Not sure if this has been posted.
https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/1379959716353294343
Hopefully a good hire for Brooks and McLean.
Lamar used to have a good athletic department. In the 80’s they were a very good basketball program. I am not sure what happened
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Yeah, I remember them being a bit of a giant killer back when I was a little kid in the early 80s.
I even remember them making the Sweet 16 one year.
When Pat Foster left to come coach UH, their basketball tradition seemed to crumble. Maybe Alvin Brooks can bring it back.
Maybe moving to the WAC will help as well. We’ll see!
Both of my parents got their Bachelor’s degree at Lamar, as did many of my relatives on my Mom’s side (she’s from Beaumont). Her brother (my uncle, of course) taught Economics there for 38 years.
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One of my degrees is from Lamar. I attended in the 90s. I believed they suffered from mismanagement and apathy. They had axed football, but for some reason decided to restore their basketball glory (sweet 16) in the 90s. So apparently they started firing professors to make more room in the budget. My math and physics teachers were let go, and they both had something to say about this during class. The physics professor was especially bitter and clearly stated that his longstanding job, with stellar reviews, was a casualty of the desire to invest more into basketball. I don’t know how accurate this is, but it apparently did not lead to basketball prosperity. But I do want Lamar to succeed. I grew up in the Triangle.
Did you ever have my Uncle, Dr. Sam Parigi, for Economics?
Billy Tubbs and Pat Foster. All it takes is a good/great coach to turn around any program. Look at Iona with Rick Pitino, Baylor with Scott Drew, Houston over the years.
No, I did not have to take economics at LU. I do seem to remember hearing the name.
Didn’t Tubbs and Foster both leave during the 80’s ?
Foster left in ‘80 I think. Foster after ‘85, I believe.
They were good in baseball
Interesting how Pat and Alvin were part of our crumbling. I am happy for Alvin, he has earned redemption. I’m happy for Mikhail as this will be his first job outside of UH. Exciting.
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We crumbled because we had no solid foundation in the program. We went from 3 consecutive Final Fours to going on the road to play Lamar at Beaumont in first round of the NIT, to not even making the postseason in Guy’s last season
No support for Bball from the AD
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We also seemed to have interim AD after interim AD. And the structure at the top of the university wasn’ t much if any better.
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This is the storybook ending and beginning. Everyone and everything comes full circle - all the ties are re-woven. A great re-birth for loyal Alvin. And MM gets his elevation within the extended family. I hope Alvin kills it at Lamar. No one has paid his dues like that man.
Very happy for everyone.
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Normally for me, Lamar would be an after thought, but now I have a reason to follow their progress. Munzell is right that Brooks has paid his dues…several times over.
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Back to Mikhail, I think this will be the next step up on his coaching career, assuming he will actually be an assistant coach, and not an office type job.
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