The unofficial online home for fans of the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Due to distance, I make it back to Kent once in a blue moon. There was a blue moon last weekend which brought me back to good ol' KSU. Those of you who live in NE Ohio may be aware of the gains, but I was pleasantly surprised with the positive momentum.

First, enrollment. It's up a total of 9% this fall. If you think that's no big deal, for comparison purposes, Univ. of Akron is reporting a 1% increase. The Main Campus is up about 3% for a total of 24,000; there are another 12,000 at the branch campuses for a 36,000 student total, once again making KSU the second largest university in Ohio. The good news is that these gains are in better students (not speaking for any of you, just me :D ). There were 3,800 acceptances from 11,000 applications at the Main Campus; making admission at Summit and Main much tougher. The average GPA of incoming freshmen on the Kent campus is over 3.2 and 25% of new frosh have GPA's of 3.75, all on a on a 4.0 scale. Those who could not make the cut were advised to try branch campuses, thus the boost there.

Second, the campus is in great shape. The new dorms are like hotels with wake up calls, private baths, "on demand" dining (aka room service) and, get this, conference rooms. Even "oldies but goodies" like Eastway have been totally renovated with fireplaces, big screen TV's, a convienence store, etc. Tri Towers now has a landscaped esplanade in place of the ugly round drive up. I've never seen the Student "Recreation and Wellness Center" before - it's awesome. Good thing all of this arrived lately or I would have been sorely tempted by the five year plan.

And, am pleased to report Ray's still has a fine selection on tap. Decided not to subject my wonderful spouse to the Outpost so missed the Numbers Band -just have to listen to Jimmy Bell on CD.

I'm just going on because it's all news to me, and maybe for you, too. It made me feel proud to see the old place with all of the new places and positive energy. So, it you haven't been back in awhile, it's worth a trip. You'll likely leave feeling pretty good.

Many of the people associated with KSU I talked to seemed genuinely optimistic about the future. The momentum has already carried over in academics, in growth, in most sports. All that's left is football. There, I sensed the patience has indeed run out and the slide really won't go on forever. The buzz was all about Antwon (sp?) Smith, with the hype that he's as good a runner as Cribbs with a much better arm. Hard for me to believe the running comparison, but we'll see.

Go Flashes!!

Thanks for the update. I live in NE Ohio and get back to campus for f-ball and b-ball up to 10 times per year. Living in NE Ohio you can get the sense that the sleeping giant is slowly awakening. If we can get this football thing turned around a bit, KSU's image will really explode.

The only problem that exist at KSU is having an Athletic Department that can not see the BIG Picture. I live very close to Kent and work in Kent, and believe it or not, there is no way to even know that we have a football season coming up. There is absolutely no PR or marketing. (NOT EVEN A SEASON TICKET DRIVE) (NOT EVEN A BLUE GOLD CLUB MEMBERSHIP DRIVE) Until the leadship learns to cultivate and harvest Northeast Ohio and its backyard, we will be very limited with the football program. That will take hard work and imagination at the top. Believe me, neither, is here! :crying: :crying:

True, but it's back to the chicken and egg thing: need a football team to produce to keep publicity from being futile so you don't drive away people permanently, but you need to get people in the stands to raise revenues to keep the program moving. Need a better team first, I think.


All I know is, I hope Bill Needle is better at football play-by-play than basketball, because he drives me completely insane during basketball season.
Doesn't look like I'll get to KSU this fall. May be able to make the game at BG, but by Nov. 15, will I want to? I hope so.

Quote:True, but it's back to the chicken and egg thing: need a football team to produce to keep publicity from being futile so you don't drive away people permanently, but you need to get people in the stands to raise revenues to keep the program moving. Need a better team first, I think.

I agree, and have said so on my posts before. Why get too excited about the lack of billboards and press for a past season 3-9 team?

Can agree with G Flash 68 about the "nothing" part, though. For all of the banners and signs up around campus for the first week of classes, didn't see ONE about the football team. With 3,800 frosh who don't know any better, one would think there would be some effort to get them to the games.

B&G has shown some signs of life lately, though. We'll see.