Bowling Green State University Athletics
Ask The AD -- June 27, 2007
June 27, 2007 | General
June 27, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Each week, Bowling Green State University Assistant Vice President/Director of Athletics Greg Christopher answers questions that have been submitted to BGSUFalcons.com. Here is the latest installment...
Q: Will there be a forum where boosters and fans will get a chance to welcome Louis Orr prior to the season starting?
Judy in Bowling Green
Louis has hit the ground running since arriving at BGSU in April. Before school was out, he mixed recruiting with getting to know his team and individual workouts. Late May and June have been busy with our fans. Between the Falcon Bash, various Barnstorming trips and a few other events, Louis has been with close to 2,000 Falcon fans. After their recruiting travels in July, look for three opportunities on campus as school starts. Our fall sports kickoff is set for Aug. 25 in Perry Stadium. Then we will have a special event for season ticket holders in October, along with a new event, the Falcon Basketball Tip-Off Banquet on Oct. 22. Mark your calendars, as we hope to see everyone at BGSU that evening to meet both our women's and men's teams.
Q: With the hiring of Louis Orr and the nucleus of the 2006-07 team returning, could Bowling Green look to schedule some more high major schools for the basketball season?
Chuck in Cincinnati
Men's basketball statistics don't lie. Teams win 70 percent of their home games, which is why high major schools pay $40,000 to $70,000 to mid-major schools and essentially buy their way to 10 wins before conference season begins.
Here are the broad strokes of our basketball scheduling philosophy. We plan to play at least one high major team, but will be selective in trying to find a team where we can be competitive. Provided we can keep our overall budget intact, we will use some or all of the money earned from our high major guarantee game to buy a team into Anderson Arena. Keep in mind the college basketball food chain in today's landscape, the only schools willing to play at Anderson are fellow mid-majors playing home-and-homes or games we pay teams to come play us (smaller D-I schools or similar mid-majors). These games create the bookends of our non-conference schedule: one or two guarantee road games, coupled with one or two home guarantee games. The balance of the schedule will likely be other mid-majors that will agree to home-and-home agreements. Another option being explored for the future is to create triangle series - for example, BGSU plays at a Colonial school, the Colonial school goes to a MVC institution and the MVC team plays at BGSU. In these scenarios each school involved picks up a home and away game. From a budget and geography standpoint, we'll focus on conferences like the Missouri Valley, Horizon, Summit (the old Mid-Con) and perhaps the A-10. Additionally, we will also look for an annual neutral site tournament if the right fit exists. These tournaments can provide peer competition and the chance to pick up three games.
The reality with MAC men's basketball is that things need to improve. The conference's RPI was #15 last year, behind the MVC, A-10 and Horizon. Taking into account the six BCS leagues, the MAC is the ninth-rated non-BCS men's basketball conference. The reasons for the overall conference decline the last few years are varied: facilities, scheduling and operating/recruiting budgets need to be on the list. While we work to improve these issues and others, the one sure way to improve our situation is to play competitive teams and to win games.
Q: Why isn't the new turf field going to be used for men's and women's soccer at BGSU? I have heard the field will not meet the width requirements for NCAA soccer standards.
Ryan from Bowling Green
We looked at options related to soccer when exploring our turf choices in November and December. Lowering the field, eliminating some of the Perry Stadium grandstand to widen the field and other possibilities made the project too expensive. As it stands, soccer won't be playing games in the stadium, but I expect both teams will use the new surface for practice at times.