Volleyball team ranked #11 in preseason poll

**Flag Guy** · 08-05-2009, 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by CyDude16

What about doing both?

I'm going to go ahead and assume you leave the back 1/3 uncircled... and that'd still be a pain in the ***. Maaaaaaaaaaaay have the equipment for it but thats still questionable... and it's still take quite a while

As if people at Hilton don't work long enough hours as it is... (seriously, sometimes people are forced to sign out for a little while because they're not technically allowed to work 24 hours straight... or something like that)

**Tornado man** · 08-05-2009, 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by DaddyMac

I'm confused by this. Why wouldn't you use their practice space as competition space? NU does/did that plenty - although not always.

Forker is NOT a venue worthy of a ranked volleyball program- for Illinois State maybe, but not Iowa State. It's just a gym, for pete's sake.
Nebraska, like virtually all volleyball powers (Penn State, Texas, etc.) plays in a refurbished, remodeled former basketball fieldhouse - the Coliseum in this case. It's a great venue, just as a remodeled Armory would be great for our program.
Coach Johnson has said several times that Hilton is just "too big" for home matches, but she knows there's really no option, unless funds could be had to re-do the Armory.

**DaddyMac** · 08-05-2009, 03:45 PM

Originally Posted by Flag Guy

Thats not a pain in the ***. Thats easy... you run curtains straight across Hilton

encircling the balcony on the other hand...

Why? Hilton is pretty much an elongated octogon anyway. Those are straight runs. Not to mention the curtains in question would be half the height, if not less.

The bigger issue is keeping people off the upper deck, IMO.

Who cares? Fill the the place up!

**DaddyMac** · 08-05-2009, 03:49 PM

Originally Posted by Tornado man

Forker is NOT a venue worthy of a ranked volleyball program- for Illinois State maybe, but not Iowa State. It's a just gym, for pete's sake.
Nebraska, like virtually all volleyball powers (Penn State, Texas, etc.) plays in a refurbished, remodeled former basketball fieldhouse - the Coliseum in this case. It's a great venue, just as a remodeled Armory would be great for our program.
Coach Johnson has said several times that Hilton is just "too big" for home matches, but she knows there's really no option, unless funds could be had to re-do the Armory.

Psst. She's also the one who mentioned Forker.

Let me get one thing straight. The big, 3 court gymnasium at east end of the building... that' still there, right? Again, it's been 10+ years. That could be classrooms for all I know.

**Flag Guy** · 08-05-2009, 03:52 PM

Originally Posted by DaddyMac

Why? Hilton is pretty much an elongated octogon anyway. Those are straight runs. Not to mention the curtains in question would be half the height, if not less.

The bigger issue is keeping people off the upper deck, IMO.

Who cares? Fill the the place up!

Assuming they don't jump the ropes?

And it could feasibly be done... and if there is one thing that stage crews are good at is throwing a lot of man power at jobs, it'd just add a lot of time to the set up and somebody has to pay money for that to be done

I don't know if the more intimate atmosphere would be worth the additional cost of doing that... even if you could leave the rigging in place most of the season (aka assuming no other events came through that needed the space that rigging occupies or need the rigging itself)

I mean carrying the curtains upstairs and tying them on isn't difficult in and of itself... and they do encircle the parquet with curtains for events, but you'd have to have stuff to attach that to, and rigging to hold it up.

I never got into rigging so I don't know how far of a span you could do between rigging points, but that would probably take a lot of chains to do that, and putting that up would be more time consuming, take more skilled (read, more costly) labor, and if anything else needed that rigging, it'd need to be taken down and put back up later

The time and expense would probably be a bigger obstical than the technical execution of such a project

But I don't really know for sure... I was only a peeon there for a year or two... and it's been a while

**The_Architect** · 08-05-2009, 03:57 PM

Originally Posted by iccyfan

I have three children and I'm hoping for at least one legacy at ISU. My daughter, entering eighth grade, has attended volleyball camp at ISU the last two years. She loves the team and the coaches; it's my opinion they're great ambassadors for the university!

I'll go look as soon as I hit "submit", but is the volleyball schedule out yet?

Haha, me too. I'm already teaching my daughter how to play while she's in the womb

**Tornado man** · 08-05-2009, 03:58 PM

Originally Posted by DaddyMac

Psst. She's also the one who mentioned Forker.

Let me get one thing straight. The big, 3 court gymnasium at east end of the building... that' still there, right? Again, it's been 10+ years. That could be classrooms for all I know.

No, that big gym is still there. I think it's hilarious that one would think we could recruit top-level VB athletes - also being recruited by the other powers - to play in a facility like Forker. It would be like they never left high school...

**DaddyMac** · 08-05-2009, 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by Tornado man

No, that big gym is still there. I think it's hilarious that one would think we could recruit top-level VB athletes - also being recruited by the other powers - to play in a facility like Forker. It would be like they never left high school...

But you somehow think the armory would be better? That is hillarious.

I guess we can feel free to forward that humor to CJ. After all, I'm sure she was envisioning a few mobile 4 row bleachers and a waterfountain in the corner with a fold-down for a scorer's table and a flip scoreboard

Nobody is talking about utilizing it "as-is". Renovations are a must as well.

Feel free to disagree. Given the head ISU volleyball coach (you know, the one that does the recruiting) is the one who made mention of this.... well, call me irrational, but I'm going with her thoughts. Not saying they're still the same.

**Tornado man** · 08-05-2009, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by DaddyMac

But you somehow think the armory would be better? That is hillarious.

Yes, the armory would be perfect. CJ said as much when she spoke at our Rotary meeting last spring. She never mentioned "Forker" at all.
It would, however, take millions of $$$ to remodel it, which the athletic department doesn't have. CJ understands this.
Go visit some other volleyball venues of good programs; NONE of them are in "rec gyms" like Forker.

**DaddyMac** · 08-05-2009, 04:16 PM

Originally Posted by Tornado man

Yes, the armory would be perfect. CJ said as much when she spoke at our Rotary meeting last spring. She never mentioned "Forker" at all.
It would, however, take millions of $$$ to remodel it, which the athletic department doesn't have. CJ understands this.
Go visit some other volleyball venues of good programs; NONE of them are in "rec gyms" like Forker.

Then why didn't you say that? She said Forker two or three years ago at the Meet the coaches night. Not something I pulled out of my arse

And I've been to PLENTY of volleyball venues across the country. Most notably NU Colisium (sister played there for 3 years), Pauly Pavilion, Stanford, Penn State, Texas, Illinois, tOSU, Wisconsin and just about every "gym" in between.

**swarthmoreCY** · 08-05-2009, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by Tornado man

Yes, the armory would be perfect. CJ said as much when she spoke at our Rotary meeting last spring. She never mentioned "Forker" at all.
It would, however, take millions of $$$ to remodel it, which the athletic department doesn't have. CJ understands this.
Go visit some other volleyball venues of good programs; NONE of them are in "rec gyms" like Forker.

Somewhat off-topic, but it seems most universities have historic (old) gyms/fieldhouses that are perfect for housing VB, wrestling, and for some, WBB. Is that the Armory or would it be State Gym? I guess lagging in athletic facilities has always been an issue. That said, I did not realize how many on-campus buildings house gyms.
Is Forker the building that housed women's PE back in the day?

**Enginerd** · 08-05-2009, 04:21 PM

Earning a seed in this year's tourney (they only seed to 16) would be another milestone.

**DaddyMac** · 08-05-2009, 04:25 PM

Originally Posted by swarthmoreCY

Somewhat off-topic, but it seems most universities have historic (old) gyms/fieldhouses that are perfect for housing VB, wrestling, and for some, WBB. Is that the Armory or would it be State Gym? I guess lagging in athletic facilities has always been an issue. That said, I did not realize how many on-campus buildings house gyms.
Is Forker the building that housed women's PE back in the day?

Yep - the old PEB right near old RCA housing. They added on a few larger gyms since the original.

Frankly - I don't care where it's at. I would like to see a dedicated "small" facility for mainly volleyball. But I would think wrestling, gymnastics and those types of sports that may only expect a crowd of a few thousand, could use. Instead of the extra overhead of Hilton and give a more closed in, intimate feel.

I think State Gym would be cool. But am thinking that the space there would be worse than even Forker.

**Tornado man** · 08-05-2009, 04:26 PM

Originally Posted by DaddyMac

Then why didn't you say that? She said Forker two or three years ago at the Meet the coaches night. Not something I pulled out of my arse

And I've been to PLENTY of volleyball venues across the country. Most notably NU Colisium (sister played there for 3 years), Pauly Pavilion, Stanford, Penn State, Texas, Illinois, tOSU, Wisconsin and just about every "gym" in between.

I hope to see you at some matches then!
Oh, how I wish our athletic department had kept control of the armory after Hilton was built. Every other school seems to do this...
With improvements, it would just be fantastic for wrestling and volleyball.
If nothing else, we would have a "dedicated" volleyball floor, instead of the tape/painted lines on top of the basketball floor.

**ornryactor** · 08-05-2009, 04:28 PM

Remodeling the Armory would be more than just an issue of the athletic department getting the money... That's no longer Athletics property, and there are a TON of different groups within the university who all want to do different things with the building or the ground it's standing on. I know CyRide has done serious studies on demolishing it and using it as the location for a new transit hub for the high-capacity buses we'll be getting. I believe the College of Engineering wants to use the land as well. LAS wants to put another building there, especially now that Hach Hall won't be big enough to replace Gilman (meaning they can't empty Gilman and put something else in there). I remember somebody suggesting that once Design is out, ROTCs get the whole building and renovate it to use as training facilities, especially since our Army guys keep winning the Ranger Challenge.

Needless to say, it's unfortunately not as simple as finding the money.