AndShock wrote:Mikovio wrote:Cdizzle wrote:From an actual MVC AD:
“Wichita State was an outlier in our conference because the Koch brothers supplied it with such an unlimited amount of resources. Wichita was operating in a different strata and that gave them an entrenched advantage. Everybody knew they’d win the conference every year and it made it more difficult to build solid programs. So losing them was a big plus for the rest of us.”
With losers like that bringing giant loser mentalities to the table, no wonder no one could compete. I thought more of Bradley's athletic department until I read that.
No other Valley schools have billionaire sugar daddies. And billionaire sugar daddies aren't matched by "gumption" or "sticktoitiveness." Wichita offers perks out of reach for other Valley schools. It could definitely be discouraging for an Indiana State with 25% of the budget of a conference mate. Most schools go into their conference tournament with some hope for an auto bid; not so much in the Valley the last few years.
Maybe some gumption and sticktoitiveness could turn Indiana State into a revenue generating machine down the road, but tell that to the senior whose career ends in St Louis in March.
BTW that's Bradley president Gary Roberts, former dean of Indiana University law school and leading national sports expert.
https://www.bradley.edu/inthespotlight/ ... 97cf30343bRoberts has continued to practice law part-time throughout his academic career with a focus on antitrust and sports law. He has been a frequent commentator on broadcast and in print media on sports-related legal and business issues. He was the on-air legal analyst for the NFL network and a lead analyst for other national media outlets during the National Football League lockout in 2011. He has testified before Congressional Committees on nine occasions on sports matters.
Different mindsets I guess. Kentucky certainly has way more advantages and resources than we do but when we get them in March I want us to beat the s*** out of them. When they beat WSU I don't whine about how unfair their inherent advantages are, I want us to play them next year and get another shot. I'm sure Gregg and the team feels the exact same way.
You're taking the perspective of a fan and applying it to university presidents and ADs who have to deal with finances and budgetary realities. These two things don't inhabit the same sphere, so this perspective is not an appropriate frame of reference for this discussion. I'm sure as supporters of the universities fans and administrators are in lockstep on the issue of whether they'd like to beat the top dog; but the administrators know as the fans do as well to some degree that it's a very tall order.Just because you don't care about the advantages certain schools have doesn't mean they don't exist.