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Looking at athletic monies, attendance at events, D1 involvements etc. Let me through out an idea. Somewhat tongue in cheek, but.....
Maybe WESTERN should become one of these *one sport schools*. Ala Valpo and others. By this , I mean -Valpo as an example, I believe most would agree that BB is what they are interested in supporting, financing and promoting on a competitive level in D1. Football is limited scholarship, and I get the impression the other sports exist because the NCAA and conference require them to have a full complement. BB is their bread and butter- even some national publicity.
I believe WESTERN should put football in this context. INCREASE THE LEVEL OF FUNDING FOR FOOTBALL. Get to the point where a conference title is common, and playoff success is common. Become known as a football powerhouse- year in and out. Few down years. I consider WESTERN a "football school" anyway, lets put more into it and become a power talked about in the fall each year. It's not like the other sports can garner the attention that WESTERN can tap from the football program.
Like I said, somewhat tongue in cheek, and devil's advocate- but..........
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One last thought. I have always felt a college/university should offer as many activities for students as possible. That's good for Knox, Grinnell, Beloit etc. However, at the D1 level, things might take on a different scenario. If WESTERN wants to compete for publicity etc. with the other state schools, they might need to concentrate on their strength, which is football. The interest is there- build on it. Money alone won't win games, however, more for recruiting, salaries,travel,facilities will certainly help.
I'm done now.
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[quote]Leatherface (2/29/2008)
Looking at athletic monies, attendance at events, D1 involvements etc. Let me through out an idea. Somewhat tongue in cheek, but.....
Maybe WESTERN should become one of these *one sport schools*. Ala Valpo and others. By this , I mean -Valpo as an example, I believe most would agree that BB is what they are interested in supporting, financing and promoting on a competitive level in D1. Football is limited scholarship, and I get the impression the other sports exist because the NCAA and conference require them to have a full complement. BB is their bread and butter- even some national publicity.
I believe WESTERN should put football in this context. INCREASE THE LEVEL OF FUNDING FOR FOOTBALL. Get to the point where a conference title is common, and playoff success is common. Become known as a football powerhouse- year in and out. Few down years. I consider WESTERN a "football school" anyway, lets put more into it and become a power talked about in the fall each year. It's not like the other sports can garner the attention that WESTERN can tap from the football program.
Like I said, somewhat tongue in cheek, and devil's advocate- but.........
[/quote]
I agree with your thought process 100% Leatherface. Certain schools are known for certain sports. Look at the national profile Appy State has. Complements of their powerhouse football program.
I would be delighted if Western became that Appy State of the Midwest.
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| I would agree with this, and I believe many schools at the D1 level have already adopted this theory. Giving examples in the Big Ten alone, I think most would agree with the exception of a season here and there, Penn St. is a football school, Indiana-basketball, Ohio St.-football, Michigan St.-basketball, Illinois-basketball (not this year). While I give Western credit for trying to balance the two major sports, basketball will always be the stepchild to football. When I tell other people from the state of Illinois that I graduated from Western, most ask how the football team is doing. The only question I've been asked about b-ball from non WIU connected people is, 'do you have a basketball team?'
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Heck, most people in West-Central IL. still don't realize that WIU is D-1 like Illinois. That is what 80% of people say when you tell them that.
B-Ball Fan
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I wouldn't be surprised if D-1 is split in the next two years.
I think D-3 is spliting soon. Makes sense, for example, you have schools like Illinois Wesleyan and Eureka College in the same D-3 structure, clearly there is a huge disparity between the two.
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| I have always felt there should be a 1AA-if you will- for all of D1 sports.( As it is set up in football.) That way schools like WESTERN could have a legit goal of a national championship in sports that are dominated by the *biggies*, ie BB for example. I believe it would benefit a lot of schools, and create more interest. IMHO
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| When it comes down to it, what are our actual expectations from Western's basketball program? Are we trying to be more competetive in our conference? Are we shooting for a 20 win season? Are we trying to get to the NCAA tourney? Realistically, we have absolutely no, none, nadda chance of winning a national title in basketball. Our women's team had a future WNBA player on its team for years and couldn't make it to the NCAA tournament once. I hate to be the one to say it, but our basketball team is strictly there for entertainment. And right now, we can't even get that.
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WIU02: Boy did you hit the head of the nail directly with your statements. Coudn't agree with you more.
B-Ball Fan
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