JJ- "They" have not made this clear. The idea that Yulman is the culmination of anything is what many frustrated fans believe is Tulane's position. What little has been stated by Tulane is that Yulman can be expanded (but no real word on the limits of expansion). I am not opposed to improvements for the Olympic/non-revenue sports and I encourage you to cite where you get your information.jonathanjoseph wrote:ccap05 wrote:I believe that we have a number of issues that need to be addressed. We need a new AD, we should be fielding competitive AAC football/basketball teams, and our facilities need upgrading. Most importantly, Tulane needs to improve academically and must re-consider the engineering decision. That being said Tulane has some very unique attributes that make it an attractive candidate for inclusion in a P5 conference- especially the XII or ACC. Our academics is good which is an attribute. We are in a city to which other teams and broadcast people enjoy traveling. Our athletic issues are fixable and our facilities can be upgraded. We are not a directional school or a second tier state school. Finally, there are simply not that many attractive candidates who do not have negatives which are not easily fixable. I assume that any attempts to contact P5 conferences about possible invitations will be kept secret. However, at some point in the very near future I would like to hear from President Fitts about his vision of athletics at Tulane. This does not need to be a date at which RD will be replaced- rather he needs to let us know whether he supports an attempt by Tulane to move into the big time or if he is happy with a 2nd rate program.
They've made it clear that Yulman is the crown jewel and that it is the culmination of the sports complex. They JUST spent money on Fogelman and built Yulman and yet both are inadequate for a P5. We can't even finish paying for the too small football stadium.
Word is any next project would be on the Olympic/non-revenue sports or the athletes village. This is the program Scott Cowen always wanted and we're stuck with it.
The problem is that the Administration has not made anything clear. Simple communications on items such as the progress of the Yulman challenge are simply not being made. I assume that there is communication between the University and the big donors and I understand that not everything can be made public. However, with the strong possibility that there will be additions to the Bix XII (and perhaps the ACC) and with the probability based on the FB teams performance this year that ticket sales will fall next year it seem imperative to me that Tulane put out some sort of vision for the future beyond "buy a brick".
I am not a knee jerk attacker of RD (although I do believe he should be put out to pasture). I consider myself an avid Tulane fan who buys tickets, makes (used to make) donations, and generally supports the Universities academic and athletic programs. However, the continued failure by the University to even try to communicate is certainly lessening my enthusiasm and, I believe, is causing the University to lose a golden opportunity to attract new fans and re-emerge as the second university athletic program in the state.
