Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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Hal Kopp wrote:Conservatively,what would new east stands cost?
According to a 3/31/05 press release on our website we were spending $2 million for the 1400 Ryan Center seats, scoreboard and refurbished East stands. With inflation, you're looking at that project costing 2.44 million in today's money, or $1743 per seat. According to gorhody.com it looks like the East stands hold 5,180, so you're looking at just over $9 million to just replace the seating. You might be able to recycle materials, which would reduce the cost, but you also would need to factor in the press box issues which weren't a concern in the 2005 project. So bare bones, not upgrading capacity, no concession stands or bathrooms on the East side you're probably looking at $9.5 to 10 million to redo what you have already with the East stands.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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SGreenwell wrote:
rambone 78 wrote:As to the cost of a new stadium, just replacing the East stands would cost at least 15 mil or so, and that's on the cheap. I think those numbers were discussed on here a while ago, in comparison to what other schools are spending to upgrade their facilities.

At some point, if URI keeps the team, those stands will have to be replaced. That's something else to think about.

Lights and field turf were supposed to have happened by now. Why not?

Only reason I can come up with, is the school is holding off until a final decision is made on whether to scrap the program.....they aren't going to spend several million for nothing.....
I think lights and turf would be a good investment anyway, since most turf fields can be used for multiple sports now. Whether they keep or scrap football, you could still use the field for men's and women's soccer, etc. Although now that I think about it, if you're going to replace the facility and spend a ton of money, you might as well throw a track on there as well and make it a whole complex.
I don't think that would work in regards to soccer. Soccer is universally known to be better on grass as opposed to field turf, so if you have field turf at Meade and force the soccer team to play there as well you're actually downgrading soccer's facilities. Plus now you have three teams needing to find time during the fall sports season.

I'm fine either way if you put a track around the field. It's best and probably even cheaper to fix the outdoor track we have now, but if it helps put the entire project through then great.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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OBRAM wrote:Plus Meade is to small for a track and football/soccer field. It should be moved across the street to the Physical Plant area, and the Physical Plant area moved, because that is even more of an eyesore than Meade East Stands.
I think Football needs a Fieldturf Practice field more than Field turf on Meade. Look at Brown U practice field. They have two full length Fieldturf fields, with lights and stands, and then grass at Brown Stadium. URI football Practice facility is abysmal and it was made worse then it was chopped up for the Ryan Center. Seems to me like since the Ryan Center building which took down the field house, chopped the practice field, and removed the West Stands, football has had a tuff time recruiting. Ask Stowers, they would bring in a recruit and they would say,"nice Basketball Facility, where's the football facilities"?
Don't look now, but your proposal to move things around for a new football stadium would probably cost at least $40-50 million. If we can't get money to keep the current East stands safe or $20-30 million to turn Meade into an average CAA facility I don't think $40-50 million is going to happen.

And as a point of information, the field house and West stands were demolished in the summer of 2000 to make room for the Ryan Center. At that point we already had 4 straight losing seasons, 7 out of 8 losing seasons, and 12 out of 14 losing seasons since our last playoff appearance with a combined record of 44-109 in those 14 years. Or an average record of 3.1-7.8. Seems to me like we already had football issues before the Ryan Center construction.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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In looking at Universities similar to URI here is where they can be found for Football. Note how the A10 is spread among many conferences - not necessarily a good thing with football so influential:

Division 1
American East: Temple, UCONN
Conference USA: Charlotte, Old Dominion
Mid American: Buffalo, UMASS

Division 1AA
CAA: Albany, James Madison, William & Mary, Stony Brook, Richmond, New Hampshire, Delaware, Elon, Towson, Villanova, Maine, URI
Pioneer: Jacksonville, Campbell, Dayton, Drake, San Diego, Butler, Stetson, Davidson, Marist, Morehead State, Valporaiso
NEC: Duquesne, Sacred Heart, Bryant, St Francis, Wagner, Robert Morris, Central Connecticut
Patriot: Holy Cross, Bucknell, Fordham, Lehigh, Georgetown, Colgate, Lafayette

In looking at the A10, Big East and AAC teams it's hard for me to believe that dropping down to the NEC makes sense for our future.

I also think that Football will have an influence over where Universities finally net out in the future, 5, 10 years down the road.
Butler, Villanova and Georgetown the only schools (3) playing football from the 10 School BE.
UMASS, Dayton, URI, Fordham, Davidson, Richmond, Duquesne the only schools (7) playing football from the 14 School A10

Good attendance last year for Football at URI. I would give this current Coaching Staff a chance and I would fix the Stadium Stands. Also would be good for Thor and Dooley to share the short, medium and long term plans for Football at URI.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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I don't really see how what conference we're affiliated with for football, or if we even have it, really matters going forward for the rest of the athletic department. We're not going FBS, so we don't have to worry about the AAC, MAC, or CUSA. And while football has driven the bus in terms of conference movement, that's only at the FCS level, so again that's not something we need to worry about. The only conference we would possibly be in outside of the A10 is the Big East. As you pointed out, their football is as all over the place as the A10, so they wouldn't care about how we handle football. Not that it matters because we're not going to get invited there anyway. With the A10 all over the map for football, they're not going to kick us out based on how we handle football. And we're not going to downgrade the rest of our department to the NEC if we have football there.

I do think you bring up a good point that Thorr and Dooley should share the short, medium, and long term plans for football. I think the fact that there hasn't been a clear and articulated plan for as long as I can remember in regards to football has led to some of the negativity around the program. It's bad enough when you lose at the rate we lose, but when there's no milestones you can point to on the horizon it makes it really depressing. Unfortunately, I'm not really sure how much, if anything they can articulate. If they really are giving Fleming two or three more years and if there's no pulse they'll pull the whole plug, well that's not something you can say publicly because it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. And hoping for a fan to hit the lottery and donate a new stadium isn't much of a plan. So we're left with what we've got, the AD saying we'll judge the program on wins and losses, but no reasons as to why fans should believe more wins are on the horizon.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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RR, that's true about what Thorr and Dooley can or can't say about the future of the program.

If the plug is pulled, it will happen suddenly I would think.

The fact that nothing positive can be said, other than "hoping" they will win some games, isn't very reassuring to those who want the program to continue.

Like I've said, they are counting on Fleming to turn things around and soon, and there are NO signs yet that it's happening any time soon.....

Holding off on the promised lights for Meade tells me they are waiting...and waiting......
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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RhowdyRam02 wrote:I don't really see how what conference we're affiliated with for football, or if we even have it, really matters going forward for the rest of the athletic department. We're not going FBS, so we don't have to worry about the AAC, MAC, or CUSA. And while football has driven the bus in terms of conference movement, that's only at the FCS level, so again that's not something we need to worry about. The only conference we would possibly be in outside of the A10 is the Big East. As you pointed out, their football is as all over the place as the A10, so they wouldn't care about how we handle football. Not that it matters because we're not going to get invited there anyway. With the A10 all over the map for football, they're not going to kick us out based on how we handle football. And we're not going to downgrade the rest of our department to the NEC if we have football there.

I do think you bring up a good point that Thorr and Dooley should share the short, medium, and long term plans for football. I think the fact that there hasn't been a clear and articulated plan for as long as I can remember in regards to football has led to some of the negativity around the program. It's bad enough when you lose at the rate we lose, but when there's no milestones you can point to on the horizon it makes it really depressing. Unfortunately, I'm not really sure how much, if anything they can articulate. If they really are giving Fleming two or three more years and if there's no pulse they'll pull the whole plug, well that's not something you can say publicly because it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. And hoping for a fan to hit the lottery and donate a new stadium isn't much of a plan. So we're left with what we've got, the AD saying we'll judge the program on wins and losses, but no reasons as to why fans should believe more wins are on the horizon.
RR2,
I'm a bit confused because I thought you were promoting that we drop to the NEC. I reread your comments on Thursday Sept 10 and Friday Sept 11 and you seem to be promoting the NEC and it was a mistake for us to leave it.
"63. And if we dropped to the NEC where we belong we'd only need 40."

So I went back to see what conferences teams were currently in for my own information. When I look at the teams in the NEC I don't get to thinking that we belong there at all. Even the better teams in the NEC are probably looking eventually to go higher such as the CAA or the Pioneer.

I agree with you that the CAA would not throw us out, etc. That is in today's world, short teram, next 1-5 years. I think the bigger picture to look at is where does URI Athletics fit in 5, 10 and 15 years down the road.

Ideally Schools would want to be in Conferences based on ability to complete in all Sports (not be in different conferences for different sports), Location, school size, academic levels.......The Big Conferences have every sport within their conference. One day I think we will see the Mid Major Level Schools have their own Conferences with all sports played within the conference as well. You will not see UMASS, URI, etc playing most athletic teams in one conference and then football in another - that does not make sense so in the long run I think we will see that change. The schools that have that vision will be preparing themselves for that invitation that could come one day. PC, Northeastern, BU, etc etc....all the schools that do not have Football Teams could possibly not be invited or even considered for future conferences that want all sports played within that conference. Basketball Only with no Football teams will all congregate into their own Conferences - eventually.

It's interesting that Georgetown has football, as does Villanova and Butler from the BE. They could have future options that the other 7 BE teams do not have. Same with the 7 teams in the A10 that have football are different from the 7 that do not.

Again, I'm not looking at the short term but what does the landscape look like in 10 years from now.

I say keep football, stay in the CAA, let the current Coaching staff do their think and in 1-2 more years cut to a new Coaching staff.

Right on this Board there were posters saying just 2 years ago that there was something bigger wrong with the woman's basketball than the Coach. They felt that if the current Coach Cathy Inglesse (with her proven track record) couldn't turn URI around then there must be deeper problems.

Well, look what Daynia La-Force is doing with URI Women's Basketball in just her 2nd year. Shows the importance of Coaching. Thor stayed way too long with Ingless. He above all must know that better than anyone now.

Thor can't stay too long with the Football Coach. The fact that D1 Players can immediately be eligible at 1AA Schools is a huge advantage for 1AA Coaches and Teams.

Not too long ago this was URI Women's Basketball............
http://www.providencejournal.com/articl ... /302199936
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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I am promoting a move to the NEC. My point was I don't see your idea of how conferences shaping up as accurate. Conferences prefer the things you mentioned (ability to complete in all Sports (not be in different conferences for different sports), Location, school size, academic levels). However, much like the Wu-Tang Clan, schools and conferences subscribe to one overriding philosophy, something more important then all their other preferences combined. C.R.E.A.M. Cash Rules Everything Around Me. Get the money. Dollar, dollar bill y'all.

For FBS schools, with football driving the money train, all conference realignment is done with football in mind. For FCS and non-football schools, basketball drives the money train, so realignment is based on what serves basketball the best. Whether you have football or not, no matter what conference they are in is totally irrelevant at our level. Conferences will not shape up how you think at our level because football doesn't matter, again it's basketball driving the bus.

If your theory was accurate we'd already see it taking place, we wouldn't have to wait ten years. The Big East would have started using your model when it came to its formation and the invites to fill out their membership. The A10 would replace schools based on football. You think the present conference structure doesn't make sense, but it absolutely does, once you realize it's all about the money.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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Current staff needs at least 5 years. The decision to drop to the NEC set back football at least 5 years, maybe more. URI football started to cut scholarships in 2011, to prepare for NEC, which thankfully did not happen. Freshmen that came in in 2012-2013 would now be RS-Juniors, but we lost those recruiting classes at the CAA level, while other schools plowed ahead (Stony Brook, Albany). I rather be playing Harvard tomorrow rather than a NEC team, even thought at current level we maybe mismatched. I don't think URI ever appreciated being in the CAA, which maybe the best FCS conference. I know most people can't remember 1984-1985, but FCS playoff games are really fun.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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Completely agree OBRAM.

RR2,
I do think that Universities that have both Basketball and Football will eventually group together within their own conferences.

To your comment:
"If your theory was accurate we'd already see it taking place, we wouldn't have to wait ten years."

The process is already taking place. Here are some examples:

- UMASS goes to MAC for Football. It is only a matter of time before UMASS leaves the A10
- UCONN builds football team into stronger D1 program - joins the AAC in all sports. UCONN's ultimate goal is to gain invite to the ACC which definitely requires both football and basketball D1 programs
- The AAC was created with schools with both Football and Basketball D1 Programs and to participate in all sports. Tulane, Navy, SMU, Temple (left A10), South Florida, East Carolina, Central Florida, Memphis, Houston all joined this conference.
- Charlotte leaves A10 to play in Conference USA in all sports
- Old Dominion joins Conference USA in all sports
- Georgia State leaves CAA to play in Sunbelt Conference in all sports
- Old Dominion joins Conference USA in all sports
- Georgia Southern and Appalachian State join Sunbelt for all sports
- Several teams left the Sunbelt to join Conference USA when there was an exudus for the AAC

These changes have taken place in just the last 5 years or less

What we are seeing is conferences that are ALL Sports including Football and Basketball

Then we have Conferences that are mostly all Basketball such as the BE (mostly Catholic schools)

Then we have those that are still mixed with Basketball and Football and only Basketball. Those are the Conferences that will see the most movement and consolidation over the upcoming years.

Some of the schools that have added Football Programs in recent years include:
2009: Old Dominion, University of New Haven
2010: Lamar, Georgia State, South Alabama, Pacific
2011: University of Texas San Antonio, Robert Morris
2014: Mercer, UNC Charlotte, Stetson
2015: East Tennessee State, Kennesaw State

NCAA and NAIA Schools with Football are currently at a record high of 767 Schools. That is an increase from 484 in 1978.

http://www.footballfoundation.org/tabid ... -2014.aspx
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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All of those schools you mentioned are FBS. They are completely and totally irrelevant to how conference affiliations will work on the FCS and non-football level.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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To follow this reasoning all our current football brethren would leave their basketball conferences and join together in an all sports conference....thereby asking Villanova to leave the Catholic big east...and Rhode Island and Richmond to leave the heathen A-10...to now play basketball against New Hampshire, Maine, William and Mary, etc.....

.....football at the FCS level really doesn't position us well for future conference re-alignment....
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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Many of the teams I mentioned were 1-AA and moved up.
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Are we moving up? If not, how are they relevant?
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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No we are not moving up.
My point is that there has been a lot of changes with conferences and football plays a prominant role in the ultimate selection of conference.
This will continue even at the levels of CAA, NEC, Pioneer, etc.

It's in URIs best interest to have a good football program, especially with the growth of colleges and universities that have football programs as per me earlier note.

Those schools that have football have more options than those that do not.

Where we differ most is you strongly want URI in the NEC and and I absolutely do not want URI in the NEC. I said that way back when we joined the NEC and then Thor and Dooley changed their minds but as another poster said, 5 years of recruiting classes were impacted by URIs NEC decision.

It would be interesting to hear Thor and Dooleys rational for choosing to go NEC and then rational for changing back to CAA
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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adam914 wrote:I don't think anybody truly WANTS football cut. Everybody is tired of the embarrassment thrown out there every week.
Take read of the Chi Phi thread if you don't believe it. Resurgence of dropping the program and the old hockey alternative
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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I've seen Rhody "fans" on Twitter actively rooting for the football team to lose every week in hopes that it gets cut.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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I like the conference that we are in. Although I live out of market, I watch at least two CAA games on my TV each weekend. I've been able to watch two games of ours on TV. Is college hockey even televised? If it is, I'm sure tons of people from all over the country were tuned in to watch the top 20 match ups of St. Cloud State (17) vs Minnesota Dolouth (2) or the St. Lawrence (19) vs Minnesota State (6) game.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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We're in a GREAT conference.

We need to be competitive in it, though.

There are a ton of factors involved when it comes to keeping or dropping football. It's not something to be taken lightly, for sure.

A decision is coming regarding the future of the sport, and it won't be long. Either large amounts of money will be allocated to improve the facilities, or it won't.

One way or the other. All in, or all out.

I just don't think, especially in light of the recent incident, that the decision will be a positive one for the program.

And I will say this again: I would love to see URI keep football, but how many more 0-11 seasons will they tolerate?
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by Rhody15 »

That's the thing, it's not that we're winning 3-5 games a year, it's that we don't look competitive in any game, lose by 20+ points on most occasions, and win 0-2 games each year.

The product has to improve.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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ramster wrote:
adam914 wrote:I don't think anybody truly WANTS football cut. Everybody is tired of the embarrassment thrown out there every week.
Take read of the Chi Phi thread if you don't believe it. Resurgence of dropping the program and the old hockey alternative
Again, its because of the product thats being thrown out there every year. If the team was better, people would not be saying this. Not everybody is going to be happy with the football program's motto being "URI Football: Something to do on a Saturday Afternoon!"
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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adam914 wrote:
ramster wrote:
adam914 wrote:I don't think anybody truly WANTS football cut. Everybody is tired of the embarrassment thrown out there every week.
Take read of the Chi Phi thread if you don't believe it. Resurgence of dropping the program and the old hockey alternative
Again, its because of the product thats being thrown out there every year. If the team was better, people would not be saying this. Not everybody is going to be happy with the football program's motto being "URI Football: Something to do on a Saturday Afternoon!"
Regardless of the reason to cut football, people do want football cut, that is the point. And most have wanted football cut for a long time, not just recently. The Hockey alternative has been brought up for years.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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Yeah, thats all true. But then are you saying that if the football program was at least respectable people would still want it cut? If so, I guess thats where we disagree. I don't think people have wanted it cut for years just because they hate the football team or something. It's because it's embarrassing.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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adam914 wrote:Yeah, thats all true. But then are you saying that if the football program was at least respectable people would still want it cut? If so, I guess thats where we disagree. I don't think people have wanted it cut for years just because they hate the football team or something. It's because it's embarrassing.
That's a good question.
Not sure if it's possible to know since its been bad for so long. My guess is some would choose to keep the program and some would still want hockey or something else instead. At the same time nobody knows whether the hockey team would be bad either.
It's just tiring to be honest with you to read the naysayers comments after every loss.

I don't recall anyone wanting to drop the basketball program after the Jerry D years or the Baron decade+. Don't know why football has to be dropped when basketball was a disaster.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by SGreenwell »

ramster wrote:
adam914 wrote:Yeah, thats all true. But then are you saying that if the football program was at least respectable people would still want it cut? If so, I guess thats where we disagree. I don't think people have wanted it cut for years just because they hate the football team or something. It's because it's embarrassing.
That's a good question.
Not sure if it's possible to know since its been bad for so long. My guess is some would choose to keep the program and some would still want hockey or something else instead. At the same time nobody knows whether the hockey team would be bad either.
It's just tiring to be honest with you to read the naysayers comments after every loss.

I don't recall anyone wanting to drop the basketball program after the Jerry D years or the Baron decade+. Don't know why football has to be dropped when basketball was a disaster.
I don't think it's a perfect comparison, because URI has been a pretty successful basketball program at times, between the Harrick and Skinner years, and the years that pre-date when I was following the program (and alive, for that matter). Per Wikipedia, URI has won seven conference championships dating back to the 1950s, with the last ones coming in 1981, 1984 and 1985. They play I-AA, not BCS football. They haven't had a winning season since 2002, and only three since 1985.

Like I've said before, I'm fine with keeping football if there is a concrete plan presented by athletics or the administration to improve. (i.e. "We're going to raise $30M over the next 5 years and drastically improve the stadium and facilities.") But just running different head coaches out there every couple of years doesn't seem to be getting the job done.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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SGreenwell wrote:
ramster wrote:
adam914 wrote:Yeah, thats all true. But then are you saying that if the football program was at least respectable people would still want it cut? If so, I guess thats where we disagree. I don't think people have wanted it cut for years just because they hate the football team or something. It's because it's embarrassing.
That's a good question.
Not sure if it's possible to know since its been bad for so long. My guess is some would choose to keep the program and some would still want hockey or something else instead. At the same time nobody knows whether the hockey team would be bad either.
It's just tiring to be honest with you to read the naysayers comments after every loss.

I don't recall anyone wanting to drop the basketball program after the Jerry D years or the Baron decade+. Don't know why football has to be dropped when basketball was a disaster.
I don't think it's a perfect comparison, because URI has been a pretty successful basketball program at times, between the Harrick and Skinner years, and the years that pre-date when I was following the program (and alive, for that matter). Per Wikipedia, URI has won seven conference championships dating back to the 1950s, with the last ones coming in 1981, 1984 and 1985. They play I-AA, not BCS football. They haven't had a winning season since 2002, and only three since 1985.

Like I've said before, I'm fine with keeping football if there is a concrete plan presented by athletics or the administration to improve. (i.e. "We're going to raise $30M over the next 5 years and drastically improve the stadium and facilities.") But just running different head coaches out there every couple of years doesn't seem to be getting the job done.
Agree, and nobody would ever mention the idea of dropping men's basketball. EVER. I don't Care if basketball lost every game for 5 straight years nobody would ever talk about dropping basketball. But football gets talked of dropping after every loss for as many years back as I can remember.

Maybe because this is primarily a basketball board.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by ramster »

Possibly the title of this thread could be modified to contain the debate of whether URI should keep football of not? Keeps debate with comments and opinions in one thread, otherwise this tends to often come up in game threads and others.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by OBRAM »

We need a plan, it was over 10 years ago when I saw a plan for Meade Stadium renovation, since then I have heard nothing. That's a long time for nothing to happened. In the meantime, Albany builds a stadium, UNH , and Bryant has built their program up from nothing. We are not talking about building a Horseshoe in Columbus here, we are talking about a soccer/football stadium that any University the size of URI would have had 30 years ago.
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ramster
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by ramster »

Do you think a long term plan exists and we are just not privy to it?
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RhowdyRam02
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

ramster wrote:Do you think a long term plan exists and we are just not privy to it?
I don't believe a real long term plan exists. I believe they have hopes and dreams, but no I don't think they have any kind of actionable plan that they are now or soon will be putting in place.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by Rhodymob05 »

I know uri was planning for lighting on the field, a new coaching staff is part of the plan you would assume. With time and success will come more plans.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by NYGFan_Section208 »

Rhodymob05 wrote:I know uri was planning for lighting on the field, a new coaching staff is part of the plan you would assume. With time and success will come more plans.
I wish there was a plan...a .500 team...with night games...would be awesome...
Those student bleachers...get the students to come up with a cost-effective plan to renovate or replace...even if just to make them seem safe would be a great start.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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NYGFan_Section208 wrote:
Rhodymob05 wrote:I know uri was planning for lighting on the field, a new coaching staff is part of the plan you would assume. With time and success will come more plans.
I wish there was a plan...a .500 team...with night games...would be awesome...
Those student bleachers...get the students to come up with a cost-effective plan to renovate or replace...even if just to make them seem safe would be a great start.
It shows just how poor the athletic department is when it comes to planning when it comes to football. Lighting is done at most high school fields in the state and we can't even accomplish that. I mean, can you even call something a plan if you say one day we'll do this, but don't have anything in place to get the job done? Sounds more like hopes and dreams then a plan to me. Although in fairness, lighting shouldn't have even been a top priority for Meade Stadium. Anything done before fixing the East stands is a poor use of resources.

And nygfan, what do you mean have the students come up with a plan? Do you think it should be the student body's job to fix the stands?
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by SmartyBarrett »

Lighting is a nice perk, but realistically, how many night games would they play a year? Between homecoming, family day, and senior day (all typically afternoon events), that knocks off three of their usual five home games. So two games per year max would potentially need lighting. I'm not against the idea by any means, but it's not as pressing as other things seem to be.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by SGreenwell »

SmartyBarrett wrote:Lighting is a nice perk, but realistically, how many night games would they play a year? Between homecoming, family day, and senior day (all typically afternoon events), that knocks off three of their usual five home games. So two games per year max would potentially need lighting. I'm not against the idea by any means, but it's not as pressing as other things seem to be.
I'd agree with this. Sure, if you get a good deal on lighting, go ahead and do it. But college football is mostly played on Saturday afternoons, especially at URI's level, and I don't think putting lights on that field substantially ups its value.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

SmartyBarrett wrote:Lighting is a nice perk, but realistically, how many night games would they play a year? Between homecoming, family day, and senior day (all typically afternoon events), that knocks off three of their usual five home games. So two games per year max would potentially need lighting. I'm not against the idea by any means, but it's not as pressing as other things seem to be.
I feel the same way as you. College football is better in the afternoon in general anyway (though I reserve the right to change my mind if I go to LSU for a night game), plus it doesn't make sense for URI right now to have it as the number one priority for football. You could have night games at the beginning of the year, but those already get our best attendance, so you're not seeing a big spike in attendance due to novelty. If you use a night game to try and draw extra fans you're aiming for later in the year. But if fans don't want to be outside on a November afternoon would they really be more likely to sit outside on a November night?
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by Seawrightspostgame »

Playing in the day time is critical late in the season because it gets so cold.

The same as it is important for southern teams to play their games at night because it is so hot.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by NYGFan_Section208 »

No, of course it shouldn't be the student body's job to fix the stands, I'm just saying, open it up to solicitation of ideas. I mean, there were a bunch of white hard hats at graduation...I'm assuming therefore, some enfgineers...? Their ideas can't be any worse than "Cooler..Warmer", can it?

Plus, it would seem like they should be able to play (gulp) soccer on the same field anyway and I'm sure they could up their attendance into the 100s if they had some night games. Make the place multi-purpose.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by ramster »

Seawrightspostgame wrote:Playing in the day time is critical late in the season because it gets so cold.

The same as it is important for southern teams to play their games at night because it is so hot.
I don't see playing at night helping attendance plus tailgating is better during the warmer weather and warmer part of the day.
Big programs need night games to satisfy the desires of television. Now seeing Thirday night games nationally televised.

Not sure I would ever recommend lights.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

NYGFan_Section208 wrote:Plus, it would seem like they should be able to play (gulp) soccer on the same field anyway and I'm sure they could up their attendance into the 100s if they had some night games. Make the place multi-purpose.
I don't really like the idea of moving soccer from their own dedicated complex to Meade, especially if Meade has field turf. Soccer is better on grass, they already have lights at the complex, and capacity for 2000 fans, though I assume a huge amount of that number would be for standing room only and not on the current bleachers. And honestly, soccer got really good attendance when I was a student at the turn of the century when the team was going to the NCAA's and I can only assume it's gotten better lately with more people liking soccer.

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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by Rhodymob05 »

I'm in the business of Landscape Architecture and one of our services is athletic field design. I can tell you athletic lighting can easily go for a couple hundred thousand dollars. Bleachers as large as the east stands can go for close to a million or more as well.
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OBRAM
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by OBRAM »

Lighting is needed, for
1. Early season Night game
2. Late in season afternoon games when the sun sets early, especially if it is a cloudy or raining day.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by ramfan85 »

Tear down the stands and have fans park facing the field with their headlights on. That solves two problems.
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Hal Kopp
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by Hal Kopp »

Ex-AD McElroy told me $1M for lights to do it right.

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eli#10
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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Adjusted for inflation McElroy's number is probably close to $2M if not more.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

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Only at URI can putting lights at a field be made to sound like a feat on par with building the pyramids. The park where I played little league found a way to put lights up at 4 fields in like a week.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by Hal Kopp »

adam914-Right on !!
I would add the mystery of the condemned track to the riddle.
It must be part of a bigger plan?? Awaiting some success in FB and hoops??
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by RhowdyRam02 »

eli#10 wrote:Adjusted for inflation McElroy's number is probably close to $2M if not more.
This is not accurate. McElroy was AD from July of 2004 to October 2006. Plugging in one million into an inflation calculator the new cost would be about $1.27 million if he said it in 2004, 1.23 in 05 and 1.19 in 06.
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Re: Rhody Football costs the university about $500,000

Unread post by Hal Kopp »

Rhowdy-yes. $1M is accurate figure.
Some say as low as $600K
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