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  #9  
Old 11-28-2012, 11:19 AM
Gem City Gem City is offline
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This is also an opportunity for the A-10 to clean house. It’s time for the stronger A-10 programs (VCU, Butler, Xavier, Dayton, St. Louis etc.) to start putting some pressure on the weaker programs in the league to improve and invest in their own programs. It’s time to start setting some minimum standards for all programs in the league as a condition of league membership.

For too long, their have been programs in this league that have shown little interest or leadership in trying to improve their programs. They have slid by with poor coaches playing in outdated facilities and recruiting on a shoe string budgets. There has always been a feeling of the haves and have not’s in this league. Bottom line, it’s time to tell the basement dwellers of this league to get their acts together or get out.

The three areas I would demand some kind of league consensus:

1. A minimum seating capacity or some kind of minimum standard for your home court.

It’s time for Fordham, LaSalle, George Washington, Duquesne, St. Bonnie and even St. Joe’s to invest in or upgrade their home courts. Without question, the worst of these facilities is Tom Gola and Rose Hill. It’s an absolute joke that these programs aspire to be high major D-I programs in such ridiculous high school gyms. There is no coincidence that the majority of these programs have finished at the bottom of this league for numerous years. Yes, there are exceptions (St. Joe’s) but I would argue that you can not maintain any level of success playing in such poor facilities. St. Joe’s has an exceptional coach that allows the program to over come many of their short comings. St. Bonnie made a run last year because they hit the lottery in developing an under recruited player into the A-10 player of the year. St. Bonnie will not be able to maintain that level of success. When Martelli leaves St. Joe’s, I believe you will see that program fall quickly.

I realize St. Joe’s just invested in their facility which is nice, but it was a band-aid. The facility is still a joke. Tom Gola and Rose Hill are absolute jokes. These facilities ultimately need to be replaced. Duquesne, St. Bonnie, and GW should be encouraged to invest in major renovations to their facilities. It’s time to demand these improvements.

2. A minimum basketball budget.

The life blood of every program is recruiting. Coaches need to be able to travel outside of the greater Pittsburgh and Philadelphia area to land the best players. You need to pay higher salaries to attract top coaches and assistant coaches. You need to invest money to assure these players have the resources available to graduate. It all cost money. There are too many programs being run on shoe string budgets.

3. A minimum marketing budget to increase fan bases and improve product image. This may also include a minimum attendance standard.

How many times have you watched an A-10 tournament game and you could count the number of fans on one hand? This league has too many programs with virtually no fan bases. Too many A-10 programs are failing to build any kind of fan bases. You have to create a product and brand that people are willing to pay to see. You want to improve the conferences TV contract? You have to show TV executives you have a viable fan base that is willing to watch games. I find it sad that the largest groups of fans at the A-10 tournament are from Dayton, Xavier and St. Louis. These are the fans that have to travel the furthest distance to be at the games.
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