On the margins of Division I: A sobering (but hopeful?) look at Chicago State

[Plebe]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/08/...-on-court-perception-is-biggest-foe.html?_r=2

“You could make Geno Auriemma the head coach, and he’s going to have the same problems without funding,” said Bob Hallberg, a former men’s basketball coach at Chicago State who is now the athletic director and women’s coach at St. Xavier University in Chicago.

While Auriemma has won 11 N.C.A.A. women’s titles at Connecticut, Jackson, 48, has withstood exasperating circumstances in the most recent of her 14 seasons at Chicago State. Her dedication alone, said Doug Bruno, the longtime women’s coach at DePaul University, ought to qualify her for national coach of the year “as crazy as that sounds.”

“To not bail out, to stay the course through difficult times, is a testament to how good she is,” Bruno said. “She could easily get a six-figure job as an assistant at a big-time program and have a much better job. I really admire what she does every single day.”​

 

[tomcat]

It's hard to imagine the frustration they must feel....

 

[Plebe]

It's hard to imagine the frustration they must feel...

I don't know what's worse, the indifference from those who hold power and purse strings in the state of Illinois, or the utter insanity of Chicago State belonging to the WAC.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I don't know what's worse, the indifference from those who hold power and purse strings in the state of Illinois, or the utter insanity of Chicago State belonging to the WAC.

Or NJIT to the Atlantic Sun, IIRC.

 

[drweo]

A bad situation. I dont get the thinking behind staying in Div I, given all the clear reasons to drop down to Div II.

 

[Plebe]

A bad situation. I dont get the thinking behind staying in Div I, given all the clear reasons to drop down to Div II.

The most geographically natural DI conference for them would be the Missouri Valley, which includes Loyola-Chicago, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, and Bradley (located in Peoria), as well as four other schools within a 350-mile radius.

But I'm guessing the MVC doesn't want them because (perhaps among other reasons) it's a 10-team conference and adding an 11th member would mess up their double round-robin format for conference play.

 

[Boreifs]

Once played a concert with a band there. Four people in the audience, the host, two band spouses and a homeless man looking for someplace warm. The campus was deserted (weekend) and we all walked out to our cars together; no one would ever dare take that short distance alone. We did play well! It was essentially a dress rehearsal for the same program the next day.

 

[Plebe]

Chicago State, still winless this season at 0-28, has an early lead over Seattle in the first round of the WAC. It appears that Chicago St only has seven available players for this game:
Women's Hoops - Quarterfinal #2 - #2 Seattle U vs #7 Chicago State

 

[dbmill]

I don't know what's worse, the indifference from those who hold power and purse strings in the state of Illinois, or the utter insanity of Chicago State belonging to the WAC.

From 1994 to 2006 Chicago State was a full fledged member of the Summit League. It's a conference that has never been as good or as geographically compact as the Missouri Valley or the Horizon League, but it was and is a conference that has had most of its membership in the midwest. It was a decent geographical fit for them, but Chicago State decided to become an NCAA Division 1 independent after 2006. A terrible decision for them. From what I remember they weren't especially competitive in the Summit League, and that was part of the decision to leave. I have no idea why they thought being an independent would make things any better. Anyway, Chicago State was independent until they joined the reformulated WAC in 2013.