DoCtoR62
Masters Student
Posts: 463
Reg: 05-18-08
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03-25-23 08:52 AM - Post#355058
In response to candyfan
John will be great, but even he may not be able to overcome such obstacles, which Woolum, Flannery and Paulsen, while at Bucknell, did not have to deal with.
When Charlie Woollum took over the program, Bucknell played in a conference that included Temple (nationally-ranked at the time), St. Joe's and LaSalle among others; did not award athletic scholarships; and had admissions standards that were much more stringent than most every school on its schedule.
Pat Flannery was hired in 1994 in the early days of Patriot League, which was established as a non-scholarship league. During his first five years, Adonal Foyle showed up at Colgate, and the PL changed course and approved athletic merit aid. Holy Cross, Lehigh & Colgate quickly added scholarships, while Bucknell and Lafayette declined to do so. It took several years of lobbying and in-fighting until the Bucknell BoT adopted a new athletic aid policy.
So, to suggest the obstacles facing John Griffin are greater than Woollum & Flannery isn't quite right.
I'll also add that Flannery, who was Woollum's first ever recruit, was beloved when he took over the program as head coach, and that status was critical in the aforementioned lobbying for athletic aid (not to mention facilities upgrades, i.e., Sojka). Griffin, who was in Flannery's second class of scholarship recruits, also has favorite-son status and a passion for Bucknell similar to PF's. I'm confident that will only benefit the athletic department as it works with the administration to update policies, such as transfer, fifth-year, NIL, etc.
Edited by DoCtoR62 on 03-25-23 09:01 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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