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SIUE wants to go D1


bonwich

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I have heard that this is driving Carbondale fans nuts, though I am not sure why????

"A strong man stands up for himself; a stronger man stands up for others." - Ben

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Does the D1 designation mean the program gets more dollars? If so, you are definitely correct. I figured it was more of a pride thing. SIU-C wants to be referred to as SIU without the Carbondale attachment. This change would make that more difficult.

"A strong man stands up for himself; a stronger man stands up for others." - Ben

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SIU-E has a strong program, one of the tops in d-2. There are 335 programs in D-1 don't see why they can't be one of them as well. I wonder which conference they would join? Possibly Ohio Valley? Mid Con?

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if they move up, pure fools. First of all, they have a very good thing going in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, especially with the one sport that anybody knows anything about re: SIU-E, men's basketball.

Second of all, check out the absolute delusion illustrated by these quotes from the article:

"The task force cited among potential benefits of moving to all Division I as being an increase of applications from prospective students, higher levels of media exposure, and enhancing the school's national reputation and image."

and

"Many business leaders have been vocal in their support for the move to Division I, enticed by the possibility of a boost in prestige and tourism dollars that they hope will accompany such a change."

Ha. They must have a huge incidence of brain trauma among task force members and business leaders in Edwardsville. None of those things will come to pass as they move up to DI and become a tourism power like Eastern Illinois,etc. Fools.

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I remember driving up there one year for a High School playoff

sectional. Not the easiest place to find at night if you don't know where it is. Got lost and turned around a few times. And once you arrive on the campus area, finding the gym isn't all that easy either. I'm still not sure I would know the way. And the parking situation wasn't the best. They would have to expand seating in the gym. I don't think the place could hold more than 5k. Though it has been a long time so my memory might be a bit sketchy on the details.

I do remember it's not easy to find if you don't know the route.

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Frank DeFord had an article out yesterday that talked about Birmingham Southern College in a similar light. It ran in our newest competing rag, the Baltimore Examiner. When I did a search of the Examiner On-Line, a google for DeFord took me to his NPR site. Apparently, the column in print here yesterday was the print version of his National Public Radio address. If you search the NPR page under DeFord, it will allow you to listen (I think as I did not click on it so I don't know if there's a fee).

Basically, it was DeFord's recounting of the recent move where the Chairman of the Board of Trustees went to the President of BirSouth when he heard they were going Division 1 football. The math was 116 or so scholarships at $30K per year equals yada-yada. After the chair and the prez discussed it, they nixed the whole deal, deciding that it wasn't worth it because Division 1 Athletics is part of the entertainment business and they were in the education business.

To make a long story short, they then took the money that would have been spent on this athletic team and put it into the academics. In the long run, four new sports were created (including football) and now more students get to play college sports than ever before. Applications to the school are up measurably, minority applications are out the roof and the school does not have to compromise its true academic mission.

Its a good read or listen and I recommend it for all. I have to laugh if SIU-E believes tourism and the like would increase. And there would be no need to increase the seatingof the arena as jmolina says ... wait til you guys see the "facilities" St. Joes and Fordham call home. Neither approaches the 5K seating figure and neither have plans to upgrade in any way.

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