UNI Band not coming to Arch Madness this year

by **Bulldog2323** » November 28th, 2022, 9:13 pm

https://www.northerniowan.com/18640/showcase/uni-pep-band-to-stay-home/?fbclid=IwAR0ce4fmtgymrCYg35EilLGIKV53LKRBcdZ-HweCA-uB27RFi64cKhGT_V8#modal-photo

Per story in UNI's student newspaper The Northern Iowan, UNI's pep band is not going to be able to go to conference tournaments (men's or women's) due to budget cuts.

As a band alumni, this is extremely upsetting and disappointing. While many talk about studying abroad in college, these tournaments were my trips I looked forward to every year.

Many college music professors will tell you they don't see any educational value in marching or pep band, but like it or not they are your most visible recruiting tool. While these are never as much of an apples-to-apples comparison as they are made out to be, an argument could be raised that if they music department could send a performing ensemble to Greece last year they could find the money to fund Arch Madness bands. I would also argue that if money was truly an issue, they could still bus to the women's tournament every day and come back. Campus is close enough.

As an alumni of a rival band, I would donate to a fund to send the Panther band to Arch Madness. Hopefully a way can be found.

**Sponsor**

by **BCPanther** » November 28th, 2022, 9:54 pm

Honestly, our 6 major sport coaches are the only thing standing between us and being D2.

Horrific administration. Constant excuses. Flat out lies to the fan base.

Not to get too political but an African American former student athlete that worked for Jamie Pollard for 9 years still being at UNI in year 7 tells you all you need to know about how capable he is as an AD.

The minute Ben Jacobson, Mark Farley, Bobbi Peterson, Tanya Warren, Doug Schwab and Ryan Jacobs are gone we're done as a DI Athletic Department.

by **BUFanatic** » November 28th, 2022, 10:55 pm

RE this year, love the idea of getting the trip funded via crowdsourcing. If others aren’t aware BU’s dance team (Bravettes) are actually the only non-university sponsored team in the conference. Believe they take up a collection and have to pay their way down to the tournament. Correct me if I’m wrong or inaccurate.

by **Red** » November 29th, 2022, 11:00 am

I guess that I can't say I recall, but does every other school send a band to Arch Madness?

by **Bulldog2323** » November 29th, 2022, 7:48 pm

Red wrote:I guess that I can't say I recall, but does every other school send a band to Arch Madness?

With the exception of the 2021 COVID Tournament, going back to at least the late 2000s I can't recall there ever being a time where there wasn't a school band at Arch Madness.

Speaking for Drake, there were years that due to scheduling conflicts and the team being so bad they had trouble getting students to commit the time to go, so they invited recent alumni to come back and join the band to make sure there would be one rather than going without. One particularly bad year for Drake when Drake could only get half a band they paid Evansville for band members to play for Drake. Now that Drake is favored to win the conference again, they have a seniority policy in place to stay under the MVC imposed limit of 30 band members.

by **Kyle_Saluki_17** » November 29th, 2022, 8:31 pm

Maybe a bit off topic here. Does the MVC limit how many tickets each school has in their ticket allotment? I’m curious how it looks like with the added schools in, specifically with Murray’s following.

by **MissouriValleyUnite** » November 29th, 2022, 8:40 pm

Kyle_Saluki_17 wrote:Maybe a bit off topic here. Does the MVC limit how many tickets each school has in their ticket allotment? I’m curious how it looks like with the added schools in, specifically with Murray’s following.

There’s no limit. Any school that sells out (ie. goes over) their allotment has their seating block increased accordingly. In 2011, you can see that most schools went over.

by **bradley_townie** » November 30th, 2022, 8:24 am

Don't remember which school but there was one last year that used piped in audio of a band and did not have an actual band there. It sounded rough.

by **VLBM** » November 30th, 2022, 9:06 am

Bulldog2323 wrote:
Red wrote:I guess that I can't say I recall, but does every other school send a band to Arch Madness?

With the exception of the 2021 COVID Tournament, going back to at least the late 2000s I can't recall there ever being a time where there wasn't a school band at Arch Madness.

Speaking for Drake, there were years that due to scheduling conflicts and the team being so bad they had trouble getting students to commit the time to go, so they invited recent alumni to come back and join the band to make sure there would be one rather than going without. One particularly bad year for Drake when Drake could only get half a band they paid Evansville for band members to play for Drake. Now that Drake is favored to win the conference again, they have a seniority policy in place to stay under the MVC imposed limit of 30 band members.

Oof I didn't know that about the Evansville subs. I was in Bulldog Brass during the Phelps era and, while students certainly weren't always chomping at the bit to go to Arch Madness, we could at least field a band.

Would happily contribute to crowdsourcing. College basketball just isn't the same without a live pep band...

by **RacerJoeD** » November 30th, 2022, 9:48 am

VLBM wrote:

Would happily contribute to crowdsourcing. College basketball just isn't the same without a live pep band...

Same here, and I bet that I could find some other Racer fans to help out too.