BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

Started by Ralph Turner, January 09, 2006, 11:38:52 PM

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Dr. Acula

I did see that JK.  It seemed like most of the guys on the football board were viewing it almost as an addition by subtraction thing for Cap and you regulars know much better than me.  Is it normal to be looking for an OC in mid-July though?  I feel like your options would be limited at this point.

In the grand scheme of things I see what you're saying.  I guess the way I look at it as an outsider is that I simply ask "Are the athletic programs in a better place now than they were?"  I don't know that we can say that for anything other than the aforementioned hoops teams (Goodwin/Jeffers).  I think this year is going to be a huge year for football because w/ a healthy Marty Assman they really need to get back on track and prove that it was just injuries and/or Matsakis (and not a larger problem i.e. the departure of Collins) that led to the hiccup.   

Also, I was a little surprised Cap didn't do something like make Jeffers the AD and Goodwin the Asst. AD in order to kind of lock them up so to speak.  Obviously schools like MUC w/ Kehres and Berg w/ Palm have employed this tactic because it's not easy to find quality coaches that want to stay long-term.       

Buckley

just saw on Capital's website, they hired Ryan Grice from LaGrange in Georgia.   Good guy - I wish him the best of luck

Dr. Acula

Here's the link:  Grice to Cap

He's an Ohio guy (alum of West Holmes HS and Walsh Univ.), but it looks like no HC experience at the college level outside of summer league.  I said a while ago that I thought they should give a young guy a shot to build it.  Here's the chance.  I wish him well.

JK

Roger Welsh was my football coach when I was at Cap.  When I was living in Kentucky, I made it back up to Cap for a few games and had the opportunity to talk with Roger on a couple of occasions.  In his last year as AD, one of our conversations centered on what direction Cap would go when he retired as AD.  Though he never said it, I got the impression that the groundwork had been laid for Dixie Jeffers, who has been the associate AD in addition to head women's coach and living legend for as long as I can remember, to succeed him as AD, with the potential for Damon Goodwin (mens hoops HC) or the head football coach to take over as associate AD.  This would have also had the added bonus of freeing up a spot to make the head baseball coach a full-time position.

So, it came as quite a shock to me when Roger did retire and they hired Dawn Mamula (now Stewart) from outside as AD.  I thought it quite the slap in the face to Dixie in particular and to Roger's wishes after so many years of loyal service to Cap.  I certainly don't know if Dixie even wanted the job (or if anyone else inside- like Damon- did either), but it just seemed a strange route to take after a couple of years of great success in the sports programs in general (in a 3 year stretch at the end of Roger's tenure the FB, VB, MBB, WBB, baseball, M Soccer, and W Soccer all made the post season).  You would think that iff someone already there would have wanted the job, it would have been a nice way to reward them and "lock them up" as you put it.

I don't know what is going on.  I will always cheer for my alma mater, but I am starting to have some serious questions as to the direction of the administration in regards to athletics.  Certainly Dr. Bowman has his own agenda, all presidents do, but I don't think it has to be at the expense of what was quickly becoming a top-notch sports program in gerneral.

As for Matsakis, I am not sad to see him go.  The offense lacked balance and imagination last year.  I expected some of it, since Jim Collins was a top-notch offensive mind, but expected to see Manny get more comfortable as the year went on.  He never seemed to settle in as an OC.  Marty Assman getting hurt had a bit to do with it, but the fact that when he lost Marty the offense went in the tank is inexcusable.  He had no developed back-up and couldn't adjust like Collins had done the year before when Marty went down and Cap still made the playoffs.  It was sad to watch the offense roll over at the end of last season.  The D played pretty well and the offense had nothing, hence losing 5 of the last 6.

It is pretty late in the game to bring someone in, I would think.  Spring ball is over, so the time to learn a new offense is not in August.  I would think they would HAVE to hire someone from within or someone formerly on the staff (maybe bring back Mike Ancona???).  We'll see.

As for the rest, to be continued I guess...

I am pretty excited about new blood for the baseball team though.  Hope springs eternal with every new coach.  We'll see if this young man can have some success.

Dr. Acula

After I posted I thought I remembered you posting in the past something to the effect that Welsh may have wanted to have Jeffers step into the AD role so thanks for confirming that.  The old memory isn't what it used to be.

I understand that Bowman may have his own agenda, but as the president one of, if not THE most important, item on his agenda has to be enrollment.  Well what's the easiest way to maximize enrollment?  I'm guessing it's by maximizing participation in athletics.  Look at MUC.  LK brings in 120 freshmen every year and how many of them are there because of football?  By no means am I degrading the academics at my alma mater, but let's face reality...those kids had a dozen options comparable to MUC academically.  The differentiating factor was sports.  Another thing you joked about on the football board that's true is buildings.  MUC is constantly upgrading campus.  I was on campus this week and the renovations to the Rec Center and athletic facilities are great.  And the new admissions center looks fantastic as well.  But beyond that, they do a first rate job w/ grounds maintenance and landscaping.  Campus no doubt helps w/ enrollment. 

But Cap has something few other OAC schools have...great location.  I've never walked the entire campus, but what I've seen is nice.  Bexley is one of the best suburbs in Ohio.  And the Cap Center/Bernlohr is outstanding.  I guess my point is, that stuff is already in place.  You already HAD quality FB, MBB, WBB coaches there to maximize those facilities by fielding highly competitive teams every year which should, in turn, maximize your enrollment from sports.  Why not embrace it?  Bowman seems like a bottom line guy and I would have thought that the idea of using the athletics arm to maximize tuition $ would have been a no brainer, especially in light of their financial situation when he came in.  Any port in a storm, right?  That makes me wonder if he's a true bottom line guy w/ business acumen or whether he's an academic idealist (perhaps even elitist?) who talks a good game.  Only time will tell I suppose, but I just hope for the University's sake he doesn't underestimate the role athletics plays in the financial health of the school.  This isn't OSU.  These are D3 schools where you may have 40 or 50% of your male students playing sports.  It's important whether his ideals agree with it or not.         

JK

Couldn't have said it better myself  ;D

Bump

I can understand the reasoning behind putting more emphasis on academics and how that could be attractive to potential students. I have a harder time grasping the rational behind de-emphasizing anything in a time of operating deficits. In most cases you have to spend money to make money. Sports can be a large expense for a university but they also can provide revenue as well as intangible benefits for the student athlete and the university in total. Capitols approach is puzzling to me if what has been outlined in previous posts has any merit.
Shoot low boys, they're riding Shetland ponies!! - Lewis Grizzard

You don't know what pressure is until you've played for $5 a hole with only $2 in your pocket.  – Lee Trevino

JK

I certainly agree, bump.  ALthough it has never been stated that Capital is "de-emphasizing" anything (I believe that was HS Coach's phrase on the football board last year sometime), some of the moves made in the School in general and the Athletic Department in particular have led me to question some things with my alma mater.  A whole lot of little things seem to be adding up to something bigger.  WHere there is smoke (numerous coaches, etc. leaving with little or no warning, fewer number of incoming recruits each year, president not attending home games, etc), there usually is a fire ("de-emphasis" on athletics).

Only time will tell us the whole story, I guess.

Buckley

I don't get administrators.  most small schools are tuition driven - therefore, most coaches are glorified admission counselors.   to underestimate the role that athletics plays in the survival of a small college is just stubborness from an administrator that didn't play athletics.  There reasoning is to "emphasize" how important academics is.  Small colleges is a very competitive market place.   Most of the small schools in the oac and ncac have around 2400 undergrads.  approximately 450 of those are athletes, and i would be willing to bet that another 150 or so came in for athletics and have quit and stayed in school there.  that is 25% of your student body.   problem is, most administrators think coaches are dumb jocks and kids come there based solely on academics alone.    I think that administrators think that kids wake up one day and say that I want to go to Capital or Ohio Weslyan and oh yeah, i think they have a baseball program so i might participate.  this thinking completely underestimate the amount of work and recruiting that is needed to get a player to play at a small college. I don't understand it when administrators don't give the respect to athletics that it should deserve.   Food for thought:   35 man roster - $30,000 tuition each = $1,000,000 gross profit.    total team budget $35,000.   Entire Coaching staff salary $40,000.   - program receives less than 10% from the university.  still don't understand how you can't have a full time coach and a full time assistant at least at every small university. 

Dr. Acula

Agreed, Buckley.  At MUC there are usually 50 some kids on the baseball roster.  Do the math there.   

inthecrease

you can always just use the simple figure that muc has about 2000 students and around, if not over 200 of them play football. thats 10% of the school to one sport! a very nice chunk of money to the school

Bump

I believe there was a survey done at one of the OAC schools asking students what things were most important to them when choosing a school. The top three responses were the quality of housing, quality of recreational / athletic facilities and quality of food. Someone may what to rethink his strategy.
Shoot low boys, they're riding Shetland ponies!! - Lewis Grizzard

You don't know what pressure is until you've played for $5 a hole with only $2 in your pocket.  – Lee Trevino

Dr. Acula

Not sure if anyone checked the front page of d3baseball.com, but there's a story on there about UW-Lax doing away w/ baseball and men's tennis due to financial woes.  Basically they have to raise money by 9/1/09 just to stave off the death sentence for a year.  50k for baseball, 40k for tennis. 

Here's an article from the newspaper:  WSJ

The program would then have to raise 350-375k by May 2010 to continue the program beyond next year.  The coach sounds realistic about it saying they would need a couple major donors to make that happen, but that if they could just raise the 50k now it would allow his kids a year to transfer and let his seniors who would be hard pressed to transfer for 1 year to finish out their careers.  Sad.

Dr. Acula

Quote from: Bump on July 17, 2009, 07:34:20 AM
I believe there was a survey done at one of the OAC schools asking students what things were most important to them when choosing a school. The top three responses were the quality of housing, quality of recreational / athletic facilities and quality of food. Someone may what to rethink his strategy.

Good point, Bump.  I read an article not too long ago discussing how vital housing was to small colleges competing for enrollment.  The gist of it was that kids these days aren't used to sharing anything, especially bedrooms, so colleges are catering to that by building apartment style housing and converting old dorms that were doubles to singles.   

p.s. I can't even fathom this.  Not only did I have a roommate every year I lived in the dorm, but even when I lived in a house there were 6 of us in a 5 bedroom house.  Yours truly got to share the "master bedroom" with a roommate because we had last pick.   

Bump

Dr. A, how does Mounts recruiting class look this year?
Shoot low boys, they're riding Shetland ponies!! - Lewis Grizzard

You don't know what pressure is until you've played for $5 a hole with only $2 in your pocket.  – Lee Trevino