New Valley Team (to replace Crayton)

[Trapped in California]

Re: New Valley Team (to replace Crayton)

The likelihood of "the end of DI athletics" would be, based on other school's history, is dropping FB. UNI will find a way to stay in DI basketball. Its the only thing that "makes" money for the athletic department.

[BCPanther]

Re: New Valley Team (to replace Crayton)

I would think a decision about next year would have to come soon if we are going to add anybody.

When do volleyball schedules typically come out, Jay??

[achrist70]

Re: New Valley Team (to replace Crayton)

I would think a decision about next year would have to come soon if we are going to add anybody.

When do volleyball schedules typically come out, Jay??

Usually around the end of the school year, the schedule itself wouldn't be that hard to change, it would be setting up travel partners if a change in that was needed.

[Panther'73]

Re: New Valley Team (to replace Crayton)

I would think a decision about next year would have to come soon if we are going to add anybody.

When do volleyball schedules typically come out, Jay??

Possibly next week...sorry, I'm not Jay....

[BCPanther]

Re: New Valley Team (to replace Crayton)

Possibly next week...sorry, I'm not Jay....

We'll let it slide...

[Panther AC]

Re: New Valley Team (to replace Crayton)

Don't look for us to schedule Creighton in other sports if they refuse to play us in men's basketball.

[Neighbor]

Re: New Valley Team (to replace Crayton)

dropping football would result in dropping alot of other sports / schlorships. Isn't there something about minimum number of Div 1 sports to remain D1 for basketball? I don't see UNI bringing back baseball.

The likelihood of "the end of DI athletics" would be, based on other school's history, is dropping FB. UNI will find a way to stay in DI basketball. Its the only thing that "makes" money for the athletic department.

[Trapped in California]

Re: New Valley Team (to replace Crayton)

You can add a men's bowling team or crew as a sport. 5-10 scholarships vs 63 or 85. I am not advocating this, but there are many ways to manipulate the rules.

[williebat]

You can add a men's bowling team or crew as a sport. 5-10 scholarships vs 63 or 85. I am not advocating this, but there are many ways to manipulate the rules.

Crew would be cool

[northwest iowa panther]

Re: New Valley Team (to replace Crayton)

The likelihood of "the end of DI athletics" would be, based on other school's history, is dropping FB. UNI will find a way to stay in DI basketball. Its the only thing that "makes" money for the athletic department.

Football drives our athletic department. A drop in UNI football would cause a drop in athletic advertising and donations that would not be made up by men's basketball. It has been determined by an independent auditor that if football goes then the cost of basketball and all other sports to keep us in Division I would be more than what we can sustain. Division II and III as determined by the auditors would be as costly as what we face now and they would envision dropping all sports if football is dropped.

So as the independent audit says if "football goes all sports go." The regents will not fund a department that can't at least sustain part of its costs. Without football the entire department is unsustainable. Football drives this department.

[UNI MadCat]

Re: New Valley Team (to replace Crayton)

Personally, I don't see adding either of the Chicago schools unless they wanted to go to 12. They bring nothing to basketball. Not sure how much being in Chicago with crap teams would do for the MVC as a whole.

Of the schools I've seen are getting visits, Denver is my favorite. I believe they average over 6k a year, would have one of the largest athletic budgets in the MVC and have been investing pretty heavily in basketball lately and showing pretty good improvement. I know they're a hockey school first, but that hockey money is helping build basketball. Denver expands the footprint and is easy to get to despite the distance.

ORU isn't a favorite of mine, but OK has some decent recruiting grounds and Tulsa isn't a bad market. Their financial concerns are in the past and they can draw a decent crowd. They also have a little history. Not sure how high their ceiling really is.

Belmont has been pretty solid of late and would put us in Nashville. Downside is nobody cares as they average just over 2k and that's after some pretty good success. Also makes me wonder about their budget and if they can replace Byrd when he retires. I could easily see them falling off when he's gone.

Murray would be great but I think football is an issue. Would the MVFC go to 11 teams in order to get them into the MVC for everything else? Solid program with no market, but do average over 6k.

Valpo would need to commit to upgrading their facilities. They've been a solid program but I'm not sure how high the ceiling is there either. Attendance is okay I guess.

UMKC needs to heavily invest and show they can get better. Not worth the risk.

I think Milwaukee has potential, but they'd need to commit to investing and upgrading their facilities.

It's interesting that you downplay UIC/Chicago yet your argument for other programs/cities in this list could easily be transferred to Chicago too.

First off, some things that are bothering me with your post.

Denver is not averaging over 6K. They've averaged between 1,400-3,400 the last ten years with a one year outside of that, with 5,400 two years ago. Furthermore, just curious where you get the info that hockey is funding b-ball there? I'm an avid college hockey fan and enjoy following things like attendance and revenue closely and I've never once seen data that supports Denver hockey is a cash generator. In fact, most data says only a handful of schools are consistently making money on hockey. Even B10 programs MSU and OSU lose money. Not saying you're wrong, but I'm curious. Also, last I checked Chicago is a pretty easy city to get to as well.

Concerning Belmont, they've averaged 2,750 this past year. Not great but also not "just over 2K". That said, you're right that support is lower than one would want and your other concerns are valid, which begs the question -- how can you rate this over Chicago?

For some reason it appears you're rating Milwaukee over Chicago pending facilities. Don't know if you noticed but UW-M moved b-ball back on campus this year in an effort to prove that students would respond to having something on campus which they thought might raise the hype for building new facilities and its been a disaster. Of course an 8-24 record on the court can do that. Lets just hope this year was an anamoly.

I'm not against any of the schools above, to be honest. That said, lets compare this to Chicago.

Chicago the city? Chicago is a great city and could be very attractive for fans. Having a school affiliate there could spawn conference tournaments, holiday "classics" (how about a Depaul/Creighton v UNI/UIC type double header?) not to mention a high school b-ball hotbed compared to any other of these locations which has to at least be on the mind of the conference. And of course there is the potential TV exposure which may or may not be a valid factor. Regardless, all of these factors can increase visibility for the conference.

As for UIC the school? The culture is changing at UIC. Its not the same commuter school most of us think of from the past. Much like Milwaukee, they've expanded quite a bit and now have nearly 25% of undergrads living on campus, and almost half within walking distance. And for anyone that cares about the academics, the grad school keeps growing and the med school is in the top 50. Heck, I believe it would be the only school in the MVC to have a med school.

And as for UIC b-ball? They've invested a lot back into the basketball program (a fact that has made college hockey fans bitter since the mid-90s, ironically). The Pavillion is a nice, on campus arena with a lot of recent upgrades. From a fan perspective its accessible easily by car and public transit. The teams obviously haven't been overly stellar but there was some obvious improvement this season and Howard Moore was a valued assistant before going there. And historically they've finished at .500 or better 2/3rds of the time since going Div 1. So perhaps the pieces are in place for them to make the jump?

Bottom line, none of the options jump out as fantastic but I'm starting to really warm to the idea that UIC is the "best" choice among them all.

[Trapped in California]

Re: New Valley Team (to replace Crayton)

Football drives our athletic department. A drop in UNI football would cause a drop in athletic advertising and donations that would not be made up by men's basketball. It has been determined by an independent auditor that if football goes then the cost of basketball and all other sports to keep us in Division I would be more than what we can sustain. Division II and III as determined by the auditors would be as costly as what we face now and they would envision dropping all sports if football is dropped.

So as the independent audit says if "football goes all sports go." The regents will not fund a department that can't at least sustain part of its costs. Without football the entire department is unsustainable. Football drives this department.

I understand the report, and the perception/prediction that the remaining sports will suffer with FB. I also understand if push comes to shove, FB is the sport with the target on its back.

I would have to believe that they would attempt to sacrfice FB before dropping all sports. Mostly becasue there are so many other non-FB schools in existence. Can't imagine them dropping down to division II (or III for that matter) without trying the non-FB model first.

Let me be clear, not advocating any of this. Hope it never becomes a serious conversation. Unfortunately, we are being compared against 2 of the +/- 30 programs (out of 350 division I programs) that are making money. It's a ridiculous comparison, but reality.

[williebat]

Football drives our athletic department. A drop in UNI football would cause a drop in athletic advertising and donations that would not be made up by men's basketball. It has been determined by an independent auditor that if football goes then the cost of basketball and all other sports to keep us in Division I would be more than what we can sustain. Division II and III as determined by the auditors would be as costly as what we face now and they would envision dropping all sports if football is dropped.

So as the independent audit says if "football goes all sports go." The regents will not fund a department that can't at least sustain part of its costs. Without football the entire department is unsustainable. Football drives this department.

Lets face it our football program is not in good shape. We have had several disappointing seasons in a row. Ndsu winning so quickly has really taken the shine off of the national championship in a lot of fans eyes.

This is not a good time for a drop off in our football success. Makes them vulnerable for talk about cuts.

[06panther10]

Lets face it our football program is not in good shape. We have had several disappointing seasons in a row. Ndsu winning so quickly has really taken the shine off of the national championship in a lot of fans eyes.

This is not a good time for a drop off in our football success. Makes them vulnerable for talk about cuts.

We've had ONE disappointing season in a row. Come on people, we were conference champs (2 consecutive years) ranked in the top 5 nationally two years ago.

[williebat]

We've had ONE disappointing season in a row. Come on people, we were conference champs (2 consecutive years) ranked in the top 5 nationally two years ago.

We choke in playoffs every year. getting stale fast.