(02-18-2013 12:18 PM)uchoops Wrote:  UConn????? You kidding???? I think they are in a worse position than UC...

You're only kidding yourself if you think UC will be in the ACC before UConn, and they came from a lot farther back than UC did.

(02-18-2013 02:32 PM)chatcat Wrote:  You're only kidding yourself if you think UC will be in the ACC before UConn, and they came from a lot farther back than UC did.

UConn ticked a lot of people off in that league. But, it seems to me, from now on, the moves will happen in two. So, regardless if we are one and UConn two, or vice versa, we would both get in at the same time.

But, I generally agree that I haven't seen more than idle speculation that we have jumped in front of them.

(02-18-2013 12:29 PM)bearcatmill Wrote:  

(02-18-2013 11:17 AM)chatcat Wrote:  

(02-18-2013 10:18 AM)bearcatfan Wrote:  

(02-18-2013 09:47 AM)subflea Wrote:  

(02-18-2013 09:36 AM)Vewb1 Wrote:  I agree that we need to get going with the stadium updates. I got a call a month ago and was told in two weeks they would get back to me with specifics. So far nothing. Kentucky is making 125 million dollar improvements selling bonds. Not sure why we don't improve seating and increase capacity as well as luxary boxes. We need to go 50K or more.

We aren't going to 50k seats for a few reasons. First, there isn't room to add 15k seats. Second, a project of that size would make for an unrealistic fundraising goal. Third is that the money generated by general seating does not justify the cost of construction. Why add seating if you will lose money building it?

Quote:It's like no one is guiding the ship up there. Women's basketball 1-11 in the Big East and the coach just signed a five year deal, track and field did not have one medal winner in recent indoors, baseball is set to start another horrific season, soccer hired a new womens' no name coach with average creditials, volleyball is awful. We just recently hired a mens' Golf coach. We had one woman doing both men and womens' Golf for a long time. Poor results followed. I just want to know, where the H - - - is this athletic program going? Nowhere??? No one in this program has any vision or is concerned about what is going on in the national landscape. We need to put money into recruiting and coaching. All of our coaches except football and basketball are marginal at best. I hope Dr. Ono understands that running an athletic department is much different than running around tweeting and hoping for something to happen. Take a look at Louisivlle. They are ranked in football, basketball, softball, womens' basketball, baseball and womens' volleyball. Probably a couple I forgot too.

Hard to win in track when you have no scholarships available for your student athletes. They have done surprisingly well the last few years considering they are not giving out any money for scholarships. BTW, you are wrong about results. The women's pole vault winner was a Bearcat. As far as putting money into recruiting and coaching for those other sports, where do you think they should make cuts to improve those things? Your comments make it look like you think there is cash overflowing in our athletic department and they are choosing not to spend it. You can't put money you don't have into sports that generate no revenue. That is why our focus is rightly on revenue generating seating in Nippert.

Years of neglect in the A.D., glaring mistakes by previous athletic administrations, lack of vision, lack of donors, lack of support - all have contributed to put UC in the situation they are in. And it's why they appear to have been left out of the major conferences.

All they can do now is try to fight an uphill battle to raise money and improve, try to remain competitive in the major sports, and hope they eventually will get a place at the adult table.

But I agree with vewb1 - all the tweets and comments from President Ono mean nothing without something to back them up. It's nice that an upgrade to Nippert has been anounced but who knows how long it will be until it actually happens?

And he is also correct that overall athletics at UC are average at best.

All we can do is support them - I'll continue to get football season tickets and go to some basketball games. But the university needs to do its part as well.

Spot on. UC is in the unenviable position of being in noman's land in college athletics, not quite big time and not quite MAC. Think about how many schools have gotten out of this position in the last 20 years; Louisville, UConn, Boise(?); ...; the list isn't very long. It's very difficult to get out and I'm not optimistic about UC's chances.

I take a slightly different view in that I'm extremely optimistic of UC's chances. UC has shown with meager resources it can compete at the highest of levels. UC football is still on an upward trajectory. Even though I am currently disappointed with UC bball's performance as of late, they are back to being competitive and on the national scene. Our Volleyball was doing extremely well, until our former coach resigned. In the past we have had olympic caliber individuals from swimming and track. Our academics and research are top notch and only getting better.

The University just completed a Billion Dollar fundraising campaign, which puts it in the top 3% for fundraising among universities. The local region has the economic resources to help fund this institution. The alumni base is here. I have a feeling UC is a sleeping giant. We just need a catalyst to bring it all together. Local ecomonic support coupled with individual fan support equals reaching heights never seen before.

Now more than ever, us as a fan/alumni base need to get the word out. The local area needs to promote it's crowning jewel. A strong US strengthens the local area in numerous ways.

The bolded part is extremely important and true. I smdh everytime I hear someone from Cincinnati break their neck to craps all over UC. Even if they did not go to school there (and many of those taking a turd did), it is like pissing on your own house. The university is in their backyard and any negative ramifications affect their local community. A vibrant UC makes their surrounding better. Schools like OSU and UK are in different cities and their success is nice for Columbus and Lexington, but does not do a whole lot of good for some guy who lives in Fairfield, Mason or Hamilton.

(02-18-2013 02:32 PM)chatcat Wrote:  

(02-18-2013 12:18 PM)uchoops Wrote:  UConn????? You kidding???? I think they are in a worse position than UC...

You're only kidding yourself if you think UC will be in the ACC before UConn, and they came from a lot farther back than UC did.

I guess we will see where everyone lands...UC football much stronger than UConn.......more name recognition......UConn b-ball will suffer without Calhoun...currently on probation...I'm just hoping we land in a solid conference...

(02-18-2013 09:47 AM)subflea Wrote:  

(02-18-2013 09:36 AM)Vewb1 Wrote:  I agree that we need to get going with the stadium updates. I got a call a month ago and was told in two weeks they would get back to me with specifics. So far nothing. Kentucky is making 125 million dollar improvements selling bonds. Not sure why we don't improve seating and increase capacity as well as luxary boxes. We need to go 50K or more.

We aren't going to 50k seats for a few reasons. First, there isn't room to add 15k seats. Second, a project of that size would make for an unrealistic fundraising goal. Third is that the money generated by general seating does not justify the cost of construction. Why add seating if you will lose money building it?

Quote:It's like no one is guiding the ship up there. Women's basketball 1-11 in the Big East and the coach just signed a five year deal, track and field did not have one medal winner in recent indoors, baseball is set to start another horrific season, soccer hired a new womens' no name coach with average creditials, volleyball is awful. We just recently hired a mens' Golf coach. We had one woman doing both men and womens' Golf for a long time. Poor results followed. I just want to know, where the H - - - is this athletic program going? Nowhere??? No one in this program has any vision or is concerned about what is going on in the national landscape. We need to put money into recruiting and coaching. All of our coaches except football and basketball are marginal at best. I hope Dr. Ono understands that running an athletic department is much different than running around tweeting and hoping for something to happen. Take a look at Louisivlle. They are ranked in football, basketball, softball, womens' basketball, baseball and womens' volleyball. Probably a couple I forgot too.

Hard to win in track when you have no scholarships available for your student athletes. They have done surprisingly well the last few years considering they are not giving out any money for scholarships. BTW, you are wrong about results. The women's pole vault winner was a Bearcat. As far as putting money into recruiting and coaching for those other sports, where do you think they should make cuts to improve those things? Your comments make it look like you think there is cash overflowing in our athletic department and they are choosing not to spend it. You can't put money you don't have into sports that generate no revenue. That is why our focus is rightly on revenue generating seating in Nippert.

Subflea:

I wish I had your knowledge. Indeed, I must take a bow to you. I think your promotion to moderator has gone to your head.

First of all, I suppose if that's the track team you wish to accept, it would be best if you step back into a mediocore athletic department. If you want your school to keep taking it where the sun does not shine, then yes your correct.

Secondly, how the H- - - do you know if there is room for 15K or not? Have you looked at the drawings, are you connected at the athletic department in which they wait to make decisions based on your comments? Of course not. There's plenty of room. The current proposal will add about 5000 seats, that means 15000-5000 = 10000. Do you understand that? Now we only need to add 10K in seating. Babcock has already stated that additional bleachers could be installed at the west end of the stadium from the endzone over on both sides of the current press box (which the new area would be higher and slightly wider). In addition, more seats on the east side of Smidlap and wella, we can get an additional 10K easy. Why do I think that's important? Because if another league can look at 50K when proposing our program to the ACC or Big 12, 50K looks much better than 42K. Agree???? Kentucky is adding 125 million in updates through bonds. Why does UC insist the money must be ALL private? Why can't UC do both and do what we need in the first place rather than settle for a half baked plan that ultimately gets us nowhere? We just raised a billion, why do you think additional dollars can't be raised. It's guys like you that send NOTHING to the athletic department on a regular basis.

In terms of the scholarships and track and field and other programs, of course there is limited funds. We had one winner in dozens of events many of which we did not even finish in the top 10. Of course there is limited revenue and of course I understand some of the problems associated with the athletic department. My frustration is we settle for average coaches and fail to give them recruiting budgets that are comparable with other schools. Soccer was 1-10 last year in the league, baseball was ridiculous, mens' soccer was average at best, volleyball was way off the mark as I stated earlier. We can't worry about wheather such sports produce revenue. Some do and some don't. Those that do, we try to enhance, those that do not, we improve as best we can to earn dollars every step of the way. In order to make more money available, we need to get more out of parking, more out of concessions, more out of advertising and naming rights. Why doesn't Nippert have naming rights applied to it? WHAT THE H - - - IS THE PROBLEM. HOW MANY YEARS IS IT GONNA TAKE FOR THE ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT TO SELL NAMING RIGHTS FOR NIPPERT?????? My guess is the Nippert Family doesn't want it. My god, there is alot of money out there. I see the same old tired sponsers and their tired pitches all the time. It tells me the AD is DOING NEXT TO NOTHING TO DRAW MORE SPONSERS AND ENHANCE REVENUE.

We have very poor custormer service at many events. It's a wonder anyone buys tickets or returns to events. At these events (many of which you most likely do not support) for which we spent millions in fields and update, we serve lousy food and drinks and give away tickets. The baseball team has season tickets at 10 dollars for the entire season. It's ridiculous. Now look at promotion. Few of the events and sports are promoted at all. Radio shows talk about our programs as if they are dirt. There is no public relations at UC. No one comments on anything written or spoken to change or reflect the current status despite constant comments and words in local media. Honestly, how hard is it to run a crediable cross country program. We have local runners leaving quicker than they arrived. What, 10 uniforms and scholarships? The money is there. UC nickels and dimes everything they do. They've been doing it for 35 years. I went to the stupid meet and greet last week with the basketball program for tier 1 donors. No of course you don't know because your too cheap to donate anything. So put your money where your mouth is. That would be nowhere. I donate more money than anyone on this board. The reason I know that is because my post two weeks ago about the tier 1 meeting had one comment. So of course you didn't go because you weren't invited. They served chicken tenders, some type of bean dip that nobody ate and meatballs the size of pool balls on very, very small plates and water. I'm sure every donor went away with a smile. Most probably said what the h - - - is this?

The bottom line is that UC is not playing with the big boys because the athletic department is a penny pinching group of fools with small aspirations. The UC athletic department tried to pull one over the eyes of the ACC leaders, many of which were way too smart and understand that UC is not supporting it's athletics and pinches pennies every chance it gets. Many in the stands that do attend don't understand they should try to support the sponsers. Look at what they serve the press corp. Second rate food and drink ALL the TIME. Other sponsers have split because UC tried to hit them up for too much money.. See LaRosa's. Many of the upper level UC managers are looking for better gigs everyday of the week. How many GOD - - - - schools can brag they have graffiti all over their athletic fields? UC. How much money and funding do we need to remove the graffitti or serve a hot dog that has not been reheated 4x or clean the gum off a seat so supporters don't sit in it, or serve food from concessions as if they want to make the customer happy. That takes nearly nothing. So subflea, from what I can tell your not always right. Don't act like you know everything.

My biggest concern on the ACC front would be Navy. If ACC loses two, they could add Navy to give 14 all around. Navy gives them back some of the Maryland/Northern Virginia/DC market too.

Back to UC scheduling. No FCS games. Miami, Louisville, Ohio MAC School, Name team, 8 conference games. If UC moves to a power conference that would change things. 6 home games every season. Name team= power conference school/upper level Mountain West school and BYU.

Lol gawd u people are writing novel length posts now...

Nothing says "I am a pompous prick" like throwing around how much money you donate. Newsflash unless you're donating 1+ Million your contribution doesn't mean much more than anyone else's donation. So enjoy you're awesome dinners and great life in tier one. Sounds like you're having a great time rooting for UC.

(02-18-2013 03:36 PM)Vewb1 Wrote:  Subflea:

I wish I had your knowledge. Indeed, I must take a bow to you. I think your promotion to moderator has gone to your head.

First of all, I suppose if that's the track team you wish to accept, it would be best if you step back into a mediocore athletic department. If you want your school to keep taking it where the sun does not shine, then yes your correct.

Secondly, how the H- - - do you know if there is room for 15K or not? Have you looked at the drawings, are you connected at the athletic department in which they wait to make decisions based on your comments? Of course not. There's plenty of room. The current proposal will add about 5000 seats, that means 15000-5000 = 10000. Do you understand that? Now we only need to add 10K in seating. Babcock has already stated that additional bleachers could be installed at the west end of the stadium from the endzone over on both sides of the current press box (which the new area would be higher and slightly wider). In addition, more seats on the east side of Smidlap and wella, we can get an additional 10K easy. Why do I think that's important? Because if another league can look at 50K when proposing our program to the ACC or Big 12, 50K looks much better than 42K. Agree???? Kentucky is adding 125 million in updates through bonds. Why does UC insist the money must be ALL private? Why can't UC do both and do what we need in the first place rather than settle for a half baked plan that ultimately gets us nowhere? We just raised a billion, why do you think additional dollars can't be raised. It's guys like you that send NOTHING to the athletic department on a regular basis.

In terms of the scholarships and track and field and other programs, of course there is limited funds. We had one winner in dozens of events many of which we did not even finish in the top 10. Of course there is limited revenue and of course I understand some of the problems associated with the athletic department. My frustration is we settle for average coaches and fail to give them recruiting budgets that are comparable with other schools. Soccer was 1-10 last year in the league, baseball was ridiculous, mens' soccer was average at best, volleyball was way off the mark as I stated earlier. We can't worry about wheather such sports produce revenue. Some do and some don't. Those that do, we try to enhance, those that do not, we improve as best we can to earn dollars every step of the way. In order to make more money available, we need to get more out of parking, more out of concessions, more out of advertising and naming rights. Why doesn't Nippert have naming rights applied to it? WHAT THE H - - - IS THE PROBLEM. HOW MANY YEARS IS IT GONNA TAKE FOR THE ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT TO SELL NAMING RIGHTS FOR NIPPERT?????? My guess is the Nippert Family doesn't want it. My god, there is alot of money out there. I see the same old tired sponsers and their tired pitches all the time. It tells me the AD is DOING NEXT TO NOTHING TO DRAW MORE SPONSERS AND ENHANCE REVENUE.

We have very poor custormer service at many events. It's a wonder anyone buys tickets or returns to events. At these events (many of which you most likely do not support) for which we spent millions in fields and update, we serve lousy food and drinks and give away tickets. The baseball team has season tickets at 10 dollars for the entire season. It's ridiculous. Now look at promotion. Few of the events and sports are promoted at all. Radio shows talk about our programs as if they are dirt. There is no public relations at UC. No one comments on anything written or spoken to change or reflect the current status despite constant comments and words in local media. Honestly, how hard is it to run a crediable cross country program. We have local runners leaving quicker than they arrived. What, 10 uniforms and scholarships? The money is there. UC nickels and dimes everything they do. They've been doing it for 35 years. I went to the stupid meet and greet last week with the basketball program for tier 1 donors. No of course you don't know because your too cheap to donate anything. So put your money where your mouth is. That would be nowhere. I donate more money than anyone on this board. The reason I know that is because my post two weeks ago about the tier 1 meeting had one comment. So of course you didn't go because you weren't invited. They served chicken tenders, some type of bean dip that nobody ate and meatballs the size of pool balls on very, very small plates and water. I'm sure every donor went away with a smile. Most probably said what the h - - - is this?

The bottom line is that UC is not playing with the big boys because the athletic department is a penny pinching group of fools with small aspirations. The UC athletic department tried to pull one over the eyes of the ACC leaders, many of which were way too smart and understand that UC is not supporting it's athletics and pinches pennies every chance it gets. Many in the stands that do attend don't understand they should try to support the sponsers. Look at what they serve the press corp. Second rate food and drink ALL the TIME. Other sponsers have split because UC tried to hit them up for too much money.. See LaRosa's. Many of the upper level UC managers are looking for better gigs everyday of the week. How many GOD - - - - schools can brag they have graffiti all over their athletic fields? UC. How much money and funding do we need to remove the graffitti or serve a hot dog that has not been reheated 4x or clean the gum off a seat so supporters don't sit in it, or serve food from concessions as if they want to make the customer happy. That takes nearly nothing. So subflea, from what I can tell your not always right. Don't act like you know everything.

Here's a helpful hint; you're barking up the wrong tree. Sub supports more sports than most on here (revenue & non-revenue). Now go play in traffic.

It's never to late to change your approach to your business model. Here are a few marking suggestions for the Athletic Administration. Using the money from departing schools you can begin the process of recreating the image of UC
1. Negotiate a new radio contract with WLW making UC preferred over the Bengals and of course Xavier. The Bengals all ready have WCKY as primary. UC should be able to bump Louisville off of WSAI as there back up station.
2. Create a Bearcat network in cities with in 100 miles of Cincinnati. Even if you have to buy radio time in some markets like Indianapolis, Louisville, Lexington and stations in central Ohio.
3. Pressure UC suppliers of goods and services to sponsor UC programing in the area and network station.
4. Create a deal with XM radio to carry all UC games and coaches shows on one of there many channels. This will allow UC alumni all over the US to hear bearcat sports. This could increase the fan base.
It's time to try something bold to move the meter. Doing business as usual is not working. UC needs to show case the program.
5. To get certain teams to play UC it will be necessary to do a 3 for 2 deal.
Oh and it would really help if UC would beat Ohio State in Columbus in 2014.

These are just a few ideas

(02-18-2013 04:24 PM)kyucat Wrote:  It's never to late to change your approach to your business model. Here are a few marking suggestions for the Athletic Administration. Using the money from departing schools you can begin the process of recreating the image of UC
1. Negotiate a new radio contract with WLW making UC preferred over the Bengals and of course Xavier. The Bengals all ready have WCKY as primary. UC should be able to bump Louisville off of WSAI as there back up station.
2. Create a Bearcat network in cities with in 100 miles of Cincinnati. Even if you have to buy radio time in some markets like Indianapolis, Louisville, Lexington and stations in central Ohio.
3. Pressure UC suppliers of goods and services to sponsor UC programing in the area and network station.
4. Create a deal with XM radio to carry all UC games and coaches shows on one of there many channels. This will allow UC alumni all over the US to hear bearcat sports. This could increase the fan base.
It's time to try something bold to move the meter. Doing business as usual is not working. UC needs to show case the program.
5. To get certain teams to play UC it will be necessary to do a 3 for 2 deal.
Oh and it would really help if UC would beat Ohio State in Columbus in 2014.

These are just a few ideas

1. Will never happen. The Bengals and Reds' fan bases and desire for coverage is about a billion times larger compared to UC's fan base.
2. Wasteful.
3. How exactly is UC going to apply pressure? Businesses don't bow down to pressure, they care about the bottom line.
4. Have never had XM radio, so I'm just going to ignore that one.
5. I can guarantee you it's going to take more than a 3 for 2 deal to get a number of college football teams into Nippert. A lot more.

(02-18-2013 04:17 PM)JPBearcat3 Wrote:  Here's a helpful hint; you're barking up the wrong tree. Sub supports more sports than most on here (revenue & non-revenue). Now go play in traffic.

Thanks.

I guess since I don't have tier 1 money to throw around I know nothing about our athletic department.

I do guarantee that I have been to more UC sporting events than he has over the last 4 years.

The fact that he asked why naming rights for Nippert have not been sold tells me everything I need to know about his knowledge level since that topic has been discussed about 100 times.

I still think UC needs to expand it's regional and national coverage some how some way. The radio network idea is just one way. Louisville did it and now they are heard in Cincinnati throughout Kentucky on small radio stations. I don't see why UC can't at least try.
At least try for a 3 for 2 schedule split.
The status Quo is not working.
Just redoing Nippert is not enough to change perception.
New ideas are needed now more then ever.

(02-19-2013 07:13 AM)kyucat Wrote:  I still think UC needs to expand it's regional and national coverage some how some way. The radio network idea is just one way. Louisville did it and now they are heard in Cincinnati throughout Kentucky on small radio stations. I don't see why UC can't at least try.
At least try for a 3 for 2 schedule split.
The status Quo is not working.
Just redoing Nippert is not enough to change perception.
New ideas are needed now more then ever.

I agree with this. UC needs to push to have more coverage for its programs both locally and throughout the tri-state.

(02-19-2013 09:37 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(02-19-2013 07:13 AM)kyucat Wrote:  I still think UC needs to expand it's regional and national coverage some how some way. The radio network idea is just one way. Louisville did it and now they are heard in Cincinnati throughout Kentucky on small radio stations. I don't see why UC can't at least try.
At least try for a 3 for 2 schedule split.
The status Quo is not working.
Just redoing Nippert is not enough to change perception.
New ideas are needed now more then ever.

I agree with this. UC needs to push to have more coverage for its programs both locally and throughout the tri-state.

Excellent idea. It's worked well for both Loserville and UK. Gives the athletics dept and school the ability to get into more homes and pick up more casual fans.

I also liked the xm radio idea. There has been many times we have been in an area where xm would have helped. However, I have a feeling this is something that would be restricted/negotiated on a conf level. I could be wrong though.

I think number one would be to revamp our media dept. On Friday, Whit explained they communicate with the local media regarding UC stories/events, however those outlets control their content. I would like UC to apply more pressure. I would like to see more alums/viewers apply pressure too.