ORU at U. of North Dakota

[ORU82]

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!     

[BlueGold]

Amen, ORU82, I couldn't have said it better myself, although I've tried in other threads.  It's very disappointing to say the least.  I pointed out recently in a WBB thread that we just had one of the worst fall sports seasons in a long long time, and I also agree with your assessments of the track program and women's basketball.  Track consistently puts out top-flight sprinters and short-distance runners, and pole vaulters, but we never have enough depth, especially in the field events, to win Summit titles.  I have also been one of the biggest sunshine pumpers for WBB for many years, but the shine has worn off.  I feel like the program should be consistently competing for conference titles and tournament titles, and it hasn't.  Year seven and no Summit regular season or tournament titles for the current head coach, who I agree is a great person.  

Does the athletic administration care about winning?  I mean really care, and care enough to push the current coaches and staff or place ultimatums on them to win more?

It hurts to see the program where it is overall, and men's basketball as the supposed marquee sport having so many troubles winning.

[ORUalum]

Good points about the state of athletics.  In track's defense, I'm not sure they field a large enough team to compete for league championships.  I think they concentrate most of their limited scholarships on getting a smaller number of elite athletes to try and get ORU to the NCAA championships.  Unfortunately, the last couple of years they have they have been poached by SEC schools on some of their top African athletes that Dial and his staff have discovered.

I think the women's basketball team is close to competing for a championship.  They should next year returning almost everyone except Beatty and adding the post from OSU.  

My guess is that Cussen will be Mike Carter's replacement as AD whenever he is ready to hang it up.

[Old Titan]

Women’s basketball has a much higher bar to clear to win a league championship; the best team in the Summit is typically Top 25-caliber nationally. 

Always going to be tough to compete with the Dakota schools in track when they have scholarship football players filling out their numbers.

One of the reasons baseball is so successful off the field is that their coaching staff takes an active role in fundraising and promotion. Not sure that’s the case with men’s basketball; particularly with special events involving the public.

[74Titan]

Jordan Gilbert will also be gone (5th-year senior).

 

[jmg1984]

Cross country teams r also mediocre the times they run r bested by many D2 teams .womens volleyball hasnt won a league title in a long time

[ORUPucks]

Personally I’m very excited about the future, Obanor, Weaver, Latcis,Fuqua,.....These guys are excited to be here and are I think headed in the right direction.....have you seen the videos of Weaver and Latcis talking about being at ORU....I’m not sure Sutton’s players showed up to class let alone chapel.....I get frustrated watching some of these games and coaching decisions but some of these freshman ,(Jurgens)are getting minutes when they probably should’ve been redshirted.  I looked at Caleb Greens numbers when he was a freshman compared to Obanor,   Green averaged about10 min more a game and had 2-3 seniors and a few Jrs on that team With him......Obanor has only started since Eman has been hurt.  And there are 2 seniors on the roster but first year in the program,  Green.   28 games /started 26 scored 480 points. 278 rebounds avg 31.4 min/game..Obanor 25 games only 8 starts 356 points. 177 rebounds 21.8 minutes per game...still 2 games to play.....hopefully Weaver continues to improve and Sam back to the 2 guard next year and they bring in a rim protector for the zone defense and things are looking bright

[Old Titan]

6 hours ago, ORUPucks said:

....I’m not sure Sutton’s players showed up to class let alone chapel.....

Not true.

Albert Owens was academic all-region, and a great guy.  Obi Emegano was a poster child for a student-athlete.  Aaron Young, Mickey Michalec, Yemi, Moses, Kelvin, Caleb, Ken, Jonathan, Luke, etc. - all great guys.

Even a guy like Marcus Lewis was able to turn his career - and his life - around by coming to ORU.

Scott Sutton coached dozen and dozens of guys for almost two decades at ORU, so there were bound to be a handful of knuckleheads here and there, but that's it.

[ORUJason]

Kyron Stokes had a total turnaround during his freshman year as well.