Mornin Mates...
Today's Topic = Competitive Savvy and Moxie
That's the idea I want to explore as we are part of a "fair to middlin" conference in most sports according to Greg Hansen in his Daily Star sports notebook this morning...
He's singing the praises of the Cats new AD who has put out a blueprint for how the Cats will attack conference competition in all sports...
She doesn't talk about reaching "competitive traction" the way Lisa did at ASU but, rather, reaching championship level competition in all sports...
Hansen likens her blueprint to what Dilly has done for the Sun Devil football blueprint for success by establishing a culture built on expectations through winning championships...
Her goals reminds me of long ago Sun Devil athletic goals when we were in the WAC and seeking national respectability in the Big Three sports...football, basketball and baseball...
She knows she cannot compete, money wise, with the SEC or B1G but sees no reason not to do well in the Big-12 that has a lot of parity in most sports from top to bottom...
The Cats spent about $100,000 on the baseball team being able to spend eight days in both Houston and the Dallas area before the Big-12 conference baseball tournament...
And, the Cats ended up winning the conference tournament and ended up winning both their region and Super-Regional to make it to the CWS...
Would our AD do the same thing for our baseball team or any other sports program with which to reach a championship level..??
She expects every AU team to win at least 60% of their games a year and have at least 75% of their teams reach the postseason annually...
I don't know if those same goals would be tenable in the SEC and B1G but we're only talking about the Big-12 here, where there is no longer a Texas or Oklahoma to compete against...
We've already had a breakthrough with Dilly in football but what about basketball and baseball..??
Is it just impossible in basketball to be anything but a lower rung team in the Big-12..??
And, in baseball, is it just plain impossible to win enough to be nationally ranked and, as a result, host a playoff regional at the end of the season..??
We aren't going to have the oil money that some teams in Texas can rely on to help out with athletic finances in places like Lubbock and Dallas-Ft Worth...
But, what would happen if we could truly Activate the Valley where ASU has been an institution for close to 75 years now...
With enough savvy and moxie couldn't we get to a point where all of our sports are in the top 3-4 teams in the conference yearly...
It appears that the Cats new AD has the fortitude and will, along with the necessary savvy and moxie, with which to do that in her athletic dept, and will we be able to say the same about our AD moving forward..??
Sun Devil fans don't care about "competitive traction" as they are only interested in getting to championship type levels with our sports programs, through the use of savvy and moxie by our AD and his executive administrators within our athletic dept...
It's not like we are competing in the SEC or B1G, right..??
We don't have to take on Georgia or Alabama or Ohio St or Penn St or Oregon or any other blue-blood in other sports, with basketball being the only exception to that rule right..??
In conclusion, do you agree with Hansen when he says the Big-12 in only a "fair to middlin" conference in the scope of college athletics..??
And, if so, shouldn't we be able to have almost all of our teams in postseason play and competing for championships every year..??
Or, is that just too tough for our basketball and baseball programs to accomplish..??
You make the call...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
Today's Topic = Competitive Savvy and Moxie
That's the idea I want to explore as we are part of a "fair to middlin" conference in most sports according to Greg Hansen in his Daily Star sports notebook this morning...
He's singing the praises of the Cats new AD who has put out a blueprint for how the Cats will attack conference competition in all sports...
She doesn't talk about reaching "competitive traction" the way Lisa did at ASU but, rather, reaching championship level competition in all sports...
Hansen likens her blueprint to what Dilly has done for the Sun Devil football blueprint for success by establishing a culture built on expectations through winning championships...
Her goals reminds me of long ago Sun Devil athletic goals when we were in the WAC and seeking national respectability in the Big Three sports...football, basketball and baseball...
She knows she cannot compete, money wise, with the SEC or B1G but sees no reason not to do well in the Big-12 that has a lot of parity in most sports from top to bottom...
The Cats spent about $100,000 on the baseball team being able to spend eight days in both Houston and the Dallas area before the Big-12 conference baseball tournament...
And, the Cats ended up winning the conference tournament and ended up winning both their region and Super-Regional to make it to the CWS...
Would our AD do the same thing for our baseball team or any other sports program with which to reach a championship level..??
She expects every AU team to win at least 60% of their games a year and have at least 75% of their teams reach the postseason annually...
I don't know if those same goals would be tenable in the SEC and B1G but we're only talking about the Big-12 here, where there is no longer a Texas or Oklahoma to compete against...
We've already had a breakthrough with Dilly in football but what about basketball and baseball..??
Is it just impossible in basketball to be anything but a lower rung team in the Big-12..??
And, in baseball, is it just plain impossible to win enough to be nationally ranked and, as a result, host a playoff regional at the end of the season..??
We aren't going to have the oil money that some teams in Texas can rely on to help out with athletic finances in places like Lubbock and Dallas-Ft Worth...
But, what would happen if we could truly Activate the Valley where ASU has been an institution for close to 75 years now...
With enough savvy and moxie couldn't we get to a point where all of our sports are in the top 3-4 teams in the conference yearly...
It appears that the Cats new AD has the fortitude and will, along with the necessary savvy and moxie, with which to do that in her athletic dept, and will we be able to say the same about our AD moving forward..??
Sun Devil fans don't care about "competitive traction" as they are only interested in getting to championship type levels with our sports programs, through the use of savvy and moxie by our AD and his executive administrators within our athletic dept...
It's not like we are competing in the SEC or B1G, right..??
We don't have to take on Georgia or Alabama or Ohio St or Penn St or Oregon or any other blue-blood in other sports, with basketball being the only exception to that rule right..??
In conclusion, do you agree with Hansen when he says the Big-12 in only a "fair to middlin" conference in the scope of college athletics..??
And, if so, shouldn't we be able to have almost all of our teams in postseason play and competing for championships every year..??
Or, is that just too tough for our basketball and baseball programs to accomplish..??
You make the call...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
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