Response to AJC's Mark Bradley 's Article on Ron Hunter

The AJC's Mark Bradley.  He doesn't heart GSU basketball

Photo Courtesy of PBA.org

For those of you who may have missed it, Mark Bradley posted a blog entry on the AJC about the Ron Hunter hiring at GSU. Now I usually leave the basketball-related topics to Ben but this particular article rubbed me the wrong way due to Mark's obvious disdain for GSU athletics. Maybe this article was just the straw that broke the camel's back for me, I don't know. I say "disdain" because until he comes out and tells us why he must take every stab he can at GSU, I'm going to assume he has an unjust natural pessimistic outlook on anything related to sports at Georgia State. I'd love to be proven wrong but I'm not sure he can do so at this point.

Moving along to my response to him, which I'm using every avenue possible to get this in front of his eyes.

Mark Bradley - You just cannot get enough of taking stabs at Georgia State's attempts to improve their athletics, can you? Football last year, basketball this year right.
Comments such as these, "It’s unclear if anyone can actually win at Georgia State" and "To succeed at GSU, a coach must not only win (and winning has proved tough enough)" is only pandering to the ignorant. There's already enough people around here who love to hate on Georgia State (GSU) for starting football and for any other reason they can think of. You do not help this situation so if that's your goal, congratulations, you succeed.

Why do I say this? So you don't dismiss this as an angry rant from someone speaking from emotion, let me explain with facts. First, ever heard of Lefty Driesell? GSU men's basketball coach from 1997-2003. He won at GSU with an overall record of 103-59 including a NCAA 2nd round appearance and an NIT appearance in the following year. So to say nobody has won at GSU is flat out wrong. Not only is it wrong but it's also a disgrace to your profession. You have the responsibility of educating the uneducated and currently you're only catering to them.

Second, nobody prior to current GSU President Mark Becker has cared enough about athletics in order to put the resources into the programs to get winning results. (FYI - Becker took over in 2009) I cannot say I completely blame them up until Carl Patton. GSU was a different school back then. It's a completely changed landscape and it's still changing. Using past performance of athletics at this university as an indicator of future success is absolutely foolish. Go ask the administration at UCF about that. (Ask UGA too, they were humiliated by UCF in this season's bowl game). I don't understand how this is hard to comprehend.
It takes the right administration and the right coaches to win and that has been the issue at Georgia State. Contrary to your belief, there is not some black cloud curse over GSU athletics. The GSU administration is now on the right track. Coach Bill Curry with football, Coach Greg Frady with baseball (18-4, receiving votes in 2 of the national college baseball polls) and hopefully Ron Hunter will be the correct piece for the basketball program to begin the turn around.

I welcome a response to explain your comments I addressed above.
[End Response]

One more thing, notice how he ignores the recent years success of GSU baseball whenever he makes a comment such as "it’s unclear if anyone can actually win at Georgia State." What does this tell us? Winning makes him go away. Ron Hunter, I hope you win...often.