Chase Johnson
- Thread starter LowellGeorge
- Start date
Ops, sorry, half my post was missing.
I said a lot of WV kids can't even consider MU because of their family and historical attitude toward the university. I'm not saying this was his case, but it happens as we see every recruiting season.
Observing this from a distance for 35 years, I'm also so amazed at how many non-athletes end up there when they're forced to decide where to go that they can afford...
I said a lot of WV kids can't even consider MU because of their family and historical attitude toward the university. I'm not saying this was his case, but it happens as we see every recruiting season.
Observing this from a distance for 35 years, I'm also so amazed at how many non-athletes end up there when they're forced to decide where to go that they can afford...
Last edited:
Yep, he listened to that snake oil salesman Donnie Jones. I know Dayton has a good program, but he could have been a special player in our system.
I went to a game at Dayton's arena once, and it was so amazingly similar to the Henderson Center, but with fresh paint and a modern concourse. They use their blue and red in combination and it looks like an NBA arena until you get to your seat, and then it just looks nice.
When I got back into town, I went to an MU game a few days later and was more aware than ever that we have peeling paint falling out of the rafters and dust collecting on angles on the walls that has been there probably since before Donnie Jones was an assistant at Marshall, much less head coach. That dust is still there, by the way, even after we put a banner in the rafters. Probably wouldn't be so noticeable if it weren't for our white-on-white-on-white-on-white Warehouse Interior motif.
I'm not saying that was the reason the kid picked Dayton, but I assure you that if you were a prospect who visited both schools, you'd see that difference as well.
When I got back into town, I went to an MU game a few days later and was more aware than ever that we have peeling paint falling out of the rafters and dust collecting on angles on the walls that has been there probably since before Donnie Jones was an assistant at Marshall, much less head coach. That dust is still there, by the way, even after we put a banner in the rafters. Probably wouldn't be so noticeable if it weren't for our white-on-white-on-white-on-white Warehouse Interior motif.
I'm not saying that was the reason the kid picked Dayton, but I assure you that if you were a prospect who visited both schools, you'd see that difference as well.
Not only the arena but the fan's passion at _ayton is at the highest level. When they are good, that place is hell to play in. Not sure any other city/arena could make hosting the First Four as successful as they have. Cant blame the kid for that choice although that school makes me want to puke....its the Xavier alum in me....wont even say the name of the city......
I did work in Dayton for years, and I have to say - hating on Dayton is like saying you don't like poor kids in wheelchairs. Have some compassion, man. It's Dayton for chrissakes...its Ohio's West Virginia.
No chance man.....while it is the arm pit of Ohio, will never not hate them!
Licious, are you maybe suggesting that Hamwreck should move a Super Sized industrial strength vacuum cleaner up a few notches on his facilities/needs Wish List??
True. Dayton has a GREAT basketball atmosphere. It is one of the only cities in Ohio that there are fans that are NOT Ohio State fans. They support their teams incredibly well.
The arena, as you mentioned, was designed by the same architect that did the Henderson Center at around the same time, They finished their building where we didn't. We ran out of money before completing the design that was intended.
The Flyers have a great basketball tradition and play in a much better basketball league than we do, unfortunately. It is tough to fault a kid for going there.
When I was growing up, I had some neighbors that were poor. My parents told me they were poor, and that I shouldn't be mean to them, because being poor is kind of like having a disease. I went over to their house once, and when you first walked through the threshold, there was a 2' wide hole in the floor that you could see bare dirt through. I remember being physically afraid of that hole, like I was going to catch poor from it.
Years later, I was in a hardware store looking at 1" thick particle board and two-by-fours, and I realized that with nails and everything, you could have at least patched that hole for maybe $7, or about as much as a six-pack of Coors.
Moral of the story is this: being poor is rough, but keeping your stuff clean usually only costs a little more than the effort.
You’re right about UD Arena, maybe 10 years older than the CHC.
Along the same line Cameron Indoor Stadium opened in ‘40 and the Field House around ‘50-‘51. Both are built along very similar lines but CIS was a finished product and the FH fell short.
The balcony of the FH was never completed as a couple thousand seats were never installed.
Sadly the FH was a political football, poorly managed and generally unkept. CIS became the most iconic building in college basketball.
Since this has devolved into another "the HC stinks" thread, yes, the HC has issues.
In building it, of course, it was a mistake for the city to build the Big Red Barn, which loses money and the city could shutter the place and save taxes. In a better run Huntington, the city and the university cooperated to build one building. But that was over 40 years ago and everybody involved in that decision is dead. MU was given the HC as a sop to fund the WVU football field, and then the worst governor in WV history (and that is saying something) ran the state into the ground in a time of national prosperity and we simply ran out of money.
In upkeep, various repairs and upgrades have not, and really cannot, overcome the building's half-assed construction and origin. If you look at the pipe dream 10 year plan we have to file with the state, which is more or less if we had unlimited money what we would build, the HC gets another facelift, and a concourse on the street side that extends out to the edge of the street. But that is still lipstick on a pig.
BUT, there is no excuse to not clean the place. It is no secret that MH hates the place, and that playing in a dump appeals to the "do more with less" 304 boys system of DD, but there is no reason to not spend a summer cleaning the place, painting every surface, and covering much of the white with modern graphics.
In building it, of course, it was a mistake for the city to build the Big Red Barn, which loses money and the city could shutter the place and save taxes. In a better run Huntington, the city and the university cooperated to build one building. But that was over 40 years ago and everybody involved in that decision is dead. MU was given the HC as a sop to fund the WVU football field, and then the worst governor in WV history (and that is saying something) ran the state into the ground in a time of national prosperity and we simply ran out of money.
In upkeep, various repairs and upgrades have not, and really cannot, overcome the building's half-assed construction and origin. If you look at the pipe dream 10 year plan we have to file with the state, which is more or less if we had unlimited money what we would build, the HC gets another facelift, and a concourse on the street side that extends out to the edge of the street. But that is still lipstick on a pig.
BUT, there is no excuse to not clean the place. It is no secret that MH hates the place, and that playing in a dump appeals to the "do more with less" 304 boys system of DD, but there is no reason to not spend a summer cleaning the place, painting every surface, and covering much of the white with modern graphics.
I don't know, have you heard about "Jim's Dream of Jobs in Making You Succeed"?
Our current governor just announced that WV would be the first - the first (repeating his emphasis) - state in the US to offer computer science classes in every school in the state.
I bet a few VOLUNTEER WORK PARTIES could do wonders to the CAM.....but that is 'thinking outside the Box....."
HerdZilla22 in Charlotte
Zilla, that suggestion has come up before in conjunction with the same type of objective: doing some maintenance, painting, sprucing up, etc., at the JOAN, where we have the same type of no maintenance, insufficient upkeep, etc., that there is at the CAM (and, to be brutally honest, at all other campus facilities, including academic buildings, etc.). Seems when the Athletic Department was approached the issues of insurance, liability, etc., came up and the idea got a thumbs down.
Danny told us yesterday that the practice facility and Henderson Center up grades for coaches offices would be completed in 2 years.
If he had his way, all the seats would be ripped up and the seating configuration would be changed considerably. He would like to see the seats at a greater incline with handrails going all the way to the top row and all seats chairbacks. There would be no walkway separating what is now the lower and upper bowl. The seats would start at the floor and go non stop all the way to the top of the building.
He would also add more rows of seats on the east side and make that all student seating. Then add a restaurant above that area that could be accessed from both inside and outside tha arena
If he had his way, all the seats would be ripped up and the seating configuration would be changed considerably. He would like to see the seats at a greater incline with handrails going all the way to the top row and all seats chairbacks. There would be no walkway separating what is now the lower and upper bowl. The seats would start at the floor and go non stop all the way to the top of the building.
He would also add more rows of seats on the east side and make that all student seating. Then add a restaurant above that area that could be accessed from both inside and outside tha arena
Given the structural design, can’t happen at Henderson Center I don’t believe. I can’t think of any arena like that due to concourse needs and upper level stability.
He wants to model it after the one in San Diego that we played in last year
Danny is not an engineer so I have no idea if his plan would work
Last edited:
Sonny Randle envisioned a cantilevered upper deck for the east side of Fairfield. He knew better but he was a dream seller.
