Bubb out as AD

[rocki]

I am happy he is gone, I think it is the right move.  Every new Coach he hired is presently losing.  Hope we get a seasoned AD who has run a successful athletic dept preferably Div 2 or above.  Just got email from Pres Mindrup told her of my support for her.  Go, Go fight win!


 

Wasn't that was Bubb was? 

I agree the coaching hires minus J. Davis have been underwhelming but I wonder what's first the chicken or the egg?  For WIU to be competitive in sports and create a high level student (not just athlete) experience there has to be investment in facilities, staffing and NIL/Rev Share.  I remember bringing my friends from other schools to WIU sporting events 20+ years ago and they were like WTF....not much has changed...It seems that although the move to the OVC could be a positive, we still rank at or near the bottom in these areas.  Look at the state of Missouri D2 facilities...I don't think we want to drop down and compete with those schools.

 

Sure seems people are forgetting what a dismal situation he walked into. I absolutely think he did the best he could with what he had. Although I am not one who is all about the money (I'd rather see students competing and winning for the love of the game rather than who can pony up the most dough), the fact remains that until someone decides to put the kibosh on the portal and NIL, it is what it is, and that is that money talks.

[4EverPurple&Gold]

My honest thoughts on Bubb, was very nice man and passionate about the Leathernecks. I met him in Chapel Hill and what he organized was awesome at the four corners bar. He even seen me an email after thanking me for supporting.

to me his best decision was taking us to OVC. From outside looking in, thought we would win in everything. Unfortunately not a great start, but at least Women’s Basketball is doing well. We were so far behind vs other Summit and MVFC schools. I got to go to some away games and it wasn’t even close.

easy to judge some hires but like others have said, with the state of western, athletics in general and candidate pool keep those in mind.


Sadly the state of the university and athletics support is at an all time low. Real question is do we even have an alum that could help out?? We keep saying need NIL donations but what alums are out there that have those resources??

 

[Necks2003]

Something interesting I have seen related to NIL money. Big pockets at bigger programs obviously have more resources and make things easier.

However, mid tier programs have rebranded NIL money. A full ride used to be 18+ hours per semester, plus a book allocation, with room and board. Nowadays, programs is rebranding it as 15 hours per semester, a set allocation for board and living expenses at a lower or mid level dorm, and the leftover cash compared to what had been previously included is called NIL money and paid out over the semester. I have even seen plenty of D2 kids getting $100 a month NIL money that likely would have been previously been a Book Scholarship. Now, we just lower the education provided and designate the remainder as NIL $. I have not heard of WIU specifically doing this, but I have seen many family friends in the mid-west where this is what is being utilized. It's marketing, but kids and families feel special when they hear they are getting offered NIL money. 
 

[sealhall74]

Just a question that someone hopefully knows.  I see the Athletic Department has a "Property Program" in place which gives coaches and staff a rent-free place to call home.  Does this also extend to the student-athletes as well?  If athletes are getting some upscale apartment living as part of their scholarship, that is as good as NIL money IMHO.  Certainly much better than the confines of a typiical residence hall room.

[vatusay]

I’m pretty 50/50 on Bubb. I think it was a mistake leaving the prestigious MVFC. It was the best thing the athletic department had going for itself. 

Macomb is Macomb. Yes. But it has ALWAYS been Macomb. How did they recruit players and transfers before. Oh yea, whether anyone at the university wants to admit it or not, its identity was a party school. Kids wanted to come here. You can go back to when all the new laws were enforced and see the enrollment and success of athletics absolutely nose dive after that. 

sadly the school and athletics will never return to even half what it was before the over-reaction to the wheeler street block party. 

WIU/Macomb stabbed each other in the back at the same time and walked away patting each other on the back thinking they did the right thing. I will die on that hill. 
 

[ST_Lawson]

Macomb is Macomb. Yes. But it has ALWAYS been Macomb. How did they recruit players and transfers before. Oh yea, whether anyone at the university wants to admit it or not, its identity was a party school. Kids wanted to come here. You can go back to when all the new laws were enforced and see the enrollment and success of athletics absolutely nose dive after that. 

sadly the school and athletics will never return to even half what it was before the over-reaction to the wheeler street block party. 

WIU/Macomb stabbed each other in the back at the same time and walked away patting each other on the back thinking they did the right thing. I will die on that hill. 

 

My brother-in-law is on the faculty here at WIU, does a lot of recruiting stuff, but is also a WIU alum from my era (late '90s, early '00s) and was a teacher in the Chicago suburbs for a while. I've talked to him about this.

The issue is that kids priorities have shifted:

• Younger people nationwide are drinking at a MUCH lower rate than previous generations (record lows), and many of the ones that do, they'd rather do it in a small house setting with some friends rather than at some huge party just off campus. A "party school" doesn't hold the same interest that it did 20-40 years ago.
• One of the major areas where we used to draw many of our students, local small towns/rural areas, are decreasing in population. Those are the kids that view Macomb as the "big city".
• The other area we drew many students from, the Chicago suburbs, the kids want amenities that they are used to at home. They want a variety of chain restaurants and stores that you only get in larger communities; they want big concerts and events; and they want to see new growth...new apartments, new retail, new campus buildings (maybe our new GCPA will help with that, hopefully). That's what they're used to in the suburbs...new growth. For example, a large grassy area like we have on Adams, across from where Linc/Wash are (https://maps.app.goo.gl/YTt7c3KBQQs3w8sx5), if that was in Normal, that close to campus, it would have been snatched up very quickly and there would be a whole line of 3 or 4-story development there where you have retail on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floors by now. Because it's in Macomb, it's just sitting there essentially empty. The green space is nice, and better than a whole line of run-down houses, but it doesn't show that theres much growth in the area.

My brother-in-law said that when he chose to come to Western, the university itself was the draw. It didn't matter what the community was like. Now, when he talks to students in the suburban communities, they won't even consider Macomb because the community is small and run-down in many areas. They would much rather go to some place like U of I, ISU, UIC, or out of state.

I also stand by my assertion that decreasing funding has really hurt most of the regional universities. Western moreso than many of the others because it's in a smaller community. Funding started dropping in 2003...enrollment started dropping in 2007. From there is a pretty solid correlation of downward funding and decreasing enrollment until around 2022/23, when funding finally leveled out, but by then, so much damage had been done that enrollment continued to slide. Now, Western is the lowest-funded university (by % of funds needed to support current student population) in the state. Without increased funding to help repair some of the damage...improve the buildings we use, hire a few more people...I don't see how we'll be able to pull out of it.
 

[Wiufan87]

I think people should quit being so negative on Western.  My 4 years in Macomb were some of the best days of my life.  Go Illinois and the Leatherneck school!

[meganeck]

Macomb is Macomb. Yes. But it has ALWAYS been Macomb. How did they recruit players and transfers before. Oh yea, whether anyone at the university wants to admit it or not, its identity was a party school. Kids wanted to come here. You can go back to when all the new laws were enforced and see the enrollment and success of athletics absolutely nose dive after that. 

sadly the school and athletics will never return to even half what it was before the over-reaction to the wheeler street block party. 

WIU/Macomb stabbed each other in the back at the same time and walked away patting each other on the back thinking they did the right thing. I will die on that hill. 


 

My brother-in-law is on the faculty here at WIU, does a lot of recruiting stuff, but is also a WIU alum from my era (late '90s, early '00s) and was a teacher in the Chicago suburbs for a while. I've talked to him about this.

The issue is that kids priorities have shifted:

• Younger people nationwide are drinking at a MUCH lower rate than previous generations (record lows), and many of the ones that do, they'd rather do it in a small house setting with some friends rather than at some huge party just off campus. A "party school" doesn't hold the same interest that it did 20-40 years ago.
• One of the major areas where we used to draw many of our students, local small towns/rural areas, are decreasing in population. Those are the kids that view Macomb as the "big city".
• The other area we drew many students from, the Chicago suburbs, the kids want amenities that they are used to at home. They want a variety of chain restaurants and stores that you only get in larger communities; they want big concerts and events; and they want to see new growth...new apartments, new retail, new campus buildings (maybe our new GCPA will help with that, hopefully). That's what they're used to in the suburbs...new growth. For example, a large grassy area like we have on Adams, across from where Linc/Wash are (https://maps.app.goo.gl/YTt7c3KBQQs3w8sx5), if that was in Normal, that close to campus, it would have been snatched up very quickly and there would be a whole line of 3 or 4-story development there where you have retail on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floors by now. Because it's in Macomb, it's just sitting there essentially empty. The green space is nice, and better than a whole line of run-down houses, but it doesn't show that theres much growth in the area.

My brother-in-law said that when he chose to come to Western, the university itself was the draw. It didn't matter what the community was like. Now, when he talks to students in the suburban communities, they won't even consider Macomb because the community is small and run-down in many areas. They would much rather go to some place like U of I, ISU, UIC, or out of state.

I also stand by my assertion that decreasing funding has really hurt most of the regional universities. Western moreso than many of the others because it's in a smaller community. Funding started dropping in 2003...enrollment started dropping in 2007. From there is a pretty solid correlation of downward funding and decreasing enrollment until around 2022/23, when funding finally leveled out, but by then, so much damage had been done that enrollment continued to slide. Now, Western is the lowest-funded university (by % of funds needed to support current student population) in the state. Without increased funding to help repair some of the damage...improve the buildings we use, hire a few more people...I don't see how we'll be able to pull out of it.
 
 

I don't live in Illinois so not sure of the politics of the funding and the chances of increased fundng, esp for WIU, which I agree would obviously help. When I search WIU on Twitter and look at some the comments on tweets about WIU. I' still see a lot of comments about WIU is closing or they can't believe WIU is still open. So doesn't help things when that stigma is still hanging over their heads. Also Population is down, people just don't have as many kids as they use to, so their aren't as many potential students, then more and more kids are choosing not to go to a 4 year college. Not sure what the answer is but would love for leadership to look outside the box and try something different and not be just another cookie cutter university out there.

Anyway back to the original topic, I am really worried about who they will get as the new AD, I'm assuming the candidate pool will be lean and probably not impressive (hope I'm wrong). Not sure if she would want the job, but hope they don't just name the interim AD as the new AD.

[ST_Lawson]

I think people should quit being so negative on Western.  My 4 years in Macomb were some of the best days of my life.  Go Illinois and the Leatherneck school!


 

I fully agree. I grew up here, got two degrees from Western, and have worked here for 18+ years. Obviously I love it here and I want to see the university succeed, but I also hear a lot from people outside of the university, and for kids in the suburbs...Western just isn't a school that most put on their list for places to go.
We've got to figure out ways to counteract that narrative and get Western back on people's lists...whether that's due to safety, small class sizes, the new Goldfarb Center, or whatever...if we know people with HS-aged kids, we need to be bringing up Western to them.

Yup, it's the stigma that's still hanging around from the state budget crisis/impasse back in 2015-2017. Rumors were flying that WIU was going to close and everyone just figured that's what was going to happen, and we've just never been able to fully shake it.

[Wiufan87]

Instead of complaining I have been working with admissions at Western to turn around our enrollment.  I gave $2000 to admissions last Fall to advertise on phones for Discover Western.  This past Spring I sent out 1,500 emails to guidance counselors in Illinois to promote Discover Western.  My high school guidance counselor recommended I apply to Western after I visited Southern.  Richard Coomey in admissions said admits are up recently for Freshman how much I don't know.  It would be so great if we could turn the corner on our enrollment!  Sorry getting off of AD talk.