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Post by wcatradio75 on Oct 10, 2018 12:54:22 GMT -5
Unfortunately stopping support will never help anything other than getting rid of programs, look at how that worked out for UAB a few years ago. And if you think the admin/chancellor wont provide any more funding the athletic department as a whole is failing. Working in athletics is great because everyone wants to be a part of the culture, the problem is Western has no culture or common sense. If you can't get money from admin then you find a way to create more. Make the game day experience better, provide benefits to the fans that they haven't had in the past, hire a company to sell the media rights create better promotions, choose better game times, these are all things that have never been thought of. The game day experience has been the same for over two decades just for football. Lower ticket prices to get people in the stands, go to a basketball game and half of the ramsey center is covered by black fabric hiding the remaining seats. This athletic department and mainly Eaton as he is the leader has provided no hope for fans, alumni, students or faculty that a change was ever coming. Donations are at a record high and what have seen from them? No wins, no updates to stadiums until Ramsey is getting a remodel (despite the money not coming from athletics). This athletic department is failing all over the board, it doesn't matter who is in charge of the administration of the university because the athletic department gets nothing done. Wow - you say the sky is falling and not only on the panhandle of Florida... Let's talk about football game day. Over the past 10 years there have been more promotions, more sponsors, better concessions, promotions like Black Out & White Out, fireworks, Paws Porch and tailgating in the parking lot outside the stadium was restored and supported. Purple Zone with food and fellowship for supporters. Additionally - better seats in the west stands, a large video board, and the best sound system in the SoCon. With other sports like basketball, there are doubleheader games with multiple sports, cheap and free admission. DO NOT lay this on the Athletic Department! Can they do better? Yes - but they have done a pretty good job with the team of Randy and Gorham and the financial resources available. I hate that we lost Gorham, but it's a state salary that was limited. He has a family to feed and we certainly don't have the resources to supplement that position unfortunately.
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Post by catamountalum04 on Oct 10, 2018 13:35:34 GMT -5
I always wonder why we do not try to work with IMG. They are based in Winston Salem. Alot of big schools use them and a few schools in NC/SC that are also in the Socon use them. Unfortunately stopping support will never help anything other than getting rid of programs, look at how that worked out for UAB a few years ago. And if you think the admin/chancellor wont provide any more funding the athletic department as a whole is failing. Working in athletics is great because everyone wants to be a part of the culture, the problem is Western has no culture or common sense. If you can't get money from admin then you find a way to create more. Make the game day experience better, provide benefits to the fans that they haven't had in the past, hire a company to sell the media rights create better promotions, choose better game times, these are all things that have never been thought of. The game day experience has been the same for over two decades just for football. Lower ticket prices to get people in the stands, go to a basketball game and half of the ramsey center is covered by black fabric hiding the remaining seats. This athletic department and mainly Eaton as he is the leader has provided no hope for fans, alumni, students or faculty that a change was ever coming. Donations are at a record high and what have seen from them? No wins, no updates to stadiums until Ramsey is getting a remodel (despite the money not coming from athletics). This athletic department is failing all over the board, it doesn't matter who is in charge of the administration of the university because the athletic department gets nothing done.
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Post by catnation10 on Oct 10, 2018 13:37:04 GMT -5
The reason I posted this has to do with amount of frustration that has come from the current athletic administration at WCU. If attempting to reach Randy or his assistant AD doesn't work then we bring our collective concerns to the admin in one way or another. But unfortunately that is where all of this will die. The administration of WCU has proved time and time again over the past 20 years that athletics will always be the 3rd or 4th priority. The university has spent millions on new dorms and facility upgrades, but can anyone tell me why they couldn't POWER WASH the bleachers before the season? How expensive can that possibly be. And as someone else stated; the Catamount Club raised $1.6 million ish this past year. The most in the history of the school. That is a huge achievement for us. But, while raising all those funds our baseball team had the worst record in program history by far and our basketball program are cellar dwellers yet again. The pipe dream of all of this for the administration to actually care about the voice of the alumni who still support the athletic programs. I've heard many people calling others on here "bandwagon" fans or other terms close to that. There is nothing bandwagon about being a WCU fan. I truly feel that there needs to be more checks and balances and transparency with WCU administration. Including the athletic administration.
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Post by ScooterCat on Oct 10, 2018 15:24:21 GMT -5
Since Eaton arrived, I’ve sent him a number of constructive emails making suggestions about various things. He routinely fails to reply. I find this unacceptable and unprofessional. Count me unimpressed.
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Post by wcatradio75 on Oct 10, 2018 15:29:34 GMT -5
IMG isn't interested in us. We have tried. The problem is they can't drum up the sponsorship needed given our location, lack of large companies and potential listenership. It is more profitable for Western to have it's own network and sponsors.
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Post by ScooterCat on Oct 10, 2018 17:21:06 GMT -5
Our programs have not garnered proper financial support over the years, however, coaching has also been below average. Two years ago, Elon hired a new head football coach to try and turn around a floundering program that had gone 4 and 20 in its conference over the prior several years. In addition to an eight game winning streak in his first season, HC Curt Cignetti just led the Phoenix to a road win over powerhouse James Madison last weekend. My guess is his quick success has to do with coaching acumen, not recruiting or resources.
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Post by wcugrad95 on Oct 10, 2018 17:37:41 GMT -5
Other recent SoCon examples - Houston at Citadel, Hendrix at Furman, and even back to Hueseman turning Chatty around basically immediately. And not immediate success (and no playoffs yet), but Mercer and ETSU are now in position to move towards the top. But I think the difference with those schools is both bringing in a good coach and the school getting behind the programs. I'd also venture to say they all have much bigger athletic budgets (so they can pay both head and assistant coaches more to attract and retain a staff).
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Post by wcu72 on Oct 10, 2018 17:50:04 GMT -5
Other recent SoCon examples - Houston at Citadel, Hendrix at Furman, and even back to Hueseman turning Chatty around basically immediately. And not immediate success (and no playoffs yet), but Mercer and ETSU are now in position to move towards the top. But I think the difference with those schools is both bringing in a good coach and the school getting behind the programs. I'd also venture to say they all have much bigger athletic budgets (so they can pay both head and assistant coaches more to attract and retain a staff). They hired a D2 head coach that had turned a program around in a year, he's done the same thing at Elon. I have no idea what Elon is paying him, but he was making 120k at the D2 school. Elon wanted an experienced head coach, found one and hired him. Unlike WCU's hiring strategy, look at the outcome 7 years later.
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Post by jim64 on Oct 10, 2018 19:47:59 GMT -5
Other recent SoCon examples - Houston at Citadel, Hendrix at Furman, and even back to Hueseman turning Chatty around basically immediately. And not immediate success (and no playoffs yet), but Mercer and ETSU are now in position to move towards the top. But I think the difference with those schools is both bringing in a good coach and the school getting behind the programs. I'd also venture to say they all have much bigger athletic budgets (so they can pay both head and assistant coaches more to attract and retain a staff). They hired a D2 head coach that had turned a program around in a year, he's done the same thing at Elon. I have no idea what Elon is paying him, but he was making 120k at the D2 school. Elon wanted an experienced head coach, found one and hired him. Unlike WCU's hiring strategy, look at the outcome 7 years later. Keep in mind that ETSU is having a great year so far & their Head Coach once applied for the HC Job at WCU and was turned down. The Admin would not make the necessary investments in the Football Program that he recommended. This occurred during the Bardo Administration. Belcher did not lift a finger to financially support Athletics at WCU. At least Bardo did help with securing the money to make some physical upgrades to the Football Stadium & Softball Complex etc. However, he did nothing to increase the Athletic Budget.
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Post by tigers95 on Oct 10, 2018 20:07:07 GMT -5
It is still sad to sit and watch a program like Kennesaw State have football for 3 years and be so successful and ETSU completely cancel football for years and come back with the success they have had in four years! It looks like both will continue to be successful and may move too FBS as the time comes!
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