Seawolves Fans

EcasadoSBU.  Why dont you bring this up to Stonybrook Athletics attention?. As a recent grad you  will be heard. No one listens to me because i didnt go to SB, even though just about my entire tailgate buddies have!

I think to answer your question in why such a decentralized process at Stony Brook we have to take a look at its history, and its present, and the way they are planning for the future

This school was planned to be a research heavy institution from the start in the early 1960s. It grew so quickly that no one really paid attention at the "process" of how things really should get done. For decades our administrators were focused on making Stony Brook a top notch research institution and all the focus was to succeed in that and to a certain extent they have succeeded (It was only until Kenny came in the early 1990s that she noticed how ****ty everything else not involving "research" was at the University. She had great ideas of how things should be done because she came from the University of Texas-Austin... and she improved a lot of things but a lot of the old-timers hated her because her ideas took away from "more important" things )

Adding dorms, campus dining, a student Union, and athletics facilities came out of necessity with very little planning and thought in how to expand the campus cohesively and avoiding the red tape that we have today. So what we got today is a product of such a mess. We have the Faculty Student Association managing Campus Dining/Bookstore/ and the Seawolves Marketplace, Residential Life managing Student Residences, and you have the Athletic Department managing Athletic facilities and events. You also have the Commuter Student Association working for the interest of the commuter population and the Stony Brook Weekend Life Council managing Student Activities on Weekends.... Lastly add the Undergraduate Student Government and Graduate Student Organization working for the interests of their respective students... and between this pile of garbage you have the Students trying to find an event to have fun burried between all these divisions that some times don't seem to work together.

Dr. Stanley did a great job consolidating and eliminating red tape with his Project 50... But he basically focused on the academic and administrative arm of the University...

When is something going to be done to eliminate all the garbage in the student life side of things? I'm not so sure

But my point is...

All these groups (USG, GSO, FSA, Athletics, ResLife, Commuter S.A, Campus Dining, Student Life Weekend Council) should have a common schedule which doesn't conflict between each other. They should help one another advertise events and should have common goal of engaging the entire stony Brook community not just a tiny fraction of the population.

In reality what usually happens is that you end up having one big fraction of the population who doesn't even find out that there are events currently going on... or that is attending another event they care more about... or who goes home on weekend cuz he thinks Stony Brook is boring and full of apathy because of little marketing and little unity.

Take a minute or two and visit the site

today.uconn.edu

There you can find out pretty much everything that is currently going on at UCONN...

Then find me a site other than this ****ty calendar that promotes events to the campus community

http://calendar.activedatax.com/stonybrook/EventList.aspx?fromdate=11/12/2014&todate=11/25/2014&display=Month&view=DateTime

Stony Brook can do better than that... Sometimes I just think they choose not to. The solution is there, but our admins are to blind to even see it. They get away with murder


 

I think to answer your question in why such a decentralized process at Stony Brook we have to take a look at its history, and its present, and the way they are planning for the future

This school was planned to be a research heavy institution from the start in the early 1960s. It grew so quickly that no one really paid attention at the "process" of how things really should get done. For decades our administrators were focused on making Stony Brook a top notch research institution and all the focus was to succeed in that and to a certain extent they have succeeded (It was only until Kenny came in the early 1990s that she noticed how ****ty everything else not involving "research" was at the University. She had great ideas of how things should be done because she came from the University of Texas-Austin... and she improved a lot of things but a lot of the old-timers hated her because her ideas took away from "more important" things )

Adding dorms, campus dining, a student Union, and athletics facilities came out of necessity with very little planning and thought in how to expand the campus cohesively and avoiding the red tape that we have today. So what we got today is a product of such a mess. We have the Faculty Student Association managing Campus Dining/Bookstore/ and the Seawolves Marketplace, Residential Life managing Student Residences, and you have the Athletic Department managing Athletic facilities and events. You also have the Commuter Student Association working for the interest of the commuter population and the Stony Brook Weekend Life Council managing Student Activities on Weekends.... Lastly add the Undergraduate Student Government and Graduate Student Organization working for the interests of their respective students... and between this pile of garbage you have the Students trying to find an event to have fun burried between all these divisions that some times don't seem to work together.

Dr. Stanley did a great job consolidating and eliminating red tape with his Project 50... But he basically focused on the academic and administrative arm of the University...

When is something going to be done to eliminate all the garbage in the student life side of things? I'm not so sure

But my point is...

All these groups (USG, GSO, FSA, Athletics, ResLife, Commuter S.A, Campus Dining, Student Life Weekend Council) should have a common schedule which doesn't conflict between each other. They should help one another advertise events and should have common goal of engaging the entire stony Brook community not just a tiny fraction of the population.

In reality what usually happens is that you end up having one big fraction of the population who doesn't even find out that there are events currently going on... or that is attending another event they care more about... or who goes home on weekend cuz he thinks Stony Brook is boring and full of apathy because of little marketing and little unity.

Take a minute or two and visit the site

today.uconn.edu

There you can find out pretty much everything that is currently going on at UCONN...

Then find me a site other than this ****ty calendar that promotes events to the campus community

http://calendar.activedatax.com/stonybrook/EventList.aspx?fromdate=11/12/2014&todate=11/25/2014&display=Month&view=DateTime

Stony Brook can do better than that... Sometimes I just think they choose not to. The solution is there, but our admins are to blind to even see it. They get away with murder

from what i know, agreed.  it grew so quickly, that things get missed. 

i hadnt even heard of some of these groups.  to me, the critical one is the Stony Brook Weekend Life Council.  this could be the key to getting things changed and perhaps boosting attendance.  http://studentaffairs.stonybrook.edu/sac/weekend_life/weekendlife.shtml

but like i always say, mini golf and movies and laser tag aint gonna do it!  we have to look at our competition and what they are doing right/wrong. 

i *love* golf.  i play 15 times a year.  but look how exciting this is to an 18 year old: https://stonybrook.collegiatelink.net/organization/weekendlife/gallery/Album/33344

a whopping 40 students are on the roster for that club.  i do applaud the efforts though.  here is the mission: http://studentaffairs.stonybrook.edu/sac/weekend_life/cosponsorship.shtml

doesnt entirely reflect the ideas we've come up with in the idea thread, but then again, they are constrained by the powers that be.  its a university-sanctioned club.

i am repetitive- i know.  but you have to consider this: a 17 year old holds a brochure for SB, and one for... SJU, Albany, Delaware, Buffalo, Oneonta, etc. 

While reading about the Ohio/Oregon on NYTimes.. saw this article and which pretty much sums up why we should think twice before dreaming about FBS at Stony Brook:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/08/upshot/the-places-in-america-where-college-football-means-the-most.html?ref=ncaafootball&abt=0002&abg=0

There is not many college football fans in general in northeast.. and if you scroll down you will see that only 4% in NY likes a college team... i.e. any college team!

While reading about the Ohio/Oregon on NYTimes.. saw this article and which pretty much sums up why we should think twice before dreaming about FBS at Stony Brook:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/08/upshot/the-places-in-america-where-college-football-means-the-most.html?ref=ncaafootball&abt=0002&abg=0

There is not many college football fans in general in northeast.. and if you scroll down you will see that only 4% in NY likes a college team... i.e. any college team!

This is the problem with New York specifically Long Island and is one reason why Hofstra abandon their Football program. Attendance were dismal. Long Island has a population of 3,000,000 million people so 4 % of that is still 120,000 people whoa re college football fans. But how many are Seawolf fans?? That will be the problem Shawn Heilbron will be up against trying to get new blood into lavalle Stadium. I dont have an answer to this issue except win games and making it deep into the playoffs every year. That should help!!!!

try drawing a 40 mile diameter circle with a centroid on La Valle.  that would be a reasonable approximation of the population you can draw from.  I'd drive 20 miles one way to see SB football right now if I were a long islander.  now if the team continually competes for CAA titles, the circle grows out farther.  the main crowd needs to come from within 5-10 mile radius of the school.  those are the business we should target to become SB Football boosters.

uphill battle no doubt. I'm actually starting to come to terms with our FCS status. I'm not sure that FBS football, or hypothetical top-notch Power Five football is what I really want for Stony Brook. A sold out team with corruption running through its veins with obsessive commercialism and slave of ESPNs power and wealth. No, I don't want that

I did enjoy last nights game of Ohio State vs Oregon... But it didn't feel like college football to me. It didn't feel like what college football should be.

College football at the highest level in a way shows what's wrong with America with great Public State Universities selling out to corporate interests in the name of profits. I don't know if that's what I really want for SBU

I prefer the family oriented environment that LaValle offers with great competition but without having to drop $5 million for a coach while the school struggles to fund its academic mission. Feels excessive to me.

I'm appreciating the CAA more now and I will continue to support our Seawolves. **** the FBS. Its no longer as important for me 

If the need for expansion arises and our fan base desires a higher level of competition, then so be it. but lets not sell away our institution's soul for the sake of hypothetical profits. Money that its in the hand of a few top tier programs anyways...

I'm with you 100% on this, ecasadoSBU, and have expressed that sentiment a number of times.  I much prefer the more wholesome, family-centric approach SBU has taken so far.to the cut-throat, scandal-ridden, commercialized path some bigger programs have pursued.  It seems that once a program has reached a certain level of competition and expectation it becomes very hard to retain perspective and avoid losing perspective. 

I'd like to see the Seawolves continue to improve and become a model for the FCS by becoming a perennial top 5 rated program, go deep into the playoffs every season and scare the hell out of (and hopefully often beat) every FBS team they have the opportunity to play!!  At that level of performance, the reward will be to  regularly see 12,000-15,000 in the stadium, while not sacrificing the school's academic, recruiting or community standards!!

I have thought this from Day One and couldn't agree more. I like being able to attend a game and not have to deal with 30,000 other fans trying to do the same...not to mention keeping the university's priorities straight.