2200 days of Brad Edwards

[psyclone]

The Mason administration could care less about Wrestling, and only has women's volleyball because of title 9. Basketball trumps all other sports, Mason needs to do what ever they need to do to make sure the basketball team is competitive.

Why isn't the Rac suitable for the basketball program. It has courts, weights. Class rooms that can be converted to film rooms. It has locker rooms that can be upgraded. Seems like an easy solution to me.

The wrestling team hasn't had a winning season in 10 years! Last winning record was 2007. and only had a total of 2 winning seasons since 2002.

The Women's volleyball team hasn't had a winning record since 2008.

So you want to convert a facility that's available to 30+K students and fee paying faculty , staff, and outsiders so that 15 men's basketball players and 5 coaches can have a dedicated building! Completely unreasonable. Lots of luck convincing the various constituencies that it's what's needed.

BTW, men's volleyball made the final 6 in the NCAAs last year.

 

[Patriot8]

So you want to convert a facility that's available to 30+K students and fee paying faculty , staff, and outsiders so that 15 men's basketball players and 5 coaches can have a dedicated building! Completely unreasonable. Lots of luck convincing the various constituencies that it's what's needed.

BTW, men's volleyball made the final 6 in the NCAAs last year.

Not to mention the heavy intramural/rec sports involvement. I could see converting the 2nd floor into a dedicated basketball facility, but not the entire building.

Also, women's volleyball last had a winning season in 2010. That 2008 stat must've been an alternative fact or something.

 

[MasonSAE4]

I frankly don't understand why the RAC isn't provided solely to the basketball team. Just give it to them. The students already have the aquatic center, and the Southside Gym. That's where I went before the RAC was built.

We don't need to raise any more money, its already built.

It's way, way, way too big for just the basketball team and its handful of staff.

It's the home of the IM department as well as the athletic facilities management.

All indoor intramurals are played there aside from futsal.

The aquatic center is already in total overload 95% of the day. Absorbing that extra thousand or so students who work out a day at the RAC would cause chaos over there.

The team needs one nice gym with six hoops. Giving them the whole place would give them three gyms with like 18 hoops. No need for it whatsoever.

 

[GMUSig03]

The Mason administration could care less about Wrestling, and only has women's volleyball because of title 9. Basketball trumps all other sports, Mason needs to do what ever they need to do to make sure the basketball team is competitive.

Why isn't the Rac suitable for the basketball program. It has courts, weights. Class rooms that can be converted to film rooms. It has locker rooms that can be upgraded. Seems like an easy solution to me.

The wrestling team hasn't had a winning season in 10 years! Last winning record was 2007. and only had a total of 2 winning seasons since 2002.

The Women's volleyball team hasn't had a winning record since 2008.

None of that is relevant to this discussion since those teams exist and need places to practice and compete.

BTW - are you aware the wrestling team currently has 3 nationally ranked wrestlers who will likely make the NCAA tournament?

You want to get rid of those sports, that's a different argument/discussion.

I assume it has now been thoroughly explained to you how ridiculous the idea of converting the entire RAC into a dedicated Basketball only facility.

 

[Vurbel]

So you want to convert a facility that's available to 30+K students and fee paying faculty , staff, and outsiders so that 15 men's basketball players and 5 coaches can have a dedicated building! Completely unreasonable. Lots of luck convincing the various constituencies that it's what's needed.

BTW, men's volleyball made the final 6 in the NCAAs last year.

Devil's advocate: Basketball games are available to 30+K students, also.

 

[Falco]

So you want to convert a facility that's available to 30+K students and fee paying faculty , staff, and outsiders so that 15 men's basketball players and 5 coaches can have a dedicated building! Completely unreasonable. Lots of luck convincing the various constituencies that it's what's needed.

BTW, men's volleyball made the final 6 in the NCAAs last year.

You want the school to pay an additional 30 million for a new facility when one is already built. And the the 30k plus staff and students already have other gym options....

 

[Falco]

Not to mention the heavy intramural/rec sports involvement. I could see converting the 2nd floor into a dedicated basketball facility, but not the entire building.

Also, women's volleyball last had a winning season in 2010. That 2008 stat must've been an alternative fact or something.

My bad, The Womens volley team hasn't had a winning season since 2010... 7 years ago.

 

[Vurbel]

You want the school to pay an additional 30 million for a new facility when one is already built. And the the 30k plus staff and students already have other gym options....

How many of those 30K use the RAC?

 

[Vurbel]

My bad, The Womens volley team hasn't had a winning season since 2010... 7 years ago.

Maybe I'm just jaded, but after men's basketball, women's basketball, track and field, and baseball, does the average person care how the volleyball teams do?

 

[Falco]

Maybe I'm just jaded, but after men's basketball, women's basketball, track and field, and baseball, does the average person care how the volleyball teams do?

After Men's basketball, does the average person care how any other sports team do?

 

[GSII]

so if 20k students show up to a bball game and only 3k can get in, does that mean they get there student fees refunded?

 

[MasonSAE4]

You want the school to pay an additional 30 million for a new facility when one is already built. And the the 30k plus staff and students already have other gym options....

You'll be paying a bunch more to construct additions and renovate the field house to accommodate the other sports moved from the RAC. Also, people forget that the RAC is so crammed for space as is that wrestling is getting an annex to the Fieldhouse regardless. In the proposal for the facility there's also the academic support center and the wrestling venue.

 

[GMUgemini]

You want the school to pay an additional 30 million for a new facility when one is already built. And the the 30k plus staff and students already have other gym options....

You are arguing against a plan that doesn't exist. The original plan was to build as an addition to EBA, which might have caused logistics problems during conflicts. The new plan is to build an addition to the RAC and is bigger.

Why do people have an issue with this? It's bizarre to me.


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[mkaufman1]

I once too was "Well the RAC is great, whats wrong with it". The problem is that the basketball teams do not have 24/7 access and have to share the space with other teams that need to use it. Those teams deserve a place to practice as well. Nobody wants to take away the limited space that other teams have, that just makes no sense.

The thing is, basketball is the main sport at Mason, so in order to show to anyone who may come (donors, recruits, fans whatever), "Hey we want BASKETBALL to be great", they have to have preferential treatment in terms of the fact they can have resources whenever they want, whether its shooting, scouting, or whatever. They currently don't have that.

The RAC is a great facility and I'm sure athletes get plenty of resources, but because basketball is the focal point of the athletics program, the main program and money maker, they need the extra care to be there. Plus with basketball having their own space, they won't take away from other teams who need the limited space. In addition, since many other conference schools have great facilities and resources, Mason needs to be able to keep up, over the long haul it will yield dividends.

The new area for basketball will probably also be open to students and others when the basketball team isn't using it.

I personally can't wait for the facility to open.

 

[Falco]

Construction takes time, and Mason doesn't have any. So hand over the entire RAC to the basketball team. Wash your hands and walk away.

Maybe they don't need the whole RAC, but who cares. It is a beautiful building that will attract recruits. Only the other teams will figure it out. There isn't an arms race in other sports.

 

[GMUSig03]

DJ3 for athletic director!

 

[psyclone]

Construction takes time, and Mason doesn't have any. So hand over the entire RAC to the basketball team. Wash your hands and walk away.

Maybe they don't need the whole RAC, but who cares. It is a beautiful building that will attract recruits. Only the other teams will figure it out. There isn't an arms race in other sports.

So over-the-top that you can't possibly be serious. If you are serious, you've lost all of your dwindling credibility.

 

[MasonFanatic]

Construction takes time, and Mason doesn't have any. So hand over the entire RAC to the basketball team. Wash your hands and walk away.

Maybe they don't need the whole RAC, but who cares. It is a beautiful building that will attract recruits. Only the other teams will figure it out. There isn't an arms race in other sports.

The current plan is to section off part of the RAC this summer so basketball has a dedicated gym (the Cage Gym). Then they will add the supporting classrooms and stuff later. The whole point is to take a shortcut using part of the existing RAC instead of building an entire new facility from scratch. This saves Mason time and money, and gets our basketball teams the bare minimum need right away (a dedicated gym to use when the Patriot Center is in use and other programs have the RAC and Linn Gyms booked). Why is this so unreasonable?

 

[EXpatriot13]

The new area for basketball will probably also be open to students and others when the basketball team isn't using it.

I kind of hope that isn't the case - due to wear and tear, damages, etc. I doubt students are allowed to use dedicated practice facilities at other schools. If the students want to play basketball, they can use the other gym or the one at Southside.

Regardless, the dedicated basketball addition to the RAC will be perfect for our needs. No need to give the entire facility to the team, the school needs the gym/workout space for the ever-growing on campus student population. If I remember correctly, there will eventually be more student housing developed on that side of campus, so the RAC will be more essential than ever, for student/faculty use.

 

[gmujim92]

For the first time, I'm going to agree with DJ3.

Mason's problem for way too long has been that it doesn't want to give our men's basketball team the same sort of "preferable" treatment that is afforded to revenue-producing athletes at schools we compete against.

We are effectively putting ourselves at a competitive disadvantage.

If we had converted the RAC into a dedicated basketball facility, there would be more than enough space to give the men's and women's teams their own facilities -- courts, offices, locker rooms, film rooms, study halls, etc. -- within the same building like vcu did with its facility.

More importantly, the building already exists. To renovate the interior of the RAC would cost a fraction of what Edwards is trying to raise, and take a fraction of the time to be completed.

There are other facilities on campus that can accommodate non-revenue sports and regular students looking for a workout.

I get that many of you think that wouldn't be fair, that wrestling and volleyball need to have a decent facility to play in too.

Sorry, I just don't care at all about those sports. If we're gonna compete for A-10 basketball titles, our administration has to accept that those players and coaches need "luxuries" we can't afford to provide everyone. That's just the way it is.