Cyclone Baseball

[IHavNoCyCash]

No argument with what you said, just picking up with yours as a response. Added the 'biased the other way' comment to be honest, I'm not a baseball guy. No hate for the folks involved in the club now, or the team back then, really, just stating what I saw from my time there. Anyone who puts on the Cardinal and Gold gets my respect, as I never did...I was just trying to make my way thru. However, the folks who have passion must be weighed against the folks who don't...that's why I don't wish for JP's job.

I wasn't meaning to be defensive, I just said the first part in case people started to think I'm making stuff up. I'm sure JP has had some heated discussions with the guy that takes care of the field..he's insanely passionate for it and watched the final tryouts and took part in it,he thinks Pollard is a ******* for not paying attention to baseball, but it's a business, what's Pollard suppose to do?

Obviously people aren't going to pay attention to club baseball, however, the AD takes notice if a club sport has popularity. Hockey>Baseball right now and that's why I bet hockey will turn D1 before baseball. Just the reality of the situation. Also it would be cheaper as if he picked baseball it would cost alot to repair Cap Timm.

[broncocy5321]

Title 9 plays a big part in the decision. The program was crap compared to other Big 12 programs - Cap Timm field was horrible compared to other colleges, no concessions, no gate fee, etc.

But the success was better than football and basketball with players moving on to play at the next level. Plenty of players played AAA and in the majors compared to the NFL/NBA.

I saw smaller programs be successful - Iowa has talent and you could easily recruit the Chicago area, KC area, and Minnesota for talent.

When ISU played NE, Iowa, Creighton, OU, etc. They had decent crowds - NO GATE fees blew me away. College fans brought beer to the games while watching ISU.

[BCClone]

One other thing that colleges figure in, this is driven by administration, is if the cost of the program is justifiable for the students it brings in. This is why you see small school with a decent amount of sports and you wonder how they can afford that.

I don't know actual numbers but just for example-- if a baseball has 40 players on it and gets 20 schollys that can be split. Say half are instate and half out just for arguments sake and 15k instate cost and 25k out cost. That is 800k to the school with a 400k cost to the athletic program.

What the school wants to look at .. is the 400k extra plus gate fees, donations contributable to baseball, etc more than cover all the other costs above the scholarship costs. Or can the athletic department afford to carry it. The answer right now is no to both, but with the new tv deals .... there is possibility.

[cybsball20]

Must. Resist. Temptation. To. Call. Out. BS...

My stance is the same as dozens of other posts I have made on this. Don't do it half ***, if you are going to bring it back, you have to make the financial commitment to have facitilities at least in the middle of the pack of the conference (K-State ish). No, the program will never "make money" but it can be a significant contribution to the department and community.

[CLONECONES]

baseball way before hockey please

[tinsley500]

I emailed Jamie about this topic a couple of weeks ago and this is what he responded with.


Thanks for the email. I appreciate your kind words about the success of the athletics program. The main reason we have had recent success is because we have been able to strategically begin funding the needs of our current sports. We had and still do have a long ways to go to be able provide the budgets, compensation and facilities for the sports we currently sponsor to have a chance to be competitive. We need to do that before we are ever in a position to realistically think about adding any additional sports.

Unfortunately baseball simply is not a good fit for our institution at this time, both financially or geographically. Unlike Iowa, who gets to compete against teams in the Big 10 that are all essentially playing in the same "sand box", the Big 12 clearly has a geographic footprint in baseball that has an entirely different "sandbox". The majority of Big 12 teams play in minor league like ballparks with attendance and atmospheres far greater than we even have for men's basketball games. In order to be competitive we would need to invest about $20 million in a baseball stadium (Minnesota just announced they are building a new $15 million on campus baseball stadium), about $2 to $2.5 million annually in operating costs (scholarships, compensation, travel, etc) and would have to build some kind of indoor practice facility since we do not have an available space for a baseball team to currently practice.

Although we have recently benefited from the new Big 12 television contract, I can assure you that money is already pledged against current facility projects in the works and the compensation packages that we have to provide both our football and basketball staffs as a result of their success.

At the end of the day, baseball just is not a good fit for us in the foreseeable future. I will never say never but it unfortunately is a very long shot.

Thanks.

[Palmer]

I emailed Jamie about this topic a couple of weeks ago and this is what he responded with.


Thanks for the email. I appreciate your kind words about the success of the athletics program. The main reason we have had recent success is because we have been able to strategically begin funding the needs of our current sports. We had and still do have a long ways to go to be able provide the budgets, compensation and facilities for the sports we currently sponsor to have a chance to be competitive. We need to do that before we are ever in a position to realistically think about adding any additional sports.

Unfortunately baseball simply is not a good fit for our institution at this time, both financially or geographically. Unlike Iowa, who gets to compete against teams in the Big 10 that are all essentially playing in the same "sand box", the Big 12 clearly has a geographic footprint in baseball that has an entirely different "sandbox". The majority of Big 12 teams play in minor league like ballparks with attendance and atmospheres far greater than we even have for men's basketball games. In order to be competitive we would need to invest about $20 million in a baseball stadium (Minnesota just announced they are building a new $15 million on campus baseball stadium), about $2 to $2.5 million annually in operating costs (scholarships, compensation, travel, etc) and would have to build some kind of indoor practice facility since we do not have an available space for a baseball team to currently practice.

Although we have recently benefited from the new Big 12 television contract, I can assure you that money is already pledged against current facility projects in the works and the compensation packages that we have to provide both our football and basketball staffs as a result of their success.

At the end of the day, baseball just is not a good fit for us in the foreseeable future. I will never say never but it unfortunately is a very long shot.

Thanks.

...and there is the answer.

end of story.

[cybsball20]

And I agree with all of what Jamie said. It will take a donor building a stadium and a large endowment to get it done. Not impossible, but not likely.

I still beleive the best case scenario is a privately built stadium in a high visibility area in town. That way they can sell beer and have a Northwoods league team in the summer...

[ISUAgronomist]

I emailed Jamie about this topic a couple of weeks ago and this is what he responded with.


Thanks for the email. I appreciate your kind words about the success of the athletics program. The main reason we have had recent success is because we have been able to strategically begin funding the needs of our current sports. We had and still do have a long ways to go to be able provide the budgets, compensation and facilities for the sports we currently sponsor to have a chance to be competitive. We need to do that before we are ever in a position to realistically think about adding any additional sports.

Unfortunately baseball simply is not a good fit for our institution at this time, both financially or geographically. Unlike Iowa, who gets to compete against teams in the Big 10 that are all essentially playing in the same "sand box", the Big 12 clearly has a geographic footprint in baseball that has an entirely different "sandbox". The majority of Big 12 teams play in minor league like ballparks with attendance and atmospheres far greater than we even have for men's basketball games. In order to be competitive we would need to invest about $20 million in a baseball stadium (Minnesota just announced they are building a new $15 million on campus baseball stadium), about $2 to $2.5 million annually in operating costs (scholarships, compensation, travel, etc) and would have to build some kind of indoor practice facility since we do not have an available space for a baseball team to currently practice.

Although we have recently benefited from the new Big 12 television contract, I can assure you that money is already pledged against current facility projects in the works and the compensation packages that we have to provide both our football and basketball staffs as a result of their success.

At the end of the day, baseball just is not a good fit for us in the foreseeable future. I will never say never but it unfortunately is a very long shot.

Thanks.

I'm going to go ahead and save a screenshot of this so the next time it comes up we have the information.

Thank you for your post.

[VeloClone]

And I agree with all of what Jamie said. It will take a donor building a stadium and a large endowment to get it done. Not impossible, but not likely.

I still beleive the best case scenario is a privately built stadium in a high visibility area in town. That way they can sell beer and have a Northwoods league team in the summer...

I wouldn't be surprised to see someone like Gary Thompson leave some legacy seed money to eventually be used toward the restart of baseball. I know it isn't going to happen, but I will be doubly sad when Gary goes and he never lives to see baseball at ISU again.

Gary Thompson Field has a nice ring to it...

[IHavNoCyCash]

I emailed Jamie about this topic a couple of weeks ago and this is what he responded with.


Thanks for the email. I appreciate your kind words about the success of the athletics program. The main reason we have had recent success is because we have been able to strategically begin funding the needs of our current sports. We had and still do have a long ways to go to be able provide the budgets, compensation and facilities for the sports we currently sponsor to have a chance to be competitive. We need to do that before we are ever in a position to realistically think about adding any additional sports.

Unfortunately baseball simply is not a good fit for our institution at this time, both financially or geographically. Unlike Iowa, who gets to compete against teams in the Big 10 that are all essentially playing in the same "sand box", the Big 12 clearly has a geographic footprint in baseball that has an entirely different "sandbox". The majority of Big 12 teams play in minor league like ballparks with attendance and atmospheres far greater than we even have for men's basketball games. In order to be competitive we would need to invest about $20 million in a baseball stadium (Minnesota just announced they are building a new $15 million on campus baseball stadium), about $2 to $2.5 million annually in operating costs (scholarships, compensation, travel, etc) and would have to build some kind of indoor practice facility since we do not have an available space for a baseball team to currently practice.

Although we have recently benefited from the new Big 12 television contract, I can assure you that money is already pledged against current facility projects in the works and the compensation packages that we have to provide both our football and basketball staffs as a result of their success.

At the end of the day, baseball just is not a good fit for us in the foreseeable future. I will never say never but it unfortunately is a very long shot.

Thanks.

thanks for the post..looks like i'm not ************ like some think.

[BringBackJohnny]

Can someone post a pick of what the Cap use to look like. I played on the club team for a while at ISU. It is tough to imagine what it once looked like "back in the day".

Thanks

[Clonefan94]

Exactly!

I try not to be an internet dick, but this subject is perfect for the search feature. Just type in "baseball" and most of your questions will be answered without having to wait for people to post the same information again in this thread.