CSNbbs

(07-22-2013 01:36 PM)ODUalum78 Wrote: [ -> ]I watched the Norfolk Neptunes at Foreman Field.
I went to Oyster bowls.
I was part of four Granby/Maury high school games.
Sentimental to be sure.

Look, ODU had Colonial architecture when it was the W&M extension. ODU moved away from that decades ago, indeed before I attended in the '70s.

Foreman Field (and Rollins Hall) are relics of a bygone era. It is time to move forward.

Foreman Field is old, inefficient, and obsolete.
Like it or not, ODU has taken a different architectural path, and our stadium should reflect this.

It is definately time to Move Foward. Im with you 78.

(07-22-2013 01:36 PM)ODUalum78 Wrote: [ -> ]I watched the Norfolk Neptunes at Foreman Field.
I went to Oyster bowls.
I was part of four Granby/Maury high school games.
Sentimental to be sure.

Look, ODU had Colonial architecture when it was the W&M extension. ODU moved away from that decades ago, indeed before I attended in the '70s.

Foreman Field (and Rollins Hall) are relics of a bygone era. It is time to move forward.

Foreman Field is old, inefficient, and obsolete.
Like it or not, ODU has taken a different architectural path, and our stadium should reflect this.

I’m looking at it more financially now with the added benefit of preserving sentiment. Any money ODU saves in expanding Foreman Field versus building new can be invested elsewhere on campus. Saving $15-$20 million on the cost of a stadium nowadays doesn’t seem like a lot, but that’s a new chemistry building or a new dorm complex. Expansion on the current site also saves from having to buy more land or demolish existing buildings on/around campus; and we all know space is at a premium nowadays with all the headaches ODU has had in expanding in the past by using eminent domain.

Do we get the SB Ballard discount!?!

U get more federal dollars if u remodel then build new. Not sure how.

OK, tonight's Coaches Caravan included a talk by Dr Selig about the Master plan in general and some vague references about Foreman Field. I think he said that the first (rough) draft will be released August 19

A few of things stood out to me.
1. As we figured, most new construction will be vertical. Tailgating in the future will likely be on parking deck top levels, roofs, and Kaufman Mall
2. The Larchmont Elementary property is still being discussed.
3. Possibly the first wave of stadium expansion could be to go just to 25,000-30,000
4. A 70,000 seat stadium is probably never going to be an option.

Smitty and PaintedBlue were there as well, so hopefully they will add their respective takes or correct mine.

(07-22-2013 10:11 PM)ODUalum78 Wrote: [ -> ]OK, tonight's Coaches Caravan included a talk by Dr Selig about the Master plan in general and some vague references about Foreman Field. I think he said that the first (rough) draft will be released August 19

A few of things stood out to me.
1. As we figured, most new construction will be vertical. Tailgating in the future will likely be on parking deck top levels, roofs, and Kaufman Mall
2. The Larchmont Elementary property is still being discussed.
3. Possibly the first wave of stadium expansion could be to go just to 25,000-30,000
4. A 70,000 seat stadium is probably never going to be an option.

Smitty and PaintedBlue were there as well, so hopefully they will add their respective takes or correct mine.

I posted my impressions on the Coaches Caravan thread. I will repeat here that comments by both WS and Barry Kornblau led me to believe that the stadium upgrade will be new construction as both said it will be a first class structure from the ground-up. That pretty much precludes use of the old stadium IMO.

BTW, the BOV will be briefed about the master plan on Aug. 19, so we will be hearing more specifics in less than a month.

VERY impressed with Jeff Jones this evening. He was engaging, well-spoken, and humerous.

Our challenges to overcome the evils of previous days remain onerous. We REALLY need to sign a big man. And this need is immediate, as in for this year.

JJ talked openly and candidly about where we are. I have grown more excited about his tenure as I have gotten to know him.

(07-22-2013 10:11 PM)ODUalum78 Wrote: [ -> ]A few of things stood out to me.
1. As we figured, most new construction will be vertical. Tailgating in the future will likely be on parking deck top levels, roofs, and Kaufman Mall
2. The Larchmont Elementary property is still being discussed.
3. Possibly the first wave of stadium expansion could be to go just to 25,000-30,000
4. A 70,000 seat stadium is probably never going to be an option.

Did they mention a 100,00 seat stadium option?

(07-22-2013 11:48 PM)ODUsmitty Wrote: [ -> ]VERY impressed with Jeff Jones this evening. He was engaging, well-spoken, and humerous.

Our challenges to overcome the evils of previous days remain onerous. We REALLY need to sign a big man. And this need is immediate, as in for this year.

JJ talked openly and candidly about where we are. I have grown more excited about his tenure as I have gotten to know him.

To be fair, very few d-1 college basketball coaches are NOT engaging well spoken and humorous.

Blaine was all of those things as well........hopefully jones is of a higher moral standard though.

As for the stadium, if we only go to 30k, I will be extremely disappointed.......but not surprised.

(07-23-2013 02:20 AM)Razor Ramon Monarch Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-22-2013 11:48 PM)ODUsmitty Wrote: [ -> ]VERY impressed with Jeff Jones this evening. He was engaging, well-spoken, and humerous.

Our challenges to overcome the evils of previous days remain onerous. We REALLY need to sign a big man. And this need is immediate, as in for this year.

JJ talked openly and candidly about where we are. I have grown more excited about his tenure as I have gotten to know him.

To be fair, very few d-1 college basketball coaches are NOT engaging well spoken and humorous.

Blaine was all of those things as well........hopefully jones is of a higher moral standard though.

As for the stadium, if we only go to 30k, I will be extremely disappointed.......but not surprised.

Did JJ give any indication that we may have a big man or anyone interested in coming in this year to help fill out our roster. We need bodies,preferably big bodies.

(07-22-2013 10:11 PM)ODUalum78 Wrote: [ -> ]OK, tonight's Coaches Caravan included a talk by Dr Selig about the Master plan in general and some vague references about Foreman Field. I think he said that the first (rough) draft will be released August 19

A few of things stood out to me.
1. As we figured, most new construction will be vertical. Tailgating in the future will likely be on parking deck top levels, roofs, and Kaufman Mall
2. The Larchmont Elementary property is still being discussed.
3. Possibly the first wave of stadium expansion could be to go just to 25,000-30,000
4. A 70,000 seat stadium is probably never going to be an option.

Smitty and PaintedBlue were there as well, so hopefully they will add their respective takes or correct mine.

I was there too and my impression was that the first wave of the expansion would probably be to 30,000 and take a measured approach from that point . There certainly was no talk about saving the clam shell. Jeff Jones seem capable and he certainly is inheriting a mess and he said he is gonna use the football team to help recruit. Sounds like Bobby Wilder and Jeff Jones are working together.

He said they are "feverishly" recruiting, for this year and next and beyond. He's been in Norfolk just 8 days since being hired, with as much of that time as NCAA allowed recruiting. Almost everyone he's looking at is 6-8 or taller and they are offering immediate playing time among other incentives.

Should have final word on Hill in 8-10 days. This is the final appeal they can make. He wished he could be optimistic, but "at least there's a chance." Nothing specific on Kah. he will not waste a scholarship on someone "I'm not excited about,"just for the sake of filling out the roster. They've either got to be able to help for one year (a graduate) or for the next 4. My speculation is they wouldn't rule out the right JUCO, either, but he did not say that specifically.

2,980 ODAF members at the moment. Goal: another 20 before ECU game.

As far as stadium expansion and other campus growth, it's clear that the entire process has been hamstrung by the haphazard manner in which campus expansion has happened in the past. My impression was there are certain things they would love to do that they can't because of the way space was utilized in the past. Kornblau was quite blunt that from here on out, everything is headed upward because there isn't enough space to do otherwise.

I also think stadium expansion is as much about supply and demand as anything. They have photos of all 150 I-A stadiums and have studied them. He pointed out that Kansas State is one of the best programs in the country and seats only 50,000. also that NC State and VT are coming to ODU in the coming years even though we only at present seat 20,000, so it isn't getting in the way of bringing in quality home and homes.

Best line (for me) of the night from Jeff: He's a big advocate of the 3-point shot and loves players who can shoot it. We will be going after those kinds of shooters from here on out.

(07-23-2013 07:47 AM)jumpshooter Wrote: [ -> ]He said they are "feverishly" recruiting, for this year and next and beyond. He's been in Norfolk just 8 days since being hired, with as much of that time as NCAA allowed recruiting. Almost everyone he's looking at is 6-8 or taller and they are offering immediate playing time among other incentives.

Should have final word on Hill in 8-10 days. This is the final appeal they can make. He wished he could be optimistic, but "at least there's a chance." Nothing specific on Kah. he will not waste a scholarship on someone "I'm not excited about,"just for the sake of filling out the roster. They've either got to be able to help for one year (a graduate) or for the next 4. My speculation is they wouldn't rule out the right JUCO, either, but he did not say that specifically.

2,980 ODAF members at the moment. Goal: another 20 before ECU game.

As far as stadium expansion and other campus growth, it's clear that the entire process has been hamstrung by the haphazard manner in which campus expansion has happened in the past. My impression was there are certain things they would love to do that they can't because of the way space was utilized in the past. Kornblau was quite blunt that from here on out, everything is headed upward because there isn't enough space to do otherwise.

I also think stadium expansion is as much about supply and demand as anything. They have photos of all 150 I-A stadiums and have studied them. He pointed out that Kansas State is one of the best programs in the country and seats only 50,000. also that NC State and VT are coming to ODU in the coming years even though we only at present seat 20,000, so it isn't getting in the way of bringing in quality home and homes.

Best line (for me) of the night from Jeff: He's a big advocate of the 3-point shot and loves players who can shoot it. We will be going after those kinds of shooters from here on out.

Stadium expansion must be a carefully measured process.
We should plan for down years (w/l) and strive to never meet or exceed predicted demand.

As long as there is more demand than supply, there will be people maintaining and increasing ODAF donations in order to keep existing seats, or in the hope of getting season tickets for the first time.

Agreed... I'm probably against the norm and would rather have a packed 32-35k seat stadium rather than a 55k stadium that is packed most of the time. If all the sudden we have 10k waiting list again... then we'll talk about adding more. But small bites, especially with as turbulent as everything is today. I'd rather have demand than supply. edit: but obviously build with the ability to expand. that would be ignorant to build something and limit yourself.

Expansion in small bites is not cost prohibitive. How much does the ODUAF donations provide and, if you subscribe to the theory that the number will be reduced by meeting demand, how much will it be reduced by and is it enough to warrant spending the additional money by using the "small bites" approach? Personally, I think you are limiting demand and community interest by not meeting demand. Just my opinion and I am sure they have some smarter people studying it.

After my morning I came up with this. We can purchase 4 homes at the cost of around 1 mil, two houses may be connected to ODU somehow. Move Bluestone Ave over, connect the sideroads and kabam we have more room. What would you estimate the cost?

There are other intangible, crystal ball type of considerations that should be given some thought. Mainly, what is the long term health of college football? Does the hype around concussions look like it could reduce fan demand in the future? Will the BCS big boys separate and no longer play G-5 teams? if so, what does that do to attendance if we can't bring in a few big boys from year to year and how will the public see us if we are seperated from the big boys? will we revert to being seen as basically I-AA football again? Online courses are projected to increase tremendously in the future, what does that do to actual bodies on campus? will it slow down physical body growth and if so how will that impact student attendance? Fewer dorms needed? I realize these are difficult questions to access, but it is important to be looking down the road a few years and at least be asking these questions. That is why I am all for slow growth. Last thing we want is a 60,000 stadium with 20,000 fans in it.

(07-23-2013 09:35 AM)AimHigh Wrote: [ -> ]After my morning I came up with this. We can purchase 4 homes at the cost of around 1 mil, two houses may be connected to ODU somehow. Move Bluestone Ave over, connect the sideroads and kabam we have more room. What would you estimate the cost?

We have plenty of land on the Hampton side to expand the stadium footprint. Expanding into Larchmont is unnecessary and cost prohibitive. To maximize the value of the stadium, they should build offices into the stadium to replace Koch and any other buildings in the new footprint.

Thanks for providing an update on the Richmond Coaches Caravan......had to miss this year's event to attend to personal matters. This is after upping my ODAF contributions by a decent margin.

I wanted to meet Smitty and ODU78 as you guys are some of the best posters on here.

Glad to hear the positive vibes on meeting Coach Jones.

Also regarding the stadium expansion. Just a perspective the Washington Nationals stadium is only 48,000 seats. I know we can fill a ~30-35,000 seat stadium regularly at this point. So jumping to double the size of the stadium is probably not a wise move at this point. If you recall what Norfolk State's coach said......our stadium was louder than West Virginia's. This is during the same season where NSU held the lead against WV for a lot of the game. My point is the size of the stadium doesn't always lead to the heart of the matter......a loud and loyal fan base that packs the seats each game with fans that make a lot of noise. If you add another 50-60% to our stadium with the same intensity of fan base (or better) it will be a rockin venue. That sounds manageable to me at this point.

Considering all the lowering the bar posts over the last 2 days, I'm guessing it is a done deal... 30k max.