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SBC Basketball Expansion Prospects
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Johnny Colonel Offline
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Post: #1
SBC Basketball Expansion Prospects
I'll kick this thread off my talking about my alma mater. Couldn't be more pleased with the hire our new AD made in bringing Minnesota assistant, and Pitino protege, Dan McHale to campus as our new head men's basketball coach. His style of play is perfect for our fans. His contract provides a base salary of $300k with incentives that could put him as the University's highest paid employee. Couldn't be more excited with how committed to athletics our President and administration are. Already hearing rumors on and around campus that we will see at least one power 5 school play a game in Richmond in the next year or so.

Coach McHale has a great base to build upon. We ended the year with an RPI of 142. That would put us behind only GA State, GA Southern, UL-L, and UL-M. Have full faith and confidence we could compete for basketball titles right away. Just for comparison: Missouri State had an RPI of 237 and Liberty's was 347.

Also, saw the release of the SBC basketball schedule yesterday. What continues to stand out to me the most is the fact that everyone has a travel partner except App State. We'll make great travel partners if given the chance and I think there is good history between the two to get both fan bases excited about that prospect. Geography and tradition will hopefully get us in.

Anybody hearing anything on expansion?

Some quotes about McHale taken from the Athletics story:

"I am extremely excited and proud of Dan McHale," Richard Pitino said. "Eastern Kentucky is getting a tremendous coach and recruiter, but more importantly a great person. He will represent the Eastern Kentucky program in a first-class manner. There is no doubt in my mind that he will do great things there."

"Dan is one of the hardest working coaches in our profession," Rick Pitino said. "I have great admiration for his dedication to our game. He is a great addition to our state."

"Dan is going to do an outstanding job at Eastern Kentucky University," said (Josh) Pastner. "He is a tireless worker and will do the job with great principle and great work ethic. Eastern Kentucky got a winner in Dan McHale."
04-14-2015 08:15 AM
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Georgia_Power_Company Offline
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RE: SBC Basketball Expansion Prospects
Coach McHale has a great base to build upon. We ended the year with an RPI of 142. That would put us behind only GA State, GA Southern, UL-L, and UL-M. Have full faith and confidence we could compete for basketball titles right away. Just for comparison: Missouri State had an RPI of 237 and Liberty's was 347.




I like EKU but this is a football first conference so unless you get your football house in order you won't be coming to the Sun Belt.

Nice hire BTW!
(This post was last modified: 04-14-2015 08:20 AM by Georgia_Power_Company.)
04-14-2015 08:18 AM
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FoUTASportscaster Offline
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RE: SBC Basketball Expansion Prospects
UTA?
04-14-2015 08:55 AM
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CrazyCajun Offline
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RE: SBC Basketball Expansion Prospects
(04-14-2015 08:15 AM)Johnny Colonel Wrote:  I'll kick this thread off my talking about my alma mater. Couldn't be more pleased with the hire our new AD made in bringing Minnesota assistant, and Pitino protege, Dan McHale to campus as our new head men's basketball coach. His style of play is perfect for our fans. His contract provides a base salary of $300k with incentives that could put him as the University's highest paid employee. Couldn't be more excited with how committed to athletics our President and administration are. Already hearing rumors on and around campus that we will see at least one power 5 school play a game in Richmond in the next year or so.

Coach McHale has a great base to build upon. We ended the year with an RPI of 142. That would put us behind only GA State, GA Southern, UL-L, and UL-M. Have full faith and confidence we could compete for basketball titles right away. Just for comparison: Missouri State had an RPI of 237 and Liberty's was 347.

Also, saw the release of the SBC basketball schedule yesterday. What continues to stand out to me the most is the fact that everyone has a travel partner except App State. We'll make great travel partners if given the chance and I think there is good history between the two to get both fan bases excited about that prospect. Geography and tradition will hopefully get us in.

Anybody hearing anything on expansion?

Some quotes about McHale taken from the Athletics story:

"I am extremely excited and proud of Dan McHale," Richard Pitino said. "Eastern Kentucky is getting a tremendous coach and recruiter, but more importantly a great person. He will represent the Eastern Kentucky program in a first-class manner. There is no doubt in my mind that he will do great things there."

"Dan is one of the hardest working coaches in our profession," Rick Pitino said. "I have great admiration for his dedication to our game. He is a great addition to our state."

"Dan is going to do an outstanding job at Eastern Kentucky University," said (Josh) Pastner. "He is a tireless worker and will do the job with great principle and great work ethic. Eastern Kentucky got a winner in Dan McHale."

Great hire in basketball, but any program that can't get average 10,000 at home football games has no business playing in an FBS conference.
04-14-2015 08:59 AM
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Johnny Colonel Offline
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RE: SBC Basketball Expansion Prospects
(04-14-2015 08:59 AM)CrazyCajun Wrote:  
(04-14-2015 08:15 AM)Johnny Colonel Wrote:  I'll kick this thread off my talking about my alma mater. Couldn't be more pleased with the hire our new AD made in bringing Minnesota assistant, and Pitino protege, Dan McHale to campus as our new head men's basketball coach. His style of play is perfect for our fans. His contract provides a base salary of $300k with incentives that could put him as the University's highest paid employee. Couldn't be more excited with how committed to athletics our President and administration are. Already hearing rumors on and around campus that we will see at least one power 5 school play a game in Richmond in the next year or so.

Coach McHale has a great base to build upon. We ended the year with an RPI of 142. That would put us behind only GA State, GA Southern, UL-L, and UL-M. Have full faith and confidence we could compete for basketball titles right away. Just for comparison: Missouri State had an RPI of 237 and Liberty's was 347.

Also, saw the release of the SBC basketball schedule yesterday. What continues to stand out to me the most is the fact that everyone has a travel partner except App State. We'll make great travel partners if given the chance and I think there is good history between the two to get both fan bases excited about that prospect. Geography and tradition will hopefully get us in.

Anybody hearing anything on expansion?

Some quotes about McHale taken from the Athletics story:

"I am extremely excited and proud of Dan McHale," Richard Pitino said. "Eastern Kentucky is getting a tremendous coach and recruiter, but more importantly a great person. He will represent the Eastern Kentucky program in a first-class manner. There is no doubt in my mind that he will do great things there."

"Dan is one of the hardest working coaches in our profession," Rick Pitino said. "I have great admiration for his dedication to our game. He is a great addition to our state."

"Dan is going to do an outstanding job at Eastern Kentucky University," said (Josh) Pastner. "He is a tireless worker and will do the job with great principle and great work ethic. Eastern Kentucky got a winner in Dan McHale."

Great hire in basketball, but any program that can't get average 10,000 at home football games has no business playing in an FBS conference.

I'll be the first to admit that our attendance hasn't been what it needs to be, but I think this is largely based on our fans becoming apathetic to who we are playing and what we are playing in.

This year our guarantee games are NC State and Kentucky. Next year we will play Purdue and Ball State. 2017 puts Western and UK on the docket. If we are able to make the jump to the SBC, Western's AD has recently said in the Herald Leader that they would like to discuss restoring the annual game at each of our places. Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Georgia Southern, App State are who the fans want to see. If we make the jump, attendance will spike.

In terms of the stadium, the east side construction will begin very soon. According to my sources, final renderings are expected shortly and construction will take place during this upcoming season. West side demolition could begin as early as late spring 2016 with a hopeful completion of the 2017 season. Initial concepts have been distributed on campus and if what has been discussed comes to fruition, Eastern will have the nicest facility in the league. Capacity will stick around 22k, but the fan experience will be first-class.
04-14-2015 10:35 AM
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CrazyCajun Offline
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RE: SBC Basketball Expansion Prospects
(04-14-2015 10:35 AM)Johnny Colonel Wrote:  
(04-14-2015 08:59 AM)CrazyCajun Wrote:  
(04-14-2015 08:15 AM)Johnny Colonel Wrote:  I'll kick this thread off my talking about my alma mater. Couldn't be more pleased with the hire our new AD made in bringing Minnesota assistant, and Pitino protege, Dan McHale to campus as our new head men's basketball coach. His style of play is perfect for our fans. His contract provides a base salary of $300k with incentives that could put him as the University's highest paid employee. Couldn't be more excited with how committed to athletics our President and administration are. Already hearing rumors on and around campus that we will see at least one power 5 school play a game in Richmond in the next year or so.

Coach McHale has a great base to build upon. We ended the year with an RPI of 142. That would put us behind only GA State, GA Southern, UL-L, and UL-M. Have full faith and confidence we could compete for basketball titles right away. Just for comparison: Missouri State had an RPI of 237 and Liberty's was 347.

Also, saw the release of the SBC basketball schedule yesterday. What continues to stand out to me the most is the fact that everyone has a travel partner except App State. We'll make great travel partners if given the chance and I think there is good history between the two to get both fan bases excited about that prospect. Geography and tradition will hopefully get us in.

Anybody hearing anything on expansion?

Some quotes about McHale taken from the Athletics story:

"I am extremely excited and proud of Dan McHale," Richard Pitino said. "Eastern Kentucky is getting a tremendous coach and recruiter, but more importantly a great person. He will represent the Eastern Kentucky program in a first-class manner. There is no doubt in my mind that he will do great things there."

"Dan is one of the hardest working coaches in our profession," Rick Pitino said. "I have great admiration for his dedication to our game. He is a great addition to our state."

"Dan is going to do an outstanding job at Eastern Kentucky University," said (Josh) Pastner. "He is a tireless worker and will do the job with great principle and great work ethic. Eastern Kentucky got a winner in Dan McHale."

Great hire in basketball, but any program that can't get average 10,000 at home football games has no business playing in an FBS conference.

I'll be the first to admit that our attendance hasn't been what it needs to be, but I think this is largely based on our fans becoming apathetic to who we are playing and what we are playing in.

This year our guarantee games are NC State and Kentucky. Next year we will play Purdue and Ball State. 2017 puts Western and UK on the docket. If we are able to make the jump to the SBC, Western's AD has recently said in the Herald Leader that they would like to discuss restoring the annual game at each of our places. Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Georgia Southern, App State are who the fans want to see. If we make the jump, attendance will spike.

In terms of the stadium, the east side construction will begin very soon. According to my sources, final renderings are expected shortly and construction will take place during this upcoming season. West side demolition could begin as early as late spring 2016 with a hopeful completion of the 2017 season. Initial concepts have been distributed on campus and if what has been discussed comes to fruition, Eastern will have the nicest facility in the league. Capacity will stick around 22k, but the fan experience will be first-class.

Sorry, but you can't sell what you think you can do when you are not currently doing it today. Both App. State and Georgia Southern had very good attendance numbers, putting both programs in the top tier of SBC attendance immediately.

While your facility upgrades are admirable, you still aren't putting butts in the seats. I've attended high school games in Louisiana that had more then 8,000 in attendance. Until your program has a football product that your fans support, EKU should not be an option for SBC.
(This post was last modified: 04-14-2015 10:52 AM by CrazyCajun.)
04-14-2015 10:51 AM
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EKUSteve Offline
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RE: SBC Basketball Expansion Prospects
Folks keep bringing up our playoff game attendance as a reason. For some perspective WKU had only 3,300 at their only home playoff game the year they won the NC in FCS. That was the T'day weekend. Their attendance jump started after they joined the Sun Belt. I also think they see the value of getting more attendance by saying they will schedule EKU every year if EKU moves to a FBS conference. WKU had a nice four game series with UK that also bolstered their numbers by playing the UK home game in Nashville at the Titan's stadium.

Ga Southern and App State always had great numbers. EKU has had good numbers when playing good teams (had over 13K when playing Coastal at home a couple of years ago) and drew well when App State came to town in the early 2000s. EKU drew 18,500 at home the last time WKU was allowed to come to RKS. Who you play does matter when it comes to attendance. The OVC has brought up several D-II teams to join and most of the EKU fan base could care less about teams like UT-Martin, SEMO, etc. The only conference games that really draw right now without it being HC is Jax State.

I know many of you are cynical about this, and I understand. But I honestly think that if this move occurs, EKU's football attendance will rise. No way to know which side is right prior too but the effort is being made to improve the game day experience.

As for when the stadium plans will be out, EKU's Pres Benson told me that it would be after the semester is over.

I guess we'll see how it all plays out.
04-14-2015 11:11 AM
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ARSTATEFAN1986 Offline
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RE: SBC Basketball Expansion Prospects
(04-14-2015 08:59 AM)CrazyCajun Wrote:  
(04-14-2015 08:15 AM)Johnny Colonel Wrote:  I'll kick this thread off my talking about my alma mater. Couldn't be more pleased with the hire our new AD made in bringing Minnesota assistant, and Pitino protege, Dan McHale to campus as our new head men's basketball coach. His style of play is perfect for our fans. His contract provides a base salary of $300k with incentives that could put him as the University's highest paid employee. Couldn't be more excited with how committed to athletics our President and administration are. Already hearing rumors on and around campus that we will see at least one power 5 school play a game in Richmond in the next year or so.

Coach McHale has a great base to build upon. We ended the year with an RPI of 142. That would put us behind only GA State, GA Southern, UL-L, and UL-M. Have full faith and confidence we could compete for basketball titles right away. Just for comparison: Missouri State had an RPI of 237 and Liberty's was 347.

Also, saw the release of the SBC basketball schedule yesterday. What continues to stand out to me the most is the fact that everyone has a travel partner except App State. We'll make great travel partners if given the chance and I think there is good history between the two to get both fan bases excited about that prospect. Geography and tradition will hopefully get us in.

Anybody hearing anything on expansion?

Some quotes about McHale taken from the Athletics story:

"I am extremely excited and proud of Dan McHale," Richard Pitino said. "Eastern Kentucky is getting a tremendous coach and recruiter, but more importantly a great person. He will represent the Eastern Kentucky program in a first-class manner. There is no doubt in my mind that he will do great things there."

"Dan is one of the hardest working coaches in our profession," Rick Pitino said. "I have great admiration for his dedication to our game. He is a great addition to our state."

"Dan is going to do an outstanding job at Eastern Kentucky University," said (Josh) Pastner. "He is a tireless worker and will do the job with great principle and great work ethic. Eastern Kentucky got a winner in Dan McHale."

Great hire in basketball, but any program that can't get average 10,000 at home football games has no business playing in an FBS conference.

Have an attendance drive this year to show your seriousness about moving up and you have a much better chance of moving up.
04-14-2015 11:41 AM
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Eagle's Cliff Offline
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RE: SBC Basketball Expansion Prospects
To echo some others, I think EKU would make a good addition, but the attendance has to get there first. Even GaSt is able to sell the tickets to make 15,000 average even though there probably aren't 1,000 people who consider themselves Panther fans first. Hopefully, the vision EKU has for athletics will generate more support and you will be attractive.
04-14-2015 12:01 PM
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MICHAELSPAPPY Offline
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RE: SBC Basketball Expansion Prospects
(04-14-2015 08:18 AM)Georgia_Power_Company Wrote:  this is a football first conference so unless you get your football house in order you won't be coming to the Sun Belt.

He speaks for himself, not for me.
04-14-2015 09:01 PM
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GaSoEagle Offline
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RE: SBC Basketball Expansion Prospects
I think next year is the year the Belt invites a 12th team. This year we will wait to see what happens with UAB/CUSA.
04-14-2015 09:12 PM
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