rhodyrob wrote:Why don't we go back and think about keeping football, adding hockey and helping the other sports,
Football- Drop down to a league that we may be able to compete in. The NEC was put down by many on this board a short time ago but look at their record this year vs. CAA teams. Central Conn. and Albany are recent NEC programs and both beat us. Bryant as defeated CAA teams this season. The Projo had our coach saying he was after RI High School players. How many RI kids are CAA level scholarship players? I went to see a nephew play a D2 RI game the other day and their were offensive lineman under 5'6' and 150 pounds starting.(honest) . A drop down would mean a drop of 30 scholarships which for out of state students is $.40,000 (tut,fees r&b) each. It would not mean any difference for our placement in the A10 for all our other sports.
Other sports
Hockey- Start the program with 13 of the max 16 allowed scholarships.
Baseball, soccer - both get two extra scholarships.
golf, XC , Track- each get 1 extra.
With the ten scholarships left over Rhody saves apx $400,000 a year which could mean a new track around an artificial turf football/soccer field in maybe five years ( just a guess on cost). This football complex would not be a disgrace in the NEC. Maybe an investment in replacing a smaller east stands at Meade would soon even be possible.
This would allow the tailgating, the band and maybe even a winning team on Saturday afternoons, plus an improvement in the overall Men's Athletic program while still allowing the school to meet Title IX requirements.
If nothing is done just drop the Football program completely.
So we are in CAA, argueably the best conference for FCS Teams, then we drop to NEC, then Thor realizes he made a mistake and he returns back to the CAA and now you are saing we should go back again to the NEC?
I don't see Thor every making that decision again, it would have to come from another AD.
ramster wrote:So we are in CAA, argueably the best conference for FCS Teams, then we drop to NEC, then Thor realizes he made a mistake and he returns back to the CAA and now you are saing we should go back again to the NEC?
I don't see Thor every making that decision again, it would have to come from another AD.
I thought travel expenses were the reasons given for both decisions. The first decision was made after Hofstra, Northeastern, and UMass left, the second was made after Georgia State and Old Dominion left and Stony Brook and Albany were added.
TruePoint wrote:From what I hear, football is on a "prove it" schedule, but it is four years not two (as some have speculated). Hockey is too expensive and is a non-starter for the administration based on the due diligence they've done.
Did you hear what they have to accomplish to prove it and what improvements would be made if they reach those goals?
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Take down the Robert Carothers banner and fix the concession stand lines
No, I didn't get much in the way of specifics. But I think the university likes and believes in the coach and wants to give him a legit chance. My guess is that there would not be rigid criteria that would dictate whether the program should be continued or not. I think it's an overall, multifactored anslysis. Has there been enough on-field improvement to at least allow for belief that we can be competitive? Has any progress been made on addressing the facilities issues? Basically, is there a path forward for the program? I believe the decision makers at the university want there to be a football program, so I assume (hope) there is a plan to make it competitive beyond hiring Fleming. We'll see, though.
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"If you build it, they will come." --Us, circa 2011
Football, as we have it, when combined with Hockey is definitely too expensive. Football with thirty less scholarships and on a level that we may be able to win some games isn't. The savings from the lost scholarships and lower travel expenses could support the start of hockey. The CAA has large travel expenses because of the Southern schools and the number of athletes. A league like the NEC or the Patriot have a Northeast footprint. Would Thorr have the nerve to admit he is wrong again.
A move for a lower conference in Football would not hurt us in the A10. Many of the A10 teams do not play Football.
I strongly feel that URI should strive to compete at the highest level that it reasonably can in football. A winning football program is valuable to the university in ways that cannot necessarily be measured using the same metrics as travel expenses or scholarships. Most athletic programs lose money. That isn't the point. Football is an expense other universities of URI's size find a way to cover and they see the merit in doing so. No reason for us to be different.
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"If you build it, they will come." --Us, circa 2011
Agree with you, TP, but if the football program doesn't start showing serious signs of life in the next few years, it's got to go.
If Fleming can't get it done, it's done. The question remains though, is URI doing all it currently can to help the program turn around?
All I've heard so far, is the recruiting budget was increased. Is that all? If it's all on Fleming's ability to recruit and coach, will that be enough?
If that's true, I don't like the chances of football surviving.
TruePoint wrote:I strongly feel that URI should strive to compete at the highest level that it reasonably can in football. A winning football program is valuable to the university in ways that cannot necessarily be measured using the same metrics as travel expenses or scholarships. Most athletic programs lose money. That isn't the point. Football is an expense other universities of URI's size find a way to cover and they see the merit in doing so. No reason for us to be different.
Hofstra and BU didn't see the merit. I guess there are many more.
The big question is would you rather have a poor football program and a mediocre basketball program or no football and an elite basketball program? You're gonna have to pay the basketball coach 2 milllion plus like Few, Smart and Stevens to keep a coach. Myself, after the 30 years of following URI sports , I choose basketball. And I was in school during the Earhardt years.
I think Dooley wants a good football program as much as anyone. If I had to choose between an elite basketball program or a decent basketball program plus a mediocre football program, I'd take the elite basketball program. But that is a false choice. Should we just cut every other sport and only play men's and women's hoops? The university should compete in every sport it can, and there is no reason it cannot compete at the CAA level.
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"If you build it, they will come." --Us, circa 2011
just football TP, just football. We pay Fleming what, $170k??? cmon man. this is peewee football. At some point schools need to realize that athletes aren't going to schools for a reason. If I was a baseball player and being recruited hard, I would draw a line across the country at the mason/dixon line and eliminate every school above it because who wants to play baseball in the snow?. We are like the worst FCS school. So that is like being the worst DII school in football. And even if we invested millions into the program, and paid coaches huge salaries and won the FCS Championship, our basketball program would still be financing it. Maybe we should just make it a club sport like Hockey. Let the athletes pay their way. Who knows, they might just win a championship like our Hockey Team.
This information came from the Projo in December: "URI will pay Fleming, its new coach, a base salary of $175,000 plus a flat $50,000 for a percentage of the game guarantee, Bjorn said. Fleming’s $225,000 salary and other compensation — or $1.1 million over five years, not including benefits — is roughly equal to the base salary he made at the University of Central Florida, he said."
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Take down the Robert Carothers banner and fix the concession stand lines
I doubt basketball income in paying for football or other sports. The only way basketball would make any decent money is if they went to at least the sweet 16 of NCAA, and that has not happened for almost 17 years. Also, nobody ever has the cost of the Ryan Center in their equation for costs or income from basketball, not only to build it, but to heat , light, and maintain the Ryan Center.
