Re: Where do we go from here?
Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2026 8:32 pm
Great stuff by all above.
Another point not made is $$$$ revenue. Less fans at games = less revenue. Our attendance has been Chicago State bad some games, and just bad in many others. See it on TV and then in person at games. Are the athletic dept. books seeing this like we are too ? $12 beers will only go so far in game revenue. Then relating also to attendance, I don’t blame the students for not showing. The few whom I talk to each say the team and coaches no longer rally and recruit the student body to get those seats filled. Zero engagement. That’s just unacceptable and appalling.
Next 2-3 weeks will be interesting in the coaching carousel. Not much happening yet but quickly will. What we will have is a flurry of D1 coaches coming and going, and D2 and elsewhere guys entering. Our AD and program just can’t sit idle with all the talent out there. Regardless if or if not 90% of the team enters the portal and doesn’t return for next year and some candidates are identified (would need to happen like right now, or have already happened), perfect timing to just cut ties and reboot fully before the portal opens. Buyout - whatever it is, that’s what boosters are for (if we still have any). Does no good to bring Drew back if all he has left is 1 year left, maybe 2 ?
Another point not made is $$$$ revenue. Less fans at games = less revenue. Our attendance has been Chicago State bad some games, and just bad in many others. See it on TV and then in person at games. Are the athletic dept. books seeing this like we are too ? $12 beers will only go so far in game revenue. Then relating also to attendance, I don’t blame the students for not showing. The few whom I talk to each say the team and coaches no longer rally and recruit the student body to get those seats filled. Zero engagement. That’s just unacceptable and appalling.
Next 2-3 weeks will be interesting in the coaching carousel. Not much happening yet but quickly will. What we will have is a flurry of D1 coaches coming and going, and D2 and elsewhere guys entering. Our AD and program just can’t sit idle with all the talent out there. Regardless if or if not 90% of the team enters the portal and doesn’t return for next year and some candidates are identified (would need to happen like right now, or have already happened), perfect timing to just cut ties and reboot fully before the portal opens. Buyout - whatever it is, that’s what boosters are for (if we still have any). Does no good to bring Drew back if all he has left is 1 year left, maybe 2 ?
That league has been in decline too…… And relating to that……. The success of a conference can hinge upon the aggressiveness, ambitions, and savviness of its league commissioner. Bernadette (A10 commish) has been god awful in this regard and in helping A10 member schools get the best bang for the buck in scheduling, implementing dynamic scheduling, and giving the top 4-5-6 teams in the league the boost they need for exposure and looks at bids. This is her 18th year. You look at the bids and competition in A10 between 2006 to 2026 and there is a real correlation in the league receiving less and fewer bids the longer she has been commissioner. In 2008, this was a 3-4 bid guarantee league. Competitiveness was drastically better. No 6-22 teams in it like there is now. Back then the league also still had Xavier, Temple, Umass, and Charlotte. Each but Xavier left for football $$$. Now, 18 years later, we are 1 bid league and 3 of those OG founder schools were replaced with former CAA teams and us. Her retirement can’t come soon enough and we better hope the next commish (whoever it’ll be) is way better at helping the bball teams to get some bids back.RAMBLOR wrote:Right. If we're going to be conference tourney or bust every year, we were way better off staying in the MVC.