(05-21-2019 06:44 AM)pvk75 Wrote:  

(05-20-2019 10:10 AM)klake87 Wrote:  I can't wait till the caravan. Please ask these questions directly to Frazier. That is the best forum.

Apologies for late response. Short business trip. Anyway, my personal favorite for best comment on this thread, which seems to have quickly devolved into the usual blame-Frazier-for-everything-including-recent-bad-weather. Me too, sometimes. Hard to resist because it's so easy. Too easy.

On naming rights, it's always going to be a buyers' market. But maybe something to ask at the caravan.

On the side, I would be curious about factors in Credit Union 1 buying naming rights to the UIC Pavilion for $9.5 million over 15 years, including a $750,000 contribution to the UIC general scholarship fund (it's now Credit Union 1 Arena). ... and, NO, I am not trying to start a UIC-vs-NIU debate. I would just like to know the various factors.

As to Convo rights, NIU has to have somethng to sell. A company can just rent a billboard if all it wants is streetside recognition.

UIC is in Chicago and holds a lot more than just UIC baskeball games.

(05-21-2019 06:43 AM)pvk75 Wrote:  

(05-21-2019 05:57 AM)HuskieJWN Wrote:  So to Frazier’s credit, he finally responded. Basically what I expected if I ever did get a response, of disregarding me. But he responded, so kudos.

My biggest issue was his interest in other sports. I still stand by that even as he is handcuffed by budget restraints.

I do not get to attend a lot of events, so it’s unlikely to get a forum to vent and talk other sports, that’s part of the reason I think his email response was important. So we will see how he moves forward with his passion for non-revenue sports.

Edit: In his email, which weird enough was a separate email, not a reply. He said if I want to discuss further to call him. Not sure what to make of that. Has anyone ever done that here?

Not with Frazier. But call him while it's still fresh in his mind. His email is your invite. I cannot imagine any manager willing to discuss specific personnel in a forum like the caravan.

You’re right, in that forum he’s not going to discuss coaches. But I think expectations could be discussed, things he wants to see

I’ll try and call, he didn’t leave his contact info. I’m sure it’s on the website.

(05-21-2019 07:03 AM)HuskieJoe Wrote:  

(05-20-2019 04:16 PM)thehappyhuskie Wrote:  

(05-20-2019 03:50 PM)klake87 Wrote:  

(05-20-2019 01:46 PM)HuskiePride12 Wrote:  

(05-20-2019 01:34 PM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  Get the stadium's skybox and end zone seating named/built and he's the goods in my book. Seems like he started pretty hot and is on cruise control as of late.

Jerry Kill just got naming rights for their bball arena. This should be top priority for Frazier right now IMO to get more money in the door.

I personally really like Frazier from everything I've seen/what he has done. I've never had conversations with him, but I think he has more of the mentality of a P5 school and others on here want him to be on the private small school level.

He is only one person and does really well with what he has. If he leaves, my guess we will have someone a lot worse...back to someone like Jiff.

Why don't you buy naming rights. There is very little value in the naming rights of the convo. Seriously, what company would plop down big money? What is your return on investment? 1000 of the same people coming form men's bball games. Zero bang for the buck.

naming rights extend far beyond the building. There is monument signage out front on a busy highway, plus the opportunity for signage on the interstate. as well as the potential to market the name in conjunction with a "potential" basketball team and concerts/conventions.

all that said, its all potential and a speculative practice. You only need to look at the price Guaranteed Rate paid for their naming rights on a stadium on a very busy interstate to see how much it is really about "selling" the potential to investors.

Are you comparing the Dan Ryan Expressway to Lincoln Highway?
20,000 fans coming to 82 games (1.6M total attendance) per year and paying MLB pricing for food/beverage to 800 fans coming to 14 MBB games (100x fewer fans)?
White Sox TV contracts to ESPN3?

I don’t see the value, and it’s clear these “potential” investors don’t either.

I think the Sears Center really hurts NIU. A better arena in the far western suburbs much more likely to draw bigger crowds than the Convo for the same event.

I'm not comparing. I was showing that even high traffic areas don't always fetch the price the seller thinks. Its a matter of the seller and buyer agreeing on a price, and my guess is NIU is selling a lot higher than most buyers see in value.

The MetroCenter in Rockford was able to land naming rights. The Kane County Cougars landed naming rights... twice.

Heck, the Slammers just announced naming rights yesterday. https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/wjol-j...adium-name

(05-21-2019 08:35 AM)HuskieJWN Wrote:  I’ll try and call, he didn’t leave his contact info. I’m sure it’s on the website.

Sorry, but you have to question the sincerity of his invite when he doesn't leave contact info.
Even if it's to a filter (i.e., assistant AD, secretary, etc.), contact info is standard if you truly want to solicit communication.

(05-21-2019 09:26 AM)thehappyhuskie Wrote:  

(05-21-2019 07:03 AM)HuskieJoe Wrote:  

(05-20-2019 04:16 PM)thehappyhuskie Wrote:  

(05-20-2019 03:50 PM)klake87 Wrote:  

(05-20-2019 01:46 PM)HuskiePride12 Wrote:  Jerry Kill just got naming rights for their bball arena. This should be top priority for Frazier right now IMO to get more money in the door.

I personally really like Frazier from everything I've seen/what he has done. I've never had conversations with him, but I think he has more of the mentality of a P5 school and others on here want him to be on the private small school level.

He is only one person and does really well with what he has. If he leaves, my guess we will have someone a lot worse...back to someone like Jiff.

Why don't you buy naming rights. There is very little value in the naming rights of the convo. Seriously, what company would plop down big money? What is your return on investment? 1000 of the same people coming form men's bball games. Zero bang for the buck.

naming rights extend far beyond the building. There is monument signage out front on a busy highway, plus the opportunity for signage on the interstate. as well as the potential to market the name in conjunction with a "potential" basketball team and concerts/conventions.

all that said, its all potential and a speculative practice. You only need to look at the price Guaranteed Rate paid for their naming rights on a stadium on a very busy interstate to see how much it is really about "selling" the potential to investors.

Are you comparing the Dan Ryan Expressway to Lincoln Highway?
20,000 fans coming to 82 games (1.6M total attendance) per year and paying MLB pricing for food/beverage to 800 fans coming to 14 MBB games (100x fewer fans)?
White Sox TV contracts to ESPN3?

I don’t see the value, and it’s clear these “potential” investors don’t either.

I think the Sears Center really hurts NIU. A better arena in the far western suburbs much more likely to draw bigger crowds than the Convo for the same event.

I'm not comparing. I was showing that even high traffic areas don't always fetch the price the seller thinks. Its a matter of the seller and buyer agreeing on a price, and my guess is NIU is selling a lot higher than most buyers see in value.

The MetroCenter in Rockford was able to land naming rights. The Kane County Cougars landed naming rights... twice.

Heck, the Slammers just announced naming rights yesterday. https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/wjol-j...adium-name

Even Kill managed to get SIU a naming rights partner and he's only been AD for a year.
https://thesouthern.com/news/local/siu/y...95d2b.html

(05-21-2019 06:02 PM)dogdangit Wrote:  

(05-21-2019 09:26 AM)thehappyhuskie Wrote:  

(05-21-2019 07:03 AM)HuskieJoe Wrote:  

(05-20-2019 04:16 PM)thehappyhuskie Wrote:  

(05-20-2019 03:50 PM)klake87 Wrote:  Why don't you buy naming rights. There is very little value in the naming rights of the convo. Seriously, what company would plop down big money? What is your return on investment? 1000 of the same people coming form men's bball games. Zero bang for the buck.

naming rights extend far beyond the building. There is monument signage out front on a busy highway, plus the opportunity for signage on the interstate. as well as the potential to market the name in conjunction with a "potential" basketball team and concerts/conventions.

all that said, its all potential and a speculative practice. You only need to look at the price Guaranteed Rate paid for their naming rights on a stadium on a very busy interstate to see how much it is really about "selling" the potential to investors.

Are you comparing the Dan Ryan Expressway to Lincoln Highway?
20,000 fans coming to 82 games (1.6M total attendance) per year and paying MLB pricing for food/beverage to 800 fans coming to 14 MBB games (100x fewer fans)?
White Sox TV contracts to ESPN3?

I don’t see the value, and it’s clear these “potential” investors don’t either.

I think the Sears Center really hurts NIU. A better arena in the far western suburbs much more likely to draw bigger crowds than the Convo for the same event.

I'm not comparing. I was showing that even high traffic areas don't always fetch the price the seller thinks. Its a matter of the seller and buyer agreeing on a price, and my guess is NIU is selling a lot higher than most buyers see in value.

The MetroCenter in Rockford was able to land naming rights. The Kane County Cougars landed naming rights... twice.

Heck, the Slammers just announced naming rights yesterday. https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/wjol-j...adium-name

Even Kill managed to get SIU a naming rights partner and he's only been AD for a year.
https://thesouthern.com/news/local/siu/y...95d2b.html

What would be a comparable corporation to claim naming rights like SIU got with Banterra? Banterra is a bank with chains across southern illinois, parts of Kentucky, I think southern Indiana, and maybe Ohio. And, it's headquarted in Marion, IL, which is right next door to Carbondale. Keep in mind, there isn't much in the way of anything down there until you get to Paducah, KY.

So, what would be a comparable business/corporation that would seem like a good fit like Banterra is at SIU.

(05-21-2019 05:08 PM)uiniu57 Wrote:  

(05-21-2019 08:35 AM)HuskieJWN Wrote:  I’ll try and call, he didn’t leave his contact info. I’m sure it’s on the website.

Sorry, but you have to question the sincerity of his invite when he doesn't leave contact info.
Even if it's to a filter (i.e., assistant AD, secretary, etc.), contact info is standard if you truly want to solicit communication.

That was my initial reaction, but I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt.

(05-19-2019 09:22 PM)dc1 Wrote:  Sean Frazier loves to talk and will talk sports, NIU and pretty much anything you want to talk about. Don’t give us this B.S. about how he only will talk to big donors. The guy is running a Athletic Dept with both hands tied behind his back. I seriously don’t know how we’re able to keep providing a world class experience for our athletes. They still are providing for the athletes like we are a 20-25k student enrollment when we actually are a 15k enrollment. I don’t see how we can continue to do that. I 100% support and have confidence in Frazier running our Athletic Dept!

+1

People are so quick to judge.
His job keeps getting harder everyday. Do more with less.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

(05-21-2019 06:07 PM)Big Red Wrote:  

(05-21-2019 06:02 PM)dogdangit Wrote:  

(05-21-2019 09:26 AM)thehappyhuskie Wrote:  

(05-21-2019 07:03 AM)HuskieJoe Wrote:  

(05-20-2019 04:16 PM)thehappyhuskie Wrote:  naming rights extend far beyond the building. There is monument signage out front on a busy highway, plus the opportunity for signage on the interstate. as well as the potential to market the name in conjunction with a "potential" basketball team and concerts/conventions.

all that said, its all potential and a speculative practice. You only need to look at the price Guaranteed Rate paid for their naming rights on a stadium on a very busy interstate to see how much it is really about "selling" the potential to investors.

Are you comparing the Dan Ryan Expressway to Lincoln Highway?
20,000 fans coming to 82 games (1.6M total attendance) per year and paying MLB pricing for food/beverage to 800 fans coming to 14 MBB games (100x fewer fans)?
White Sox TV contracts to ESPN3?

I don’t see the value, and it’s clear these “potential” investors don’t either.

I think the Sears Center really hurts NIU. A better arena in the far western suburbs much more likely to draw bigger crowds than the Convo for the same event.

I'm not comparing. I was showing that even high traffic areas don't always fetch the price the seller thinks. Its a matter of the seller and buyer agreeing on a price, and my guess is NIU is selling a lot higher than most buyers see in value.

The MetroCenter in Rockford was able to land naming rights. The Kane County Cougars landed naming rights... twice.

Heck, the Slammers just announced naming rights yesterday. https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/wjol-j...adium-name

Even Kill managed to get SIU a naming rights partner and he's only been AD for a year.
https://thesouthern.com/news/local/siu/y...95d2b.html

What would be a comparable corporation to claim naming rights like SIU got with Banterra? Banterra is a bank with chains across southern illinois, parts of Kentucky, I think southern Indiana, and maybe Ohio. And, it's headquarted in Marion, IL, which is right next door to Carbondale. Keep in mind, there isn't much in the way of anything down there until you get to Paducah, KY.

So, what would be a comparable business/corporation that would seem like a good fit like Banterra is at SIU.

Discover card. Located in Chicago suburbs, Has tons of NIU alums including the CIO. Already has a presence on campus with an internship incubator in the library. Whats a better environment to promote predatory credit cards/ student loans than a college campus? Especially in an arena that hosts 16 HS graduation ceremonies, that's a lot of potential student loans regardless if they end up going to NIU or not.

(05-21-2019 06:25 PM)Teamduh Wrote:  

(05-19-2019 09:22 PM)dc1 Wrote:  Sean Frazier loves to talk and will talk sports, NIU and pretty much anything you want to talk about. Don’t give us this B.S. about how he only will talk to big donors. The guy is running a Athletic Dept with both hands tied behind his back. I seriously don’t know how we’re able to keep providing a world class experience for our athletes. They still are providing for the athletes like we are a 20-25k student enrollment when we actually are a 15k enrollment. I don’t see how we can continue to do that. I 100% support and have confidence in Frazier running our Athletic Dept!

+1

People are so quick to judge.
His job keeps getting harder everyday. Do more with less.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

So quick to judge? Who are you trying to kid? It’s been what, six or seven years? Quick? That’s plenty of time to form a judgment.

We were in the darn Orange Bowl—-and failed to sustain and capitalize on that. Cut with the damn state problems—-he knows it better than us. Deal with it. No naming rights after all this time—-the golden goose is obviously not there. People here say don’t compare the UIC thing—why not? We compare ourselves with them in basketball as better, don’t we?

His shining moment—-Scheduleapolooza has failed in coming close to filling our stadium with any of those name schools.

The major thing I get here is that many, many of these posters consider themselves small donors or fans and cannot or do not get the time of day from Frazier. Communication costs NOTHING—-but a little effort.

Quick making excuses—-I have watched this thread for a couple of days now and the fact that we are probably among the most passionate supporters of the teams and the heavy imbalance of non support should be revealing after six or seven years.

Let’s please quick hiding behind the state issues, the enrollment issues, etc and realize we are a darn MAC school and won’t be anything more than that.

(05-21-2019 06:25 PM)Teamduh Wrote:  His job keeps getting harder everyday. Do more with less.

Then again some of what he has done, or hasn't done, also continues to make the job harder every day. It's why he's getting paid six figures.

(05-21-2019 06:59 PM)Milwaukee Pilot Wrote:  

(05-21-2019 06:25 PM)Teamduh Wrote:  

(05-19-2019 09:22 PM)dc1 Wrote:  Sean Frazier loves to talk and will talk sports, NIU and pretty much anything you want to talk about. Don’t give us this B.S. about how he only will talk to big donors. The guy is running a Athletic Dept with both hands tied behind his back. I seriously don’t know how we’re able to keep providing a world class experience for our athletes. They still are providing for the athletes like we are a 20-25k student enrollment when we actually are a 15k enrollment. I don’t see how we can continue to do that. I 100% support and have confidence in Frazier running our Athletic Dept!

+1

People are so quick to judge.
His job keeps getting harder everyday. Do more with less.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

So quick to judge? Who are you trying to kid? It’s been what, six or seven years? Quick? That’s plenty of time to form a judgment.

We were in the darn Orange Bowl—-and failed to sustain and capitalize on that. Cut with the damn state problems—-he knows it better than us. Deal with it. No naming rights after all this time—-the golden goose is obviously not there. People here say don’t compare the UIC thing—why not? We compare ourselves with them in basketball as better, don’t we?

His shining moment—-Scheduleapolooza has failed in coming close to filling our stadium with any of those name schools.

The major thing I get here is that many, many of these posters consider themselves small donors or fans and cannot or do not get the time of day from Frazier. Communication costs NOTHING—-but a little effort.

Quick making excuses—-I have watched this thread for a couple of days now and the fact that we are probably among the most passionate supporters of the teams and the heavy imbalance of non support should be revealing after six or seven years.

Let’s please quick hiding behind the state issues, the enrollment issues, etc and realize we are a darn MAC school and won’t be anything more than that.

I can't say what makes a good or bad AD for sure. But the little I know of Frazier has been good. Just not popular. Example: Football revenue has increased while attendance has decreased(up to 2017 I believe. Don't know about last season). That's one of his primary jobs. Revenue. And a pretty amazing feat considering our fan base. He did it by going after the bigger money seating. It alientated smaller ticket holders, but it did raise more money.

The Orange Bowl is over hyped as any kind of fan generator. It's just so short lived in peoples minds. WMU in their 2016 Cotton bowl season averaged 23K. Do you know what they averaged in 2017? 15,800. It's no magic potion.

Scheduling has been a mix. But you point at least one finger back at the fans. Im not sure we could sell out at home if Bama came to town.

(05-21-2019 08:52 PM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  

(05-21-2019 06:59 PM)Milwaukee Pilot Wrote:  

(05-21-2019 06:25 PM)Teamduh Wrote:  

(05-19-2019 09:22 PM)dc1 Wrote:  Sean Frazier loves to talk and will talk sports, NIU and pretty much anything you want to talk about. Don’t give us this B.S. about how he only will talk to big donors. The guy is running a Athletic Dept with both hands tied behind his back. I seriously don’t know how we’re able to keep providing a world class experience for our athletes. They still are providing for the athletes like we are a 20-25k student enrollment when we actually are a 15k enrollment. I don’t see how we can continue to do that. I 100% support and have confidence in Frazier running our Athletic Dept!

+1

People are so quick to judge.
His job keeps getting harder everyday. Do more with less.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

So quick to judge? Who are you trying to kid? It’s been what, six or seven years? Quick? That’s plenty of time to form a judgment.

We were in the darn Orange Bowl—-and failed to sustain and capitalize on that. Cut with the damn state problems—-he knows it better than us. Deal with it. No naming rights after all this time—-the golden goose is obviously not there. People here say don’t compare the UIC thing—why not? We compare ourselves with them in basketball as better, don’t we?

His shining moment—-Scheduleapolooza has failed in coming close to filling our stadium with any of those name schools.

The major thing I get here is that many, many of these posters consider themselves small donors or fans and cannot or do not get the time of day from Frazier. Communication costs NOTHING—-but a little effort.

Quick making excuses—-I have watched this thread for a couple of days now and the fact that we are probably among the most passionate supporters of the teams and the heavy imbalance of non support should be revealing after six or seven years.

Let’s please quick hiding behind the state issues, the enrollment issues, etc and realize we are a darn MAC school and won’t be anything more than that.

I can't say what makes a good or bad AD for sure. But the little I know of Frazier has been good. Just not popular. Example: Football revenue has increased while attendance has decreased(up to 2017 I believe. Don't know about last season). That's one of his primary jobs. Revenue. And a pretty amazing feat considering our fan base. He did it by going after the bigger money seating. It alientated smaller ticket holders, but it did raise more money.

The Orange Bowl is over hyped as any kind of fan generator. It's just so short lived in peoples minds. WMU in their 2016 Cotton bowl season averaged 23K. Do you know what they averaged in 2017? 15,800. It's no magic potion.

Scheduling has been a mix. But you point at least one finger back at the fans. Im not sure we could sell out at home if Bama came to town.

I think we are stuck with him for a long time. It is no surprise no one else is hiring him even though he expresses interest in every single AD job that comes up. He treats fans like second class citizens, does not care about growth of the program. The quicker he leaves the faster NIU can rebuild its fanbase and athletic program again.

I really don't know what to think about Shawntee. I appreciate his trying to get better teams playing at Huskie stadium, and the Yard was a good idea. My few interactions with him have been mixed, not really enough to form a judgment on that. You have declining enrollment and a nationwide decrease in football attendance, plus the MACtion effects of weeknight games. That's probably hard to overcome. And the lack of money makes it harder to accomplish stuff that would be simple to do at a P5 program - I'm guessing it's harder than he expected.

2002-03 is 16 years ago. Attendance will probably never return to those times. More activities to for students to do. Streaming of games. You could triple the marketing staff and budget and still not see a major jump in attendance. Quit beating a dead horse. Everyone on here goes to games but we are a small minority. Blaming Frazier for declining attendance is ridiculous. Got to get students to turn off video games, netflix, youtube etc. Not going to happen.

We're "splitting hairs".

*Phillips - Very Good
*Jiff - Bad
*Frazier - M'eh - OK

He's been at it for awhile and, has produced mixed results. It's really that simple and, the reason he's still here.

As we have quite a track record of doing much worse, I have very limited issues with Frazier.

So if Phillips came back, Yordon, Chessick, Barsema would each donate $3 million to kick start the Capital project plans? We can't keep going back to the same well. Since no other big donors have stepped up, not many options. Mega donors do not grow on trees. NIUs downfall is that we don't have a Multi-billionaire Alumni.

(05-21-2019 06:47 PM)dogdangit Wrote:  

(05-21-2019 06:07 PM)Big Red Wrote:  

(05-21-2019 06:02 PM)dogdangit Wrote:  

(05-21-2019 09:26 AM)thehappyhuskie Wrote:  

(05-21-2019 07:03 AM)HuskieJoe Wrote:  Are you comparing the Dan Ryan Expressway to Lincoln Highway?
20,000 fans coming to 82 games (1.6M total attendance) per year and paying MLB pricing for food/beverage to 800 fans coming to 14 MBB games (100x fewer fans)?
White Sox TV contracts to ESPN3?

I don’t see the value, and it’s clear these “potential” investors don’t either.

I think the Sears Center really hurts NIU. A better arena in the far western suburbs much more likely to draw bigger crowds than the Convo for the same event.

I'm not comparing. I was showing that even high traffic areas don't always fetch the price the seller thinks. Its a matter of the seller and buyer agreeing on a price, and my guess is NIU is selling a lot higher than most buyers see in value.

The MetroCenter in Rockford was able to land naming rights. The Kane County Cougars landed naming rights... twice.

Heck, the Slammers just announced naming rights yesterday. https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/wjol-j...adium-name

Even Kill managed to get SIU a naming rights partner and he's only been AD for a year.
https://thesouthern.com/news/local/siu/y...95d2b.html

What would be a comparable corporation to claim naming rights like SIU got with Banterra? Banterra is a bank with chains across southern illinois, parts of Kentucky, I think southern Indiana, and maybe Ohio. And, it's headquarted in Marion, IL, which is right next door to Carbondale. Keep in mind, there isn't much in the way of anything down there until you get to Paducah, KY.

So, what would be a comparable business/corporation that would seem like a good fit like Banterra is at SIU.

Discover card. Located in Chicago suburbs, Has tons of NIU alums including the CIO. Already has a presence on campus with an internship incubator in the library. Whats a better environment to promote predatory credit cards/ student loans than a college campus? Especially in an arena that hosts 16 HS graduation ceremonies, that's a lot of potential student loans regardless if they end up going to NIU or not.

I suppose if you think this is comparable...

But you're really comparing apples to oranges. Banterra is a regional financial institution and has direct ties to the local community through both business and philanthropy. I just don't see the same relationship with the community for Discover, which may be located in the "Chicago suburbs" (actually Riverwoods, which....1) I never knew until right now and 2) I'd never heard of until right now and I've lived in the Chicago suburbs for 20 years).

Geographically, Carbondale is not like DeKalb. DeKalb is overshadowed by Chicago in every way so thinking of tapping in to a Chicago institution and selling them on the benefits of sponsorship in DeKalb, when there are tons of either better or closer opportunities to market themselves is going to be more than difficult, nee impossible.

Nevertheless, comparing Discover's relationship with NIU and in DeKalb to Banterra in Carbondale is far fetched. Unfortunately there isn't a DeKalb Genetics anymore, as that would be a perfect fit. Granted, Monsanto is still a big employer there, so that could be a fit and would make sense due to the history of DeKalb. Other major employers in DeKalb are Northwestern Medicine and General Electric, but neither of those seem like a good fit.

At this point, looking at Rockford might make more sense. The largest employers (that make marketing sense) in that region are Fiat Chrysler, Mercy Health, SwedishAmerican Health, and OSF Healtcare, and Collins Aeorspace. Along with that, Mrs. Fisher's Potato Chips was founded and still locally owned and operated in Rockford. I'd think these would be better targets than Discover as they have regional attraction and employ a lot of people in the area.

Then again, maybe Frazier has reached out to all of those corporations and was told no.

A very positive event that was ended by STF was the HAF event in February where they gave out the HAF renewal packets before a basketball game. It brought people together, was pretty well attended (the room was filled), and light snacks and drinks were served, together with speeches by Athletics officials and student athletes.

And all of you budget downers, please don't spew out your crap about no money. If there is no money for a few morsels of food and pop, NIU should simply drop athletics or drop down to FCS. Contrary to the sky-is-falling fiscal gurus, NIU's coffers are not bare.

Also, I will say this about Jiff. He somewhat promoted NIU's MAC Championships by setting up an agreement with Jostens to offer fans replicas of the team rings. Those were extremely nice. But maybe STF stopped that because they no longer offer rings for the team. (Now THAT I will believe could be due to fiscal issues.)

Also, at the donor venues such as the HAF tent for football and the 6th Man Grille, Athletics should make an aggressive effort to greet donors. This would be a great way to get to recognize and know their donors. Certainly, no one has EVER approached me or anyone in my group in the tent. If I wanted to talk to someone, I had to make the effort to find them and flag them down. They would always walk right past me and not say a thing (because they do not know me and my name is not Yordon or Chessick). Before STF, I used to chat with Athletics employees in the 6th Man Grille who would make the effort to say hi and chat with my wife and me. Now, there's virtually no one there to greet the season ticketholders and donors. (I know, STF is just too busy in the Nelson suite.)

When Cary Groth was the AD, she loved to greet and interact with fans. I always used to see her at the basketball games shaking fans' hands and thanking them for coming as they left the game. Almost like thanking a guest for visiting your home. That was nice. She was approachable and made herself available to fans and donors. That's the type of person we need as AD.

I have never had any personal interactions with AD Frazier so I don't have any deep feelings about him one way or the other. But I think it is pretty clear that he is hamstrung by a budget that doesn't allow him to do a lot. In 2018, NIU athletic department expenditures totaled $25 million. During that same year, WMU spent over $38 million. That is 50% more that Frazier had to play with. Just imagine what he could do with another $13 million.