Seawolves Fans

That was my point because those are big ticket items and there’s many more reasons so I don’t seeing it happen either

If you build it they will come.

Like any business, while fundamentals matter, building is what you want to become. What you are now doesn't matter as much.

If SBU's administration and board of trustees decide that going FBS matters. We're going FBS. That's it. Attendance NOW doesn't matter, just like it didn't matter to Buffalo, or UConn, or UMass, or any other mid-tier public that I think matches SBU in this region. Even Rutgers wasn't prepared for the Big10 when it got picked up (remember Rutgers, the Big East doormat we used to beat in a host of sports?). Now they've ascended to relevancy (not the top of the Big10, but at least not an active drag).

SBU academically could say the same. It was always "fine" academically, but people like Shirley Kenny felt that it should be bigger. You can respond that donors did all that, but no one bets on a limping horse at the track.

If the SBU leadership, notably its board, wants it to go FBS, it will. That's it. As we have seen during other periods when emphasis was put on these programs, the turnout will come if the school pushes for it.

Right now I get the feeling that SBU doesn't know what it wants to be, but it's probably a concern a lot of schools our size have in this new NCAA environment.

My bet is that we're in the MAC by 2032, when the AAC media rights agreement terminates. There won't be a lot of FCS left when we leave it. We're too big to go D2, and I think the non-P4 will reconfigure along more geographic lines once that patchwork conference dissolves. That makes us a good match for wherever Delaware, UMass, UConn Football and Temple go, which I think is to an expanded MAC. This could happen earlier, since I just read that the AAC media rights agreement does not include grant of rights (essentially guaranteeing that people leave, like Memphis just tried to).

Quote from: Redwyn on June 08, 2025, 07:31:07 pm

There is nothing to see here. This was inevitable. Villanova is a resource limited, small school

Villanova’s endowment is over $1 billion so not resource limited.

But it is, if you believe that the decision is between going "big time" in football or finding a place to park your team that is still D1 but plays on a different set of rules (see U Conn's program if you want an example of what it looks like to languish in the middle).

Georgetown (fellow Big East member) who is also in PL football has an endowment of 3.6 bil

Lafayette (PL all sports) has an endowment of 1.1 bil. Lehigh's is 2.2 bil.

In contrast, Ohio State's endowment is 7.9 bil

If Villanova wants to be able to funnel all the money it can into basketball, its true money sport, it needs to make sure football will cost as little as possible.

Another big indicator for me is enrollment. Villanova's is 10K. W&M is 9K. Richmond is 3700. Even Albany (not sure about trying to keep up) is 17K. That may not be enough.

In contrast, Delaware (moved up) is 24K. James Madison 22K. Stony Brook (probably moving up into whatever tier 2 is) is 26K. Buffalo is 32K. That's a huge difference in athletic support fees.

Quote from: Chairman of the Board on May 28, 2025, 11:34:43 am

accidentally caught this on TV a week ago and here is the story: https://news.stonybrook.edu/university/from-cello-to-cells-jivan-ramesh-is-sbus-youngest-graduate-in-decades/

Quote

When 16-year-old Jivan Ramesh walks across the stage at Stony Brook University’s 2025 Commencement, he’ll be making history as the youngest SBU graduate in decades, completing the degree that he began at age 13 in just three years.

Ramesh often enrolled in over 20 credits each semester and found joy in subjects many dread. “I found organic chemistry to be really fun once I got into it,” he said. He also took classes over the winter and summer sessions to complete lab work and to get ahead in courses.

As for what’s next, Ramesh is taking a well-deserved break, and plans to apply for his driver learners permit, something for which he has had no time while in college. He’s applied to several graduate programs in music and is considering a career in composition. He’s already been asked to arrange and edit books of music by a Grammy-winning fiddler and a knighted Filipino musician. And just for fun, he recently took the LSAT. “I did well on it. It was mostly for fun, but it’s good to keep options open.”

that kid hurt my ego. i thought i was special for being a 16yo college freshman. LOL!!


Jokes aside - what a special young man! congratulations to him. Wishing him the best!

Having been on admissions committees for a few levels of college/grad school admissions, these early graduates are challenges. They're often very heavily pushed by parents, and burn out as soon as they're away. There is also something to be said about living life, dating, doing silly things, and growing up.

I wish him nothing but the best, but my experience with such early graduates is that they have major problems adjusting to the real world. I truly wish he had the chance to enjoy High School and College in the way we all did. I doubt he realizes now what he missed.

Gents, I just don't feel that level of abject pessimism.

Will we become the next Ohio State? Unlikely. However, the schools that are dropping have a lot of intrinsic problems beyond athletics. The college world has changed as pricing has soared and debt becomes more expensive. People can't go to small lib arts or parochial colleges to earn degrees that don't make money anymore.

Stony Brook, in contrast, is a large state that is VERY good at subfields that do earn a lot of money. It is an AAU school with a growing endowment and a ton going for it. While we may be disappointed at times by athletics, I would argue that the University as a whole has never been stronger.

We have an athletics image problem. That is absolutely fixable but takes time. I've learned about that a lot through my career. I work for a large health system in NY. It was largely considered a Bronx hospital that caters to inner city medicaid (which it does, and should). However, it now owns several hospitals in Westchester and Rockland counties that are in much more affluent areas. Even with this expanded offering, the admin here fully gets that it takes a good decade to overhaul an image, almost a generational commitment. It's slowly changing, but even if the care is better - perception is 9/10's of reality.

Stony Brook is the same. Pikiell worked on this place for nearly a decade and made notable progress. That shows that it is possible with real commitment. We have backslid since the 2010's, when Stanley had an athletic interest and Pikiell knew how to market it. Part of that is the quality of the product on the court, and I don't like our coaching staff. Hopefully football taught Heilbron how important the right coach is in this portal environment. However, as football taught us, 1 season can change the product pretty drastically, and multiple seasons help that image change happen.

There is NO danger of us dropping D1. Not even a mild one. We're just not going to. I even expect us to make another conference move once the dust settles from NIL and the related lawsuits. If the admin wants to really push the image, they have to start a 10 year plan to do so, and accept that dividends won't really be paid until the end of that plan.

Chairman is right. It's a known parody acct

Coming back to see my first in person Stony Brook football game in over 10 years, and taking my kids to their first game ever. What a day for football!!

Would never have done this if they weren't putting an entertaining product on the field. Flosports has been my medium for years.

It will take time, but the hope is that we'll get the lost season ticket holders to return.  That's the difference.  Winning is key