(04-03-2012 08:36 PM)beachboy Wrote:  O'Dell went to the University of Cincinnati and probably tried to take credit for every good thing the Bearcats ever did.

O'Dell was forced to resign at UC after losing a power struggle with Mens Basketball Coach Bob Huggins.

(04-03-2012 04:48 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  I always get the feeling that the fans that clamor to leave the MAC have little to no real "involvement" with the Athletics administration at NIU. Sure they send in a check here and there, attend a bunch of games and cheer till they are hoarse. This is NOT bad. But they aren't ex or current athletes, they aren't ex or current employees, they're not in the Administration, their kids aren't at NIU, they are not big-time donors, and they aren't really connected to the Athletics offices in any meaningful way. There is no history, no reality, in their posts because they haven't really experienced NIU in and out of the MAC, and they just don't have the scuttle from the Convo.

As such, those posters don't really have an understanding of budgets, competition levels, travel needs, school realities, study schedules, fan support, media or lack thereof, and all the other things that hold back or catapult programs forward. Again, this is not bad. I don't think that their opinion is useless; I just think it is wrong. Because all they seem to see is ESPN highlights and the Tribune sport pages.

Maybe I am wrong. Hell, I expect at least three posters to reply in some way that they are good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, people like them and listen to them in the Athletic Department. Please take no offense if you resemble this remark, because I think it is clear who has an in with the Athletic Department and the University on this board. And not one of them (that I recognize, at least) has even hinted at a possible conference move.

You know why that is? Because we are not moving conferences. Let me copy and paste from a prior thread:

So, all you big minded conference jumpers riddle me and the rest of us rambling idiots this small favor; every last one of you who advocates for change; let's hear your business plan for joining a new conference. (The last time I asked this, I got no honest response from the jumpers.)

What is the exit fee from the MAC?
What is the entrance fee to the new conference?
What does the new conference contract demand of NIU?
What is NIU's recourse if this new conference fails?
What about established rivalries?
What are the new travel costs for all sports?
What is the average attendance increase you are expecting?
What are the new TV revenue numbers?
Where are the new bowl games?
How will you manage the inevitable increase in student fees?
Will sports have to be cut? Will sports have to added?
How will you account for increased coach salaries and demands?
What facilities need to be improved?
What facilities need to be added?
How will DeKalb / Sycamore feel?
Will local business leaders lend their support?
What are your plans to increase Alumni giving to pay for these new costs, and
What are your plans to soften the impact of lesser State of Illinois support to NIU and to Athletics?

Ya'll can write a business plan, right? And this is just the first step to conference re-affiliation.

Serious proposals only, and while you are at, please link to sites that bolster your argument, agree with your proposition, and are more than pie in the sky discussions about how NIU could join and be successful in another FBS conference. I'd especially like to see your notes in regards to joining the Big 12...... the same conference that has the University of Texas! the University of Oklahoma! and the University of Kansas! Where is that damn eye roll smilie?

I hate to say it, but like I said above my unpleasant guess is that few of you advocating for change where here when NIU went through the Mid-Con, independence, the MCC and the Big West before settling into the MAC. You simply don't understand the importance of stability to NIU and NIU Athletics, considering the hopping around we used to do and the negative impact it had on Athletics as a whole. Charlie Sadler? 0-23? Gerald O'Dell? Cutting teams? FFS, half of you fools advocating for change probably don't recognize any of the above names.

And fewer still of you have prior or current connections to the hallways of NIU or NIU Athletics, where you would see there is little desire for the changes so many of you so desperately seek. Most importantly, few of you seem to want to acknowledge the very real financial implications of trying to run a D1 Athletic program at a BCS level. Of which we do now. And do very well, in comparison.

"Hey lets go to the Big12! No matter they don't want us, there is no invitation, and we'd struggle for decades, we'll just remodel the Stadium to sit 50,000 even though we attract 25,000 fans on our very best day. An extra 25,000 fans will show up because we are playing Baylor!" Hurf durf.

Or "Hey, let’s go to C-USA! No matter they don't want us and there in no invitation, we'll just remodel the Stadium to sit 50,000 even though we attract 25,000 fans on our very best day. An extra 25,000 fans will show up because we are playing East Carolina!" Hurf durf.

Hope floats, my friends. But so does horseshit.

L.S, quit dealing with real issues, rather than make believe. Reality vs. hope. Actual events and history vs. this moment in time, what could be. Don't ever be satisfied! I mean don't you ever aspire to be in the big time? Damn you and ANYONE else...fans, students, board memebers who disagree!

And please quit asking, even reposting questions! They are too long to read and really have no merit. Didn't you ever just "do it!".Come one, most are just making statements and you are either for or against? How hard is that? Questions?Just one is needed: haven't you seen our football team the last decade!

Yeah, perhaps you should just drink some red and black cool-aid. THEN you will understand REALITY. That NIU is the best and f the rest! Take a back seat and you will see. We willb e in the Big East in no time!

(That's only because we HATE the Big Ten too much to accept an invite to join any conf. with Illinois in it, ACC is too snobby, SEC is too dumb and PAC-10, well, come on.)

:drinky2:

BTW, +1.