Poll

Heilbron will soon finish his third year as AD.  Do you think he has generally improved the athletic program at SB?

Absolutely - big improvements!
2 (28.6%)
No way - this program is in decline!
1 (14.3%)
Treading water
4 (57.1%)

Total Members Voted: 7

Voting closed: June 16, 2017, 07:40:14 pm

Author Topic: Shawn Heilbron / TWT  (Read 11835 times)

Chairman of the Board

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Re: Shawn Heilbron
« Reply #15 on: May 31, 2018, 09:02:46 pm »
all the right messages: https://stonybrookathletics.com/news/2018/5/31/Together_We_Transform_March_31.aspx?path=blog

really good marketing of our program and successes.  ;D
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Seawolf97

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Re: Shawn Heilbron
« Reply #16 on: June 28, 2018, 09:41:42 pm »
  I just read Shawns latest  blog posted today .  He has accomplished quite abit nd has plans or a lot more.   These could be exciting times on the horizon . Have to give him for getting things done.   Considering money is tight at the Brook now he is ambitious.

VA_Seawolf

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Re: Shawn Heilbron
« Reply #17 on: June 30, 2018, 01:51:35 am »
  I just read Shawns latest  blog posted today .  He has accomplished quite abit nd has plans or a lot more.   These could be exciting times on the horizon . Have to give him for getting things done.   Considering money is tight at the Brook now he is ambitious.

I read this and then went to read the blog. Extremely ambitious. A few things jump out to me.

Quote
Expand the seating capacity of Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium to a minimum of 15,000 and add fan amenities, including new restrooms and points of sale for concessions, merchandise and tickets.

15K is the magic number for FBS football, so that's not a shock. The new concession stand is already in on the north side of the stadium and is a great addition.

Quote
Provide appropriate facilities for new women's program(s) to be added in the future.

As per Title IX, if you're going to add scholarships for FBS football, you'll need to match that with 22 additional women's scholarships. Which sports he has in mind is anyone's guess, but comments like this are consistent with going FBS in football.

Quote
Develop a soccer-specific venue for training and competition.

Now this is where we start going off the rails here. I know soccer is gaining popularity in the US, but I was previously of the opinion that if we were going to go FBS, we'd need to cut men's soccer in order to make the scholarship increase easier to stomach. Doubling down on soccer with a dedicated facility is going the opposite direction. Obviously the women's team could use it, but with words like this, Shawn has no intention of cutting anything anywhere. I'm curious how this will ultimately shake out as if we're going to go FBS, the move will have to be made in the next 5-7 years to align with the next College Football Playoff contract. How we're going to pay for 22 more football scholarships, more women's sports, the stadium expansion, and staffing costs associated with those moves is of great interest to me. We're already paying Coach P FBS money (seriously, look it up), but if we're going to be a respectable FBS program, we'll need to at least double the current allotment to coaching salaries for football.

Not saying we can't pull it off because we clearly can, but something is going to have to give somewhere. College Football Playoff distributions, FBS conference distributions, TV revenue, NCAA tournament credits (thank you UMBC) can offset many of these costs, but I'd rather be cautiously optimistic than be super bullish.

ry1nik

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Re: Shawn Heilbron
« Reply #18 on: June 30, 2018, 06:58:59 am »
Agree on doubt about the wisdom of putting money into soccer. Having a winning soccer program does little to enhance the stature of the university.

OldSeawolf

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Re: Shawn Heilbron
« Reply #19 on: June 30, 2018, 10:05:35 am »
Agreed.  Soccer is not a winner at all.  Not to mention that soccer took a huge hit in this country with us not making the World Cup.
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Seawolf97

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Re: Shawn Heilbron
« Reply #20 on: June 30, 2018, 01:03:51 pm »
 I would rather put money into football and the basketball programs that's where the major press coverage is .  Our other sports all should get their share . Soccer he is talking a complete new venue of 3500 seats so I have heard .   This could be interesting since I get the impression that FBS football is closer than we think for the Seawolves .  Our old rivals in the Big South Coastal Carolina and Liberty are both FBS now .  Coastal almost beat Arkansas last season losing by a field goal .

VA_Seawolf

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Re: Shawn Heilbron
« Reply #21 on: July 01, 2018, 01:32:38 pm »
I would rather put money into football and the basketball programs that's where the major press coverage is .  Our other sports all should get their share . Soccer he is talking a complete new venue of 3500 seats so I have heard .   This could be interesting since I get the impression that FBS football is closer than we think for the Seawolves .  Our old rivals in the Big South Coastal Carolina and Liberty are both FBS now .  Coastal almost beat Arkansas last season losing by a field goal .

We are very close to FBS, what we need is a conference invite. I don't believe we should go the Liberty/Umass/NMSU route of being an FBS Independent, so we'll need to find a conference that will invite us. Best odds of that are the MAC, or a reconfigured CUSA with a more eastern tilt.

Seawolf97

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Re: Shawn Heilbron
« Reply #22 on: July 01, 2018, 04:18:19 pm »
The MAC would be great .  From what I have heard we have some support in that conference from Buffalo and few others .  Just gotta get that invite and build from there.

Hammertime

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Re: Shawn Heilbron
« Reply #23 on: July 01, 2018, 05:26:57 pm »
I would rather put money into football and the basketball programs that's where the major press coverage is .  Our other sports all should get their share . Soccer he is talking a complete new venue of 3500 seats so I have heard .   This could be interesting since I get the impression that FBS football is closer than we think for the Seawolves .  Our old rivals in the Big South Coastal Carolina and Liberty are both FBS now .  Coastal almost beat Arkansas last season losing by a field goal .

We are very close to FBS, what we need is a conference invite. I don't believe we should go the Liberty/Umass/NMSU route of being an FBS Independent, so we'll need to find a conference that will invite us. Best odds of that are the MAC, or a reconfigured CUSA with a more eastern tilt.

VASeawolf, Why do you say we are close. As much as I would love to see SB make that jump to FBS, I just dont see it anytime soon. SB would have make LaValle stadium to handle 15K seats, Min. and sell 15K tickets for each home game, if not then SB is on the hook to pay the difference. Correct me if i am wrong but i do believe that is one of the requirements from the NCAA. We do about 7K on average now.

Hofstra couldn't even handle the CAA in Football and was forced to drop it because of financial reasons. If I am not mistaken, there is a hiring freeze currently in affect and a cutback in $$$$ for athletics. How in the world can Shawn Heilbron pool a rabbit out of his hat and make the leap to FBS?? Unless they magically find a ton of money or if some big time booster steps forward, i just dont see how SB can ever make this fly.

Chairman of the Board

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Re: Shawn Heilbron
« Reply #24 on: July 01, 2018, 07:28:25 pm »
agreed; what could be worse than SB paying extra to buy it's own tickets, so that football can play in a literally half empty stadium.

i do agree as well that FB and BB should be priorities.  after that, baseball is historically successful and lacrosse is in anomaly (because of geographical reasons).

on to the women's side- wlax should become a top 5 priority if not higher.  can you even argue against it.
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VA_Seawolf

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Re: Shawn Heilbron
« Reply #25 on: July 01, 2018, 07:52:31 pm »
The MAC would be great .  From what I have heard we have some support in that conference from Buffalo and few others .  Just gotta get that invite and build from there.

I believe we have support yes and there were talks with the MAC several years ago, however I don't believe Buffalo will be in favor of our membership. If we go FBS, their program becomes even more irrelevant than it already is since the only thing they have on us right now is being FBS. I suspect they'd fight against our inclusion into the MAC, but I'm happy to be wrong there.

Hammertime, yes the 15k average is a requirement for FBS, but nobody enforces that rule, it's not in the interest of the P5 to do so. If that rule were enforced, most of the MAC and Sun Belt would be relegated back down to FCS. Besides, I don't believe schools literally buy back their tickets at face value. You're in a way just buying your own product back at that point and paying yourself. Not sure I even see the point. Coastal Carolina got an invite to the Sun Belt when their stadium was smaller than ours is currently. If they can manage to be FBS, so can we. It may not happen tomorrow, but I can certainly see it within a decade. What Hofstra did with their program is of no concern to me. They have less than half the enrollment we do. All of our peer institutions and fellow public AAU members with football are FBS with the lone exception of UC Davis.

Being FBS gives you a huge boost as far as exposure and media dollars which would help to offset many of the increased costs we'd incur. Not only that, but FBS games tend to be much better attended than FCS games since it's difficult for FCS teams in large markets to be relevant. Attendance wouldn't be an issue if we were getting Army, Uconn, Temple, Buffalo etc. coming to Lavalle.

Chairman, I do worry about money, but on the same token we're already spending FBS level dollars on our athletic programs without the FBS exposure and revenues to offset that. With that information, no, I don't think FBS football is a huge stretch for SBU in the near future. Give the link below a look if you get the chance, it's updated NCAA financial data for public schools for the 2016-17 school year and it's very eye opening.

http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/
« Last Edit: July 01, 2018, 08:03:31 pm by VA_Seawolf »

Chairman of the Board

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Re: Shawn Heilbron
« Reply #26 on: July 01, 2018, 08:52:19 pm »
thanks, very helpful.   :) :)
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Seawolf97

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Re: Shawn Heilbron
« Reply #27 on: July 02, 2018, 11:39:47 am »
When you read his plan even without FBS football we are planning to spend millions. Upgrades to the baseball and softball fields , more work on the pool ,  two new womens programs , locker room improvements etc.  That money has to come from somewhere.   Im sure we can pull it off in the next few years .

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Re: Shawn Heilbron
« Reply #28 on: July 08, 2018, 09:29:40 pm »
Quote
Our finish of 90 placed us ahead of Power 5 schools Boston College (95), Rutgers (107), Pitt (111) and Georgia Tech (121). Following our strong start to the year, we were ranked 42 in the Directors' Cup Fall standings. The best finish in school history was 68 in 2011-12.


https://stonybrookathletics.com/news/2018/7/5/together-we-transform-blog-together-we-transform-thursday-july-5-2018.aspx?path=blog
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Seawolf97

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Re: Shawn Heilbron
« Reply #29 on: July 08, 2018, 10:06:30 pm »
He continues to move the ball forward . We are in good company and moving forward.