They wont get a waiver for 10 teams. Funny thing about this, the next realignment that is going to happen at the end of the TV contracts will probably dissolve the Big XII anyway
Hamrick on future scheduling
- Thread starter Mike Gwinn
- Start date
Iowa State and Kansas to the Big 10
Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Texas to the PAC-12
TCU, Baylor, Kansas State, and BYU to the Mountain West(Pac-12 doesn't want religious schools and the schools aren't big enough for the SEC)
WVU left in a lingo but probably end up in the AAC
Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Texas to the PAC-12
TCU, Baylor, Kansas State, and BYU to the Mountain West(Pac-12 doesn't want religious schools and the schools aren't big enough for the SEC)
WVU left in a lingo but probably end up in the AAC
As was stated above, we have a series with ECU. As for UK, MIke ha answered that questions a hundred and one times. UK will NOT schedule us in football. They can't afford to schedule and OOC game with someone that has a shot at beating them. They are locked into Louisville and the with 4-5 SEC losses every year, it makes it really tough to get bowl eligible.
The AAC - looks like the old CUSA - however at least it would be a step forward vs playing what looks like us (not invited to the AAC) vs a bunch of 1-AA schools.
The next realignment will be interesting and Hamrick had better be ready to move..then again he will probably pull a Kayo and we will be left on the outside looking in.
The next realignment will be interesting and Hamrick had better be ready to move..then again he will probably pull a Kayo and we will be left on the outside looking in.
We can only go so far on the funds and resources we have. The core fan base is pretty much tapped out. Any funds above current levels will have to come from new blood (donors) or new corporate sponsors. Too bad Ashland Oil bolted. That was a killer.
Andy,
In an effort to be as diplomatic as possible, let me assure you that the option for Marshall to come to Morgantown to play has been and will be available in the future where WVU home games are needed. No plans "to renew a series against Marshall" is correct. Not to quibble, but a series suggests multiple games at both locations. As you know, WVU is not interested in using an OOC game to schedule a contest in Huntington.
My earlier comment on the subject was to address the specific "ruse" suggested to buy out a Georgia Southern contract and just show up to play. That's why I said that "ruse" was not necessary--Marshall could just as easily schedule a one and done and I stand by that statement.
Well jocktalker how would feel (now this is purely hypothetical) if the Governor found the will to tell both schools home and home from now on? We have heard all the talk for years. You only have to look at Kentucky where the Governor said UK and Louisville would play every year. As far as I can see that would have to happen in our state and end the discussion. Let's play.
I for one would like to see the game played. If it's scheduled the AP will cover it, regardless of the venue.
Again, please don't misread or misunderstand my earlier post. If Marshall simply wanted to play the game, it could do so by scheduling to play a single game or a series of one game contracts in Morgantown.
Obviously Mike Hamrick has no desire to do that. It's not my decision and I did not intend to hijack the thread into another should they or shouldn't they play a one for one thread.
The core fan base is seriously getting older and dying by the minute..that is those that can financially make a difference overall.
TwolfHerdfan, you and Marshall77 have hit the nail on the head. What is really killing growth of our fan base is LACK OF GROWTH in our STUDENT ENROLLMENT, particularly undergrad students, in last 15-20 years, or since Wade Gilley left MU. Just found an old Gazette article from the earlier nineties on problem of retaining students through graduation at WV higher ed entities. Article noted that in 1988 MU enrolled a little over 2100 frosh/new students. Here in 2015, over a quarter century later, MU officials are patting themselves on the back because this year they have enrolled about the same number, or slightly more, new students. THAT IS NOT GROWTH folks!! In fact, when Gilley left MU in 2000, he and others were confident that MU's enrollment would be around the 20,000 mark by 2010.
Related to this problem is the SAD FACT that MU's physical plant is deteriorating and becoming more obsolete FASTER than the University is provided funds to (1) modernize or replace older facilities, and (2) build completely new facilities, including classrooms, 21st century dorms and recreational/athletic facilities. Examples: original science building built around 1950, now 65, needs a lot of work, renovations. Jenkins Hall, former lab school, home of Education College, dates from 1930s-40s era, and pretty much unchanged since then. Memorial Student Center is almost 50 years old, unchanged and outdated. Holderby Hall, formerly South Hall, and originally New Mens dorm build in early 60s and again, basically unchanged in over half a century. This and other examples, e.g., totally obsolete Laidley Hall, are a major reason why MU has been unable to obtain enough new students to significantly grow enrollment. Students and their families in 2015 are not attracted by mid 20th Century facilities, amenities and technology!!!
comparing numbers of the gilley era to today's numbers are apples to oranges. gilley's numbers include the community college, today's numbers do not.
marshall built a rec center and new dorms because above all else, that's what students and their parents said they wanted. since they've been built, we've built the new engineering center, the biotech center, etc. if ol' j wade came back to campus he wouldn't recognize much of it, we've grown so much in the last 15 years, it's impressive for a public school marshall's size.
another reason it's a bigger deal to get kids these days, is the soaring cost of attending college. there was a recent nyt article, i can't find it off hand, that said at ohio state the cost of tuition and fees has increased 60% in the last 10 years. so, yeah, getting 2000 kids enrolled when marshall was a few hundred bucks wasn't that hard, getting them enrolled when tuition and fees push them over $10k/year is a bit harder.
What? You add to your core fan base every year? Contrary to popular opinion, MU is not a local Professional sports team. It doesn't exist to cater just the local interest. Its a University! and one of the rarities where the population of Transit and Out of State students outnumber the local students. That brings diversity to the area for six-eight months of the year.
Oldeherd, you are not giving credit where credit is due. I graduated from MU in the mid-90's. In the twenty years since I have upon going back there is now a new Library, Medical and Biotech center, Parking Structures, Student Housing. Good God, what do you want? You have a university which has, for the most part, outgrown its space. Only so much you can do with the land and property available to it.
The problem, in my opinion; 1. Location, Location, Location ; 2. CUSA (Football)
I will say the short time I spent back since Graduating I feel the HPD and MUPD can do a better job of cleaning up the "Local Trash" in and around the University. When I was there it hardly ever existed within 3-4 blocks of MU.
The fixation on playing WVU is second only to the myth that this THE AMERICAN!!!!!!! is somehow "better" than CUSA. The 3 legitimate of the "group of 5" (THE AMERICAN!!!!!, CUSA, MWC) are equal, with the MAC and Sun Belt just a tick behind. Get over both.
The next realignment will not come until the TV deals run out, which is middle of the next decade. ESPN wishes to convert college football into AAA NFL and AAA NBA. The field fillers are unnecessary. They don't need Texas Tech, or Purdue, or Oregon State, or Pitt, or Vandy. They will contrive 20 to 30 teams in four "conferences" which will be (whatever they call it) Div I, and the rest, plus the Group of 5, and the serious of I-AA wil be Div II. WVU will, along with MU, be in Div II.
The next realignment will not come until the TV deals run out, which is middle of the next decade. ESPN wishes to convert college football into AAA NFL and AAA NBA. The field fillers are unnecessary. They don't need Texas Tech, or Purdue, or Oregon State, or Pitt, or Vandy. They will contrive 20 to 30 teams in four "conferences" which will be (whatever they call it) Div I, and the rest, plus the Group of 5, and the serious of I-AA wil be Div II. WVU will, along with MU, be in Div II.
If I had my druthers we would forget an eerbilly series, and pursue teams that wouldn't take the eerbillys. The ACC. A home and home with Duke, Wake, UVA, Syracuse, would be much more palatable for me.
We have PITT already of course.
A great ESPN game would be Boise v Marshall.
We have PITT already of course.
A great ESPN game would be Boise v Marshall.
Sorry, herdit44, but my original post is correct when you consider that MU had 16000 students when Gilley left and Dan Angel took over. Separation of community college took 2000 students (16,000-2,000=14,000). Yet today our enrollment is just over 13,000, NO real growth in 15 years! Yes, MU's campus has changed and grown since 2000. But issue is NOT MU of 2015 versus MU of 2000. It is how much our campus has grown/changed/improved in last 15 years or so versus how much other schools we are competing with for students have changed in the same period. If you don't think other schools like Ohio U, JMU, EKU, Radford, WKU, other regional schools in nearby states haven't greatly improved their campus facilities, you are greatly mistaken. When we try to recruit out of state students, we have to be cognizant that they are going to compare our campus with others they may be interested in. We have much more to do, improvement wise, when it comes to campus capital improvements in order to be competitive. Oh, yeah, you can check the enrollments of the above schools, all of which have grown in last 15 years, where MU's has NOT. And as for Ohio State (and WVU, for that matter), tuition increases be damned, their enrollments have grown, significantly in WVU's case, since 2000!!
Huh old? We've added school of pharmacy , school of forensic study, school,of engineering, school of sports medicine....what else did I leave out? Drinko Library? AIF second to NO school nationwide.
Plant deteriorating ? Huh? Campus looks better than it ever did when I went.
Actually I'd say we are in a strong position for the future. Best part our students act like students. Not 1 couch burnt, not 1 pregnant mother beaten and yes, not 1 NCAA probation (see eerbilly high) since Hambone arrived.
What be you smokin? :-/
Plant deteriorating ? Huh? Campus looks better than it ever did when I went.
Actually I'd say we are in a strong position for the future. Best part our students act like students. Not 1 couch burnt, not 1 pregnant mother beaten and yes, not 1 NCAA probation (see eerbilly high) since Hambone arrived.
What be you smokin? :-/
Looking at fbschedules.com, for 2016, 2017 and 2018, teams like UNLV, UCF, Utah St., Louisiana Lafayette, Cincy, Indiana, Iowa St. and Syracuse have open dates that need filled.
UNLV, even though they blow, would be a fun 1-1 and would make sense with Hamrick's connections.
I think our fanbase would very much like a 1-1 with UC and/or UCF.
i'd like those @Chris McLaughlin mentioned. i think iu would be a great series too, but they don't have any openings. the b10 goes to a 9 game conference schedule in 2016, so iu is full until 2024.
Also, for those same 3 years/seasons, BC, Northwestern, Kansas, Colorado St., Air Force, Tulsa and Virginia have open dates that match up with Marshall.
I'm good with a 1-1 with any of the teams mentioned in my two posts.
I missed the Big 10 news about the new 9 game conference schedule before I posted.
I'm good with a 1-1 with any of the teams mentioned in my two posts.
I missed the Big 10 news about the new 9 game conference schedule before I posted.
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Sam, It is obvious how you feel about the AAC, although your evaluation is short term - not long. Doesn't matter though, nothing will change that opinion. The real mistake they make and this is obvious first at ECU, is the decision on not allowing props, this takes top level talent out of their mix.
But how do you justify you position on the MAC being a tick behind. They at least have an access bowl appearance and Toledo could figure in that hunt again this year.
Should you choose to answer this, please make it short on the condescending language and long on analysis. Don't use attendance as a measuring stick, because it doesn't really matter, as fans we like to think it does, but in point of fact, it does not.
rumors the acc and sec are/were considering it too. if they both pulled the trigger then the acc, b10, b12, and sec would all only have 3 ooc games per year, would possibly hurt us in scheduling those type of teams.
Shoe, RE: The MAC..
IMHO, the MAC's status comes down to fans. Pre-MU, the MAC champion was playing in a single, ginned up "bowl game" versus the old Big West/PCAA that was just another home game for Fresno State and which paid 1/5th of what the least of the real bowl games played. It was kind of I-Aa. Not quite I-AA, not quite I-A. Fact is, the MAC states are (or maybe the word is were) large and prosperous, and the schools were too large for I-AA and they can (or maybe the word is could) finance what they were doing out of, mostly state tax money and student fees. Some of these schools have booster clubs smaller than the local Rotary.
MU took the MAC by the hand and helped the league greatly.
OK, now we live in a world where every team that wins 6 games goes to an ESPN owned bowl. Will that world continue forever? Don't know. ESPN seems willing to finance Ball State - Nevada in a rented baseball park before a couple 100 people. But ESPN is laying people off right and left to get $$ for the NBA.
But to me, the MAC's status just comes down to fans. I really think the fans of most MAC teams all know each other. Tiny groups of locals and alumni in each little section of the Rust Belt. There is no burning desire by any of these teams to do a whole heck of a lot more than what they are now doing. They just do not have the fan bases. Heck, I will wager you I can go on any MAC campus and find plenty of sports-centric students who are big fans. Of Ohio State (Michigan, Illinois, Indiana). Most of these teams just don't have fan bases like, leave out Marshall, like ECU or Appy State or Troy. They just don't.
And, all respect to OU and KSU and everybody else, fact is the MAC recruits from among the leftovers in a part of the country that, simply put, is dying. When mom and dad move away, junior moves with them, and ends up at UNCC or Furman.
OU's radio guy was on Dave Weekly's show over the summer, and he thinks that a MAC break up is coming. Half the schools are willing to soak the students that much more to pay the players. Half are/can not.
As to level of play, the fact is that if you go 13-0 in any league, and nobody else does, you are going to get the Access Bowl slot,, no matter who you play, but anybody that that the cartel is really excited about getting Toledo and its single bus load of fans over a solid team from the big 3 of the group of 5, is not getting it.
IMHO, the MAC's status comes down to fans. Pre-MU, the MAC champion was playing in a single, ginned up "bowl game" versus the old Big West/PCAA that was just another home game for Fresno State and which paid 1/5th of what the least of the real bowl games played. It was kind of I-Aa. Not quite I-AA, not quite I-A. Fact is, the MAC states are (or maybe the word is were) large and prosperous, and the schools were too large for I-AA and they can (or maybe the word is could) finance what they were doing out of, mostly state tax money and student fees. Some of these schools have booster clubs smaller than the local Rotary.
MU took the MAC by the hand and helped the league greatly.
OK, now we live in a world where every team that wins 6 games goes to an ESPN owned bowl. Will that world continue forever? Don't know. ESPN seems willing to finance Ball State - Nevada in a rented baseball park before a couple 100 people. But ESPN is laying people off right and left to get $$ for the NBA.
But to me, the MAC's status just comes down to fans. I really think the fans of most MAC teams all know each other. Tiny groups of locals and alumni in each little section of the Rust Belt. There is no burning desire by any of these teams to do a whole heck of a lot more than what they are now doing. They just do not have the fan bases. Heck, I will wager you I can go on any MAC campus and find plenty of sports-centric students who are big fans. Of Ohio State (Michigan, Illinois, Indiana). Most of these teams just don't have fan bases like, leave out Marshall, like ECU or Appy State or Troy. They just don't.
And, all respect to OU and KSU and everybody else, fact is the MAC recruits from among the leftovers in a part of the country that, simply put, is dying. When mom and dad move away, junior moves with them, and ends up at UNCC or Furman.
OU's radio guy was on Dave Weekly's show over the summer, and he thinks that a MAC break up is coming. Half the schools are willing to soak the students that much more to pay the players. Half are/can not.
As to level of play, the fact is that if you go 13-0 in any league, and nobody else does, you are going to get the Access Bowl slot,, no matter who you play, but anybody that that the cartel is really excited about getting Toledo and its single bus load of fans over a solid team from the big 3 of the group of 5, is not getting it.
Just for clarity MU is a LONG way from having an engineering school. Marshall currently has two schools within the total academic structure - the School of Medicine and the School of Pharmacy. The others are colleges and programs within those colleges.
I agree with you that the campus looks and is much nicer than ever before. The concern for MU is with tight budgets(and getting tighter) how do maintain the physical plant with limited resources.
GreenDuke, yes campus looks ok, but go beyond the superficial. If anyone one here wants to do the research, read the 2013 Capital Facilities Plan which was approved by the state Higher Ed. Policy people for Marshall. Nearly 400 million in new construction and renovations planned during the 10 year plan. Key for MU and its supporters, alums, etc., which I assume most on this board are, is to urge, lobby, work for the state government to provide the university with the bonding capability to implement, as much as possible, this plan.
Why important? Plan documents in detail many deficiencies, deteriorations, needed upgrades in most of our facilities, not counting the recent newer facilities. We've already had to replace the roof on Drinko library, only about 15 years old! Laidley Hall, Science Hall, Old Main, Student Center, Jenkins Hall, Gullickson Hall, Morrow Library, Holderby Hall, Pritchard Hall, ALL have significant problems and are scheduled for either major renovations or REPLACEMENT. If you don't believe me, which apparently some don't, then see for yourselves at www.Marshall.edu/mplan. I have read this thoroughly and some of you may be surprised that the document does include, in the "long range" phase, major renovations to the Henderson Center, Joan Edwards stadium and a plan for a baseball facility.
Finally, don't know if anyone else remembers this but when Joe Manchin was governor, he authorized extensive millions from then state lottery surplus funds for campus renovations across the state. This was about 7 or 8 years ago. MU got $17 million of said funds for much needed renovations. The problem? Well, at that time Dr. Kopp's administration had identified that MU facilities had an urgent need of renovations and upgrades costing about $67 million dollars!!! Any of you who can do SIMPLE MATH will see that there was an additional need of $50 million for renovations at the time. Guess what the need is today in 2015? The new president, hopefully to be named in next month or so, has much to do.
You are right that we have a lot of work to do on our facilities, but just looking at this plan tells me that they plan to update and renovate the problems we have. Anyone is wrong if they think this isn't a problem anywhere else, and I'll give you an example. Has anyone ever been to Bennett Tower? Around the same setup as the Twin Towers at MU except it is a dump. Twin Towers West and East are much better than Bennett tower. Anyone know where Bennett Tower is??? USPAM
