Facilities Improvements - Misc

Athletics Department, Facilities, etc.
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ST_Lawson
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sealhall74 wrote: Wed Sep 19, 2018 2:19 pm I gotta question. Does the Athletics Department have an "Open House" during the year when anyone and everyone can tour the facilities. I would show up for that. Most of us alumni dont even know what we have now.
Not that I'm aware of, but you might be able to request a tour if you contact the athletics department.
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sealhall74 wrote: Wed Sep 19, 2018 2:19 pm I gotta question. Does the Athletics Department have an "Open House" during the year when anyone and everyone can tour the facilities. I would show up for that. Most of us alumni dont even know what we have now.
I went with my son to 4 visits to WIU son before he enrolled. 1 Camp, 2 Game day visits and his official visit. Never once have I seen anything but the locker room and the weight room. I think they show the locker room because it's new, and the weight room to prove they have one. They are not at all proud of the facilities, and rightly so. But I think you have a great point, most of the Alums prob don't realize how bad they are without seeing them. It may help spark some donations.
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ST_Lawson
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GV Dad wrote: Wed Sep 19, 2018 3:30 pm I went with my son to 4 visits to WIU son before he enrolled. 1 Camp, 2 Game day visits and his official visit. Never once have I seen anything but the locker room and the weight room. I think they show the locker room because it's new, and the weight room to prove they have one. They are not at all proud of the facilities, and rightly so. But I think you have a great point, most of the Alums prob don't realize how bad they are without seeing them. It may help spark some donations.
Might not be a bad idea.
Show the recruits the good stuff...show the alumni the ugly stuff to show them that we need their help.
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sealhall74
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ST_Lawson wrote: Wed Sep 19, 2018 3:40 pm
GV Dad wrote: Wed Sep 19, 2018 3:30 pm I went with my son to 4 visits to WIU son before he enrolled. 1 Camp, 2 Game day visits and his official visit. Never once have I seen anything but the locker room and the weight room. I think they show the locker room because it's new, and the weight room to prove they have one. They are not at all proud of the facilities, and rightly so. But I think you have a great point, most of the Alums prob don't realize how bad they are without seeing them. It may help spark some donations.
Might not be a bad idea.
Show the recruits the good stuff...show the alumni the ugly stuff to show them that we need their help.
Spring game day would be the ideal time to do it. Kind of hard to do on Homecoming with so much going on. ST, regarding the soccer moisture problems next to the Lamoine, I came across this article in the Courier/Star archives from back in 1974. I had to laugh when I read it. The state turned down a development project to make some very nice improvements in that area. Would it have solved the moisture problem, hard to tell but it would have been good for the university. Project included hiking trails, a lake, parking area. What a shame.

http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/c ... 1579/rec/7
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sealhall74 wrote: Wed Sep 19, 2018 3:51 pm Spring game day would be the ideal time to do it. Kind of hard to do on Homecoming with so much going on. ST, regarding the soccer moisture problems next to the Lamoine, I came across this article in the Courier/Star archives from back in 1974. I had to laugh when I read it. The state turned down a development project to make some very nice improvements in that area. Would it have solved the moisture problem, hard to tell but it would have been good for the university. Project included hiking trails, a lake, parking area. What a shame.

http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/c ... 1579/rec/7
Huh...interesting. That would have made my neighborhood a bit different too probably (I live pretty close to the river).

In the full master plan from back in 2013 (http://www.wiu.edu/vpas/fm/_documents/m ... Report.pdf) describes a "La Moine River Trail" bike/walking path that extends from campus down to the river, and along the banks to the other end of campus (pages 28-31).

In one of the maps, it also shows a creek running essentially from right behind the current soccer field down to the river. I don't claim to be an expert on these things, but if you're just redirecting rainwater from the field north to the creed and eventually the river, I don't think there'd be a ton of paperwork to deal with. I could be wrong though.

Just FYI, at some point this evening, I'll probably move the parts of this thread pertaining to facilities improvements and stuff over to a different thread. Great conversation, but it has very little to do with the Montana game at this point.
EDIT - went ahead and did it
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ST_Lawson wrote: Wed Sep 19, 2018 4:04 pm
sealhall74 wrote: Wed Sep 19, 2018 3:51 pm Spring game day would be the ideal time to do it. Kind of hard to do on Homecoming with so much going on. ST, regarding the soccer moisture problems next to the Lamoine, I came across this article in the Courier/Star archives from back in 1974. I had to laugh when I read it. The state turned down a development project to make some very nice improvements in that area. Would it have solved the moisture problem, hard to tell but it would have been good for the university. Project included hiking trails, a lake, parking area. What a shame.

http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/c ... 1579/rec/7
Huh...interesting. That would have made my neighborhood a bit different too probably (I live pretty close to the river).

In the full master plan from back in 2013 (http://www.wiu.edu/vpas/fm/_documents/m ... Report.pdf) describes a "La Moine River Trail" bike/walking path that extends from campus down to the river, and along the banks to the other end of campus (pages 28-31).

In one of the maps, it also shows a creek running essentially from right behind the current soccer field down to the river. I don't claim to be an expert on these things, but if you're just redirecting rainwater from the field north to the creed and eventually the river, I don't think there'd be a ton of paperwork to deal with. I could be wrong though.

Just FYI, at some point this evening, I'll probably move the parts of this thread pertaining to facilities improvements and stuff over to a different thread. Great conversation, but it has very little to do with the Montana game at this point.
EDIT - went ahead and did it
I try and stay off the boards other than the Football one. Way too many negative people over here, and my momma taught me if I didn't have anything nice to say then keep my mouth shut. Doesn't always work though, as this post is evidence of ;)
meganeck
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One thing that will hopefully help is Coach Elliott. With all the turnover in head coaches within the past 5 years hard to gain any momentum on or off. Elliott says he is here for the long haul, so hopefully he gets out and bangs the drum with Alumni, etc at the improvements the football program needs.
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GV Dad wrote: Wed Sep 19, 2018 4:45 pm I try and stay off the boards other than the Football one. Way too many negative people over here, and my momma taught me if I didn't have anything nice to say then keep my mouth shut. Doesn't always work though, as this post is evidence of ;)
I think most of the negative stuff (I assume you mean like state budget stuff and whatnot) stays pretty well contained to the Western News section, although there's some good stuff over there too, like renderings of what the new west side of Hanson Field could look like once we get the money together for it: viewtopic.php?p=13820#p13820

I spend quite a bit of time on other message boards (general FCS ones as well as school-specific ones) and ours is actually pretty positive most of the time, comparatively. I'd recommend steering clear of Youngstown State's and Indiana State's though. YSU has all kinds of issues right now and INSU has some good people there, but it's been a rough few years of football for them.
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meganeck wrote: Wed Sep 19, 2018 6:00 pm One thing that will hopefully help is Coach Elliott. With all the turnover in head coaches within the past 5 years hard to gain any momentum on or off. Elliott says he is here for the long haul, so hopefully he gets out and bangs the drum with Alumni, etc at the improvements the football program needs.
Totally agree. Let's hope they're all here for a while!
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Western_101
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Cut to the chase. Is this football /athletics building happening or is it not happening.

Why all the secrecy? In my mind secrecy means that it ain't happening.

Nothing is happening. I would bet my life and my the life of my family that nothing happens facilities wise at Western in the next 3 years. I would bet 20,000 dollars nothing happens in 10 years. If I win my bets I get some payoff, like firing people in state legislature.

Western's facilities are an embarrassment to WIU and to the MVFC/Summit. That is the cold stark truth.
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