D1.ticker - Eliminate the barrage of articles & time-consuming
searches. Efficient D1 athletics news in a daily email.
Speculation continues on the possible involvement of UConn AD Manuel in the Michigan AD search process, Detroit Free Press columnist Snyder reviews how Manuel would have the most traditional leadership background in the AD chair compared to a long line of recent Wolverines ADs, seven of the last eight ADs in Ann Arbor came from an experience base other than administration in college athletics, Manuel checks the boxes of having UM ties & the equity of managing a super high-profile HC in Huskies WBB's Auriemma - link
UConn WBB HC Auriemma in full support of his boss with rumors swirling, "I wish I had a dollar for every idiot that thought Warde is the reason we're not in the Power Five. I can't even find the words to describe how idiotic that [belief] is." Adds that his professional relationship with Manuel is "as good, if not better" than any previous AD & his personal relationship with Manuel is the best he's ever had, believes other schools having an interest is a testament to the job he's done in Storrs & points specifically to his handling of HCs - link
The Illinois AD search may be making progress behind the scenes, but the media covering the situation haven't been able to crack the code as evidenced by the Bloomington Pantagraph's Tupper still reviewing eight names that reportedly have been considered, the majority of whom have Illini ties: Colorado AD George, Tennis Australia CEO Tiley, businessman & former MBB student-athlete Lubin, Wash U. (DIII) AD Whitman, Eastern Illinois AD Michael, Iowa fundraiser & former UI athletics staffer Wax, UConn AD Manuel & Northern Illinois boss Frazier - link
At least Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette's Tate admits he doesn't really know what's going on inside at Illinois, "If you know the next UI athletic director, you are more informed than the rest of us." Still believes Colorado AD George is involved, but points to the arduous process of getting FB HC Cubit's contract approved by the Board of Trustees & wonders if there's any way the university could smoothly navigate putting together a significant financial deal that would attract George, "So the chancellor, Matt Wheeler and the search committee aren’t merely dealing with the task of selecting the preferred individual. To bring in someone of George’s qualifications, it also requires creative thinking on the contractual side." - link
Given the four clips above, it seems appropriate to mention ESPNNBA analyst Van Gundy's comments last night during the Cavaliers-Bulls game on anonymous sources & the sudden departure of Cavs HC Blatt, here's how Ohio.com's Lloyd wrapped them up, "For those who may not know, he essentially called sports writers despicable and disagreed with the way coaches are killed on their way out the door. I actually agree with some of his points." Counters, "Sometimes we use unnamed sources more than I’m comfortable doing. But it’s also the nature of the business. It’s akin to a college football coach who is knowingly and willfully violating recruiting rules to land top players." - link
From Alabama's National Championship parade, Crimson Tide AD Battle, "Winning four national championships in seven years is unprecedented." SEC Commish Sankey, "I started as the eighth commissioner of the Southeastern Conference on June 1st, and I spent a lot of time listening to people wonder if we were still the best conference in college football. No one is wondering anymore." HC Saban, "This championship and this day is for this team, and what they were able to accomplish and what they were able to do." - link
Back in 2009-10 there were only six MBB student-athletes around the nation from the Bahamas, but that figure is up to 13 & highlighted by Oklahoma stand-out Hield who may very well end up being the National POY, Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita has been a pipeline to hoops talent on the islands, Bahamian event producer Sears, "It’s kind of funny. I used to tell guys about Buddy, and people didn’t want to listen. Now, everybody’s asking me, ‘Do you got any Buddy Hields over there?’" - link
Winter Storm Jonas pounds the east coast resulting in dozens of game cancellations, some of the snow & ice accumulations are astounding, Glengary, West Virginia the worst hit with 40" of snow, Baltimore-Washington International airport reported 29.2", an all-time high, JFK in NYC reported 27.7", will likely end up being one of the three worst storms ever for NYC's Central Park, coastal New Jersey towns saw rising tides mix with ice, which is obviously not a good combination, more - link
Duquesne MBB with the craziest Winter Storm Jonas story I've seen, the Dukes got stranded on the Pennsylvania Turnpike on Friday night on the way back home from a win over George Mason, in total the trip took 30 hours & 24 minutes, HC Ferry, "We've got a good group of guys, and we've all just kind of hung out and had a good time with each other," Temple's Women's Gymnastics team was also stranded for over 24 hours due to the snow - link
Mississippi State AD Stricklin on the success of WBB under HC Schaefer, "I wanted to make women’s basketball something that’s really important — not just something you have to do. Something you can get behind and create a following. He’s been our Pied Piper." Bulldogs ready to embark on a big week starting with today's match-up with South Carolina that has the possibility of drawing 10,000 fans to Humphrey Coliseum, Texas A&M HC Blair, Schaefer's former boss, with some pretty funny comments, like, "Vic can talk with a fire hydrant and then he can squeeze a little money out of it and get it to join the booster club." Schaefer reviews why he took the job along with how well he's been supported in Starkville - link
Like North Dakota State, Utah State is another going through the process of angling for more student fee revenue, earlier in the week AD Hartwell asked for a $10 per student increase, a 7.5% bump, currently the Aggies budget is at the very bottom of the Mountain West, 15% of which comes from students, an interesting line from the Utah Statesman article, "Hartwell admitted to having financial difficulties during the past year and that as a result, a member of the financial advisers for the department was fired." One student in attendance asked if an increase was simply a "bailout" for athletics, more - link
Oral Roberts has gone eight years between MBB appearances in the NCAA Tournament after a strong run of berths in the early 2000s, but AD Carter believes the Eagles are "just on the edge" this season, HC Sutton agrees, "We’re close." Yesterday more than 5,300 were in attendance to see ORU get nipped by Omaha, Sutton says it's harder these days to find prospective student-athletes willing to put in the work on the defensive end of the court - link
NCAA Director of Media Coordination/Statistics Worlock with a thought-provoking tweet comparing game duration in MBB vs. FB, "Oklahoma-Baylor ends in a tidy hour and 45 minutes. Their football game, which was also in Waco, took 3:33. Both ended in 10-point OU wins." Yahoo! Sports writer Forde argues for a running clock in FB after first downs, just like the NFL - link, link
As has been mentioned before, eavesdropping on Twitter conversations can be really valuable & yesterday came a short give & take that included Fortune senior writer Ingram on Netflix viewership numbers, marketing technologist Robbins tried to make a point that even the #10-rated broadcast TV show out-rated Netflix's #1 by a healthy margin, but also noted that Netflix is all about subscriber revenue over ad revenue, so it's apples to oranges, just interesting to consider as we continue to hear more about cord-cutting & other digital entertainment options - link
With potential Big 12 expansion bubbling, Arizona Daily Star's Hansen wonders if Arizona would fit better in the Big 12 than the Pac-12, does the geographic math to show Big 12 foes wouldn't be any further away for the Wildcats than some Pac-12s, plus he notes the recruiting challenge in California, ends up wondering if it would make more sense for Arizona State to be the focus of a Big 12 add, also, "Maybe a jump to the Big 12 doesn’t make sense for Arizona in 2016, but in the next five or 10 years, the Pac-12 might not be the school’s best option." - link
The Wichita Eagle's Lutz points to Wichita State MBB winning 43 of their last 44 Missouri Valley games as rationale for why Shockers leadership should be looking at other conferences, WSU beat Bradley last night by 34 & Lutz compared how the two programs were on the same general ground a decade ago, credits former Wichita AD & current Ohio boss Schaus with the hires of HCs Turgeon & Marshall, which ended up elevating the Shockers to another stratosphere, "The Valley is stale and uninteresting and, yes, the Shockers’ strength has had a lot to do with that. It’s tough to win. It’s really tough to keep up with Wichita State." - link
Interesting read on life after Shaka Smart at VCU, a time AD McLaughlin knew would come sooner or later, notes how in addition to Smart last year's team graduated two key contributors, point guard Johnson on new HC Wade, "Don’t let the baby face fool you. He’ll get after you. He’ll let you know what he thinks." Some injuries have slowed the Rams a bit this season, but a 14-5 mark means things haven't slowed down too much in Richmond - link
Dayton rolls-out renderings on potential upgrades to UD Arena, wider concourses, new club lounges & loge seating all part of the plans, AD Sullivan, "The early reaction to the survey has been very strong. Our response rate to date has been very high. Obviously, we need enough data to reach some statistically valuable conclusions. The attempt is to value the depth and breadth of the marketplace and the support for these improvements." No timeline mentioned, but upgrades seem like a certainty soon - link
Central & Eastern Kentucky were hit relatively hard by Winter Storm Jonas, but it didn't stop over 22k Kentucky faithful from figuring out how to get to Rupp Arena for the Wildcats MBB win over Vanderbilt yesterday, HC Calipari had predicted 18k in attendance, Deputy AD Peevy went far lower at 12k, Cal, "I have no idea whether they came two days ago because they heard the storm (was coming). Or whether they were stuck on the highway and walked here." - link
Earlier in the month notable thought-leader Sutton penned a really intriguing article for SBJ on leveraging Maslow's hierarchy of needs to develop outstanding relationships with your supporters, reviews how physical needs, trust, love/belonging/community, esteem/recognition & self-actualization all relate to a fan's affinity for a team, argues for the starting point of, "The first step is very logical: understand the potential lifetime value of every account and treat those accounts on the basis of that value, not the annual expenditure." Lots more - link
