Voting

[musiccitybulldog]

Murray States built a "heck" of a name for themselves, Valpo has been coming on and really tough at times.
The Valley should go back and twist Belmont's arm harder to join. Get all three. We would see some new and exciting games.
Do it.

[PantherU]

Rushed desperation long 3 to beat shot clock - UWM

Positives - a) respected research school b) open Milwaukee market to UE recruiting of students c) within reason of the current footprint of MVC

Negatives - a) past APR issues b) #3 act in Milwaukee to Wisconsin and Marquette c) poor attendance

These are fair, although as I've pointed out about 15 times before, the APR problems are entirely due to an administrator who left the university in summer 2013 and redundancy after redundancy has been put into place by the university to prevent this from ever happening again.

B should be A, although I would amend that to be the Bucks and Marquette, not the Badgers and Marquette; we haven't seen attendance drop off at games that are the same time as big Badger games. They do try and schedule opposite the other teams, in any case. This is the #1 reason why Loyola hasn't been able to get over the hump with attendance. It's why much of the Horizon League lags behind the MVC in attendance. It's not that we're made up of bad schools; it's that we're in markets where there are plenty of options. I'm sure you guys have a fine program at Bradley; I certainly enjoyed visiting for the Bracket Buster in 2008 - but you'd have a heck of a time coming close to that number in Chicago, where Loyola's competing for the entertainment dollar with the Bulls, Blackhawks, DePaul, UIC, Chicago State, Northwestern etc.

There's something that was brought to my attention by someone who used to work in our athletic department. In fact, this person worked in our ticket office. Across the country, D-I schools often inflate attendance to different degrees: some will count every person who walks in the door, including employees and the teams; some will count every purchased ticket, including 2,500 students even if only 200 students end up going to the game; some will count giveaway tickets, whether or not those tickets are scanned; some will do all of those things and more.

We certainly had a drop-off in attendance, a noticeable one; however, if we had a ticket manager during the season this year, it's highly unlikely the average number would have been what was counted. This person is guessing the number counted was exactly the same number as got their ticket scanned at the door. Pretty much every program will at least count the number of tickets sold in attendance, but without someone managing tickets it's entirely possible this didn't happen. If this is the case, then we might be getting judged on a totally different level as the other candidates.

I will put this caveat at the end - we certainly have an attendance problem. This isn't me trying to cast that off, just looking to add a perspective that was shared with me last night from someone who is in the know.

[ohnewby]

Best case: Valpo and Murray State are added
Middle case (probable case): Valpo
Worst case: any scenario with UWM or UNO.

[pafan]

I don't think there are many major changes in administrations among Valley schools since Creighton was replaced with Loyola. That should give you a clue as to my confidence in the current group making intelligent decisions.

New presidents since 2010:
Evansville, Drake, SIU and Bradley

New ADs since 2010:
Evansville, SIU, Indiana State

Maybe others, I didn't look up all 9 schools.

[BCPanther]

I don't think there are many major changes in administrations among Valley schools since Creighton was replaced with Loyola. That should give you a clue as to my confidence in the current group making intelligent decisions.

New presidents since 2010:
Evansville, Drake, SIU and Bradley

New ADs since 2010:
Evansville, SIU, Indiana State

Maybe others, I didn't look up all 9 schools.

You can add UNI to both lists. New AD in April 2016 and new president February 2017. Both incredibly aggressive. They'll be fully on board to make the league better.

[JBoss8393]

I don't think there are many major changes in administrations among Valley schools since Creighton was replaced with Loyola. That should give you a clue as to my confidence in the current group making intelligent decisions.

New presidents since 2010:
Evansville, Drake, SIU and Bradley

New ADs since 2010:
Evansville, SIU, Indiana State

Maybe others, I didn't look up all 9 schools.

You can add UNI to both lists. New AD in April 2016 and new president February 2017. Both incredibly aggressive. They'll be fully on board to make the league better.

Add Ill State too. New AD in 2013 and President in 2014.

[ptownbraves]

I don't think there are many major changes in administrations among Valley schools since Creighton was replaced with Loyola. That should give you a clue as to my confidence in the current group making intelligent decisions.

New presidents since 2010:
Evansville, Drake, SIU and Bradley

New ADs since 2010:
Evansville, SIU, Indiana State

Maybe others, I didn't look up all 9 schools.

Bradley also hired a new AD who brought in Wardle.

[PantherU]

I don't think there are many major changes in administrations among Valley schools since Creighton was replaced with Loyola. That should give you a clue as to my confidence in the current group making intelligent decisions.

New presidents since 2010:
Evansville, Drake, SIU and Bradley

New ADs since 2010:
Evansville, SIU, Indiana State

Maybe others, I didn't look up all 9 schools.

Bradley also hired a new AD who brought in Wardle.

So that's one strike against the AD.

J/k old habits die hard. Brian's a good dude.

[isumvc1]

the MVC brass will muck this vote up, I have no confidence based on history/leadership/etc..., so my outlook isn't very good.

[isumvc1]

if you're on twitter, tomorrow, tweet to @MVCSports and tell them to #GetitRight with voting Monday night. we need to #MakeTheMVCGreatAgain. #Don'tBlowitAgain