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I dont blame the coaching

Da Coach said:
Bradley abandoned football after the Fall, 1970 season. The last 10 years of football were at a very low level of competetion. Bradley played at the Peoria Stadium on War Memorial Drive. The average attendance for games in the last few years was often 100-200 or less.

The program was dropped for many reasons, mostly it was the cost, but lack of success and lack of interest also played a part. It was increasingly costly to equip the team with the rising cost of safe equipment, and travel costs were high. I suspect insurance costs were also increasing. Bradley did not have a stadium, and it was cost-prohibitive to build one. The Peoria Stadium was falling into disrepair, and not a suitable place to play. And Title IX was on the horizon (instituted in 1972) that would have made it impossible for BU to maintain a football team without cancelling other men's teams, or creating many new women's sports that nobody cared about. maybe others can recall other reasons, but it was the right thing to do at the time to insure that the basketball team could continue to play at the highest level.
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Thats pretty interesting... I knew we had it at some point but got rid of it.... With the new AD wanting to being able to compete on a higher level are we possibly going add football in the future and add another womens sport since Title 9 comes into to play.... I think sooner or later the football needs to happen.... But it prob wont....
 
Air Petey said:
Be assured they are trying very hard to get a 5 man. I think everybody would agree - Recruiting a 5 is much tougher in a Mid-Major. The coaches know how important it is.... look at SS, and we all realize. I understand CU, WSU and UNI can do it..... but they are at a different level $$$ than we are. BU needs to step it up $$$ (it's a start with a new training facility) to compete on the same playing level.
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Fuches, Bayo, Rabey, Granger.... We managed to get them to come to Bradley with no thought of new facilites.
 
Fans find excuses, and fans complain. And none of it really matters, does it?
I don't see anyone on the Bradley staff making any excuses.
 
Braves2011 said:
Thats pretty interesting... I knew we had it at some point but got rid of it.... With the new AD wanting to being able to compete on a higher level are we possibly going add football in the future and add another womens sport since Title 9 comes into to play.... I think sooner or later the football needs to happen.... But it prob wont....
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IMHO, The only compelling reason to add football is a possible BCS football split that would leave football-less teams forever outside major basketball. That is a potentially huge, huge, huge reason
I'm not sure adding football for the typical reasons like development of an athletic department or student experience or community... would ever be worth it.... now if the city wanted to clear out the ghetto at the bottom of the hill, build a football stadium that could use the hill as one endzone of "seating" (free lawn admission?) and have a clear swath of park from the hill to the river or downtown (perhaps Peoria's easside center?
 
It's probably a dumb argument, and I have heard several very solid reasons why we don't and won't have football ever again...but I sure would like to try. I'd settle with starting off in the Pioneer League and seeing where it goes. But, I think we all would agree the university and athletic department have bigger fish to fry right now.
 
BradleyBrave said:
It's probably a dumb argument, and I have heard several very solid reasons why we don't and won't have football ever again...but I sure would like to try. I'd settle with starting off in the Pioneer League and seeing where it goes. But, I think we all would agree the university and athletic department have bigger fish to fry right now.
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Could not agree more with your last statement. A mediocre football program at best would take 4 years to get up and running and that would be too late for the re-org that is about to start. The Pac 10 TV deal is coming up, Sen. Hatch is on the BCS tail and if the Big X starts to poach to grow (there's no other way) then the race is on! There will be a domino effect and if you are stead fast with the status quo you will be toast.
 
Da Coach said:
I think this is way off. In Jim Molinari's final year the sentiment to change coaches was about 50/50. When it gets there, a change will be made by Bradley.
Based on my experience and contacts with fans (and I'd bet I hear from far more than most people here), it is nowhere close to 50/50. More like 90/10 in favor of Jim Les, though the 10% make a lot more noise than the 90% who favor JL.
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Coach, you delete my comments on this everytime I disagree with you! You are dead wrong! I can only guess, but I believe that it is more 60% against-40% for JL.
 
BradleyJD said:
Do you read the postgame press conference comments? I see a lot in those.
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Please, this is nothing more than a "gotcha" game. People would complain if the coach didn't answer questions, and offer his analysis after every game. He is not making excuses.
 
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