Crusader Fund profile

[VULB#62]

I just got my first Crusader Fund update from ML.  I was shocked.

In that report were two illustrations of the giving profile. 

    (1) A breakdown of the Crusader Club contributors: The total for all contributing members of the Crusader Club was an impressive (drum role please) 259 contributors between July and September

    (2) The spread of gifts were as follows: Unspeciified 45%, Basketball 25%, Football 3%, all other sports 6% combined

259 contibutors    That's disgusting, depressing and (what's another D word?)  That projects to about 1,036 members.  There should be 4X as many members for starters.  No wonder the FITT program tanked. This is embarrassing.  All along I was thinking that at least most graduating athletes would be contributing, but it sure doesn't seem so.  The total donation spread in the quarter was:

$5000+ = 10
$4999 - $3K  = 3
$2999 - $1K = 34
$999 - $200 = 117
< $199.00 = 95

Good grief, the minimum membership is under $199 and we can't even generate 100 donors for <$199.00 in a quarter. 

But it was nice to find out that a donor has fiunded a new men's and women's golf team room and indoor practice area for both teams in the ARC in the the former Wrestling Mat Room, located on the south side of the building, above the Physical Education Department offices.

[valpotx]

That is cool that they are going to use the old wrestling room as a practice room for golf!  I assume it will just be some form of netting to contain any of their swings, and not any type of virtual golf system?  I used to like looking at the former wrestling athlete pictures of old while we did our workouts in that area, to see some of our past athletic heritage.  Golf is a great way for us to win some championships, as most golfers want a quality education, which they will get at Valpo 

[valporun]

I guess now that the wrestling room will be intended for the golf team, where does Coach Straubel and the cross country team meet for any news or practice details and stretching now? When I was on the team from 1999-2004, we met in the wrestling room, then when track season started, we moved to the indoor track space for warmups and meetings. At least the room is being repurposed appropriately, and like valpotx assumes, it will hopefully have some netting or virtual golf screens to practice driving and iron work, not just some cheap putting greens like you can buy at some of your age old department stores or Dick's Sporting Goods.

[jetz]

I just got my first Crusader Fund update from ML.  I was shocked.

In that report were two illustrations of the giving profile. 

    (1) A breakdown of the Crusader Club contributors: The total for all contributing members of the Crusader Club was an impressive (drum role please) 259 contributors between July and September

    (2) The spread of gifts were as follows: Unspeciified 45%, Basketball 25%, Football 3%, all other sports 6% combined

My report also listed baseball getting 18% of the funds that were specifically designated for one sport.  I was shocked to see that when softball, etc. couldn't generate even 1% from the donors.  I wonder if the fundraising in baseball's case is skewed by the push to fund the Dominican Republic trip for the team over Thanksgiving.  This trip was proposed and funding started in the Fall of 2012 under the Woodson administration, and it is still being completed as Schmack & company see it through to completion.  There is a booster planning to travel to the DR for the week with the team.  In any case, it's surprising for me to see baseball second only to basketball's 25% in Valpo sports donor dollars.  I'm just hopeful that we see some of that money on campus and not just for the DR.

[VULB#62]

Regardless of whether it was skewed by the DR trip, it points to support for a winning program  I find it interesting as well that Men's Tennis is only one percentage point behind football.  If you add Women's Tennis, the two equal Football. Tennis is on the up-swing so that makes sense. 

[usc4valpo]

3% for an expensive sport like football?  That's interesting.  Somehting is not right here

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Somehting is not right here

you said it.

even with the 18% jetz helpfully provided, we're still only up to 97%...what is this, Lake County fundraising?

[valpo64]

It should not be surprising that baseball gifts only  trail basketball in dollar support because b-ball and baseball are the most visible sports in the eye of the general Valpo supporter,  especially after the last few years when both sports qualified for the NCAA tourney, appearing on network TV, draft picks, etc.

[valporun]

Maybe we can all send some funds to the Crusader Fund for a professional button pusher to make sure that audio and video feeds are up when the game starts? Once again, the feeds are down at 1PM, when the football game should be starting, according to the website calendar on the homepage.

[valpotx]

Glad to help baseball's cause!

[VUOR63]

How many scholarships does baseball give out?  The football players are paying their own tuition when they play and are often paying off student loans 10-15 years after school.  Why would they want to donate to a school they are still paying for?

[valpotx]

I believe that you are still allowed 11 total scholarships in baseball.  When I was playing, I believe that we only utilized half of that amount (5.5), but they have since been fully funded at the 11 limit.  This is out of a roster of around 35 players on average, so many get partial scholarships.

[jetz]

11.2 scholarships is the limit for D1 baseball, and Valpo is close to that if nut fully funded.  As Tx stated, most players are on some sort of a partial scholarship.  The minimum you can give a player is 25%.  You can only pay 28 players out of a max of 35 on the roster.  I believe we are at 33 now for 2014.  This is completely inadequate funding, and there has been a push by many--especially minorities in power at the MLB level--to increase the scholarships in baseball to look something more like football.  Many feel that inner city kids will play football or basketball at the college level since it's all or nothing in those sports. (At schools that offer football scholarships!)

[valpotx]

I think that would be a great idea to get more kids to continue playing baseball from areas that are more basketball or football-friendly.  Even if you bump it to 15-20 scholarships, that makes such a large difference for around 300 NCAA D-1 baseball programs!  Then again, it can cause a lot of problems in regards to Title IX, unless you did the equivalent increase in softball (which I would be on board with as well).

[usc4valpo]

I am suprised about the low scholarship levels for baseball.