Brad Edwards Named New Athletic Director

[psyclone]

Related to fund-raising, here's a link to a recent Post story that includes a list of largest donations at most of the local universities including Mason. Time to step up all you high rollers!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...fd4e88-39f5-11e4-bdfb-de4104544a37_story.html

 

[GMUgemini]

Wouldn't it make more financial sense to do a major renovation similar to UR's Robins Center at the same time the Patriot Center's roof is replaced?

That depends on a few things:

1) Can we get a design plan drawn and approved in time?

2) Are we willing to to give up our current capacity to put in luxury suites (I'm thinking more in terms of convocation and other events that use the space more than our basketball attendance -- even if we took out 3,000 seats we still would rarely sell out basketball games).

3) Can we afford (or are willing) to lose the revenue from events for the extra time it would take to gut and redo the bowl?

4) Also, I believe retro-fitting the arena for things like HD streaming and modern lighting might be more expensive than building from scratch as well.

5) How long can we live with the kind of mundane and outdated (not historic) facade of the Patriot Center? The 80s was not a kind decade for architecture (just look at all the other buildings built in the 80s on campus). If the Patriot Center "looked" historic, it might be different, but as it stands, it juse looks old and kind of cheesy.

I can see us getting another 10 years or so out of the Patriot Center as it stands now with a few extra bells and whistles that we can throw into it while the roof it being built, but at some point it's got to go.

 

[Walter]

We got a lot more problems than the Patriot Center.

Go find a coach who can fill it with a winning program. All problems solved.

And I like the Patriot Center. Many schools would love to have it.

 

[gmujim92]

We got a lot more problems than the Patriot Center.

Go find a coach who can fill it with a winning program. All problems solved.

And I like the Patriot Center. Many schools would love to have it.

Just because we have bigger problems than the arena doesn't mean it's also not a concern that should be addressed at some point.

We used to have a winning coach and a winning program and still couldn't fill it past 70 percent of its capacity -- even coming off a Final 4 run. Problem most definitely not solved.

And while it's true that there are far worse facilities than the Patriot Center, the schools with which we are aspiring to compete would not love to have our arena as it currently stands.

It's a relic built when luxury suites were basically unheard-of in on-campus arenas.

It's middle of the pack in the A-10 at best.

 

[Walter]

Does vcu have a great game atmosphere because they have a great arena or because they have a great coach? If Shaka was at Mason, would the Patriot Center have a great atmosphere?

 

[GMUgemini]

Does vcu have a great game atmosphere because they have a great arena or because they have a great coach? If Shaka was at Mason, would the Patriot Center have a great atmosphere?

I think it has a lot to do with the fact that they pretty much let the student section get away with whatever they want to.

I don't think it has much to do with the arena, or the coach for that matter. When we were in the CAA, my favorite away game to go to was always the Drexel because the student section really created a great atmosphere and both their arena and their coach sucks.

 

[Vurbel]

I've had this discussion many times with my family. Yes, vcu has a great arena, and yes they have a great coach. But I'm not convinced if we had both we'd have the same atmosphere.

At the heart of it, going to a basketball game is spending your expendable income. In northern virginia you have the nats , caps, wizards, football, Kennedy center, DC sites, etc all competing for our expendable income. In Richmond there is arena football, motor racing, and, uh, that's pretty much it.

Now can we increase our game day experience and style of play? Yes. Do we need to give students something to be excited about? Yes. But comparing northern virginia to Richmond is apples and oranges.

 

[mason2k1]

Does vcu have a great game atmosphere because they have a great arena or because they have a great coach? If Shaka was at Mason, would the Patriot Center have a great atmosphere?

My good friend who lives down there just told me that he's got great seats and the beers on him for the game in March. I've never been to a game there and this is probably the wrong year to start, yet I'm excited.

 

[Dawgs99]

Even with Shaka as our coach and a consistently strong team I still don't see us breaking 7-8K in average attendace ....just don't see it. We had a good coach and a strong product for years and never even smelled those season averages. I may be wrong but hasn't vcu always had a pretty strong fan base...even pre-Shaka?

 

[GMUgemini]

Even with Shaka as our coach and a consistently strong team I still don't see us breaking 7-8K in average attendace ....just don't see it. We had a good coach and a strong product for years and never even smelled those season averages. I may be wrong but hasn't vcu always had a pretty strong fan base...even pre-Shaka?

I think any of us would take 7k to 8k average attendance (with sellouts whenever a BCS team or vcu, or GW, or ODU, or JMU or a highly ranked A10 opponent, come to the Patriot Center) and call it a day.

As for game-day atmosphere, there are some things the administration could do to improve it (for one, find a winning product somewhere), but in my opinion the Patriot Platoon needs to shine a mirror on themselves and figure out what the hell they're supposed to do. The game atmosphere begins and ends with the student section. And our student section just isn't the best.

 

[Vurbel]

I agree that we need the Patriot Platoon to step it up. Last year our student section was pretty dead with the exception of the Catholic group. The first step to student involvement is having an exciting and winning product on the floor. If we don't win and aren't exciting we can give away free shirts left and right and it won't make a difference. But even with a winning program we are still going to face challenges.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

A lot of the problem stems from the fact that the average male's penis is shrinking. I read an article in Drudge Report where the average male's penis in 2050 will be significantly smaller, and robots will do much more of our work.

I can't see students leaving their dorm rooms for Pat Center if they have robots and small penises, frankly.

 

[99 Patriot]

I took the kids to the Marvel Universe live show this weekend and I'm not sure I believe any longer that our roof cannot hold the weight of a video scoreboard. The set had thousands and thousands of pounds of apparatus and routinely had several people "flying" from it, vehicles hovering about and sets coming down from the roof. It is the first time I noticed that the scoreboard was completely removed from the PC to accommodate it.

PS - The PC is just fine. If suites can be added, great, but if not, this is an arena that can still give us another 15-20 years.

 

[gmu05]

I took the kids to the Marvel Universe live show this weekend and I'm not sure I believe any longer that our roof cannot hold the weight of a video scoreboard. The set had thousands and thousands of pounds of apparatus and routinely had several people "flying" from it, vehicles hovering about and sets coming down from the roof. It is the first time I noticed that the scoreboard was completely removed from the PC to accommodate it.

I have also seen shows and other events at the PC that led me to think the same for awhile now. The whole topic of the roof being the reason why we don't have a video scoreboard is BS. Someone on here awhile ago stated the claim, probably from a friend of a friend who used to work at the PC as a freshman, and everyone on here ran with it.

 

[GMUgemini]

I have also seen shows and other events at the PC that led me to think the same for awhile now. The whole topic of the roof being the reason why we don't have a video scoreboard is BS. Someone on here awhile ago stated the claim, probably from a friend of a friend who used to work at the PC as a freshman, and everyone on here ran with it.

I believe it stems from a story about the Verizon Center attempting to donate their old video scoreboard to Mason when they replaced theirs a few years ago. If the trusses could have accommodated the load, I'm not sure why we would have turned down a free scoreboard.

It isn't just rumor:

http://building.gmu.edu/plans-for-new-patriot-center-scoreboard-continue-to-change/

 

[Quentin Daniels]

I didn't know we had so many structural engineers on this board.

 

[MasonFanatic]

When we got our current scoreboard, I remember Mason Athletics implying in several press releases that they were conducting an analysis to see whether advances in flat screen technology would allow us to build a video scoreboard light enough to be hung from the current roof, and it seemed that the answer was no, so that's why they installed the "stopgap" scoreboard we have now.

 

[Five Two]

Comcast Center at UMD's current roof can't support the type of weight required that Marvel Live, Disney On Ice, Ringling Bros., etc need so those shows will never be booked there without upgrades. {this is a fact}. Yet, Comcast Center does have a video scoreboard. {also a fact}

The Patriot Center's roof does support those shows' needs which is why they are always playing there {also a fact}, yet we are told the roof can't support a video scoreboard???

I guess we aren't asking the correct question. Its not if the roof can't support a video scoreboard. The correct question is - what type of video scoreboard was the old AD looking to purchase for use in the Patriot Center??

 

[GMUgemini]

Comcast Center at UMD's current roof can't support the type of weight required that Marvel Live, Disney On Ice, Ringling Bros., etc need so those shows will never be booked there without upgrades. {this is a fact}. Yet, Comcast Center does have a video scoreboard. {also a fact}

The Patriot Center's roof does support those shows' needs which is why they are always playing there {also a fact}, yet we are told the roof can't support a video scoreboard???

I guess we aren't asking the correct question. Its not if the roof can't support a video scoreboard. The correct question is - what type of video scoreboard was the old AD looking to purchase for use in the Patriot Center??

That's answered in my link. One that is twice the size and weight as the old one (about 9,000 lbs.)

 

[Plink833]

That's answered in my link. One that is twice the size and weight as the old one (about 9,000 lbs.)

From my sources in the AD - the weight is not the problem. The problem is as follows:
The roof was put in in the 80s when current codes (ADA, Fire, etc.) were not what they are today. If a scoreboard is put in that weighs more than the current scoreboard (or our previous one - that one and this one weigh the same) the roof would have to be brought up to current codes. For that to occur, the building would need to be shutdown for several months, to essentially redo the entire roof, at a cost that a.) would be similar to that of a new arena and b.) would require a shutdown of the PC for such a long time that significant revenue would be lost to the university and the ath dept.