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Supreme Being
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While we all know that the west seating area of Hanson Field is a decrepit eye-sore, the condition of the soccer field is even worse!
I was at the women's soccer game on Sunday vs Oakland in which WESTERN won 2-1 in a thrilling ending.
The condition and appearance of that venue is just downright awful. There are 3 very old sections of bleachers for the fans. That is it! And the condition of those bleachers borders on being a safety hazard. No self-respecting junior football league would have such inadequate seating.
I saw A.D. Van Alstine and V.P. Johnson at the game. Certainly they noticed the poor conditions.
If WESTERN wants to use temporary bleachers for its "grandstand" at least find something in better condition than what is there now.
This is not a real D-1 facility by any means!
Let's Go WESTERN!!
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Forum Guru
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712,
That would have been a perfect opportunity to go up and say, "TV, great day for soccer! Sure glad we won! I think the stands are getting dangerous! Whats happening with the pressbox and stands for this area?
To be honest with you, we need to turf Hanson so that it can put up with the abuse it has received with all the rain this year. We could then use it also for soccer!
jc
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Forum Guru
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Really 712
you got to find this to harp on?
The Football stadium is a joke as is the Basketball gym.
The improvments to the Baseball stadium are nice, but it is not D-1, NO restrooms or concessions for fans and no lights. Even my High school had lighted fields.
If WIU can't adress and change the situation of the FB and BB why are you even bringing up soccer?
All in all WIU resembles a medium to low funded public DII school, as far as facilities go.
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Supreme Being
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I know that when A.D. Van Alstine arrived on the scene, he began a facilities upgrade program called "Target Western Forward".
Some improvements have been made to some of the athletic venues.
But the soccer field is in worse shape now than it was before "Target Western Forward" began. What's with that ????
Let's Go WESTERN!!
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Well, it all comes down to money. I don't believe that anyone at Western is oblivious to the facilities issues. But when the legislature won't even fund a performing arts center that has been approved for however many YEARS, there just aren't enough $$$ to fund such improvements. Stinks, but that's reality. At least for now.
--
GO NECKS!!!
http://www.wiuathletics.com
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Supreme Being
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My point was that the soccer facilities are in worse shape now than they were before Van Alstine announced his new program.
Perhaps WESTERN's geographic isolation does not allow us to continue as a Division 1 program.
Maybe we should look at the possibilities as a Division 2 prograrm.
WESTERN's big football crowds in the 1970's occurred when we were playing in the NCAA "small college division". So I don't think that there would be a big impact on attendance at games.
Let's Go WESTERN!!
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Mr. WIU,
You always provide us with a reality check! But, the PAC funds have little to do with the west side stadium improvements! You can't use state funds for athletic facilities in the state of Illinois anyway, of course unless you hide it in some type of "general use!"
Whenever the season goes bad the facilities issue always gets brought up. Heard it a number of years ago when Randy Ball left. You also always hear about attendance. But the real bucks come from season ticket holders basically because students are already charged a user fee to support athletics. Talk about attendance issues, ISU last weekend bragged about a sell out and only had 10,000+ at their family weekend football game. Heck, Bloomington-Normal is considerably larger than Macomb to say the least and they can only draw 10,000 with all of the parents in town. I don't care if they have a home and home agreement with Ball State or not, 10,000 for there biggest crowd. Give me a break!
Once again, WIU is in real need of some big time donors to step up to get the west side done! I am not sure whether the current financial campaign which is about to move from the "silent phase" to the public stage has any $ for athletics in it or not!
I am just ready to get on with it as far as football is concerned! You know, I think maybe the defense has improved and has been coming together. But you can not fault the D for the lack of offense on 3rd downs which was "zippo!" Just a bad year.
Now, I would love to see the men's soccer team win today. I would love to Crane and company compete with Purdue, and I would love to see Mo and the boys hang with KState! Remember, the softball team is ready to have an absolutely "huge" season. Baseball, well we still need a coach!
I still like what TV has done with the facilities and I think the "turf fairy" is about to make a visit to Hanson Field!
jc
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"Turf Fairy" hmmm.
agreed, Synthetic turf is needed.
Hanson Field to remain viable as a grass field, needs a drainage system, composed of tile and gravel, with out this it is almost a guarantee that at somepoint in the season the field will get destroyed.
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101,
They put a system in just like that a number of years ago. It just could not keep up with the amount of rain we had. Its just time to go with turf!!!
jc
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1) To put soccer behind men's football and basketball is not very smart. The reason.......... they win. They have good people from the coach down to the players. I hope EJ gets some support because he is working magic winning at WIU. Turf for football is for football. The track does not allow for enough space for soccer to use Hanson field.
Did you guys realize they do not fully scholarship the NCAA D1 limit?????? And they have made the tourney more than anyone else recently.
2) The other reason it isn't smart to avoid it is that it will only take about 750K to make the soccer field really nice. Compared to basketball 18 Million and Football's other side that will take 11 Million. Perminant seating can be built on the east side of the field that has bathrooms, concessions, and three locker rooms (men's, women's, and visitor) constructed into it and placed on the underside. Currently the locker room men's soccer uses is also used for visitors teams to Western Hall which to me is insulting. Not having your own private space as a D1 athletic program is hard to swallow. Especially when you have had higher levels of success and sacrifice allotted scholarships. I am not sure where women's soccer stand but it would be a nice fill for the title IX issue.
I could go on but I am interested what other think about my argument so far.
Go Leathernecks....... 
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