(04-10-2022 06:22 PM)cleveland Wrote: [quote='burden' pid='18188557' dateline='1649625708']
I agree baseball is in the dumps but I wonder if it’s only because of Duncan. Wrestling is in the dumps, gymnastics is not winning mac championships at its usual rate and is missing out on NCAA tournaments quite often lately even though 60% of the teams make it, track has declined as has golf and field hockey. Is it the athletic director, the overall budget (especially for coaching), the facilities, the transfer portal, etc. Luckily football and mens basketball seem to be hanging in there. Maybe they have set priorities??
There are definitely some overall issues ... but I believe it's a little early in the tenure to point fingers at the AD, although everyone is certainly watching.
Personally - and I hate to say this because at one point it was a source of departmental pride - but it seems to me Kent probably sponsors too many sports on both the men and women's side.
Now, it's in the eye of the beholder which sports may need to be cut - I'M NOT GOING THERE - but I do think there has to be a realization that there are some sports that may have to go.
As for baseball, specifically, it seems Duncan just never seemed to get any traction going with his program. It has never seemed to have a program identity. If you look at football and basketball, both of those programs have a certain identity about them. Duncan's program doesn't seem to have that.
Just my opinion.
Cleveland and others All good valid points. All I will add is I believe donations are WAY down. It’s been about a year since I saw numbers but they were 50 % then of year before. So I’m talking 2020 vs 2019.
No reason to believe they have not fallen further. Few years ago Athletic donations were in 2 million annual area. I’m purely guessing from 2020 but I would surmise last year they were no more than $500-$700 K. Match this with the putrid attendance at ticketed events and revenue is totally dependent on student fees , and MAC revenue from TV . And of course the $4-5 million from our guaranteed Football paydays.
New AD has not made any effort to increase donor giving in my view.
The rest of the staff …..not fundraisers. Remember, we lost a few great folks in that area that left KSU and are doing well elsewhere.
Perhaps , Baseball is seeing impact of large budget cuts.
Full disclosure and information sharing are no longer part of the game plan. They won’t be getting another penny from me until I am satisfied money is used as specified. From mistakes they have made in writing to us that’s not the case. Our funds designated for one sport were used for another without our permission and I have letter from staff to prove it.
It’s very hard to comprehend what’s going on.