1) congrats on the new turf in the kibbie dome...it looks great.

2) I've never been in it, I've only seen it on tv...but what's up with the plain white walls and white ceiling? Every time I see it I think "this ought to be painted". Whether it's a huge mural of the team's past and present stars or painting a blue Idaho sky to give the feeling you're actually outside has there ever been any push to (to quote Joe Dirt) "church it up" a little?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

How will the new turf affect basketball?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I dont think our admin has even thought about churching up the dome since the 80's they are not bright enough. And some of the older Vandals think of the thing as national landmark or something its pretty disturbing. Pretty much the only thing ever done to the ole barn is our current ad put $30 million dollar windows on the ends of it cementing us into a 40+ year old building instead of building a new stadium. As far as basketball i think we have 1 year left in the Cowan Spectrum but we are building a new arena.
http://www.opsisarch.com/blog/project/un...aho-arena/

What Lewy said. It actually looks considerably better on the inside than it used to, thanks to the relatively recent addition of big windows on the east and west walls. The downside -- those walls are what would need to be blown out in order to add capacity, and we just spent a bazillion dollars on windows and safety upgrades there. So it kinda locks us in.

As far as painting the ceiling/prettying the place up, that's just the sort of not-necessary but nice amenity that our administration just doesn't do.

I would be just fine with staying in the Kibbie Dome for quite a while longer if we just took the relatively inexpensive steps necessary to add about 5,000 more seats.

It'll be interesting to see what kind of crowds you guys get when playing the FCS teams in the region.

I know it has been discussed, but what is the local thought on the FCS choice??? Has there been much fight back???

I don't think there's been any urgency to do anything to the Dome since the last batch of renovations which basically just added windows and put in luxury seats that actually decreased capacity by about 1,000.

As to why nobody has thought of painting it up, I have two guesses.

1. It has never crossed the mind of anybody in our athletic department
or
2. They want it white to help brighten up the inside. Although if a mural were done right I don't think this would be an issue.

(08-07-2017 08:40 PM)Usajags Wrote:  It'll be interesting to see what kind of crowds you guys get when playing the FCS teams in the region.

I know it has been discussed, but what is the local thought on the FCS choice??? Has there been much fight back???

The people who actually go to games/spend money & time on Idaho football are overwhelmingly against the move down. It's hurt donations and season ticket sales and I'd expect attendance to take a pretty big hit next year. But unfortunately thanks to Idaho's higher ed governance structure there isn't a whole lot anyone can do to fight back. Barring a major scandal or some kind of crime university presidents in Idaho are pretty much never fired. And Chuck Staben appears to have zero regard for what anyone thinks. So unless he leaves on his own we're likely screwed.

Also, there's a group who are OK with the FCS move. These are folks who either hate athletics and like to see it taken down a peg, have a Boise-driven agenda, or remember the Big Sky "glory days" in the '80's and don't understand that the Big Sky ain't what it used to be and you can't go home again. Those people generally aren't involved in or give to the athletic department but they still hover around the university and make enough noise to give Staben at least a little cover.

You guys are in a tough spot, for sure. How the state leaders decided to let a JUCO outshine the state's flagship university is beyond me.

This season will hopefully be a lot of fun for you guys.

(08-07-2017 10:23 PM)Usajags Wrote:  You guys are in a tough spot, for sure. How the state leaders decided to let a JUCO outshine the state's flagship university is beyond me.

This season will hopefully be a lot of fun for you guys.

Absolutely zero disrespect meant to Idaho fans here so please don't take it this way...but I guess sometimes you just have to go with the hot hand...the team that's winning...that grabs the headlines.

Does anyone think 5-10 years from now Idaho will be used as a case study by other struggling programs as evidence that a step down is appropriate?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

(08-10-2017 09:50 AM)APPdiesel Wrote:  Does anyone think 5-10 years from now Idaho will be used as a case study by other struggling programs as evidence that a step down is appropriate?

To be fair we won't know for sure for a few years, but so far I'm not sure how anyone would view this as a positive. The dropdown hasn't even happened yet, but already enough donors and supporters have been alienated to the point where the school had to go to the State Board of Education for a bailout. Hard to see how anything will happen going forward other than a shrinking athletic department.

If you're someone whose main goal is to eventually eliminate a bunch of minor sports from your school and give fewer athletic scholarships, this is a great case study. But so far it's hard to see who's benefiting.