Foolerton

[LongTimeCatFan]

Maybe Fullerton resigned to be the new cat AD now that Fields is out.

[emoji867]

 

[AZGrizFan]

Cheers to this!!! I just pray the Big Sky powers to be don't mess this opportunity up.
Whoever it is, we need a commissioner who will commit to making damn sure the conference gets more exposure, especially in basketball. Also needs to make it known that every member will be expected to have better facilities and more competitive scheduling!

I hope he also plants the seed of fan attendance to events needs to improve, instead of having the Montana schools be the only programs to financially suppport this conference. The exception to that, is Weber State basketball holding it's weight in fan support. They do a great job in supporting basketball there.

If we get another commissioner who will be idly sit back at the current status quo, I will be upset and disappointed. #getitrightbigskyconference.

Please explain to me how a commissioner can enforce these "dreams" with existing conference members?

Enforcing them and making them known are 2 different things. He can start by saying he is committed to bettering the conference nationally. It starts with fan support in all markets to make the conference more marketable for television deals and internet streaming. Ideally, he would like reward all conference schools with more incentive, and part of that incentive is meeting conference goals in attendance, and scheduling.
He can emphasize how important fan support is today's NCAA athletic environment. The better the fan support in every market, the better the conference can compete nationally.

My point being is, the powers to be in the conference need better leadership, initiative, and direction. They can no longer continue to spin the tires in the mud, and stay put. Honestly to God, how is this conference going to survive another 10 years if it does not have more fans supporting the teams in every market? It was not to long ago that Big Sky was on par with the WCC in basketball. Unfortunately, the conference has fallen to among the worse in college basketball!!! Why? Because it had better leadership and a few more schools committed to bettering the conference. Yes, it started with Gonzaga. Gonzaga and the conference had the balls to actually challenge themselves to be better. Look at where the WCC is now compared the Big Sky in Basketball. Meanwhile back in the Big Sky, it took an outright miracle and choke job by Sac State last year to avoid the embarrassment of having a conference tournament hosted there. Come on, most of the schools in the conference are not even close to having quality NCAA facilities. That goes for basketball and football!!!

As for football, beyond UM and MSU, at times EWU, there is very little to no community and fan support. The lack of support for many of our conference teams is outright embarrassing. Hell, just the fact that EWU is listed as the 3rd best for fan support in this conference, says how bad this conference is. The conference has been surpassed by the Missouri Valley and CAA by a pretty considerable margin for quality football teams. Those conferences actually have more than 2 schools with good fan support!

I wish I could say I am joking, but I am not. I am so sick of being in a lame ass do nothing conference.

Rule, I agree with every single thing you said. Except it's not the COMMISSIONER'S job to fix those things. Sure he can talk tough. He can "emphasize". He can "strenuously object", etc., etc. But at the end of the day, it's EACH SCHOOL's responsibility to improve facilities, attendance, fan support, scheduling, etc., etc. And once they're IN the conference, I'm not sure there's a hell of a lot of leverage the commissioner can apply to make them ramp up ANY of those things.

 

[EverettGriz]

I don't completely agree, AZ. The commish can take a number of steps to ensure the conference gets better. For example, you mandate that if a team's out of conference SOS is below 200 for 3 years, they're ineligible for the conference title and post season tournament. You mandate that if they play in a gym that seats 600, they're again ineligible. If they can't average 2000 fans for BB and 8,000 for football, they have to pay a fee to the league.

For far too damn long the bsc has catered to the lowest common denominator. It's time that the 9 or 10 teams in this league who can't carry the mail realize that the days of the free lunches are over. Get better, get bigger, or get out.

 

[Jeffrey Choate]

I just don't get it?

 

[mtgrizrule]

I don't completely agree, AZ. The commish can take a number of steps to ensure the conference gets better. For example, you mandate that if a team's out of conference SOS is below 200 for 3 years, they're ineligible for the conference title and post season tournament. You mandate that if they play in a gym that seats 600, they're again ineligible. If they can't average 2000 fans for BB and 8,000 for football, they have to pay a fee to the league.

For far too damn long the bsc has catered to the lowest common denominator. It's time that the 9 or 10 teams in this league who can't carry the mail realize that the days of the free lunches are over. Get better, get bigger, or get out.

:clap: :thumb:

 

[statler & waldorf]

Football attendance:
UM. 25600
MSU. 19000
EWU. 9600
CP. 8600
ND. 8300
NAU. 7500
ISU. 7300
PSU. 7000
UCD. 5700
SUU. 5600
UNC. 4300
Had to crunch the numbers. Didn't realize how bad BSC attendance has been. Requiring 9/11 of a conference to come up to the standards of The State of Montana ain'ta gonna happen. Time has long since come to look at other options.

 

[Spanky]

Good luck with those other options!

 

[statler & waldorf]

Basketball numbers(to the nearest hundred)show similar results:
Men [Women]
WSU. 6500 [1000]
UM. 3700 [2600]
MSU. 2800 [1400]
ND. 1900 [1700]
EWU. 1800 [400]
SUU. 1700 [500]
ISU. 1600 [900]
NAU. 1300 [400]
UI. 1200 [500]
UNC. 1200 [700]
SUU. 900 [400]
PSU. 900 [300]
SSU. 600 [400]

Spanky, you are right, there are no other options, at this time.

 

[AZGrizFan]

I don't completely agree, AZ. The commish can take a number of steps to ensure the conference gets better. For example, you mandate that if a team's out of conference SOS is below 200 for 3 years, they're ineligible for the conference title and post season tournament. You mandate that if they play in a gym that seats 600, they're again ineligible. If they can't average 2000 fans for BB and 8,000 for football, they have to pay a fee to the league.

For far too damn long the bsc has catered to the lowest common denominator. It's time that the 9 or 10 teams in this league who can't carry the mail realize that the days of the free lunches are over. Get better, get bigger, or get out.

And how long do you think a commissioner that started mandating things like that to the very teams/presidents who HIRED him would be in that position?

 

[EverettGriz]

I don't completely agree, AZ. The commish can take a number of steps to ensure the conference gets better. For example, you mandate that if a team's out of conference SOS is below 200 for 3 years, they're ineligible for the conference title and post season tournament. You mandate that if they play in a gym that seats 600, they're again ineligible. If they can't average 2000 fans for BB and 8,000 for football, they have to pay a fee to the league.

For far too damn long the bsc has catered to the lowest common denominator. It's time that the 9 or 10 teams in this league who can't carry the mail realize that the days of the free lunches are over. Get better, get bigger, or get out.

And how long do you think a commissioner that started mandating things like that to the very teams/presidents who HIRED him would be in that position?

Perhaps not long. But that's his/her JOB. The commish is paid to IMPROVE the conference. If the Presidents don't realize that, then UM absolutely MUST leave the bsc. I don't care where we go. Shit, let's go to whatever conference Binghampton is in. Hell, the bsc made them a member, maybe they'll let us in.

 

[nodak651]

Mens and Womens combined attendance:

WSU 7500
UM 6300
MSU 4200
ND 3600
ISU 2500
EWU 2200
SUU 2200
UNC 1900
NAU 1700
UI 1700
SUU 1300
SSU 1000

UND is at least trying to do something about it's basketball and football issues with FCOA and the IPF. They are also installing two new 10' x 20' video boards ($600,000) at each end of the basketball arena, which should help with fan attendance.

 

[griz71]

Mens and Womens combined attendance:

WSU 7500
UM 6300
MSU 4200
ND 3600
ISU 2500
EWU 2200
SUU 2200
UNC 1900
NAU 1700
UI 1700
SUU 1300
SSU 1000

UND is at least trying to do something about it's basketball and football issues with FCOA and the IPF. They are also installing two new 10' x 20' video boards ($600,000) at each end of the basketball arena, which should help with fan attendance.

A start...some of you other schools listening???

 

['68griz]

Good luck with those other options!

Yeah, just what are all those "other options?"

 

[EverettGriz]

Mens and Womens combined attendance:

WSU 7500
UM 6300
MSU 4200
ND 3600
ISU 2500
EWU 2200
SUU 2200
UNC 1900
NAU 1700
UI 1700
SUU 1300
SSU 1000

UND is at least trying to do something about it's basketball and football issues with FCOA and the IPF. They are also installing two new 10' x 20' video boards ($600,000) at each end of the basketball arena, which should help with fan attendance.

I've got very few issues with UND (although playing football in domes has to change). There's work to be done there, certainly, but at least they're trying to improve.

 

[putter]

Commissioners have clout. Commissioners can talk to other commissioners about playing each other. The new BSC head can get on the horn with the head of the PAC-12, WCC, Big 10, etc and see what can be done about getting on their schools schedules every year! Yes it is up to the individual schools but it can set the stage

 

[grizindabox]

Football attendance:
UM. 25600
MSU. 19000
EWU. 9600
CP. 8600
ND. 8300
NAU. 7500
ISU. 7300
PSU. 7000
UCD. 5700
SUU. 5600
UNC. 4300
Had to crunch the numbers. Didn't realize how bad BSC attendance has been. Requiring 9/11 of a conference to come up to the standards of The State of Montana ain'ta gonna happen. Time has long since come to look at other options.

You seem to not realize that the standard is 7000-8000 for the BSC.....UM and MSU just exceed the standard.....they are the exception.....not the norm.....and the BSC is fine with that standard....it is not a BSC problem.....it is a UM/MSU problem....

 

[LongTimeCatFan]

It'd almost be better to have the charter members split from the leaches and add Idaho, New Mexico State, and Wyoming. Some of our "members" have been content to just sit on status quo for years. Yes, MSU was guilty of that at times as well, but holy cow, how can you be D1 when AA Montana high schools have better facilities and fan support?

 

[statler & waldorf]

You seem to not realize that the standard is 7000-8000 for the BSC.....UM and MSU just exceed the standard.....they are the exception.....not the norm.....and the BSC is fine with that standard....it is not a BSC problem.....it is a UM/MSU problem....

I did not realize there was a standard for football. What is the basketball standard, for men and women?

 

[kemajic]

Whoever it is, we need a commissioner who will commit to making damn sure the conference gets more exposure, especially in basketball.

At the current quality level of BSC basketball, more exposure would not be positive.

 

[grizindabox]

You seem to not realize that the standard is 7000-8000 for the BSC.....UM and MSU just exceed the standard.....they are the exception.....not the norm.....and the BSC is fine with that standard....it is not a BSC problem.....it is a UM/MSU problem....

I did not realize there was a standard for football. What is the basketball standard, for men and women?

accepted standard.....not official standard.....for basketball there doesn't seem to be much of a standard at all....