Tradition vs Nice Facilities

[leatherneckcountry]

I think I know the answer to this but what is more important to kids now days. Programs who have a pretty solid history but there facilities aren’t all nice and shiny or a school who might not have the history but have newer facilities. All I hear about is WIU history but a lot of that is before kids that were recruiting were even born. Do kids really care about the history?

[4EverPurple&Gold]

The facilities are way too old.. I mean there are high schools that are way nicer.

Kids don't care about tradition as much these days.

I think that would help out some, but the big question is where will the money come from?? 

[ST_Lawson]

The facilities are way too old.. I mean there are high schools that are way nicer.

Kids don't care about tradition as much these days.

I think that would help out some, but the big question is where will the money come from?? 

 

I agree. I think "tradition" is something that kids would look at and be like "huh...that's interesting", but it wouldn't really help bring in any recruits or anything, at least not as far back as ours is. NDSU, in the middle of their big run (2011-2022) could point to a "winning tradition" that is still going on. That probably helps bring in some recruits...they could point at a championship trophy or ring and say "you come here, work hard, and we'll get you one of these" and you could be fairly certain that they'd follow through on that promise. We're 20 years removed from any sustained success. Obviously, there's been a few decent years in there...2010, 2015, 2017...but if you're looking at back-to-back playoff appearances, the last one was '02 and '03, which would absolutely be before any of the kids we're recruiting were born (other than an occasional transfer or something).

Stadium, training facilities, locker room, etc....that's what they're looking at. Walk into a place and see the nice shiny things, or go to a game and hear the loud crowd going nuts. We haven't had any of that in a long time.

Financially, the university isn't going to be able to support the athletics department much beyond what they already do.
Not many "big donors" are going to invest their money in a team that hasn't won in 20+ games, either.
Raise athletics fees on students?...we have 7,000 of them...if they average 15 credit hours a semester (105,000 credit hours) and you double the athletics fee (currently $18.13/credit hour), you're raising about $2 million a semester ($4 mil/year) and also probably pricing out a few more students who will choose to go elsewhere. $4 mil in a year is not chump change, by any means, but it cost $26 million for Illinois State to build their new east side stands, so we'd still only be 15% of the way there.

I don't know what the answer is, but at this point, the future looks pretty bleak.

[4EverPurple&Gold]

The facilities are way too old.. I mean there are high schools that are way nicer.

Kids don't care about tradition as much these days.

I think that would help out some, but the big question is where will the money come from?? 


 

I agree. I think "tradition" is something that kids would look at and be like "huh...that's interesting", but it wouldn't really help bring in any recruits or anything, at least not as far back as ours is. NDSU, in the middle of their big run (2011-2022) could point to a "winning tradition" that is still going on. That probably helps bring in some recruits...they could point at a championship trophy or ring and say "you come here, work hard, and we'll get you one of these" and you could be fairly certain that they'd follow through on that promise. We're 20 years removed from any sustained success. Obviously, there's been a few decent years in there...2010, 2015, 2017...but if you're looking at back-to-back playoff appearances, the last one was '02 and '03, which would absolutely be before any of the kids we're recruiting were born (other than an occasional transfer or something).

Stadium, training facilities, locker room, etc....that's what they're looking at. Walk into a place and see the nice shiny things, or go to a game and hear the loud crowd going nuts. We haven't had any of that in a long time.

Financially, the university isn't going to be able to support the athletics department much beyond what they already do.
Not many "big donors" are going to invest their money in a team that hasn't won in 20+ games, either.
Raise athletics fees on students?...we have 7,000 of them...if they average 15 credit hours a semester (105,000 credit hours) and you double the athletics fee (currently $18.13/credit hour), you're raising about $2 million a semester ($4 mil/year) and also probably pricing out a few more students who will choose to go elsewhere. $4 mil in a year is not chump change, by any means, but it cost $26 million for Illinois State to build their new east side stands, so we'd still only be 15% of the way there.

I don't know what the answer is, but at this point, the future looks pretty bleak.

 

All good points...

I think one step that can help is playing these money or buy games. I saw that we are play at Indiana next season. I think football should play two of those a year and men's basketball a few -really I think 3 or 4.

[sealhall74]

Facilities matter much more than tradition in getting a kids to show up. Tradition and culture go a long ways in keeping them FOR THE LONG HAUL once they are there.
My honest opinion, and there is risk in it, lobby the legislature to get ALL public 4-year universities under the same system umbrella.  It needs to be put on a ballot so the public can decide.  As it is now, the University of Illinois System is sloooowly starving the publics which are not part of it.       
 

[ST_Lawson]

Facilities matter much more than tradition in getting a kids to show up. Tradition and culture go a long ways in keeping them FOR THE LONG HAUL once they are there.
My honest opinion, and there is risk in it, lobby the legislature to get ALL public 4-year universities under the same system umbrella.  It needs to be put on a ballot so the public can decide.  As it is now, the University of Illinois System is sloooowly starving the publics which are not part of it.
 

I think you're probably right about having everything under the U of I umbrella. My worry in that scenario though is that UIUC's athletics department, administration, and athletics boosters get to decide what level of sports the schools are at. In that instance, I could see them deciding that U of I is the only FBS public school in the state, ISU, SIU, NIU become/stay FCS, and most of the rest are forced down to DII (WIU included).

[sealhall74]

Facilities matter much more than tradition in getting a kids to show up. Tradition and culture go a long ways in keeping them FOR THE LONG HAUL once they are there.
My honest opinion, and there is risk in it, lobby the legislature to get ALL public 4-year universities under the same system umbrella.  It needs to be put on a ballot so the public can decide.  As it is now, the University of Illinois System is sloooowly starving the publics which are not part of it.


 

I think you're probably right about having everything under the U of I umbrella. My worry in that scenario though is that UIUC's athletics department, administration, and athletics boosters get to decide what level of sports the schools are at. In that instance, I could see them deciding that U of I is the only FBS public school in the state, ISU, SIU, NIU become/stay FCS, and most of the rest are forced down to DII (WIU included).


 

Me being me actually view that as a positive.  I think you want to maximize your chances for national championships at all levels, including NAIA.  National championships under your belt provide national exposure and make recruiting so much easier.
 
 

[axe_co17]

Players and recruits are more interested in the present and immediate future rather than past achievements like conference championships or playoff berths. It's important to remember that player development occurs throughout the week, not just on game days. However, the facilities at WIU are not up to par.

Last time I was in Western Hall, the weight room had several teams in and out. Didn’t see any protein or nutrition available. Let’s not forget the mirrors in the weight room are cracking and taped to keep from totally breaking. Is there no alumni pride at WIU?

I’ve always heard about the alumni coming back and discussing their time in Macomb and how it positively shaped them. Are they not completely embarrassed there is no football facility, the west side of Hanson is violating code and falling apart?  ….and the team meets in some nearby academic building that is available…. I’m guessing they still use Waggoner and the building next to library. Maybe I’m off my rocker, but what does the rest of the conference have?