Jump to content



UAlbany Athletics- America East-
SOCIAL MEDIA: UAlbany Facebook- UAlbany Instagram- UAlbany Twitter- UAlbany Blog-
MEDIA: Albany Student Press- America East TV- ESPN3- Schenectady Gazette- The Team 104.5 ESPN Radio- The Team 104.5 ESPN Radio Archive interviews- Times Union College Sports- Times Union Sports- WCDB- WOFX 980-
FALL SPORTS LINKS: CAA Football-
WINTER SPORTS LINKS: College Insider- Pomeroy Ratings- Real TimeRPI-
SPRING SPORTS LINKS: Inside Lacrosse- Lax Power Backup Stick-
OTHER FORUMS: America East Forum- Any Given Saturday Forum- Championship Subdivision forum(1-AA Discussion) The Hen House - Siena Forum- Stony Brook Forum- Vermont Forum

All Activity

This stream auto-updates     

  1. Past hour
  2. Hypothetically, if the defense did a 180 and the team wins the next 6 games, do we sell out the season finale against SBU at 8-2? I'm not very confident that we do. If we are 0-10 and the finaleis against Syracuse, it's 20 degrees outside, and snowing, I bet it's overcapacity sold out with people not having room to make snow angels in the berm.
  3. Fact of the matter is Albany is VERY (extremely) fair weather. It is what it is. It'll be 3-4 decades before we see what we wish to see IMO. Right now, we need to focus on the product on the field which sucks. D96 hit the nail on the head...it won't get better until we clean house.
  4. I have zero opinion and don't know enough, but agree give this time, but I can see having the discussion about the pros and cons of what kind of commitment to make to non FBS football in terms of the cost/benefit analysis.
  5. Let's hire a real coach and find out... To soon to throw in towel.
  6. Today
  7. Syracuse MSA has 15% lower population. Syracuse MSA has 25% lower disposable income. Syracuse Football attendance: 34,000 per game Syracuse Basketball attendance: 24,000 per game No, being a northeast school we will never have the 50k per game you get in the south, but it's not unreasonable to think the school could get 15k per game with the stadium completed (mirror on the other side and completed "U" on the keybank berm side). It also not unreasonable to think that a fully renovated SEFCU could draw 8-12k per game. Both scenarios above could happen within 10 years if the school wanted to, but would require lots of $$ to make the moves. Will never happen in the AE and CAA. Because the local snobs won't buy tickets to see UA barely beat St. Francis in football or play Maine in basketball. They would show up to see us host Ohio St in football and Duke in basketball though.
  8. These are the kind of terrible ideas you get when you hire a loser as a coach who's run the program into the ground. He probably just needs more time...
  9. IMO, it’s not marketing or forcing student to attend- it’s the northeast. I can’t think of any college football team in the northeast that has good attendance - BC, UMass, Temple, Maryland, Buffalo, Syracuse. Rutgers is improving but still not good compared to the rest of the country. Penn State is good but they’re a bit west... even if you just look at the CAA, none of the northern schools have good attendance. I can t think of any reason to think that Albany would be an exception. Yes, attendance can improve but it’s not reasonable to expect attendance to fund the football program,.
  10. I'm relatively new to following FCS football and I know the passion and effort of the guys playing is no different than the guys playing in front of 100,000 people in the Big 10. For a long time until this year's resurgence in Syracuse and BC, football success in the Northeast has been on a long slide down. I know at North Dakota, and I would assume James Madison and other FCS powers football is a big deal, but for the investment does being an FCS power vs an FBS team is it a big deal? I can't say, but I know kids make college decisions based upon SEC football, Big 10, but in the East Coast or Northeast does a kid make a college choice based upon success in FCS football?? I think North Dakota is an outlier. If one can't be a power in the CAA it would seem to me that a lesser conference with fewer scholarships would be the way to go in order to support programs where a school can compete and can add cache.
  11. This area couldn't support the AA Yankees with Jeter, Petite, Williams, and Posada on the team. They didn't get attendance because Heritage park sucked balls. When a big name major leaguer played a rehab start there the place sold out and had people sitting in the field going over capacity. The AHL couldn't get 3k per game at the TUC, but a preseason NHL game sold out. Preseason NBA games at the TUC sold out. With small name concerts, good tickets can be had up until show time. Bring Billy Joel, Metallica, DMB, or the Rolling Stones and they sell out in minutes. This area is too close to big time events for the gen pop to care about mid or low level events. It's just the way it is. We play against UVM at home last year and didn't sell out SEFCU. We play against North Carolina in LAX and set a NCAA LAX attendance record. The people and money are here. The school needs marketing to make sure people know the programs are good (my boss in Syracuse, that is a sports fan, didn't even know the programs were D1), we need to win, and we need big name opponents. If we had that, we could support and fill the arena and Stadium. Without it, we will just waddle around having fans complain about no attendance and no love.
  12. I don’t disagree with the attendance but this shouldn’t be news to any administrator doing an analysis. IMO, there was never a valid reason to assume a significant increase in attendance. The reality is the stadium is a sunk cost and a shift back to the NEC would probably reduce scholarship costs but that would be offset by an increase in other financial aid. Not sure if there’s much of a benefit there.
  13. When we were playing well, we had higher attendance. More importantly, attendance is down at college and pro sports. It's a generational thing. I watched FBS teams play in half empty and 3/4 filled stadiums. I have friends working at MLB who have unequivocally stated the way they report numbers is on sales and not fannies. The downturn in attendance is an issue everywhere. Again, we aren't winning and winning with flair due to lack of expenditures; It's coaching. End of story. Truly coaching. As someone who has coached football, I am appalled at what I see. Let's just go back to a warning sign: When our HC went after the venerable Andy Talley (verbally) for letting a fifth year walk-on SR take a handoff in the endzone during garbage time. It was a present to the kid from Talley due to his hardwork. Our "leader" goes up in arms over it...and basically starts a verbal tirade for a week. Flash to last night. ODU was up 7 on Va. Tech with 1:35 left, with Tech having NO chance at a comeback if ODU knelt on the ball as Tech was out of timeouts. The safe play was to kneel. Instead, the OC calls a run and ODU breaks it for a TD, putting a cherry on the cake for ODU's biggest win, ever! The camera's went to Va Tech's bench...and not one Coach, including the HC was upset. It says a lot about our staff.
  14. 96, I cannot disagree with your scholarship arguments. I just do not understand how it works, but have been told for years that more scholarships = more cost. But I still question the attendance up tic we get from the caa. Since the move to Casey {call it an 8 out of 10 field} from University Field {what a 0or1 out of 10} coincides with our move to the caa, any attendance growth credited to the caa hard to establish an exact correlation. And even if attendance growth could ALL be attributed to our caa membership the numbers are NOT impressive still; but UA does not draw enough fans and fans = revenue. IMHO I do not think we would suffer greatly @ the gate by going back to the NE; in fact with a more competitive (i.e winning) team attendance might improve. Simple sports truth more winning = more fans. Anyhow, thanks for your input!
  15. I've posted this before in attendance threads, and people have disagreed with me, but it goes with the ALL IN comment above. Capital District sports fans are snobs. We have the disposable income and population to support going all-in and moving up, not down. BUT because of our proximity to NYC, Boston, Montreal, Syracuse, even Buffalo, no one is attending mid level sports. Even $iena basketball attendance is pathetic for what our region has to offer. While I am 100% against moving down, the school is definitely nearing a crossroads. Either admit that we don't have the resources needed to improve and grow into a bigger program and be happy with what we have, or start making the pushes needed to continue growing to get to FBS in football and a better conference in basketball. Without those things happening we will continue to struggle to fill the stadium and arena. Time to choose... Chicken or the egg.
  16. Not slamming...but fact. The NE Conference now offers 45 on book scholarships and they offer the full allowable 63 scholarships by allowing grant-in-aids. This is how they've become counters for FBS schools and why they are now on FBS schedules. To compete in the NEC, we'd have the same scholarship expenditures. It would save us ZERO dollars and would actually bring in less revenue when your home slate consists of NEC schools that have nothing in common with Albany, and aren't name schools. It's probably one of the worst ideas imaginable. Our issue with the football team isn't finances or facilities (other than the lockerrooms, which are abysmal, and the general athletic department need for a practice facility). We spend a TON on football (almost $5 million). Our issue is that Mark Benson made a poor hire for the HC. Period. The staff is just not doing their jobs. I really don't see the money flowing in on fundraising. In fact, I've heard VERY strong stories that the Casey gift was not a Benson led operation. I trust those sources without hesitation. Prime example: My name is on that donor list at Casey Stadium. Ask me if I've received ONE call from the Athletic Department to donate again since Benson has taken over. (I think you can surmise the answer).
  17. I truly dont hate it. To me it's either go ALL IN with atheltics or not . This half ass stuff is bs. I have no idea what happens behind the scenes but all we heard was that Benson was a fundraising guru. Last check we were still behind Siena. I for one are not seeing the monetary growth needed.
  18. Here is a reprint of a thought/idea I wrote in the lacrosse thread. It was originally intended to be written here after our "exciting" win last night against our former Northeast Conference opponent. Here is the idea: RETURN TO THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE! Speaking of revenue distribution, I will be posting an idea in the football thread that UA return to the Northeast Conference. I certainly DO NOT have any power to enact such an idea; and I know the idea will be SLAMMED! But I just do not see the projected attendance and revenue growth predicted by jumping to the caa. I certainly have not seen winning football at that level. I do not know the number$, but believe we could SAVE considerable monies by returning to the Northeast conference with less scholarships and less travel. In the NE we would compete EVERY YEAR for an automatic ncaa bid. In 5 years in the caa we have never even sniffed the auto bid (and may never or seldom) and have only once had a shot @ the 2-3 at large bids that the caa potentially offers. The "national exposure" loss by our caa departure would be more than made up by spreading the monies saved/gained around to other sports {lacrosse particularly.} I admit my lacrosse bias, but even if we allocated all the saving into basketball, it would be better spent than what we waste (IMHO) on caa football. GO AHEAD START SLAMMING.
  19. Speaking of revenue distribution, I will be posting an idea in the football thread that UA return to the Northeast Conference. I certainly DO NOT have any power to enact such an idea; and I know the idea will be SLAMMED! But I just do not see the projected attendance and revenue growth predicted by jumping to the caa. I certainly have not seen winning football at that level. I do not know the number$, but believe we could SAVE considerable monies by returning to the Northeast conference with less scholarships and less travel. In the NE we would compete EVERY YEAR for an automatic ncaa bid. In 5 years in the caa we have never even sniffed the auto bid (and may never or seldom) and have only once had a shot @ the 2-3 at large bids that the caa potentially offers. The "national exposure" loss by our caa departure would be more than made up by spreading the monies saved/gained around to other sports {lacrosse particularly.} I admit my lacrosse bias, but even if we allocated all the saving into basketball, it would be better spent than what we waste (IMHO) on caa football.
  20. I reported in the football meet and greet thread: Mr. Benson said 10 million for a covered indoor facility. He scoffed at covering Fallon, but insisted the turf upgrade is happening even though Casey is definitely the permanent home for men's lacrosse.
  21. Zach doesn't deserve it...#teamBye
  22. Chris Johnson - started a few games a couple of years ago was an All American at UNA (D2 -now D1)last year. https://roarlions.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=1331 Julian Cox - California do PA. https://calvulcans.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4830&path=
  23. #FireBye
  24. VT had a much better outing this week. Key has to continue to be to get the ball into our playmaker's hands because we are going to have to score 35-42 points every week to be competitive in league games.
  25. The second int wasn't his fault... I thought he played well.
  26. Are you saying $400k in donations or in additional ticket revenue? I know some lacrosse specific donations have been coming in, but no specific campaign I am aware of other than it is providing some additional support above and beyond the current tam budget.
  27. That's a great question, and in a perfect world, even as a huge UA lacrosse fan, one would put the money into a basketball program IMO if you had a reasonable expectation that you could turn it into a regular NCAA tournament team, and have it be in the 9-13 seed range. I don't know a lot about the particulars, but Denver seems to be the model for a lacrosse school with no football. They do have big time hockey, but lacrosse is right there. Lacrosse is a much bigger roster and relative to basketball as a percentage has fewer scholarships so there are some potential economic impacts especially if the lacrosse roster expands to include more out of state kids. I think this is the first time I can ever recall where there are as many kids from outside of NY as NY kids in an incoming class. I have no data to back this up, but I bet the more diverse the program becomes over time the more self sustaining the program can become economically. I don't know the physical plant limitations of what can be remodeled versus need to build from scratch. Let's assume there is existing space which could be upgraded to give the lacrosse teams better locker rooms, team rooms. I would bet that we are talking about $2mm-$3mm to fully endow the program to a point where it is top notch (that does not include upgrading Fallon or some sort of bubble or indoor space) If we wanted to upgrade Fallon with locker rooms, a training room, meeting rooms, new turf, etc. I bet we are talking at least $5mm, but that cost could be spread across several teams.
  1. Load more activity
×