Author Topic: Rumor mill: Boals/Ford on the move?  (Read 3456 times)

OldSeawolf

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Re: Rumor mill: Boals/Ford on the move?
« Reply #45 on: March 20, 2019, 11:18:20 am »
I'll take a moderate position here. 

I think there is no doubt that winning breeds enthusiasm, when it comes to the fans, student interest, community interest, and publicity in the college basketball world. Who ever heard of Gonzaga until they started winning every year; now it seems like they are a perennial 1 or 2 seed.  There was a different feel around the arena when Warney was around and we were winning.  Didn't have that feel this year, IMO.  Hate to look backwards, but winning only 1 of 5 AE Championship games (3 of which were home!), didn't help.  Losing in the QF's this year, negated a lot of the progress we built during the season.  Win games, win big games, and the fans will come, and the buzz around the nation will develop.  Winning cures all (or at least helps a lot).

All that said, the AE is not strong enough of a conference to natively attract 3+ star players.   There are only circa 4,500 DI players in the country, and the players that you're going to attract to the AE, are under-the-radar players or guys that know they're not good enough to play in the P5 conferences and subsequently the NBA, and just want a solid education at zero cost.  You have to be extremely lucky to attract a John Stockton type to SBU.

So, here's what I would suggest as part of a 5-10 year plan, to become the next Gonzaga:

1) Double the budget of the program through donations and activity fees.  Increased visibility of the sports programs has ripple effects on the academic institution at large;

2) Get a top-name coach (not an Assistant) that will garner national attention.  If we need to pay $1MM/year, so be it;

3) Get a coach with some Long Island roots that can establish a relationship with the 3MM people and multitude of high schools we have on Long Island.  Let Long Island become a breeding ground for SBU players;

4)Yes, move to a better conference; A10 at the minimum.  Forget about moving to another 1-bid conference like the CAA; there is no real incremental gain for doing that;

5)Forge a relationship with High School sports programs in the area: free tickets to high school and middle school teams, regular newsletter communiques to the players and parents of these schools, schedule regular coaching workshops, etc.  Create a buzz in the area that will keep these kids home;

Need to think big, and yes, it takes money to make money (or gain notoriety).  We've come a long way with sports from the days when I was an undergraduate at SBU (and navigating the muddy campus to play bball in the dusty gym). Kudos to our President (and former President) and the sports administration for getting us where we are today.  Now, let's take that next leap.

Are we all in?
How old a Seawolf am I? I followed them during their Final 4 DIII hoops run in 1977-78 (they were called the Patriots then)