Mason beats Shockers!!!

[psyclone]

http://www.gomason.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=25200&ATCLID=209414355

What --- you expected this to be about basketball?!

Landmark win for Bill Brown -- well-deserved big milestone win for a great guy who's been with Mason his whole career. Way to go Bill--well-done!

If you want to send him a congratulatory email, his email is wbrown@gmu.edu (taken from the athletic dept website).

 

[psyclone]

Just doing this so I won't have to keep staring at the big goose egg for replies to a thread I started!

 

[Scythe]

But you got the "likes"

 

[Five Two]

Congrats to Coach Brown on 900 wins. And ironic he beats WSU, a blue-blood in college baseball. The budget and facilities Coach Brown has to work with compared to other CAA and now A10 schools is pathetic. He's always done more with less, and beating WSU for his 900th win just reinforces that.

 

[GMUgemini]

Congrats to Coach Brown on 900 wins. And ironic he beats WSU, a blue-blood in college baseball. The budget and facilities Coach Brown has to work with compared to other CAA and now A10 schools is pathetic. He's always done more with less, and beating WSU for his 900th win just reinforces that.

It's a shame the community can't come forward and help us build the stadium he deserves (the proposed addition/renovation is on hold because of a lack of funding, yes?)

 

[A.-Siegfried]

Congrats to Coach Brown on 900 wins. And ironic he beats WSU, a blue-blood in college baseball. The budget and facilities Coach Brown has to work with compared to other CAA and now A10 schools is pathetic. He's always done more with less, and beating WSU for his 900th win just reinforces that.

WSU was the preseason pick in the Missouri Valley this year. They have always been tough.

A nice 5-2 start to the season. Hope they can win their first A-10 baseball title this season.

 

[Pablo]

It's a shame the community can't come forward and help us build the stadium he deserves (the proposed addition/renovation is on hold because of a lack of funding, yes?)

Ideally, Mason would partner with Fairfax County and build a new baseball stadium (with lights) similar to GW and Arlington County at Barcroft Park.

 

[GMUgemini]

Ideally, Mason would partner with Fairfax County and build a new baseball stadium (with lights) similar to GW and Arlington County at Barcroft Park.

Ceding partial control seems like a good idea (share costs etc) but it becomes a nightmare with scheduling. The institution I work for is building a second baseball stadium now for this very reason. Scheduling home games has become nearly impossible.

 

[Pablo]

Ceding partial control seems like a good idea (share costs etc) but it becomes a nightmare with scheduling. The institution I work for is building a second baseball stadium now for this very reason. Scheduling home games has become nearly impossible.

I'm not sure that scheduling would be as difficult here as it is where you live.

 

[Five Two]

Ideally, Mason would partner with Fairfax County and build a new baseball stadium (with lights) similar to GW and Arlington County at Barcroft Park.

Years ago, Mason was approached by one of the Clark Griffith League summer league teams to split the cost to renovate the existing facility. Obviously, scheduling wouldn't be an issue. The athletic dept opted not to pursue the opportunity and the summer league team eventually partnered with the city of Vienna to renovate a field in town that now has lights and field turf.

Years later, Mason partnered with an area pro softball team to renovate the softball facility on campus. The softball team got out of the deal during construction and I believe that's why the grandstand wasn't extended from dugout to dugout. Instead, they planted grass on the slope where the seats were supposed to go.

New ballparks are being built in Loudon County (independent league team) and in Prince William County (Potomac Nats); I don't believe Mason was ever in conversations to share a new on-campus stadium with either team.

Why the administration hedged their bets on a pro softball team, but not an established summer league team or Potomac Nats, we'll never know. After the pro softball team situation, I can understand why they would be hesitant to partner with a new independent league team. There could be risk the team loses funding like the pro softball team did. But the Clark Griffith team and the P-Nats have been around for ages and it seems there would have been limited risk.

 

[Pablo]

New ballparks are being built in Loudon County (independent league team) and in Prince William County (Potomac Nats); I don't believe Mason was ever in conversations to share a new on-campus stadium with either team.

I don't believe that a new stadium (with lights and more seating & amenities) needs to be on campus, provided its location is convenient for fans (including students).

 

[EXpatriot13]

Regardless of where it is, or how it gets done, a new stadium needs to be a top priority. That "stadium" is such an eye-sore, good thing it's tucked back from 123 so you can barely see it without trying to look for it.

 

[Pablo]

Mason's Spuhler Field (#130) is listed on the following link: "Final Thoughts: There are better college baseball experiences in the D.C. metro area, and if you don't have a vested interest in either GMU or their opponent, there is really not much to see there."

Other A10 baseball facilities (including next season's entry Davidson) that are listed in the link are as follows:

#58 Davidson's Wilson Field
#60 GW's Barcroft Park
#70 UR's Malcolm U. Pitt Field
#120 vcu's The Diamond
#136 LaSalle's Hank DeVincent Field

http://www.stadiumjourney.com/news/06-18-2013/382/2013-ncaa-baseball-ballpark-rankings/

Dayton's Time Warner Cable Stadium - see http://daytonflyers.com/sports/2013/8/8/BB_0808130506.aspx

St. Louis' The Billiken Sports Center - see
http://www.slubillikens.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=27200&ATCLID=205246203

St. Joseph's John W. Smithson Field - see
http://www.sjuhawks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=31200&ATCLID=208884413

St. Bonaventure's Fred Handler Park - see
http://gobonnies.sbu.edu/inside_athletics/facilities/Fred-Handler-Park

Fordham's Houlihan Park - see
http://www.fordhamsports.com/sports/2013/7/17/GEN_0717131810.aspx?path=baseball

UMass' Earl Lorden Field - see
http://www.umassathletics.com/school-bio/facilities.html

Rhode Island's Bill Beck Field - see
http://www.gorhody.com/information/facilities/index

Note: Duquesne does not have a baseball team.

 

[gmubrian]

Regardless of where it is, or how it gets done, a new stadium needs to be a top priority.

What is your definition of top priority?

Over a new men's basketball coach (probably different budget area)?

Over a new basketball practice facility and roof changes or new Patriot center (probably the same budget area)?

 

[EXpatriot13]

What is your definition of top priority?

Over a new men's basketball coach (probably different budget area)?

Over a new basketball practice facility and roof changes or new Patriot center (probably the same budget area)?

Obviously, things with the basketball program are the number one priority and need to be dealt with first. I just meant that the new baseball stadium should be towards the top of the "to-do" list.

What is sitting over there behind the field house is awful. It's not even close to being a Division 1 caliber baseball stadium. The field turf itself is really nice though.

 

[Five Two]

What is your definition of top priority?

Herein lies the question that no administrator will ever answer truthfully. Schools only have so much $$ to invest in sports, even at the top of the BCS. So why any school would have more sports than the NCAA minimum???

I won't rehash my old posts, except to say....with a few cuts, a full-time practice facility already exists on campus. But those cuts will never happen.

 

[Pablo]

Herein lies the question that no administrator will ever answer truthfully. Schools only have so much $$ to invest in sports, even at the top of the BCS. So why any school would have more sports than the NCAA minimum???

I believe that my alma mater (Penn State) has 29 NCAA programs. But, Penn State has won NCAA team and individual championships in several sports, and is very competitive in other sports. So, I don't believe that the issue is having more than the NCAA minimum number of programs as you say. But, rather, the insufficient commitment of resources for certain non-revenue sports that precludes winning team or individual championships in the sport.

 

[GMUgemini]

I believe that my alma mater (Penn State) has 29 NCAA programs. But, Penn State has won NCAA team and individual championships in several sports, and is very competitive in other sports. So, I don't believe that the issue is having more than the NCAA minimum number of programs as you say. But, rather, the insufficient commitment of resources for certain non-revenue sports that precludes winning team or individual championships in the sport.

They also pack 90k plus every home football game and get 25 million plus per season from the Big 10s television deal. I also know that wrestling and volleyball have decent followings as well and probably pay for themselves.

I'm not quite sure it's a good comparison. I'd say we should probably be more like a vcu or an Xavier who both offer fewer sports than Mason and put more of their athletics budget into basketball.

 

[Five Two]

I believe that my alma mater (Penn State) has 29 NCAA programs. But, Penn State has won NCAA team and individual championships in several sports, and is very competitive in other sports. So, I don't believe that the issue is having more than the NCAA minimum number of programs as you say. But, rather, the insufficient commitment of resources for certain non-revenue sports that precludes winning team or individual championships in the sport.

To your point, the results at Mason are out there for everyone to see. We certainly have shown there is insufficient resources to fund most every other sport (some would argue we don't have enough to compete in men's basketball in the A10).

 

[EXpatriot13]

Some of our other programs are doing just fine (and winning A1o championships) so far in the A10. The school still needs to invest more into athletics as a whole, which we all agree on.

The basketball program has a decent budget, but it could obviously be better. Investing some more money into the basketball program could only benefit the school as a whole, as the basketball program is our athletic departments' biggest money maker. Investing money into the rest of the athletic programs would give the overall sense that the school cares about athletics - building a new baseball stadium would be a pretty good step in the right direction.

Other things could be done as well - tennis courts with lights and maybe a small bleacher area, renovate the field house and adjacent soccer stadium (just the seating/press box, the field turf is great). I know these things have been discussed and brought up before, but will they ever actually happen?