I fully understand and comprehend why we try to excel in all sports and have a balanced athletic program, but eventually we have to put a product on the field or on the court that can compete at a high level, my concern is that eventually power 5 commissioners are going to look at ECU and App St as better potential fits than us based upon their success in the sport that moves the needle (football), if App St can increase their athletic budget to meet our level and improve in basketball would they not be a better candidate than us to a power 5 commissioner, or if ECU can improve in basketball, which they are, they may be a better fit than us , I just believe that power 5 commissioners are evaluating our program to see if we can get basketball back to its elite level and more importantly, if we can put together a football program that can compete with power 5 competition, and if we dont emphasize football we are going to get passed up in the next round of conference realignment
The AAC is as good as itās going to get for usā¦ at least in our lifetime and itās time to face the facts. Weāre at a point in college sports when much higher profile programs with deeper pockets are struggling to keep up. Amateur college sports as we knew it is no moreā¦ NIL and ESPN are the final nails in the coffin. Letās work to be competitive in the AAC and give up on the pipe dreams.
The only thing constant is change. Keep striving to improve, albeit a moving target.
Why the no period gimmick?
App and ECU have no more money. Their budgets are as high as they can go. Both have run into money issues the last 5 years.
Our AD is in solid financial footing with losing programs. What commissioners see is an under performing School at revenue spots that has still made financials work. Which means when they figure out winning the money will be big.
How many of us would rather have the football success of App St or ECU over the ābalancedā success in non revenue sports like us right now, gameday and sports center were in Boone today, in front of an energetic and proud fan base, and ECU plays on ESPN regularly, all of this AAC hype and budget statistics fall flat to me when I see our regional rivals excel to this degree
Here is the thing. We already invest more money in football than App, which means the issue isnāt the money itās the execution. App has thrown all their weight behind football (and decades of success now) to be where they are and itās worked for them thus far. We donāt need to tilt our budget drastically to football, we just have to be smarter.
We know we can compete in basketball and have invested well there too.
The issue is our execution in these two sports not our investment. If we want to be P5 someday the #1 thins is money. If you donāt have it, you wonāt make that jump. Consider the aac programs leaving are having to find another 20 mil a year. Basically double our budget. And that is just operating budget, not capital improvements. Once you have the money you have to be smart in investing to get the wins. We are failing there. Assuming we get our ducks in a row and start winning the money is going to blow up.
But doesnt football generate the most money by far, and markets the program better than any other sport, I look at programs like Cincinnati, Louisville, and Memphis and see where they are now for investing in football, and they were conference foes at one time, I just think that football is the key to future conference realignment, and market size helps, as does the balance of other sports, budget, etcā¦but what are power 5 commissioners wanting to see in terms of athletic proficiency, even basketball powers like Kansas and Duke are not mentioned in conference realignment, they want schools that are football powers and I think that is where we need to invest, we have to get it right in terms of coaching choices, , infrastructure (stadium expansion), and putting in the money to attract and retain assistant coaches and recruit at a high level, if we put all of our investment into the sport that generates the revenue and moves the needle in terms of marketing and realignment wouldnt that pay off for other sports and our program as a whole
All of that is correct. You are missing the point though. We already invest enough to win in football at our level. Our investment to football is on par with ECU and a little ahead of App. Our problem is execution.
If we start winning in football that will increase revenue that should allow us for reinvest into things such as the salary pool.
I am aware of our athletic budget and its how it compares as a whole against regional schools, I dont know how much we spend on football alone compared to regional schools, but I would argue that we need to spend more on football than other regional programs because we are playing catch up in terms of facilities and recruiting, but I agree that we have not executed as well as other regional programs, and that boils down to leadership (AD)
I agree, I would think if anything this confirms we need to spend more to make up for lost time and failed execution. Im sure its easier said than done.
But, we are spending more. We are increasing the size of our stadium, and have plans for an indoor practice facility in phase 2.
Yeah there is football operating budget, which is on par with ECU and then there is capital investment for football that will far eclipse anything ECU or App has on their agenda in the next 5 years.
42-41!!!
I get that, but I think weāre saying the same thing, as you later in the thread mention that itās not as important where we invest, but rather we have to have better results with what weāre already investing.
Thatās correct. My push back was simply that App invests in football. Thatās all they care about. Davidson invests in basketball. Thatās all they really care about. Our fan base and administration is trying and wants to win in both - we arenāt doing either at the moment sadly. We are not short changing one sport simply to prop up another.
Didnāt App make the NCAA tournament recently?
They won the belt tournament and got in - doesnāt mean they invest in the program or that their fan base cares. Just means they got hot.
You mean hot hot hot
Does Mike make a statement about what is going on before the end of the season?