Softball Coach Wants New Facility Now

[bulls96go]

how much revenue does the softball program bring in?  not exactly sure where the money will come from for a new softball facility.

if college athlethics depended soley on the revenue each sport brought in to support itself then the collegiate experience would be diminshed for all of us.

further, to extrapolate on your statement he should leave because usf has proven by history it will not invest more in softball than what revenue softball brings in.

i hope the new AD has more foresight than you do in this regard

[bulls96go]

People forget our coach was away most of this year. His assistants didnt do too bad....

then we should "fire his ar$e" for trying to get his facilities upgaded.

he was away coaching the national team, hey lets reward you lets " fire your ar$e"

[Velcro]

I don't think he should be fired, but i certainly don't see how we can afford to build another softball facility... softball brings almost no fans, we get more to baseball games, which is pretty bad attendance in itself.  There has to be some benefit to building a facility beyond keeping a coach.  Right now, baseball, even when we aren't playing great, has more fans, so i'd expect that gets more attention when it comes to making a facility.  If softball had a need for a facility that could seat more people because of a higher demand to watch it, then i'd be more for it... but quite frankly, i don't see the need.

Should we build a new basketball arena if we can't even sell out half of the current one, even if we had said we would at some point?  No... if the need isn't there, we can't spend, ahem, waste, loads of money when we have other needs that will have more benefit.  Money has to go where the need is the greatest, and that, right now, isn't softball.

[Omniscientbull]

bulls96go - egg head or not, olympic sports are money losers and you simply can't fund them with multi-million dollar stadiums and high priced coaching salaries if they aren't going to pay for themselves, unless you have revenue generating sports that can cover the cash flow.  Apparently you do not understand the basice principles of accounting or finance.  Maybe you should work at UCF where they will spend any amount on anything and hope that some miracle happens to pay for it.

Neither Leavittation nor myself asked for him to be fired for asking for something.  I think he should be seriously reprimended for taking the mud slinging to the newspaper and if that includes firing him I would be more than supportive of that descision.

Let's assume we had $5 million we could pour into a softball facility.  Would it be worth it if the program will continue to lose money each and every year?  Would that money be better spent by investing in a program that will give you some sort of ROI and then using the positive cash flows to fund the softball program?

Finally, I don't give a rats a$$ what the coach has done for us or if our softball program is #1 in the country or #200 in the country.  You can't just waste money on something when you have the opportunity to use the money wisely to get you a positive cash flow return elsewhere.

[Apis Bull]

One could argue that better facilities will bring out more fans.

[USFCollin]

First of all, if you upgrade or build a new baseball stadium, you must upgrade or build a new softball facility.  That's Title IX, so remember we have to pay for both at the same time, and the reality is that baseball fundraising will be helping to pay for softball and not the other way around.  Unless Coach Eriksen starts bringing in more than 45K per year, he's going to need to wait until the money for both baseball and softball is there.  We are going to upgrade baseball and softball at the same time and very soon.  

I understand his plight, as when I play intramurals if I hit a foul ball it lands in his club's left-or-right field, and his program is nationally competitive and deserves better.  But they just got a world-class locker room and training facilities in the new building, and I do believe they are the next project on the board.  If Coach wants to speed up the process... hit the streets and go help raise some dollars.  45k is nice, but he needs people who can drop six-and-seven figure checks if he wants a new building.  The team certainly deserves it, but trying to get it done through the media isn't the right way.  Call big donors, not reporters.

Either way, he's a great leader for his team (who is as strong academically as they are athletically), and I hope he's here for decades to come.  I hope to be cheering them on Sunday in Tally and next week in OKC!!

[Brad]

Bulliever's narrow view:

Things are fine the way they are, after all Mr. Eriksen, this is just girls softball (Sorry softball girls and their supporters).  

I think Mr. Eriksen is out of line.  Perhaps we could find a community funded softball complex for him to play in.

[USFCollin]

"... this is just girls softball." Brad Meyer, 2004.

" ... this is just women's basketball."  Every UT Vols fan, pre-1982.

" ... this is just women's soccer."  Every UNC Tarheels fan, pre-Anson Dorrance.

" ... this is just women's volleyball."  Every USC, Nebraska, UCLA, Hawaii Booster pre-Title IX.

Women's sports have proven they can be profitable and viable without the crutch of Title IX, but they have to be marketed and given resources as they grow.  Attendance will increase dramatically for USF baseball and softball when we do build the facilities because the ones we have now are so bad people don't want to attend.  We've had big games where there wasn't a seat to be had at softball over the past couple seasons, and I believe almost 2000 people showed up in Clearwater when we played the Olympic team.  You've got to invest in these sports.  And I agree it needs to be a community funded softball complex... it just needs to be on our campus and funded by wealthy members of our community:)

[USFPhil]

I dont like Erikson holding the school hostage like this but he has been promised a new stadium forever and he deserves one.  It is embarasing when visiting teams come here,  Hell my little league had  a better facility.

[Velcro]

Maybe they should play at the little league field then...  we don't have the money right now for something that is perfectly successful as is, and still has no support.  

The money that could go to a softball stadium/newer field is much better spent on something else that could raise more money/interest that can help the softball program out as a result of its own success.