(02-20-2020 06:36 PM)OldTtimeNIU Wrote:  I'd like cheerleaders to actually lead cheers.... fire up the crowd...
Acrobatics are fine but fire up the fans...

This was our biggest complaint in the pep band a couple years ago, we would be the only ones actually cheering during the game when it mattered. For the 2017 women's basketball MAC tourney athletics had hotel rooms and seats on our bus for them and they never showed up.

(02-20-2020 07:01 PM)dogdangit Wrote:  

(02-20-2020 06:36 PM)OldTtimeNIU Wrote:  I'd like cheerleaders to actually lead cheers.... fire up the crowd...
Acrobatics are fine but fire up the fans...

This was our biggest complaint in the pep band a couple years ago, we would be the only ones actually cheering during the game when it mattered. For the 2017 women's basketball MAC tourney athletics had hotel rooms and seats on our bus for them and they never showed up.

2017......hmm, isn’t that when they were dumped by Athletics?

(02-20-2020 03:08 PM)GeorgeBorkFan Wrote:  

(02-20-2020 02:08 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(02-20-2020 12:36 PM)Huskie Info Wrote:  The cheerleaders do not need "saving" ... you all are falling for a marketing ploy. They want to go to Florida. That is what they are fundraising for.

So what is their budget? How much does Athletics provide for their uniforms, equipment, travel costs to away games, etc.?

Even if they do want to go to Florida to compete, isn't that a good thing? What is the logo on their uniforms? Do they not represent NIU in a positive way?

You'll not hear back. Huskie Info, ie the athletic department, won't respond. There is a serious lack of openness in that group. I guess it goes with the arrogance.

That figure should be public information since it was in an official approved athletic budget at least back in 2016. It's not up to the a.dept. whether they want to release it.

It's an old problem with NIU. A little story ... a Star reporter I knew back in the mi-'70s covered the University Council and its committees. At a committee meeting, something an admin didn't like was said. They told the reporter in the meeting in front of everyone that if they put that in an article, they would call another meeting and not tell the reporter when or where.

The same attitude persists today ... and some alumni have had it with Northern. Keep doing that and it won't have any supporting alumni. Maybe that's one reason why those 160,000 alumni in Chicago don't come back to DeKalb. Been there, had that happen, good-bye.

Said this before: do something FOR someone, they remember you for a year. Do something TO someone, they won't forget you for the rest of their life.

"it borders on criminal."

Well, in keeping with last week thread on funding EMT's via ticket prices, tack cheerleader funding onto ticket prices as well!

It will be kind of like student fees (what are they up to by now???); fund basketball related activity via ticket prices.

Then much like students we can take out loans to attend NIU basketball games coached by the highest paid NIU employee ($400K+) with a demonstrated history of mediocrity.

Whatever this borders on, I like: https://www.instagram.com/aubsgall/

(02-20-2020 03:08 PM)GeorgeBorkFan Wrote:  

(02-20-2020 02:08 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(02-20-2020 12:36 PM)Huskie Info Wrote:  The cheerleaders do not need "saving" ... you all are falling for a marketing ploy. They want to go to Florida. That is what they are fundraising for.

So what is their budget? How much does Athletics provide for their uniforms, equipment, travel costs to away games, etc.?

Even if they do want to go to Florida to compete, isn't that a good thing? What is the logo on their uniforms? Do they not represent NIU in a positive way?

You'll not hear back. Huskie Info, ie the athletic department, won't respond. There is a serious lack of openness in that group. I guess it goes with the arrogance.

I mean, I probably wouldn't respond either unless a proper request was made (admittedly, I'm not sure exactly what that would be...maybe fill out a form or write a letter, ie, not just an email, or something along a more formal way to request information). I wouldn't expect them to just run a report an send it out every single time some fan or alumni decided to pick up the phone or shoot off an email because they want to know things about the budget.

(02-20-2020 08:01 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  

(02-20-2020 03:08 PM)GeorgeBorkFan Wrote:  

(02-20-2020 02:08 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(02-20-2020 12:36 PM)Huskie Info Wrote:  The cheerleaders do not need "saving" ... you all are falling for a marketing ploy. They want to go to Florida. That is what they are fundraising for.

So what is their budget? How much does Athletics provide for their uniforms, equipment, travel costs to away games, etc.?

Even if they do want to go to Florida to compete, isn't that a good thing? What is the logo on their uniforms? Do they not represent NIU in a positive way?

You'll not hear back. Huskie Info, ie the athletic department, won't respond. There is a serious lack of openness in that group. I guess it goes with the arrogance.

That figure should be public information since it was in an official approved athletic budget at least back in 2016. It's not up to the a.dept. whether they want to release it.

It's an old problem with NIU. A little story ... a Star reporter I knew back in the mi-'70s covered the University Council and its committees. At a committee meeting, something an admin didn't like was said. They told the reporter in the meeting in front of everyone that if they put that in an article, they would call another meeting and not tell the reporter when or where.

The same attitude persists today ... and some alumni have had it with Northern. Keep doing that and it won't have any supporting alumni. Maybe that's one reason why those 160,000 alumni in Chicago don't come back to DeKalb. Been there, had that happen, good-bye.

Said this before: do something FOR someone, they remember you for a year. Do something TO someone, they won't forget you for the rest of their life.

That's not the reason 160,000 Chicago alumni don't come back to DeKalb. Let's be honest, you know that school and campus as well as I do (assuming). Very few of those 160,000 ever went to athletic events on the weekends. NIU has been a suitcase college for decades upon decades. I went there in the 90s. People would abandon town for the suburbs every single weekend.

Just because there are alumni, doesn't mean they got disenfranchised after graduation. Most likely, they never cared about the athletic programs to begin with. Then, of the much smaller number who did, many of them couldn't make the effort to stick around for weekend events. Finally, the vast majority of them simply aren't Husky fans and those that do like college sports are watching the Big Ten or Notre Dame because that's what the school consists of. Students, who are college sports fans are "fill in the blank with the college they've rooted for growing up with their dad or family" first and then Husky fans second.

Let's be honest, there is no (and has never been) any glamour to being an NIU sports fan. Those of us that are, are very much in the minority of that 160,000 Chicago alumni. And it's a real small minority.

(02-21-2020 11:07 AM)El Duderino Wrote:  "it borders on criminal."

Well, in keeping with last week thread on funding EMT's via ticket prices, tack cheerleader funding onto ticket prices as well!

It will be kind of like student fees (what are they up to by now???); fund basketball related activity via ticket prices.

Then much like students we can take out loans to attend NIU basketball games coached by the highest paid NIU employee ($400K+) with a demonstrated history of mediocrity.

Whatever this borders on, I like: https://www.instagram.com/aubsgall/

If they attached EMTs and the cheerleading budget to basketball tickets, either we'd never see either of those things (like now) or, considering how many tickets already go unsold, tickets would cost about $300 per game. And I might be estimating extremely low on that figure.

(02-21-2020 11:53 AM)Big Red Wrote:  

(02-20-2020 08:01 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  

(02-20-2020 03:08 PM)GeorgeBorkFan Wrote:  

(02-20-2020 02:08 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(02-20-2020 12:36 PM)Huskie Info Wrote:  The cheerleaders do not need "saving" ... you all are falling for a marketing ploy. They want to go to Florida. That is what they are fundraising for.

So what is their budget? How much does Athletics provide for their uniforms, equipment, travel costs to away games, etc.?

Even if they do want to go to Florida to compete, isn't that a good thing? What is the logo on their uniforms? Do they not represent NIU in a positive way?

You'll not hear back. Huskie Info, ie the athletic department, won't respond. There is a serious lack of openness in that group. I guess it goes with the arrogance.

That figure should be public information since it was in an official approved athletic budget at least back in 2016. It's not up to the a.dept. whether they want to release it.

It's an old problem with NIU. A little story ... a Star reporter I knew back in the mi-'70s covered the University Council and its committees. At a committee meeting, something an admin didn't like was said. They told the reporter in the meeting in front of everyone that if they put that in an article, they would call another meeting and not tell the reporter when or where.

The same attitude persists today ... and some alumni have had it with Northern. Keep doing that and it won't have any supporting alumni. Maybe that's one reason why those 160,000 alumni in Chicago don't come back to DeKalb. Been there, had that happen, good-bye.

Said this before: do something FOR someone, they remember you for a year. Do something TO someone, they won't forget you for the rest of their life.

That's not the reason 160,000 Chicago alumni don't come back to DeKalb. Let's be honest, you know that school and campus as well as I do (assuming). Very few of those 160,000 ever went to athletic events on the weekends. NIU has been a suitcase college for decades upon decades. I went there in the 90s. People would abandon town for the suburbs every single weekend.

Just because there are alumni, doesn't mean they got disenfranchised after graduation. Most likely, they never cared about the athletic programs to begin with. Then, of the much smaller number who did, many of them couldn't make the effort to stick around for weekend events. Finally, the vast majority of them simply aren't Husky fans and those that do like college sports are watching the Big Ten or Notre Dame because that's what the school consists of. Students, who are college sports fans are "fill in the blank with the college they've rooted for growing up with their dad or family" first and then Husky fans second.

Let's be honest, there is no (and has never been) any glamour to being an NIU sports fan. Those of us that are, are very much in the minority of that 160,000 Chicago alumni. And it's a real small minority.

It isn't the reason for 160,000 to not show up. But we don't need that many. Many of us have experienced, shall we say, less than ideal interactions with people at NIU. Safe to say, others have also, but instead of still being on this board and still going to games, they have stopped going altogether.

What you're talking about has always been the case. It was a suitcase school when I went there but we've still had some good attendance since then. Also, it's "Huskie".

To clarify, I said "maybe that's one reason," having cited the "suitcase school" mentality along with other reasons so many times on so many threads it borders on nauseating repetition. The point of the post, anyway, was the way Northern has historically treated some -- and possibly many -- students when they are actually on campus. In my day, generally, we were headcount, as in "my program is more important than your program because I have more students."

It's not always what they do; but it's almost always how they do it. E.g., The cheerleaders -- an active student participation group -- was cut and no real notice was made (and possibly the Silverettes too).

And can someone argue that the attitude toward alumni has changed, that the a.dept. treats former students as valuable assets, with consideration, prompt response, attention to requests, acknowledgement of decent ideas, and some realistic accommodation?

I've also speculated that if Northern could draw some support from just 10% of those 160,000 Chicago alumni to support the Huskies, the program would be in pretty good shape. That's why in the BYU/SeatGeek thread I raised the question of both pre-game and post-game promotion. On this we have to wait and see. STF has said near zero on the subject and not asked for help from existing fans.

Keep the cheer up.

(02-21-2020 12:17 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(02-21-2020 11:53 AM)Big Red Wrote:  

(02-20-2020 08:01 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  

(02-20-2020 03:08 PM)GeorgeBorkFan Wrote:  

(02-20-2020 02:08 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  So what is their budget? How much does Athletics provide for their uniforms, equipment, travel costs to away games, etc.?

Even if they do want to go to Florida to compete, isn't that a good thing? What is the logo on their uniforms? Do they not represent NIU in a positive way?

You'll not hear back. Huskie Info, ie the athletic department, won't respond. There is a serious lack of openness in that group. I guess it goes with the arrogance.

That figure should be public information since it was in an official approved athletic budget at least back in 2016. It's not up to the a.dept. whether they want to release it.

It's an old problem with NIU. A little story ... a Star reporter I knew back in the mi-'70s covered the University Council and its committees. At a committee meeting, something an admin didn't like was said. They told the reporter in the meeting in front of everyone that if they put that in an article, they would call another meeting and not tell the reporter when or where.

The same attitude persists today ... and some alumni have had it with Northern. Keep doing that and it won't have any supporting alumni. Maybe that's one reason why those 160,000 alumni in Chicago don't come back to DeKalb. Been there, had that happen, good-bye.

Said this before: do something FOR someone, they remember you for a year. Do something TO someone, they won't forget you for the rest of their life.

That's not the reason 160,000 Chicago alumni don't come back to DeKalb. Let's be honest, you know that school and campus as well as I do (assuming). Very few of those 160,000 ever went to athletic events on the weekends. NIU has been a suitcase college for decades upon decades. I went there in the 90s. People would abandon town for the suburbs every single weekend.

Just because there are alumni, doesn't mean they got disenfranchised after graduation. Most likely, they never cared about the athletic programs to begin with. Then, of the much smaller number who did, many of them couldn't make the effort to stick around for weekend events. Finally, the vast majority of them simply aren't Husky fans and those that do like college sports are watching the Big Ten or Notre Dame because that's what the school consists of. Students, who are college sports fans are "fill in the blank with the college they've rooted for growing up with their dad or family" first and then Husky fans second.

Let's be honest, there is no (and has never been) any glamour to being an NIU sports fan. Those of us that are, are very much in the minority of that 160,000 Chicago alumni. And it's a real small minority.

It isn't the reason for 160,000 to not show up. But we don't need that many. Many of us have experienced, shall we say, less than ideal interactions with people at NIU. Safe to say, others have also, but instead of still being on this board and still going to games, they have stopped going altogether.

What you're talking about has always been the case. It was a suitcase school when I went there but we've still had some good attendance since then. Also, it's "Huskie".

Well, I will agree that if you have an already small number of "customers" (for lack of a better term) then your effort to make their experience as good as possible should be paramount to anything else because if you lose one (or a few) its a much bigger issue and has a much larger impact than if you have a huge fanbase to draw from.

Fan relations should never be negative but when you have no margins for error.

(02-20-2020 06:36 PM)OldTtimeNIU Wrote:  I'd like cheerleaders to actually lead cheers.... fire up the crowd...
Acrobatics are fine but fire up the fans...

Haha ya, fire up all us 60 and 70 year olds in the crowd.I just donated. Bush league not having cheerleaders. Alot of programs in the athletic department costing more on the bottom line than cheerleading.

Podcast interview with the NIU Cheer coach:


https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cH...IARAE&ep=6

Thanks for posting the link.

I would suggest anyone interested listen to the entire Huskies on Tap audio for more complete info and commentary. All due credit to Huskies on Tap. Go up one post to FWHuskie for the link. This is a great resource for Huskies fans. There are a lot of other interviews on there. I don't want to step on anyone's really good effort to keep us better informed.

One thing I picked up, that was asked about on this thread, is that the cheerleaders no longer are allowed to sell the "50/50 tickets" at Huskies events; the a.dept. took that over and keeps what used to be the cheerleader program "share." Also, the cheerleaders can't sell anything else without a license (I don't know exactly how that works ... a vending license, perhaps, or a permit to sell licensed NIU or other products?).

At every basketball game the Kishwaukee baseball team mans the concessions and gets the tips. I would think we could give some of the dates to cheerleading. Keep it in house.

(02-22-2020 11:44 PM)7huskie6 Wrote:  At every basketball game the Kishwaukee baseball team mans the concessions and gets the tips. I would think we could give some of the dates to cheerleading. Keep it in house.

It appears they have to get permission from the a.dept. which already took away one of their primary means of fund-raising, or some kind of license.

(02-23-2020 12:29 AM)pvk75 Wrote:  

(02-22-2020 11:44 PM)7huskie6 Wrote:  At every basketball game the Kishwaukee baseball team mans the concessions and gets the tips. I would think we could give some of the dates to cheerleading. Keep it in house.

It appears they have to get permission from the a.dept. which already took away one of their primary means of fund-raising, or some kind of license.

I don’t know why the cheerleaders still perform at NIU events. I would tell Frazier where to stick it.

(02-23-2020 09:24 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(02-23-2020 12:29 AM)pvk75 Wrote:  

(02-22-2020 11:44 PM)7huskie6 Wrote:  At every basketball game the Kishwaukee baseball team mans the concessions and gets the tips. I would think we could give some of the dates to cheerleading. Keep it in house.

It appears they have to get permission from the a.dept. which already took away one of their primary means of fund-raising, or some kind of license.

I don’t know why the cheerleaders still perform at NIU events. I would tell Frazier where to stick it.

Speaking of Frazier was he even at the game yesterday?

(02-23-2020 09:33 AM)golf4501 Wrote:  

(02-23-2020 09:24 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(02-23-2020 12:29 AM)pvk75 Wrote:  

(02-22-2020 11:44 PM)7huskie6 Wrote:  At every basketball game the Kishwaukee baseball team mans the concessions and gets the tips. I would think we could give some of the dates to cheerleading. Keep it in house.

It appears they have to get permission from the a.dept. which already took away one of their primary means of fund-raising, or some kind of license.

I don’t know why the cheerleaders still perform at NIU events. I would tell Frazier where to stick it.

Speaking of Frazier was he even at the game yesterday?

If he was, I’m sure he was with the big donors in the Nelson suite. That would allow him to look down on the common fans.

Yes! Frazier was at the game.

(02-23-2020 09:47 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(02-23-2020 09:33 AM)golf4501 Wrote:  

(02-23-2020 09:24 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(02-23-2020 12:29 AM)pvk75 Wrote:  

(02-22-2020 11:44 PM)7huskie6 Wrote:  At every basketball game the Kishwaukee baseball team mans the concessions and gets the tips. I would think we could give some of the dates to cheerleading. Keep it in house.

It appears they have to get permission from the a.dept. which already took away one of their primary means of fund-raising, or some kind of license.

I don’t know why the cheerleaders still perform at NIU events. I would tell Frazier where to stick it.

Speaking of Frazier was he even at the game yesterday?

If he was, I’m sure he was with the big donors in the Nelson suite. That would allow him to look down on the common fans.

Yes he was in the Nelson Suite at half time of the men’s game and into the second half along with Coach Hammock, President Freeman, at least four other members of athletics, larger donors, middle of the road donors, Carl Armato, and guest Jeff Comphers as he should be. He was also down near court side and in Victor E Pub along with people, dare I say, were at their first basketball game of the year and don’t donate money to athletics as he should be. He was also between games down in Victor E. Court at the Alumni Association event listening to Coach Hammock give an update on recruiting as he should be. I would also be willing to bet he went home at some point and spent time with his family as he should.