Future Sports at ISU

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Tornado man

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Northern schools cant compete in baseball. The last time a team in the Midwest(BigTen) won the national championship was 1960. Plus I was Iowa State to compete in sports that it has a chance to be successful like Hockey.
And so we have Michigan from the Big Ten, from snowy and cold Ann Arbor, advancing to Omaha by defeating top-ranked and #1 UCLA in Los Angeles last night.
So much for that theory...
 
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SEIOWA CLONE

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And so we have Michigan from the Big Ten, from snowy and cold Ann Arbor, advancing to Omaha by defeating top-ranked and #1 UCLA in Los Angeles last night.
So much for that theory...

So basically since Michigan and their unlimited resources made the WS, then ISU should start back up their program and we can do it also. Ya, I don't think it works that way, but keep trying.
 

Tornado man

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So basically since Michigan and their unlimited resources made the WS, then ISU should start back up their program and we can do it also. Ya, I don't think it works that way, but keep trying.
Didn't say we should bring it back - no one cared about baseball when it was here. And yes we don't have the $$$ that Michigan has. Just saying the "northern schools" excuse is kinda bogus.
 
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IsUaClone2

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I'd like to see baseball back just because it's a traditional American sport but even the pros have a hard time maintaining interest these days. Like golf, unless you've played the sport and have the unbounded time to appreciate strategy, for most spectators, the unpredictable occurrence of action sequences is only tolerable using replays while the game is on in the background.

Maybe we could make a gigantic facility with a roof over the field and grandstands plus an additional covered area, nearly as large, forming agricultural mini-climes for combination research and visitor attractions (say an indoor Reiman Gardens and/or zoo) so that it could be used year around as a controlled environment(s). Add in some experimental energy-producing and water retention/recycling methods to reduce operating costs either through research grants or successful new methods and we have the prototype for a university program that would combine education, research, and athletics. It would also add a few jobs too.

If that doesn't fly, then I suggest we add curling as a sport and fund it through beer sales. Should be able to add men and women's hockey as an afterthought. And, if curling isn't a year-around sport, that shouldn't stop us from selling beer to fund it by having a curriculum for craft beer entrepreneurs.
 

mdk2isu

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Jan 30, 2013
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If sports are all about revenue, and generating it, why don't we get rid of all of them except for Football, maybe basketball and a few women's sports to balance title IX. Hell think of the money we could save on facilities and scholarships and staff, just to pump into football.

As far as Title IX goes, from my understanding we are actually ahead of the line there, and have room to add a men's sport. Actually, I don't believe dropping Baseball was a title IX issue in the first place, which begs the question, can you be out of balance the other way too, being too heavy on women's sports? While I doubt we are that far out of line there either, I have seen here somewhere the numbers that show our Title IX numbers are more than fine to add Baseball or any other men's sport if we so chose too.
I believe some of that also has gotten even better as our enrollment numbers have increased and our ratio numbers have balanced better.

I think it has been said before in this thread, but pretty sure that ISU is at the minimum number of required sports to be a D1 institution. We can't drop any more sports.
 

CtownCyclone

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I'd like to see baseball back just because it's a traditional American sport but even the pros have a hard time maintaining interest these days. Like golf, unless you've played the sport and have the unbounded time to appreciate strategy, for most spectators, the unpredictable occurrence of action sequences is only tolerable using replays while the game is on in the background.

Maybe we could make a gigantic facility with a roof over the field and grandstands plus an additional covered area, nearly as large, forming agricultural mini-climes for combination research and visitor attractions (say an indoor Reiman Gardens and/or zoo) so that it could be used year around as a controlled environment(s). Add in some experimental energy-producing and water retention/recycling methods to reduce operating costs either through research grants or successful new methods and we have the prototype for a university program that would combine education, research, and athletics. It would also add a few jobs too.

If that doesn't fly, then I suggest we add curling as a sport and fund it through beer sales. Should be able to add men and women's hockey as an afterthought. And, if curling isn't a year-around sport, that shouldn't stop us from selling beer to fund it by having a curriculum for craft beer entrepreneurs.

Maybe you could do curling in Hilton.
giphy.gif
 
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Billups06

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As others have said, hockey may make the most sense (assuming Hilton is going to be used for the arena).

The top 'Junior' league in the US has 5 teams located in Iowa (6 including Omaha), making recruiting a bit more feasible. As a conference, I'd guess they would join either the WCHA or the NCHC.
 

SEIOWA CLONE

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Didn't say we should bring it back - no one cared about baseball when it was here. And yes we don't have the $$$ that Michigan has. Just saying the "northern schools" excuse is kinda bogus.

Here is a list of teams that have made it too the CWS, how many Northern schools have been there in the past 30 years or so? A few, but not many. I love bb but playing in the South or West just gives those schools a huge advantage to schools in the North. That would be especially true for Iowa State, because we would be playing schools from the Southern part of the US for most of our games.
School Appearances Titles Years

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_World_Series
 

theshadow

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Apr 19, 2006
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Congrats to Michigan on being the second Big Ten team in 35 years to make it to Omaha. Their harrowing path to the CWS included not facing the regional host, and beating a super regional host who was lucky to advance out of the regionals.
 

NetflixAndClone

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And so we have Michigan from the Big Ten, from snowy and cold Ann Arbor, advancing to Omaha by defeating top-ranked and #1 UCLA in Los Angeles last night.
So much for that theory...
Making the CWS isn't the same as winning it all. Teams from the north go to the CWS. Hell ISU did it twice before. Again it has been 59 years since a big ten team has won it all.
 

NetflixAndClone

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Would love to see them play in Hilton modern day!
Didn't Johnny and the basketball team have an issue with hockey using Hilton? I've always heard that because they just layered the court above the ice it caused the basketball court to be cold and moisture fissure through the cracks making it slipplery.

Of course this day and age they may be able to control that better. I still would prefer playing in a dedicated ice garden since multi use facilities in the NHL tend to have the worse ice.
 

CtownCyclone

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Didn't Johnny and the basketball team have an issue with hockey using Hilton? I've always heard that because they just layered the court above the ice it caused the basketball court to be cold and moisture fissure through the cracks making it slipplery.

Of course this day and age they may be able to control that better. I still would prefer playing in a dedicated ice garden since multi use facilities in the NHL tend to have the worse ice.

Looks like they put some insulating mats between the ice and the basketball surface.
 

AuH2O

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I agree with what you are saying, to a point, but can't you say the same thing with all the sports, at least most of them. And with recruiting, too. Bringing a recruit to Iowa in Nov. or Dec. no matter what the sport is, it is a disadvantage compared to anywhere else. So, how can you use that for not having one sport but having another? That's my only point.

There are 347 D1 colleges and universities in the US, of those 299, have a baseball program. Are you tell me that Iowa State is one of those few that can't make it work?
In P5 conferences, (4) Iowa State, Wisconsin, Colorado and Syracuse are the only schools out of 66 that do not have a baseball program.

Any school can make it work. Being smart enough not to dump money down a hole is a different story. It's not just recruiting visits. The big difference is that in the South and West local kids can, and often do, play year-round. Massive difference when you've got tons of in-state kids that have spring, summer and fall leagues that all have extended seasons. In Iowa your in-state kids that are ready to play winning D1 ball are, with a few exceptions, limited to the tiny percent that do indoor training stuff, and the space limitations and cost make that a non-starter for all but a few. My kid and his friends are pretty serious as far as Iowa standards go for 11-12 year olds- Spring league, summer league, USSSA tournaments, and it is nothing compared to what a much higher percentage of kids in the South and West typically do.

I went to ISU baseball games the last few years. When the weather was great a few people showed up, but there are years where it's cold for a majority of the season, so people don't show up. Keep in mind, the last couple years of ISU were during something of a baseball rebirth immediately following the PED home run chase. And still nobody went.
 
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AuH2O

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Remember that one of those other universities that no longer offers baseball is Wisconsin - which has a lot more $$$ than we do. They dropped baseball prior to the Alvarez era due to budget reasons; even though now they're swimming in football and Big Ten money, they think spending those $$$ on other things are more important.
As far as ISU being a "northern" school that has no business being good in baseball: it's not lost on me that Michigan (Ann Arbor is further north than Ames) still has a chance to go to the College World Series, after beating #1 UCLA in LA a couple of days ago. Oregon State is a college baseball power, and their budget has to be close to ISU's, if not lower. Somehow they make it work.

Michigan has tons of money. OSU's climate is nowhere near ours. So, being literal it is possible, but the odds of ISU starting a baseball program and becoming good are extremely steep. So in an era of rising tuition and dropping ROI for students, it's pretty irresponsible to come out and spend something that is pretty much assured to lose money. If you look at it from the perspective of spending money for entertainment options for students I'm confident baseball would poll horribly. It isn't coming back, nor should it. My opinion is that unless you are pretty sure a sport is going to run in the black it is a bad idea.
 

cyclones500

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basslakebeacon.com

2speedy1

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I think it has been said before in this thread, but pretty sure that ISU is at the minimum number of required sports to be a D1 institution. We can't drop any more sports.
Wasnt really the point, but ok.

Edit: Not sure that is the case anyway considering KState only has 16 to our 18.
 
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2speedy1

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Jan 4, 2014
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The chart is more compelling to me than the main discussion. I hadn't ever seen a comparison chart for Big 12 sports. I didn't realize ISU is the only school w/ out baseball. Wasn't aware of several other things, like 2 schools have rifle and one has acrobatics-tumbling (both non-sponsored)
Like I said before there are only 4 power 5 schools that don't have baseball, ISU being one of them.