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Post by Yote 53 on Aug 13, 2019 15:25:35 GMT -6
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Post by yoteforever on Aug 13, 2019 22:27:22 GMT -6
Kudos to David for being honest and not necessarily politically correct. It’s refreshing he said that. I think a big hurdle for Augustana is how they’re going to handle their football program. I’ve talked with a few guys I played against that said if they drop the program down to D3 or even drop it totally that they’re done with supporting Augie now and later. That’s an issue because I’m sure that Augie is no different than most schools in the fact their alumni football players are the biggest financial supporters of the school. |
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Post by Yote 53 on Aug 14, 2019 8:02:16 GMT -6
I think the biggest hurdle is the non-Dakota schools and their concerns with this conference becoming very, very Dakota centric. We just lost Fort Wayne because they were an outlier, and I don't blame them for the move they made, they finally got into the conference they have long wanted. I wonder what WIU, ORU, UMKC, and especially Denver feel about Augustana. Interesting that Sanford is now trying to spread it's influence to all conference schools with a $250,000 scholarship endowment per conference school.
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Post by Cousin Eddie on Aug 14, 2019 9:23:17 GMT -6
Kudos to David for being honest and not necessarily politically correct. It’s refreshing he said that. I think a big hurdle for Augustana is how they’re going to handle their football program. I’ve talked with a few guys I played against that said if they drop the program down to D3 or even drop it totally that they’re done with supporting Augie now and later. That’s an issue because I’m sure that Augie is no different than most schools in the fact their alumni football players are the biggest financial supporters of the school. I have always been under the impression that Augie would go D1 non-scholarship for football - same as Drake. If other sports (hockey is the only exception I know of) are D1, then everything else needs to be as well. I don't think they can elect to have D2, D3 or NAIA football if other sports are D1. |
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Post by Yote 53 on Aug 14, 2019 9:49:05 GMT -6
Speaking of Summit Baseball and losing UPFW as a baseball member, seriously, I had no idea they brought this level of program to the table:
Purdue Fort Wayne: Conference record - 2-28; Overall - 7-45.
Are we sure USD couldn't just field a non-scholarship team from an open tryout of our current student enrollment and do worse than that? Just play the games at Prentis Park. I mean, we worry about how many resources we'd have to put towards baseball, doesn't look like we'd have to put forth too much at all to exceed those results. It would help solve the Summit baseball issue and help solidify the conference.
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Post by Yote 53 on Aug 14, 2019 9:57:03 GMT -6
More rumors in the Pioneer Press regarding St. Thomas. "Pssst: The University of St. Thomas, ousted by the Division III MIAC, is commissioning the Populous sports facilities firm, which designed the Gophers’ Siebert Field, to assess the cost of renovating and building new on-campus athletic facilities. The university is considering the Division I Pioneer League, which doesn’t provide athletic scholarships, for football, and the Division I Summit League for other sports. St. Thomas, which recently hired two Penn State assistant athletics directors, has required coaches to keep new conference talks confidential." www.twincities.com/2019/08/10/charley-walters-kyle-rudolph-says-vikings-have-learned-from-18-mistakes/ |
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Post by kiyoat on Aug 14, 2019 10:30:55 GMT -6
Speaking of Summit Baseball and losing UPFW as a baseball member, seriously, I had no idea they brought this level of program to the table: Purdue Fort Wayne: Conference record - 2-28; Overall - 7-45. Are we sure USD couldn't just field a non-scholarship team from an open tryout of our current student enrollment and do worse than that? Just play the games at Prentis Park. I mean, we worry about how many resources we'd have to put towards baseball, doesn't look like we'd have to put forth too much at all to exceed those results. It would help solve the Summit baseball issue and help solidify the conference. Putting the competitiveness discussion aside, I assume there are still plenty of costs associated with a college baseball program that are not just scholarships. most college baseball players are not on full scholarship anyway, due to it being a partial schollie sport. You can only offer 11.7 scholarships at Division 1, divided among a maximum 27 players, and most college baseball programs lose tons of money anyway. USD has a Title IX problem, and UND has a Hockey problem with adding baseball. If the Summit would sponsor football, this would be a moot point. Football counts the same as two other (non-basketball) team sports. In other words, as a conference we could maintain the auto-bid with just two men's team sports, basketball and football. Rather than relying on Men's basketball, soccer and baseball. This is not considering the total sports requirements, just the men's team sports requirement. This all just highlights the differences between the football and non-football schools in the Summit. WIU might be better off financially if they could cut baseball and Men's soccer, for example. The Big Sky Conference doesn't need to offer Baseball or Men's Soccer. They have football. |
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Post by yoteforever on Aug 15, 2019 8:27:53 GMT -6
Kudos to David for being honest and not necessarily politically correct. It’s refreshing he said that. I think a big hurdle for Augustana is how they’re going to handle their football program. I’ve talked with a few guys I played against that said if they drop the program down to D3 or even drop it totally that they’re done with supporting Augie now and later. That’s an issue because I’m sure that Augie is no different than most schools in the fact their alumni football players are the biggest financial supporters of the school. I have always been under the impression that Augie would go D1 non-scholarship for football - same as Drake. If other sports (hockey is the only exception I know of) are D1, then everything else needs to be as well. I don't think they can elect to have D2, D3 or NAIA football if other sports are D1. I think you’re spot on. The point I was trying to make was IF they elect to go non-scholly football as what everyone is speculating would happen, is that they would withdraw all financial support to Augustana athletics. Now, what that amount is, and whether it’s significant or not, I don’t know. I’ve been told several were instrumental in building their new on campus football stadium and they are irate about the possible decision. I get it. If USD dropped football or lowered the status of its program, I’d be upset as well. Football is “usually” the driving sport that leads athletic gifts at most institutions. Maybe at Augie it’s not, but based upon conversations I’ve had you get the feel it’s the same there. The city of Sioux Falls is blessed to have the Sanford Health System there, and how they’ve contributed to all schools. That might be enough to make up the lost income stream from football donors, I simply don’t know. When you look at football at any university not in the power 5, from an operations standpoint I’m pretty sure the vast majority of them are cash flow deficient. That’s when you see the outcry from people in academia speak out, and based on just that piece they would seem to be correct. But what university presidents understand is that as a result of having that football program is the level of donations coming in to their respective schools in not just sports, but other areas as well. The level of giving far exceeds the operational budget shortfall in most cases. I think this would hold true at USD. And this is pure speculation, but my guess is this is what President Abbott discovered when he elected to remain D2, and donations coming in vs SDSU dropped off significantly, so the move was made to go D1. Money and prestige. President Abbott at the time wasn’t a huge sports guy but he was one hell of a businessman, and I believe that’s when the light bulb about athletics on the college campus went off in his mind. One will never know but I would bet on it in some fashion. Sports is HUGE for colleges and universities, and football leads the way the vast majority of the time. BOTTOM LINE? Tough decision for Augustana |
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Post by yotefan on Aug 15, 2019 9:00:18 GMT -6
Nice post YF. Can't be stated enough that football and sports in general are the "front porch" of a university. Remember the days on the old fan board when we hoped for an invite to the MVC while we played in the Great West? Remember how we hoped to have quality home games against established FCS competition like Montana? We only hoped to play big name FBS competition and not get blown off the field? Remember the first years of Coyote Tail-gate nation north of the Dome? I seem to remember a certain guy talking a lot about a dream of seeing grill smoke in the air and footballs being tossed around before kickoff. =) A lot has changed for USD and it has been for the better in a very short period of time. In short, USD's football and sports trajectory in general has IMO been meteoric. We now have Montana at home set against a $26 million Dome renovation as a back drop and then we go off to Norman to play Oklahoma a week later? Dang. We have always had talented coaches, players, and recruits who are committed to making USD better and things just keep improving. The Howling Pack is rocking with record memberships and donations. Always great to be a Coyote, but I can't recall when there has ever been a better time. Excited.
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Post by yoteforever on Aug 15, 2019 9:43:13 GMT -6
Nice post YF. Can't be stated enough that football and sports in general are the "front porch" of a university. Remember the days on the old fan board when we hoped for an invite to the MVC while we played in the Great West? Remember how we hoped to have quality home games against established FCS competition like Montana? We only hoped to play big name FBS competition and not get blown off the field? Remember the first years of Coyote Tail-gate nation north of the Dome? I seem to remember a certain guy talking a lot about a dream of seeing grill smoke in the air and footballs being tossed around before kickoff. =) A lot has changed for USD and it has been for the better in a very short period of time. In short, USD's football and sports trajectory in general has IMO been meteoric. We now have Montana at home set against a $26 million Dome renovation as a back drop and then we go off to Norman to play Oklahoma a week later? Dang. We have always had talented coaches, players, and recruits who are committed to making USD better and things just keep improving. The Howling Pack is rocking with record memberships and donations. Always great to be a Coyote, but I can't recall when there has ever been a better time. Excited. Thanks for the compliment. I 100% agree with you in there’s never been a better time to be a Coyote. We have the absolute best coaching staff for ALL sports of anybody. Bob, Dawn, Todd, Leanne, Lucky, Derek and all the others. These are high quality people that are building, or have built outstanding programs. The vision now should be to keep hammering away making every athletic contest a GameDay experience rather than simply a game. Build our base, our level of enthusiasm, financial contributions as you can ,etc. The Dome improvements and amenities are simply awesome. Not to hurry my life away but 2020 will be a special year for showing off our great university. We are on the verge of GREAT things. |
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Post by Yote 53 on Aug 15, 2019 10:23:04 GMT -6
IMO, there is something just "off" about schools that don't have football at any level. You come on campus in the fall and the first campus wide activity that brings the entire school together is a football game. I couldn't imagine going to a school with no football where you have to wait until basketball or hockey season to get your first taste of a big event on campus. That's some important lost time those first few months where bonding happens on campus and students settle into a routine. I know in the past at USD the routine was to go home for the weekend. I don't know how much, but I think that has changed for a lot of students judging by how much activity there is in town on fall weekends now as opposed to 15 to 20 years ago.
Gameday Saturdays in Vermillion are really an event now. So much so the entire family is planning on hitting the Block Party next weekend to get a little pre-taste. My Littles are looking forward to seeing Charlie again.
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Post by Cousin Eddie on Aug 16, 2019 13:45:24 GMT -6
I have always been under the impression that Augie would go D1 non-scholarship for football - same as Drake. If other sports (hockey is the only exception I know of) are D1, then everything else needs to be as well. I don't think they can elect to have D2, D3 or NAIA football if other sports are D1. I think you’re spot on. The point I was trying to make was IF they elect to go non-scholly football as what everyone is speculating would happen, is that they would withdraw all financial support to Augustana athletics. Now, what that amount is, and whether it’s significant or not, I don’t know. I’ve been told several were instrumental in building their new on campus football stadium and they are irate about the possible decision. I get it. If USD dropped football or lowered the status of its program, I’d be upset as well. Football is “usually” the driving sport that leads athletic gifts at most institutions. Maybe at Augie it’s not, but based upon conversations I’ve had you get the feel it’s the same there. The city of Sioux Falls is blessed to have the Sanford Health System there, and how they’ve contributed to all schools. That might be enough to make up the lost income stream from football donors, I simply don’t know. When you look at football at any university not in the power 5, from an operations standpoint I’m pretty sure the vast majority of them are cash flow deficient. That’s when you see the outcry from people in academia speak out, and based on just that piece they would seem to be correct. But what university presidents understand is that as a result of having that football program is the level of donations coming in to their respective schools in not just sports, but other areas as well. The level of giving far exceeds the operational budget shortfall in most cases. I think this would hold true at USD. And this is pure speculation, but my guess is this is what President Abbott discovered when he elected to remain D2, and donations coming in vs SDSU dropped off significantly, so the move was made to go D1. Money and prestige. President Abbott at the time wasn’t a huge sports guy but he was one hell of a businessman, and I believe that’s when the light bulb about athletics on the college campus went off in his mind. One will never know but I would bet on it in some fashion. Sports is HUGE for colleges and universities, and football leads the way the vast majority of the time. BOTTOM LINE? Tough decision for Augustana Absolutely. Couldn't agree more. On a side note - I laugh my tail off every time I read your tag line "the HOMER fan"! Love it! |
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Post by notsoeasy on Aug 26, 2019 4:47:12 GMT -6
I think the biggest hurdle is the non-Dakota schools and their concerns with this conference becoming very, very Dakota centric. We just lost Fort Wayne because they were an outlier, and I don't blame them for the move they made, they finally got into the conference they have long wanted. I wonder what WIU, ORU, UMKC, and especially Denver feel about Augustana. Interesting that Sanford is now trying to spread it's influence to all conference schools with a $250,000 scholarship endowment per conference school. It’s a necessary expense. Conferences have exit fees and entrance fees. A school joins a conference and they are entitled to a share of the money from the others. Most conferences ask for a payment or other concessions to ease the impact but it is normal operating procedure nation wide. Wise up and see things as they are. There is nothing sinister about the money and your casting of nefarious dispersions should be deleted. It’s not true. |
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Post by Yote 53 on Aug 26, 2019 7:45:50 GMT -6
What you typed makes no sense. Yes, conferences have normal exit/entrance fees. I have never heard of a prominent booster giving the other conference schools endowment money as a payment for entering a conference. That's not normal.
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Post by leatherneckcountry on Aug 27, 2019 11:50:39 GMT -6
I think the biggest hurdle is the non-Dakota schools and their concerns with this conference becoming very, very Dakota centric. We just lost Fort Wayne because they were an outlier, and I don't blame them for the move they made, they finally got into the conference they have long wanted. I wonder what WIU, ORU, UMKC, and especially Denver feel about Augustana. Interesting that Sanford is now trying to spread it's influence to all conference schools with a $250,000 scholarship endowment per conference school. It’s a necessary expense. Conferences have exit fees and entrance fees. A school joins a conference and they are entitled to a share of the money from the others. Most conferences ask for a payment or other concessions to ease the impact but it is normal operating procedure nation wide. Wise up and see things as they are. There is nothing sinister about the money and your casting of nefarious dispersions should be deleted. It’s not true. yes schools share the money from others but one booster giving out 250,000 isn’t the norm. |
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