danefan

No respondiant superior here. Wolfie was clearing acting outside the scope of his employment....

Here is a litte post on Geir from the IAA.org site. Not many profiles on people on that site. I was surprised to see this one: IAA.org Message Board on Geir

Great point about recruiting restrictions. That is one thing that I neglected to take into consideration. What would you guys consider the strengths of the UA track and field team? From the outside it appears the middle distance and sprints are well above the distance team. I don't think the XC team has had quite as much success as the T&F teams have. A seperate question is regarding recruiting. Does Coach Vives recruit for cross-country also? It would seem that he would have a greater stake in the distance runners having them for 2 seasons (indoor and outdoor) than the X-Country coach would. Is it standard practice in College for the T&F coach to not be involved in the workings of the XC teams? I am not being sarcastic, these are real questions I have. (It is tough to distinguish between sarcasm and actual questions on message boards sometimes.) On a side note, can anyone confirm the athletic facility plans announced during the fall? I had originally heard that an indoor track facility would be included in the field house plans. I was wondering if this would be true. If so it would be a great recruiting tool for us. There really aren't any nice indoor facilities in NY outside the Armory and West Point (which isn't that nice). It would also be great to actually have the Great Dane indoor meet on campus and not in NYC. Thanks for informative posts. It makes the board worth coming to, unlike so many other boards out there.

to clarify my post, I said I was considering Puerto Rico out of country for my point. Obviously I know Puerto Rico is a US territory...Furthermore, my post never attacked Coach Vives credibility as a coach. I consider myself to be very knowledgeable in track and field and I recognize that he has a built a very fine program at Albany. My point was addressing getting the community more involved, not the issue of Coach Vives' credentials. I apologize if it came off that way. To counter the point about 20 local athletes being of superior quality. I understand that local high schools are not putting out national leaders in every event, but look at dyestat.com and check how many local kids are ranked nationally in individual and relay events. Yet there are only 9 local kids on the UA Outdoor mens and womens teams combined. The local success is a great thing, and I think UA should be taking advantage of it. I think it would be beneficial to the team success and also to spur local community interest in the program. Don't you think if Coach Vives could get the Saratoga National champion 4x1mile relay team all to UA it would be great for everyone? Just my opinion...Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm not. I welcome other people's point of view that are more closely connected with the UA team.

The following post is my opinon: I think the track and field program would get more recognition and publicity if they could successfuly recruit the abundance of local talent in this area. i think more homegrown talent will increase the communities interest in the program. This is especially true because of the abundance of high school track and field talent the capital district has to offer. This area may have the most high school cross-country talent per area in the nation. Yet how many of the stars end up at UAlbany? I don't claim to know the answer, but I'd guess its not that many. Coach Vivos continuously recruits out of state and even more often out of country (Puerto Rico is included in my out of country analysis.) The local community and fans have no ties with these athletes. Another issue that has already been touched upon is the lack of home meets. That is not all the teams coaches fault. It is without a doubt the lack of a facility to host meets at. Many high school tracks in this area are better than the UA track. Hopefully that all will change with the athletic improvements. This post is not intended to attack anyone, it is just my opinion as a loyal UA fan.

California kids are tough to keep in Albany. Far from home and the cold doesn't help.

The way it was explained to me was that because they didn't want to be full-time they were let go. However you want to consider their departure, the end result is the same. All three should be given full respect for the job they did, especially Coach Mion. I know he has made a difference in so many players' lives outside of football. My point in the post was to inform of the coaching changes and show how the program is taking more steps towards moving up to full scholarship. I apologize if my post confused this point.

I just got a reliable word that three coaches were let ago in the football offices. Coaches Frank Derico (Offensive Coordinator), Don Mion (D-Line and Hall of Fame player) and Rich Turi (D-Backs). From what I heard they were all given the choice of either become full-time or pack up and leave. They all chose to leave. I heard Pete Rossamondo was named O-Coordinator and that there will be the addition of three more full-time coaches next year. That would make six full-time coaches, which is always a good thing. Not to mention, the possibility of a fresh look on offense. Rossomando coached at New Haven previously, which is a run and shoot team. With the talent at QB and receiver that was brought in the last few years, maybe that will be a good change.

Additionally the stadium set up as it is now does not present the fans with an enjoyable view of the game. Many people simply will not go the games, because when its on TV there is a better view. I think the stadium combined with nationally known opponents will bring an abundance of fans in the future. This town is also beginning to realize that it is a college town and not a pro-sports town. Slowly but surely, things will turn around with regards to attendance.

I have to agree with you Statefan. Horrid announcers. I was never a fan of Rodger Wyland until now. Those two guys last night made him sound like Chris Berman. Would have been nice to have that game on TV. Showed people a glimpse of the future at UA by looking at SBU's stadium. Great game anyway. Bazan is like another running back in there. If he could just throw he'd be an all-american. Lets start recruiting fans for next weeks game now. Tailgating in the RACC parking lot starting at 11:00am. We need a big crowd to turn out. Spread the word ourselves, because you know the marketing department won't.

Thats why the fieldhockey field will be done first. The school is paying for the use of the other field. Why not build your own and do it fast.

The fieldhockey field has to be done by next year. The America East implemented a new rule last year that all games must be played on turf. They gave 2 years for compliance i believe. Most schools already play on artificial surfaces, makes for a better game, faster.

They had an administrative meeting with coaches and such. I spoke to a coach and an assistant AD who both had the same specs. The final master plan should be releases soon. The football stadium details will not be finalized for some time, still need to raise $20mil. BUt the general gist of it won't change. The lacrosse and field hockey turf fields will be the first thing done. THey already have the money and the bids will start coming in soon. Probably to be finished by 05 or spring of 06.

The estimated completion date is 2007. The football stadium is proposed as of now with the following specs: ~15,000 seats; expandable to 25,000 The stadium will run north-south sitting in the current RACC parking lot and extending into the current practice fields slightly. Looking at the RACC from the Campus Circle the home side will be on the West (left) side. The home side will be two-tiered (Like stonybrook) The lower tier will continue on around the north endzone to the visitors side (Horshoe type stadium). The visitors side will consist on only one tier for now. (Hence the expandability of the stadium). The stadium itself will be dug down as the south endzone will have a grass hill for people to sit on if they wish (somewhat like Lehigh's stadium). The North endzone will have a second tier of sorts, but it will be a weightroom overlooking the field. The parking lot will be where the current practice field is. University field will be leveled and turned into a grass tailgating area to also be used for practice and intermeural sports. The stadium will have no track! (hooray) The new track and field compound will be where the current field hockey and softball field (not conflicting with the softball field, that will remain in the same place I think) The Lacross and fieldhockey fields will be where the crappy basketball/tennis courts are to the right of bubble. There are also inprovements for the equipment room, offices, athletic training facilities, and baseball and softball fields. The project is estimate at $200mil. The football stadium alone is estimated at $40 mil. ($20mil from state funding and $20 mil from private/corporate donors) They want to have this done by 2007 (Good luck!) It will be one of the best college athletic facilities in the northeast when finished. The official drawings and such will be released in about a week i believe. The entire project will run from Dutch tower, east to the baseball field.

great point brindledane. Have to agree with you on that one. Sell some beer at the games and you'd get alot more students. Administration is the only one to blame for that debockle of a decision.

I would disagree with you, DanFan2k, on the statement that the lack of student support is not the athletic department's fault. I see it as the fault of the school administration. of which the athetic department is a part of. UA should be promoting football games as a number one priority on campus. Sponsor tailgates for students, not for people you think are going to give donations. The Fordham game was a great example of a small microcasm of students and alumni who took it upon themselves to organize a tailgate. Put some UA money behind that and you can just imagine how it would be. You might say this doesn't matter to the succes of a program, but let me tell you when a recruit comes to a football game and sees an empty parking lot before the game and then visits Monmouth the next week and sees 2000 people pregame tailgating it may be a deciding factor. It gives the impression of an athletic atmosphere filled with the support of peers.

Once again it is UA's failure to realize that the little things matter. This school has done that since they went division I. Lack of media coverage, subpar website, lack of community interaction, lack of alumni contact, lack of fan interaction at games, lack of student interaction at games and on campus. These are all things that the school has neglected to take into consideration, or has taken into consideration but failed to do anything about and this is what separates top notch programs from UA.