Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 02/20/2019 in all areas

  1. As for the downhill slide of our men's basketball program it has been happening for a number of years, not just since Coach Mills took it over. In 2007 according to NCAA records we averaged 6,484 in attendance at our men's basketball home games. By 2012 that number had slide to 4,494 and in Sutton's last year it had further dropped to an average of 2,827 per home game. In other words during the last 10 years of Sutton's regime our attendance tanked. As for booster support/donations the Golden Eagle Club in the last 3 years has went from 271 members in 2015-16 to 965 in 2017-18, Coach Mills' first year. The goal for this year is to see that number go over the 1,000 mark. I think you will also find that donations have dramatically increased, hence the private charter flight to North Dakota last week instead of the usual commercial flight. Basically the men's team is flying to all away games. Finally, as SpaceManSpiff pointed out previously in this thread, Sutton inherited a team that had appeared in the tournament championship the previous year and took his first year team to a 13-17 record. In contrast, Coach Mills inherited a team that had went 8-22 and not even made it to the tournament and managed to finish 11-21. In his second year Sutton's team went 10-19 which is the exact same record we currently have this year. So if we can manage another win this year Coach Mills will actually surpass what Sutton did in his second year. My point being that you can not put all of the blame for the current state of the program on Coach Mills. As I stated previously, Sutton should have been fired at least of couple of years before he actually was let go. However, I do believe that support for the program is growing and will continue if we keep improving. As for attendance, that is going to take time to build back up. A lot of the support in the GEC (Golden Eagle Club) is coming from way outside of Tulsa. I know myself and many others will probably not make a home game in Tulsa due to living a great distance away. However, that has not stopped us from increasing our giving in the form of monetary donations. As for expecting more, I do agree with OT, TrueBlue82, EagleManiac, TheEagleman and others, there needs to be more accountability in ALL of our athletic programs. Thank the Good Lord for our baseball team. At least one of our programs is getting it right. As for the others, when are they going to be held accountable? Do we even have a tennis team? I know that the track/field teams excel in some areas but with the major investment in a state-of-the-art track and field complex, when do we expect to start winning Summit League titles? As for soccer, that is a sport we should be excelling in all of the time. One of the best programs in the nation is the University of Akron who in the last 10 years has been the national runner-up twice in D-I, and the national champion once. I have been to their stadium and Case is not that far behind it. They do pay their coach about $260,000 per year making him one of the highest paid coaches in the nation. However, NCAA regs stipulate that only 9.9 scholarships can be given per year in D-I soccer. Thus their soccer budget in the end is not really that much greater than ours. Another example would be the University of Denver whose soccer team is one of the better in the nation and their facilities and budget are not much more than ours. My point being we should expect more from these programs. Then of course is our women's basketball program. Talk about a consistent picture of mediocrity that program is the poster child. Yes Coach Cussen is a nice person and runs a clean program but is it too much to expect a Summit League title? How long does that program continue to get a pass? In short, I do expect more and think that our beloved AD needs to spread the word that you either produce or are gone as an HC, especially in programs that have not produced any title in years. The support is there for better programs. We have a brand new state-of-the-art track and field complex, a new tennis facility, major upgrades to both JLJ and Mabee and I believe financial support is also on the upswing. Now give us Summit League titles and NCAA appearances. GO GOLDEN EAGLES!
    1 point
  2. 1 point
  3. I don't disagree with your statement at all. While I do have optimism for the future, I would agree that another 20-loss season would be disastrous for our program. That said, I do see an upward trend, and am expecting 2019-20 to bring the addition of some talent to augment our current freshman class, resulting in an upper-division finish in the Summit. If those expectations do not come to fruition and we stumble to another 20+ losses, then I would be among the first to propose further changes for the program.
    1 point
×
×
  • Create New...