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RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

WIU712 — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 13:13:31 GMT

Football had some of the biggest crowds ever from 1997-2003 when the team was winning the Gateway and making playoff appearances.

Basketball had crowds of 5,000 plus in the Coach Morgenthayer days of the late 70's to early 90's. Western last won the Conference in 1983.

Crowds of 3,000 plus were still common in the early Kerwin years of the mid 90's when the team was competitive and fighting with Valpo for 1st place.

The crowds will be there when the team is successful. History has shown that.

The crowds in both football and basketball started to fall off when both teams started a string of losing seasons.

Hopefully both sports can get that turned around. Western Hall can be a rocking spot when it is full.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

StLouisNecks — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:54:41 GMT

Thanks for the post Illineck. Point number six really hits home for me (well they all do really). We all have our pet peves with the university right now, but I think that its not just one thing or another, its everything that paints WIU in a very negative light. I remember going to ISU Blue vs WIU two and a half years ago in Indiana, and trying to find the game on the way in. I finally found it on their college radio station, with some very amateurish broadcaster (yeah just one guy) that I was able to pick up two miles from the stadium. I thought to myself "Wow, this is terrible, it really shows that the univeristy doesn't give a crap about their team." And guess what happens two years later to us. It's these little things that add up.

Whether it be no flag on the flagpole, the coaching debacle, the radio broadcasts, or my personal favorite annoyance: "First Banker's Trust" first downs. Oh, and how could I forget, the performance on the field? They all work together to make WIU sound cheesy, unorganized and unprofessional. I know this is going to sound angry, but when people tune in to 88.3 and hear those two unprofessional kids broadcasting the game AND taking shots at the team, it can't give people a good impression of the university.

I tried to make this all relate to point six, but I don't know if that came across right, just kinda frustrated I guess

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

WIU93Alum — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:44:18 GMT

IlliNeck: Excellent post. I have always thought WIU was too small minded for a D-1 school, there is so much more they could do and your list is an excellent start. Our fearless AD should read this, actually I would vote for you as our AD. Thinking out of the box would bring progress and progress leads to Championships. Seeing our Football Team ranked #1 in the country was the best feeling I ever had as a Neck fan and I want that back. I also want those days of hosting Playoff games back.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

western-101 — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:57:16 GMT

Illineck, welcome to the board. I think you might win the award for best first post (or any post for that matter)

I had intended to put together a similar post on your topics of basketball and facilities and had been organizing my thoughts, but then it just seemed like too much work and too depressing to talk about.

Thank you for giving a voice to what, probablly all of us have been thinking.

Look forward to read post #2.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

western-101 — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:42:04 GMT

Yikes Western Courier staff. One has a better chance of finding a well penned thought on this board than that paper.

I am aware that it is students writing, but, the comparing and contrasting was less than concise.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

sealhall74 — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:36:45 GMT

It looks like the editors of the Western Courier have already raised the awareness level and put something on the table to consider in their latest edition. Check out their opinion at
http://media.www.westerncourier.com/media/storage/paper650/news/2010/01/22/Opinion/Is.It.Time.For.A.Booth.Review-3856703.shtml

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

letsgonecks — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:17:28 GMT

Thanks for the write up IlliNeck. I enjoyed the read and thought you nailed it. I too have been reading the posts for a few years (sadly the only source for WIU sports news) and always shied away from writing anything until last week. I've always had a lot I wanted to say, but was afraid I'd be regurgitating long winded thoughts that no one would appreciate. This is still probably the case so from now on I'll leave that up to you, because you got it. Please, please, please send this to the masses......

Let's go necks

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

westerwind dad — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:46:24 GMT

I really wish you'd consider getting this published, the rest of the readers are right !!! I try to add humor where I can because it is a release of frustration because I feel nothing will ever get done to change the situations here at WIU, but your article is a great ! I just hope it somehow makes it to a larger publication forum.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

95Grad — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:05:33 GMT

illineck

You have written what others, including myself, have said or have tried to say for years. I applaud your effort and hope that not only the readers of this forum really stop and think about what you have said, but also those that need to read this--TVA, Johnson, and Goldfarb.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

sealhall74 — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:12:38 GMT

Well said IlliNeck. If there is a Post of the Century award, you certainly deserve it. This is the kind of thing that you might consider sending as a "Letter to the Editor" of the Western Courier or Macomb Journal. I do think it would make a difference. I see the online Western Courier has a 350 word limit (how lame is that, they should call it "Paragraph to the Editor"). I don't know if the online edition constraints match those of the print edition (I assume there still is a print edition) but a lot of the content I see online is less than newsworthy and may point to a general feeling of sports apathy in the WIU community. If you get a chance, check out the online edition. I see that the "Why do good girls like bad boys" opinion topic published way back in 2004 is still leading the way with 82 posted comments. The posts relating to the Don Patterson issue are currently at 21. Interesting to see which one ultimately draws the most interest there.

Thanks again IlliNeck for the wonderful post and I hope you will consider publishing it for all to see.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

Leatherface — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 06:52:54 GMT

IlliNeck-
Very good comments, well thought out and expressed. You have done better than me in expressing my sentiments.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

IlliNeck — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:04:28 GMT

Qualifier: I've been following Necknation for 3+ years; always observing, never commenting. But for some reason tonight my frustrations with Western athletics have finally come to a head.

1. Maybe losing another close game in possibly the maybe the worst Men's Basketball Conference in the nation coupled with the worst football season in our FCS/DIAA existence did it.

2. Or maybe it is the way in which the athletic administration handled the removal of the head football coach, not the fact that a coaching change was made, but the manner in which it was made based upon what has been reported in the news.

3. Maybe it's, the lack of fan support for all athletics; but specifically the low attendance by the local community, the low attendance by students and faculty & staff and minimal attendance by alumni. Sure there is a segment of the commmunity and student body and faculty & staff that attends; but it is only in minimal levels; almost as if the events are after-thoughts. I know that the population base is small and we all have lives to tend to, but a D1 Men's Basketball program that only draws in the 100's (counting everyone in attendance) is a shame. Even if 10% of students attended the game, that would at least get 1,300 in the stands. Add that to the 100's of people from the community (trying to fill the lower seats in Western Hall - more to come later) and at least the games would begin to somewhat feel more like a D1 game, it may even help the team. Football claims larger attendance numbers but I wonder if it doesn't equate out to a similar level as basketball if pro-rated? Why the all the fan apathy?

4. It could be the second rate facilities, the East Renovation to the football field is nice, but look west. It will be a long time before that get's renovated. A new baseball field; but due to some short sightedness, a facility that is nice but still has no restrooms, concessions, landscaping, etc. to make it look more appealing. Western Hall, was probably antiquated the day after it opened. We will never ever be in a new basketball stadium, could we at least try to operate it and make it look somewhat like a D1 program's facility? The tennis courts are servicable, the soccer field seems less than D1 quality, facilities for swimming/diving, softball, track & field and golf seem at a reasonable level, but the main stadiums (football & basketball) are far below what would be expected from a D1 program. I'm not asking for BCS level facilities, but something in pace with the MVC would be nice, but will never happen due to apathy, lack of funding (public & private) and a lack of vision by leadership.

5. I guess another cause would be conference affiliations; the Summit League is a joke; geographically, status-wise and competitively relative to what we could be competing in. Touting that we have the longest affiliation means only that we have missed oppurtunities to advance our programs or that we are too poor or disorganized to compete in a tangible conference with logical rivals and competitivness (not that we can compete in any other league). When the Horizon schools left, that should have been a signal to leadership to advance our interests in athletics by seeking out forethought to look long-term as how it would affect the programs, but that was not done. In addition to the Horizon depatures there were moves by other schools into the MVC and for some, advancement to legitimate D1 affiliation (see NIU). The travel costs to compete in this far-flung conference alone should be enough for a move somewhere else, although I don't see an invite any time soon given the lack of competition we provide.

6. Scheduling has also taken it's toll with me, especially Men's Basketball. The inability to even schedule Bradley in basketball is frustrating, that game alone would probably led to attendance above the yearly total of an entire basketball season, although due to our lack of competitiveness we will never get scheduled with Bradley, ISU or SIU, couldn't we at least leverage our MVFC affiliation into some in-state, interesting games that would generate some interest based upon regional rivalry? At a minimun could we please schedule CSU, SIUE, one of the Chicago Horizon teams and NIU in addition to EIU, which we at least have has a rivalry at this time. Out of state we should go after SEMO at a minimum and look into Indiana State, a renewal with Valpo and maybe UNI (but not this year). Is this too much to ask, once again we go back to competitiveness and our impact on the others schools RPI's. Football scheduling has been acceptable; especially the money games, they generate interest and revenue, but we need to field some level of competitivness in these games. Work to schedule our football TV game away from the Thanksgiving break so that the embarassing empty stands are not broadcast and work the conference to schedule the Men's Basketball games to away during the Christmas Break, rather than play in an empty gym at home and wasting 2-4 games with no attendance or organize a way to play the games in conjunction with the Holiday Tourny (maybe HS day games capped off by a collegiate game).

7. The overall feel, impression and operation of our athletics programs is distrubing, we are small, so we think small? Could we have a cohesive approach to how we broadcast our games with professional announcers and production? Could we have a more coherent and informative relationship with the media; The Hawkeye, PJ Star and WGEM seem to be cultivating at least day-to-day information loop; but could we at least provide scores and post-games in a timely and correct manner to areas like Chicago, Peoria, Springfield, QC and St. Louis; then do some advertising, maybe a coach's show, broadcast a few key Football and Basketball games (tape-delayed or live) and I don't mean Rockyvision. Even the web-based systems do not seem to operate correctly. Could we organize ourselves so that attendants, concessions, appearance and logistics operate in a professional organized manner, having the football field prepared and in condition to host a FCS game, PA Systems that operate effeciently and correctly, affiliations and advertising from sponsers utilized to provide some revenue influx and presents an atmosphere of some sophistication. Promotional events should either be raised to a somewhat interesting level (for instance a year or two ago, a promotion was ran giving away chapstick holders minus the chapstick - come on) or do not have these events if they are going to be second-rate. Maybe reaching out to John Deere to sponsor a trophy game with UNI (call it The Deere), or student organizations or faculty/staff organizations sponsoring trophy games with ISU (The Book, we were both teachers colleges) and SIU (The Bone), both schools mascots are of the canine variety (yes, I know our nicknames relation ship to the USMC) would add something more to the game and maybe stir some sort of esprit de corps. With our QC campus and scholastic affiliation with IOWA, could we not hold 1 B-Ball game a year in the QC at the Mark (is it still there?). The IOWA baseball game is a good idea, could we expand the experience of playing games at minor league stadiums to include the Burlington Bees park along with the Peoria Chiefs, turning 6+ games a year we play against the Hawkeyes into a traveling 3 game set? In football, could we not pick other home games to honor the local community, Veterans, are high schools/conferences (reaching out to future Leathernecks & their famillies) and Agriculture in conjunction with the likes of Deers and the other ag based companies in the area (our area being I39 extension south to Peoria, to the mouth of the Illinois river, to the collar counties in Missouri and Iowa along the Mississippi, back up to the QC). Maybe these ideas would increase attendance, thus increasing revenues if structured correctly. Most importantly creating some excitment and interest in our programs.

8. Finally, we need to accept that we are only endowed more money than CSU and equal to EIU and look to see where we can spend it wisely, starting with creating a good game experience and inducing crowds to attend and support out players and university, by doing the little things like being organized and operating professionally like D1 school should, at a minimum. Maybe we need to evaluate how the athletics department is lead, organized, marketed and managed. And make the needed changes. We need to strenghen our affiliation with Adidas to see what else they can bring to the table and advertise locally and regionally, exposing the programs to our rural location. Re-organize fundraising and alumni relations as giving seems to be very small and isolated to very few that can effectively give. Seek-out and strenghen our relationship with former players and utilize/market their affiliation with Western. Then, work with what we have and realize that our rural and distant location from major population centers is a detriment and do something to induce some type of draw from these areas.

9. But most of all, I am tired of the losing and don't tell me we are competitive we are not, even though in basketball we have gone from the lower 300's in RPI to the upper 300's in RPI, we still are losers. Scheduling a home & home with UCA & Sav. St, then scheduling home games agains DII, DIII and a NAIA program, what a joke, the really sad part is they account for 1/2 our wins and don't forget we still get to go to NCCU. Wow. Football, once the feature program, has slipped to losing to the worst FCS program, not winning a conference game, consistently losing to SIU and never really competing with UNI. While at the same time not being able to attract future quality players that can compete in the highly competitive MVFC. Only a +/- half decade ago we where consistently ranked, playoff eligible and ranked #1. What a shame.

Hopefully, we can pull off a Summit League Conference Tourny invite, finishing the tall task of 8th place. We only have to finish ahead of 1 school with Cent. being out of the mix, but it doesn't look good, hopefully we can get to 6 conference wins and get in, but I doubt it.

Just airing my disdain for all that is wrong, I welcome any suggestions and comments. Maybe even some of you that read Necknation have some power that can cause some change. Remember I am only speaking to the athletics program, not to the real reason a University exists - to educate.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

westerwind dad — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:24:35 GMT

That was a quote ! My intent was to add humor ,not in any way to offend the people of Haiti and the pain they are going through ! Sorry

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

Lokal Yokal — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:43:55 GMT

WWDad - comparing our pathetic coaching, fund-raising, administrative situation to that of the stricken, ravaged people of Haiti is not funny at all. Our prayers should be with the people of this unfortunate country during their time of unprecedented crisis and trauma. I know you were trying to be funny, but some things, even on this list should just not be made a joke of. I hope you understand. Usually I enjoy your sense of humor but not on this.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

westerwind dad — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:33:29 GMT

Maybe we can do what Former President Bush asked people to do for the Haiti people ? We need money at Western Illinois to buy out our women's basketball coaches contract out. (DON"T SEND US WATER OR BLANKETS, JUST SEND MONEY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) HA

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

westerwind dad — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 09:10:34 GMT

I buy lotto tickets every week and if I won I'd donate some back to the school and hopefully some of it would filter down for the new women's basketball coach salary !!!!!!!!! Division II is the way to go !

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

Lokal Yokal — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 23:43:48 GMT

Mr. WIU, How true about the desperate need for a change of conference. You can jazz it up and rename it but you can't change the fact that we belong to one of the weakest, most unattractive conferences in the nation. TVA can puff his chest out to match his head on how we are an original member of this conference. He may as well day we were/are an original member of the Dalton Gang. On second thought the Dalton Gang would get more respect than the Mid-Summit. Who thinks it is an attractive thing the Summit is advertising on its web site its current APR? Hello. Look at us, we are in the bottom 1/10th of all the division one conferences in the nation. WIU MUST get into another conference. The OVC would be nice but what is the incentive for someone to take us on? Our beautiful facilities? The wonderful day trip possibilities in Macomb, perhaps the huge crowds we draw or the financial guarantee we can offer to our opponents? DII is the way to go. What is the average endowment of DII athletic programs? I'd like to know, as well as I'd like to know what money (a truthful figure) our program gets. As I've said before on this list, not gifts in kind, not endowed wills, hard cash we can use this year, and next year and the year after that. No hocu pocus from TVA and his inept, on the WIU dole, golfing buddy, fund raising flunky. Get a real go getter in THAT job if you really want to see some movement in a positive direction. Maybe we should hire Father Prico from St. Paul's. I think they raise more money than our athletic department. The good Father could at least run a mean bingo game or other decent half time promotions instead of the jokes we have here. Come on TVA, and Gary, I dare you. Try to make a BOLD, POSITIVE move to position the department in a better way competitively. Can't do it? Too comfortable in your secluded offices and on the nice WIU golf course?

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

mr_wiu — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:03:04 GMT

There's a SLIGHT difference between Carthage College moving to Kenosha and moving Western Illinois to Peoria/QC. First, Carthage College had maybe 800-1000 students in 1964? And maybe 10 buildings max?

Yes, moving colleges used to happen with some frequency, but most were private schools that were very small (and most in the 1800s or early 1900s). Public institutions with 10,000+ students and hundreds of millions of dollars in buildings, land, etc. don't move.

People need to stop bemoaning what Western doesn't have. There are plenty of fantastic universities that are just as rural and landlocked as Western. Kansas State, Iowa State, Penn State, just to name a few.

The Peoria expressway would help. So would attracting a few more industries, such as Pella, which the town did 6-7 years ago. These things snowball and eventually things will get rolling.

Western does NOT have a history of great alumni support ($$$) either to the university itself or the athletics department. That won't change until attitudes toward giving start to change. Division I athletics is a part of that, like it or not. FEW D-IIs get the type of athletic donations that D-Is get.

The department SHOULD look into a conference change to align itself with more in-state schools. The Missouri Valley isn't going to happen, at this point. But what about the Ohio Valley. Sure, there are the Kentucky-Tennessee schools, but Eastern Illinois, SIUE, and SE Missouri at least would give us somewhat local rivalries. And the addition of Western might convince another Illinois/Missouri school to consider joining the OVC and allowing for East-West divisions.

And whatever it takes, WIU simply HAS to get in-state schools to come play here - whether it be Bradley, ISU, Northern, what have you. That's what gets the locals and the students excited.....

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

westerwind dad — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:19:08 GMT

Have TVA, G.Johnson and Crane donate their salary back to the university then leave on the first Amtrak train to Dodge City !!!

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

Neckfansince71 — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 09:57:49 GMT

Quinn announced that bids for the renovation of Building One (QC campus) will be announced after the first of the year, followed by bond sales by the end of the first quarter. Groundbreaking for Building One is anticipated in March 2010.

Just thought you might like to know that the same thing holds true for the Performing Arts Center with the time just a bit later ala late Spring! The highway project is getting a large amount of cash from the feds and is not a pipe dream with construction on some interchanges to begin between Macomb and Quincy this Spring also.

I also don't think that there is any chance of the WIU campus being moved to Peoria. Can you imagine what it would cost to move Thompson Hall!!!!!!!!

If I am once again being tooo positive on this website, please verbally harass me as much as possible to absorb some of the abuse that has been aimed at some of our brothers and sisters on this website!

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

sealhall74 — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 09:29:30 GMT

Rocki, if the situation in Illinois is really that dire, then look forward to major downsizing at the state universities. And when that doesn't work, look forward to some kind of consolidation. I can see it now. WIU and ISU get together to form Illinois Central University ("ICU", now that has a nice ring to it) and Macombites will be driving to Peoria on that new expressway on their way to Normal to cheer on the RedNecks.

But all joking aside, we can keep our fingers crossed that the current economic demise facing the smaller city and rural areas of Illinois is only temporary and the pendulum will eventually swing in the other direction. Having grown up in rural western Illinois and now transplanted to a major Metro area on the the east coast, I do miss the advantages of the less populous areas. Now approaching retirement, I may be heading back to Illinois. Location unknown. But no matter where I retire, I want some decent college/university close by and hopefully more than just one within a reasonable drive. Division I/II/III is not so important to me. I'd rather there just be a solid winning athletic program to cheer on and lots of really enthusiastic fans along for the ride.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

rocki — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:02:25 GMT

sealhall74 (1/8/2010)

Screw the expressway. Pack it up and move to Peoria or the Quad Cities. Then you would have a solid local student/fan base to draw upon. You obviously would not do such a thing for athletic reasons, but schools have chosen this kind of hard decision before. Just down the road, Carthage relocated to Kenosha. Take some real balls to make that kind of decision though. I don't think they exist on the current campus and even if they did, it would years before it happened.

Face it, Peoria has Bradley so you can shoot that one down right now. The Quad Cities? I'm hoping not. Regardless, as long as you are talking about ANYWHERE in IL, the point is basically moot. The state is broke, and funding is going to stink to any state university, no matter where in IL it's located. And, the bypass to Peoria is not a dead issue - there are plans in the works for it.....for whenever the state can pay for it. (It may leave everyone too broke to even think about attending games, paying tuition, or whatever by the time they raise our taxes enough to pay for it, however...........)

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

westerwind dad — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:46:35 GMT

The men's & women's basketball teams play in Indianapolis tomorrow. Is that even possible traveling there today ? How are the roads down state ? I heard Galesburg was really bad ??

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

sealhall74 — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:41:51 GMT

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

mr_wiu — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:36:13 GMT

Interesting thoughts. I like the possibilities....

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

western-101 — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 04:56:17 GMT

Macomb getting direct expressway connection to Peoria would be huge!!!!!!!

Peoria has no football of any kind. No pro. no college team of any level and now even their Arena team is gone. Illinois State University has football and is only 45 minutes away, but being that Peoria is Bradley Country and ISU is Bradley's Arch rival most Peorians will not root for ISU in any way shape or form.

This leaves an untapped Market ripe for the picking.

Getting the expressway built from Peoria to Macomb would give WIU a mere 1 hour drive time (cutting the current drive time by 50%) to a metro area of 350,000. For comparison this would be comparable to the distance and drive time of relatively small Iowa City's Hawkeyes and the major metro of the Quad Cities. In addition the proposed expressway will pass directly by the West side Peoria International Airport which is undergoing millions of dollars of upgrades and an entirely new terminal is being completed, more direct flight destinations are to follow.

Getting this expressway built will be the single biggest thing to elevate WIU to the next level. Not only would Macomb benefit from being connected but this would likely spur development of more restaurants, hotels and then business and industry. The net affect would be a Macomb community that would be an attractive place for young proffesionals to live in. In a way Macomb could be an affordable attractive peaceful far reaching suburb of Peoria with many amenities (performing arts center, new stadium.....) and a prestigious U.S. News and World Report tier one university (which by the way it already is). Within a decade of the expressway being built I would realistically foresee Macomb growing to over 25,000 residents.

Go 'Necks.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

Hail Leathernecks — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:40:25 GMT

I thought that was a great post. I agree with almost everything you said. After listing the things I felt it would take to compete at the basic level I realized that WIU would never get it done without a change in Macomb. I think something has to happen in Macomb that will help the University and city better their position (4 lane to Peoria and expansion of industry? maybe 5K more population?). I do not support moving down a level but I do not support going forward as a poorly run D1 school. We could do things in a more efficient manner. I would like to see better attention to detail and the removal of sports that keep other teams from having a chance to compete. If the Westerwind fiasco would not have happened I doubt a Title IX complaint would be filed for women's swim... This should already be done but sloppy management allowed for some people to withdrawal support.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

mr_wiu — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:53:42 GMT

Realize i'm getting here late, but my two cents worth.....

What would change if WIU moved to D-II? I don't think much. We aren't really competing with the "Goliaths" anyway. We can't recruit the Big Ten level of kids (unless they are a discipline or academic problem - as in Derek's kids.). We don't play the Big Ten/Big XII level that much in non-conference. The teams that we struggle with in the Summit League (North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Oakland) just came from D-II and we can't beat them consistently!

Our budget is poor. Dead last among state D-I schools. Our facilities are poor. Dead last or closely ranked with Eastern among state D-I schools. Neither of those things would change with a move to D-II. The better D-II programs have better facilities and budgets than we do right now. We are still going to get out-recruited by those programs. Our only "carrot" right now is our D-I status. Losing that means a step backwards in the level of recruits, as hard as that may be to believe!

For those of you looking backwards to the "glory" years in D-II, going back there would NOT excite the community or student body. Even if we win more, Quincy, Truman State, and UI-
Springfield will draw just about as many fans as we get now. Students will get excited when Illinois State comes to play at Western Hall (which probably won't ever happen again) or Bradley or Southern Illinois. The example was that Indiana game five years ago. We sold that place out and then some!

The truth is, and I hate to say it as a fan of ALL Leatherneck sports (men and women) is that we are probably carrying too many sports. Someone needs to decide which sports we really want to succeed at (whether that be softball/baseball, men's/women's soccer, etc.) and fully fund those sports. Drop the ones that we can't do that at.

And p.s., we aren't the only schools struggling with the D-I/D-II problem/issue. There are a whole lot of people out there talking about a "Super D-I" level that would mainly include the BCS conference schools and the other major conferences not in the BCS (Conf USA, WAC, Mt West). Maybe no more than 40-50 schools.

That's all I got....

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

westerwind dad — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:35:02 GMT

I reall hope the Women's basketball program gets turned around in a hurry !!!!!!!!

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

western-101 — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:10:33 GMT

Thanks for your posts WWD.

All enthusiasm, emotion and information is appreciated here.

You know Mens FB and BB is king but I can assure you that the women do not go un-noticed.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

westerwind dad — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:10:01 GMT

I think it goes a little higher than Tim..........The Vice president is one of her biggest supporters ! Right now the ship is sinking and he's trying to plug-up all the holes ! Maybe I should have said; he tries to cover-up the real reason why players leave or he makes all her mistakes go away !!!!!!!!!

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

westerwind dad — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:00:35 GMT

Thanks ! No that's the problem we aren't united as parents ! What happens in being parents you try to "fly under the radar" because if you do or say anything , it makes it worse for your daughter. What happened to Sarah Miller is a shame ! As a parent I feel guilty we did nothing to help her situation. I always believe in the story book endings; where all the girls come to the coach as a team and say......If Sarah leaves ,we all leave !! That's not reality and you have to remember these are all young girls that are scared to stand up to her. (Coach Crane 1 Sarah Miller 0 )........No Becky Tyro was from the Chicago land area so she scouted my daughter, Crane wouldn't know talent if it hit her in the face.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

WIU58 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:49:30 GMT

WIU712 (12/10/2009)

Van Alstine should use his salary to buy out the Cranes. He is the reason that we are in this mess!!

Amen brother.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

WIU712 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:15:35 GMT

Van Alstine should use his salary to buy out the Cranes. He is the reason that we are in this mess!!

It will take years to repair the damage done by Leslie and her dad.

Ohhhh, if we could only get Regina Miller to come back.........

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

meganeck — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:00:12 GMT

westerwind dad (12/9/2009)

I'll keep buying lottery tickets and if I win I'll donate to the women's basketball program............but that includes "buying out Crane's contract" !

With TVA giving Leslie a 5 yr contract extension, that is probably what it is going to take someone with deep pockets to chip in to buy her out, otherwise we are probably stuck with her.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

Lokal Yokal — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:10:39 GMT

Welcome Westerwind Dad. Always good to hear from parents of athletes. Your summery of players who left in search of asylum is pretty accurate unfortunately. As I've said in other posts, parents and athletes have a powerful voice when united. Start with TVA as unpleasant and futile as that will be, take notes and move your way up the food chain as far as the Board of Trustees if need be. It will take years for WIU to recover recruiting in Illinois and she's nowhere close to getting shown the door. The Crane's need to go. It is almost funny to see Daddy up in the shadows literally looking over his daughter's shoulder every game. Did he help recruit your daughter? Perhaps you could turn them in for NCAA violations of recruiting Time for change in coaches and leadership at the administrative level.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

westerwind dad — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:00:24 GMT

I'll keep buying lottery tickets and if I win I'll donate to the women's basketball program............but that includes "buying out Crane's contract" !

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

Neckfansince71 — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:11:25 GMT

A very realistic evaluation of what it will cost. Much of the information and cost analysis can be found in the universities "strategic plan." The design for the new science building is in the works. The design for the new PAC is sitting on a shelf getting dusty also. If anything, WIU has not been aggressive enough in the past which has put us behind the 8 ball. SIU is getting a new stadium and a rework of their basketball facility as part of a city of Carbondale and university coalition. But heck, their attendance numbers are and were atrocious even while ranked #1 and in a much more populated area than Macomb. I have absolutely no idea where this is going, but I know there are alot of schools that are in our situation! But a very good representation of what needs to be done and what it will take.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

Lokal Yokal — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 08:34:34 GMT

Hail, Hail Leatherneck. Very interesting and realistic discussion of the needs, the solutions and the reality of what being competitive at the D1 level will take. The total based on your numbers is close to 38 million. This is more than half the total of the entire Western Forward Campaign. The needs for the academic part of WIU (the reason we exist) are certainly greater than the remaining 22 million from the projected 60 million they say we're trying to raise. Thanks for putting some ideas out there to think about and discuss. Very good, and sobering post.

RE: The money crunch knows no bounds!

Hail Leathernecks — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:30:44 GMT

I would prefer to stay at the DI level but it honestly I only have an interest in competing not just being in by name only....

At the moment WIU is incapable of competing consistently especially due to facility issues that keep us from recruiting athletes that can compete for Summit Championships. I understand we win here and there but we are not a player yearly in the majority of our sports.

It will take in my estimation a large amount of money to do things properly (the DI basics folks...). Keep in mind IL is a state that creates much high costs for new facilities to be built than right to work states.
-20 million for a new basketball facility (the works... we are going to get one shot and it will have to work for the next 50 years)
-13 million for football (press box side, turf, score board)
-1 million for soccer (locker rooms, stands, lights, concessions, misc)
-1 million for baseball/tennis/softball (a main building to house bathrooms, locker rooms, concessions, lights / stand for tennis / fix the baseball field irrigation)
-1.5 million for a renovation of Western Hall after completion of new facility (being a school in the MidWest we need to offer an indoor turf surface, fix the indoor track, paint, modernize whatever offices that will remain)
-1 million for Brophy (redo the locker rooms, repaint and resurface the floor, upgrade to the pool, reorganization of all storage and create a main equipment room)
-500 thousand dollars for 2 buses (we have the ability to maintain the buses ((Go West)) and they will allow us to save on yearly travel costs, it will serve as a marketing tool instead of Peoria Charter... etc and it will show athletes we are serious, two allows for multiple sports to take the buses depending on schedule)
-300 thousand yearly increase to the overall athletic budget to fully staff and scholarship to the NCAA limits (this is the most basic and obvious, WIU has to take athletics at the DI level seriously or get out.... teams can not compete consistently without the coaches and scholarship players to their maximum.... ASAP

Northern Iowa and Missouri State may only be able to offer in state scholarships in the next few years. The state owes WIU over 35 million easy. Some schools are waiting on even more money from the state. We are looking at serious issues that may cripple basic functions for the University. It would be a good time to take a look at what a REAL DI school does and how much it costs. If we can not hack it than get out. I am tired of the how it will look stuff.... How does it look not to be able to compete in your own conference that isn't even a good one nationally, except for MVC football where we are currently way behind times... I am not saying it is inevitable but if everyone feels so strong about staying DI why aren't you being louder about doing things properly?????????????