Sorry to hear some people get a bad read from me, but I understand why they do A little context might help those people...or not, people are welcome to their opinion of me. When I was coaching I really bristled with the hate the coaches got while watching from the bench. Obviously none of it was ever pointed at me, but I was struck with how people felt as though the decisions made were easy and how blind the HC was for not seeing it like they did. I had a very poor opinion of the fan bases that were supporting our team, feeling they were uneducated, hateful and simply wrong in their opinions. I realized that they played a huge part in our success, however, and that the majority were way on the other side of the spectrum to support us no matter what happened. And how that positivity ultimately led to creating an environment that helped push us to the NCAA Tournament at Akron. I also realized whether they hated the coaches or loved the team, they paid money to see us perform, so verbally confronting them was never on the table. Their dollars helped us do the things with the program we wanted to do. I also saw some false narratives make more than a few of my colleagues/friends lose their jobs when they moved to higher profile jobs. So I took note of that and always felt like their opinion would be different if they understood the reasoning behind the decisions that were made But...now I'm on the other side of it. I'm also a fan. But I'm a fan with all of the above context. My goal has always been to educate the Virginia Tech fan base so they could be better than the less educated fan bases I had seen at other places. I have always been drawn to Vermont and their fan base because of their knowledge of the game and how genuinely terrifying that was as a coach that they were so ij tune with what was needed that it made it feel like you were playing against thousands of them as well. So that's always been the goal. Not to say that the coaching staff always makes the right call...they don't. And they're going to make calls that turn out to be good that I don't agree with, and they're going to make calls I don't agree with that turn out to be wrong...but I've always seen the logic in what they've decided so I understand where they're coming from and what I'm expressing is the logic with which they're making a decision, whether it's what I would do or not. Finally, understanding the importance of a narrative, I tend to bristle still when a false narrative takes shape that could affect the lives and jobs of staff members. So I will always shout those down. Always. And I'm not gonna apologize for it. I'll happily take become the target of their ire in exchange for the majority understanding the lack of logic behind the narrative. As a human, I hate that I can be perceived that way. But I feel it's one of the ways I can affect some positivity for the program as a fan. If you ever see me in person and we've verbally sparred, feel free to say hello and I promise we will have a positive interaction. But I'm still going to do what I can to make sure people know the logic of decisions made and that people understand there are real human people with families that they complain about and want fired. To end on a positive note, I always know that the negativity is a very small portion of the fan base just as it is on this message board. The majority of people want to know more and learn and have an actual discussion. As such, a small minority is never going to chase me away from the boards. Will and Chris have also created an environment on the boards (as well as through email and their actions) that have made this place the most positive and informed community that I know of, so I will lean on that in any negative interactions. Genuinely, if you have appreciated my words at any point I'm glad you felt that way and thank you for being open to that message. If you don't appreciate me or our interactions, I hate to hear that and I'll see what I can do to make those exchanges better. But I'll do it all through the context of my life experience, just as we all do!