Letter from the chancellor, with confirmation in the third paragraph:

https://insideucr.ucr.edu/announcements/...XjDGBGHT30

Not surprised. Hard to drop out of a conference with UC San Diego, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine and still claim they are your peers. Never thought this directions stood a chance.

(05-06-2021 04:35 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  Not surprised. Hard to drop out of a conference with UC San Diego, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine and still claim they are your peers. Never thought this directions stood a chance.

The fact this was hanging over their heads for a year and the chancellor had to address it says it stood a chance.

My takeaway: The two paragraphs near the end of that statement say that the UC Riverside chancellor is leaving open the possibility of reconsidering the decision to stay in Division I if students don't agree to substantially increase their own fees up to a level at which the fees almost entirely fund the athletic department.

Quote:In coordination with student leaders, the university will explore a potential student referendum in the 2021-22 academic year to consider an increase to the Division I athletics fee, which is the lowest in the Big West Conference and has remained unchanged for 20 years.

These and other changes will be evaluated annually to confirm that we make consistent and tangible process toward these goals, which are essential to assuming the long-term viability of Division I athletics at UCR.

At UC Riverside, the D-I athletics fee is $35 per quarter. At UC San Diego, it's $289.38 per quarter (71% of that goes to the athletic department per the article linked in the next paragraph).

UC San Diego's fee for D-I athletics generates about 90 percent (!!!) of their projected D-I athletic budget, per this article.

Looks to me that's where this is going -- the administration isn't happy about funding athletics out of the university's general fund, and wants the student fees to get jacked up by about $250 per quarter, or they will go through this "process" again in a few years.

It always shocks me how bad Big West attendance tends to be. The schools have 20-40k students, you'd think enough would be sports fans that you could draw even like 3k to an average game. Riverside (21k students) averaged 580 per game in 2020, that's almost impressively low

Mid-major college sports just doesn’t have the culture it does in the Midwest and East out west. They are big with baseball (usually Cal State Fullerton, Santa Barbara and a couple others are perennial regional contenders), but a lot of those schools are party schools and that is what they prefer.

(05-06-2021 07:19 PM)Wedge Wrote:  My takeaway: The two paragraphs near the end of that statement say that the UC Riverside chancellor is leaving open the possibility of reconsidering the decision to stay in Division I if students don't agree to substantially increase their own fees up to a level at which the fees almost entirely fund the athletic department.

Quote:In coordination with student leaders, the university will explore a potential student referendum in the 2021-22 academic year to consider an increase to the Division I athletics fee, which is the lowest in the Big West Conference and has remained unchanged for 20 years.

These and other changes will be evaluated annually to confirm that we make consistent and tangible process toward these goals, which are essential to assuming the long-term viability of Division I athletics at UCR.

At UC Riverside, the D-I athletics fee is $35 per quarter. At UC San Diego, it's $289.38 per quarter (71% of that goes to the athletic department per the article linked in the next paragraph).

UC San Diego's fee for D-I athletics generates about 90 percent (!!!) of their projected D-I athletic budget, per this article.

Looks to me that's where this is going -- the administration isn't happy about funding athletics out of the university's general fund, and wants the student fees to get jacked up by about $250 per quarter, or they will go through this "process" again in a few years.

I think you're right. I'm honestly really surprised they're sticking with D-I sports, but the full text of this announcement sure reads more like death by a thousand papercuts, rather than a merciful conclusion. They already nuked department morale, goodwill and hiring ability, and now are about to cut budgets even *more*.

Given who UCR's student body is in 2021, I'd be a little surprised if they supported a significant fee increase.

Also UC Riverside lost their AD earlier in the year. She was interviewing across the country for everything under the sun (finalist for Illinois St AD) and ended up taking some job at Kennesaw.

Dumb. Could have been the first domino to fall, especially in CA.

(05-06-2021 08:12 PM)sctvman Wrote:  Mid-major college sports just doesn’t have the culture it does in the Midwest and East out west. They are big with baseball (usually Cal State Fullerton, Santa Barbara and a couple others are perennial regional contenders), but a lot of those schools are party schools and that is what they prefer.

Are any of the UC schools considered party schools other than UCLA?

My impression of UCSD was that it's the nerd school. Same with UC-Davis. Don't know much about the other ones.

(05-07-2021 01:46 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(05-06-2021 08:12 PM)sctvman Wrote:  Mid-major college sports just doesn’t have the culture it does in the Midwest and East out west. They are big with baseball (usually Cal State Fullerton, Santa Barbara and a couple others are perennial regional contenders), but a lot of those schools are party schools and that is what they prefer.

Are any of the UC schools considered party schools other than UCLA?

My impression of UCSD was that it's the nerd school. Same with UC-Davis. Don't know much about the other ones.

I hear that UCSB is an elite-level party school.

(05-07-2021 01:46 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(05-06-2021 08:12 PM)sctvman Wrote:  Mid-major college sports just doesn’t have the culture it does in the Midwest and East out west. They are big with baseball (usually Cal State Fullerton, Santa Barbara and a couple others are perennial regional contenders), but a lot of those schools are party schools and that is what they prefer.

Are any of the UC schools considered party schools other than UCLA?

My impression of UCSD was that it's the nerd school. Same with UC-Davis. Don't know much about the other ones.

Santa Barbara has a "fun" reputation. I can't vouch for the partying, but the campus location is A-plus. I agree about San Diego, and Irvine also has a reputation as a campus for grinders.

(05-07-2021 02:05 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 01:46 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(05-06-2021 08:12 PM)sctvman Wrote:  Mid-major college sports just doesn’t have the culture it does in the Midwest and East out west. They are big with baseball (usually Cal State Fullerton, Santa Barbara and a couple others are perennial regional contenders), but a lot of those schools are party schools and that is what they prefer.

Are any of the UC schools considered party schools other than UCLA?

My impression of UCSD was that it's the nerd school. Same with UC-Davis. Don't know much about the other ones.

I hear that UCSB is an elite-level party school.

In the old days. Less so now. It's extremely hard to get into and becoming Asian plurality if not majority like the other UCs.

I know several alumni who all tell me that if they applied again today they would not get in.

(05-07-2021 02:07 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 02:05 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 01:46 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(05-06-2021 08:12 PM)sctvman Wrote:  Mid-major college sports just doesn’t have the culture it does in the Midwest and East out west. They are big with baseball (usually Cal State Fullerton, Santa Barbara and a couple others are perennial regional contenders), but a lot of those schools are party schools and that is what they prefer.

Are any of the UC schools considered party schools other than UCLA?

My impression of UCSD was that it's the nerd school. Same with UC-Davis. Don't know much about the other ones.

I hear that UCSB is an elite-level party school.

In the old days. Less so now. It's extremely hard to get into and becoming Asian plurality if not majority like the other UCs.

I know several alumni who all tell me that if they applied again today they would not get in.

Yes, that doesn't surprise me. It seems that we could say similar things about a lot of places. My alma mater of Illinois is consistently ranked as a top party school yet also has become significantly more difficult to get into over the past 20 years. Same thing with Wisconsin. I think it's more accurate to call those "work hard play hard" schools. There are definitely huge parties and bar scenes, but you will also flunk out if you don't take your academics seriously.

The UC system sports (not counting Berkeley and UCLA) suffer because many are largely commuter schools. The lack of a football program to provide school unity also contributes to a sports program which is quickly forgotten.

(05-07-2021 02:25 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  The UC system sports (not counting Berkeley and UCLA) suffer because many are largely commuter schools. The lack of a football program to provide school unity also contributes to a sports program which is quickly forgotten.

You have not a clue what you are talking about. The UCs are fully residential for undergraduates. It's the California State schools which are commuters with the partial exception of SDSU and some of the rural schools like Chico State and Cal Poly.

(05-06-2021 06:58 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  

(05-06-2021 04:35 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  Not surprised. Hard to drop out of a conference with UC San Diego, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine and still claim they are your peers. Never thought this directions stood a chance.

The fact this was hanging over their heads for a year and the chancellor had to address it says it stood a chance.

This was from this morning's Riverside Press Enterprise:
https://www.pe.com/2021/05/06/alexander-...ays-alive/
"The major takeaways: Athletics now will be merged into Student Affairs, which among other things will result in the elimination of redundant positions (some have already been pruned from the athletic staff) and might create additional opportunities for on-campus engagement. The department will be put on a three-year “financial and operational plan,” according to Wilcox’s statement, with an eye toward permanent budget reductions and an increase in revenue. Maybe most importantly, they’ll consider a student referendum on raising the Division I athletics fee from $105 a year, the lowest in the Big West Conference and exactly where it was when UCR began its Division I adventure in 2000-01."

They could easily double the athletic fee. But they have to do a better job of engaging with the community and the alumni. This is another problem:
"Even before this uncertainty over the program’s future, UCR – which had a 17-year head start as the only Division I school in the Inland Empire – looked up at crosstown rival Cal Baptist in most metrics: Facilities, donor support, fan engagement, even something as small as getting the word out about its summer sports camps. And CBU just hired a guy with a reputation as a formidable fundraiser, Tyler Mariucci, as its new athletic director."

(05-07-2021 04:06 PM)SoCalBobcat78 Wrote:  

(05-06-2021 06:58 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  

(05-06-2021 04:35 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  Not surprised. Hard to drop out of a conference with UC San Diego, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine and still claim they are your peers. Never thought this directions stood a chance.

The fact this was hanging over their heads for a year and the chancellor had to address it says it stood a chance.

This was from this morning's Riverside Press Enterprise:
https://www.pe.com/2021/05/06/alexander-...ays-alive/
"The major takeaways: Athletics now will be merged into Student Affairs, which among other things will result in the elimination of redundant positions (some have already been pruned from the athletic staff) and might create additional opportunities for on-campus engagement. The department will be put on a three-year “financial and operational plan,” according to Wilcox’s statement, with an eye toward permanent budget reductions and an increase in revenue. Maybe most importantly, they’ll consider a student referendum on raising the Division I athletics fee from $105 a year, the lowest in the Big West Conference and exactly where it was when UCR began its Division I adventure in 2000-01."

They could easily double the athletic fee. But they have to do a better job of engaging with the community and the alumni. This is another problem:
"Even before this uncertainty over the program’s future, UCR – which had a 17-year head start as the only Division I school in the Inland Empire – looked up at crosstown rival Cal Baptist in most metrics: Facilities, donor support, fan engagement, even something as small as getting the word out about its summer sports camps. And CBU just hired a guy with a reputation as a formidable fundraiser, Tyler Mariucci, as its new athletic director."

Chalk it up to California public school complacency.

I think UCs are not very community driven schools. They are too elite (less than the top 5% of the State's HS students get in) and not local enough (majority of students are from other parts of the State), and too stand offish to ever draw from the general public. They rely heavily upon alumni support.

For UC Riverside that means they have to start with the students on campus and build the environment and atmosphere where they attend sports, preferably at the level UC Santa Barbara or UC San Diego does. They are a bit younger a school than other UCs, so they have a weaker alumni base on top of their poor engagement with their current students. That should be their top priority. (pretty much the same thing I tell anyone who will listen at San Jose State ... they don't listen)

(05-06-2021 08:04 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  It always shocks me how bad Big West attendance tends to be. The schools have 20-40k students, you'd think enough would be sports fans that you could draw even like 3k to an average game. Riverside (21k students) averaged 580 per game in 2020, that's almost impressively low

That's what happens when a conference has to replace a Boise State, Nevada, Utah State, NMSU and UNLV with a Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside. Attendance suffers

(05-06-2021 08:04 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  It always shocks me how bad Big West attendance tends to be. The schools have 20-40k students, you'd think enough would be sports fans that you could draw even like 3k to an average game. Riverside (21k students) averaged 580 per game in 2020, that's almost impressively low

You went to William & Mary? Take a look at the teams in the CAA. Most of them are also under 3,000 fans a game. Northeastern is at about 1,100 fans per game. The CAA average attendance per home game is less than 300 per game higher than the Big West.