Preseason Poll Dead Last

[BleedOrange]

hammbone, I am very deeply perturbed by this rumor of the BG athletic department redirecting Frack's contribution to prop up our black hole of a football program. If this is revealed as true, I am not sure what all I will do, but I can certainly say I will NEVER set foot in a BGSU sport event again. EVER.

[Schadenfreude]

our black hole of a football program.

You misspelled "12-time MAC champion" football program.

[gmartin]

hammbone, I am very deeply perturbed by this rumor of the BG athletic department redirecting Frack's contribution to prop up our black hole of a football program. If this is revealed as true, I am not sure what all I will do, but I can certainly say I will NEVER set foot in a BGSU sport event again. EVER.

They are not taking money directly from Frack investment to fund the football program however they are taking money set aside for operating and expenses that were budgeted for basketball. And then replacing those funds from somewhere. Hmmmm... You figure the rest our. That Frack money is supposed to be used for better opponents. Higher salaries and better coaches. Better travel arrangements. Not day to day operations.

[Flipper]

My guess is that who ever administrates the trust doesn't really care what the University does with the money. They just get paid a % to run the account and cut the check. Truthfully...unless we see the actual language of the trust in terms of what it allows and doesn't allow, we're just guessing about what the money was meant for...public statements aside.

[BGSU SID]

Just wanted to clear up a couple of misconceptions about the Bill Frack Gift. BGSU Athletics and the BGSU Foundation works closely with the Findlay Hancock County Community Foundation and the Bill Frack Estate to determine how the gift can be used on a yearly basis to best fund BGSU men's basketball for success. This outside oversight ensures that the gift is used in the ways Bill Frack intended. Part of this agreement includes the fact that BGSU Athletics must maintain a designated operational budget for men's basketball (in other words, we can not move operational budget money from men's basketball to other sports and then back-fill with this gift). We fully understand Bill's desire for the program and that a big emphasis for him was attracting quality home opponents and we are continuing to work to develop the program into one in which quality opponents view a trip to Bowling Green as one that will bolster their NCAA Tournament resume.

[hammb]

Just wanted to clear up a couple of misconceptions about the Bill Frack Gift. BGSU Athletics and the BGSU Foundation works closely with the Findlay Hancock County Community Foundation and the Bill Frack Estate to determine how the gift can be used on a yearly basis to best fund BGSU men's basketball for success. This outside oversight ensures that the gift is used in the ways Bill Frack intended. Part of this agreement includes the fact that BGSU Athletics must maintain a designated operational budget for men's basketball (in other words, we can not move operational budget money from men's basketball to other sports and then back-fill with this gift). We fully understand Bill's desire for the program and that a big emphasis for him was attracting quality home opponents and we are continuing to work to develop the program into one in which quality opponents view a trip to Bowling Green as one that will bolster their NCAA Tournament resume.

So if that is true, that BGSU athletics are obligated to use those funds almost solely in the ways Mr. Frack intended, are we out of bounds to ask where that money has gone? Outside of a couple games here and there (FGCU, Cincy, etc) we have not seen an uptick in quality home games. I totally understand that money can only go so far with scheduling home games, but then I think most of us would prefer to see us going on the road more often to up the quality of our opponents...travel cost should be within the realm of that donation, no?

Are we saving some of it up knowing that we may need to buy out a coaching staff?

I'm glad to hear that the athletics department understands the intent of the gift, and is under some legal obligation to keep it so. But if what you say is true, then where the heck has that money gone? In the 3 years since Mr. Frack passed away the needle on the basketball program hasn't moved an inch. This year's schedule is as weak as any (if not worse). We still haven't filled our scholarships (in any single season since the gift started).

Given the quality of our facility and the size of that gift there is zero excuse for BG basketball to continually be at the bottom of the conference standings.

[guest44]

Well then let’s address the question that matters most? Does Bowling Green have a championship level coach? That should be asked before the discussion regarding whether to fly private to Buffalo. If the answer is no, the next question should be why did we give the current coach 6 years and 325K guaranteed? If the answer is that is the going rate. The next question is who thought Michael Huger has a remotely similar level resume to the previous coach who was paid that amount? Last question, who thought playing Findlay in the Bill Frack game was good for the program? Nothing to gain, a lot to lose.

[Flipper]

Just wanted to clear up a couple of misconceptions about the Bill Frack Gift. BGSU Athletics and the BGSU Foundation works closely with the Findlay Hancock County Community Foundation and the Bill Frack Estate to determine how the gift can be used on a yearly basis to best fund BGSU men's basketball for success. This outside oversight ensures that the gift is used in the ways Bill Frack intended. Part of this agreement includes the fact that BGSU Athletics must maintain a designated operational budget for men's basketball (in other words, we can not move operational budget money from men's basketball to other sports and then back-fill with this gift). We fully understand Bill's desire for the program and that a big emphasis for him was attracting quality home opponents and we are continuing to work to develop the program into one in which quality opponents view a trip to Bowling Green as one that will bolster their NCAA Tournament resume.

Thank you for clarifying my structural concerns re oversight and control

[hammb]

Just wanted to clear up a couple of misconceptions about the Bill Frack Gift. BGSU Athletics and the BGSU Foundation works closely with the Findlay Hancock County Community Foundation and the Bill Frack Estate to determine how the gift can be used on a yearly basis to best fund BGSU men's basketball for success. This outside oversight ensures that the gift is used in the ways Bill Frack intended. Part of this agreement includes the fact that BGSU Athletics must maintain a designated operational budget for men's basketball (in other words, we can not move operational budget money from men's basketball to other sports and then back-fill with this gift). We fully understand Bill's desire for the program and that a big emphasis for him was attracting quality home opponents and we are continuing to work to develop the program into one in which quality opponents view a trip to Bowling Green as one that will bolster their NCAA Tournament resume.

Thank you for clarifying my structural concerns re oversight and control

And yes, to add to my previous concerns, thanks for the transparency and comment. It is refreshing to know that there are contingencies in place to ensure the operating budget doesn't just get money moved around to utilized Mr. Frack's gift.

[footballguy51]

Just wanted to clear up a couple of misconceptions about the Bill Frack Gift. BGSU Athletics and the BGSU Foundation works closely with the Findlay Hancock County Community Foundation and the Bill Frack Estate to determine how the gift can be used on a yearly basis to best fund BGSU men's basketball for success. This outside oversight ensures that the gift is used in the ways Bill Frack intended. Part of this agreement includes the fact that BGSU Athletics must maintain a designated operational budget for men's basketball (in other words, we can not move operational budget money from men's basketball to other sports and then back-fill with this gift). We fully understand Bill's desire for the program and that a big emphasis for him was attracting quality home opponents and we are continuing to work to develop the program into one in which quality opponents view a trip to Bowling Green as one that will bolster their NCAA Tournament resume.

That explains a lot. For those of you frustrated with the schedule, the last sentence explains it all. Until BGSU becomes a team viewed in the national spotlight as worthy of playing, we won't be able to encourage those big teams to come here no matter the dollar amount. If Duke were to travel to BGSU, our RPI would be so low that it wasn't worth the risk. In fact, the gripe that guest44 mentioned about us playing Findlay with basically no upside but plenty of risk is EXACTLY how the top tier programs currently view a home game in BG. Until we can raise our program to a level that has us not viewed as simply a risk, we can't pay those teams to show up.

So, first step is start bringing in the wins. Unfortunately, playing teams like Tiffin and Findlay should at least give us wins. Second step is competing in the conference. Once we can make it to Cleveland on a regular basis, then we can start thinking about buying games against big teams.

[hammb]

Well then let’s address the question that matters most? Does Bowling Green have a championship level coach? That should be asked before the discussion regarding whether to fly private to Buffalo. If the answer is no, the next question should be why did we give the current coach 6 years and 325K guaranteed? If the answer is that is the going rate. The next question is who thought Michael Huger has a remotely similar level resume to the previous coach who was paid that amount? Last question, who thought playing Findlay in the Bill Frack game was good for the program? Nothing to gain, a lot to lose.

Yup. I think that's Chris Kingston making sure he had time to screw over the basketball program before he found the time to screw over the football program.

The Jans thing rocked everybody, it made for a late coaching change. But now we're paying the price for lazy contract negotiation/hiring. To give Huger (who to my knowledge had no other HC prospects) the same contract that you gave Jans (who was a highly desired assistant hired the minute they finished their tourney run) was ludicrous. If the lateness of the Jans firing limited your recruiting pool then you should have simply played a season with an interim or at the very least hired a guy on a shorter/cheaper contract than the one you had given to one of the most sought after assistants the season prior.

Unfortunately I think we can pin 90% of the blame on that one on Kingston, and we all know where he is now. Doesn't do us much good to bitch about at this point, except to hope that the department is as willing to move on from THIS Kingston mistake as it was the football one.

I will say right now, even though I've had season tickets for 10+ years and missed only a handful of games in the last 20, if they finish this season as expected and bring Huger back for the next season I may have to seriously reconsider keeping that streak alive. The way the department let things dwindle with Orr & Dakich was indefensible. To let that happen again would be pure stupidity. If you have to simply come out and say the Frack money for 2019 is going to buying out our coach and finding the right guy.

[hammb]

Just wanted to clear up a couple of misconceptions about the Bill Frack Gift. BGSU Athletics and the BGSU Foundation works closely with the Findlay Hancock County Community Foundation and the Bill Frack Estate to determine how the gift can be used on a yearly basis to best fund BGSU men's basketball for success. This outside oversight ensures that the gift is used in the ways Bill Frack intended. Part of this agreement includes the fact that BGSU Athletics must maintain a designated operational budget for men's basketball (in other words, we can not move operational budget money from men's basketball to other sports and then back-fill with this gift). We fully understand Bill's desire for the program and that a big emphasis for him was attracting quality home opponents and we are continuing to work to develop the program into one in which quality opponents view a trip to Bowling Green as one that will bolster their NCAA Tournament resume.

That explains a lot. For those of you frustrated with the schedule, the last sentence explains it all. Until BGSU becomes a team viewed in the national spotlight as worthy of playing, we won't be able to encourage those big teams to come here no matter the dollar amount. If Duke were to travel to BGSU, our RPI would be so low that it wasn't worth the risk. In fact, the gripe that guest44 mentioned about us playing Findlay with basically no upside but plenty of risk is EXACTLY how the top tier programs currently view a home game in BG. Until we can raise our program to a level that has us not viewed as simply a risk, we can't pay those teams to show up.

So, first step is start bringing in the wins. Unfortunately, playing teams like Tiffin and Findlay should at least give us wins. Second step is competing in the conference. Once we can make it to Cleveland on a regular basis, then we can start thinking about buying games against big teams.

IF you are truly committed to improving the program through scheduling you do NOT simply schedule free wins. It hurts your program reputation more to play and beat those teams than it does to go on the road and take your beating.

Sure, have a Findlay game every year if you want. But to play multiple games like that is a disservice to the team, program, and fans.

IF you cannot use the extra money to entice decent teams to play you at home (which will be difficult no matter how good we are) you can use that money for travel expenses to get out on the road and play more games. Even as a season ticket holder who would hate to see less games I'd rather watch the team playing quality competition on the road via streaming than attending games against Lourdes, Findlay, and Lake Erie.

[guest44]

Hammb, you watched it like we all did. BGSU fans saw what a championship level coach looked like. It lasted a year. Does anything Huger has done or is doing look like a championship program? Of course not. To give a 6 year contract after what had just happened, the Frack donation, and the knowledge that BG had to ramp up the urgency to take advantage of that gift, was and is foolish. If BG wanted to win they had two options. 1)Keep Jans 2)Treat the search just like they did when they gave Jans that contract, and get a championship level coach. But, as we have all learned, the last person you want making any hire was Chris Kingston. The Frack money isn't endless, and the Falcons are picked dead last in the MAC in year 4. Clearly, Huger and his staff haven't felt any urgency to get this thing going. No changes to his staff, open scholarships, and Findlay in the Bill Frack game. Maybe the MAC media poll will be a wake up call? I think they think they are doing well.

[CrazyFan]

Just wanted to clear up a couple of misconceptions about the Bill Frack Gift. BGSU Athletics and the BGSU Foundation works closely with the Findlay Hancock County Community Foundation and the Bill Frack Estate to determine how the gift can be used on a yearly basis to best fund BGSU men's basketball for success. This outside oversight ensures that the gift is used in the ways Bill Frack intended. Part of this agreement includes the fact that BGSU Athletics must maintain a designated operational budget for men's basketball (in other words, we can not move operational budget money from men's basketball to other sports and then back-fill with this gift). We fully understand Bill's desire for the program and that a big emphasis for him was attracting quality home opponents and we are continuing to work to develop the program into one in which quality opponents view a trip to Bowling Green as one that will bolster their NCAA Tournament resume.

That explains a lot. For those of you frustrated with the schedule, the last sentence explains it all. Until BGSU becomes a team viewed in the national spotlight as worthy of playing, we won't be able to encourage those big teams to come here no matter the dollar amount. If Duke were to travel to BGSU, our RPI would be so low that it wasn't worth the risk. In fact, the gripe that guest44 mentioned about us playing Findlay with basically no upside but plenty of risk is EXACTLY how the top tier programs currently view a home game in BG. Until we can raise our program to a level that has us not viewed as simply a risk, we can't pay those teams to show up.

So, first step is start bringing in the wins. Unfortunately, playing teams like Tiffin and Findlay should at least give us wins. Second step is competing in the conference. Once we can make it to Cleveland on a regular basis, then we can start thinking about buying games against big teams.

I don’t think anyone is expecting the Duke’s to come to BG. No one is expecting the big boys to walk through the front doors of the Stroh. But what people do expect with Frack's generous donation is some quality opponents. Middle of the road teams and competition. Substitute Lourdes for Cleveland State. Substitute Lake Erie for Wright State. Substitute Findlay for Detroit. With the Frack money, we should be able to entice these types of teams to come to BG. But then again, when you are as terrible as we are, maybe they don’t want to schedule those types of teams. There’s nothing worse than getting embarrassed on your home floor, which would probably happen.

Oh, and by the way, Step 1 is fire Michael Huger………

[Flipper]

Had really high hopes for Huger...

Man...I'd love to see us get Patrick Beilein in here...his dad is my favorite college coach