Cat Crew Knows What's Up

One of my friends who was accepted into the Cat Crew for next year texted me this picture from their marketing manuel:

Although I got to say, what's up with "one of the most popular bloggers representing the UNH campus?" Is there someone else I don't know about because I'm pretty sure I'm the top dog when it comes to UNH blogging. I'm not being cocky here, but seriously, is there? Either way, you got to love the Cat Crew, they always provide laughs between hockey periods and basketball timeouts. Maybe next year I can help them advertise for some promotions... I'm thinking a best sign at a hockey or basketball game contest? Cat Crew, aka the kids I know in it or Gnarlz, I'll be in touch next semester.

Stay classy, not UMassy.

UNH under NCAA Investigation for class ‘MKTG 488: Seminars in Radical’

The National Collegiate Athletic Association announced in a press release yesterday that they will be conducting a month long investigation into the subject matter of a class offered only to student athletes called “Marketing 488: ‘Seminars in Radical,’” at the University of New Hampshire.
The NCAA learned of allegations from former bitter student athletes and jealous peers that the class had no educational merit. Accusations of what the course taught consisted of included, but were not limited to eating mozzarella sticks for a pop quiz, learning how to properly set up an Xbox 360 console, and “doin’ the stanky leg.”

The UNH course description given in their course catalogue describes Marketing 488 as a “deep exploration into what is considered ‘awesome,’ ‘cool,’ and ‘sweet,’” and as a course that promises to deliver a “great environment for student athletes.” The class was held in the basement of Libby’s Bar, a restaurant and pub on Main Street in Durham, New Hampshire.

“This is just like one of those college urban myths you always hear about when you first visit, but then you find out they are actually true, like the one about the secret vault under Thompson Hall.” said Chadwick Hilden, a senior at UNH and an avid Wildcat fan. “The student body always thought something was up when they heard about a class only athletes could take with a final exam consisting only of seeing how many Oreos you could fit in your mouth, each Oreo being worth 50 points out of a possible 100.”

Student athletes who had talked to the NCAA about the class described the curriculum in more detail according to some leaked reports. One former student athlete explained how the class taught him the true etymology of the word “blumpkin,” and how many times you can watch Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy before getting totally sick of it. Another student summed up the class by saying, “We used to drink chocolate milk, and shit.”

“Reports of a class that had field trips to Chuck E. Cheese’s are absolutely ridiculous,” said a representative from the UNH registrar’s office. “The University is more interested in offering more relevant field trips in our classes and besides, we all know that Dave and Buster’s is way better.”

Possible sanctions against the University could result in the vacating of wins from specific programs or the banning of programs from competing in NCAA tournaments for a to-be-determined period of time. These sanctions would deal a heavy blow to the income that the athletic programs generate. However, the NCAA would not take away any Division I Men’s Hockey championships from University permanent fixture Dick Umile since he still doesn’t have any.

This investigation is coming off the heels of a probe into the curriculum of the University of Texas conducted by Texas education board officials and the NCAA after hearing reports of teachings to student athletes about how Thomas Jefferson was indeed a President and the actual outcome of the War in Vietnam did not involve Senator Joseph McCarthy standing on “top of a pile of dead commies while holding the American Flag.” The education board stripped the school of accreditation soon after their investigation.

The Future of UNH Athletics

CONCORD, N.H.—"The University of New Hampshire should stop treating athletics as a sideline and start pumping more money into the program, boost private fundraising efforts, and upgrade or replace aging sports facilities, an in-house report released Friday said." Athletics cannot be treated as a self-sustaining auxiliary," the panel, appointed by UNH President Mark Huddleston, said. "At UNH, as at our peer institutions, an ongoing institutional commitment is essential."

Huddleston appointed the group in 2008 after students balked at a proposed increase in athletics fees. The group was led by former University of Delaware President David Roselle and included UNH faculty, staff, students and alumni who were instructed to compare UNH to other schools and recommend a more sustainable model for athletic funding without cutting teams... In fiscal year 2007, UNH athletics raised $439,000, compared to $800,000 at the University of Vermont, $1.3 million at the University of Delaware and $14 million at the University of Connecticut. Only 1 percent of UNH's former athletes donated money, compared to 26 percent at Boston College."


In this article from boston.com several issues I have brought up in the past were mentioned. Mainly, the renovation of the field house and the football stadium. This is a fine example of economics 101, you're going to have to spend money to make money. A new football stadium would attract bigger crowds and bigger crowds attract bigger recruits which leads to better teams and more wins and the cycle continues. Many FCS football teams loss money or break even and UNH has the chance to be one of the few profitable teams in the league if the university is willing to spend money now to make money later. One figure from that article that jumped out at me is that only 1% of former athletes gave donations to UNH. That is terrible, many college athletic programs only exist due to contributions and that needs to increase immediately if UNH is going to achieve their goals.

Obviously there are a boat load of money issues going on with UNH right now from the potential professor salary strike to the massive tuitions, but if UNH were to make athletics a priority a lot of money could be made. Take a look at all of the top earning universities in the country, they almost all have a strong athletic program. Now I understand that UNH is tiny compared to those schools (ex: Ohio State, Arizona State, Texas, Michigan ect.) but as a decent sized state university with no instate competition UNH has not taken advantage of these opportunities. The field house and football stadium are a disgrace to our university, there are much smaller schools with nicer facilities. There are local high schools with nicer fields and gyms than UNH. It really is quite pathetic.

One area that could really help out UNH in the long run is the basketball program. If they were to move their home games to the Whittemore Center, which has been done in the past when Florida played here and for high school state championship games, they could attract bigger programs to play here. Every year UNH travels to teams like Pitt, Maryland, or Penn State, but very rarely do we get a return game the following year, which is the case with most teams.

Boston University, which is in the same basketball conference as UNH, has very similar facilities to UNH. They have a smaller gym and a nice big arena that is primarily used for hockey. Their basketball team usually plays about half their home games at the nicer arena. Those games routinely attract bigger crowds and they have to compete with the Boston professional teams and other schools like BC, Harvard and Northeastern for non-student crowds. I see no reason why UNH can't do the same.

Basketball Court at the Whit.

Another way for UNH to make some money would be to sign a deal with WMUR to broadcast home hockey and football games. NH public TV used to cover the hockey games up until a few years ago but they cut it do to a lack in advertising. However, I think that a bigger network like WMUR would be able to land better partners that public TV. All I am saying is that there is no excuse to UNH, a state univeristy, to have such poor standards when it comes to athletics. Especially since several teams like men's and women's hockey and football are national contenders every year. Those are just some things to think about. 

A lot of you may think that UNH has bigger problems than athletics, but if these goal are met athletics could become a primary source of income. Remember you have to spend money to make money. 

Stay Classy, not UMassy.