Colorado State bets a stadium will attract new students

[MrTitleist]

Interesting article from the Wall St Journal.. odd comparison to Oregon.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303983904579093432304563144.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[J-Rod]

Football attendance is downward trending nationwide at all levels. That's one pour assumption on CSU's part.

 

[phxpoke]

As a Wyo fan, this scares the hell out of me. We can't let them leave us in the dust.

 

[Cuttslam]

Football attendance is downward trending nationwide at all levels. That's one pour assumption on CSU's part.

The assumption is to prepare yourself for the future, or get left behind.

 

[Asmodeanreborn]

Football attendance is downward trending nationwide at all levels. That's one pour assumption on CSU's part.

The assumption is to prepare yourself for the future, or get left behind.

With the amount of rumors about the "elite" schools forming a new league, building a really expensive stadium and then getting left on the outside could easily turn into a financial disaster.

 

[Cuttslam]

No guts no glory

 

[WestWYOPoke]

Colorado State and Oregon are largely similar institutions, Dr. Frank, CSU's president, said. "In fact, in places—research funding and things—we do far better," he said. "Yet, I bet if you asked 100 people outside the state of Oregon and the state of Colorado which is the better academic institution, probably 90 to 95% would say the University of Oregon. And what I would argue to you is that that would be based largely on perception and the visibility from athletics."

Ha, talk about blowing smoke. What a crock. First and foremost, Oregon is a member of the AAU, which only invites the elite academic institutions in the country. Then if you look at Forbes ranking, which takes a quantitative approach while including factors such as tuition, enrollment, and job placement rate, Oregon sits at #217, while CSU barely cracks the Top 300 at #291. (Interesting note, Wyoming is #199 on that list.) Hell, CSU doesn't even crack the Top 3 in Colorado (#76 Colorado College, #101 CU, #111 Colorado School of Mines).

Way to just throw out an unsubstantiated statement to the uninformed public in hopes of trying to persuade them to support your cause. :thumbdown:

No guts AND No glory...Rams

 

[McPeachy]

As Graham has preached (and I completely agree) -- A solid D1 football program (which includes an on campus state-of-the-art stadium) is the front porch to almost every university.

Proof can be seen if you check the timeline for the University of Utah - starting with the Olympics renovation of RE, hiring of Urban Meyer, and subsequently winning.

Fact of the matter though - UW is chalk full of small timing thinking SOB's. It makes their job easier to do / manage, and they don't have to put in the extra hours or extra effort. The aspirations are not there right now. And if they continue to be non-existent our future looks quite dull.

 

[WyoAlum1987]

yup

 

[WestWYOPoke]

McPeachy, I'm curious what type of small-time thinking you think needs correcting. I know most would advocate elite-level pay to bring in elite-level coaches (and assistants), but I'm curious what other type of changes you think need to be made. Not attacking in any way, just curious as to your thoughts.

 

[McPeachy]

McPeachy, I'm curious what type of small-time thinking you think needs correcting. I know most would advocate elite-level pay to bring in elite-level coaches (and assistants), but I'm curious what other type of changes you think need to be made. Not attacking in any way, just curious as to your thoughts.

The short version.

This is a sore point. I realize you are not attacking, and hopefully most will look at this post as just my opinion. My resume is long...I have lived in some awesome university communities in my life, and traveled to see UW athletic events from Gainesville to Pullman, and a hundred places between.

I believe we need a visionary at the helm...or maybe 3 visionaries (as I have kind of changed my target):

1. UW President - Check so far
2. Wyoming Governor - NOT a check, and until the election, won't be a check
3. UW AD - NOT a check, and never will be a check

I am using the term "We" loosely here - as "We" is mostly the AD department (top - down) but you have to also look at the Wyoming governor's office and UW presidents office as well.

Athletically speaking - which to me, IS certainly the front porch to the university (see Utah example above):

We are a small-time thinking University. We do just as much as we need to, to get the job done. When we talk about getting the job done, we often are directed to the bag of excuses, instead of striving to be the best. We pride ourselves with "doing the most with the least". We are satisfied playing down, and are satisfied if we just "compete". We are happy that our athletic budget fits within the parameters of our MWC peers - instead of striving to grow it to a level that exceeds those direct competitors (MWC).

We don't think outside of the box. Nor do we have that ability, given who is who in the state right now. We built barely decent football stadium suites, and appear to be headed to do the same in the AA - if that gets done. We used to be the Joneses - hell even ASU modeled Sun Devil Stadium after the War. Nowadays, we don't even try to keep up anymore. We had forced change - and thankfully the Rochelles & Joe Glenn (and Gary Barta), but those days have even slipped by.

When it comes to MWC sports - we don't win, and we don't bring home championships. Further example: Women's hoops. Who would have thought that Wyoming would embrace women's hoops 10 years ago? Probably nobody, seriously. But Wyoming wants a winner so damn bad, they have become the Wyomingite favorite - and deservedly so.

TBC

 

[WyoAlum1987]

Yup

 

[whyoh]

"the short version"

McPeachy, I'm curious what type of small-time thinking you think needs correcting. I know most would advocate elite-level pay to bring in elite-level coaches (and assistants), but I'm curious what other type of changes you think need to be made. Not attacking in any way, just curious as to your thoughts.

The short version.

This is a sore point. I realize you are not attacking, and hopefully most will look at this post as just my opinion. My resume is long...I have lived in some awesome university communities in my life, and traveled to see UW athletic events from Gainesville to Pullman, and a hundred places between.

I believe we need a visionary at the helm...or maybe 3 visionaries (as I have kind of changed my target):

1. UW President - Check so far
2. Wyoming Governor - NOT a check, and until the election, won't be a check
3. UW AD - NOT a check, and never will be a check

I am using the term "We" loosely here - as "We" is mostly the AD department (top - down) but you have to also look at the Wyoming governor's office and UW presidents office as well.

Athletically speaking - which to me, IS certainly the front porch to the university (see Utah example above):

We are a small-time thinking University. We do just as much as we need to, to get the job done. When we talk about getting the job done, we often are directed to the bag of excuses, instead of striving to be the best. We pride ourselves with "doing the most with the least". We are satisfied playing down, and are satisfied if we just "compete". We are happy that our athletic budget fits within the parameters of our MWC peers - instead of striving to grow it to a level that exceeds those direct competitors (MWC).

We don't think outside of the box. Nor do we have that ability, given who is who in the state right now. We built barely decent football stadium suites, and appear to be headed to do the same in the AA - if that gets done. We used to be the Joneses - hell even ASU modeled Sun Devil Stadium after the War. Nowadays, we don't even try to keep up anymore. We had forced change - and thankfully the Rochelles & Joe Glenn (and Gary Barta), but those days have even slipped by.

When it comes to MWC sports - we don't win, and we don't bring home championships. Further example: Women's hoops. Who would have thought that Wyoming would embrace women's hoops 10 years ago? Probably nobody, seriously. But Wyoming wants a winner so damn bad, they have become the Wyomingite favorite - and deservedly so.

TBC

the REALLY short version

Yup

 

[WestWYOPoke]

Fair enough. I thought maybe you had some more specific ideas in mind, but I get where you are headed, just looking for advanced thinking beyond our current status quo.

 

[McPeachy]

Fair enough. I thought maybe you had some more specific ideas in mind, but I get where you are headed, just looking for advanced thinking beyond our current status quo.

I have been in some heated brainstorming sessions in the past on this subject, there is quite a bit floating around to be honest. I have to hand it to Jack Graham, for his actions & leadership at CSU with the whole on campus stadium - and hope that someday we will have some people in the right places that will do things similar. And that they do so to be the leader and get ahead, instead of just catching up.

One example:

What would it do for Wyoming football (and other sports as well), if UW was to put $150-$200 million into the War, horseshoe the south endzone, update all the existing nasty areas (lower west side for instance), connect & push the RAC out into the IPF and AA, put in a second wildcatter of sorts in the horseshoe, put in the largest video board outside of Dallas, etc.

But instead, we have the thought (and have had the thought) that we should be decreasing seating instead of increasing it, as somebody was interpreting micro economics incorrectly their sophomore year - and won't listen to anything but. We need that renewed energy...we can't sit by and watch anymore.