The Guardian 3-23-16

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WWW.THEGUARDIANONLINE.COM

MARCH 23, 2016

News Students disappointed they won’t see Tom Hanks during his visit Page 3

Jobs

Tips to find a job after graduation Page 6

Contest Wright Venture, a “Shark Tank” style event to be held on campus Page 6

Sports

Brdicka and Cloern tie school doubles record Page 9

ISSUE NO. 23 VOL. 52

The Donlon Decision “I want Wright State men’s basketball to be the bully on the block. Like our baseball team is and like our women’s basketball team is.” - Bob Grant Photo by: Allison Rodriguez

WSU men’s basketball coach fired Lee Barker III Sports Editor Barker.94@wright.edu

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right State officially announced the firing of six-year head basketball coach Billy Donlon on Friday, March 18 after the Raiders reached three Horizon League Championship games in the last four years, but fell short in each. “I want Wright State men’s basketball to be the bully on the block,” Athletic Director Bob Grant said. “Like our baseball team is and like our women’s basketball team is.” Reports of the firing were speculated on social media on Wednesday, March 16 and a number of Wright State fans criticized the decision on so-

cial media and for the time that it took for the news to be official. “I expect us to be at a level where we are competing in the top 100 in the nation every year,” Grant said. “We’re working to win against ranked opponents and appearing in some kind of regularity in the postseason tournaments whether it’s the NCAA or the NIT. “ Head basketball coach at Xavier, Chris Mack, also criticized the decision during a press conference on Thursday, March 17 “It’s a bad decision,” Mack said. “I don’t know their athletic director, but we’re in a results-oriented business. Unless there was some scandal, which I know Billy and that’s

not the case, he should not have been let go. “I don’t know who Wright State is pretending to be or trying to be, but that’s ridiculous,” Mack continued. Grant believes that the Raiders can be more than the Horizon League runner-ups and wants to provide more excitement for the WSU fan base. “We’ve been top 100 for multiple years in a row. We’ve been to ranked tournaments,” Grant said. “These are places I want to go back to for our fan base. To energize our fans, our students and our faculty. “I feel like we’ve slid backwards a little bit,” Grant continued. “That’s caused a little apathy out of our fan base, out of our students and we need to get that back and that’s the

main emphasis behind the change.” Grant believes the search for replacing Donlon should be exciting and mentioned that an ideal candidate will agree with the Universities aspirations and ‘PSA’ policy in the mission statement. “Our culture is a little different in the athletic department,” Grant said. “We’re not a win-all place. We have a very specific mission statement. We treat our students as people first, students second and athletes third. In the case of men’s basketball, we expect them to win. It’s a big job.” “My theory is to hire the right people, get them all the support we can and hopefully push them in a good direction,” Grant said.


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