise success but it could be a way to inject more into the programs.
Not saying that’s the right move, but if a big donor said “I’ll give $250k for this coach”…maybe you do it?

Is that what we did with the DLo experiment?..and we got a 50 spot out on us on Harrisonburg all the whole he is on his iPad with his son during the game while taking said beating

We could do better than Clark.
I’m not sure we can find someone better than Kerns. I think we’ve got a good staff, just short on dollars and the style of play is just too slow for today’s game.

I was just kidding on DLo. Just poor optics in Harrisonburg. Time will tell if he is the guy.
For App and it's history, Kerns is the best coach we have had. Although not basketball purgatory, we have not been very good over a sustained period at nny time of our history. It is what it is. Fans can complain and is their right. The coach evidently did something to get an under talented team to a 4th seed. More $ will help. It would be nice to see what he could do with $750 to $1.0 million.

With that said, rom a personal opinion, I would like to see a more up tempo offense. If initially not there, back out and run your offense that you choose. We very rarely try to beat the other team down the court. The exception may have been South Alabama. Maybe that was due to trying to get an opportunity before they set up zone.

[Saint3333]

Kerns is not the issue, best coach we’ve ever had.

[AppStFan1]

Not worth the trip.

I will not go to the tourney until they move it to somewhere like Charlotte and we show that we can finish. I refuse to spend the money just to watch us get embarrassed ever year in the tournament.

Bahahahaha. Put the tournament in my backyard and I still will not go. Dude, you are the least App. St. fan in this board. Go join the 49ers message board.

I am just not going to waste money by going down there. App charges us more than ever before and I'm not stressing my finances just to see us get embarrassed on the road in any sport when players just come and go. There is really no reason to make any type of connection with them anymore because they rarely stay. Does not mean I stop pulling for us.

I don't even know what the link is to the 49ers board. I pretty much read this and 247 and that is it. I don't have time to read 20 boards but I know a few folks who do and I don't see how they keep up.

[AppStFan1]

Kerns is not the issue, best coach we’ve ever had.

2nd best behind Buzz but yes I agree Kerns is not the issue. He is a good coach. I feel like it is a player issue for sure. I just hate the SBC tourney format because the top 4 seeds have to sit for so long and I feel like we do well in the regular season and then come out sloppy in the tournament and lose.

[311neers]

Kerns is not the issue, best coach we’ve ever had.

2nd best behind Buzz but yes I agree Kerns is not the issue. He is a good coach. I feel like it is a player issue for sure. I just hate the SBC tourney format because the top 4 seeds have to sit for so long and I feel like we do well in the regular season and then come out sloppy in the tournament and lose.

The format isn’t the issue. We “sat” for 6 days and one of those was travel. We do that during the regular season with the bye week during exams.
Us flopping is the issue.

All we had to do was win 2 games to a title. Easier than winning 6 in a row.

[AppGrad20]

It’s simple. For Kerns’ style of play, you need depth. With tired legs and/or injuries, you are unable to force teams to slow down to your pace as well. Need 8-10 guy rotation with a true backup PG and a smart sharp shooter. KJ Vasser was a big miss this year.

Is a team like Georgia Southern, who is uptempo and shoots a lot of 3s, fun to watch? Sure. However, look at their regular season results. I much rather play Kerns’ style and win. Just takes funding.

[BambooRdApp]

Not worth the trip.

I will not go to the tourney until they move it to somewhere like Charlotte and we show that we can finish. I refuse to spend the money just to watch us get embarrassed ever year in the tournament.

Bahahahaha. Put the tournament in my backyard and I still will not go. Dude, you are the least App. St. fan in this board. Go join the 49ers message board.

I am just not going to waste money by going down there. App charges us more than ever before and I'm not stressing my finances just to see us get embarrassed on the road in any sport when players just come and go. There is really no reason to make any type of connection with them anymore because they rarely stay. Does not mean I stop pulling for us.

I don't even know what the link is to the 49ers board. I pretty much read this and 247 and that is it. I don't have time to read 20 boards but I know a few folks who do and I don't see how they keep up.

That's all you needed to say. "I am a cheap ass and not going to attend live". Just State that and be done..
App dud enough to get a fourth seed for the the tournament. Although I prefer first place, it is a respectable finish.

[appvette]

Kerns is not the issue, best coach we’ve ever had.

2nd best behind Buzz but yes I agree Kerns is not the issue. He is a good coach. I feel like it is a player issue for sure. I just hate the SBC tourney format because the top 4 seeds have to sit for so long and I feel like we do well in the regular season and then come out sloppy in the tournament and lose.

The format isn’t the issue. We “sat” for 6 days and one of those was travel. We do that during the regular season with the bye week during exams.
Us flopping is the issue.

All we had to do was win 2 games to a title. Easier than winning 6 in a row.

We had to win three in the tournament, but I don't disagree with your point. It wasn't lack of rest. We were fading late in the season. We won one of our last four regular season games. If we had just won two of those four, we would have won the regular season and had the #1 seed.

[appvette]

It’s simple. For Kerns’ style of play, you need depth. With tired legs and/or injuries, you are unable to force teams to slow down to your pace as well. Need 8-10 guy rotation with a true backup PG and a smart sharp shooter. KJ Vasser was a big miss this year.

Is a team like Georgia Southern, who is uptempo and shoots a lot of 3s, fun to watch? Sure. However, look at their regular season results. I much rather play Kerns’ style and win. Just takes funding.

It seems like his slow style would require less depth. But we had virtually zero depth, with a huge drop off after our top 5. Vasser being out and our only preseason all conference player Banks not playing well most of the season doomed us.

[311neers]

It’s simple. For Kerns’ style of play, you need depth. With tired legs and/or injuries, you are unable to force teams to slow down to your pace as well. Need 8-10 guy rotation with a true backup PG and a smart sharp shooter. KJ Vasser was a big miss this year.

Is a team like Georgia Southern, who is uptempo and shoots a lot of 3s, fun to watch? Sure. However, look at their regular season results. I much rather play Kerns’ style and win. Just takes funding.

I’d rather still be playing.
Georgia Southern is still playing.

[ASUFan4863]

We see it all the time in sports where a good coach is fired for not getting over the hump or for failing to win the ones that count. It happens a lot more this era than previous. Tomlin and Harbaugh are great examples in the NFL. Jerome Tang at KState is a good coach but the relationship turned sour this year.

Batman said it best and it is true in coaching - You either die a hero or live long enough to be a villain.

With that said, I 1000% agree with others that you should first make the investments in the people you currently employ.

[ASUFan4863]

It’s simple. For Kerns’ style of play, you need depth. With tired legs and/or injuries, you are unable to force teams to slow down to your pace as well. Need 8-10 guy rotation with a true backup PG and a smart sharp shooter. KJ Vasser was a big miss this year.

Is a team like Georgia Southern, who is uptempo and shoots a lot of 3s, fun to watch? Sure. However, look at their regular season results. I much rather play Kerns’ style and win. Just takes funding.

It seems like his slow style would require less depth. But we had virtually zero depth, with a huge drop off after our top 5. Vasser being out and our only preseason all conference player Banks not playing well most of the season doomed us.

A few years ago, Kerns was at an inflection point with his team on a personal level. I believe it was the 2023 season when a few things were occurring behind the scenes.

Kerns is a good mid major coach, but is a controlling mid major coach. His way or the highway. Everyone likes to talk down about our new football coach for the same behavior, but Kerns gets a pass because he has won or people just don’t know.

Regardless, I personally advocated for “Bucky Ball” from Samford to replace Kerns. I wanted the athletic department to rip off the bandaid and go to an exciting brand of ball because at that moment we had extremely little fan support. I have since changed to focus more on the winning aspect than the entertainment, but it is still something I wonder. Would fan engagement be higher with a more exciting brand of ball even if it didn’t amount to more wins every year? Does an up tempo brand of ball translate better to a neutral site tournament? I think yes.

[Bigdaddyg1]

Maybe this question needs to have its own thread but I shudder to think what irrational comments would follow. I have to ask in all seriousness to the “fire the coach” crowd.

How on earth do you expect any good coach at our level to maintain success? I keep reading that we need to find and spend more money. I see lots of decent players coming and going at App and at our level in general. Those who spout the money thing have no clue what that magic number is. There will always be a finite number of legit D1 talent every season. Losing is disappointing but it’s got to be a minor miracle to turn a brand new roster into a 20 game winner- every year! What on earth do some expect our coach to do?