You are talking about three universities with huge endowments in the billions and, in the case of Duke &
Vandy, schools with major TV and sponsor revenues in the millions, not to mention the major TV funds received from the NCAA for having multiple teams in the NCAA Tourney. No way we can approach those two schools in basketball dollars.

Harvard has, basically, unlimited funds for so-called academic scholarships given their athletes out of their
#1 endowment in the world. And I would say, overall, we are probably at a higher level athletically
than the Crimson.

WE should look to compete

I told everyone I didn't want to hear impossible. Sure it may take time and some large donors, but I'm sick and tired about how it can't happen.

We now have a much more attractive football stadium and have had Laycock Center for a while. Both took time and money, check the box. Before coach K., Duke stunk it up for a long time. Harvard has just recently made headway in hoops. I'll give in on Vanderbilt just because they make a lot of money from football, and we're not going to match that revenue stream.

All it takes is a commitment from the athletic department and donors. We don't have the former, and the latter could change. The college alienated a lot of former players in the 1977-1992 time frame based on some really poor decisions. I'm sure some of them have money to give.

(04-12-2016 06:14 AM)Tribe32 Wrote:  I told everyone I didn't want to hear impossible. Sure it may take time and some large donors, but I'm sick and tired about how it can't happen.

We now have a much more attractive football stadium and have had Laycock Center for a while. Both took time and money, check the box. Before coach K., Duke stunk it up for a long time. Harvard has just recently made headway in hoops. I'll give in on Vanderbilt just because they make a lot of money from football, and we're not going to match that revenue stream.

All it takes is a commitment from the athletic department and donors. We don't have the former, and the latter could change. The college alienated a lot of former players in the 1977-1992 time frame based on some really poor decisions. I'm sure some of them have money to give.

What happened from 1977 - 1992?

(04-11-2016 03:39 PM)Tribe32 Wrote:  I wonder how much Duke, Harvard, and Vanderbilt spend on their programs. Those are the teams we should aspire to become.

I don't want to hear about how it is impossible because it isn't.

Just for basketball?

Duke- #2 in the country at $19,860,851 (behind only Kentucky)
Vanderbilt- #13 in the country at $9,919,002
Harvard- cant find information on them but Yale was at $972,489 so I assume Harvard is a little bit above them so call it 1M

Which, of course, includes none of the 20 or so "need based" scholarships at their disposal.

From what I have recently read, here and otherwise, it would appear that a BB budget of $3MM to $4MM, wisely spent would get a school over the hump to be a semi-regular participant in the tournament. That would be an approximate 50 to 100% increase in funding for basketball.

I am not a donor that matters, but due to the prodding and suggestions on this thread, I am increasing my W&M athletic giving to double what it has been and am designating that increase to Men's Basketball summer scholarships. It is one drop in the bucket. How can we best get enough other drops to matter?