Coach Lou was a good enough guy while he was here, at least from an interaction standpoint. I do laugh, because at least from a former student manager's standpoint, Coach Willard seems to be materially more of a "good guy" to his kids and staff than Lou was to us. Not that we were ever mistreated or anything like that, but his involvement and dialogue with us was minimal, we had to take turns in regards to "who got to eat with the team after practice" each night, and the complimentary SHU gear I got during my time of 45+ hour weeks there consisted of 2 t-shirts and 1 pair of shorts. Sometimes I felt like a street beggar looking in the closet of all the freebies that Adidas would fill our storage rooms with like it was a storefront window of Bloomingdales lol
Probably sounds petty, but as a college kid all I was really looking for was some affirmation that I was part of the team and never really got that feeling. I don't regret it for a second and loved my time working for the program. I was also sad to see Lou let go a year or two after I graduated because I loved the rest of the staff, the players, etc. I guess looking back now and understand what the situation was more, it seems to have been the right decision for the University. I just wished they followed up with someone better than Gonzo.
First time I ever said any of this to anybody, kind of feels like therapy!
