Many posters seem to be advocating for Rice to drop football... Please state your position in this thread.

This assumes that Bailiff is fired at the end of this season.

Keep and fund the damn thing properly.

(10-12-2017 04:01 PM)d1owls4life Wrote:  Keep and fund the damn thing properly.

+1000....and get a new coach who will properly leverage the intelligence of our student-athletes and not tolerate losing.

Drop. Attendance is embarrassing, bottom-feeder conference, no academic peers in said conference, admission statistics would go up, saved money could be utilized in other sports, no redeeming qualities in sustaining a football program (spare me nostalgia), likely supported by majority of alumni, etc...

I vote drop. With our near zero revenue and for sure zero revenue potential, its over. We missed the chance a decade ago to invest and try to climb like TCU or even UH.

Our TV contract pays us 200 thousand dollars PER YEAR. As we shift away from TV contracts into the PPV and online view, that number will drop even further. There is no market, no potential market anymore.

Drop football, start mens soccer.

To those voting keep - this is similar to the astrodome proposals. A relic of the past, nostalgic value. People wan't it, but don't want to pay for it. Would you continue to run a cafe that gets panned in the news where your head chef makes 4 times your annual revenue?

(10-12-2017 03:53 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Many posters seem to be advocating for Rice to drop football... Please state your position in this thread.

This assumes that Bailiff is fired at the end of this season.

We are basically back where we were in 2005 (albeit with a substantially worse conference home). Some wanted to drop football in the waning years of Hatfield, and we all saw what happened when a new coach with some energy and drive breathed life back into the program. But yet again we have allowed a coach to overstay his welcome and drive the program into the ground. We need a new coaching staff, desperately. So, if Bailiff is fired, keep.

Either try - devote $ to facilities and coaches - or quit. We've proven that if you don't make an effort to be competitive with the rest of the world, you can drop to the bottom of the food chain. As it is, football is an embarrassment to the university. It should be an example of what Rice can do, not what happens when you strive to be mediocre.

(10-12-2017 04:07 PM)Antarius Wrote:  I vote drop. With our near zero revenue and for sure zero revenue potential, its over. We missed the chance a decade ago to invest and try to climb like TCU or even UH.

Our TV contract pays us 200 thousand dollars PER YEAR. As we shift away from TV contracts into the PPV and online view, that number will drop even further. There is no market, no potential market anymore.

Drop football, start mens soccer.

To those voting keep - this is similar to the astrodome proposals. A relic of the past, nostalgic value. People wan't it, but don't want to pay for it. Would you continue to run a cafe that gets panned in the news where your head chef makes 4 times your annual revenue?

I think there is one opportunity left on the horizon to improve our lot, but if we want to seize it, now is the time. The Big 12 TV deal ends in 2024-25. From what has been written by those in the know, this more than likely will signal the end of the Big 12. OU and UT want greener pastures. I'm not saying we end up with the remnants, but there will probably be some shifting that would open the door to improvement of our situation.

Do I like our chances of doing what we need to do for this? Hell no. But I'm not ready to throw in the towel when there is an opportunity out there.

(10-12-2017 04:12 PM)DrMac Wrote:  Either try - devote $ to facilities and coaches - or quit. We've proven that if you don't make an effort to be competitive with the rest of the world, you can drop to the bottom of the food chain. As it is, football is an embarrassment to the university. It should be an example of what Rice can do, not what happens when you strive to be mediocre.

Money has been devoted to facilities. They aren't perfect but they are a hell of a lot better than those of many of conference mates...who will beat us on the field despite this. Money now needs to be devoted to get some competent coaches. If that can't be done, sadly I agree, shut it down.

Keep the program, find a good coach. While not ideal, I can happily live with a Rice football program that is consistently successful within even the current iteration of CUSA. I think all we need is a good coach. A bigger recruiting and assistant coach budget would help as well. It well may be too late to get Rice to a P5 conference, but that is not the determining factor for me.

Keep ONLY if we're going to make a massive, all-hands-on-deck, TCU-style investment campaign to make it back to P5. Double the subsidy and set a 10-year drop dead date. If we make it back, the investment will easily be repaid by P5 revenues. As part of this campaign, go independent, play anyone, anytime, anywhere, and make at least half the schedule teams people have actually heard of and would want to see. Set an ambitious goal and bet on everyone associated with Rice --players, coaches, students, alums -- to rise to the challenge

But if all we're going to do is stick around in G5 football, who cares about trying to win a tallest midget contest? And even that would be an almost impossible best case scenario. Far more likely that we just oscillate around .500 in perpetuity. G5 football, especially in CUSA, has pretty obviously been rejected by this community. In that case, drop football but keep the subsidy at the same level, add more sports, and try the University of Denver approach of becoming nationally competitive in all of them.

That's what I think SHOULD happen. Here's what I think WILL happen, given the Rice I have come to know over the last 30 years: Football is kept, a new coach is hired, no fundamental changes are made, win some lose some, crowds stay negligible, lather, rinse, and repeat.

Fix it (fast and right) or can it (fast).

Same as Illini and ranger

I voted to drop, only because I had no confidence in the BOT to fix it the right way.

(10-12-2017 05:00 PM)illiniowl Wrote:  As part of this campaign, go independent, play anyone, anytime, anywhere, and make at least half the schedule teams people have actually heard of and would want to see.

But, but we did so well against Wagner!

I think it is fascinating to see that nearly 30% of the itsy bitsy minority that are Rice Athletics fans (compared to the general alumni population) are voting to drop. Poll the wider Rice community and you'd see a much higher number. Poll the wider sports community, and most would ask "what division is Rice is again?"

Once the switch occurs away from TV contracts and to on demand streaming (its happening way faster than anyone expected) we'd be lucky to see even a tenth of that abysmal TV contract we have now. What game was it - Rice vs F_U (or was it UTEP) that was on facebook... the average logged in users was in the ballpark of one hundred. HUNDRED.

Its time for Rice to take initiative and walk away. It is no longer fiscally responsible or acceptable to keep throwing money and something with zero ROI.

(10-12-2017 06:09 PM)Antarius Wrote:  I think it is fascinating to see that nearly 30% of the itsy bitsy minority that are Rice Athletics fans (compared to the general alumni population) are voting to drop. Poll the wider Rice community and you'd see a much higher number. Poll the wider sports community, and most would ask "what division is Rice is again?"

Once the switch occurs away from TV contracts and to on demand streaming (its happening way faster than anyone expected) we'd be lucky to see even a tenth of that abysmal TV contract we have now. What game was it - Rice vs F_U (or was it UTEP) that was on facebook... the average logged in users was in the ballpark of one hundred. HUNDRED.

Its time for Rice to take initiative and walk away. It is no longer fiscally responsible or acceptable to keep throwing money and something with zero ROI.

To be fair, it was ~1000

Maybe the Twitter game was lower, can't remember

(10-12-2017 06:09 PM)Antarius Wrote:  I think it is fascinating to see that nearly 30% of the itsy bitsy minority that are Rice Athletics fans (compared to the general alumni population) are voting to drop. Poll the wider Rice community and you'd see a much higher number. Poll the wider sports community, and most would ask "what division is Rice is again?"

Once the switch occurs away from TV contracts and to on demand streaming (its happening way faster than anyone expected) we'd be lucky to see even a tenth of that abysmal TV contract we have now. What game was it - Rice vs F_U (or was it UTEP) that was on facebook... the average logged in users was in the ballpark of one hundred. HUNDRED.

Its time for Rice to take initiative and walk away. It is no longer fiscally responsible or acceptable to keep throwing money and something with zero ROI.

How much have football alumni given to Rice, compared to the average student? I think that would need to factor into any ROI discussion and I am curious if such statistics are kept by Rice.

(10-12-2017 05:00 PM)illiniowl Wrote:  Here's what I think WILL happen, given the Rice I have come to know over the last 30 years: Football is kept, a new coach is hired, no fundamental changes are made, win some lose some, crowds stay negligible, lather, rinse, and repeat.

That's what I have been saying for ten years, and all it got me was a label as a bailiff defender.

But maybe all we need is a coach who doesn't clap his hands, or whatever the problem with bailiff du jour is. I'm willing to try.

I voted to keep football. Simple reason - I was not raised to be a quitter, and will not give up until it is demonstrably hopeless. I'm the guy you want giving you CPR.

Right Fight Never Die.

(10-12-2017 06:14 PM)mrbig Wrote:  

(10-12-2017 06:09 PM)Antarius Wrote:  I think it is fascinating to see that nearly 30% of the itsy bitsy minority that are Rice Athletics fans (compared to the general alumni population) are voting to drop. Poll the wider Rice community and you'd see a much higher number. Poll the wider sports community, and most would ask "what division is Rice is again?"

Once the switch occurs away from TV contracts and to on demand streaming (its happening way faster than anyone expected) we'd be lucky to see even a tenth of that abysmal TV contract we have now. What game was it - Rice vs F_U (or was it UTEP) that was on facebook... the average logged in users was in the ballpark of one hundred. HUNDRED.

Its time for Rice to take initiative and walk away. It is no longer fiscally responsible or acceptable to keep throwing money and something with zero ROI.

How much have football alumni given to Rice, compared to the average student? I think that would need to factor into any ROI discussion and I am curious if such statistics are kept by Rice.

The delta also has to factor in the cost of the program. With the stated estimated subsidy, we have blown through an astonishing quarter billion dollars (or whereabouts) in the last 15 or so years.

I'd be hard pressed to believe that football alums (which are what, 20 per year) have contributed more than the remainder of the school + a quarter billion. that said, if they do - then we definitely need to keep the program.