take a listen...

https://anchor.fm/dubbpod/episodes/Catch...ly-e1lqfd6

Finally had a chance to listen. Great stuff. Glad she took the time to sit down with you guys. That goes a long way. It is nice to hear a vision for Drexel. I hope she can keep pushing the Drexel story and elevate the school. Her vision is certainly one I believe our fans can get behind, and I imagine hearing so will at least give some faith there is a vision worth supporting. Certainly wish her the best in accomplishing her vision and I hope as fans we do our part in helping push Drexel further under her leadership.

I did enjoy that she wants Drexel to stay in bounds of being student athletes and staying inside the ropes of the intent of NIL. That approach may make it harder to win, but I think it is a good approach and it definitely supports what Spiker has constantly been saying. They are saying all the right things, lets hope we see some of it come to fruition.

It was a good listen and I feel that the department is in better hands but, and this is in no way her fault, the DAC discussion around the 59 minute mark made me want to rip my hair out.

Ehhh sometimes you have to work with what you got. I am just happy she seems entrenched in wanting to make the DAC a place students want to go to and attend games. That at least shows a care for wanting basketball to be out front and part of the Drexel experience. That is a lot more than we have had. Is it settling? Possibly, but at least it is settling in the correct direction

Beating a dead horse with this but, she talks about turning the DAC into more of a multipurpose/event center. We were going to do that with The Armory which would allow some growth. But we didn't. Instead we put (confirmed) $10.7 million into renovating the DAC in 2 phases between 2012-2016, but with the other phases during that time it has to be pushing close to $20 million. They were asking for $5 million for what they're doing this summer. The school put $6 million towards the Squash Center and got another $6 million from the state. That's $36.7 million the school has spent the last decade. The Armory was listed as costing $80 million in the Strategic Plan back in 2012. We've spent/aquired almost half of what it would have cost and now we have a smaller DAC, gave up using The Armory for rec sports which required the Buckley Bubble, are giving up Buckley for another private building forcing rec sports to shift out to Vidas but they may return once Meyers is torn down which will crunch student housing further.

It's horrific strategic planning.

I'm one who was not in love with the armory project as so many seemed to be. For $80 million, I'm really not sure what it would have done for Drexel that the DAC doesn't do for less than half that money. They wouldn't be drawing any more fans so the extra 1,000 seats or so would have been a waste. Sure, it would have been a nice arena if they had unlimited funds. But they did a really nice job with the DAC, and are finally adding on additional renovations this year. The DAC is still not finished, and they still have the ability to add club seats and suites to the upper level on the north side, so they can still increase capacity if necessary. I've enjoyed watching basketball at the DAC the past 9 years since the renovations began. I can't say that I would have had any better of an experience at the armory...of course unless the team was better.

(08-02-2022 03:55 PM)DrachenFire Wrote:  Beating a dead horse with this but, she talks about turning the DAC into more of a multipurpose/event center. We were going to do that with The Armory which would allow some growth. But we didn't. Instead we put (confirmed) $10.7 million into renovating the DAC in 2 phases between 2012-2016, but with the other phases during that time it has to be pushing close to $20 million. They were asking for $5 million for what they're doing this summer. The school put $6 million towards the Squash Center and got another $6 million from the state. That's $36.7 million the school has spent the last decade. The Armory was listed as costing $80 million in the Strategic Plan back in 2012. We've spent/aquired almost half of what it would have cost and now we have a smaller DAC, gave up using The Armory for rec sports which required the Buckley Bubble, are giving up Buckley for another private building forcing rec sports to shift out to Vidas but they may return once Meyers is torn down which will crunch student housing further.

It's horrific strategic planning.

So you're telling me instead we could have made no improvements for 10 years, and still not have the Armory?

Very strange, I control+F'd what I wrote looking for "no improvements" and came up empty.

What I did say is that there was no strategic planning in the past other than, apparently, Hall of Fame aspirations. And because of that, doors that may have been available to better our position are now, more than likely, permanently locked.

But as I also said, a lamented exhumation and flogging of a long dead horse.