Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="LwrcasefaN, post: 4177367, member: 11185"] The health of the program from my purview hasn't changed a whole lot. And this is my point with fans...facing what they feel versus what they see. Syracuse is bad this year. Another year, they may be competitive. Which of these BE dynasties doesn't recognize this pattern? In fact, this is the reality for most fan bases...regardless of the sport or conference. In between the bad and good times...attendance may ebb and flow so from a business perspective, from the FCIO perch, from the primary objective of funding an institution....you need a plan. Like it or not, the conference model is an option. I look at it as payday insurance. And all conferences aren't created equal. The other option is going independent. The latter model requires you to actually be good and to sustain that level. The reality is that NONE of the aforementioned are that good for long enough stretches...and that was no difference even when they were all part of the Big East. Even Notre Dame figured that out with basketball..and joined a conference. Yes...everyone enjoys the MSG tourneys, etc. I get that. I also missed my friends when we chose different colleges. SO what? I missed family that departed for different parts of the country...the world. So what? But Syracuse isn't bad in football because of their choice of a conference. Since the start of my affiliation...they never were that good with any consistency. Love em, but I accept that. SU basketball has had some very good teams, fun to watch, but how many national championships do they have? I know during my campus days, they broke a lot of attendance records, but that never lasted because...they aren't always good. Sound familiar? How do you pay the bills? I know...fans don't care about that, right? and you're right, but someone has to care. That's different than...it doesn't matter! I remember each year that by the time I would return from Christmas break...SU would be undefeated, mostly having never left the state of NY. FANS were pumped!! THEN, the conference schedule would start and sometimes they kept the momentum and a lot of years...not so much. THAT has been the reality for decades. and it's been that way for all these...dynasties? Some folks will say they bleed blue, orange or whatever, fly the team flag, paint their faces and that's cool. Where are these folks when the team isn't winning? UCONN is a state-run institution. It's a lot easier for them to snub their noses at 40 million deficits versus a private institution. If they were private...football would have been gone many moons ago. Unsustainable. I point this out because it makes a difference when considering finances...which matters when you are talking the health of a program...ALL your programs. I know...fans don't care about that. The needs of a fan versus a school are not synonymous. It's an illusion that sells tickets and illicit donations. It felt awkward as fan when SU went to the ACC, but...I understood. It didn't alter the reality...that sometimes we're good...and sometimes we're not. And this applies to all these schools. I don't cheer because of the conference. It's the school....win or lose. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

Forum statistics

Threads: 164,498

Messages: 4,399,004

Members: 10,212

Latest member: MurrDog