UNO to DI.....but

[NUance]

Does anyone know the salary difference between a D-I and a D-II Athletic Director? hmm..

 

 

I understand where you're going, but I don't think that is it. This move actually reminds me of things I've seen multiple times in the years I've worked in the corporate culture. I think he is looking at a short term solution and padding his resume at the same time. 'I took a DII school with financial problems to DI of course I could do great things with your school Mr. DI big conference AD search committee'.

 

Eventually everyone realizes that the 'short term' solution blows and the guy (Trev) responsible has been promoted and is moving on to greener pastures.

That makes sense. It's pretty unlikely that Trev will be around in three or four years. And after this he won't be very welcome at UNL either. He'll always be remembered as the guy whole killed UNO football and wrestling. And got them bumped up to competition that's over their head. Then, some may just remember him as a douchebag.

[bbeerma2]

They can now farm games out to other D1 programs in the region (Nebraska, Creighton, Iowa State, Iowa, Kansas, Kansas State) and make a few bucks out of it. I think people are knocking this too much. What are they supposed to do losing money when they get an offer to go D1? They needed to make cuts, and going D1 gave Trev a reason to make those cuts.

[Roark]

The thing that people are missing is there is no high profile D1 basketball in the Summit. Think about it this way. There are now 3 D-1 BB teams in a state that is not a BB state. 2 in the same city. So we will have the big 10, the MVC and the Summit. Well it is like this Big10>MVC>Summit by about the same amounts. Big10 is a 2-4 RPI league, MVC was #12 this year, the summit was #21.( there are #31 conferences) Your best home games will be Oral Roberts and Oakland. IUPUI on some years. YOu will not get a big conference home game because you are scraps. YOu will get a big conference road game, but that doesnt make you any money. This is a one bid league, and its not like UNO has been tearing up the MIAA or D-2. UNO will always be the little brother to Creighton who is the little brother to UNL. This will not go over well. The school will not make much more in ticket sales, they will have to use road sacrafices against big boys to get money, which by the way will be thrown away on the travel costs they will now have and the lease they now need for a bigger arena.

 

Oh, btw for those who dont know. The MIAA doesnt have wrestling either, so.....that is a BS excuse. And there are plenty of teams that compete at a D-1 level in BB and FCS sub for football. I dont really care about UNO, but this whole thing just rubs me wrong. That and I believe it is a massive mistake. Moving up is very expensive and i dont see UNO MBB being the money maker they are hoping for

 

Oral Roberts, Oakland and IUPUI have all participated in the NCAA tourney in the last decade. I'd think that playing these teams yearly, along with the possibility of even entering the Big Dance will likely draw more than 500 attendees per game. These new D1 programs might not be instant "money makers," but have they ever been while under D-II? This move at least gives programs like basketball and baseball a chance to generate some major interest. The truth is that even with a very successful season in the FCS, most people would still care less about UNO football (except if/when they played Nebraska of course). As for wrestling, the interest is just not there (and likely wouldn't ever be there)- the program is at its pinnacle, and the vast majority of people probably didn't even know/care that they were even competing for a national title. ...That was obviously before that the OWH article came out. Now people are acting as if UNO wrestling is their favoritest thing in the whole wide world and that they've been super duper fans of it for years and years and years!

[fro daddy]

They can now farm games out to other D1 programs in the region (Nebraska, Creighton, Iowa State, Iowa, Kansas, Kansas State) and make a few bucks out of it. I think people are knocking this too much. What are they supposed to do losing money when they get an offer to go D1? They needed to make cuts, and going D1 gave Trev a reason to make those cuts.

It cost so much more to run and have D-1 programs. The money that will be spent in recruting and traveling to away games in conference will negate much of that money that is brought in. And even if it is enough to pay the bills for MBB. Now you have to support every other mens and womens sport and their travel as well. The avg distance to the MIAA schools was 238 miles (3.5 hour bus ride). The Summit teams avg a distance of 543 miles and would be traveled by air. Last time I checked airplanes tickets/charters are more expensive than gas and maintenance on university vehicles. This move will cost millions.

 

Oral Roberts, Oakland and IUPUI have all participated in the NCAA tourney in the last decade. I'd think that playing these teams yearly, along with the possibility of even entering the Big Dance will likely draw more than 500 attendees per game. These new D1 programs might not be instant "money makers," but have they ever been while under D-II? This move at least gives programs like basketball and baseball a chance to generate some major interest. The truth is that even with a very successful season in the FCS, most people would still care less about UNO football (except if/when they played Nebraska of course). As for wrestling, the interest is just not there (and likely wouldn't ever be there)- the program is at its pinnacle, and the vast majority of people probably didn't even know/care that they were even competing for a national title. ...That was obviously before that the OWH article came out. Now people are acting as if UNO wrestling is their favoritest thing in the whole wide world and that they've been super duper fans of it for years and years and years!

 

To touch on a point you made " Now people are acting as if UNO wrestling is their favoritest thing in the whole wide world and that they've been super duper fans of it for years and years and years!"

 

How does this look " Now people are acting as if UNO wrestling basketball is their favoritest thing in the whole wide world and that they've been super duper fans of it for years and years and years!"

There have not been fans, the fan support will not really increase by much. How many people in omaha really care about IUPUI? Hell how many people even know what it stands for? Will UNO draw more than 500...probably. Will the 1000 people that do come be enough to cover the lease costs for the arena? And how many people will come to watch that were not already there? And as for the 'Big dance', there is a national 64 team tourney in D-2 also. With Elite 8's and Final 4's. And UNO could never sniff that. So now they are jumping up a division to chase a dream on getting in the D-1 big dance. Maybe if, and that is a big if, they could put together a good run, have a talented team that upsets a big 6 conference team during the regular season and can get people excited. Maybe they get upto 4000 a game. that is just for 1 year. What about the other years? Point is attendance is a huge guess. My guess is it will be roughly the same as it is now. maybe a couple hundred more.

 

Fun stat of the day, lets look at average attendence from last year in college basketball per conference.

AVG for SUMMIT - 2151 fans per game

AVG for MIAA (D2)- 1691 fans per game

 

Big time difference for some big time basketball.....

 

 

As I said before, I could care less about UNO and its teams. I just think the "reasons" for the move are faulty and short sighted at best. It seems choices are being made in the best interest of a few and ignoring the whole.

[mmmtodd]

at a luncheon with mike kemp, before in the little vip meet and greet and now as the mc-hes just cracking jokes left and right. Looks pretty ragged tho.

[captain obvious]

GUYS.

 

THE PHRASE IS "I COULD NOT CARE LESS." AS IN, YOU CARE SO LITTLE, THAT YOU COULD NOT POSSIBLY CARE ANY LESS THAN YOU PRESENTLY DO. THUS YOU CARE THE MINIMUM AMOUNT POSSIBLE. THUS THE THING YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT IS INSIGNIFICANT.

 

That is all.

[Roark]

They can now farm games out to other D1 programs in the region (Nebraska, Creighton, Iowa State, Iowa, Kansas, Kansas State) and make a few bucks out of it. I think people are knocking this too much. What are they supposed to do losing money when they get an offer to go D1? They needed to make cuts, and going D1 gave Trev a reason to make those cuts.

It cost so much more to run and have D-1 programs. The money that will be spent in recruting and traveling to away games in conference will negate much of that money that is brought in. And even if it is enough to pay the bills for MBB. Now you have to support every other mens and womens sport and their travel as well. The avg distance to the MIAA schools was 238 miles (3.5 hour bus ride). The Summit teams avg a distance of 543 miles and would be traveled by air. Last time I checked airplanes tickets/charters are more expensive than gas and maintenance on university vehicles. This move will cost millions.

 

Oral Roberts, Oakland and IUPUI have all participated in the NCAA tourney in the last decade. I'd think that playing these teams yearly, along with the possibility of even entering the Big Dance will likely draw more than 500 attendees per game. These new D1 programs might not be instant "money makers," but have they ever been while under D-II? This move at least gives programs like basketball and baseball a chance to generate some major interest. The truth is that even with a very successful season in the FCS, most people would still care less about UNO football (except if/when they played Nebraska of course). As for wrestling, the interest is just not there (and likely wouldn't ever be there)- the program is at its pinnacle, and the vast majority of people probably didn't even know/care that they were even competing for a national title. ...That was obviously before that the OWH article came out. Now people are acting as if UNO wrestling is their favoritest thing in the whole wide world and that they've been super duper fans of it for years and years and years!

 

To touch on a point you made " Now people are acting as if UNO wrestling is their favoritest thing in the whole wide world and that they've been super duper fans of it for years and years and years!"

 

How does this look " Now people are acting as if UNO wrestling basketball is their favoritest thing in the whole wide world and that they've been super duper fans of it for years and years and years!"

There have not been fans, the fan support will not really increase by much. How many people in omaha really care about IUPUI? Hell how many people even know what it stands for? Will UNO draw more than 500...probably. Will the 1000 people that do come be enough to cover the lease costs for the arena? And how many people will come to watch that were not already there? And as for the 'Big dance', there is a national 64 team tourney in D-2 also. With Elite 8's and Final 4's. And UNO could never sniff that. So now they are jumping up a division to chase a dream on getting in the D-1 big dance. Maybe if, and that is a big if, they could put together a good run, have a talented team that upsets a big 6 conference team during the regular season and can get people excited. Maybe they get upto 4000 a game. that is just for 1 year. What about the other years? Point is attendance is a huge guess. My guess is it will be roughly the same as it is now. maybe a couple hundred more.

 

Fun stat of the day, lets look at average attendence from last year in college basketball per conference.

AVG for SUMMIT - 2151 fans per game

AVG for MIAA (D2)- 1691 fans per game

 

Big time difference for some big time basketball.....

 

 

As I said before, I could care less about UNO and its teams. I just think the "reasons" for the move are faulty and short sighted at best. It seems choices are being made in the best interest of a few and ignoring the whole.

 

Well, first off, basketball is a sport that a huge population can immidiately enjoy (bandwagon folks) if they have success- not so much for wrestling. Games against Nebraska and Creighton would be huge, and even marginal success in a conference that has a bid in the NCAA tourney (Division I because in reality nobody cares about a D-II tourney) would definitely generate more interest in the program. UNO BBal attendance now is ~500/game (home?) and I would suspect that those within the program would be ecstatic to see 2000+ in attendance... I haven't heard much about which arena they're looking into using. The civic? I do think it would be foolish to invest in a huge venue for these programs, initially... Not sure how many the field house seats... And I'm not sure about the away game travel expenses being too outrageous, since most of the teams are located in the MW. Are they throwing around any figures for these kinds of expenses yet?

[fro daddy]

They can now farm games out to other D1 programs in the region (Nebraska, Creighton, Iowa State, Iowa, Kansas, Kansas State) and make a few bucks out of it. I think people are knocking this too much. What are they supposed to do losing money when they get an offer to go D1? They needed to make cuts, and going D1 gave Trev a reason to make those cuts.

It cost so much more to run and have D-1 programs. The money that will be spent in recruting and traveling to away games in conference will negate much of that money that is brought in. And even if it is enough to pay the bills for MBB. Now you have to support every other mens and womens sport and their travel as well. The avg distance to the MIAA schools was 238 miles (3.5 hour bus ride). The Summit teams avg a distance of 543 miles and would be traveled by air. Last time I checked airplanes tickets/charters are more expensive than gas and maintenance on university vehicles. This move will cost millions.

 

Oral Roberts, Oakland and IUPUI have all participated in the NCAA tourney in the last decade. I'd think that playing these teams yearly, along with the possibility of even entering the Big Dance will likely draw more than 500 attendees per game. These new D1 programs might not be instant "money makers," but have they ever been while under D-II? This move at least gives programs like basketball and baseball a chance to generate some major interest. The truth is that even with a very successful season in the FCS, most people would still care less about UNO football (except if/when they played Nebraska of course). As for wrestling, the interest is just not there (and likely wouldn't ever be there)- the program is at its pinnacle, and the vast majority of people probably didn't even know/care that they were even competing for a national title. ...That was obviously before that the OWH article came out. Now people are acting as if UNO wrestling is their favoritest thing in the whole wide world and that they've been super duper fans of it for years and years and years!

 

To touch on a point you made " Now people are acting as if UNO wrestling is their favoritest thing in the whole wide world and that they've been super duper fans of it for years and years and years!"

 

How does this look " Now people are acting as if UNO wrestling basketball is their favoritest thing in the whole wide world and that they've been super duper fans of it for years and years and years!"

There have not been fans, the fan support will not really increase by much. How many people in omaha really care about IUPUI? Hell how many people even know what it stands for? Will UNO draw more than 500...probably. Will the 1000 people that do come be enough to cover the lease costs for the arena? And how many people will come to watch that were not already there? And as for the 'Big dance', there is a national 64 team tourney in D-2 also. With Elite 8's and Final 4's. And UNO could never sniff that. So now they are jumping up a division to chase a dream on getting in the D-1 big dance. Maybe if, and that is a big if, they could put together a good run, have a talented team that upsets a big 6 conference team during the regular season and can get people excited. Maybe they get upto 4000 a game. that is just for 1 year. What about the other years? Point is attendance is a huge guess. My guess is it will be roughly the same as it is now. maybe a couple hundred more.

 

Fun stat of the day, lets look at average attendence from last year in college basketball per conference.

AVG for SUMMIT - 2151 fans per game

AVG for MIAA (D2)- 1691 fans per game

 

Big time difference for some big time basketball.....

 

 

As I said before, I could care less about UNO and its teams. I just think the "reasons" for the move are faulty and short sighted at best. It seems choices are being made in the best interest of a few and ignoring the whole.

 

Well, first off, basketball is a sport that a huge population can immidiately enjoy (bandwagon folks) if they have success- not so much for wrestling. Games against Nebraska and Creighton would be huge, and even marginal success in a conference that has a bid in the NCAA tourney (Division I because in reality nobody cares about a D-II tourney) would definitely generate more interest in the program. UNO BBal attendance now is ~500/game (home?) and I would suspect that those within the program would be ecstatic to see 2000+ in attendance... I haven't heard much about which arena they're looking into using. The civic? I do think it would be foolish to invest in a huge venue for these programs, initially... Not sure how many the field house seats... And I'm not sure about the away game travel expenses being too outrageous, since most of the teams are located in the MW. Are they throwing around any figures for these kinds of expenses yet?

 

Havent seen the numbers, but i would imagine that air travel would almost be a must for games in Indianapolis, Shreaveport, Detroit, Fort Wayne IN. & Ceder City, Ut.

 

I agree that addendance will probably go up, for the novilty factor alone, regardless of record the first year or so. I guess for me it comes alittle from background. NWMSU looked at making a move like this 6-7 years ago or more. But they would have kept football in the 1-aa round. It cost so much money to make a move like that and the numbers could not really make it work. That move had FB as a huge provider and it wasnt enough. Now granted 10K people living in Maryville is not the same as 1 million in the omaha metro, but there are alot of things that would be similar.

 

I fully understand how MBB can make the $$ to take care of itsself, but its all the other sports that I think will drag this down. Just my opinion i guess. I could totally be wrong and it could be a huge sucess

[redblooded]

Really? This much vitriol over UNO football and wrestling? Has anyone ever attended a game? Losing football does make sense when you read the article. Its expensive, and going D1 will add more cost than bloodgames pay. Title IX is more of the issue if you ask me, but since that outdated pos is not going away, its a matter of making due. I think the reason people get fired up is its football, and we all love football. But really. They play on the same day the Huskers do, and will never compete on the same level. And as it would take millions more funding for it, its sad, but I get it. As to wrestling, I could not care less, that is a sport I have never understood. Its successful, yet not exactly something John Q. Public goes out to attend.

 

 

I'd like to add more then just my second to this post. I am a UNO alum. I've had family attend and work at the university. I couldn't care less about Maverick sports outside of Hockey. I've never heard of anyone attending a maverick football game except one time a few years ago when CSTV or something was on campus to broadcast it on a friday night. Everyone who's interested in college football at UNO either roots for UNL or is one of the T-shirt Texas fans. I honestly didn't even realize until yesterday they actually had a wrestling team let alone that they were a powerhouse in D2. (Who cares about D2?)

 

So the outrage in the "community" online is beyond ridiculous. I can understand it on campus because of the personal relationships but I'd bet 99% of Omaha is shrugging their shoulders about football and is surprised to learn UNO had a wrestling team.

 

Trev Alberts isnt getting fired. Hell, most people won't even know UNO football is gone. Hockey is the school's future. Expect a new hockey arena where the football stadium sits. All signs point to it team being a title contender with the coach they have, and an on campus facility should swing it back to a money maker.

 

And for the record, UNO will probably win a game in the NCAA tournament before NU does...

 

When I was attending I'd have loved it if they'd have axed football and tore up the old "stadium" not for hockey but to add parking to north campus which has always been a complete cluster.

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

As a UNO grad I am sickened by the situation. It is a total PR blunder how Trev notified Coach Denney as he celebrated with his team. He knew about it beforehand but didn't notify them because he didn't want to affect their performance?? Basically bring some more hardware before you hit the bricks.

 

I found out when the Wrestling team got back to Omaha and went back to campus they found the locker room locked. Coach Denney really lost it then.

 

I know that Trev had planned to keep this under wraps and didn't plan on announcing the move to the Summit Conference until MARCH 31st. Trev may try to deflect some of this on the regents but this was part of his "master plan" and the regents are happily rubber-stamping it. More than one person on the UNO campus believes that Trev has horns and I don't mean he has Maverick pride!!

[mmmtodd]

dont know how factual it was, but a caller on 1620 this morning that is a KC high school football coach/AD with UNO player ties brought up something interesting- the Summit leagues UMKC basketball program has a tough time drawing 1000 people a game, and their team recently moved back into a 1600 seat on campus gym to save costs from playing at the municipal auditorium. He believed UNO is severely underestimating how difficult it is going to be to establish D1 programs.

 

losing the football program is sad. losing a wrestling program, that besides hockey, has the most legitimate shot at Division 1 success, well...i just cant wrap my head around that. you can throw all the numbers and quotas and this and that you want around-it doesnt cover up what a complete waste throwing away such a successful program is.

[huskerscott]

dont know how factual it was, but a caller on 1620 this morning that is a KC high school football coach/AD with UNO player ties brought up something interesting- the Summit leagues UMKC basketball program has a tough time drawing 1000 people a game, and their team recently moved back into a 1600 seat on campus gym to save costs from playing at the municipal auditorium. He believed UNO is severely underestimating how difficult it is going to be to establish D1 programs.

 

losing the football program is sad. losing a wrestling program, that besides hockey, has the most legitimate shot at Division 1 success, well...i just cant wrap my head around that. you can throw all the numbers and quotas and this and that you want around-it doesnt cover up what a complete waste throwing away such a successful program is.

Trev must think UNO basketball team is gonna be an instant draw once they are D1. I wouldnt drive to omaha for a UNO game, or a Creighton game and I just live down the street in Lincoln. UNO is gonna be a hole after the dust settles.

 

 

Is it sad I knew UNO had a wrestling and football program before I knew they had basketball program. Im guessing they dont have volleyball or do they. Its gonna take some promoting by the AD office get butts in the stands for basketball. 3 bball teams in a state dominating by not just football, but husker football.

[gratefullred]

To respond to Fro, S Utah and Centinal are leaving the Summit. That dosen't really affect the travel issue, but just being factual.

 

I still like this move. This is a DI sports offering that is consistent with other metro universities. UW-Milwaukee, Detroit, and the Horizon League, many schools in the Summit.

[PaulCrewe]

Not that I overly care about UNO or Trev for that matter, but it seems to me that the UNO athletic budget free fall has been something that has ignored and passed on from AD to AD. Saw in the OWH that they have had a bunch of ADs recently and that this D1/cutting athletic programs debate has been going on for years. SO kudos to Trev for taking a proactive stance on the matter. Could the announcements have gone differently? Yes, but on Unsportsmanlike Conduct today,Trev admitted this.

Let's face it football is great, but UNO football was like quicksand. On the surface it doesn't look like much, but under the surface there area sh#t ton of problems. The Wrasslin' program, while yes successful in DII, would not be competitive in DI with a small budget. Stream the Alberts interview today on USC. It is a lot of talk but makes all the sense in the world. Hockey is UNO's Husker football and you ride that lightning.

Again the timing is the worse thing here, but remember Dana students had a month to figure out what was next.

[Ratt Mhule]

Fire him. This is the stupidest proposal I've ever heard of in my life. Screw hockey-keep football and wrestling.

 

You can't be serious. More people prob. went to the Ohio St. hockey series a few weeks ago than the entire season for football and wrestling combined.