Volleyball marks up watershed recruiting class

[CyValley]

Originally Posted by becrisgreg

Yes. Help Football and Men's Basketball.

Not enough. imho.

We disagree; no biggie.

[CyValley]

Originally Posted by Clonefan94

I don't think anyone here would argue the point that we'd love to have brand new and exclusive facilities for all of our sports. It would be an awesome showcase for the University. The reality is we don't have that kind of money to be floating around to be doing that sort of thing. . . .

For my part, I did not suggest new facilities; I'm hoping that something might be done with existing space that would suit the vb program, give it its own practice area over which it has control.

[CyValley]

Originally Posted by jdoggivjc

Someone mentioned in another thread that the College of Design is moving their underclassmen out of the Armory. How 'bout we also move the ROTC program and DTS out of there as well, remodel the **** out of it, and have an outstanding "classic-looking" fieldhouse for the volleyball and wrestling programs (among others)?

Highly interesting idea! (Particularly if there's suitable places to move those programs into.)

[ianoconnor]

A problem I see with renovating the Armory... there isn't really any parking over there.

[PolkCityClone]

I have watched a few matches in Forker. That is a good facility. Two courts should be enough for a varsity team.

[theshadow]

Originally Posted by ianoconnor

A problem I see with renovating the Armory... there isn't really any parking over there.

There's a ton of space behind the Comm Bldg and Moly Bio, which are right across the street, as well as 150+ spaces right next to the Armory itself.

[ianoconnor]

150 spaces isn't enough to host a big 12 wrestling meet though...

[theshadow]

Since most wrestling is either Friday night or Sunday, most normal campus lot policies wouldn't be in effect.

In theory...
Lot 22 - Team/staff/media
Lot 21 - Top donors
Lots 11, 12 - Secondary donors
Lots 9, 10, 27, 28, 29 - General public
Lot 6 (not shown, just south of 9) - General public

Those distances to the venue would be comparable to the current setup at Hilton.

[pulse]

Originally Posted by theshadow

Buy tickets. Bring lots of friends. Show up. Be loud.

Prove to the administration that volleyball deserves some love. The volleyball turnaround at ISU is equivalent to, and arguably greater than, what BF has done with WBB.

Nunez and Crum took us off a cliff, but we at least we were okay in volleyball before them. WBB was never good. BF's job is much better.

[Tornado man]

One of JP's stated goals was for ISU to break into the Director's Cup Top 25 all-sports rankings - volleyball's rise has certainly help us rise up from oblivion. It is imperative that they get a facility of their own to prove to recruits that the sport is serious here.

[HandSanitizer]

So basically there is only a few options for the remaining sports?

1. Change nothing.

2. Work something out with the university and pimp out existing spaces and make them better with combination of the $53 Million upgrade. I think this would be the best option until they can get funding later.

3. Shuffle some people around and try and take ownership of the armory (which would probably cost more than just putting up a $5 Million facility.

So practice areas:
Football has The practice fields and the Bergstrom Indoor facility.
MBB/WBB - New Practice Facility
Cross Country has their course and the Lied Rec Center winter
Womens/Mens Golf - Own course, but what do they do in winter?
Gymnastics - Beyer (do they have their own lockers etc.)?
Softball - its own field. Is there lockerrooms out there? Do they practice at Lied in winter?
Soccer - Field, Winter Lied? Do they have their own locker area etc.??
Swimming and Diving - Beyer
Tennis - Forker Courts/ Ames Raquet and Fitness -(This sport needs a lot of work, but how much do you put into it?)
Wrestling - Lied - Make it look better and they would be good.
Volleyball - Forker? Give them a locker room and area in Forker?

I guess I am really only seeing problems with Volleyball and Gymnastics and Tennis. The others will get a face lift with the Rec Upgrade.

[Tornado man]

Originally Posted by HandSanitizer

So basically there is only a few options for the remaining sports?

1. Change nothing.

2. Work something out with the university and pimp out existing spaces and make them better with combination of the $53 Million upgrade. I think this would be the best option until they can get funding later.

3. Shuffle some people around and try and take ownership of the armory (which would probably cost more than just putting up a $5 Million facility.

So practice areas:
Football has The practice fields and the Bergstrom Indoor facility.
MBB/WBB - New Practice Facility
Cross Country has their course and the Lied Rec Center winter
Womens/Mens Golf - Own course, but what do they do in winter?
Gymnastics - Beyer (do they have their own lockers etc.)?
Softball - its own field. Is there lockerrooms out there? Do they practice at Lied in winter?
Soccer - Field, Winter Lied? Do they have their own locker area etc.??
Swimming and Diving - Beyer
Tennis - Forker Courts/ Ames Raquet and Fitness -(This sport needs a lot of work, but how much do you put into it?)
Wrestling - Lied - Make it look better and they would be good.
Volleyball - Forker? Give them a locker room and area in Forker?

I guess I am really only seeing problems with Volleyball and Gymnastics and Tennis. The others will get a face lift with the Rec Upgrade.

I would add these, as it affects recruiting and therefore performance:
Track - Substandard track - our outdoor track is in total disrepair (I see they don't even include a photo of it on cyclones.com). We haven't hosted an outdoor meet in several years. Unbelievable.
Swimming - Substandard pool - we have an old 25-meter pool in Beyer; most schools have 50-meter pools now. The athletic department's plan to build a 50-meter pool as part of the new campus rec facility was scrapped because they didn't have the money ($10-15 million).
Softball - Substandard ballpark - we have, from what some visiting fans have told me, the worst facility in the conference. We don't even have lights. High schools in Iowa have better ballparks than we do.

[theshadow]

The scoreboard at the track still has the team name captions from the Big Eight. Beyer isn't even a 25-meter pool -- it's 25 yards. Diving didn't have a platform (just 1m and 3m) until very recently. Softball has no permanent restroom or locker facility, and the only running water may be what they use to wet down the infield. Concessions are sold out of a trailer.

Softball and soccer have both used the IPF for practices on occasion.

[ornryactor]

Originally Posted by Tornado man

I would add these, as it affects recruiting and therefore performance:
Track - Substandard track - our outdoor track is in total disrepair (I see they don't even include a photo of it on cyclones.com). We haven't hosted an outdoor meet in several years. Unbelievable.
Swimming - Substandard pool - we have an old 25-meter pool in Beyer; most schools have 50-meter pools now. The athletic department's plan to build a 50-meter pool as part of the new campus rec facility was scrapped because they didn't have the money ($10-15 million).
Softball - Substandard ballpark - we have, from what some visiting fans have told me, the worst facility in the conference. We don't even have lights. High schools in Iowa have better ballparks than we do.

You're absolutely right about all three. Part of the reason for track and softball is the general neglect of the whole Southwest complex. That outdoor track is ash; it's not even the hard-surface stuff used these days. Nobody would want to run on it even if we had a meet. Softball has been neglected because baseball was shut down, apparently. It probably boils down to JP not wanting to spend any money on a facility that he wants to close and move in the near future anyway. That really sucks, but I guess I can't blame him; that's the smart financial decision. I wouldn't expect any upgrades at the SAC. Likewise, swimming's situation is not going to change any. I'm friends with a few swimmers; they say they deal with facilities well enough. At least they "own" their area. Fact is, our S&D teams are usually the worst in the conference. You can justify spending money on an olympic sport that's winning. It's much harder at this point to spend on a sport that brings in no money AND performs poorly. There is a definite plan to build a large natatorium on the west side of Lied in the future; this will provide a substantial competitive space as well as a moderate recreational aquatic area, which is part of the reason there isn't much aquatic stuff in the State Gym addition.


Also, I'm not sure why so many people have the idea that the new rec renovations are going to help the athletic department. With minor exceptions, the additions and renovations are for student use only, not for athletic department use. I'd have to go back and look through Daily articles, but I don't believe Athletics has much to do with the renovation/addition. They've been involved in all the talks, of course, but the whole point is to get more space that students can use all the time, instead of being turned away because a team is practicing. There will be upgrades at Beyer, of course, which will help out gymnastics (and now with the BB facility, maybe volleyball as well) but that's pretty much it.

[CompCy]

I wonder if we will have to give up cyclone club benefits to get facilities for wrestling, volleyball and gymnastics. Donors at captains and above get free admission to those sports (if general admission seating is available). You can't make money if you're not charging people to see you play.