The Future of Women's Soccer

[SubGod22]

Some of us have talked about the benefits of adding it, but for the first time that I can recall, we have an AD that has officially mentioned the possibility of it while talking about the renovations/demolition of Cessna Stadium.

WBJ - WSU unveils plans to replace Cessna Stadium with multi-use complex

WSU athletic director Kevin Saal told KWCH the plan is to create a pathway to potentially create women's soccer as an intercollegiate sport at Wichita State.

WSU hasn't added a sport to its 15-sport athletic department since the 1970s.

All phases combined, the replacement project will total roughly $51.3 million.

In early 2020, the Kansas Board of Regents approved Wichita State's plans to demolish the dilapidated structure and replace it with a smaller, multi-use stadium. In use for 76 years, Cessna Stadium has been in disrepair since the school ended its football program in 1986.

There's been a lot of local talent in girls soccer that has left the state to play at other D1 universities. With the rise in popularity not just locally, but regionally as well. I'm not entirely sure what schools have women's soccer off the top of my head, but I could see it as a value added sport that isn't crazy expensive to maintain and could help keep some of the local talent home which would help boost interest, especially for a young program.

Still no official talk of this truly happening, or when, but I'm excited to see him quoted talking about the possibility. It's obviously in his mind.

How long before we become 16:1?

[1972Shocker]

How long before we become 16:1?

I am going to say 5 years. The fiscal year ended June 30, 2022 financial statements for WSU-ICAA should be released soon. That will give us a picture of what ADKS has inherited financially and my expectations are that it will not be pretty. So a lot will depend on how long it will take ADKS to lead WSU to a more stable financial position. Plus in 5 years we should be done paying off Gregg Marshall.

And it remains to be seen when the Cessna Stadium works gets started and then how long will all 3 phases need to be completed before they would add women's soccer. Hopefully, the plan for the new stadium will include offices, locker rooms and training facilities for soccer teams. If not that will need to be addressed at some point.

[SubGod22]

Phase 1A will start next August. Everything after that is projections and will depend on funding. Apparently tearing down the east stands isn't officially a part of the plans approved by the Board as I believe it was already in the works, but hadn't been acted upon. I'm guessing that's why we know it will start next year as they either have, or are close to having the funding for it.

No mention that I can find of facilities to accommodate a soccer program. Though I believe if necessary there is room to add on to existing structures to make room for it, or build eastern stands that would house those facilities while T&F remained on the west.

But you're right about the financial aspect. It's not going to look good right now, since we had dumbass running the AD for so long. It sounds like Saal is making progress and is definitely working his ass off reaching out and trying to bridge gaps that have been created between the athletic department and donors of all sizes. So I'm hopeful that things will turn around there sooner rather than later. He has a history of doing such and this is still a community that wants to support Wichita State Athletics. I took a guy like Schaus to do that 20 some years ago to shape a vision of what could be and raised the money and hired the people to do it. Saal I believe has that sort of presence about him to do much the same. He also has the benefit of selling a stronger, more prominent conference in which to compete that contains schools in cities that many of the large donors and businesses would like exposure in and access to.

With all of that said, I like five years. The new/revamped facility is projected to be done by then and I'd hope that fundraising will be going very well by that point.

[1972Shocker]

Another head wind facing ADKS in rebuilding WSU financially is the current overall economic environment is not real great. How long that will last is hard to say.

[pogo]

I was told by a local track guy that the trqck around the "pitch" would be altered and any times that were set would not count for any qualifying times for official records. If true why would any other track teams want to run here? What about the Kansas High school track meet?

[1972Shocker]

I was told by a local track guy that the trqck around the "pitch" would be altered and any times that were set would not count for any qualifying times for official records. If true why would any other track teams want to run here? What about the Kansas High school track meet?

I think what they do in those instances is widen out the track by shortening the straight ways and widen the curves which also makes then a little less sharp. That would also probably eliminated WSU's ability to host the AAC Championships. But it's not like we attract a lot of high level teams to WSU no with a regulation track outside of the AAC Championships.

Instead of ending up with a compromised track and a compromised soccer pitch let's go for top notch facilities for both sports.

I would like to hear from goshox74 on this issue as he is the most knowledgeable poster on ShockerNet when it comes to track and field.

[DwShock]

Hopefully it never happens.

[Kung Wu]

Instead of ending up with a compromised track and a compromised soccer pitch let's go for top notch facilities for both sports.

Amen! And start with track because we already have that sport.

[Kung Wu]

The future of women's soccer? Easy! A lot of sprained ankles for corner kickers.

[SubGod22]

Looks like current and future conference foes Memphis, UCF, SMU, North Texas, Houston, Rice, Charlotte, Cincinnati and Tulsa all have similar setups for Track and Soccer.

Others would include Iowa State, Ohio State, Grand Canyon, Northern Illinois, Louisiana, New Mexico, Middle Tennessee, Wisconsin, James Madison, Southern Miss, San Diego State, Texas, Hawaii, Mizzou, Cal, and NC State to name a few I came across.

[SubGod22]

Hopefully, the plan for the new stadium will include offices, locker rooms and training facilities for soccer teams. If not that will need to be addressed at some point.

Saal has confirmed that the renovations will include locker rooms and office space for a future soccer program. I believe he mentioned that on Sports Daily as well as in a WBJ article I shared in the Men's Sports forum topic on Cessna Stadium.

[Shockerman]

I think what they do in those instances is widen out the track by shortening the straight ways and widen the curves which also makes then a little less sharp. That would also probably eliminated WSU's ability to host the AAC Championships. But it's not like we attract a lot of high level teams to WSU no with a regulation track outside of the AAC Championships.

Instead of ending up with a compromised track and a compromised soccer pitch let's go for top notch facilities for both sports.

I would like to hear from goshox74 on this issue as he is the most knowledgeable poster on ShockerNet when it comes to track and field.

I'm with you on this. Football was never coming back to Cessna or even that location so I'm fine with this. With that said, multi-purpose facilities don't work in DI. If we are going to do this then let's us go all in building a tier I T&F facility with plans for a new 200m adjacent indoor facility.

[Kung Wu]

I'm with you on this. Football was never coming back to Cessna or even that location so I'm fine with this. With that said, multi-purpose facilities don't work in DI.

Well they do work, but they just come with some annoying compromises.

[SubGod22]

They definitely work. Most of the AAC seems to have them, or will, and some other large universities have them as well. Are they ideal? No. Do they work? Absolutely.

If WSU wants to add soccer, and it really sounds like they do, this project makes the most sense. Even without soccer, they'd still be spending nearly all the same money for this facility. It would be slightly cheaper, but then they'd have to go out and spend millions more to build a soccer facility, or pay to use Stryker.

WSU has a land availability issue when it comes to knew athletic facilities. There' still room on the Innovation Campus, but I don't think they're wanting to throw athletics facilities over there. The only other options, for the most part, are to eliminate parking lots to build or go offsite.

[Kel Varnsen]

They definitely work. Most of the AAC seems to have them, or will, and some other large universities have them as well. Are they ideal? No. Do they work? Absolutely.

If WSU wants to add soccer, and it really sounds like they do, this project makes the most sense. Even without soccer, they'd still be spending nearly all the same money for this facility. It would be slightly cheaper, but then they'd have to go out and spend millions more to build a soccer facility, or pay to use Stryker.

WSU has a land availability issue when it comes to knew athletic facilities. There' still room on the Innovation Campus, but I don't think they're wanting to throw athletics facilities over there. The only other options, for the most part, are to eliminate parking lots to build or go offsite.

The other option is digging people up to the north and east of campus...I don't know why people are so quick to call that a bad idea.