He did drop football and wrestling at UNO....BUT...the athletic department at UNO was LOSING millions and millions of dollars. On a Saturday afternoon in Omaha, do you suppose ANYBODY gave a rip about attending a DII football game when the Huskers were playing? And, DII wrestling is NOT going to pay any bills...but...instead eats up money...
Omaha doesn't have ANY major league sports. The city is in the shadow of Lincoln on Saturdays in the fall and I don't think they much give a rip because EVERYWHERE in the state of Nebraska is in the shadow of Lincoln during football season.
Creighton dropped football half a century ago. BUT, Creighton has the BEST Division I Men's Hoops program in the city of Omaha and in the state of Nebraska. They have made 17 NCAA Hoops Tournaments. Year in and year out, they have averaged between 14,000 and 15,000 per home game. This year, when they have had an excellent team, they have averaged well over 17,000 fans per game for this season. They just advanced in the Tourney with a win over Alabama and will play North Carolina on Sunday.
This year the Creighton Men's Soccer Team advanced to the Final Four in Division I Soccer.
The other Division I sporting event that Omaha has always supported is the College World Series.
UNO has been TOTALLY left out of the Division I scene until their Hockey Program made the jump. That has been very successful for them and Omaha is HUNGRY for Division I sports. When Alberts took over in 2009, the athletic department at UNO was a TERRIBLE mess and was bleeding so much red ink that it is questionable what might have become of their sports programs. With money getting harder and harder to come by, they had to do something BOLD. And, it looks as though Alberts did just that.
He cut football. He also cut wrestling. In the process he made some enemies. BUT, he is bringing Hoops to Division I and he has a Division I Hockey program to try to win the hearts of the sports-hungry Omaha population.
Creighton has very competetive Basketball and Soccer and UNO will have competetive Division I Hockey and will bring hoops to Division I. Omaha can be a GREAT market for them. At Lincoln they have great football...but...men's hoops pretty much is in the tank.In a way, Omaha is a little section of Nebraska unto itself. UNO will now be able to try to get corporate involvement (Union Pacific RR is headquartered there) and the population of the greater Omaha Area involved with their two cash cows. By going Division I in hoops...just think of the great rivalrys they can build with Creighton and that other Division I school down the road in Lincoln. Iowa State is about 175 miles away and the University of Iowa isn't far either. (Creighton beat 3 Big Ten Team in Hoops this past season...natural rivals will help sell tickets at UNO too.) With their Division I Hockey program, they will join Denver and Minneapolis, Mankato, St. Cloud, Bemidji,& Duluth in having Division I Hockey. I'm sure they can bring Ohio State in for hockey games...and Michigan and MSU and wisky and probably even Notre Dame. They could help make Omaha a pretty "happening place" in the world of college D-I Hockey. And, there may be hope there for hoops too. They could bring in Big Twelve teams...Big Ten teams once in a while and spice up the sports scene in Omaha. By bringing UNO into the Summit Conference for Hoops, he is bringing UNO to a NON-FOOTBALL Conference that really does generally play some pretty decent basketball. For UNO's situation, it is a perfect conference affiliation.
I'd say that Uffda has come up with a GREAT candidate here. In fact, Trev Alberts with his gutsy and brilliant moves to totally restructure the UNO Athletic Department by dumping money losing sports and moving up to Division I in Hoops is facing the hard cold facts of life in UNO's situation and is setting them up to survive by having TWO cash cows to save sports at UNO and to capture loyalty from the greater Omaha Area for the University that he is representing. He is trying to capture a part of his market to support the athletic programs that he represents. Somehow Division II Wrestling and Division II Football were just NOT getting the job done in Omaha.
So, I'll have to admit...Trev Alberts has just jumped toward the top of my short list of potential candidates that the U of M SHOULD consider. In fact, I'd have to rate him even higher than Marc Trestman!
Good job of thinking outside the tired, booring and totally predictable old box that too many are stuck in Uffda!
; 0 )
