Hanson Field - The New West Side

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LocalYokelFan
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ST_Lawson wrote: Local, just curious...do you mean that the $10M goal isn't very impressive, or that the designs/renderings aren't impressive?
Both. The design/renderings appear to be a DII stadium to me. If $10M donors / $25M total is what it takes to get that, it's not enough to keep us sustainable at the FCS level. I'd echo that sentiment for UNH's improvements as well. Football fans with the pockets to sustain FCS/FBS level programs want a premium gameday experience. Premium sight-lines, premium food, premium multimedia, opportunities to advertise... I don't think WIU's or UNH's deliver that. So $10M/$25M becomes a band-aid and a slow decline to DII. Just my opinion.
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ST_Lawson
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LocalYokelFan wrote:
ST_Lawson wrote: Local, just curious...do you mean that the $10M goal isn't very impressive, or that the designs/renderings aren't impressive?
Both. The design/renderings appear to be a DII stadium to me. If $10M donors / $25M total is what it takes to get that, it's not enough to keep us sustainable at the FCS level. I'd echo that sentiment for UNH's improvements as well. Football fans with the pockets to sustain FCS/FBS level programs want a premium gameday experience. Premium sight-lines, premium food, premium multimedia, opportunities to advertise... I don't think WIU's or UNH's deliver that. So $10M/$25M becomes a band-aid and a slow decline to DII. Just my opinion.
Are there more things that we'd like to have?....sure. I think that it's just going to take time and money. This isn't the "ultimate goal" either, it just happens to be the next big project. There's more upgrades planned down the road to continually upgrade the facilities for the football program and athletics in general.

Also, UNH is no slouch, they have a string of 13 straight years of making it into the playoffs. Year-to-year, they are always one of the most competitive teams in the CAA (a very good conference). If you look at the overall landscape of facilities at the FCS level, we might not be on the level of NDSU or Montana, but we're better than a lot of schools that are out there. Just a few examples:

Eastern Washington (probably the second best team in the FCS right now) - other than their signature red turf, their stadium only holds ~8.6k people and our new pressbox will be roughly on par with their current one, if not a little better. Also, they have a track around the field.

Northern Colorado - same deal...built in 1995, seats ~8.5k fans, pressbox not as nice as our new one will be, also still has a track around the field: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CIxKlfdUMAAXuR6.jpg

Southern Utah - built in '97, holds ~8.5k, same deal with pressbox and track

Here's Tennessee Tech - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... tadium.jpg
Furman (no track though) - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... adium3.jpg
Dartmouth - http://fightmusic.com/wallpapers/ivy/Iv ... 0x1200.jpg
Sam Houston State - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... x_2014.jpg

I guess what I'm saying is that, once the new west side stands are built, outside of maybe the top 10-15 of the "big boys" of FCS football, we'll be doing pretty well...even if we still have the track.

Another thing to consider is how much more impressive it will look from the middle of campus. Every student touring the campus with their parents will walk right through the "mall" area behind Stipes and the library, and instead of seeing the row of pine trees and some of the backside of a nasty looking old stadium (not that I don't love our stadium, it's just very worn down)....they see this: https://i.imgur.com/oqma7yA.jpg
I think it'll not only help football and recruiting, but also just general student recruiting...essentially removing one of the big eyesores from the middle of campus.

Sure, if you're comparing our facilities to schools at the FBS level....there's going to be a big difference there...always will be. But compared to a lot of the other FCS schools out there, we're doing pretty well, even compared to teams that are pretty good...SHSU and EWU for example.
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Neckfansince71
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Gosh,
I had to take a second look at TennTech! The colors and press box design plus the track are almost a "match" for our Hanson Field! I was also a little surprised by the size of Dartmouth seeing that the Ivy League was "big time" along time ago which resulted in the Yale Bowl and Harvard's wonderful all cement "Harvard Stadium!" Thanks for the visual expose! ;) jc
wiu712
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sealhall74 wrote:We hardly have more than a token presence in Track and Field right now - zero indoor meets and only one outdoor meet (the Calhoun invite) and trouble getting D1 schools to show up for it.
Teams at the April 2016 Lee Calhoun:

WOMEN:
Western Illinois
UW-Milwaukee
Monmouth
Augustana
Lincoln College
Clarke
Cornell College
Millikin
Knox
Ashford
Iowa Track and Field Club


MEN:
Western Illinois
Lincoln College
Monmouth
UW-Milwaukee
Augustana
Cornell Colllege
Milikin
Clarke
Knox
Lindenwood-Belleville
Iowa Track and Field Club
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ST_Lawson
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Neckfansince71 wrote:Gosh,
I had to take a second look at TennTech! The colors and press box design plus the track are almost a "match" for our Hanson Field! I was also a little surprised by the size of Dartmouth seeing that the Ivy League was "big time" along time ago which resulted in the Yale Bowl and Harvard's wonderful all cement "Harvard Stadium!" Thanks for the visual expose! ;) jc
Yea, it is pretty similar in size and design.

As for Dartmouth, I was slightly "incorrect" with that photo. They have recently redone their "home" side (not the side in the photo) and you can see it in their 360 view here: http://www.youvisit.com/tour/61072/8067 ... 80674&pl=v
And here's an aerial view: http://image.cdnllnwnl.xosnetwork.com/p ... 150615.jpg
It was redone in 2015 and has a capacity of 11k, but yea, pretty big difference from Harvard Stadium, Penn's Franklin Field, or the legendary Yale Bowl. More historic, but not really as nice as what the new Hanson Field should be like.
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Neckfansince71
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This "track and field" thing keeps being brought up for a way to save money for athletics. The fact of the matter is, you get more bang for the buck with TF/CC than any other sport besides golf. Lets see, we have a Head Coach and an assistant Coach who usually is the long distance guy/CC. WIU just made a new hire and as far as I am concerned, got a good one in Coach Maas! Equipment requirements are not huge, yes I know pits cost and screens for weight safety are significant but not unbelievable. We basically at the present time have almost 100 TF/CC athletes meaning that a lot of these students are getting a little or some support with books and fees from the university while working their butts off and adding to WIU's enrollment. (In most cases, scholarships are divided up between athletes.) WIU run's against significant talent through-out the year and does hold the "Calhoun" meet which no matter what has provided them with useful competition. There are D2 and D3 schools sprinkled through out the meets they participate in because its all about time and distance and qualifying for the NCAA regional meet. Stevenson is just beginning to straighten out the mess he was left with and in time will get things turned around. I think its great that WIU hosts the Calhoun meet and with an improved track team will come improved competition. As a former high school track and field coach, no matter how many invites we won, or conference meets we won, the fact that we had "state" qualifiers made it all worthwhile and meant that the program was alive and well. Jasmine is back after red-shirting last year and earning All American Honors the year before in TJ. WIU definitely has some athletes that will join her this year at least at the NCAA Regional Meet. Have never and will never understand the "do away with track" comment!!! Rifle Team.......bahumbug! ;) jc
LocalYokelFan
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I agree, I don't think they should do away with TF/CC, I just think they should find a way to get that facility away from the football facility.

Scott - I just checked quickly, but EWU's last major stadium reno (excluding their weird turf) was in 2004 - 12 years ago. They're trying to raise $60M-$70M for additional improvements. Southern Utah was 1997. So we're making improvements to get to the point these schools were a decade plus ago. Not good enough...
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ST_Lawson
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LocalYokelFan wrote:I agree, I don't think they should do away with TF/CC, I just think they should find a way to get that facility away from the football facility.

Scott - I just checked quickly, but EWU's last major stadium reno (excluding their weird turf) was in 2004 - 12 years ago. They're trying to raise $60M-$70M for additional improvements. Southern Utah was 1997. So we're making improvements to get to the point these schools were a decade plus ago. Not good enough...
EWU's "Gateway Project" (the 60-70M improvements you mentioned) fell through...not enough financial backing. They're now exploring other options including possibly buying some farmland just off campus and building a new stadium there, or doing another renovation of Roos Field, but on a smaller scale than the Gateway Project...with a projected timeline of "some day".

Also, our new west side stands is only "Phase 1" (or maybe we're at Phase 2 considering the east side renovation and the turf)...anyway, the point is that there are more facility improvements planned beyond the improvements on the west side of the stadium.
In terms of where we are at with facilities in comparison to other FCS schools, right now we're probably in the top half of the FCS (have you been to EIU's stadium?....that place is in a pretty rough state....especially the visitor's side.). With the west side stadium improvements, I'd put us solidly in the top 25 of FCS stadiums, which is pretty impressive considering that the state is essentially giving us no money.

Another thing to consider is our location...in terms of population in our immediate vicinity (specifically 20 mile radius from campus), we are the 6th most "rural" school in the FCS. #2 and #4 are the South Dakota Schools, but they are the only DI schools in the state and get the majority of support as compared to the rest of the public universities in the state. We are at a disadvantage when it comes to local population and area businesses that might be willing to shell out big sponsorships, so we have to make due with what we have.

Personally, I'm pretty excited for the upgrade (and it looks like the vast majority of other FCS fans over on AnyGivenSaturday are as well), and can't wait to see it all finished, hopefully in a few years.
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sealhall74
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Neckfansince71 wrote:This "track and field" thing keeps being brought up for a way to save money for athletics. The fact of the matter is, you get more bang for the buck with TF/CC than any other sport besides golf. Lets see, we have a Head Coach and an assistant Coach who usually is the long distance guy/CC. WIU just made a new hire and as far as I am concerned, got a good one in Coach Maas! Equipment requirements are not huge, yes I know pits cost and screens for weight safety are significant but not unbelievable. We basically at the present time have almost 100 TF/CC athletes meaning that a lot of these students are getting a little or some support with books and fees from the university while working their butts off and adding to WIU's enrollment. (In most cases, scholarships are divided up between athletes.) WIU run's against significant talent through-out the year and does hold the "Calhoun" meet which no matter what has provided them with useful competition. There are D2 and D3 schools sprinkled through out the meets they participate in because its all about time and distance and qualifying for the NCAA regional meet. Stevenson is just beginning to straighten out the mess he was left with and in time will get things turned around. I think its great that WIU hosts the Calhoun meet and with an improved track team will come improved competition. As a former high school track and field coach, no matter how many invites we won, or conference meets we won, the fact that we had "state" qualifiers made it all worthwhile and meant that the program was alive and well. Jasmine is back after red-shirting last year and earning All American Honors the year before in TJ. WIU definitely has some athletes that will join her this year at least at the NCAA Regional Meet. Have never and will never understand the "do away with track" comment!!! Rifle Team.......bahumbug! ;) jc
If you had your druthers, which one of the following would you take?

1) Athlete X winning event Y in the NCAA T&F Championships
2) Team Leathernecks winning the NCAA Rifle Championships

Its a nobrainer IMO. Has to be 2. Which is the most likely to happen? Every penny in my piggy jar would be on 2 also simply because there is far less competition in the fray.
Embrace the pace of the race.
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leatherface
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Having coached high school track and football for nine years, I am biased that track and field should be a part of Western's athletic programs. Look at the number of students, likely dividing a limited scholarship base and you have a number of students at Western basically paying to participate.I doubt there are too many- if any- full rides in track and field- maybe I'm wrong. As far as the track being a part of the football facility, I wouldn't really care IF, a separate track is available on campus for meets- something Western can't afford. So, I guess my vote would be to keep it around the field.

I have always wondered why there wasn't more track meets at Western. Duals etc. Heh, have some high school meets there to help in student recruitment. Lacking an indoor track facility- which many area D3 schools have- doesn't help the track programs exposure year round. I would say the track just needs to be utilized more often.Yes, maybe Arkansas won't come,however, there's plenty of schools who would. Look who signs up for Lee Calhoun. Most track teams won't travel far to meets, so take names off that list and have some smaller meets. However, a part of track scheduling includes the need to attend some "big name" meets, for competition and recruiting. However, there's no reason the track can't be utilized more than what it has- short spring season or not.
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