Originally Posted by
unclejohn
More common are the mid-majors who come up and go down depending on one particular good coach. East Tennessee has done pretty well under Murry Bartow, so he'll probably get hired somewhere else. Not sure about Belmont. Long Beach is doing quite well under Don Monson. This is their first successful run since Seth Greenberg coached them in the 90's, which was their first successful run since Tark the Shark coached them in the 70's. Very few programs do it on a sustained basis. If UWM wanted to, it would have to make a commitment, stick to it, and spend significant money. Build a new practice facility. Get serious about an on-campus arena. A few things like that. And I have to question whether it is worth it. Do they get more bang for their buck doing that, or pouring their money into their engineering school? Even if they could have the long-term success of the likes of VCU or Davidson (and they have nowhere near the tradition or resources of Davidson) would it be worth it? I think it makes sense for a school like Loyola to jump at a chance to join the MVC. They can use the publicity. They can potentially recruit some local players, garner some local interest, and perhaps attract some more students. But UWM? Where is the payoff? They are going to get students anyway, and mostly the same type of students, regardless of athletics. Take a look at the MAC teams. Several of them are similar in attendance and enrollment to UWM. Yes, it is exciting on campus when Western Michigan wins, but they'll still be there if they lose. So where is the payoff? It seems to me that UWM might well create as much excitement and get as much coverage with a really competitive D-3 team, like Whitewater in football.