No more local Cyclone clubs?

[uthaman]

Having once been a board member of the Ankeny Cyclone Club I have heard some rumblings about the Athletic Department ending the practice of the summer outings. The AD would then sponsor events under the umbrella of the National Cyclone Club.

A BIG change, but in my opinion one that is long overdue. Pollard needs to have control of Iowa State's name, image and finances to fulfill his dream. Having all these little Cyclone fiefdoms spread all around the state makes it much more difficult for him to get out a coherent message.

 

[TailgateC3]

Not to mention that some local clubs are promoting their own local membership program rather than 100% backing the National Cyclone Club.

Plus, the ISU Alumni Association has a clubs program and a piece of that is athletics, gamewatch, etc.

 

[DaddyMac]

I find that hard to believe

Who runs all the local fundraising events? The golf outings? The trips? The dinners and game watches?

I can't imagine that the AD will take all that on from the offices in Ames. And those events are CRITICAL to the overall fundraising effort. How big is that check that the DSM area Cyclone Club gives every year at the meet the coaches night.

Without knowing the details, sounds like an ENORMOUS mistake to me. Maybe they can pull it off, but I don't see how. :no6xn:

 

[tec71]

My father is on the board of one of the many local clubs. His understanding is not that they are to go away but that Pollard says they simply cannot support as many clubs as there currently are with the same level of support as in the past. Pollard made a huge commitment this past summer to get himself and most of the big three coaches to almost every outing. I doubt they'll shut local clubs down but I believe they will at least require more consolidation to the summer outings, or perhaps bring them under the national umbrella. Although you might see a combination four or five consolidated summer outings around the state, and several super outings at different places. If the national club runs outings in teh right big cities over the summer, it could pay dividends even if they have to fly coaches to make appearances. Got to invest to get results. Regardless we all know that with Pollard the clubs and outings will have to contribute to increasing the bottom line to get coaches to appear, and the amounts will be high to get all of them.

 

[scubapohl1]

TEC-71,
You hit it on the head. Many of the smaller clubs don't contribute a whole lot back to the program. It doesn't make much sense to make the time to schedule several 6 and 7 figure coachs/AD plus staff to make appearances at clubs who end up only contributing a few thousand dollars to the cause a year.

 

[uthaman]

Re: I find that hard to believe

DaddyMac,

This is the way iowa runs their I clubs. If you contribute at least $50 to the I-club you are automatically a member of your local I-club too. Iowa distributes the names to the local clubs who then handle organizing the events.

IMHO the local Cyclone clubs should NOT be in the business of fund raising. That should be the National Cyclone Club underneath Pollard. The local clubs should be in the business of generating excitement. Another comparison between Iowa and ISU is that for their Des Moines coaches events this year the Polk County I-club charged $15, the Greater Des Moines Cyclone Club charged $45.

Once free of the pressure of needing to raise money the local clubs will actually be able to do more!!

Think about the $25,000 check that Des Moines gave to ISU this year. If you figure the ISU budget was $25 million, then this donation amounted to 0.1% of the yearly budget.

 

[SlyCy]

I agree something needs to be changed. I joined the one of two Cyclone clubs (not sure why there are two in Cedar Rapids.) THe joining fee was $15, not sure for what. I received one email from them since joining this summer. I like the idea of a donation getting you access to a local Cyclone club in your area instead of joining a club only.

It would also make sense to run a website off of the cyclones.com webstie for each local club. That way there is official control and everyone would have to go to the official website.

 

[DaddyMac]

Re: I find that hard to believe

Well that's all fine and good. But walk me through this

I'm a 250 member, so I would automatically be part of the Greater DSM club. So there's a $35 buck membership out the window right there. Now I agree with you that they should do all they can to drum up excitement. And I think they do an ok job of that. But Cyclone Clubs are meant for generating fundraising revenue. $25K is still $25K, regardless if it's .1% or .001%.

BTW, I wasn't able to go this year. Was it only 25K? I thought it was usually more. And don't they get the golf teams about 10K or so as well. Not to mention how much money is raised at the auctions and revenues for the dinner? I'm not sure that's included in that check.

$15 buck for the coaches night for the I-Club? They must have crappy food. I'm happy to pay the $45. That meal is great.

Maybe you're right that they can do more without having to fundraise. But to what end? The reason they have the golf outings and coaches dinners is to fundraise.

I don't know. I'm sure it'll all work out. I do know I'd like to see more interaction between the local clubs and Ames. And I do agree with you that there should be more "control" from the top. The locals seem to be out doing their own thing with little or no coordination with the national. When I first got into the NCC and started going to the coaches dinners, it was near impossible to get any info on the GDSMCC. The NCC website could really use some polishing.