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I too am sorely disappointed in the Hog football program and its overall results over the past 10 or so years. I have bitten my tongue until the blood runs, in trying not to knock individual coaches, and administrators, but I do think this blog line is being heard, so note the following:
I received a letter from the AD (most likely a form letter to many Hog supporters...), and included in the two page letter were the following paragraphs...
"In order to achieve such consistent success, we know that we need to continue to progress in a positive direction. One area that we are focusing on is athletic facilities. In order to be a highly competitive DII athletics department, we know that facility upgrades are a necessity and provide us another tool to recruit high quality student athletes. That being said, we will be developing a comprehensive master plan for athletic facilities. This plan will be vital in our process of developing our programs, and ensuring that projects that we complete in the near future, fit into our long-term plans for growth and expansion."
Also, near the end:
"In future newsletters, I will address such things as:
...Expand on my comments about an athletic facilities master plan, and how that dovetails with the university refreshing its master plan.
...Provide an explanation on how Division II scholarships work and how this is reflected in scholarships for our Javelina athletes.
...
...
...Describe how our athletics program is funded, including how private support can enhance our future."
So, obviously someone in The Ville is looking at this website and taking note.
The only question is: how forceful and how fast can we move...facilities take a while...and on a personal note, I am not getting any younger, especially when compared to my young(er) friend LSCFan!
lantana
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Originally posted by lantana View PostI too am sorely disappointed in the Hog football program and its overall results over the past 10 or so years. I have bitten my tongue until the blood runs, in trying not to knock individual coaches, and administrators, but I do think this blog line is being heard, so note the following:
I received a letter from the AD (most likely a form letter to many Hog supporters...), and included in the two page letter were the following paragraphs...
"In order to achieve such consistent success, we know that we need to continue to progress in a positive direction. One area that we are focusing on is athletic facilities. In order to be a highly competitive DII athletics department, we know that facility upgrades are a necessity and provide us another tool to recruit high quality student athletes. That being said, we will be developing a comprehensive master plan for athletic facilities. This plan will be vital in our process of developing our programs, and ensuring that projects that we complete in the near future, fit into our long-term plans for growth and expansion."
Also, near the end:
"In future newsletters, I will address such things as:
...Expand on my comments about an athletic facilities master plan, and how that dovetails with the university refreshing its master plan.
...Provide an explanation on how Division II scholarships work and how this is reflected in scholarships for our Javelina athletes.
...
...
...Describe how our athletics program is funded, including how private support can enhance our future."
So, obviously someone in The Ville is looking at this website and taking note.
The only question is: how forceful and how fast can we move...facilities take a while...and on a personal note, I am not getting any younger, especially when compared to my young(er) friend LSCFan!
lantana
LSCFan has been 100% and honest and I stand by all he says. Now its time to get the big donors to take a stand!!! Either turn the football program around or suffer financially. MONEY TALKS!!!!
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Originally posted by lantana View PostI too am sorely disappointed in the Hog football program and its overall results over the past 10 or so years. I have bitten my tongue until the blood runs, in trying not to knock individual coaches, and administrators, but I do think this blog line is being heard, so note the following:
I received a letter from the AD (most likely a form letter to many Hog supporters...), and included in the two page letter were the following paragraphs...
"In order to achieve such consistent success, we know that we need to continue to progress in a positive direction. One area that we are focusing on is athletic facilities. In order to be a highly competitive DII athletics department, we know that facility upgrades are a necessity and provide us another tool to recruit high quality student athletes. That being said, we will be developing a comprehensive master plan for athletic facilities. This plan will be vital in our process of developing our programs, and ensuring that projects that we complete in the near future, fit into our long-term plans for growth and expansion."
Also, near the end:
"In future newsletters, I will address such things as:
...Expand on my comments about an athletic facilities master plan, and how that dovetails with the university refreshing its master plan.
...Provide an explanation on how Division II scholarships work and how this is reflected in scholarships for our Javelina athletes.
...
...
...Describe how our athletics program is funded, including how private support can enhance our future."
So, obviously someone in The Ville is looking at this website and taking note.
The only question is: how forceful and how fast can we move...facilities take a while...and on a personal note, I am not getting any younger, especially when compared to my young(er) friend LSCFan!
lantana
So let me see if I get this straight.... We will now have to wait for a "refresh" of a master plan that was only developed nine years ago? In regards to football and to some extent basketball and the baseball/softball venues, what has changed with all these venues which require a refresh from the fact they just look 9 + years older from the last plan? I can't think of any other than the restrooms built so removed from the football stadium grandstands and the the turf and track work which would require a whole lot of reworking on this plan. Oh we do lose a press box a few months ago and a fan fell through the west grandstand, maybe they will add that to the urgency section of the report. Why can't they just pull the athletic stuff from the now old overall plan and focus on it like a laser beam starting today and not even go down the kick the can down the road approach of waiting for a comprehensive campus plan to be "refreshed? " That's bull caca for lack of a better way to put it.. It's very much admitting they absolutely had no real plan to address these things and now that the chickens have come home to roost, it's time to get serious.
And you are right Lantana when you said these things take awhile. Let's envision they issue a refreshed plan next year sometime and this Athletic plan is a component. It has to go to the A&M Board of Regents for approval and then the darn thing is prioritized for what gets done campus wide by all parties involved. And the last and most important component is finding funding which is done either through the state legislative process, tuition revenue bonds, the Texas Higher Ed Board or the A&M Board of Regents. The next legislative session where most of this would possibly get done is 2021 and we will have to get in line with our fellow A&M system schools and the UT area schools. A&M CC coincidentally just released a athletic program statement goal today and they are looking at building a new campus arena and other on campus athletic venue improvements. You can almost be certain the exact same items from our 2010 plan listed for athletic facility needs will be included in athletic and refreshed master campus plan. Had they followed up with the 2010 and done them in a piecemeal like fashion, most of the issues regarding facilities would have already been on the path for remedy or fixed. I guess we may have to wait until maybe 2022 or later to get some dirt turned? Just banging my head in disgust.Last edited by LSC Fan; 10-21-2019, 01:22 PM.
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Whenever I visit my wife's family (in the Rio Grande Valley), I make an effort to stop by the Texas A&M University-Kingsville campus (usually followed by a trip to Boat-N-Net on 14th Street). It really hasn't been that long since I finished grad school there. However, I've seen plenty of improvements on campus in terms of buildings and infrastructure.
Interestingly, one of the professors at the school was hired at Cal State-East Bay. Dr. Bill Alnor was a journalism professor and faculty sponsor for The South Texan newspaper. He was also an adviser to a student organization that I was involved with. Prior to this, he taught at Temple University and was a former sports reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. I was able to meet up with him in California. He was still following the Javelinas and commented about how strange it seemed to see them having a few bad seasons. He mentioned that if the Javelinas didn't do something, the appeal of the university to prospective players "might hurt the university for a decade to come."
Sadly, Dr. Alnor passed away from cancer in 2011. Yet, he was spot on when it came to the team. The school has lingered in mediocrity since the 2010 playoff season. With no offense intended, the tenure of David Calloway really hurt. In terms of football, the Javelinas have lost their luster now. It has been nearly a decade since the Javelinas truly mattered in the LSC. If the school doesn't care about doing what it can to return as an elite D2 program, then maybe they should look into dropping to D3 or even returning to the lowly NAIA (and playing the three NAIA teams from Texas).
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Originally posted by ccchhhrrriiisss View PostWhenever I visit my wife's family (in the Rio Grande Valley), I make an effort to stop by the Texas A&M University-Kingsville campus (usually followed by a trip to Boat-N-Net on 14th Street). It really hasn't been that long since I finished grad school there. However, I've seen plenty of improvements on campus in terms of buildings and infrastructure.
Interestingly, one of the professors at the school was hired at Cal State-East Bay. Dr. Bill Alnor was a journalism professor and faculty sponsor for The South Texan newspaper. He was also an adviser to a student organization that I was involved with. Prior to this, he taught at Temple University and was a former sports reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. I was able to meet up with him in California. He was still following the Javelinas and commented about how strange it seemed to see them having a few bad seasons. He mentioned that if the Javelinas didn't do something, the appeal of the university to prospective players "might hurt the university for a decade to come."
Sadly, Dr. Alnor passed away from cancer in 2011. Yet, he was spot on when it came to the team. The school has lingered in mediocrity since the 2010 playoff season. With no offense intended, the tenure of David Calloway really hurt. In terms of football, the Javelinas have lost their luster now. It has been nearly a decade since the Javelinas truly mattered in the LSC. If the school doesn't care about doing what it can to return as an elite D2 program, then maybe they should look into dropping to D3 or even returning to the lowly NAIA (and playing the three NAIA teams from Texas).
You made note of the observation from your late friend who was a one time Prof at TAMUK that kind of jarred a memory from back in the mid 2000's when Cundiff was leaving. I've searched all over the Googles and other archives to see if I could find his quote. Anyhow on his way out if I recall correctly he gave an exit interview to the media because if you recall he stayed on to conclude the season after announcing his resignation earlier. He noted back then the University needed to get on track with facility improvements then. Which kind of builds on the program has been pretty much put on the back burner even back then.
Did Ken Baxter see the writing on the wall even back then and decided to get out of dodge before he coached one season because he was promised a bill of goods and then figured it out it might not occur? I know Coach Bo took the ball and did an admirable job. But all the sudden he hit a brick wall because I recall after the 2010 season when we came close to knocking off NWMSU a second time in the playoffs, it appeared we were on the brink of getting back on the national stage for good and the hype was real and then it went south in a hurry starting with blow out loss at Jerryworld to WTAM. And then Calloway (who is a good guy) was promoted from within and we all know how that ended and that was all on Scott Gines.
Now bring it to the current coach in Wilk and the chatter on this very board at the time was Gines was not put in charge and I believe we used an outside firm to pool candidates and we came up with who we thought was a home run pick. I believe we also bumped up the salary requirements substantially to put us in the competitive market not only in the LSC, but the national level too and also increased the salaries for top assistants and made salaries available for other slots which at one time had to be filled with GA's or volunteer coaches. The chatter was also the full complement of scholarships would be at his disposal. So like the Coach Bo era the first seasons were good albeit the first one we had a losing record, but we were much more competitive in each game we lost vs the previous two seasons. And the next season we had a winning season barely missing the playoffs thanks to a couple of close losses to MSU and Angelo. But all the sudden like Coach Bo's tenure, the momentum just stopped. The question has to be asked... Were each of these coaches who appeared to be the guy to turn this thing around, the receipts of broken promises and the end result is what we have today? Promises such as having the full schoolies, the ability to seek out more of the quality transfers and Jucos from that market. And more importantly the ability to market the program with these overly impressionable kids today with facility improvements that obviously never came and with the excerpts of a letter Lantana posted, they really didn't have a serious plan going back to the 2010 to address.
If someone wanted to write a paper for a sports management class on how to destroy a football program, your case study is to be found in Kingsville, Texas.
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One thing that cannot be underestimated: Great players are attracted to great programs. If the team has a chance at the playoffs or national exposure, then more talented players with visions of a career in football will be more inclined to sign with that team. Sadly, the Javelinas haven't been a great program for quite a while. The public exposure for the team is near an all-time low.
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Originally posted by ccchhhrrriiisss View PostOne thing that cannot be underestimated: Great players are attracted to great programs. If the team has a chance at the playoffs or national exposure, then more talented players with visions of a career in football will be more inclined to sign with that team. Sadly, the Javelinas haven't been a great program for quite a while. The public exposure for the team is near an all-time low.
In sum, the entire program needs to self evaluate like right now and tell everyone where it wants to go. Waiting three, six, nine or twelve months is not acceptable based on the current state of the program. And it can't be a half assed attempt, band aids or lip stick on the pig type stuff. It needs to be a three year plan and no more than five for a total overhaul from staffing to facilities with accountability as a cornerstone which has lacked at the administrative level particularly during this crash to the bottom. The very hard lifting needs to be done up front instead of the easy stuff done first which would flip the culture we now see completely on it's head. To put it simply the goal needs to be stated where they want to see this program in 2021 and this is the step by step process to get us there.
If a program like Prairie View A&M can do it and they were at one time at a lower position than we were with a nations longest losing streak and routinely getting blown out, certainly we can do it too. They might not be winning SWAC championships and all of that, but they turned the culture around big time from where it was in the 90s and early 2000's.Last edited by LSC Fan; 10-23-2019, 08:52 AM.
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Originally posted by lantana View PostI too am sorely disappointed in the Hog football program and its overall results over the past 10 or so years. I have bitten my tongue until the blood runs, in trying not to knock individual coaches, and administrators, but I do think this blog line is being heard, so note the following:
I received a letter from the AD (most likely a form letter to many Hog supporters...), and included in the two page letter were the following paragraphs...
"In order to achieve such consistent success, we know that we need to continue to progress in a positive direction. One area that we are focusing on is athletic facilities. In order to be a highly competitive DII athletics department, we know that facility upgrades are a necessity and provide us another tool to recruit high quality student athletes. That being said, we will be developing a comprehensive master plan for athletic facilities. This plan will be vital in our process of developing our programs, and ensuring that projects that we complete in the near future, fit into our long-term plans for growth and expansion."
Also, near the end:
"In future newsletters, I will address such things as:
...Expand on my comments about an athletic facilities master plan, and how that dovetails with the university refreshing its master plan.
...Provide an explanation on how Division II scholarships work and how this is reflected in scholarships for our Javelina athletes.
...
...
...Describe how our athletics program is funded, including how private support can enhance our future."
So, obviously someone in The Ville is looking at this website and taking note.
The only question is: how forceful and how fast can we move...facilities take a while...and on a personal note, I am not getting any younger, especially when compared to my young(er) friend LSCFan!
lantana
https://javelinaathletics.com/docume...87.pdf?id=1832
Hopefully the worm is beginning to turn with the department in regard to our football program. It truly breaks my heart to see how things have transpired the last seven years or so. I agree with many of the opinions with this topic, but I hope it was not deliberate. I will admit it does look like some very deep self inflicted and unnecessary wounds which could have been prevented had some proactive action been taken ten or so years ago. We might not have the very best of best facilities, but at least something we could take an good amount of pride with and used them to bridge the current market of players to our past much like many of the D1 schools do successfully.
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