For those of us who didn't hear it, can someone summarize what was said?

Not an awful lot of truly new news; just a general update....

- Emphasized the importance of the Owl Club drive, which is going extremely well. $1.83MM already collected toward goal (up 56% over last year), with over 300 new donors (33% increase), with 2 1/2 months remaining in the year....and 44% of last year's contributors have not yet renewed. If you haven't reupped yet, time to get with it!!!

- While the SIGs are important, Joe thinks having SIG contribution count towards the Owl Club benefits will hurt the overall department...and he stressed that most other big time programs did the same.

- Big year-long branding effort underway.

- Parking-- already in discussions with the Medical Center regarding use of parking space, and providing shuttle bus services onto campus.

- Very, VERY excited about the futures of both Mens and Womens basketball.

- In talks with several SEC teams regarding home-and-home football scheduling, but right now the economics are simply not there. LSU wants $3.5MM to play in Houston...and that represents the entire gate for the game.

- No one is happy about our current predicament in CUSA, but we need to continue to improve performance and revenues....and gain national PR through Access Bowl appearances. Dr. K's mentor is head of Big 12, but their decision to expand boils down to whether an incremental school can provide $25MM annually in incremental revenues. TCU and West Virginia met that requirement; we're far from that at this point. Consequently, increasing revenues-- especially through season ticket sales-- is the #1, #2 an #3 priority near term.

- $2 million renovation of track stadium in planning stages.

- Study about to begin on how to integrate plans for Reckling upgrades with new Moody Arts Center. No specifics given.

(04-19-2015 08:25 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Not an awful lot of truly new news; just a general update....

- Very, VERY excited about the futures of both Mens and Womens basketball.

- In talks with several SEC teams regarding home-and-home football scheduling, but right now the economics are simply not there. LSU wants $3.5MM to play in Houston...and that represents the entire gate for the game.

- No one is happy about our current predicament in CUSA, but we need to continue to improve performance and revenues....and gain national PR through Access Bowl appearances. Dr. K's mentor is head of Big 12, but their decision to expand boils down to whether an incremental school can provide $25MM annually in incremental revenues. TCU and West Virginia met that requirement; we're far from that at this point. Consequently, increasing revenues-- especially through season ticket sales-- is the #1, #2 an #3 priority near term.

Sounds like a good and practical game plan. We probably need to stop thinking (dreaming) about getting into one of the P5 conferences in the near term. Let's give JK and his team a good 3 years or so to implement their vision for increasing ticket sales and revenue. From what we've seen so far, better times have begun and will only improve in the coming years. Maybe by 2018 or so things will look a lot different for us, and we'll legitimately be able to pursue conference re-affiliation.

I definitely agree with JK's upbeat basketball sentiment. Can hardly wait for next season!

I won't shed any tears over not playing LSU. I've had too many bad experiences with their fans over the years. The excitement of competing in front of a big-time crowd isn't worth the downside of dealing with the verbal abuse. I'd much rather keep scheduling teams like Notre Dame, UT, A&M, etc. I wouldn't mind us scheduling some Big 10 teams in the future (To this day I regret not making the Michigan or Ohio State trips).

Many thanks.

Any hints about cost of attendance stipends?

(04-19-2015 08:25 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  - In talks with several SEC teams regarding home-and-home football scheduling, but right now the economics are simply not there. LSU wants $3.5MM to play in Houston...and that represents the entire gate for the game.

What would adding LSU to the home schedule do for attendance to the remaining games, not to mention season ticket sales? What is the gate for a game against someone like Lamar or NMSU?

(04-19-2015 02:11 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  Any hints about cost of attendance stipends?

Rice's own research indicates cost-of-attendance figure at Rice is about $2000/yr. Decision on amount will be the consensus of C-USA members; Rhoades seemed hesitant to speculate in advance. LeBron is not opposed to the principle, and the amount is unlikely to be daunting.

(04-19-2015 08:25 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  - No one is happy about our current predicament in CUSA, but we need to continue to improve performance and revenues....and gain national PR through Access Bowl appearances.

Very happy to hear the admin is not satisfied with current make-up of CUSA. However, if UAB leaves, I'm afraid it is going to continue to get worse.

The arkst poster is generally spot-on with conference alignment issues:

http://csnbbs.com/thread-735023-page-4.html

"Per a friend in a CUSA athletic department.

There are three "possible" paths to 10 votes.

1. The five nothern members of CUSA East concede they aren't getting JMU or Liberty in a 14 team alignment and agree to a compromise candidate who will fit in the West with USA seen as most likely.

2. There is no concession on JMU/Liberty but rather a compromise of adding one along with two more in the west to reach 16.

3. FIU and FAU don't share in the love for JMU and Liberty and want a school to bridge between them and the rest of the league, which then has the potential to create a log-jam only broken by going to 18.

His bet for the outcome? Raised voices and better than even odds that no one gets to 10."

(04-19-2015 08:25 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  - No one is happy about our current predicament in CUSA, but we need to continue to improve performance and revenues....and gain national PR through Access Bowl appearances. Dr. K's mentor is head of Big 12, but their decision to expand boils down to whether an incremental school can provide $25MM annually in incremental revenues. TCU and West Virginia met that requirement; we're far from that at this point. Consequently, increasing revenues-- especially through season ticket sales-- is the #1, #2 an #3 priority near term.

Will we realistically ever get there? And if not, do we maybe need an alternative plan?

(04-20-2015 04:26 PM)talon owl Wrote:  

(04-19-2015 08:25 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Consequently, increasing revenues-- especially through season ticket sales-- is the #1, #2 an #3 priority near term.

Will we realistically ever get there? And if not, do we maybe need an alternative plan?

Increasing revenues IS the plan -- not changing conferences. The latter may prove to be a result, or it may not. But the plan of dramatically increasing revenues has only one realistic alternative: exiting Division I athletics. That is true regardless of whether we change conferences in this decade or not. If we can successfully execute the plan, we will be OK; if we don't, we won't.

(04-20-2015 04:26 PM)talon owl Wrote:  

(04-19-2015 08:25 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  - No one is happy about our current predicament in CUSA, but we need to continue to improve performance and revenues....and gain national PR through Access Bowl appearances. Dr. K's mentor is head of Big 12, but their decision to expand boils down to whether an incremental school can provide $25MM annually in incremental revenues. TCU and West Virginia met that requirement; we're far from that at this point. Consequently, increasing revenues-- especially through season ticket sales-- is the #1, #2 an #3 priority near term.

Will we realistically ever get there? And if not, do we maybe need an alternative plan?

Good questions that need to be pondered. I'm excited about the investments and efforts being made to improve Rice's finances and athletics profile. There's no doubt that a commitment has been made and it will continue to bear fruit, but I hope the success or failure of these investments isn't judged only on whether or not the university can gain P5 membership. That would be unfair and very unrealistic.

If we are in a conference with Liberty, we have truly reached the absolute bottom.........

(04-20-2015 05:27 PM)texowl2 Wrote:  If we are in a conference with Liberty, we have truly reached the absolute bottom.........

If CUSA gives us Libery it gives us death?

What's Liberty's RPI?

(04-20-2015 09:11 PM)WIowl Wrote:  

(04-20-2015 05:27 PM)texowl2 Wrote:  If we are in a conference with Liberty, we have truly reached the absolute bottom.........

Mountain West is looking better and better….

How do you propose to get there?

(04-20-2015 10:41 PM)pueo99 Wrote:  - While the SIGs are important, Joe thinks having SIG contribution count towards the Owl Club benefits will hurt the overall department...and he stressed that most other big time programs did the same.

define "other big time programs" - UT? A&M? Michigan? Rice?

Yes, as well as most of the P5 schools. Joe said all had Owl Club equivalents which was the primary focus of athletic department fundraising (over and above the SIG equivalents).

(04-20-2015 10:48 PM)pueo99 Wrote:  

(04-20-2015 10:44 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(04-20-2015 10:41 PM)pueo99 Wrote:  - While the SIGs are important, Joe thinks having SIG contribution count towards the Owl Club benefits will hurt the overall department...and he stressed that most other big time programs did the same.

define "other big time programs" - UT? A&M? Michigan? Rice?

Yes, as well as most of the P5 schools. Joe said all had Owl Club equivalents which was the primary focus of athletic department fundraising (over and above the SIG equivalents).

my bad...should have added stanford....their entire athletic program is endowed...we are not...each program is left to fend for itself...not a healthy situation.

Yup, a $500MM athletic endowment, funded largely by two principal donors, but a very unique situation.

Well, this has been fun. Again. I'm out. I hope the baseball team gets it together in time for the postseason.

(04-20-2015 11:03 PM)pueo99 Wrote:  

(04-20-2015 10:55 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(04-20-2015 10:48 PM)pueo99 Wrote:  

(04-20-2015 10:44 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(04-20-2015 10:41 PM)pueo99 Wrote:  - While the SIGs are important, Joe thinks having SIG contribution count towards the Owl Club benefits will hurt the overall department...and he stressed that most other big time programs did the same.

define "other big time programs" - UT? A&M? Michigan? Rice?

Yes, as well as most of the P5 schools. Joe said all had Owl Club equivalents which was the primary focus of athletic department fundraising (over and above the SIG equivalents).

my bad...should have added stanford....their entire athletic program is endowed...we are not...each program is left to fend for itself...not a healthy situation.

Yup, a $500MM athletic endowment, funded largely by two principal donors, but a very unique situation.

yep....definitely, not our situation...so to try and denigrate sigs at Rice seems self-defeating. Let people invest where they want to invest. RBI has been picking up a lot of costs that most university's (UT, A&M, Michigan) would automatically fund (maintenance), certainly not owl club funded.

Having a "centralized" source of extra money (Owl Club) means WHO makes the decisions regarding distributions, and to which programs? Seems unwise to place so much money and power into the hands of one group with exactly what accountability? The SIGs are invaluable and get the funds directly from the particular donors to the specifically designated sport or sports. Frankly, I see absolutely no need for the middleman. Why should a particular coach have to wait for some group to decide on a handout when he or she can go right to the SIG? I just wonder if it's just some résumé padding to get the numbers up.