(03-21-2019 10:51 AM)klake87 Wrote:  

(03-21-2019 10:48 AM)Big Red Wrote:  

(03-21-2019 10:20 AM)golf4501 Wrote:  

(03-21-2019 10:01 AM)klake87 Wrote:  Not trying to be a debbie downer but it has been decades since NIU has been a consistently successful program. Molinari was the last "good" coach?

Hammels was the last good coach until he got burnt out, that 1996 team could have been the start of things but players left, got hurt and it was never the same. Judson could have built something but let his beliefs get in the way of players he could have had. Patton was a disaster and it's been down hill since then.

This is the nonsense that baffles me. Do you actually think the program has gone "down hill" since Patton?

If you do, then you truly have no recollection or understanding of how things were under Patton.

It has improved but not enough but not downhill.

Does the success of the football team over the last decade + put too much pressure on basketball to produce?

Yeah. I never said it was enough and I agree that I would definitely have wanted more out of 8 seasons. But there seem to be people here who honestly believe the program is no better off (or actually worse) than it was under Patton.

His last team was as bad of a team as I've ever seen at the D1 level. They were Chicago State bad. Hell, the tallest guy on the team was Tim Toler (6'7") and he wouldn't leave the 3 point line. Fwiw, I see visions of Tim Toler in my nightmares when I think of how bad a basketball program could be.

With that said, does the football program put too much pressure on the basketball team? Is there pressure on the basketball team? Does anyone even notice? If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it still make a sound?

Unfortunately, the basketball program is an afterthought at NIU. Hell, the football team is an afterthought in the region and they've had a great amount of success over the past decade. You can blame weeknight games (and they definitely have a negative effect) but ultimately, no one goes to the saturday games either. NIU's "fanbase" is a small number of alumni and parents of players. That's it. There is no regional attraction or generational fans. It's like, if you went to NIU, there's about a 15% chance you'll be a fan after you graduate (most just fall back in to whatever fandom they brought to NIU whether it be Iowa or Wisconsin or Michigan or Notre Dame or Illinois). If you're in that 15% (and that is probably too gracious of a guess), then you're kind of in it for the long haul. If you're not, they either don't know how, or have the resources (this is a big part of it) to develop a fanbase.

Then again, maybe it is just what it is and will be. The climate of college sports fandom (and sports in general) is in decline. It's hard to tap into a market that has extremely deep generational fandom to P5 teams when they themselves are also in a battle to retain and grow their footprint. But, they also have history on their side as those schools have local and regional fans that grew up watching or attending games with their fathers or grandfathers (or grandmothers!) and it has become more of a family tradition to "root for the Hawkeyes! (or pick your regional team)". NIU doesn't have that and I truly don't see any way for them to develop it.

Anyway, after all that, to answer your question. Does the football program put too much pressure on the basketball program? No. I don't think it does.