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UC riverside thinking about cutting sports
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Todor Online
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Post: #21
RE: UC riverside thinking about cutting sports
One thing to remember about the Big West, is that hasn't always been an a "California" conference. Their history includes a wide geographical territory. And even though it has worked out this way lately and there are some advantages, I don't see them staying this way forever on principle. There is also a lot of downsides to being so local and inward looking.
(This post was last modified: 09-04-2020 10:59 PM by Todor.)
09-04-2020 10:58 PM
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46566 Offline
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Post: #22
RE: UC riverside thinking about cutting sports
(09-04-2020 06:31 PM)SoCalBobcat78 Wrote:  
(09-04-2020 03:59 PM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  I think the likelihood of the entire program being cut is minimal. But if it were to happen I would expect the Big West to stand pat with 10 members instead of 11. The conference has done fine with just 9 for the past several years and there's no realistic replacement for UCR that fits the institutional profile of a Big West member.

I agree, but there are some bad vibes out of UCR. The men’s head basketball coach, David Patrick, resigned two months ago, taking an Associate head coaching position at Arkansas. Patrick led UCR to a 17-15 record and road wins last season at Nebraska, Fresno State, San Jose State and Hawaii. They named an assistant as the interim head coach and there has been silence ever since.

UCR averaged 580 fans per home game last season in basketball. They need to invest in facilities and that does not look like it will happen anytime soon. This kind of story should have been squelched right away, but UCR is kind of silent. The AD stating that, “We clearly want athletics to be here,” is not what I would want to hear. She needed to say, “It will not happen.” Because if it does, they will never get sports back and she will never work as an AD again.

Schools with D1 programs don’t drop athletics. They rarely ever drop down. The Inland Empire, with 4 million people, only has two D1 schools. Louisiana, with 4.6 million people, has 12 D1 schools. The IE area can definitely support two D1 schools. It would be monumentally stupid for them to drop athletics. But they just might do it.

What hurts UC riverside is that the Big West is a after thought here. The small local channels don't carry any big West content. In local newspapers Cal state San Bernardino gets more coverage. I'd argue both Pomona-Pitzer and the Claremont mudd scripps get the same coverage as the Big West does.
09-05-2020 12:32 AM
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jdgaucho Offline
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Post: #23
RE: UC riverside thinking about cutting sports
(09-04-2020 08:49 PM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  
(09-04-2020 07:15 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  
(09-04-2020 06:52 PM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  
(09-04-2020 05:25 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  
(09-04-2020 04:27 PM)bullet Wrote:  Maybe Sac St. wants to cut travel expense.

which might put football in jeopardy. Unless they can convince the Big West that after 20 years, it's time to bring football back.

IF UC Riverside drops athletics entirely, then either...

A. As Mongoose stated: remain at 10 members, Cal State - UC balance be damned. No offense to Cal Baptist or Sac State but there's nobody left in California worth adding.

B. Putting on my NoDak cap. Go to 12 with Sac State AND Portland State. Sac State would only join if their football program has a home. In this scenario the Big West chooses to sponsor football again with an FCS core of Cal Poly, UC Davis, Sac State and Portland State. Give Dixie State and Tarleton State fb-only memberships and viola. Everyone's happy.

I could see option B happening. Much better travel for Sac State and Portland State, an easier path for both to the FCS playoffs, and a step up for both in terms of the academic prestige of their conference peers (which doesn’t matter to fans but does to university presidents). From the Big West perspective the conference’s profile would be raised by sponsoring football again, even if it were FCS football. I’d be on board with it if Sac State committed to build a decent basketball facility, comparable to Portland State’s nicely-renovated arena.

Growing to 12 has the added bonus of reducing Hawaii's annual travel subsidies by setting up divisions. Some years it'd potentially fall by nearly 40% for basketball and volleyball.

BW North: Portland State-Sac State, UCD-CSUB, Cal Poly-UCSB

South: Long Beach State-CSUN, Cal State Fullerton-UCI, UCSD-UH

While I'm not rooting for UCR to axe any sports, I do see opportunities for the conference to get stronger if it happens.

Fun facts that most people don’t realize: Honolulu is actually closer to Portland (2,593 miles) than San Diego (2,607 miles), and closer to Sacramento (2,458 miles) than Los Angeles (2,558 miles). It’s because of the way the California coastline turns eastward as you move from north to south. So it actually makes sense to put UH in the hypothetical northern division:

BW North: Portland State-UH, Sac State-UCD, Cal Poly-CSUB

BW South: UCSB-CSUN, LBSU-Cal State Fullerton, UCI-UCSD

Are there direct flights from Honolulu to Portland? Surely there are to San Diego.
09-05-2020 07:29 PM
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HawaiiMongoose Online
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Post: #24
RE: UC riverside thinking about cutting sports
(09-05-2020 07:29 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  Are there direct flights from Honolulu to Portland? Surely there are to San Diego.

Both Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines offer non-stop service between Honolulu and Portland. Also Hawaiian and Southwest fly non-stop between Honolulu and Sacramento.
09-05-2020 09:04 PM
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SoCalBobcat78 Online
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Post: #25
RE: UC riverside thinking about cutting sports
(09-05-2020 12:32 AM)46566 Wrote:  What hurts UC riverside is that the Big West is a after thought here. The small local channels don't carry any big West content. In local newspapers Cal state San Bernardino gets more coverage. I'd argue both Pomona-Pitzer and the Claremont mudd scripps get the same coverage as the Big West does.

The Big West actually gets good coverage locally, at least in the newspapers. UCR gets more coverage locally. I live in the area and I get the Press Enterprise daily and Cal State San Bernardino does not get close to the coverage that UCR gets. The Press Enterprise is part of the Southern California News Group (SCNG). The SCNG owns about a dozen daily newspapers in Southern California, which covers all four counties. Big West coverage in the SCNG group of papers is good.

UCR had one conference game last season on ESPNU and one conference game on KDOC. The Big West is just not going to get on TV a lot. UCR averaged 580 fans least season in basketball. It is a combination of the facility, the struggles on the court and the lack of local interest that is killing UCR. Cal State San Bernardino probably has a better basketball facility and they averaged 497 fans at the D2 level last season, not far off from UCR's average.

The possible elimination of UCR athletics made the front page of the Press Enterprise yesterday, so UCR is not completely forgotten. UCR is likely not going to drop athletics, but to help themselves they need to excite the locals and that would happen if they could win more often. They have never been in the NCAA basketball tournament.
09-05-2020 10:15 PM
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IWokeUpLikeThis Online
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Post: #26
RE: UC riverside thinking about cutting sports
https://www.highlandernews.org/75093/ucr...dget-cuts/

Quote:Grappling with steep budget cuts, UCR’s Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) has suggested the elimination of the athletics department
09-19-2020 03:16 PM
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Todor Online
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Post: #27
RE: UC riverside thinking about cutting sports
Still not sure why the BW seems SO obsessed with keeping CSU and UC even when in the history of the conference its never even been a minor point. They had schools from all over in that conference, and as was pointed out, including some private. Makes me the think the conference is on pretty shaky ground as far as having direction and purpose if the main criterion on anything is whether its a UC or CSU factor.
(This post was last modified: 09-19-2020 05:26 PM by Todor.)
09-19-2020 05:24 PM
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jdgaucho Offline
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Post: #28
RE: UC riverside thinking about cutting sports
(09-19-2020 05:24 PM)Todor Wrote:  Still not sure why the BW seems SO obsessed with keeping CSU and UC even when in the history of the conference its never even been a minor point. They had schools from all over in that conference, and as was pointed out, including some private. Makes me the think the conference is on pretty shaky ground as far as having direction and purpose if the main criterion on anything is whether its a UC or CSU factor.

It just brought in a new commissioner during a pandemic.
Not the best circumstances for judging direction and purpose. I also seem to recall Hawaii and Boise being added in the 2010s, although the latter reneged. Last we checked, neither are UC or CSUs 07-coffee3

NMSU, GCU, Nevada, Portland State, etc are welcome to apply. Given that they will face pressures to cut costs and all.
09-19-2020 07:21 PM
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Todor Online
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Post: #29
RE: UC riverside thinking about cutting sports
(09-19-2020 07:21 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  
(09-19-2020 05:24 PM)Todor Wrote:  Still not sure why the BW seems SO obsessed with keeping CSU and UC even when in the history of the conference its never even been a minor point. They had schools from all over in that conference, and as was pointed out, including some private. Makes me the think the conference is on pretty shaky ground as far as having direction and purpose if the main criterion on anything is whether its a UC or CSU factor.

It just brought in a new commissioner during a pandemic.
Not the best circumstances for judging direction and purpose. I also seem to recall Hawaii and Boise being added in the 2010s, although the latter reneged. Last we checked, neither are UC or CSUs 07-coffee3

NMSU, GCU, Nevada, Portland State, etc are welcome to apply. Given that they will face pressures to cut costs and all.

Lol, the BW WISHES they could get New Mexico State back. The almost 20 years we spent in the Big West were indeed good years for the most part, but few of those years were shared with most of your current members. A few, but not most.

Indeed, the list of former BW schools is very long.
(This post was last modified: 09-19-2020 11:02 PM by Todor.)
09-19-2020 10:59 PM
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