It’s also quite obvious that some of us have a particular coach that is either a favorite or one we have a relationship with that we consistently defend. And Jive’s 40 year time frame goes back to 1983 - the Tim Rose era in football - when we started to slide away from the dominance we exhibited in the 50s, 60s and 70s. The case he makes is that we are no longer a dominant athletic program - even in the mediocre MAC and haven’t been for a long time… Many of us would aspire to more.
Our peaks in various major sports seem to have been considerably higher in decades prior to the last one - basketball in the mid 80s and in 1999, football in the late 90s and in 2003 and hockey in the national championship final game year. We’ve been nowhere close to those summits in the past ddcade.
Jive I think this is blatantly unfair to Nescacdad. You say it is “a micro look at a macro problem”. Well of course it is. He is talking about the results of this past season. Yes, perhaps his comment on apathy extends beyond this season, but for some of these sports they have been down for awhile so apathy is to be expected. Then you criticize him for “offering zero ideas”. What exactly would you like him to do? He is not the coach of any of these programs. He is not the athletic director. I assume he is neither the President of Miami University or on the Board of Trustees. Truth be told, there is virtually nothing he, or any other poster on this board, can “offer” to fix the problem. If he has suggestions, by all means, make them. We know members of the athletic department read this board, as they have for years in its predecessor iteration. So to criticize him for carrying out the very function a sports message board is meant to do, is simply unfair.
Just looking at the women’s sports, everything @NESCACDAD listed except soccer and basketball are in its best or second best decade. A couple of those sports are on historic runs. Field Hockey won their sixth straight conference title. Softball won and had their first All-American ever.
Miami’s revenue sports are not where they should be. All the revenue sports are currently in the off-season. Because of that, people are putting a magnifying glass on every sport because the ones they typically follow aren’t around to distract them. Kicking the women’s programs who are setting new standards at Miami because football, basketball, and hockey are down is weird.
As for the revenue sports, what can you do? Football is the Iowa of the MAC. Zero offense. Zero creativity. But a really good defense. They got a new OC. I have no reason to believe he’ll make any changes to the scheme, but I can always hope.
Basketball is doing what basketball should be doing: fundraising.
As for hockey, there’s an entire thread dedicated to what’s going on and what should be done.
And for my criticism of @NESCACDAD on a sports firm, nearly this exact thread is a continuation of another post from two weeks ago. Is someone just going to make this same post every two weeks. If so, that’s fine. I haven’t deleted any of these and haven’t stopped the discussion. I just feel like there’s more interesting things to talk about as it relates to college athletics.
Again Jive, aside from donating money, there is little Nescadad or anyone else on here can do to effect what happens on the field/court/diamond/rink. So again, stating he “offers no solutions” isn’t fair. Not unless he has some influence I am not aware of.
Make a coaching change for football? I would’ve forced a change at OC. That happened, but I would’ve pushed for an external hire.
Hockey? No idea. Part of me thinks Miami needs someone with string ties to the USNTD program and Berg isn’t that. There’s also a side that thinks Berg went in with a long term plan and it got pushed a bit by COVID. There was some improvement this year in play and there’s potential things are going in the right direction looking at who’s coming in.
IMO, anything would be more interesting to discuss than putting a list of records up so a bunch of people can harrumph at them.
We all love Miami, Jive. It’s just a frustrating time in the empire, and I suppose that leads to thr squabbling amongst ourselves. What can I say. You’re a mensch, and I appreciate you setting up that fundraiser opportunity for the basketball team a while back. As far as our ongoing doldrums are concerned, we can blame Sayler, or President Crawford, or the Board of Trustees, whoever, there’s enough to go around at this point. I think some of us just need to vent a bit is all.
I second what the honorable prof. said. We have a good thing going here. The status quo stinks now, but it will change. It always does. Jive has made this a fun place to spend time. No small feat. It’s also mostly civil. Double win.
I think it is hard for Miami in general right now to be good as it once was and since most of this board is of a higher age the good ole days are likely not to return
• The population shift from the midwest to the south
• The emphasis on cities over rural areas
• the drop in Ohio college age students and those wanting to go to college
And for sports the unbelievable consistency of Ohio State football for 20 years and the rise of UC and to some extent Xavier to major conferences (they were both in mid major type conferences when I went to school)
All of these factors have made it really hard for Miami in my opinion.
I am a month away from 79 and still play pickleball at a high level 3 or 4 times per week. That said, I am still hopeful we will be at a higher level of success in football and basketball than we have shown. I am not apathetic, I am pissed.
I’m nearing 70, and went to Miami in the early 1970s when we were king of EVERYTHING sports- and academic-wise. It’s hard not to make the comparison of today’s MU with the one I attended and loved. But I remain (foolishly?) optimistic that this time too shall pass.
Budget cuts have forced very long hockey bus trips (Duluth, St. Cloud, etc.) and I’ve heard from multiple people that has made recruiting more difficult.
