ARMS RACE

[yoteforever]

I know many of you were optimistic about this season before the first kickoff, and with good reason. It appeared that we were better,had another year under our belts, and seemed we were recruiting better athletes. But for one reason or another, this team is not getting better. It could be argued we are getting worse. But here's what really scares me.

College athletics at all levels are in an arms race to vastly improve their programs, or, they are not joining in the craziness that is college football, and are happy to play other schools in the same boat they are in. Here is how I see it. We are in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, arguably the best league by far right now, and this is what we are competing against.

1.) NDSU

Their facilities are very nice, and larger in size than ours. They also have a few more amenities. Their budget is vastly larger than ours, and have the capability to go outside the region for skill players and speed. They are situated in a very fast growing and progressive city in Fargo, and they have created a cult like atmosphere where they are recognized as having a passionate fan base.

2.) SDSU

Like it or not, the Jacks have made a huge commitment to the future of their football program. In addition to building a new outdoor stadium (which I think is a huge mistake and we can take advantage of that) they are building an indoor facility to handle indoor football, fantastic weight room, training facilities, athletes hang outs, etc. It is a large investment on their part. Had they built an indoor facility something along the lines of the FargoDome I would be really worried. But selling against playing outside in weather that's coming, I think does neutralize the new field thing.

3.) UNI

They have a 30 year head start, but NDSU has proven that can be overcome. They play in a Dome larger than ours, and play to a fuller stadium on game day. In addition, they are once again, like many of our counterparts, in more of a metro area. This is hugely important for things like corporate sponsorships, airports so teams will come play them in home and home series. Larger fan base. More people to solicit memberships to their equivalent of Howling Pack. They also have name recognition from their basketball program on a national level.

4.) Southern Illinois

This school just got done building a new football facility, and in trying to compare their budgets against ours, I found them to have about a 30% advantage in terms of total dollars. Again, near a large metro area, recognizable school name from basketball, and just plain more dollars to work with.

5 ) Illinois State

Made a huge investment in the renovation of their football stadium the past two years. Areas where fans can congregate and make Saturday a game day experience. Larger metro area, more $'s, larger fan base.

6.) Missouri State

Maybe not making the same investment as the others I've highlighted, but certainly in a wealthier, more affluent city of Springfield. They did renovate their stadium, although I think it isn't much even after the improvements. Larger budget, more expanded recruiting area, and a city with bucks.

7.) Indiana State

I don't know much about this school. Not impressive football facilities. Not aware of any expansion.

8.) Youngstown State

The hotbed of college football. Tradition, tradition, tradition. The school president is the former football coach at Ohio State. Take a guess where this program is heading in terms of investment. Surrounded by more athletes than any school should have. Larger city, more fans, more $'s, although I would deem it a true blue collar town.

9.) Western Illinois

Probably the best comparison to USD. Rural community. Small in nature. Ok football facilities, doesn't appear to be making a statement on investing in the future.

10.) USD

Vermillion, home of the Coyotes. Anyone of us that went to school here know and understand the affinity we have for the town and university. It's totally different than what it appears to be. We always comeback....because we love it. But put yourself in the shoes of a recruit, and we are going against the Bison or Panthers, and just imagine the picture they paint. Start with the town itself. A town of 10,000 and extremely rural. They pitch there isn't much to do there. When speaking to a African-American, can you imagine what they must say? White, rural America town. True story, it is. But because they can't experience it in some manner, they don't know how special it is to all athletes, and how the so called white rural population endorses and engages with all athletes, holding them in high esteem, regardless of color.

Then they play the ultimate trump card. The DakotaDome. It is outdated in today's world, no getting around it. And in the initial Arena Fund Raising Project, a Dome expansion was in the budget. Permanent seats on both sides, new football offices, and basically a facility they no longer had to share with every other sport on campus. But then came the announcement that the Dome expansion was on hold because of lack of fund raising. The very shot in the arm we needed to even try and remain competitive, was taken away, at least for now. Why? Simply because we couldn't raise the money. Our fan base is dormant at best. We don't have an attitude that we can overcome all of these obstacles simply because we are commited to winning. We aren't commited to winning. We want to win. We would like to win, but we aren't commited. We now have to wait for the Arena to be built, so we then can make another run at raising $10-15M for football renovations, and we simply don't have the time to do that IF we expect to compete and win. I don't blame the administration for making the decision to build the arena without the football renovations! heck they had to make that decision. But I want people to understand that will set us back for years to come. Make no mistake about it. Unless somehow, someway, we have something/someone do or lead something very unexpected, we are going to struggle getting quality athletes. We will most likely get what's left over, and hope like hell we can coach them up.

Our coaches can't say this in public for obvious reasons, but we are so far behind the 8 ball it isn't funny. Salaries here stink in comparison to other schools. That, plus we don't have the same number of assistant coaches as other schools in our league. How are we ever going to build a program where cash is tight, and apathy runs high?

Can someone answer that for me? If Sioux Falls, Sioux city, and Yankton don't wake up and get on board, we are in deep trouble with football. Basketball, no. But football, of which many say is the driver, is in deep doo doo.

I will keep investing because I love this school, and because the education I got playing football taught me a lot about running a business, but if we don't step up as a group, make some personal sacrifices individually, and commit to going to sporting events, I think we will never be the winner that many of us on this board want to be. Period.

Man I love USD. I couldn't think of a better fit for me when I played, and now today.

[Yote 53]

Guys, he's spot on about this. We can talk up the new arena all we want but it does very little to help football. If I'm a football player here or potential recruit I'm saying "great, a beautiful new arena, now what about us?"

[GoYotes]

Damn, yoteforever, you hit it out of the park with your post. I was pondering a lot of the same thoughts this morning as I sat at my desk. I think we are close, damn close, to getting to the next level. I think we have a large latent fan base just waiting for some success on the football field. Despite the limitations of the Dome, everything about Coyote gameday is light years ahead of where it was even 3 years ago, all we need is to pickup a few W's. A few wins on the football field and I think both attendance and financial support are going to take off. But the million dollar question; can we get the wins without first upping the financial ante? We need to catch a break or two to pull of a couple of big victories over the last 4 games of this year. Maybe not likely, but winning at least 3 of our last 4 games would be huge.

Like you I love everything USD and absolutely every day is a great day to be a Coyote. There is also something special about the Verm and once you find that out it never goes away.

[yote14]

The last information I saw has the Dome renovations happening alongside the arena construction and from my understanding would be completed prior to Fall 2016. When did this change? I agree without an updated locker room, Dome renovations, and permanent seating on the opposite side of the dome to integrate students with the rest of the seating leaves us dead in the water. If this is true why does the administration keep all of this information so quiet. its impossible to find anything about the arena and dome renovations. how do we create interst for something everyone knows nothing or very little about.

Same thing goes with tailgating. why are we telling people tailgating is sold out and not giving them a spot. we need all the support we can get. We gave NDSU a tailgating spot 8 times the size of ours in a week. yet in 6 months we couldnt create a better tailgating spot for ourselves that would allow anyone who wanted a spot to come. I have heard a lot of people say they tried to get a spot but couldnt. yet when you're there on gamedays it looks like a ghost town with empty parking spots.

Next year we start recieving profit sharing with the MVFC and the NCAA. Does anyone know how much money that is? If we were not going to make the commitment to football we should not have made the jump to D1. Our endowment is almost twice the size of SDSU and NDSU. Why do we have such a problem with making a commitment to the football program right now? Pay Glenn. We need him. Get some quality assistants in there for him to work with. Otherwise we should have stayed D2.

[penguinpower]

Oct 28, 2014 9:58:31 GMT -6 yoteforever said:

I know many of you were optimistic about this season before the first kickoff, and with good reason. It appeared that we were better,had another year under our belts, and seemed we were recruiting better athletes. But for one reason or another, this team is not getting better. It could be argued we are getting worse. But here's what really scares me.

College athletics at all levels are in an arms race to vastly improve their programs, or, they are not joining in the craziness that is college football, and are happy to play other schools in the same boat they are in. Here is how I see it. We are in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, arguably the best league by far right now, and this is what we are competing against.

1.) NDSU

Their facilities are very nice, and larger in size than ours. They also have a few more amenities. Their budget is vastly larger than ours, and have the capability to go outside the region for skill players and speed. They are situated in a very fast growing and progressive city in Fargo, and they have created a cult like atmosphere where they are recognized as having a passionate fan base.

2.) SDSU

Like it or not, the Jacks have made a huge commitment to the future of their football program. In addition to building a new outdoor stadium (which I think is a huge mistake and we can take advantage of that) they are building an indoor facility to handle indoor football, fantastic weight room, training facilities, athletes hang outs, etc. It is a large investment on their part. Had they built an indoor facility something along the lines of the FargoDome I would be really worried. But selling against playing outside in weather that's coming, I think does neutralize the new field thing.

3.) UNI

They have a 30 year head start, but NDSU has proven that can be overcome. They play in a Dome larger than ours, and play to a fuller stadium on game day. In addition, they are once again, like many of our counterparts, in more of a metro area. This is hugely important for things like corporate sponsorships, airports so teams will come play them in home and home series. Larger fan base. More people to solicit memberships to their equivalent of Howling Pack. They also have name recognition from their basketball program on a national level.

4.) Southern Illinois

This school just got done building a new football facility, and in trying to compare their budgets against ours, I found them to have about a 30% advantage in terms of total dollars. Again, near a large metro area, recognizable school name from basketball, and just plain more dollars to work with.

5 ) Illinois State

Made a huge investment in the renovation of their football stadium the past two years. Areas where fans can congregate and make Saturday a game day experience. Larger metro area, more $'s, larger fan base.

6.) Missouri State

Maybe not making the same investment as the others I've highlighted, but certainly in a wealthier, more affluent city of Springfield. They did renovate their stadium, although I think it isn't much even after the improvements. Larger budget, more expanded recruiting area, and a city with bucks.

7.) Indiana State

I don't know much about this school. Not impressive football facilities. Not aware of any expansion.

8.) Youngstown State

The hotbed of college football. Tradition, tradition, tradition. The school president is the former football coach at Ohio State. Take a guess where this program is heading in terms of investment. Surrounded by more athletes than any school should have. Larger city, more fans, more $'s, although I would deem it a true blue collar town.

9.) Western Illinois

Probably the best comparison to USD. Rural community. Small in nature. Ok football facilities, doesn't appear to be making a statement on investing in the future.

10.) USD

Vermillion, home of the Coyotes. Anyone of us that went to school here know and understand the affinity we have for the town and university. It's totally different than what it appears to be. We always comeback....because we love it. But put yourself in the shoes of a recruit, and we are going against the Bison or Panthers, and just imagine the picture they paint. Start with the town itself. A town of 10,000 and extremely rural. They pitch there isn't much to do there. When speaking to a African-American, can you imagine what they must say? White, rural America town. True story, it is. But because they can't experience it in some manner, they don't know how special it is to all athletes, and how the so called white rural population endorses and engages with all athletes, holding them in high esteem, regardless of color.

Then they play the ultimate trump card. The DakotaDome. It is outdated in today's world, no getting around it. And in the initial Arena Fund Raising Project, a Dome expansion was in the budget. Permanent seats on both sides, new football offices, and basically a facility they no longer had to share with every other sport on campus. But then came the announcement that the Dome expansion was on hold because of lack of fund raising. The very shot in the arm we needed to even try and remain competitive, was taken away, at least for now. Why? Simply because we couldn't raise the money. Our fan base is dormant at best. We don't have an attitude that we can overcome all of these obstacles simply because we are commited to winning. We aren't commited to winning. We want to win. We would like to win, but we aren't commited. We now have to wait for the Arena to be built, so we then can make another run at raising $10-15M for football renovations, and we simply don't have the time to do that IF we expect to compete and win. I don't blame the administration for making the decision to build the arena without the football renovations! heck they had to make that decision. But I want people to understand that will set us back for years to come. Make no mistake about it. Unless somehow, someway, we have something/someone do or lead something very unexpected, we are going to struggle getting quality athletes. We will most likely get what's left over, and hope like hell we can coach them up.

Our coaches can't say this in public for obvious reasons, but we are so far behind the 8 ball it isn't funny. Salaries here stink in comparison to other schools. That, plus we don't have the same number of assistant coaches as other schools in our league. How are we ever going to build a program where cash is tight, and apathy runs high?

Can someone answer that for me? If Sioux Falls, Sioux city, and Yankton don't wake up and get on board, we are in deep trouble with football. Basketball, no. But football, of which many say is the driver, is in deep doo doo.

I will keep investing because I love this school, and because the education I got playing football taught me a lot about running a business, but if we don't step up as a group, make some personal sacrifices individually, and commit to going to sporting events, I think we will never be the winner that many of us on this board want to be. Period.

Man I love USD. I couldn't think of a better fit for me when I played, and now today.

Excellent analysis. I will say to you that I don't think your team has regressed this year. I think things can be explained in two ways.....the MVFC is better than it was last year and since you have a lot of young (freshman)talent it is not showing up for you yet. They need time to develop.

I will say that you guys played Montana very tough and I was pulling for you to get that one. Montana is a good comparison over last year because Montana is likely a playoff team again this year. I've never seen the Valley as tough as it is from top to bottom and the out of conference games results say it all 23-1. I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but this year is just really competitive.

That being said I was really impressed with your team and coaching last year and I'm certain that this will be a close competitive game that I hope we don't lose. I hope to make the trip out there some day. As far as I'm concerned you guys have a lot of untapped talent in the Dakotas and all you need is talent and coaching to have a good team.

Facilities come into play when ten people are trying to get the same kid and I'll tell you that Youngstown high schools are totally picked over by ever B1G, Big 12,and SEC schools not to mention the Mid American, and the American football conference. Also considering Division 3 Mount Union is located on the Southwest side of Youngstown some available FCS recruits go there to win a halfway guaranteed National Championship. So it is not easy for YSU. They have to use facilities to get players and recruit nationally because there very little talent left. When Tressel won all the titles he did it with Youngstown kids. He recruited the "State of Youngstown" and erected a brick wall to keep the big schools from recruiting the talent out of the area. Once he got the best kids in the area to commit to YSU they all followed suit and we got 4 championships in 6 title game appearances. Then Tressel left for Ohio State and since Bo Pellini and Bob Stoops and, John Tennuta, Mark Dantonio, Mangino, Mark Snyder are from the Y-town area, (heck Urban Meyer and Les Miles are from just up the road too) they were able to the break that wall back down and resume recruiting and the program fell back into mediocrity. Plus the y-town coaches gave Tressel everybody who was outstandingoing while he was at Ohio State
including Maurice Clairette etc. Good thing Lou Holtz retired from coaching by then because he would have taken kids from the area too. He was born just on the other side of the Ohio river near Wheeling, WV and route 11 in Youngstown is called Lou Holtz highway and they have a small museum dedicated to him in East Liverpool just south of Youngstown.

If NDSU can find the talent in your area there really is no reason you can't either. Heck SDSU has terrible facilities and they still place excellent teams.

[lakesbison]

Ive been to all, USD is above WIU and Indiana State at least.

Macomb Ill sucks and Indiana State has fans on 1 side.

Youngstown Ohio was a dump as well, but I liked their stadium actually.


Old Lumber Yard trumps cubbies in brookings, so you have them beat too.

(please get them some vodka, I asked for Red Bull Absolut...he says Nope, I say "grey goose?" he says Nope, I say "Ketel 1 ?"
he says Nope, alls we got is Karkov or Parkov HAHAHAHA god dam I laughed hard at him.

[yoteforever]

Oct 28, 2014 22:00:46 GMT -6 lakesbison said:

Ive been to all, USD is above WIU and Indiana State at least.

Macomb Ill sucks and Indiana State has fans on 1 side.

Youngstown Ohio was a dump as well, but I liked their stadium actually.


Old Lumber Yard trumps cubbies in brookings, so you have them beat too.

(please get them some vodka, I asked for Red Bull Absolut...he says Nope, I say "grey goose?" he says Nope, I say "Ketel 1 ?"
he says Nope, alls we got is Karkov or Parkov HAHAHAHA god dam I laughed hard at him.

No need for cussing

[Yote 53]

Our Penguin friend brings up some good points. While I agree with yoteforever's breakdown, each of our conference foes experience limitations as well. As he pointed out, Ohio may be a recruiting hotbed but everybody is there picking off recruits, not leaving much left over for YSU. The same could be said for UNI, they play a distant third fiddle in Iowa. Iowa City casts a huge shadow over UNI and western Iowa, well, it's not much different than SE SoDak, we know what the pecking order is around here, Huskers/Hawkeyes then everything else. They are also fortunate enough to be close to Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern, and No. Illinois. Throw ISU in the mix and UNI has a tough time fighting for a place at the table. At least in South Dakota it's USD vs SDSU for state suprememcy, like it's always been. NDSU may have the FargoDome, but it's a city owned, off-campus facility. UND (I know not in conference but we do recruit against them), the same, city owned, off-campus facility. I could go down the line and come up with obstacles that each school has to overcome.

The Dome renovation is important. The Dome could be a cozy snakepit full of 15,000+ screaming Coyote fans if done right. It could go from drab to a very nice venue with some commitment and a makeover. It would make a huge difference to the program, that and some commitment to coaching salaries so we can get and retain good assistants.

[bulldog]

Oct 29, 2014 8:44:32 GMT -6 Yote 53 said:

Our Penguin friend brings up some good points. While I agree with yoteforever's breakdown, each of our conference foes experience limitations as well. As he pointed out, Ohio may be a recruiting hotbed but everybody is there picking off recruits, not leaving much left over for YSU. The same could be said for UNI, they play a distant third fiddle in Iowa. Iowa City casts a huge shadow over UNI and western Iowa, well, it's not much different than SE SoDak, we know what the pecking order is around here, Huskers/Hawkeyes then everything else. They are also fortunate enough to be close to Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern, and No. Illinois. Throw ISU in the mix and UNI has a tough time fighting for a place at the table. At least in South Dakota it's USD vs SDSU for state suprememcy, like it's always been. NDSU may have the FargoDome, but it's a city owned, off-campus facility. UND (I know not in conference but we do recruit against them), the same, city owned, off-campus facility. I could go down the line and come up with obstacles that each school has to overcome.

The Dome renovation is important. The Dome could be a cozy snakepit full of 15,000+ screaming Coyote fans if done right. It could go from drab to a very nice venue with some commitment and a makeover. It would make a huge difference to the program, that and some commitment to coaching salaries so we can get and retain good assistants.

[lakesbison]

Youngstown State just got pelini. the arms race tightens.

[obc]

USD AD says budget not a barrier to success in Argus article

Interesting article. i believe you get what you pay for more often than not. Even with a cost of living adjustment (it is cheaper in South Dakota so that lowers some costs) if USD is consistently at the bottom in budget for the MVFC, it is not a good plan for success. North Dakota also has lower costs like South Dakota yet NDSU's budget is approaching 2X USD's.

SDSU has outperformed their current budget in the MVFC. They have invested in FB facilities in a big way and I expect they will get even better with that investment.

Reading this article makes me less optimistic about the AD having a sense of urgency in funding the USD FB program at anything other than a bottom MVFC level. Very disappointing.

[Yotes]

There is confirmation that nothing is to happen with the Dome renovations until the Arena is complete. That's a bit disappointing, but not all that surprising. These guys better have a set plan in place by the time we open the Arena so that we can move right into that project.

I also have to wonder why it is that the team can't get the additional funding for another assistant. We were able to find 80k for special uniforms...it seems like we shouldn't have much trouble raising the salary for another assistant.

[Coyote Fan]

The budgetary argument is a very convenient excuse to give the football program a free pass. Joe Glenn has an extremely long rope and I don't know why that is. He is doing nothing but going backwards. Does anyone truly believe things will be much better next season. SDSU is having much more success with virtually the same budget. It would be nice to have a larger budget but that is not enough of a reason that USD couldn't have more success with the right coaching staff. Amy Williams and Craig Smith were hired under the same low budget so I am sure a good football staff could be had as well. It's unbelievable in my eyes that after what just happened this season that we are going to be put through the exact same staff for another year. That would not happen at most other schools so why does it have to happen at USD. With that decision I have a feeling I know where I won't be spending my saturday afternoons next fall. We should demand better, much better. All I can say is vote with your wallet.

[yoteforever]

Dec 26, 2014 16:55:37 GMT -6 Coyote Fan said:

The budgetary argument is a very convenient excuse to give the football program a free pass. Joe Glenn has an extremely long rope and I don't know why that is. He is doing nothing but going backwards. Does anyone truly believe things will be much better next season. SDSU is having much more success with virtually the same budget. It would be nice to have a larger budget but that is not enough of a reason that USD couldn't have more success with the right coaching staff. Amy Williams and Craig Smith were hired under the same low budget so I am sure a good football staff could be had as well. It's unbelievable in my eyes that after what just happened this season that we are going to be put through the exact same staff for another year. That would not happen at most other schools so why does it have to happen at USD. With that decision I have a feeling I know where I won't be spending my saturday afternoons next fall. We should demand better, much better. All I can say is vote with your wallet.

$12 less dollars coming in.

[Yotes]

CF, are you even making it to any of the basketball games? I don't get the impression that you staying home on Saturdays this fall will be anything out of the norm.