ORUSwagger Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 6 minutes ago, ORUTerry said: The problem is that the current tournament makes the league a fair amount of money - more than it ever saw at any other venue. Until there is an option to rival the arrangement in Sioux Falls, the member teams will not agree to a change in cities. The question now becomes would Tulsa Sports Commission or KC Sports Commission do enough to make a case? Most can agree the major cities in the Dakotas are not an appealing spot to visit and do much. It’s clear the League has made Money and minimized costs doing the tournaments within the walls of their beloved land. I can see KC being the next best option due to it hosting past March Madness games more than Tulsa. Also I can see the League going to St. Paul, MN since it’s north and not far from the Dakotas. The League would call that a fair compromise. I think it’s not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU40 Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 2 hours ago, ORUTerry said: I get that we are a part of the Summit League and there are no good alternatives. But the whole Dakota- centered attitude by the league has to change. If we want more sway in the league, we have to take it, they are not going to hand it to us because we point out unfairness in the media. My guess is they see us a one hit wonder, good run 2 years ago and we may make the tourney this year, But, year in and year out the XDSU's are the class of the league and when our attendance was way down, the Dakota's fans showed up. I'm sure they are asking themselves what we look like when this senior class leaves. The tourney draws fans and makes money, for them to change that there needs to be compelling reasons, and by compelling, I mean a lot of $$$. We need to win and win consistently. Show continued attendance growth and continued national relevance. I personally think the things coach is pointing out are valid, but I don't know that I agree with the timing, lets win the tourney then air our grievances! We may think things can't be more biased towards the XDSU's but believe me they can. Why make waves when we still have 2 games to win in Sioux Falls. Stranger things have happened than a league "putting a coach in his place"! Let's win 2 more, get our seeding on selection Sunday then we can say whatever we want!! 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasgrip Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 25 minutes ago, ORU40 said: If we want more sway in the league, we have to take it, Agreed! 25 minutes ago, ORU40 said: I personally think the things coach is pointing out are valid, but I don't know that I agree with the timing But this is when the most people are paying attention. You think the media will be asking Mills about the Summit League Tournament format once the season is over? It'll be crickets until we are here again next year asking the same questions. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU40 Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 11 minutes ago, Texasgrip said: But this is when the most people are paying attention. You think the media will be asking Mills about the Summit League Tournament format once the season is over? It'll be crickets until we are here again next year asking the same questions. I absolutely see your point Tex, but to me the answer is who's coach's intended audience? I just don't know if the people that can actually make changes want to see coaches concerns in public. If he's talking to the other coaches & AD's in the league or the league powers that be, I would think they would say let's keep our concerns private and if we want to make changes to our TV contracts or conference tourney location, we can discuss those things at our meetings our amongst the AD's and Presidents. My concern with the timing is the league takes offense and we get completely homered by the officials in our next game or the finals, we know it's coming anyway, but let's not make it worse. Coach is of course going to do and say what he feels, in MHO he would be better served to hold those thoughts and have a huge story in the Tulsa World the morning after we win the tourney, quoting coach about how we the won despite all the hurdles put up by the Summit league. We win the tourney and make the NCAA's and coach will have a bullhorn!! 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OKC Eagle Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 But Sioux Falls is beautiful this time of year. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 It’s 76 degrees right now in Tulsa…. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OKC Eagle Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otis 83 Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 I listened to the last installment of the Reaching the Summit podcast with Wayne, Garth and the boys. After they bashed Coach Mills for criticizing the tournament they played an interview that Wayne did with the Commissioner. Regarding the conference tournament, Commissioner Hockey kept using the term "athlete experience." Apparently he thinks it is great in Sioux Falls. If you can't walk to dinner without any inch of exposed skin being in pain how is that a great athlete experience? If you spend the entire weekend in the hotel because it looks like OKC Eagle's pic outside, how is that a great athlete experience? Wayne didn't ask and Commissioner Hockey didn't elaborate beyond the SWAG bags the athletes reeive. smh Commissioner Hockey also kept talking about the "member institutions" and how he listens to all of them and they make collective decisions for the good of all. Horse Hockey! There are 10 schools in the conference. Four in the Dakotas. I really wonder how often Sioux Falls comes up for a vote. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OKC Eagle Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 You can enjoy some fine outdoor dining. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU82 Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 After spending 40+ years legally advising and working with corporate/institutional clients that is why I speculated earlier that Coach's comments must have been "green lighted" by the AD/Administration or cleared from the very top of the organization. I also agree that you do not spit in the water you have to go back to get a drink from. By that I mean that you wait until the Tourney is over then voice your opinions because damage can still be done to you over the course of the next 2 games. Hopefully I am wrong but based upon my experience Coach would not have made those comments without first clearing them with top management. Secondly, since he made them I would guess that the AD/Administration has already voiced these concerns privately with the other members of the League as well as the Commissioner. However, I could be totally wrong. Time will tell. 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OKC Eagle Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 Or you can play a round of golf. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonofaLegend Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 4 hours ago, ORU40 said: If we want more sway in the league, we have to take it, they are not going to hand it to us because we point out unfairness in the media. My guess is they see us a one hit wonder, good run 2 years ago and we may make the tourney this year, But, year in and year out the XDSU's are the class of the league and when our attendance was way down, the Dakota's fans showed up. I'm sure they are asking themselves what we look like when this senior class leaves. The tourney draws fans and makes money, for them to change that there needs to be compelling reasons, and by compelling, I mean a lot of $$$. Again, if that's the conferences position, which I'm sure is not far off, I would say ORU would be better off in a different one bid league. Perhaps I'm just naive, and admittedly I haven't spent much time pondering the purpose of a collegiate athletics conference, but it has taken me by surprise to find out these games are played to maximize arena revenue or beer sales. The arena, and fan attendance is very impressive. Anything promoting fairness would hamper that, but our fan base deserves to participate in the conference tournament, not be sent to the nose bleeds if we are willing to travel. As this league is currently set up, it's a bad deal for any school outside of Dakota hoping to build and sustain a successful program. If you are gonna hand the reigns of this tournament over to these Dakota schools permanently, they need to at least pull their weight in NET rankings. The fans will show up regardless, but as it stands, there are too many disadvantages built in for non Dak schools. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otis 83 Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 @OKC EagleYou really should send these pics to Commissioner Hockey ask him about athlete experience and fan experience. You're documenting a compelling case to keep the tournament in Sioux Falls if those elements are really important to the league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUSwagger Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 Source: Keloland.com (SD) How much does a Summit League basketball coach get paid? Rae Yost 2 days ago Aaron Johnston is the head coach of the South Dakota State University women’s basketball team. His base salary is $290,000 a year, according to the open records website for the state. The base salary for the SDSU men’s basketball coach, Eric Henderson, is $325,000, according to the same website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUSwagger Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 The article compares WBB & MBB HC salaries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 Vanover posted a video on his Instagram showing the snowy landscape from his hotel room. It looks pretty bleak with no one outside because of the cold and all of the…….snow. Great athlete experience. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ORUJason Posted March 6, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted March 6, 2023 I think there might be a little bit of an overly negative reaction pointed toward the Summit League Conference leadership. It is inherently difficult to keep every school in a conference happy. In a conference like the Summit League, the conference commissioner is trying to keep the teams in their conference from wanting to leave. The longer he can pull that off, the more stable the conference appears and the more attractive the conference seems. Maximizing the revenue from all streams (TV, conference tournament, etc.) helps the funding of the conference and the ability if possible to pass on any funds back to member institutions, such as from the NCAA tournament participation payouts. Until someone can show me a realistically better landing spot for ORU, I think we should appreciate the stability and opportunities that the Summit League has provided in the past and currently provides for us. From previous discussions, it seems clear that ORU would have to add women's softball to even be considered for the Missouri Valley, and the last time they added teams, it did not appear that they ever seriously considered ORU. Several years back we found out pretty quickly that the Southland Conference is worse on the distance of travel and in the quality of their member institutions. The Sun Belt only wants football schools. The Ohio Valley conference is too far away and would be worse on travel without providing any increased competitive benefit. The WAC is very unstable and much worse on travel. The Horizon is farther away, does not seem interested, and does not provide any increased competitive benefit. The American Athletic Conference is a football-only conference. The Summit clearly is by far the best current situation for ORU. The Missouri Valley used to be a step-up type of conference that we could aspire toward, but they have lost many of their high quality teams, so it could be debated as to whether that would even be a better option. I think that is an interesting discussion. As far as the location of the conference tournament, the Sioux Falls area is fairly central geographically. Omaha would also be a fairly central location, but farther for the 5 northern schools (Dakotas and St. Thomas). The SDSU fanbase provides a lot of local support since it is only 30 minutes away. We do not even know if ORU/Tulsa Sports Commission has recently submitted a bid for the conference tournament. I think most of the decisions the Conference has made are very logical. A competitive ORU is good for the conference and I would think that the Dakota schools would see it that way. When we are more competitive, it increases our influence and clout. The Conference absolutely needs to improve their TV/media/streaming deals to hopefully increase funding, exposure, and accessibility. The most important thing about the conference basketball tournaments is that regardless of where they occur, that they are as fair as possible for all the participants. I felt that ORU's game last night was officiated very fairly. I think what bothered me is that the free throw disparity between Omaha and SDSU did NOT seem fair. The commissioner needs to ensure absolute fairness and emphasize that with the officials. If the tournament is perceived as being advantaged toward SDSU in any way, several other schools will not be happy about that including ORU. In most/possibly all of the other sports, they rotate the site of the tournament to the previous regular season champion. That is very fair and has benefitted ORU's baseball program significantly. Rather than saying that ORU needs to look for a better conference, ORU should be working to support the Summit League so that it will remain as stable as possible. I am absolutely in favor of ORU submitting a proposal to seed the basketball tournaments like the West Coast Conference does. I have no idea if there would be 6 member schools that would support this idea, but it makes a lot of sense to me. However, ORU has not been a 1 or 2 seed very often over our recent history, so it might not always benefit us as much as you might think unless we remain very competitive into the future. 1 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasgrip Posted March 6, 2023 Share Posted March 6, 2023 15 minutes ago, ORUJason said: I think there might be a little bit of an overly negative reaction pointed toward the Summit League Conference leadership. It is inherently difficult to keep every school in a conference happy. In a conference like the Summit League, the conference commissioner is trying to keep the teams in their conference from wanting to leave. The longer he can pull that off, the more stable the conference appears and the more attractive the conference seems. Maximizing the revenue from all streams (TV, conference tournament, etc.) helps the funding of the conference and the ability if possible to pass on any funds back to member institutions, such as from the NCAA tournament participation payouts. Until someone can show me a realistically better landing spot for ORU, I think we should appreciate the stability and opportunities that the Summit League has provided in the past and currently provides for us. From previous discussions, it seems clear that ORU would have to add women's softball to even be considered for the Missouri Valley, and the last time they added teams, it did not appear that they ever seriously considered ORU. Several years back we found out pretty quickly that the Southland Conference is worse on the distance of travel and in the quality of their member institutions. The Sun Belt only wants football schools. The Ohio Valley conference is too far away and would be worse on travel without providing any increased competitive benefit. The WAC is very unstable and much worse on travel. The Horizon is farther away, does not seem interested, and does not provide any increased competitive benefit. The American Athletic Conference is a football-only conference. The Summit clearly is by far the best current situation for ORU. The Missouri Valley used to be a step-up type of conference that we could aspire toward, but they have lost many of their high quality teams, so it could be debated as to whether that would even be a better option. I think that is an interesting discussion. As far as the location of the conference tournament, the Sioux Falls area is fairly central geographically. Omaha would also be a fairly central location, but farther for the 5 northern schools (Dakotas and St. Thomas). The SDSU fanbase provides a lot of local support since it is only 30 minutes away. We do not even know if ORU/Tulsa Sports Commission has recently submitted a bid for the conference tournament. I think most of the decisions the Conference has made are very logical. A competitive ORU is good for the conference and I would think that the Dakota schools would see it that way. When we are more competitive, it increases our influence and clout. The Conference absolutely needs to improve their TV/media/streaming deals to hopefully increase funding, exposure, and accessibility. The most important thing about the conference basketball tournaments is that regardless of where they occur, that they are as fair as possible for all the participants. I felt that ORU's game last night was officiated very fairly. I think what bothered me is that the free throw disparity between Omaha and SDSU did NOT seem fair. The commissioner needs to ensure absolute fairness and emphasize that with the officials. If the tournament is perceived as being advantaged toward SDSU in any way, several other schools will not be happy about that including ORU. In most/possibly all of the other sports, they rotate the site of the tournament to the previous regular season champion. That is very fair and has benefitted ORU's baseball program significantly. Rather than saying that ORU needs to look for a better conference, ORU should be working to support the Summit League so that it will remain as stable as possible. I am absolutely in favor of ORU submitting a proposal to seed the basketball tournaments like the West Coast Conference does. I have no idea if there would be 6 member schools that would support this idea, but it makes a lot of sense to me. However, ORU has not been a 1 or 2 seed very often over our recent history, so it might not always benefit us as much as you might think unless we remain very competitive into the future. Man, what a killjoy! Don't try using logic and talk all sensical while we are venting! Actually, good post and some great points! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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