Drake and UNI lose annual Iowa & Ia St games

[DoubleJayAlum]

DJA, it's like you're single-handedly trying to keep the rumor alive that going to D-2 was ever an option for UNI. Dannen's report clearly showed UNI going to D-2 would lose even more money.

And it is like you are completely incapable of accepting the fact that this was reported in a newspaper story that everyone read.

Why ignore everything else I said in my post about being a yes man? No comment on that whatsoever?

You've never been able to come up with a quote from a UNI official saying D-2 was a viable option.

Look, you can argue the viability of the option all you want. What has been shown here and on the old ValleyTalk was that Dannen specifically said it was a possibility. How possible? I don't know and, for the purposes of this particular discussion, it actually helps reinforce my comments about Dannen if it wasn't a viable option. The point I was making is that Dannen doesn't seem to think things through all that carefully before speaking and as a result, says things that occasionally hurt UNI's, and to a lesser extent the entire MVC's, image. Does it really help UNI to publicly say that dropping to D2 is an option (viable or not)? Does it help UNI or other MVC schools to publicly justify Iowa/ISU's decision to not play home and homes with MVC schools?

I have no idea how he manages the department as whole and it may be spectacular. However, his public PR skills seems to lack polish and forethought. As I said earlier, it would have been better if Dannen simply didn't say anything like the Drake AD apparently chose to do, rather than say what he did. As a Drake poster said above, Dannen essentially through the whole MVC under the bus with his comments and I'd wager that ADs at other schools completely disagree with his comments.

[valleychamp]

That would be a valid point, if it were in fact true DJA, but it just simply is not. The fact remains that he, or anybody else, has never said that D2 would be an option of any sort for UNI. They did just the opposite, and came out and said that it WAS NOT ever going to be an option.

[PantherSigEp]

Look, you can argue the viability of the option all you want. What has been shown here and on the old ValleyTalk was that Dannen specifically said it was a possibility.

UNI moving to Division II in programs is a possibility, Bradley winning the MVCT is a possibility, dating a chimpanzee is a possibility. The common theme in all of these is that the chances of them happening are next to nil (I apologize Bradley fans). Please stop being an antagonist trying to get a rise out of posters here. No one has talked about UNI moving to D-II in quite some time since most reasonable people understood that it was not a viable or likely option for the university.

[DoubleJayAlum]

That would be a valid point, if it were in fact true DJA, but it just simply is not. The fact remains that he, or anybody else, has never said that D2 would be an option of any sort for UNI. They did just the opposite, and came out and said that it WAS NOT ever going to be an option.

Northern Iowa seems to be in a tougher spot than most athletics departments. Last year it needed to patch a $400,000 shortfall, roughly the cost of its baseball program, so it eliminated the sport. Now the department, which has an $11.6-million budget, 38 percent of which comes from the general fund, must reduce its reliance on state support. Further budget shortfalls could threaten the university’s Division I status, which could cause it to eliminate varsity sports altogether, Benjamin J. Allen, the university’s president, told The Des Moines Register. Emphasis added.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/players/afte ... able/26914

(The original DMR article referenced in that link is no longer available. FWIW, that original article was picked up by the OWH and is where I first read the story.)

According to this article from a whole 5 days ago, it also sounds like UNI will have to make some additional cuts to its athletic department, although specific cuts have not yet been identified:

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/update ... 963f4.html

[TrueBlueJay]

That would be a valid point, if it were in fact true DJA, but it just simply is not. The fact remains that he, or anybody else, has never said that D2 would be an option of any sort for UNI. They did just the opposite, and came out and said that it WAS NOT ever going to be an option.

Northern Iowa seems to be in a tougher spot than most athletics departments. Last year it needed to patch a $400,000 shortfall, roughly the cost of its baseball program, so it eliminated the sport. Now the department, which has an $11.6-million budget, 38 percent of which comes from the general fund, must reduce its reliance on state support. Further budget shortfalls could threaten the university’s Division I status, which could cause it to eliminate varsity sports altogether, Benjamin J. Allen, the university’s president, told The Des Moines Register. Emphasis added.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/players/afte ... able/26914

(The original DMR article referenced in that link is no longer available. FWIW, that original article was picked up by the OWH and is where I first read the story.)

According to this article from a whole 5 days ago, it also sounds like UNI will have to make some additional cuts to its athletic department, although specific cuts have not yet been identified:

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/update ... 963f4.html

Not that is matters much...but DJA just won the pissing match.

[valleychamp]

That would be a valid point, if it were in fact true DJA, but it just simply is not. The fact remains that he, or anybody else, has never said that D2 would be an option of any sort for UNI. They did just the opposite, and came out and said that it WAS NOT ever going to be an option.

Northern Iowa seems to be in a tougher spot than most athletics departments. Last year it needed to patch a $400,000 shortfall, roughly the cost of its baseball program, so it eliminated the sport. Now the department, which has an $11.6-million budget, 38 percent of which comes from the general fund, must reduce its reliance on state support. Further budget shortfalls could threaten the university’s Division I status, which could cause it to eliminate varsity sports altogether, Benjamin J. Allen, the university’s president, told The Des Moines Register. Emphasis added.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/players/afte ... able/26914

(The original DMR article referenced in that link is no longer available. FWIW, that original article was picked up by the OWH and is where I first read the story.)

According to this article from a whole 5 days ago, it also sounds like UNI will have to make some additional cuts to its athletic department, although specific cuts have not yet been identified:

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/update ... 963f4.html

Do you have severe reading comprehension problems?

1) Those comments were not from Dannen (which you said was the case)
2) Those comments did not say a single thing about "D2" (which you said was the case)
3) The comments were directed toward the BOR to point out that UNI needs X amount of money to maintain a D1 program, because that is the only viable option.

[PantherSigEp]

It is my understanding that UNI will not be making any cuts to athletics. Perhaps some funding to certain sports will not increase or may not be allocated as much, but actual cutting of athletics will not be happening. However this is not official, just my understanding from talking with a couple individuals from the university at tonight's basketball game.

[Khan4Cats]

That would be a valid point, if it were in fact true DJA, but it just simply is not. The fact remains that he, or anybody else, has never said that D2 would be an option of any sort for UNI. They did just the opposite, and came out and said that it WAS NOT ever going to be an option.

Northern Iowa seems to be in a tougher spot than most athletics departments. Last year it needed to patch a $400,000 shortfall, roughly the cost of its baseball program, so it eliminated the sport. Now the department, which has an $11.6-million budget, 38 percent of which comes from the general fund, must reduce its reliance on state support. Further budget shortfalls could threaten the university’s Division I status, which could cause it to eliminate varsity sports altogether, Benjamin J. Allen, the university’s president, told The Des Moines Register. Emphasis added.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/players/afte ... able/26914

(The original DMR article referenced in that link is no longer available. FWIW, that original article was picked up by the OWH and is where I first read the story.)

According to this article from a whole 5 days ago, it also sounds like UNI will have to make some additional cuts to its athletic department, although specific cuts have not yet been identified:

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/update ... 963f4.html

Not that is matters much...but DJA just won the pissing match.

Posting unsupported blog accounts does not win anything.

[DoubleJayAlum]

Posting unsupported blog accounts does not win anything.

It does when the blog contains direct quotes made by the University President to the Des Moines Register.

[unipanther99]

I contend there is nothing wrong with that quote, taken in context. If other schools have tried to hang a quote in the Chronicle of Higher Education over our head in recruiting, so be it. There will always be knocks on all of the schools when it comes to recruiting. Creighton can't win the big game might be another example, and you don't need an obscure link to prove that one.

Your all-american candidate committed to the Panthers during the thick of this stuff. Do you really think his dad would have allowed that if he really thought UNI might drop a division?