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Post by unaman on Dec 14, 2021 12:04:21 GMT -6
As we already know, we are last in just about every Men sport. Go check out Stetson renovation to their baseball stadium. City is paying for 50% of renovation. Just imagine what UNA could be if we had 33% of the city support.
Are there any planned renovations in baseball to get it to a D1 facility?That program may be the worst through the transition besides volleyball and volleyball showed improvement with an interim coach.
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Post by unafied on Dec 14, 2021 12:42:50 GMT -6
That is a really nice stadium, for sure.
It's hard to out-compete private schools and lottery states at the D1 level. Not to say we should give up, but I would definitely have a football stadium and softball facilities higher on my personal list of things I want to see done. Probably even more renovations to Flowers.
I think Brandon may have some info here, but the latest talk seemed to be that we might build better seating around the existing field. Maybe new clubhouses under that seating? I think the latest info had them backtracking from the idea of building a new stadium at Cox Creek Park.
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Post by unaman on Dec 14, 2021 13:04:28 GMT -6
That is a really nice stadium, for sure. It's hard to out-compete private schools and lottery states at the D1 level. Not to say we should give up, but I would definitely have a football stadium and softball facilities higher on my personal list of things I want to see done. Probably even more renovations to Flowers. I think Brandon may have some info here, but the latest talk seemed to be that we might build better seating around the existing field. Maybe new clubhouses under that seating? I think the latest info had them backtracking from the idea of building a new stadium at Cox Creek Park. I was talking to someone else about this, but I believe Softball/Baseball and definitely golf are the programs that a small school like UNA could compete for National Championships. If we are being honest, UNA will never win a national championship in basketball, and they are 15-20 years from competing in football on a consistent basis (UT Martin is an example of this who has been in FCS since 92; have made the FCS playoffs TWICE). Softball with the addition is going to have top facilities in the ASUN and should be able to compete to make the tournament sooner than any other sport. There is no reason why Golf shouldn't be invested in with recruiting. There are 4 top level courses in the Shoals. But I know football is the money maker so that is where the most of the money will go...
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Post by unafied on Dec 14, 2021 13:26:27 GMT -6
That is a really nice stadium, for sure. It's hard to out-compete private schools and lottery states at the D1 level. Not to say we should give up, but I would definitely have a football stadium and softball facilities higher on my personal list of things I want to see done. Probably even more renovations to Flowers. I think Brandon may have some info here, but the latest talk seemed to be that we might build better seating around the existing field. Maybe new clubhouses under that seating? I think the latest info had them backtracking from the idea of building a new stadium at Cox Creek Park. I was talking to someone else about this, but I believe Softball/Baseball and definitely golf are the programs that a small school like UNA could compete for National Championships. If we are being honest, UNA will never win a national championship in basketball, and they are 15-20 years from competing in football on a consistent basis (UT Martin is an example of this who has been in FCS since 92; have made the FCS playoffs TWICE). Softball with the addition is going to have top facilities in the ASUN and should be able to compete to make the tournament sooner than any other sport. There is no reason why Golf shouldn't be invested in with recruiting. There are 4 top level courses in the Shoals. But I know football is the money maker so that is where the most of the money will go... I agree somewhat. I think a sport like golf is more capable of fielding great teams. James Madison made the women's College World Series last year, so there's no reason we can't try to invest in our softball program to reach that level. I do think we have a disadvantage in some of these "non-revenue" sports, because we don't have lottery scholarships to give out to make up for most of these scholarships being less (or a lot less) than a full ride. Schools in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, etc., can all do that. Whether you support a lottery or not, the reality is that's certainly an advantage for schools that can use it. While winning a basketball championship isn't very likely, it's a sport that makes money for a lot of schools. We don't like to admit it, but that's all a lot of university officials care about. Winning teams are a nice bonus. Trust me, I'm with you on giving more attention to ALL sports to make us look like we belong in D1. I just sort of understand why it doesn't/isn't happening.
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Post by brandon on Dec 14, 2021 14:45:05 GMT -6
First let me say I'm an FCS fan... That being said, the only revenue we will get from football is ticket sales and private donations. Moving to FBS is where you get extra earnings for football.
Basketball on the other hand, can make the school, and the conference BIG money. Do I think it is likely that basketball wins or has a chance at a national championship? No... But can we make the tournament and win a few games, yes absolutely. And with those wins, you bring in more money, and build the program. We can also win NITs... What I like about our setup in basketball, the more we progressively get better, the more they will pay the coach. So basically it's up to him on how much he gets paid in the future. (At least that's how he explained to me how his contract is.)
We all need to realize what the real money maker is for UNA right now. We don't get conference money until everything is out of transition, so all we have had the past 4 years is ticket sales and as fans, we have let UNA down, not the other way around. How can we expect to upgrade everything in a hurry when we(as a whole) don't show up and buy tickets. And that goes for all sports. So how can we justify building multi million dollar facilities if the ticket sales don't support it?
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Post by unafan002 on Dec 15, 2021 7:36:33 GMT -6
As we already know, we are last in just about every Men sport. Go check out Stetson renovation to their baseball stadium. City is paying for 50% of renovation. Just imagine what UNA could be if we had 33% of the city support. Are there any planned renovations in baseball to get it to a D1 facility?That program may be the worst through the transition besides volleyball and volleyball showed improvement with an interim coach. They’re not going to renovate baseball anytime soon. There is no local support here. I was at the the muscle shoals Christmas parade, and they had Alabama and auburn mascots in the parade and didn’t have Leo or anything about UNA.. Am I the only one that finds that strange?
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Post by unafied on Dec 15, 2021 8:20:04 GMT -6
As we already know, we are last in just about every Men sport. Go check out Stetson renovation to their baseball stadium. City is paying for 50% of renovation. Just imagine what UNA could be if we had 33% of the city support. Are there any planned renovations in baseball to get it to a D1 facility?That program may be the worst through the transition besides volleyball and volleyball showed improvement with an interim coach. They’re not going to renovate baseball anytime soon. There is no local support here. I was at the the muscle shoals Christmas parade, and they had Alabama and auburn mascots in the parade and didn’t have Leo or anything about UNA.. Am I the only one that finds that strange? That's just Colbert County people hating on anything "north of the river" haha. In all seriousness, yeah I don't get it. There seems to be less support for UNA now from the Shoals overall than there was back in the D2 days. Is it because most of our teams are struggling? Or is it something deeper? I just don't know. I do know I get frustrated every time I'm visiting, and stores have all this Bama/Auburn merchandise front and center, and UNA stuff stuck in a corner. Maybe that's partly on the University for not doing a better job of promotion.
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Post by brandon on Dec 16, 2021 9:31:21 GMT -6
They’re not going to renovate baseball anytime soon. There is no local support here. I was at the the muscle shoals Christmas parade, and they had Alabama and auburn mascots in the parade and didn’t have Leo or anything about UNA.. Am I the only one that finds that strange? That's just Colbert County people hating on anything "north of the river" haha. In all seriousness, yeah I don't get it. There seems to be less support for UNA now from the Shoals overall than there was back in the D2 days. Is it because most of our teams are struggling? Or is it something deeper? I just don't know. I do know I get frustrated every time I'm visiting, and stores have all this Bama/Auburn merchandise front and center, and UNA stuff stuck in a corner. Maybe that's partly on the University for not doing a better job of promotion. It's partially the Lauderdale/Colbert county thing and partially the same old "Your either Alabama or Auburn" BS... Like I've said before, old heads will have to start dieing out door that to change. Coach P is trying his best to change that narrative in the Shoals. On the bright side, I've been seeing more UNA branded stuff and advertising in other parts of North Alabama than ever before. Huntsville and Madison seem to be on board more than ever. Their leadership sees potential in UNA, why can't the Shoals? Was also told that there may be a future series in the works to play an annual football game at the Trash Pandas place... They said they could put temporary grandstands in the outfield (like UWF does). I wonder if it would be the same school and be a neutral site rivalry game or just a yearly game for UNA vs different schools. I wouldn't mind playing Chattanooga there every year...
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Post by unafied on Dec 16, 2021 10:42:15 GMT -6
That's just Colbert County people hating on anything "north of the river" haha. In all seriousness, yeah I don't get it. There seems to be less support for UNA now from the Shoals overall than there was back in the D2 days. Is it because most of our teams are struggling? Or is it something deeper? I just don't know. I do know I get frustrated every time I'm visiting, and stores have all this Bama/Auburn merchandise front and center, and UNA stuff stuck in a corner. Maybe that's partly on the University for not doing a better job of promotion. It's partially the Lauderdale/Colbert county thing and partially the same old "Your either Alabama or Auburn" BS... Like I've said before, old heads will have to start dieing out door that to change. Coach P is trying his best to change that narrative in the Shoals. On the bright side, I've been seeing more UNA branded stuff and advertising in other parts of North Alabama than ever before. Huntsville and Madison seem to be on board more than ever. Their leadership sees potential in UNA, why can't the Shoals? Was also told that there may be a future series in the works to play an annual football game at the Trash Pandas place... They said they could put temporary grandstands in the outfield (like UWF does). I wonder if it would be the same school and be a neutral site rivalry game or just a yearly game for UNA vs different schools. I wouldn't mind playing Chattanooga there every year... YES... we should absolutely be doing that. Huntsville is now the largest city in the state (though I get that the Birmingham metro is larger overall). There are a ton of people living there that likely a.) know very little about UNA, and b.) have never even been to the Shoals. We should obviously be recruiting heavily there just due to the population and proximity to Florence, but since many of the transplants may not have lived in north Alabama long enough to know much about us, I think you have to devote special attention there. The football game at Toyota Field is a great idea - look at Kennesaw playing Jax State at the Braves' stadium. Like you said, playing Chattanooga there would be a great idea, or maybe someone like Samford. I wouldn't mind to see annual basketball or baseball games in Madison County, either. I've said it before, but we should REALLY promote ourselves as the University of ALL of North Alabama. We really are the perfect distance from Huntsville for a kid that wants to get away from the parents for college... but not go TOO far.
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Post by tuna85 on Dec 16, 2021 11:36:03 GMT -6
It's partially the Lauderdale/Colbert county thing and partially the same old "Your either Alabama or Auburn" BS... Like I've said before, old heads will have to start dieing out door that to change. Coach P is trying his best to change that narrative in the Shoals. On the bright side, I've been seeing more UNA branded stuff and advertising in other parts of North Alabama than ever before. Huntsville and Madison seem to be on board more than ever. Their leadership sees potential in UNA, why can't the Shoals? Was also told that there may be a future series in the works to play an annual football game at the Trash Pandas place... They said they could put temporary grandstands in the outfield (like UWF does). I wonder if it would be the same school and be a neutral site rivalry game or just a yearly game for UNA vs different schools. I wouldn't mind playing Chattanooga there every year... YES... we should absolutely be doing that. Huntsville is now the largest city in the state (though I get that the Birmingham metro is larger overall). There are a ton of people living there that likely a.) know very little about UNA, and b.) have never even been to the Shoals. We should obviously be recruiting heavily there just due to the population and proximity to Florence, but since many of the transplants may not have lived in north Alabama long enough to know much about us, I think you have to devote special attention there. The football game at Toyota Field is a great idea - look at Kennesaw playing Jax State at the Braves' stadium. Like you said, playing Chattanooga there would be a great idea, or maybe someone like Samford. I wouldn't mind to see annual basketball or baseball games in Madison County, either. I've said it before, but we should REALLY promote ourselves as the University of ALL of North Alabama. We really are the perfect distance from Huntsville for a kid that wants to get away from the parents for college... but not go TOO far. Amen and amen! Good way to fire up the alumni base in Madison/Limestone County. Would not mind seeing a Yellowhammer baseball challenge involving state of Alabama D1 schools at the Trash Panda pad.
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Post by unaman on Feb 20, 2022 16:05:44 GMT -6
JSU almost had 1,500+ for Saturday game. When’s the last time UNA had more than 200 for baseball game? UNA has no idea how to be a D1 program in almost any sport.
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Post by northalaspectator on Feb 20, 2022 16:56:40 GMT -6
First need a coaching change
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Post by brandon on Feb 20, 2022 20:00:27 GMT -6
JSU almost had 1,500+ for Saturday game. When’s the last time UNA had more than 200 for baseball game? UNA has no idea how to be a D1 program in almost any sport. JSU wasn't pulling that many fans when they first went D1 either...
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Post by unafied on Feb 21, 2022 9:04:40 GMT -6
I think college baseball has really grown as a spectator sport even in the last 5 or 10 years. And if the MLB guys continue to all act like a bunch of spoiled millionaires, it may just drive more people who enjoy baseball to watching college ball.
I don't know what UNA can do to grow the fandom. I'm sure stadium renovations would be a good start. Having an outfield area where students could gather and tailgate would also be nice, but obviously that can't happen at the stadium's current location. But if you move it off campus, there's less of a chance for students to show up.
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Post by brandon on Feb 21, 2022 10:36:53 GMT -6
I think college baseball has really grown as a spectator sport even in the last 5 or 10 years. And if the MLB guys continue to all act like a bunch of spoiled millionaires, it may just drive more people who enjoy baseball to watching college ball. I don't know what UNA can do to grow the fandom. I'm sure stadium renovations would be a good start. Having an outfield area where students could gather and tailgate would also be nice, but obviously that can't happen at the stadium's current location. But if you move it off campus, there's less of a chance for students to show up. Win...
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