Congratulations to the graduating Class of 2018 who got to play and watch the greatest sports era in the history of the University of Denver. During your four years at DU, you never experienced a school year without a national championship team – a rare feat for ANY school.
Best of luck from LetsGoDU.
Go Pioneers!
Thank you to all the athletes and students who cheered on your school. You got to see it at it’s best…We are likely at the start of a slow decline for the DU sports program…The fact is that we may never see such a four-year era again.
In the next four years, DU hockey will probably not win a national title or go to another Frozen Four. I think it’s too much to ask of a young head coach in an era of increasing investment in other hockey programs to sustain that kind of excellence. I hope Carle proves me wrong, but I don’t see it happening. DU will be an NCAA tournament level program, but it remains to be seen if a top four finish is realistic.
At the same time, in the next four years, Bill Tierney will likely retire, and even before that happens, lax recruiting is going to take a hit, as opposing coaches point that out to top recruits. DU should still be a very good program, but I think that going forward, final fours for DU will be a rare thing, rather than a common thing.
Finally, I am not convinced that this chancellor is the right one for DU athletics, nor for the rest of the University. In her four year tenure, she has had a corrosive effect on school spirit, as her leaders of the “inclusive excellence” she promotes have divided the community instead of unifying it. Moreover, it seems to be getting worse instead of better…
Agree with a lot of this and the problem is compounded by having incompetent personnel on the business side of the Athletics Dept. When lacrosse and hockey aren’t dominating and attendance/revenue suffer due to poor marketing being unable to make up for on-ice/field performance lulls, Chopp will see Athletics as a bigger and bigger money-loser in the coming years and she might start cutting funding and maybe even programs…
attendance increase in basketball should help at least
Doubtful hoops attendance goes up even if they’re better next year
The attendance will be up – especially with some of their new players.
will that make up for hockey attendance going down though $-wise?
The hockey schedule looks to be worse for non-con home games so probably down. B-ball tickets are less $$$ than hockey so probably down on revenue but more people at the b-ball games then this past season.
Combination of a bad schedule, resurgence of Avalanche, promotion of Eagles to AHL, exodus of star Pios players/coach to NHL and consistently poor marketing by DU athletics could mean a lot of empty seats at Magness in 2018-19 for hockey
Please call the athletic department with you concerns. Your fixation with marketing has been made countless times. It is getting tiresome and repetitive.
dont think crowds will go down much actually, lotsa goodwill from fans after good 5 years and carle was popular hire seems like
Team will be better than people think next year – attendance will be fine
I think you are right about DU’s flagship sports. Hockey will need a bit of a rebuild and lacrosse will be facing changes – especially with the new shot clock expected next year. However, Matt brown’s box lacrosse background should help when the shot clock pushes individual effort in traffic with the clock running down. Matt Brown is the Tierney heir so we will have to wait and see. And, hopefully the hockey team can reload quickly and David Carle has a relatively short learning curve.
Always the optimist, I think if we can keep our coaching staffs together, there are four sports that may achieve milestones in the next four years.
I think men’s basketball will improve and has the potential to make its first ever NCAA playoff appearance over the next four years. Never easy having to go through Sioux Falls in the Summit League but it can be done. Men’s soccer is starting to recruit high-level foreign players. A 5-0 Spring exhibition win against Northwestern, wins against New Mexico and Creighton on the road – all BEFORE many of the new recruits arrive are a good sign for the future of men’s soccer. Women’s volleyball has a Top 25 goal that they are working toward – and I think they have the talent and coaching to get there. They have shown RPI improvement every year and were in the RPI 30’s before entering Summit League play this past year. Finally, women’s gymnastics with their current talent and incoming talent has a legitimate chance to make noise for DU’s first ‘women’s team national championship’ over the next several years.
Of course, skiing should remain strong, especially with some excellent underclassmen. Still, anyone who has watched skiing nationals knows that you win on a razor’s edge – no single participant can fall apart and have the team win.
My hope is that the administration supports athletics and leaves the best operating division at DU alone and lets them do what they do best – win at a high level. And, I think the new campus capital plan will help lure top prospects to DU – as will the new hockey locker room.
I believe fans can be optimistic about the future but conference championships and winning national championships every year is hardly the norm and difficult to duplicate – especially as a mid-sized university.
Thank you to all the athletes and students who cheered on your school. You got to see it at it’s best…We are likely at the start of a slow decline for the DU sports program…The fact is that we may never see such a four-year era again.
In the next four years, DU hockey will probably not win a national title or go to another Frozen Four. I think it’s too much to ask of a young head coach in an era of increasing investment in other hockey programs to sustain that kind of excellence. I hope Carle proves me wrong, but I don’t see it happening. DU will be an NCAA tournament level program, but it remains to be seen if a top four finish is realistic.
At the same time, in the next four years, Bill Tierney will likely retire, and even before that happens, lax recruiting is going to take a hit, as opposing coaches point that out to top recruits. DU should still be a very good program, but I think that going forward, final fours for DU will be a rare thing, rather than a common thing.
Finally, I am not convinced that this chancellor is the right one for DU athletics, nor for the rest of the University. In her four year tenure, she has had a corrosive effect on school spirit, as her leaders of the “inclusive excellence” she promotes have divided the community instead of unifying it. Moreover, it seems to be getting worse instead of better…
Agree with a lot of this and the problem is compounded by having incompetent personnel on the business side of the Athletics Dept. When lacrosse and hockey aren’t dominating and attendance/revenue suffer due to poor marketing being unable to make up for on-ice/field performance lulls, Chopp will see Athletics as a bigger and bigger money-loser in the coming years and she might start cutting funding and maybe even programs…
attendance increase in basketball should help at least
Doubtful hoops attendance goes up even if they’re better next year
The attendance will be up – especially with some of their new players.
will that make up for hockey attendance going down though $-wise?
The hockey schedule looks to be worse for non-con home games so probably down. B-ball tickets are less $$$ than hockey so probably down on revenue but more people at the b-ball games then this past season.
Combination of a bad schedule, resurgence of Avalanche, promotion of Eagles to AHL, exodus of star Pios players/coach to NHL and consistently poor marketing by DU athletics could mean a lot of empty seats at Magness in 2018-19 for hockey
Please call the athletic department with you concerns. Your fixation with marketing has been made countless times. It is getting tiresome and repetitive.
dont think crowds will go down much actually, lotsa goodwill from fans after good 5 years and carle was popular hire seems like
Team will be better than people think next year – attendance will be fine
I think you are right about DU’s flagship sports. Hockey will need a bit of a rebuild and lacrosse will be facing changes – especially with the new shot clock expected next year. However, Matt brown’s box lacrosse background should help when the shot clock pushes individual effort in traffic with the clock running down. Matt Brown is the Tierney heir so we will have to wait and see. And, hopefully the hockey team can reload quickly and David Carle has a relatively short learning curve.
Always the optimist, I think if we can keep our coaching staffs together, there are four sports that may achieve milestones in the next four years.
I think men’s basketball will improve and has the potential to make its first ever NCAA playoff appearance over the next four years. Never easy having to go through Sioux Falls in the Summit League but it can be done. Men’s soccer is starting to recruit high-level foreign players. A 5-0 Spring exhibition win against Northwestern, wins against New Mexico and Creighton on the road – all BEFORE many of the new recruits arrive are a good sign for the future of men’s soccer. Women’s volleyball has a Top 25 goal that they are working toward – and I think they have the talent and coaching to get there. They have shown RPI improvement every year and were in the RPI 30’s before entering Summit League play this past year. Finally, women’s gymnastics with their current talent and incoming talent has a legitimate chance to make noise for DU’s first ‘women’s team national championship’ over the next several years.
Of course, skiing should remain strong, especially with some excellent underclassmen. Still, anyone who has watched skiing nationals knows that you win on a razor’s edge – no single participant can fall apart and have the team win.
My hope is that the administration supports athletics and leaves the best operating division at DU alone and lets them do what they do best – win at a high level. And, I think the new campus capital plan will help lure top prospects to DU – as will the new hockey locker room.
I believe fans can be optimistic about the future but conference championships and winning national championships every year is hardly the norm and difficult to duplicate – especially as a mid-sized university.