I have new respect for how difficult Rob/Jon's job is.

Instead of the usual stuff, wouldn't it be so much better to instead be able to discuss whether Iowa will win the conference, our NCAA seed, if they have a shot at a run to the Final Four, etc?

Yeah, their job has to be rough these days.

Watching the NCAA tournament, or college hoops for that matter, has become much like window shopping...
 
lightning1 said:
When the University Administration and AD don't care about winning, your job has got to be brutal. I do not envy your position.
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Truth could cost you a parking SPOT! Or a uncorrect tow? Al Davis of Raiders used to do those things all the time.No spot on plane at last moment.Besides access to players.Thin ICE days or a cold bath?
 
This was pretty much the reaction I had to the answers on the mailbag podcast yesterday. The administration sees sports as a golden goose/cash cow that they're not willing to kill but is otherwise unwanted. They'll put on a good outer front to appease the rubes and keep them buying tickets and maybe they'll get lucky and win a few games every once in a while, but otherwise their goals are to make money and to not embarrass the school or get in the way of anything else.

Now if you want to spend money on what is essentially a nice distraction to the inanity of daily life, I can't blame you. You're responsible for what you do with your money and if you want Iowa sports on the same level that some people want to go see the next Star Wars movie, then knock yourself out. But if you think that you're going to get a sports mountaintop experience in the next few years or that the department wants to win as much as the fans do, you're fooling yourself. They want to sell tickets to fanatics. That's it.
 
phdsvp said:
This was pretty much the reaction I had to the answers on the mailbag podcast yesterday. The administration sees sports as a golden goose/cash cow that they're not willing to kill but is otherwise unwanted. They'll put on a good outer front to appease the rubes and keep them buying tickets and maybe they'll get lucky and win a few games every once in a while, but otherwise their goals are to make money and to not embarrass the school or get in the way of anything else.

Now if you want to spend money on what is essentially a nice distraction to the inanity of daily life, I can't blame you. You're responsible for what you do with your money and if you want Iowa sports on the same level that some people want to go see the next Star Wars movie, then knock yourself out. But if you think that you're going to get a sports mountaintop experience in the next few years or that the department wants to win as much as the fans do, you're fooling yourself. They want to sell tickets to fanatics. That's it.
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Amen. A freaking men. And there's little to nothing the peons can do about it. The TV contracts have turned them into (to steal a phrase from KF) 'fat cats'. They'll hardly even bat an eye at a half empty stadium because of it. Granted they'd prefer it full and the good PR that brings but not at the expense of making tougher/riskier decisions. Mediocrity pays big time and will maintain your position. Be it your an AD or coach.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
Amen. A freaking men. And there's little to nothing the peons can do about it. The TV contracts have turned them into (to steal a phrase from KF) 'fat cats'. They'll hardly even bat an eye at a half empty stadium because of it. Granted they'd prefer it full and the good PR that brings but not at the expense of making tougher/riskier decisions. Mediocrity pays big time and will maintain your position. Be it your an AD or coach.
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I see this statement repeated often and it's flat out not close to true. The AD cannot afford to have CHA half empty. They cannot afford to have Kinnick stadium 15% empty. Do the math. Half empty CHA puts the athletic department in the red, for the year! Just CHA for men's basketball. If Gutless Gary gets 8000 avg in men's basketball and 63,000 in football - he's in full panic mode.
 
phdsvp said:
This was pretty much the reaction I had to the answers on the mailbag podcast yesterday. The administration sees sports as a golden goose/cash cow that they're not willing to kill but is otherwise unwanted. They'll put on a good outer front to appease the rubes and keep them buying tickets and maybe they'll get lucky and win a few games every once in a while, but otherwise their goals are to make money and to not embarrass the school or get in the way of anything else.

Now if you want to spend money on what is essentially a nice distraction to the inanity of daily life, I can't blame you. You're responsible for what you do with your money and if you want Iowa sports on the same level that some people want to go see the next Star Wars movie, then knock yourself out. But if you think that you're going to get a sports mountaintop experience in the next few years or that the department wants to win as much as the fans do, you're fooling yourself. They want to sell tickets to fanatics. That's it.
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That's all Gutless Gary is interested in doing. Sell blue sky to get season tickets sold. I wish the people in this state would wake up! I won't even encourage my sons to attend the University of Iowa for academics any more. The leadership is embarrassing.
 
lightning1 said:
I see this statement repeated often and it's flat out not close to true. The AD cannot afford to have CHA half empty. They cannot afford to have Kinnick stadium 15% empty. Do the math. Half empty CHA puts the athletic department in the red, for the year! Just CHA for men's basketball. If Gutless Gary gets 8000 avg in men's basketball and 63,000 in football - he's in full panic mode.
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What has Iowa's attendance been this year in hoops? I saw for last yr the avg was 12,500. No way they are at that this year are they? I think they've had games of less then 9 maybe even 8 this year haven't they? Football hasn't been selling out every game either but a lot closer to it. Seems like they sell out about half of them with a few of them being around 10k or so short of it.
Iowa is getting like 50-60 million just from the BIG network aren't they? That's quite the head start on their athletic budget for the year...
 
Hawkfnntn said:
What has Iowa's attendance been this year in hoops? I saw for last yr the avg was 12,500. No way they are at that this year are they? I think they've had games of less then 9 maybe even 8 this year haven't they? Football hasn't been selling out every game either but a lot closer to it. Seems like they sell out about half of them with a few of them being around 10k or so short of it.
Iowa is getting like 50-60 million just from the BIG network aren't they? That's quite the head start on their athletic budget for the year...
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Sold attendance and actual attendance are 2 different things. I think they will be at around 12,000 in actual ticket sales this year. I expect it to be much lower next season. I expect football ticket sales to be lower next year as well. Gutless Gary won't react to projected sales. He's sweating right now. That's why he's felt the need to defend his actions in the media, repeatedly. He knows he needs to do damage control to sell season tickets next year.
I don't expect it to work. Fans and the media are wising up. Unfortunately, I think he's willing to allow Iowa athletics to completely bottom out before something changes. I know the U of I President is willing to allow it.
It's an uphill battle we face.
 
lightning1 said:
Sold attendance and actual attendance are 2 different things. I think they will be at around 12,000 in actual ticket sales this year. I expect it to be much lower next season. I expect football ticket sales to be lower next year as well. Gutless Gary won't react to projected sales. He's sweating right now. That's why he's felt the need to defend his actions in the media, repeatedly. He knows he needs to do damage control to sell season tickets next year.
I don't expect it to work. Fans and the media are wising up. Unfortunately, I think he's willing to allow Iowa athletics to completely bottom out before something changes. I know the U of I President is willing to allow it.
It's an uphill battle we face.
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Very different. It's always blown my mind the amount of folks that pay and not go. What a waste of $. The future remains to be seen as far as next yr goes... They can't jack up prices and assume we'll trip over each other to buy em when program is down. It'll be an interesting summer in that regard. When do season tickets for football come up is that this spring?
 
Hawkfnntn said:
Very different. It's always blown my mind the amount of folks that pay and not go. What a waste of $. The future remains to be seen as far as next yr goes... They can't jack up prices and assume we'll trip over each other to buy em when program is down. It'll be an interesting summer in that regard. When do season tickets for football come up is that this spring?
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They're already up.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
Amen. A freaking men. And there's little to nothing the peons can do about it. The TV contracts have turned them into (to steal a phrase from KF) 'fat cats'. They'll hardly even bat an eye at a half empty stadium because of it. Granted they'd prefer it full and the good PR that brings but not at the expense of making tougher/riskier decisions. Mediocrity pays big time and will maintain your position. Be it your an AD or coach.
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This is just asinine.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
What has Iowa's attendance been this year in hoops? I saw for last yr the avg was 12,500. No way they are at that this year are they? I think they've had games of less then 9 maybe even 8 this year haven't they? Football hasn't been selling out every game either but a lot closer to it. Seems like they sell out about half of them with a few of them being around 10k or so short of it.
Iowa is getting like 50-60 million just from the BIG network aren't they? That's quite the head start on their athletic budget for the year...
Click to expand...


Do what Penn State did when Iowa came to town. Organize a white-out so to put a white T-shirt over the back of every seat to look like the arena is full.
 
lightning1 said:
I see this statement repeated often and it's flat out not close to true. The AD cannot afford to have CHA half empty. They cannot afford to have Kinnick stadium 15% empty. Do the math. Half empty CHA puts the athletic department in the red, for the year! Just CHA for men's basketball. If Gutless Gary gets 8000 avg in men's basketball and 63,000 in football - he's in full panic mode.
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Then let's prove it. It is the ONLY way we will see change. I'm in. I went to my last basketball game under the Barta regime after watching us lose at home to Penn State which was the game I went to after watching us lose to FUCKING UNO the year before at home. I typically do 1-2 basketball games and 3 football games per year with a family of 5 driving from 5 hours away and having to get hotels and meals out of town. I'll be back when Barta is gone. I'm not even talking about Fran or Kirk.

We need to get the clock ticking on a new AD assessing the competitiveness of our programs. If Fran passes muster that's fine but I'm not OK with crooked Barta making that decision any more.
 
CJHawkeye said:
Then let's prove it. It is the ONLY way we will see change. I'm in. I went to my last basketball game under the Barta regime after watching us lose at home to Penn State which was the game I went to after watching us lose to FUCKING UNO the year before at home. I typically do 1-2 basketball games and 3 football games per year with a family of 5 driving from 5 hours away and having to get hotels and meals out of town. I'll be back when Barta is gone. I'm not even talking about Fran or Kirk.

We need to get the clock ticking on a new AD assessing the competitiveness of our programs. If Fran passes muster that's fine but I'm not OK with crooked Barta making that decision any more.
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I sent back the season ticket renewal emails after the 2010 season with a note "take me off your list until Gary Barta is no longer AD". They continued to send me emails for 3 more seasons, IIRC, until they got it in their heads. I have a few Dr. friends that offer me tickets/parking passes to multiple games, each year. I told them a month ago, not to bother offering me the tickets. Then I told them they needed to stop supporting the AD in this bullshit. They were shocked, to say the least. These are guys that I used to tailgate with and go to Bowl Games with, in the 2000s. So....I'm already there.
 
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