Indiana State facing a football
At Indiana State, patagonia fleece pullover ebaywhen alumni discuss their college football team, it isn t always a happy conversation. The Sycamores have been ranked in the Football Championship Subdivision Top 25 for five weeks, they beat Missouri State on Saturday with a field goal in the final seconds, and in Mike Perish they have one of the most prolific quarterbacks in program history patagonia clothing reviewsbut when some Indiana State alumni talk about football, it s not to relish these greatest of times.
It s to ponder the end of times.
As in, Indiana State without college football.
Can you imagine? ISU alumni can and are, in conversations with each other and with the alumni association and with the athletics director and even with me. Multiple Indiana State alumni have emailed, asking me to find out if the situation is as dire as they fear: that college football is at risk in Terre Haute.
So I asked the athletics director at Indiana State, Ron Prettyman. And I asked the school s chief financial officer, Diann McKee, university treasurer and vice president of business affairs and finance. I asked them what alumni are asking of me and of each other: Is Indiana State nearing the day when it has to decide on the financial viability of its football progrpatagonia corporate discountam?
Said Prettyman, the AD: Lots of decisions are out of my hands. The president, the trustees, they make decisions in the best interest of the university. I make decisions in the best interest of the athletic department. I m battling for football and the entire athletic department every day.
Said McKee, the VP: That s beyond me, I think. That decision is kind of above my pay grade, if you will.
Lots of words there. Notice one that s missing when I asked the Indiana State AD and the Indiana State CFO if the football program might soon be in jeopardy:
Neither said: No.
This column here, this isn t an attempt at sensationalism. Run for the hills, they re shutting down Indiana State football! I m not saying that. What I m saying, what I m doing, is trying to include in the conversation those Indiana State alumni who patagonia down sweater vest reviewsaren t talking about the football program s future, who don t understand what is happening around college football and what it could all mean for the Sycamores.
Our city, Indianapolis, matters greatly to Indiana State. Of the roughly 60,000 ISU alumni in the state, more than a quarter 16,000 are in Indianapolis, according to ISU Alumni Association assistant director Hilary Duncan.
At the Indiana State Foundation, the fundrapatagonia w's r1 full zip jacketising arm of the university, they look longingly this way, toward all those alums 75 miles northeast of Terre Haute.
We have a lot of interested alumni in Indianapolis, says Phil Nepatagonia everlong review vizio3ss, associate VP for athletics development, but we need some more of those apatagonia everlong review vizio0lums to get in the car on a Saturday afternoon and watch some of our football games. If we can engage that segment of our alumni base [Indianapolis] is probably the highest standard of living in the spatagonia outlet store 3462tate then I thipatagonia everlong review vizio1nk things begin to snowball for us.
Buy PhotoThis was part of the crowd at Memorial Stadium in Terre Haute for last Saturday Indiana State football game against Missouri State.(Photo: Bob Thomas/The Star)
He s talking about money, if you re not catching his snow drift. How much money? Well, ISU officials say a new stadium on university property along the Wabash River would cost between $50 million and $80 million. Renovating Memorial Stadium would be considerably less expensive, but have considerably less impact. The former minor league baseball park sits two miles off campus and is so old that it was christened with a ceremonial first pitch by then baseball commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis . in 1925.
I hear from alums that travel with us to away games, and they see the need for Memorial Stadium to be renovated or more importantly a new stadium brought here on campus, says Rex Kendall, director of the ISU Alumni Association. They can obviously see that.
The 12,764 seapatagonia everlong review nutribullett stadium is a problem, as is attendance: Fewer than 5,000 people attended the game Saturday. But there are bigger issues facing Indpatagonia everlong review vizioiana State and the rest of college football s great unwashed, its financially vulnerable the Football Championship Subdivision.
The biggest issue is what s happening around cpatagonia everlong review vizio2ollege football, and complicating that issue is that nobody is exactly sure what is happening around college football. The top five conferences of the Football Bowl Subdivision sought and won autonomy, putting the rest of Division I (including Ball State) at their mercy as the biggest, richest schools propose new legislation in December.
I m not making any sweeping statements about (the future of the football program), says Prettyman, an outspoken critic nationally of Power Five autonomy, but along with the school president and the vice president of finance, right now we feel very good about our program. But we re all sitting and watching the legislation from the NCAA.
What that new legislation will be in this epatagonia guide pants pantsra of Power Five autonomy a dozen or more schools generate more than $100 million in annual revenue, compared to $12.7 million for Indiana State is anyone s guess. Even for one Power Five athletics director, who told me, We vote on the (new) legislation at an NCAA conventionpatagonia infant snowsuit for sale in January. God only knows exactly what craziness could prevail. Truly the craziest time in college sports I have personally seen. .
