Article on Lee McElroy and Albany athletics

[slickwilly]

I ran across this article while surfing the web. It speaks very highly of Lee McElroy and what he has done for Albany athletics. Also a blurb in there on Carl Ross and how in past years he wouldn't have even been an option for Albany.

 

http://albany.bizjournals.com/albany/stori...us1.html?page=1

 

The 'sizzle' lingers

UAlbany administrators had said that just getting to the NCAA basketball tournament was reward enough for the team, especially considering it has been in Division I only since 1999-2000. But McElroy said the way UAlbany lost to Connecticut--ahead by 12 points in the second half before falling 72-59--has made all the difference.

 

"I've never seen a situation where you lose a game and it has such a positive impact on the institution and our program," he said.

 

Lose that game by 40 points, as 16th-seeded teams like UAlbany frequently do to top seeds in the NCAA tournament, and UAlbany's appearance "wouldn't have had any significance," McElroy said. "No one would have cared. We would have been back to square one."

 

As it is, the program continues to "sizzle" because of the NCAA tournament experience, McElroy said.

 

Gov. George Pataki honored the basketball team at the Executive Mansion in recognition of the squad becoming the first State University of New York team to ever make the Division I men's tournament. Pataki noted that in his 11-plus years as governor, he'd honored only three sports teams at the mansion: the New York Giants when they moved their training camp to UAlbany, the 2003 Syracuse University national basketball champions and UAlbany's 2006 squad.

 

UAlbany coaches are getting access to recruits they did not have before this basketball season. The team beat out Nebraska for Carl Ross, a junior college transfer from San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, Calif., in April.

 

"There's no way before that [NCAA tournament appearance] happened that he would even be talking to us; we wouldn't have been able to contact him," McElroy said.

 

Now, the trick is to parlay the athletic success into more private support for the program from boosters and to get a real football stadium built on campus, McElroy said. Plans call for a 10,000-seat stadium for a program that has begun offering what will eventually be 30 athletic scholarships.

[sunyac]

I ran across this article while surfing the web.  It speaks very highly of Lee McElroy and what he has done for Albany athletics.  Also a blurb in there on Carl Ross and how in past years he wouldn't have even been an option for Albany.

 

http://albany.bizjournals.com/albany/stori...us1.html?page=1

 

The 'sizzle' lingers

UAlbany administrators had said that just getting to the NCAA basketball tournament was reward enough for the team, especially considering it has been in Division I only since 1999-2000. But McElroy said the way UAlbany lost to Connecticut--ahead by 12 points in the second half before falling 72-59--has made all the difference.

 

"I've never seen a situation where you lose a game and it has such a positive impact on the institution and our program," he said.

 

Lose that game by 40 points, as 16th-seeded teams like UAlbany frequently do to top seeds in the NCAA tournament, and UAlbany's appearance "wouldn't have had any significance," McElroy said. "No one would have cared. We would have been back to square one."

 

As it is, the program continues to "sizzle" because of the NCAA tournament experience, McElroy said.

 

Gov. George Pataki honored the basketball team at the Executive Mansion in recognition of the squad becoming the first State University of New York team to ever make the Division I men's tournament. Pataki noted that in his 11-plus years as governor, he'd honored only three sports teams at the mansion: the New York Giants when they moved their training camp to UAlbany, the 2003 Syracuse University national basketball champions and UAlbany's 2006 squad.

 

UAlbany coaches are getting access to recruits they did not have before this basketball season. The team beat out Nebraska for Carl Ross, a junior college transfer from San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, Calif., in April.

 

"There's no way before that [NCAA tournament appearance] happened that he would even be talking to us; we wouldn't have been able to contact him," McElroy said.

 

Now, the trick is to parlay the athletic success into more private support for the program from boosters and to get a real football stadium built on campus, McElroy said. Plans call for a 10,000-seat stadium for a program that has begun offering what will eventually be 30 athletic scholarships.

14957[/snapback]