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Post by PantherU on Sept 3, 2010 5:15:35 GMT -6
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Post by PantherU on Sept 3, 2010 12:44:02 GMT -6
I thought I'd at least get a nice negative reaction.
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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Sept 3, 2010 14:30:20 GMT -6
Wow, that was you best piece you have written. I had a co-worker read it and enjoyed it as well.
I hope Georgia State is doing this as a long term deal. They will not be getting 30,000 for a NAIA game two years from now.
As for UWM, football at Miller Park with a roof.
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Post by PantherU on Sept 4, 2010 2:17:41 GMT -6
Wow, that was you best piece you have written. I had a co-worker read it and enjoyed it as well. I hope Georgia State is doing this as a long term deal. They will not be getting 30,000 for a NAIA game two years from now. As for UWM, football at Miller Park with a roof. I have friends from MU that would support a UWM football program. I have many friends that graduated from UWM without ever caring about athletics, but would be major supporters of football (in spirit, not financially haha) and have told me as such when I try to get them out for soccer or basketball.
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Post by PantherU on Sept 14, 2010 1:43:55 GMT -6
So Texas has four and a half times the population of Wisconsin, and 16 (17 next year) times the amount of D-I football programs. I realize the football in Texas is ridiculous, but I also find it hard to believe that the state and city couldn't support a second, I-AA program at the least.
Everyday, my research is bringing up ridiculous truths.
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dutchpthr
Junior
ain't much if it ain't dutch
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Post by dutchpthr on Sept 14, 2010 8:20:46 GMT -6
So Texas has four and a half times the population of Wisconsin, and 16 (17 next year) times the amount of D-I football programs. I realize the football in Texas is ridiculous, but I also find it hard to believe that the state and city couldn't support a second, I-AA program at the least. Everyday, my research is bringing up ridiculous truths. I am not sure if Texas is a good comparison since football at teh high school and college level is a religion in the south, but how about there being 2 1-A teams in Idaho, or 3 in Utah, or 2 in Nevada, or 2 in Colorado, you could go on and on of course. Could 2 D-1 college football teams function in WI, of course they could, but thing is there has to be the push and the money for football from somewhere else other than Madison, and one has to wonder how willing those who make decision in the UW system would be to that. I mean why hasn't any of the other UW schools that already have a football program been able to move up the ranks any? It is not for lack of success for some of them at all, LAX has had good history as has Whitewater but whether it is the school not trying to move up or not able to Kind of makes you wonder a little bit. At least it does to me. As for UWM, football at Miller Park with a roof. Also a football field will not fit into Miller Park with the current dimensions that has been explored and also the fact that there is no heating system that would be able to function to support a crowd during the winter, you can thank good old Bud Selig for that one, when he planned the construction he specifically had Miller Park designed to be a single use facility and a baseball only one at that, hence the reason why there has never and most likely will never be an NCAA tourney game at Miller Park, nor will there be any regular season basketball game there. It is not possible with the current set-up of the ballpark. Don't get me wrong I love Miller Park wonderful place for a baseball game but that was all it was built for and that was on purpose. It also had to do with the fact that Packers had already left their days of playing games at County Stadium and said they did not want to return even if a new park was built.
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Post by DunneDeal on Sept 14, 2010 8:23:17 GMT -6
Jimmy I have heard you about football.
I really think it's up to the people with money. To start a sport you need lots of cash and someone or groups of people to commit to donate that money for at least 5 years IMO. Just due to the fact that there will be expenses to deal with before you make the money. The other thing is, there is no push for football on this campus from anyone, your facebook groups and dboard rants make up not even a 1% of the student population.
Not to bust you down man but, it just seems that without a real push from a large amount of students/faculty and alumni it's not going to happen. As much as I hope it would.
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Post by uwmfutbol on Sept 14, 2010 11:19:06 GMT -6
Without a boat load of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, I fear this will never happen.
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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Sept 14, 2010 14:36:40 GMT -6
Why would you need a heating system at Miller Park. If you play football outside it's still cold. Plus, the college season ends at the end of November, so it's not to cold yet anyways.
BTW, Georgia State got 12,647 in their 2nd home game. Next home game is versus Jacksonville State who won at Ole Miss.
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Post by skrapheap on Sept 14, 2010 14:40:40 GMT -6
Could 2 D-1 college football teams function in WI, of course they could, but thing is there has to be the push and the money for football from somewhere else other than Madison, and one has to wonder how willing those who make decision in the UW system would be to that. Is that a UW System decision, or is it left to each university in the system to decide? We have a whole bunch of UW universities in D3 (the WSUC), one program in D2 (Parkside), and three in D1: Green Bay, Madison and Milwaukee, of which only Madison has football.
i remember eyebrows being raised, years ago, when Green Bay made the decision to go to DI, and that was without having football. (Green Bay as a university dates back only to 1968, and i'm not sure they ever had football, but i could be wrong.) My dad, who was teaching at UW-Whitewater at the time was somewhat skeptical, but it must be said that Green Bay's men's basketball has been reasonably competitive at the D1 level over the years. The women's basketball has been very competitive, and some of their other programs have as well. On the other hand, given the budget issues at Green Bay (e.g. what they're paying their men's coach, by comparison with the rest of the Horizon League), i have to wonder if there aren't folks in Green Bay, on campus and off, who wonder if the move to D1 was such a great idea.i don't remember ever hearing, via my dad, any serious suggestion at UW-Whitewater that they consider moving to a higher division athletically. If my dad had heard even a half-serious suggestion of the sort, i'm pretty sure he would have mentioned it to me at some point. i don't have any sources at UW-LC.
The WSUC is a very competitive athletic conference in several sports, and you'd have to wonder what the likelihood would be that the Warhawks or the Eagles could find a D2 or D1 conference to join that would be such a good fit.
And there are further issues like facilities. UW-Whitewater's stadium capacity is about 14,000, unless they've expanded it since they built it, and i'm not sure how often (if ever) they sell out the stadium. I'm not sure how big La Crosse's stadium is, but i'm pretty sure it's not as big as Whitewater's. Would a D2 or D1A program be able to survive in a 14K seat stadium? If not, where do you find the money to expand or build a larger stadium?
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Post by Hack on Sept 14, 2010 15:22:13 GMT -6
WSUC? Damn, how old are you?
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Post by skrapheap on Sept 14, 2010 15:41:49 GMT -6
WSUC? Damn, how old are you? Old enough to have forgotten what they call the conference now
When my family moved to Whitewater, UW-Whitewater was WSU, Whitewater. The athletics conference was the WSUC, and i think the conference name lasted for a long while after the member universities changed their names.
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Post by nohopspanther on Sept 14, 2010 22:02:02 GMT -6
LaCrosse just finished a major renovation of their stadium site by replacing the whole thing by doubling capacity to 10,000 and it is awesome. Whitewater's Perkins Stadium (11,000 capacity) could easily be expanded on the visitor side building on the hill to jump to D2 with Lax, the problem is leaving the WIAC behind then.
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Post by PantherU on Sept 15, 2010 2:12:32 GMT -6
LaCrosse just finished a major renovation of their stadium site by replacing the whole thing by doubling capacity to 10,000 and it is awesome. Whitewater's Perkins Stadium (11,000 capacity) could easily be expanded on the visitor side building on the hill to jump to D2 with Lax, the problem is leaving the WIAC behind then. I've always thought that D-II in this state was fairly lacking, considering that the only representation for the state is Parkside. The WIAC is a dominant conference; so many national titles in a lot of different sports by several different schools. It's amazing how competitive the conference is. Now, I don't see why U-Dub-Dub (I like that) would want to move to D-II unless they were planning a grand move up to D-I. D-II, in my mind, makes no sense unless a school is keeping its D-I options open. There's nothing gained; D-III programs are just as notable, and sometimes more notable than D-II programs. If Whitewater or Lacrosse is planning a move to D-II, then they're planning an eventual move to D-I. Personally, I think it makes sense to explore the opportunity; D-I is the prize, and while we may feel bad about our current situation as a "mid-major," we are definitely higher up on the totem pole in the national consciousness than any D-II or D-III school. Lacrosse, if given the proper incubation period for the university and city to grow into the idea, absolutely fits the profile of an MVC campus (not saying they could play at that level). I do hope that if those schools decide to go D-I, they learn from our mistakes: get everyone on board, then grow into the role. Do not just decide to go D-I and not wait for the infrastructure or acceptance of the campus and city community.
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Post by uwmfutbol on Sept 15, 2010 14:03:41 GMT -6
To be honest, I'm surprised that Division 2 even exists anymore. I know it's big in the South and the central region of the country, but Division 3 is so much more popular in the Great Lakes and much of the East Coast. I'm not too familiar with the West Coast, though. I suppose if it's big out West then it's a different story.
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