Drake and Valpo are dealing with very similar issues, regarding lack of funding and enrollment and cutting costs. Drake however has the community involved with their basketball program. Props to them for taking a risk to hire McCollum and having great success. Even with powerhouses Iowa State and Iowa dominating the interest and coverage, Drake is getting some decent support as Des Moines' hometown team...
Drake has also had years of success before McCollum to get fans to rally off of. Early on in drakes history they had a streak where they were as poor as Valpo has been on the court.
Drake also has 8x the population to work with with Des moines having around 240k residents
Drake invested in basketball when they first saw success, and it has paid dividends for their program. I know I preach not reminiscing in the Glory days, but it makes you wonder where VU would be if the admins had listens to Homer and Bryce when they begged and pleaded for funding
well, they are 23-2 and the game with Bradley tomorrow will have a decent crowd! You have to admit it's a cool story.
@usc4valpo also because of Drake, the valley is seeing a lot of nationally televised games. More revenue for the constituents and exposure for the league
Bradley vs. Drake at the Knapp on the Deuce tomorrow!
@rezynezy Bogus excuse on the population. Valpo has the NW Indiana region to draw from, which is more the Des Moines metro area.
Also, McCollum built this team pretty much from scratch and bringing in transfers, including 4 D2 transfers from NW Mo. St. where he is came from. He has been discussed in taking coaching jobs at Iowa and Indiana.
While I agree that NWI as a whole is a large are with a healthy populous. Pre Powell, lake county was treated as a pariah for a potential fan base. Now I have about half the years of service time that many on this board have, but that's just what I remember. Powell is one of the first to go into lake county and Garner up support for the teams. Most of the fanbase was "locally sourced" with a few exceptions like Milwaukee and "ARC North"
McCollums roster was his national champ roster at the S2 level. The difference between the S2 national champs and a D1 team is surprisingly minimal. He is also just a really good coach with a high BBIQ. Although I don't personally think he gets the IU job over the current suitors.
@rezynezy - great comments and thank you for acknowledging that the talent level from a champion D2 team to the MVC is not much. Two years ago I mentioned that if NW Mo. St were in the MVC they would be at least in the middle of the pack, and I took a lot of grief on this board for that observation as if the MVC talent was so elite!
Also note that NW Mo. St. has not won the D2 title in a couple of years, thus not particularly a champion roster transferring in to Drake. However, it will be interesting how well he recruits at Drake with the local talent in the Iowa-Missouri-Nebraska-Dakotas region.
I don't think he is planning on leaving anytime soon either. I know a few guys who are close to the program and he is really bought into what they have going there. I don't understand why people hear D2 and automatically think trash. Tyler Schmidt played freaking NAIA and he is one of our best players this year! Granted there is a different when you hit the lower eschelon of D2, but a team/coach who was regularly competing for titles at the D2 level and brought 4 of his guys with him is a recipe for success at the mid major level.
My major point of emphasis with Drake vs Valpo will be the funding. Drake bought into basketball when the going was good. Valpo didn't. Such is reflected in the program strength today. I also commend Powell for reaching into lake county to find the fanbase again. It's an untapped market in an area that is bled dry by 2 power schools and the plethora of Chicago campuses
Yeah....if Valpo brought in McCollum they would have had essentially a complete team with one move. While available as an option, only one team has that option. The question for Valpo is less why aren't they Drake and more why can't they do what other MVC teams have done to re-do their roster in one recruiting season.
Not having NIL funds creates an issue to recruiting top talent in the portal. Given the limited funds, Powell’s approach is likely the best we can hope for. Will he be able to build a winner with this approach? We will know that better after this offseason and his ability to keep his best players.
NW Indiana has shown that if Valpo is a winner, that we can draw crowds. When we suck, we have a lot of fair weather fans that disappear.
@tjjvalpo - Drake has limited funds like Valpo and experiencing similar issues. They took a risk hiring a D2 coach and it is paying off.
I'd be more impressed with Drake had they had to re-stock in the same fashion as everyone else in the conference did.
Drake is just a team that has had more long term success and reaped the benefits early. Hate to sound like a broken record here, but that's simply what it comes down to. They bought into basketball when they saw success. Valpo didn't. Its why they get better recruits despite the same financial woes.
