I'm not saying we would drop wrestling. I'm saying that right now I believe we participate in the minimum number of official Big 12 conference sports required to be a member. If wrestling is dropped as a Big 12 sport I think we need to add another to meet the minimum. I'm saying that baseball would at least be considered as that sport.
Upgrading the Hockey Program Makes More Sense Than Bringing Back Baseball
- Thread starter drednot57
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I'm not saying we would drop wrestling. I'm saying that right now I believe we participate in the minimum number of official Big 12 conference sports required to be a member. If wrestling is dropped as a Big 12 sport I think we need to add another to meet the minimum. I'm saying that baseball would at least be considered as that sport.
I would love to see Hockey as a Varsity Sport. The Club games are awsome.
BUT
The Huskers going to the Big 10 will kill their recruiting for BaseBall. It really is a shame that ISU does not have Baseball. With all the quality Baseball players in Iowa and all the kids from Texas that want to play Baseball in the Big 12, ISU would be a very good team. Not sure if we would be a National Player, but we would easily beat any Big 10 team.
BUT
The Huskers going to the Big 10 will kill their recruiting for BaseBall. It really is a shame that ISU does not have Baseball. With all the quality Baseball players in Iowa and all the kids from Texas that want to play Baseball in the Big 12, ISU would be a very good team. Not sure if we would be a National Player, but we would easily beat any Big 10 team.
I think you missed the humor... There was a thread during the expansion craze that said we needed to add hockey because the Big Ten wanted to form its own leauge and could with iowa state.
Agreed since we are the only Big 12 school without baseball...even KSU has been pretty decent(they made an NCAA regional the last two years), hockey does nothing for our Big XII credibility
The high school hockey is a mute point. We have the best developemental hockey league in the states in Iowa, the USHL. Look at these stats from 2009:
The USHL had 190 NCAA Division I hockey commitments last year, 27 USHL Alumni signed NHL contracts last year, 17 USHL players were chosen in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, and to date 109 former USHL players have played in the NHL. The USHL is the crown jewel of the USA Hockey Development model. The USHL provides an opportunity for players to reach their goals of playing in the NHL while also providing an opportunity to play NCAA hockey.
How hard would it be to go to Des Moines to see every USHL team play? How hard would it be to recruit against Nebraska-Omaha (never even had a club team before going DI), Ferris State, Bemidji, etc.?
Don't forget, the USHL is made up of high school aged kids. If you really want to get the best high school players not playing in the USHL I guess you would have to travel to Minnesota which could be pricey, probably the same as recruiting the best football, basketball players in Texas, Floride, etc....
Don't get me wrong, I love baseball too. I just think hockey could bring in money and maybe one day help bring the baseball program with it.
The USHL had 190 NCAA Division I hockey commitments last year, 27 USHL Alumni signed NHL contracts last year, 17 USHL players were chosen in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, and to date 109 former USHL players have played in the NHL. The USHL is the crown jewel of the USA Hockey Development model. The USHL provides an opportunity for players to reach their goals of playing in the NHL while also providing an opportunity to play NCAA hockey.
How hard would it be to go to Des Moines to see every USHL team play? How hard would it be to recruit against Nebraska-Omaha (never even had a club team before going DI), Ferris State, Bemidji, etc.?
Don't forget, the USHL is made up of high school aged kids. If you really want to get the best high school players not playing in the USHL I guess you would have to travel to Minnesota which could be pricey, probably the same as recruiting the best football, basketball players in Texas, Floride, etc....
Don't get me wrong, I love baseball too. I just think hockey could bring in money and maybe one day help bring the baseball program with it.
If we added hockey, would we add Women's Hockey as the other sport? If we are going to build a new facility for hockey use, there might as well be mens and womens teams using it to get more use out of it.
Would this even be as pricey as say, going to Nebraska, etc. to scout VB players? Gotta think there are lots MN hockey kids that would be much more excited about coming to an Iowa State than an MSU-Mankato, although we would have trouble competing against the Duluth's and St. Cloud States right off the bat. I think even that gap would be closed pretty quick, a lot quicker than the gap between ISU baseball and the rest of the Big XII.
Whoa!!! There's no beer at ISU hockey club games anymore?Bummer. What year did that change. I know it was still around in the early 90's.
I think ISU hockey would be comparable to UNO's development. It took UNO 4 years before a winning season and 8 before an NCAA tourny. I would say winning season in year 3 and NCAA tourny in 5-7 years. The onlyr reason I feel this way is because ISU should be an easier sell than UNO.... just my opinion... probably not fair since I love the ISU campus and Cyclone sports...
I think the argument is the Big Ten Network wants to broadcast conference hockey - the problem being there is no Big Ten Hockey Conference. Add another team or two, you could potentially have a Big Ten Conference, and the Network could broadcast the games.
Baseball might not be the least expensive, but it would have the greatest potential of generating revenues that offset its costs. That, and even though Cap Timm outright sucks, at least there ARE facilities in place for the time being. If ISU HAD to add a sport to retain conference affiliation tomorrow it'd most likely be baseball.
It's not a moot point.
How many of them were from Iowa?
One would hope that adding a rather expensive sport like hockey or baseball would generate additional interest in (and ultimately donations to) the university athletics department, particularly from in-state. Which of the two sports would generate more state-wide interest in the university?
High school kids become college students, who then become alumni, who then (hopefully) become donors. Do more kids in Iowa participate in hockey or baseball? Which sport would do better in grabbing the attention of those kids who will eventually become donors? ADJP has mentioned on several occasions the importance of getting kids to become fans at a young age, because they are better prone to become loyal supporters. Which sport better supports this goal?
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There is a womens hockey team that will probably will need to be brought along if hockey goes varsity.
I agree with those who are saying ISU needs to get the revenue sports well into the black before they promote any club sport to varsity status. What I'm proposing is a "what if" scenario, nothing more.
Hey guys/gals, referencing the Big 12 and the Big Ten conferences for hockey do not apply. Collegiate hockey teams formed their own associations in lieu of conferences. If you read my original post, you would see two Big Ten schools in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. For womens hockey, add the Ohio State University to the list, so, for ice hockey, the traditional conferences do not exist. As a result, conference arguments in this context are moot.:no:
Iowa is very active in minor hockey (high school age down to five year old kids). The IHSAA is not involved with minor hockey at all. Every city involved in minor hockey has their own association, such as the Ames Minor Hockey Association, that is solely responsible in governing their particular program; all in accordance with rules and guidelines set down by USA Hockey, the national governing body for amateur hockey. This system was established, in large part, by the efforts of Al Murdoch and many others. It's no coincidence that the ACHA championship cup is named the Murdoch Cup; without "Dr. Hockey" and his associates, there would probably no ice hockey in Iowa at all. Amateur hockey in the USA would not enjoy near the status that it does now as well. Is Al Murdoch "conceited"? Probably, but he earned that conceit.
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Right, but if there were enough Big Ten members with hockey programs to have it be a Big Ten-sanctioned sport, I'd imagine the conference would make it worth their while to leave their current conferences, because it would do big ratings on the Big Ten network.
This. I get the fact that there currently isn't a Big Ten Hockey Conference. But you think those schools would be opposed to starting up a Big Ten Conference if the Big Ten Network were willing to broadcast the games and as a result send more $$$ their way? I'd think so...
