gmichels

I was just happy to see that the issue of a stadium is actually being talked about in the community. Most seemed responsive. I wish I were able to make it to the Stony Brook game this weekend. I have heard nice things about their stadium. A lot of folks mentioned the buffalo stadium but I think Stony Brook is the better model to follow.

It was a great night in Newark, Delaware last night. Sold out stadium and perfect weather. I was sitting on the Delaware side of the stadium and the fans were most suprised by Albany's speed (as was I). In the second half I was just praying for the clock to keep moving to get out of there with a win. The blue hens definitely have the support of the community behind them. One day I hope Albany can have something close. Go Danes!

I am very impressed by the schools on the OOC schedule. There are a lot of well known programs we are playing that are solid academically (for what its worth) as well. I think having these types of schools will put fans in the seats. People and students will want to see an Ivy league team or a Delaware versus a school nobody has heard of.

I will give stony brook some credit. They have found away to get good press coverage in newsday for both football and basketball. Plus they took the plunge to invest in a very nice football stadium. While albany may be ahead in terms of Basketball development, SB gets the nod from me in football. Now make America East Football a reality and I'll be a happy camper!

I think a UAlbany/Buffalo game would be a great matchup. I think other states have gotten into the scheduling business. I remember reading alot about West Virginian politicians pressuring WVU and Marshall to start playing each other in Football. Didn't Virginia's politicians have a part in getting Virginia Tech in the ACC when the whole big east breakup was happening.

I think that was an overall fair review of the potential and questions for Albany in the upcoming year. If we can get some solid play at the center spot we will be set. We are absolutely stacked on the wings and I am always a big fan of having some JUCO players on the roster. They step right in with experience and I thing knight and ross will be great for the team. I think we will have the flexibility to go big or small depending on who we are up against. Anyone hear about the availability of tickets for the UConn game over thanksgiving weekend?

I was able to get tickets for the delaware game on ticketmaster.com I believe they just went on sale yesterday. My seats are on about the 25 yard line pretty high up.

I just bought a few tickets for the Delaware game. A Saturday night game there should have a good crowd. Any UA fans planning to go?

I think a UAlbany/ UDayton game would be a good match up having lived in both places and attended games at each. The other pioneer teams are spread out quite a bit. I would love to play in dayton. Lots of high school talent in that area.

Pefect! Just what we need to make this an outstanding class of recruits. Although Colorado St might be tough to beat it sure would be nice. A 6'3" guard with college playing experience will help. More for 07-08 than this coming year but it will give him a year in the system.

I was also suprised to see the big pay range in the league. Granted Boston and Long Island are a lot more expensive places to live. I would think though that Hartford is in the same range as terms of cost of living. I would be curious to know how much Hofstra's coach makes as a good comparison for Stony Brooks salary. I think if we bump things up to the Hartford range 160-175k we will keep him for a while. A couple more years like this will have CAA and MAC teams calling even maybe a Richmond from the A-10. Maybe we can have the old Vermont Coach brennan talk to him about how nice it was to stay in one place for a while.

A new york state kid would be nice. We can strike while the iron is hot. Maybe someone from one of the bigger NYC schools. Start a pipeline up the thruway! I'd try to go for a speedy guard. After next year with Jamar and Siggers gone, I can see the need for someone who can drive the lane. Just my thoughts. We have enough bigs with Covington, Brent, Connolley, and the two big freshman.

I've read about the new scholarship the NEC schools can now offer. Do we know if any of the 25 folks who signed with us were given scholarships? I think publicity the BB team gave the university plus the scholarships should help elevate the program. Hopefully we can close the gap with the teams like Hofstra and beat the Patriot League teams although I hear they are moving towards athletic scholarships as well.

I talked to a few folks today around DC that were wearing Albany t-shirts. Now lets finalize a contract for coach brown.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6031702021.html From the Washington Post titled : Hukies are almost bitten by the underdogs from Albany

Syracuse's downfall was they depended too much one player to carry them. G-Mac gets a lot of credit in my book. He is a tough scrappy kid who led them to beat cincinnati, UConn, Georgetown & Pittsburgh over four straight days. He willed them to win. The tank was just out of gas by the time they got to the tournament. GMac is a class act and Syracuse (school and city) was lucky to have him for four years. Ironically, I had an ex from syracuse call today with the same reaction/attitude..

A great effort by our guys. I think this is the memory seniors like Jordan, Levine and Zo will remember for the rest of their lives. Hopefully a lot of fans will meet the bus when they get back to albany. They deserve it. The program took a big step forward tonight.

He went on and on about Albany in the press conference after the game. He gave a lot of credit to coach brown and the players. He definitely made up for the first comments right after the game. I think we should all be very proud of albany tonight. I had fellow alums from around the country calling all game. The anchors in the cbs studio gave albany a lot of respect as well.

There was also a pictures of the Great Danes in the Washington Examiner (the free daily paper) which is all over town. It was a picture of Jamar with the championship shirt with the caption " Don't know who the Great Danes are? You might want to know they are from Albany, NY before you fill out your bracket." I was so happy to see the danes in a dc paper. A program on the rise!!!!

I agree with the last post that a sold out RACC beats a half filled pepsi. If we can keep the average racc attendance going up 300/400 a year the program will continue to grow. The local community support is the long term key. The short term key is the large student body right there and getting them to the game on a regular basis as well as signing Coach Brown to a long term deal. I think we have a good recruiting class coming in that should keep us near the top of the AE for a few years. No need to bail on the AE. They are good collection of academic schools. I would be in more of a hurry to get out of the Northeast conference in football for overall program growth. We need to continue the momentum! Go Danes!

Wow did we look good today. The RACC was packed. The team was running on a full tank. Jamar took this game over! Bring on Memphis or Villanova. Hopefully it will be on the front cover (not sports) of the Timesunion on Sunday! Now I just need syracuse to beat pitt and it will be a good day for me and Upstate NY!

Any UA fans in the DC area? I was thinking of going down to the ESPN Zone and watching the game on the big screens! email me if you are interested: gmichels1855@aol.com

I hope that America East Football conference becomes a reality. That would be awesome for albany and really elevate the school as a whole in the Northeast. Although outside the footprint of those seven teams I would love to see the Dayton Flyers in the league. They are a solid 1-aa mid team that has very good fan support plus an outstanding basketball team. I lived there for a couple of years and went to a few games. I think they would jump to leave the PFL. The AE would be less travel for them and a majority of their student body comes from the Northeast. Also opens up talent rich ohio to our program. Good school academically as well.

Drove up to the game from DC. Iati had a great game and was feeling confident. We were definitely a lot bigger than UMBC so it worked having Iati and then you don't pull him after he gets hot. I was even happier to see up pound the ball into Zoellner in the second half. Happy to see Covington and Connelly getting some good minutes as well.

I think the having up to 30 scholarships will help alot in terms of recruiting. I think it will open up a lot doors to recruits who wouldn't of considered us. A championship game with the PFL would be great. I lived in Dayton (PFL member) the last three years and they are a great program and play some good football with solid support (about 6,000 a game). Even an OOC game would be great with Dayton. So many good hs football players in Ohio it might help us snag a couple.