Football at Wichita State

[Ta town]

I'm sure k-state, ku, maybe osu would be willing to come to town every other season and kick the shox azz. that would at least be 1.5 games a year WSU would average 30K.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Wichita State would rather spend $30 million to renovate their student union than bring football back.

You need to specify a little better there.

The BOR would rather Wichita State spend $30 million to renovate their student union than bring football back.

The President of Wichita state would rather Wichita state spend $30 million to renovate their student union than bring football back.

The Athletic Director would rather Wichita State spend $30 million to renovate their student union than bring football back.

The students, fans, and monetary backing of the university would rather Wichita State NOT spend $30 million to renovate their student union and instead bring football back.

[The Mad Hatter]

The schools in the Valley that have football seem to be really struggling financially.

Having 30K seats is OK for starters. Putting 30K butts in those seats is an obstacle. With no established tradition and not much of a following outside of Wichita, 20K butts in seats could be tough.

With no recruiting base and sitting in the middle of Big 8 or 12 or 10 or whatever country, WSU would be pretty certain to end up with players who may have played D2 or NAIA if they didn't go to WSU. That was a big part of WSU's previous on-field problems.
It could be an "all in" wager. If anybody tried to bring football back and it failed for whatever reason (fan apathy, uninteresting games and teams) the downside is possibly taking the entire athletic department with it and no one wants to place that bet.

You could have said the same thing to Texas Christian, or to Southern Methodist (pre-penalty). Tulsa faces the same problems, as does Memphis. Houston put together a pretty good year last year, and there are even teams like Georgia Tech that manage to pull it off in the middle of SEC country.

Football had significant problems before, but I don't think that anyone can debate how dramatically the sports landscape has changed. Football is now king in this country, and there isn't a close second. While I doubt the football would be great for a long, long while (if ever), even bad football changes the campus feel. Would you tell Tulsa to scrap its program?

The school can either decide that it is satisfied in a mediocre conference with mediocre programs, or they can use this large conference upheaval to re-evaluate the position of football in the college sports landscape. There is no chance we're going to be anything other than a Valley mid-major without it.

Do you really not understand the difference between the Kansas football recruiting pool and fan interest and the Oklahoma and Texas recruiting pool and fan interest?

If you for one instant think that there is no difference between starting and running a successful football program in the heart of Texas and in Wichita, then I can't really take you seriously.

[Aargh]

My negative attitude towards football isn't because I dislike it or wouldn't like to see a program at WSU. I'd REALLY like to see it happen, but every time I take a look at what would be required and what would have to happen, it's bordering on hopeless.

The community has tried several times to get some fund raising going and there have been virtually no results. Hank Schictle used to spearhead those drives and he was a WSU hero who had a successful employment agency in Wichita. He was the right guy to do it and he got nowhere.

It's been tried and tried in the community, with negligible results. It's going to require an individual with the will and the finances to get it done. You can't ask Beggs and Sexton to go hit a couple of guys up and don't give in or give up until they have a $30 mill commitment. there are Wixhita people with that kind of money.

The problem is that those people are already getting hit up and may already be at (or beyond) their comfort level of contribution. You can't just go and beg on people until they agree with you and write the check.

With the lack of community support in previous efforts, the money guys will have doubts whether it's something the community actually wants.

If somebody walks into the athletic office and plops down around $20 or $30 mill - it will happen. If there are negotiations going on to make that happen, they won't be done in the media and we will only hear about it if it happens.

KU and KSU rely on revenue from other schools TV rights to maintain their FB programs. Both schools were teetering on the edge of having to reduce FB budgets. All the indicators are that the rich and the big are getting richer and bigger and the rest are getting smaller and poorer. That doesn't seem like a market primed for the launch of a new product (WSU FB).

[fastbow]

You could have said the same thing to Texas Christian, or to Southern Methodist (pre-penalty). Tulsa faces the same problems, as does Memphis. Houston put together a pretty good year last year, and there are even teams like Georgia Tech that manage to pull it off in the middle of SEC country.

Football had significant problems before, but I don't think that anyone can debate how dramatically the sports landscape has changed. Football is now king in this country, and there isn't a close second. While I doubt the football would be great for a long, long while (if ever), even bad football changes the campus feel. Would you tell Tulsa to scrap its program?

The school can either decide that it is satisfied in a mediocre conference with mediocre programs, or they can use this large conference upheaval to re-evaluate the position of football in the college sports landscape. There is no chance we're going to be anything other than a Valley mid-major without it.

Those schools also have enrollments that could fill our football stadium with students alone. WSU is not comparable to any of those institutions.

[SHOCKvalue]

Those schools also have enrollments that could fill our football stadium with students alone. WSU is not comparable to any of those institutions.

Say what?

TCU, Tulsa, and SMU are all significantly smaller schools than WSU, and Memphis isn't exactly worlds bigger.

[Veritas]

We might not immediately see football paying dividends for WSU, nor
see football allowing WSU to immediately jump to a better conference.

However, it does bring OPPORTUNITY. Opportunity to:
-- eventually join a better conference
-- making WSU a more traditional school in contrast to a commuter/international university
-- increase enrollment
-- fun autumn days and summers full of looking forward to shocker football in contrast to only summer basketball scrimmages and volleyball

Opportunity is about taking advantage of situations when they arise. Now is one of those times. The path is clear...

[Snapshot9]

With or without football, I see WSU's enrollment rising in the future simply because of affordibility. Other major state colleges have higher tuition, and some students, I think, will opt for WSU because of the cost compared to the others.

[SpanglerFan316]

The students, fans, and monetary backing of the university would rather Wichita State NOT spend $30 million to renovate their student union and instead bring football back.

I thought the SGA and the WSU student body both voted in favor of the RSC renovation project. Is this information wrong?

[Veritas]

With or without football, I see WSU's enrollment rising in the future simply because of affordibility. Other major state colleges have higher tuition, and some students, I think, will opt for WSU because of the cost compared to the others.

I'm not completely sure Snapshot9, but I think WSU's enrollment has actually decreased since 1986 when WSU dropped football.

[tw805]

Do you really not understand the difference between the Kansas football recruiting pool and fan interest and the Oklahoma and Texas recruiting pool and fan interest?

If you for one instant think that there is no difference between starting and running a successful football program in the heart of Texas and in Wichita, then I can't really take you seriously.

If you don't understand the difference between those who have football and those who don't, particularly after this last round of conference realignment, then no one will take you seriously either. Call it a draw, if you insist.

Everyone has been recruiting in Texas and Florida for years. No one is coming to Kansas for recruits, save a couple of notable examples that did not work out well. Recruiting and scheduling will always be problems, regardless of where you are located. If you want to be negative about everything, you're always going to have something to ***** about. Just at least have the guts to say that you're satisfied with this perpetual mediocrity.

[Steeleshocker]

Actually, contrary to popular belief, in the last several years WSU has been moving in the direction of a more traditional school.

Namely, the dorms are near/at capacity in all the residence halls. That means in the last 5-10 years there has been significant growth in the number of students living on campus. If this continues, I think we need to start building more dorms before we start a football team.

And I, for one, am very glad they are updating the student union. When I was in school, it paled in comparison to the major universities in our state. A more updated student union would be a great gathering place, and something EVERY student could enjoy (not just the ones who take in sports). We shouldn't be whining about these things. The university (i.e. President Beggs) has done well at growing and selling Wichita State. We have new buildings (Engineering Research Building), lots of money coming in for research, strong athletic programs across the board. It's only because of the success of these things we can even remotely consider adding a football program.

Those things being said, I'd love to see football, but I don't think the community cares as much as you believe. People around here seem plenty happy pulling for a K-State or KU instead of desiring a hometown team to back.

[jcdshocker]

KU and K-State would have a hard time funding their FB programs without the Big 12 opponents and the TV $$ associated with it.

Title IX comes into play and what ever is spent on FB scholarships must be spent also on some women scholarships.

I would be first in line to buy season tickets for FB, but there is more to this than we think. Start up costs, new women scholarships, and then maintaining the program with out a conference affiliation is going to be tough.

Veritas, since you are so critical of the admin, why don't you spearhead this? I bet you could bring back Shocker Football. You apparently have all the answers.

[pinstripers]

Title IX is a curse.

[eeshocker]

I usually just sit back and read posts and try not to get in the middle of these discussions, but I happen to live near a great example of how football can be brought back successfully to a school. I live about 15 miles from Georgia Southern. This school brought football back in 1981 and started winning D-1AA national championships within 4 years. This school sits right in the heart of SEC/ACC country and basically get the left over recruits. But they have always had great coaching. The stadium holds about 20K (with the seating on the hill) and it's one of the best places to watch a game that I have ever been to.

GSU has had opportunitys to move up to the D-1A level, but has actually chosen to stay where they are because that's what the fans/students want.

Here's some info on the program. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia...agles_football