Thoughts on the season

[Valpo89]

Bigmosmith, welcome back! Your voice of reason has been missed.
All of your points are well taken.
The only thing I'm not sure about is the Valpo mayor being a former VU athlete. Matt Murphy attended IU, I believe. Perhaps he attended VU and played football, briefly? He did play football at VHS.
Casey Schmidt, obviously, is a former VU athlete. He's currently a member of the City Council.

[crusaderboy]

bigmosmithfan ... right on. All the words, all the excuses, all the rationalizations, just wad them up and throw them away because they're worth squat.

The fact of the matter is the university has EXACTLY the program it wants. It's hard to come to any other conclusion. All of the actions and decisions were made consciously, whether to invest in facility upgrades, coaching and recruiting budgets, travel, etc. These are people who are presented with information and data and choose the outcome they desire.

I was a huge critic of the Lottich hiring at the time it was made, for a number of reasons. It was a total short-sighted decision that has done nothing but hamstring the program since. What competent leader hires a No. 3 (at best) assistant coach, with no prior D-1 coaching experience, to take over a potential NCAA-Tournament team? Administrative malpractice. All for the sake of one senior class that didn't even make it back to the NCAA Tournament. You can have your but's and what if's about the season, but the bottom line is the bottom line. I am not a Bears fan, but Lottich to me is very similar to Mitch Trubisky. Trubisky took a lot of heat for his play with the Bears, and rightfully so. But it was overdone in a way. It's not like he asked the Bears to trade up for him and take him No. 2 overall, after all. He was in over his head from the get go and never really got his head above water. Same with Lottich. What did the powers that be think they were getting with a first-time No. 3 assistant coach? It was a completely foolish and ill-advised hiring at the time and remains even more so today.

All is not lost, however. Thankfully, Valpo still has the Valley going for it. There are many qualified coaches out there who would jump at the chance to coach in this league, even at a limited place like Valpo. Right now, it is my belief that the affiliation with the MVC is about the only kernel of hope around the program. So long as they are a member of the league, they will be able to attract quality candidates. The problem, as always, is who will be making that decision of who to hire when it comes time (most likely way down the road).

[valpo64]

Not too long ago I thought I remember reading a post on this forum that the University had a couple of big donors for ARC renovation in place but that nothing more would be said until additional funding became available and the project could be announced.

[crusader05]

I remember reading that they had already drawn up some plans for a full renovation but that they were searching for a lead donor before they could move forward.  They seem to want to have a large chunk down before they pull the trigger cause it's easier than trying to fundraise from scratch and it creates momentum to get it over the top.

Now, who knows if the they ever found a lead donor or maybe they've found some people who would commit to some of it but not enough to make it worth starting the official drive.  I know it's on the list of the top 3 things to do (including a new nursing building and I think a business renovation) and that they will build whichever one gets the most donor momentum first vs prioritizing one over the other.

[humbleopinion]

President Padilla said that a committee will determine whether a new arena will be built or if the arc will be remodeled into more of an arena type of structure.  Regardless, it is a high priority, and the decision will be made before the next school year.

[oklahomamick]

Didn't know where to put this. 

For the last 4-5 years during NCAAT time, the local sports radio station in Tulsa plays a commercial advertising for the tournament.  The sports radio station plays 3-4 famous calls from memorable NCAA tournament games.  I love driving to work in March hearing "to Drew for the win! GOOD!!! HE DID IT!! BRYCE DREW DID IT!! VALPO HAS WON THE GAME, A MIRACLE!! It's just a good start to the work day.

However, this year it has been removed from the commercial and replaced with one from ORU last year making it to the sweet 16.   

[David81]

President Padilla said that a committee will determine whether a new arena will be built or if the arc will be remodeled into more of an arena type of structure.  Regardless, it is a high priority, and the decision will be made before the next school year.

I wish this wasn't necessary, i.e., that a quality school offering a full-ride that can lead to a darn good degree, along with serviceable athletic facilities and a respectable hoops tradition, would instantly mean being competitive for top mid-major talent. But I'm persuaded that the current ARC is a liability (the interview with Ryan Fazekas in The Victory Bell helped to convince me), and I'm glad this is now a priority.

[usc4valpo]

Talking to a good friend and alum, Valpo needs available cash and lots of it to build these facilities. I am guessing the $250M drive cannot contribute to this. Schools like Valpo, Drake, Bradley and Evansville, good middle of the road private schools, are hurting financially and many other private schools will be closing its doors in the near future.

I feel Padilla wants Valpo to be successful in athletics and particularly the basketball program, but the cronies under him have a different old school laizze-faire outlook. It has been and will continue to be a battle.

[DuneHwx]

You have to remember how the recruiting process works. Recruits are brought to multiple campuses and given the hard sell by coaches. You are competing with every other school they are visiting. And recruits know that coaches may not stay so the facilities are one of the main things factoring in their minds.

Other policy changes that could help attract the players they are hoping to attract without spending money:

*Let the freshmen live in the nicer dorms. Brandt is a major turnoff.
*Don't require them to live on campus for three years, the other schools aren't.
*Let them park on campus.
*Don't force them to have a roommate.

Improving the ARC is important, but inexpensive policy changes would do a lot to help. The other schools aren't treating the Bball players like every other freshman, believe me.

[usc4valpo]

A big turn off for my daughter was the three years on campus rule? Why have such a restriction in place?

[DuneHwx]

I'm sure it's because they make a ton of money from room and board and allowing students to move off campus would be a huge loss of revenue. But making the Bball teams adhere to the same rules is a barrier to getting the recruits that they want. They need to be competitive in the market and the market is the other schools who are recruiting the same players.

[crusader05]

Honest question: Per NCAA standards can they even do that? I thought athletes cannot get extra perks that differentiate them from student and I'd imagine living off-campus w/o a valid exemption would qualify?

[DuneHwx]

There must be ways to do it, I would assume through the waiver process.

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/big-12/university-of-kansas/article336824.html

[usc4valpo]

Seriously, how many schools have this level of campus restriction, especially with people working and studying remotely. Dumb archaic rule. Valpo needs to get out of the I like Ike days.

[valpotx]

During my Junior year in Berg, my roommate moved off campus for the second semester.  I never had anyone put in for a request for another room apparently, and ended up having the room to myself for the entire semester, while paying a rate for 1/2 a room.  It was very nice. 

[oklahomamick]

Not only does the university make money from room and board but also wants to avoid a commuter campus feel.  Freshman and sophomores living on campus creating life long friends and being part of a community I think is part of the mission or valpo experience. 

[valpo95]

I'm sure it's because they make a ton of money from room and board and allowing students to move off campus would be a huge loss of revenue. But making the Bball teams adhere to the same rules is a barrier to getting the recruits that they want. They need to be competitive in the market and the market is the other schools who are recruiting the same players.

It is a more complicated decision than it appears. DuneHwx is right about the loss of revenue. First, many small, private schools face economic challenges: The result of this is that the financial aid that is termed a "scholarship" reduces the tuition costs more than it has in the past. The economics of this makes sense, because there are few additional variable costs related to instruction of one more student - the costs for professors, classrooms, utilities, etc. are the same if there are 30 students in a class or if there are 31 students in the class. So, what more private schools do is offer more "scholarship" aid to reduce the tuition cost. (There are limits to this strategy of course, yet the marginal cost of instruction of one more student is low.) The benefit of this is that the students come on campus: They are required to stay in the dorms, be on the meal plan, pay general / technology fees and the like. These end up being value-add to the university budget, and adding one more student brings in perhaps $13K/year in room and board alone.

Second, as to whether athletes should be treated differently, it is not just a men's basketball question. My sense is that historically, non-freshmen athletes have gotten waivers to live off campus relatively easily, yet it is difficult to make policy pronouncements. Imagine that all men's basketball athletes are allowed to live off campus: The next question is if the women's basketball athletes are allowed to live off campus, and if not, why not? If those happen, how do you require tennis players, or football players, cross country runners, or any other athletes to live on campus? The loss of all of this additional revenue is substantial.

[DuneHwx]

Regardless of the equity factor, basketball recruits are being offered far better living arrangements at other institutions. If you want the good recruits to come to Valpo you need to be competitive. The one article I posted suggested that 51% of students in an athletic housing arrangement need to not be athletes. The most obvious answer then would be to allow the full scholarship players (mbb, wbb, vb) to live in Promenade until they are allowed to move off campus. The rigors of D1 full athletic scholarship competition, need for sleep & recovery space, and community support should be sufficient. Similar to the German House, these students should have specialty housing.

[DuneHwx]

Not only does the university make money from room and board but also wants to avoid a commuter campus feel.  Freshman and sophomores living on campus creating life long friends and being part of a community I think is part of the mission or valpo experience.

*Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. I would challenge you to lead the tours of Brandt to highly sought after recruits and try to sell them on three years of dorm living.

[vu72]

Not only does the university make money from room and board but also wants to avoid a commuter campus feel.  Freshman and sophomores living on campus creating life long friends and being part of a community I think is part of the mission or valpo experience.

*Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. I would challenge you to lead the tours of Brandt to highly sought after recruits and try to sell them on three years of dorm living.

Well here ya go!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0GIhFJtBhY

[David81]

Well, the video shows how Brandt Hall is now a whole lot nicer than its rather Spartan existence back in my day! (Though I confess to having nostalgic memories of late night study & paper writing marathons in the Brandt cafeteria, which became an impromptu study hall after the dinner hour.)

That said, many of today's kids expect fancier surroundings, and if you're sought-after athlete, sharing a small dorm room isn't exactly a sales pitch.

[valpotx]

I was in Brandt for my first 2 years, 1999-2000 and 2000-2001.  The current state is a lot better than what we had.  Did they finally get rid of the unused cafeteria on the first floor?  I know that the kitchen was used for food at Berg, but that general eating area was always vacant.

[DuneHwx]

While that video is, I'm sure, designed to make Brandt look as appealing as possible (notice lack of bathroom footage) the point is not to compare it to your time on campus but to compare it to the living arrangements that athletes are being offered at other institutions.

[crusader05]

My biggest concern with this is it boils down to special treatment for athletes that could risk, on a campus this small, increasing resentment between the other students.

You already struggle to get students to the games. Imagine how that works if they feel like the basketball team (who is not winning well right now) gets extra perks. Also, if you're going to basically say that even Beacon is not good enough for the athletes and they deserve the only area of campus housing that is apartment style over Juniors who have lived on campus already for 2 years you're really really pushing into these players are better than the rest of our student's territory.

I get your piece about recruiting and perks but the reality is that giving them that doesn't seem to really help that much if facilities are still crap and probably has more of a downside than anything

[JD24]

Haven't been on campus in a few years. When I was on campus during the Bryce Drew years, I would invariably run into him at some point...often shaking hands or having conversations with students. Does that happen with Lottich?