ka
Junior Member
Posts: 317
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Post by ka on Jul 23, 2015 20:18:29 GMT -5
I sadly pulled my BAF recurring donation today.
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Post by firstdev on Jul 23, 2015 20:43:07 GMT -5
The new AD - Tim Kenney is starting his tenure off on the wrong foot. His arrogant actions in disregarding the traditions of the program, and in his failure to open dialogue with alums, fans and students prior to making a decision to restrict student participation, and severely limit student seating shows a profound lack of respect and common sense. Contrary to the party line there was no mandate from the NCAA or the A10, nor was there a policy in the works for over a year to downgrade student seating. This blatant attack on spontaneity of student support, and repression of student fan behavior (you will see increased presence by the security troopers around the student seating section - just what is NOT needed) will result in a huge decrease student involvement. This reaction will damage our program. And contrary to the party line, this university's athletic program budget is not dependent on the seats to be placed on the court in front of the student section, to even peddle that rubbish is absurd. Certainly steps can be taken to advance fund raising for the AD to better fund our programs, but attacking student participation is just plain dumb and counter productive. The arrogance, and lack of transparency need to stop - or you are going to have many more folks like ka, who are going to withhold contributions to the BAF and cancel season ticket orders. Great job Tim and what do you do for an oncore?
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Post by fjs64 on Jul 23, 2015 21:18:46 GMT -5
I sadly pulled my BAF recurring donation today. That doesn't help.....sounds like the child who didn't get his way.
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ka
Junior Member
Posts: 317
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Post by ka on Jul 23, 2015 21:30:28 GMT -5
I sadly pulled my BAF recurring donation today. That doesn't help.....sounds like the child who didn't get his way. Money talks. Complaining in a web chat powered by technology from 1995 obviously didn't do anything.
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Post by jsvetz on Jul 23, 2015 21:44:30 GMT -5
Ok, I am a student at Saint Bonaventure. As far as the claims of students not caring as much, here's the thing. At least with last season, once we lost a couple games, people lost enthusiasm. When we saw our team lose to teams like Siena, Delaware and other non conference teams that weren't as good as us, yes, enthusiasm dwindled. HOWEVER, other than the first game vs. St Joes after break, we came in full force for all the conference home games and we were one of the top fan bases at the A-10 tournament. You can not put this on us, many students don't get the reality of our team, they are holding on to 2012. With that said, I believe we underachieved this year after watching most of the games. You can say students should support their team no matter what, and the fact that we had the turnout at conference games and the A-10 tournament that we did, despite a mediocre season is phenomenal, other schools don't get that in mediocre years, that's a fact.
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Post by jsvetz on Jul 23, 2015 21:47:39 GMT -5
The new AD - Tim Kenney is starting his tenure off on the wrong foot. His arrogant actions in disregarding the traditions of the program, and in his failure to open dialogue with alums, fans and students prior to making a decision to restrict student participation, and severely limit student seating shows a profound lack of respect and common sense. Contrary to the party line there was no mandate from the NCAA or the A10, nor was there a policy in the works for over a year to downgrade student seating. This blatant attack on spontaneity of student support, and repression of student fan behavior (you will see increased presence by the security troopers around the student seating section - just what is NOT needed) will result in a huge decrease student involvement. This reaction will damage our program. And contrary to the party line, this university's athletic program budget is not dependent on the seats to be placed on the court in front of the student section, to even peddle that rubbish is absurd. Certainly steps can be taken to advance fund raising for the AD to better fund our programs, but attacking student participation is just plain dumb and counter productive. The arrogance, and lack of transparency need to stop - or you are going to have many more folks like ka, who are going to withhold contributions to the BAF and cancel season ticket orders. Great job Tim and what do you do for an oncore? I'm not necessarily saying you are wrong, but can you give sources to prove he is lying?
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Post by Hermit on Jul 23, 2015 21:53:18 GMT -5
* Watch a St. Bonaventure basketball game at the Reilly Center on the school's Olean campus. Whether the team on the floor struggles or dominates, the atmosphere in the building is still without comparison in the region. Above is from the Buffalo News on their series of top 50 things to do in Western NY. unless there is a mandate from above, this is friggin stupid over a hypothetical $50K You know, sometimes (the atmosphere) is, and sometimes it isn't. In a season, we get a few games that are worthy. But times change. Each year, there are fewer students. They don't show up for all the games. Don't blame the reds either......although there are fewer and fewer of us. You can talk all you want about what it was like when you went to school here.....hey, I go back to the fifties! Times have changed......and not for the better.
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Post by localfan on Jul 23, 2015 22:07:46 GMT -5
I've taken a lot of time to digest today's Q&A. I come away with many questions:
1.) If this truly was an issue of "courtside access" as Kenney says, then why would the university be open to accepting the GoFundMe donations along with donations from alumni to allow students to sit in the new seats? That makes zero sense at all, and is a huge indication that this has nothing to do with safety or an A-10 mandate. If it were an A-10 mandate then students would be banned from those seats.
2.) I cannot say this unequivocally, but I can say with near certainty that there's NO WAY this was a topic that's been seriously discussed for a year. That was a disappointing excuse and one that many people understand isn't entirely truthful. If this was something that was kicked around for a year, then the fact that there wasn't dialogue between the university and its students is grounds for someone to be seriously reprimanded. That's ridiculous.
3.) Kenney didn't mean to do it, but he basically conceded that the university will side with the courtside ticketholders when there are complaints. While he did say he'd give the students the "benefit of the doubt," he referenced that he expects them to be respectful to those people. Anyone who's ever been a part of that section understands the language and the insults and the jumping around, etc. that will surely impact those people courtside. That's going to be a problem.
The Q&A as a whole was an awful exercise in public relations. First off, we could see every question asked. So we could see all the issues Kenney didn't even come close to addressing. Secondly, it's a bad move to defend your decision in an open forum to a fan base that you already know is upset.
To me, this screams of a UMass decision. They don't care how many people show up to their games or what the environment's like. They care about corporate dollars. Welcome to the Tim Kenney era at Bonaventure.
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Post by bbb on Jul 24, 2015 2:58:48 GMT -5
WTF - alumni blowback got UAB to change their decision and reinstate the entire football program. 100% disapproval from alumni here gets us no change. Alumni disapproval AND millions in new donations are trying to save football at UAB. No date to field a team has been announced. Same thing at Sweet Briar. Millions in new donations to keep it open for at least one more year. Look, I don't love this move either. However, the takeaway needs to be that St. Bonaventure athletics and St. Bonaventure University itself are in dire need of additional $$. Enrollment is way down. So dig deeper and send a donation (or another donation), boost your donation this year, ask your classmates to donate. Most of all, do what you can to get a HS kid to consider and visit Bona's. Wrong - UAB officially brought football back a few days ago. I do donate - both to the Bona Fund and the BAF. I have directly influenced the decision of three students to choose Bona over the last three years. Anything else you want from me?
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Post by bbb on Jul 24, 2015 3:00:37 GMT -5
One thing was perfectly clear about the Q & A session, and that was that AD Kenney's decision has absolutely no support whatsoever from the alums, fans and students. He failed to answer in any real way question submitted, and stated unbelievably that the process had been in process for one year. In the end he threw the students overboard for a mere $50,000 (seems inflated to me). He badly miscalculated this action, and failed to involve the hugely important base supporters of the program. Now it is up the Board of Trustees to get him back on the right track, and restore the lost confidence in his leadership. And this is what we got as a replacement for the great Steve Watson? Man the lifeboats, we are in trouble, big time trouble. This is just an example of what happens when a UB grad,not a Bona grad, completely unfamiliar with Bonas attempts to bullrush his way in our realm. Sad, and arrogant too, and the losers will be the loyal fans, alums, season ticket holders and most importantly the students, who have earned a national reputation for loyalty and devotion the cause. It's not 50K. It's 10K. Nobody is complaining about the new seats in the blues.
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Post by thebonafan08 on Jul 24, 2015 6:40:11 GMT -5
I sadly pulled my BAF recurring donation today. That doesn't help.....sounds like the child who didn't get his way. And Tim is the dad saying because I said so
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Post by 123Rob on Jul 24, 2015 7:02:46 GMT -5
Alumni disapproval AND millions in new donations are trying to save football at UAB. No date to field a team has been announced. Same thing at Sweet Briar. Millions in new donations to keep it open for at least one more year. Look, I don't love this move either. However, the takeaway needs to be that St. Bonaventure athletics and St. Bonaventure University itself are in dire need of additional $$. Enrollment is way down. So dig deeper and send a donation (or another donation), boost your donation this year, ask your classmates to donate. Most of all, do what you can to get a HS kid to consider and visit Bona's. Wrong - UAB officially brought football back a few days ago. I do donate - both to the Bona Fund and the BAF. I have directly influenced the decision of three students to choose Bona over the last three years. Anything else you want from me? Sorry bbb, I was in Toronto for a few days and must have missed the announcement from UAB. And thank you for donating and steering students to Bona's. There is something else you could do for me. Stop being a prick. Clearly my message was not directed to you , me or others that do what we do for SBU. Sadly, however, way too many alums and friends of Bona's don't and also have no idea how bad the money and enrollment situations have become. So thank you for being Mr. Snarky and shame on me for trying to rally the troops.
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Post by deuce on Jul 24, 2015 9:25:03 GMT -5
It's no wonder SBU has a tough time attracting talent ( both staff and players). The University hires a new AD who's got a game plan for increasing our exposure and who's well regarded by his peers. He makes a decision concerning seating and the few posters who frequent this site go off the rails - some have questioned his transparency; other have decided to take their ball and go home (as in deciding to no longer contribute to the BAF,for example). Give the guy a chance. I'm willing to bet that given the chance, the basketball and athletic programs will really prosper under his stewardship. Let's concentrate on winning the war.
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Post by Pinnum on Jul 24, 2015 9:36:05 GMT -5
I sadly pulled my BAF recurring donation today. Make sure you send a note telling them you're pulling it, the reason for pulling it, and what is needed to be done in order to have the donation be given in the future. Just pulling it doesn't do much good if it is not communicated. Others can do the same, or they could send a check in the mail that is filled out then write VOIDED over top of it in big bold letters letting them know that the check would have been sent, and will be sent, if the issue is rectified. The students can also conduct a protest. Has anyone ever been to a game at the RC when students are not there? It is not a very great atmosphere. Though pulling donations is a good thing to elicit a response. I would advise to either (1) transfer the gift to academics and let the Administration know you're pulling the athletic support or (2) hold the funds to be given later when the issue is resolved.
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Post by Dunga on Jul 24, 2015 9:43:26 GMT -5
I sadly pulled my BAF recurring donation today. That doesn't help.....sounds like the child who didn't get his way. As KA said, money talks. And Kenney is a money guy. I encourage everyone to write to or call Kenney and tell him you're withholding your BAF contribution until he reverses this decision. If he gets 20 calls, he'll listen; if he gets 40 calls, he'll back down. Everyone who cares needs to make that call or write that email, if you haven't already. To be clear, he is selling the soul of the RC for $10,000 (the cost of the 15 seats in front of the student section). There is no mandate from the A10 to put those seats in (confirmed). And this decision was made after the A10 meetings in the end of May (confirmed). To be sure, this is just the beginning. Give an inch and he'll take a mile. When VIPs complain about the rowdy student section standing behind them, he'll relegate the students to the sections behind the basket, and probably to help justify the move, he'll speak about declining student attendance (which he helped manufacture). He's padding his fundraising resume for his next job. The untold story will be how he destroyed the atmosphere in the RC and alienated alumni, fans, and students. There are 2,000 season ticket holders (students) who need to rise up and be heard. There are several thousand alumni who need to rise up and be heard. Re: security, if a barrier or extra security need to be put in place, and rules on court storming, then so be it. tkenney@sbu.edu 375-2282 gobonnies.sbu.edu/inside_athletics/staff-directory
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