Wonder what a new arena would do to our ranking
I think this (not you, just my reaction to the article) is largely clickbait horseshit. Reason being thereās more to these jobs than just arena. and/or recent results. Akron and Kent are not doing well financially as universities go. So if the landscape for them changes that might alter things a lot. IMO top 3 jobs are 1. MU. Shitty arena but will become best arena, good donor support, awesome hoops market, great campus. 2. OU. Nice but aging arena, historically good donor support, not a great hoops market but nice campus. 3. UMASS. Ok arena, I have no idea about donor support but given their history likely solid, good campus, huge market.
Edit: student/fan support is a huge part of it as well. I donāt know enough about each school in that regard so I didnāt include it. Iām not a damn scientist so call of the dogs.
4 Likes
Apparently a relatively new arena didnāt do much for BGās ranking.
As much as I dislike their coach and his theatrics, heās very talented and has made that team way more competitive. I think maybe had he been there earlier they would have better attendance. Certainly they do in football.
BG is still located on the āFrozen Tundraā!
An arena is a building. Youād much rather have something nice than not, but Akron/Kent show you donāt need a good one to sustain a winning program (while NIU/EMU are on the opposite end). WMU has a new facility opening soon but theyāre not exactly setting the world on fire.
A bit of recency bias for our ranking, I feel like we were 10th a year or two ago. Good NIL funding will certainly help with that.
Itās engagement bait but also itās the coaches being polled and honestly itās probably about right. Miami and Kent are very close, but itās hard to argue against any of the other jobs above us as far as facilities, fan support, etc.
The Akron and OU local and student fan support are miles better than us. Millett is a dump. Canāt comment on UMass as I am not familiar with them at all.
1 Like
Much like football, they canāt compete in The Conference of Champions.
1 Like
I would say UMass, Toledo and Buffalo are situations where just about any quality coach should be able to consistently win there. I would have put Ball State on this list in the recent past, but not now.
Miami, Akron, Kent, BG are all what I would call ānicheā jobs. Coaches can win there, but they must want to be there, for the long haul and have to recruit a certain kind of player for success. Kent, BG and even Miami in particular.
What in your mind differentiates the first three, from the 2nd four? Thanks.
Look at the salaries for the UMass coach and AD. Itās miles ahead of any other MAC school. They have so much more budget than anyoneās still suck