Latest from AD Kevin Seal

[1972Shocker]

Seems to me this statement has more than a little gaslighting to it. Our AAC Championships and NCAA postseason play has been relatively rare since joining the AAC. Having this statement as a goal or wishing and hoping it was true won't help much.

Even if it was true, outside of men's basketball would it even have much of an impact on the Athletic Departments finances?

I do not know if the $7 million dollars is over an above any funds need to cover any annual operating deficits or if it includes making up those deficits but ADKS' letter did not address that one way or the other. Hopefully, it includes funding those deficits. In FYE 06/30/23, excluding any severance pay costs, WSU-ICAA had an operating deficit of $1.7 million. Not sure how WSU-ICAA did in FYE 06/30/24 as those financials have not be published and may not be.

And we still have $5.5 million dollars in severance payments to pay out in FY 25-26-27. $2.5 million of that in each of FY25 and FY 26. Buying out any of our current coaches early is probably not in the cards.

[1972Shocker]

BUT Title IX... in tandem with NCAA Division 1 membership requirements regarding the required number of sponsored sports.

FIFY. That said I like the idea of the University funding the school expenses, tuition, books, housing, etc. Currently around $3.5 million per year plus the additional $2.5 million per year mentioned in ADKS letter. The question I have is, are there any current legalities or NCAA rules that prohibit this? While U would be out this money, I doubt it actually costs them anywhere near this to actually provided these services and amenities.

The U should fund the athletic scholarships in the same manner as the fund academic scholarships and grants. A scholarship is a scholarship.

[shoxlax]

Saal did the best he could to put hope into that statement.

But unless there are some big donors who have been holding back, I don't see getting anywhere close to an additional $7 mil annually in the current state of everything.

The end is near is the message I am getting.

[shoxlax]

I believe the student athletes should be allowed to GET paid. Not BE paid. But here's where common sense departs from reality (not yours). Literally no one is paying for, let's say, track and field. Now, I love track, and I will pay attention and follow it for WSU because I like Bolt and his staff and I like the sport. But if it goes away tomorrow, I won't lose an ounce of sleep. And neither will anyone else. It's friends and family only. Always has been and always will be. It, and almost every other sport is paid for by men's basketball and football. Everything else, basically everywhere, is a money vacuum. BUT Title IX.

Fair is fair. I think we're going to find out "fair" means nothing for everyone. Let the University fund the school expenses, tuition, books, housing etc and then we'll fund the athletics part.

But I doubt the U will give up their nest egg.

Of the minor sports, track is the last one that should be cut. We at least have a chance to be good and contribute a few dollars to a new stadium that is being built (and why would we build it anyway without track?). Golf, Tennis, Cross Country should be axed if anything. I don't really consider Volleyball, Softball, or Baseball to be minor sports and Bowling costs virtually nothing.

[1972Shocker]

The end is near is the message I am getting.

Sadly, that is a perfectly reasonable reaction. Unless...

[Kel Varnsen]

The end is near is the message I am getting.

Hard to see it many different ways than this.

[ShockBand]

The end is near is the message I am getting.

If this is accurate, and you thought the presser announcing the end of WSU football was somber...

[pinstripers]

I think we better b!tch about the coach while we still can.

[Kung Wu]

[BostonWu]

I feel like in the not too distant future, people will take their toys and go home. And by people I mean supporters of college athletics, and by toys I mean their money.

I'm beginning to wonder if we're already witnessing it in our own backyard...from those who count the most.

[BostonWu]

The end is near is the message I am getting.

And what's that look like? End of current conference affiliation competitiveness? Dropping to a lower level D1 conference? Dropping out of D1?

[ShockerFever]

Greed is finally gonna kill college athletics. What an absolute joke it has become. If this thing is gonna be treated like a big money business with all those involved, then it all parties need to be equal and held accountable. I everything has now shifted so far in the athletes favor that we are now seeing a major imbalance. Who knows how far the current model will sustain itself. It’s just a disaster at this point and WSU is now caught in the middle.

[Shocktoberfest]

Question: If any of you have been Coach's Club members or consistent donors over and above season tickets, were you contacted directly by anybody in the athletic department at any point since this whole thing went South in 2020 to thank you and ask for your continued support? I mean contacted by a direct call, visit, etc?

[1972Shocker]

Of the minor sports, track is the last one that should be cut. We at least have a chance to be good and contribute a few dollars to a new stadium that is being built (and why would we build it anyway without track?). Golf, Tennis, Cross Country should be axed if anything. I don't really consider Volleyball, Softball, or Baseball to be minor sports and Bowling costs virtually nothing.

NCAA D-1 membership requires sponsoring 14 sports which can be 7 for men and 7 for men or, alternatively, 6 for men and 8 for women. With the addition of Women's Bowling to the NCAA Wichita State currently sponsors 16 sports (7 from men and 9 for women). My understanding is one of the catalyst behind adding Women's bowling was due Title IX issues but it was not required to maintain D-1 membership.

Another reason you can't drop track and field (if you want to maintain NCAA D-1 membership.) is because it counts for 3 of the men's sports and 3 of the women's sports as XC, Indoor Track & Field and Outdoor Track & Field are treated as 3 separate sports

We could drop both golf teams OR both tennis teams and still meet the D-1 requirements under for D-1 membership. Golf seems to be our least competitive sport. On the other had the Tennis teams are populated primarily with foreign players (not that there is any significant downside to that). The Tennis teams have many more home events than do the golf teams and the tennis teams can always go indoors it the weather is nasty. If we are dumping sports I would vote to dump both golf teams leaving us with the minimum number of sports to qualify for D-1 membership. That said that's not going to solve our financial challenges.

If you want to cut more than that I guess you are looking a dropping down to D-2 which has a 10 sport requirement although I'm sure Title IX still applies. Not sure that solves our issues either.

Surely there are many more programs in somewhat the same predicament as Wichita State, especially those funding football programs although I don't know how many of them ended up with the kind of severance pay obligations the Shockers have and are enduring. Seems like something has to give. Seems likely we will see a separation of the Power 4 or 5 conferences from the rest of D-1 or perhaps the big boys will totally separate from the NCAA altogether.

[Aargh]

there needs to be another association in addition to the NCAA. The NCAA is obviously in bed with the power conferences. we need an alternate association that would require amateur status for players. LoI's could include waivers of NLI or other forms of payment, scholarshis only.

Let the power conferences break off using a pro model and everybody else joins an association that adheres to the status quo prior to NLI.