|
Post by youngalum on Jul 16, 2024 11:14:54 GMT -5
I just received an email from our new President as I am sure all of you did as well. He ends the email inviting everyone to reach out via officeofthepresident@saintpeters.edu to "share your thoughts, perspectives, or ideas as he begins the process of building a collective vision for the future of Saint Peter's."
I encourage everyone to write him a note. This is a new ear that needs to hear from everyone on this board regarding the importance of athletics at SPU.
|
|
|
Post by eport on Jul 23, 2024 15:04:02 GMT -5
Recently, I wrote a letter to our new President Hubert Benitez. I congratulated him on his new appointment and wished him the best of success in his new endeavor. In my letter I stated that academics always comes first, but also the importance of having a strong athletic program. I mentioned how a strong athletic program results in increased school notoriety, enrollment and contributions. President Benitez promptly responded to my email and agreed that having a successful athletic program is an essential part of of his overall plan. He even said he is looking forward to watching a SPU basketball game with me. President Benitez also said that he is already working closely with our Athletic Director.
|
|
|
Post by spc91 on Jul 23, 2024 15:46:58 GMT -5
Recently, I wrote a letter to our new President Hubert Benitez. I congratulated him on his new appointment and wished him the best of success in his new endeavor. In my letter I stated that academics always comes first, but also the importance of having a strong athletic program. I mentioned how a strong athletic program results in increased school notoriety, enrollment and contributions. President Benitez promptly responded to my email and agreed that having a successful athletic program is an essential part of of his overall plan. He even said he is looking forward to watching a SPU basketball game with me. President Benitez also said that he is already working closely with our Athletic Director. Thanks, eport. This definitely gives us reason to be optimistic. Let's hope this isn't just lip service and he demonstrates a firm commitment to athletics.
|
|
|
Post by figgyprez on Aug 22, 2024 23:27:17 GMT -5
Attended spring lake meet and greet tonight. Met president Benitez. Biggest takeaway is that AD is now part of presidents cabinet which was apparently not the case previously. Spoke to Katie who was very happy with that development. President also acknowledged the importance of athletics to the schools profile but offered no specifics on what that means although I would not expect that he would in this setting. Spoke to numerous people who have interacted with him and they all had very complimentary views of him. My impression is that he is a down to earth guy who has had to put together a team on the fly since several staff left during his transition to the job. If this was a presser about a managerial hire the talking heads would say he won the press conference but of course the season always follows
|
|
|
Post by peacockpride on Aug 23, 2024 8:05:51 GMT -5
Figgy- I'm glad that you came away with positive impressions of the new president. It's good to hear athletics will have a direct line to the president with Katie on the President's Cabinet. While it's great that the president acknowledged the importance of athletics, finding the resources necessary to make us a respectable D1 athletic department is a very big undertaking.
Men's basketball is in a different category and while we still are behind other MAAC schools in many ways, we've shown we can be as competitive as anyone. The increase in head coach salary, assistant coaching positions, and the gym renovations have helped to offset some of our other limitations, but NIL and direct payment to players will probably give advantage to the few schools that can make an investment in those areas. We'll still need to rely on the "diamonds in the rough" but that's not different than how we've been successful in the past, it's just now we need to find them each year and not develop them over 3-4 years.
The other sports outside of men's basketball are in a completely different category and we have some of the worst teams in D1 in many of those sports. The difference in funding for these sports compared to every other MAAC school is embarrassing. It's 2024, and we're a Division 1 school that still has part-time head coaches in men's and women's soccer, volleyball, and golf. None of our sports outside of men's and women's basketball have full-time assistants. When you consider the investment that the University would need to get these sports to a staffing level comparable to the rest of the conference, you're probably looking at $500k per year in salary/benefits alone, and that's not even taking into account the lack of general athletic support staff in the department. Then consider the difference in spending in other areas of the program. Compared to schools like Rider and Canisius which are fighting to keep their doors open, SP spends $1.5-2M less in athletic scholarships and about $5-6M less in operating costs in non-basketball sports per year. Yes they have more sports because we've cut a few over the years, but even with that factored in these are still pretty significant differences.
I say all this because while I'm hopeful for the new president and I'm grateful of his view on the importance of athletics, the reality is even if the school made a significant change to athletic department funding, it would only make a small dent in closing the gap between us and the least funded schools in our conference. Mix that in with today's climate in overall higher education and I can't see anyway that the University shifts any sort of significant funds to athletics. The athletic funding problem isn't as simple as just finding a president who is invested in athletics, so the University approach will most likely remain similar - try our best to fund the one sport (men's basketball) that gives us any sort of outside exposure at a competitive level while the remaining sports continue to operate at the bare minimum.
|
|
|
Post by spc91 on Aug 23, 2024 9:06:42 GMT -5
Have to agree with Pride here. Speaking about a commitment is one thing, but properly getting and allocating the funds is another. However, this is where the University needs to get creative. It's time to do proper corporate sponsorships that fill the Athletic department coffers. How about renaming the Yanitelli Center? With all respect to Father Yanitelli, but we are missing a golden opportunity here. Say hello to the Goldman Sachs Center...or Lord Abbott Center (we seem to do a lot with them). There are plenty of corporations now operating in Jersey City that may love the opportunity to get their brand out there. Of course, we need to finish the damn building before anyone would put their name to it.
|
|
|
Post by figgyprez on Aug 23, 2024 9:49:19 GMT -5
Pride and spc make very good points. I’ve always thought we should sell naming rights but it must be completed as spc says. The reality is that the power 4 are changing the shape of what we call college athletics. Probably 250 d1 programs won’t be able to continue as they have in this new world. So for spu and so many others- and I include a good portion of the big east in this- the strategy has to be how to be successful in this new “format” or more darkly whether to even participate in it
|
|
|
Post by peacockpride on Aug 23, 2024 18:11:59 GMT -5
Have to agree with Pride here. Speaking about a commitment is one thing, but properly getting and allocating the funds is another. However, this is where the University needs to get creative. It's time to do proper corporate sponsorships that fill the Athletic department coffers. How about renaming the Yanitelli Center? With all respect to Father Yanitelli, but we are missing a golden opportunity here. Say hello to the Goldman Sachs Center...or Lord Abbott Center (we seem to do a lot with them). There are plenty of corporations now operating in Jersey City that may love the opportunity to get their brand out there. Of course, we need to finish the damn building before anyone would put their name to it. So is your opinion (or insider knowledge) that the University hasn't sought out a sponsor because they're hesitant to remove the Yanitelli name from the Rec Center? There was a rumor back when I was in school that a company (possibly Adidas?) was interested in putting their logo on the bubble and having naming rights but Loughran didn't want it. Not sure if there's any truth to that, but I'd find it hard to believe Cornacchia would be that short sighted. Maybe he would've put that money towards the University as a whole and not directly towards athletics, but I can't see him turning down that opportunity to bring in additional funding if it was presented.
|
|
|
Post by oldtimer1 on Aug 23, 2024 21:08:49 GMT -5
Pride is correct. It was more than just an offer and was rejected outright. Thought of that every time I flew into Newark Airport. You could see the bubble on flights coming in from the North. Would have been a great deal for all involved. Excuse given, I believe, had something to do with renovating both the bubble and the underlying tennis courts i.e. future renovations. If true, to me just an excuse.
PS Fr. Yanitelli was a very friendly and personable guy. His main attribute was as a fundraiser and personality person. Did a great job in that but his Assistant, I believe, was Fr. Ryan and he really ran the school but without much credit. That was my era both as student and athlete. After that ( graduated in '65) I also taught Economics there for several years. As previously posted became friends with Coach Kennedy.....we played a lot of golf together as our Teams were successful even back then. Coach voiced his opinion, quietly, on all the Jesuits that he was associated with going back to his days at Regis. Praised many but Fr. Yanitelli was not among his favorites. I shared the same opinion. But give the guy his credit...raising money and bringing MLK on Campus. IMO that's why it's called the Yanitelli Center. Probably well deserved but I can't help but remember all the great Jesuits ( except for their photos ) whose names are all but forgotten to history.
|
|
|
Post by peacockpride on Aug 24, 2024 9:59:00 GMT -5
Pride is correct. It was more than just an offer and was rejected outright. Thought of that every time I flew into Newark Airport. You could see the bubble on flights coming in from the North. Would have been a great deal for all involved. Excuse given, I believe, had something to do with renovating both the bubble and the underlying tennis courts i.e. future renovations. If true, to me just an excuse. PS Fr. Yanitelli was a very friendly and personable guy. His main attribute was as a fundraiser and personality person. Did a great job in that but his Assistant, I believe, was Fr. Ryan and he really ran the school but without much credit. That was my era both as student and athlete. After that ( graduated in '65) I also taught Economics there for several years. As previously posted became friends with Coach Kennedy.....we played a lot of golf together as our Teams were successful even back then. Coach voiced his opinion, quietly, on all the Jesuits that he was associated with going back to his days at Regis. Praised many but Fr. Yanitelli was not among his favorites. I shared the same opinion. But give the guy his credit...raising money and bringing MLK on Campus. IMO that's why it's called the Yanitelli Center. Probably well deserved but I can't help but remember all the great Jesuits ( except for their photos ) whose names are all but forgotten to history. Any word on the golf search? Semester starts this week and still no coach announced.
|
|
|
Post by oldtimer1 on Aug 25, 2024 1:27:43 GMT -5
Pride....as you implied a few posts ago they are having great difficulty in finding someone, anyone. I didn't want to post that because I've spoken with Katie several times over the past two or three weeks.She asked me to help but I couldn't really name anyone No one really wants a job that requires full time attention at basically part time pay.....exactlly to the points that you made in previous posts.
Again I, didn't really want to reveal these behind the scenes contacts but agaIn I give Katie a lot of credit for doing everything she could do including reaching out to me. Bottom line is that not optimistic that they wIll find the right person no less anyone at all. In speaking with Katie several times I'm sorry that I couldn't help Right now, it's looking bleak but Katie is working her,, a** off in everything she does.....but that's just her. Talented and takes her job very seriously.
PS I did offer to mentor anyone she found as to what needs to be done to bring the Golf Program back to where it once was. I owe SP and Katie that much appreciation.
|
|
|
Post by peacockpride on Aug 25, 2024 6:55:02 GMT -5
Sad to hear but can’t say that’s surprising. I know you’ve been critical of the recent hirings over the last few years and I’m sure you have insider knowledge about them that I don’t, but my guess is they were probably the only person interested and willing to do the job. I understand the argument of why take the job if you can’t do it properly, but the department was probably just grateful to have anyone willing to do it.
Unfortunate for me to say, but as much as I agree that Katie is a better worker and person than her predecessor, she’s unlikely to get any different results for her efforts. Maybe, just maybe with a new president willing to give an ear to our AD, we can at least try to adequately staff our teams and the athletic department. If nothing else, try the model of many D3 schools where coaches and staff are full-time but are given additional Univeristy responsibilities outside of their teams and the department. That would still be embarrassing for a D1 department, but at least it would add some more coaches and athletic staff on campus full-time.
|
|
|
Post by oldtimer1 on Aug 25, 2024 11:40:18 GMT -5
Pride.....agree totally on your take on the situation especially with regard to all the "minor" sports. To me, I'd rather drop most "minor" sports and concentrate on only a few but NCAA and MAAC requirements make that almost impossible. Should concentrate on basketball, baseball, softball, men and woman's soccer and possibly field hockey. Would solve a lot of financial and other issues for most of the smaller schools. Going D2 is really not going to help. Unfortunately, NCAA and current MAAC rules make the above impossible but IMO it's time for a change.
|
|
|
Post by youngalum on Aug 25, 2024 12:40:52 GMT -5
A couple random thoughts regarding our “minor” sports.
I’m real interested in our volleyball team this year. I think we got the hire correct. A coach with a built in pipeline that has won everywhere he’s been. I watched a lot of the Olympic Games and it’s a sport I could see myself watching if we field a competitive team. The team is something like 1-60 over the last two years so I think anything over 4 wins would be considered a great first year.
OT interesting you mentioned field hockey. The sport I always thought made sense was men’s lacrosse in place of baseball. It would free up space at Jaroshak and perhaps one day be able to upgrade the field and get some sort of field house built.
Women’s soccer had a real nice win over USC upstate who was picked to finish 2nd in the big south. Currently tied with Hampton at 2 goals a piece. I tried to tune into the feed but it’s too choppy to watch…some things never change.
|
|
|
Post by oldtimer1 on Aug 25, 2024 15:20:01 GMT -5
youngalum....agreed ! The requirement to field a specific number of Teams is killing the smaller D1 schools. The financial expenditure required is enormous. Yes, it would be nice to field a big number of sports but to meet current NCAA and MAAC requirements puts too much of a burden on the resources of smaller schools. Would hope that there is a reasonable solution/compromise somewhere that needs to be addressed....but haven't seen any common sense proposals offered. Should be a topic of discussion beginning with the MAAC Conference but sort of doubt it. Probably will only be addressed when the situation becomes too dire.
PS Remember that we dropped Tennis ( Men's and Woman's ) several years ago. Why not drop some more and even add Lacross and/or Field Hockey, sports that are very popular in the Northeast where MACC schools could be successful. We and other schools our size need to be thoughtful and creative.
|
|