He would check a lot of boxes for me if this were 2019 but I'm not sure I want someone with a college athletics background. We dont need an "administrator." We need a salesman. Maybe Bowman is that too???
Marcus Bowman
- Thread starter Sean Miller Fan
- Start date
Need someone who won’t bankrupt the sports department like Heather did. Someone who prioritizes football over everything else. Victory Heights was a colossal mistake.
You misspelled basketball.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Victory Heights wasn't her call and it wasn't a mistake. It's a mistake to think that Pitt can keep up with the football blue blood's or that they will ever be allowed to consistently compete on that level.
So you are saying that if Heather decided that a new volleyball arena wasn't needed, Gallagher would have demanded we went into debt to build it?
Man, do I have good news for you about where football sat on Heather Lyke’s priority list!
Hint: it was number one by an overwhelming margin!
If that’s true, then Pitt booting her out the door was the best decision ever because she’s an incompetent
At what point will you acknowledge that the university's long-term plans override the AD's short-term preferences?
pittdan77
Athletic Director
He won't. Victory Heights was a necessary step in bringing the facilities up to D1 levels. Also a pretty big deal when hiring and retaining coaches. The other part that gets lost of him is that these facilities also further the university's educational objectives.
How much revenue will it produce? Because that’s really the only thing that matters.
I don't think anybody is expecting Pitt football to perform at that level. We just want respectability.
Going 9-4 and finishing ranked #23 in football produces a much healthier athletics dept than winning national championships in volleyball + soccer + track & field, etc combined. People don't want to hear it, but it's true. Football is just that much more important.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Revenue isn't the only thing that matters from the University's standpoint but if you want a D1 football program, you need 15 other healthy D1 programs to check all of the boxes and you don't get to be in a big boy conference if your facilities suck. It's not a coincidence that Pitt has gone really hard to upgrade facilities since they got into the ACC. The revenue comes from getting to be in the big boy conference kind of matters, so yeah, they're part of that equation.
Does it produce a healthier athletic department? Or does it produce a healthier football program? It used to be that a successful and profitable football program trickled down to the rest of the department. But is that true in the modern era? Or will a football program’s profits just funnel right back into football?
Tell me where track and field is getting its money if not from the revenue sports. Are you suggesting it's a self-sustaining endeavor? Hint: it isn't.
I realize you can get the occasional donation for something like Victory Heights. But people aren't going to pay to keep non-revenue sports at Pitt afloat indefinitely. Zero chance.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Right, but like I explained, you can be #23 in the AAC and make next to zero TV money or you can be #23 in the ACC and do really well. The big conferences like to be big at everything.
That’s not what I am suggesting.
What I am suggesting is that in the prior model, profits from football and basketball flowed to non-revenue sports. In the new model, I think it is highly likely that profits from football will flow right back to football, and not to the non-revenue sports. As a result, there needs to be a new way to pay for these sports. Because I think the pressure to funnel football’s profits back to football will be enormous.
I asked you if Heather told Gallagher that a new arena wasnt needed, do you think he would have overruled her and told her to build it NOW?
Track and Field could make some money if they had a facility and could host invitationals. This is especially true for indoor, as there is a complete void of indoor track facilities in western Pennsylvania. Not just college invites, but high school, camps, etc.
T&F is also an extremely cheap sport because you get essentially 3 NCAA sports for the price of one: XC, indoor, and outdoor. There is little equipment. Meets are generally just a few big invites and not round robin so travel is limited.
Hmm, wonder why so many colleges have cut these non-revenue sports that are apparently virtually free and so simple to sustain.
Which colleges? Power five? FBS? Division I?
Pitt has 19 Varsity Sports
Duke - 27
UNC - 28
UVA - 27
WVU - 18
Syracuse - 18
MSU - 23
Cal - 30
LSU - 21
Texas Tech -17
Miami - 18
IU - 24
