Bradley Adidas deal

[tornado]

could it be that making our long term deal with adidas could yet be a mistake...
...check the headlines - lots of schools are quite unhappy and spending millions to get out of those deals and go with Nike..

https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/618150946015719424

https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/618147604002664448

Michigan's deal with adidas was/is the "most lucrative" such deal in all of college sports yet Michigan is still jettisoning their adidas deal for reasons that relate to their recent dropoff in athletic success...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/vincentfrank/2015/07/06/university-of-michigan-expected-to-switch-from-adidas-to-nike/

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2515875-why-move-from-addidas-to-nike-matters-for-michigan-football

[Old Coach]

could it be that making our long term deal with adidas could yet be a mistake...
...check the headlines - lots of schools are quite unhappy and spending millions to get out of those deals and go with Nike..

https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/618150946015719424

https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/618147604002664448

Michigan's deal with adidas was/is the "most lucrative" such deal in all of college sports yet Michigan is still jettisoning their adidas deal for reasons that relate to their recent dropoff in athletic success...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/vincentfrank/2015/07/06/university-of-michigan-expected-to-switch-from-adidas-to-nike/

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...higan-football

The cited decisions all seem to be football driven. Bradley's decision to go with Adidas was partially driven by soccer.

[tornado]

Nike virtually "controls" much of the AAU programs - thus, like it not, does control where the kids might land in college.
FB is the biggie for most schools, and maybe the shoe affiliation won't matter but it is almost an endless talking point..

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/basketball/2014/10/17/analysis-nike-schools-land-top-recruits/17458319/

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/04/aau-basketball-scandals

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6271764/15458395

[Old Coach]

Nike virtually "controls" much of the AAU programs - thus, like it not, does control where the kids might land in college.
FB is the biggie for most schools, and maybe the shoe affiliation won't matter but it is almost an endless talking point..

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/basketball/2014/10/17/analysis-nike-schools-land-top-recruits/17458319/

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/04/aau-basketball-scandals

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/e...71764/15458395

I recall this being the case with D. Rose coming out of high school. His AAU team was wearing Adidas, and many said that there was no way that he would end up at a Nike school, like Illinois. Sure enough, he ended up at an Adidas school in Memphis.

[tornado]

Indiana University just announced they will let their current deal with adidas expire..and will...
"explore" other options that are more "lucrative"

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/indiana/2015/07/07/iu-exploring-options-lucrative-apparel-contract/29834051/

http://wishtv.com/2015/07/11/iu-exploring-its-options-for-its-next-apparel-contract/

obviously programs with winning teams, that draw arenas full of fans and sell a lot of merchandise command the best deals....
I'd have to think our bargaining power has shrunk some over the past few years with declining success, attendance, and fan base....
but we're poised to make a comeback so maybe we can get in on the "lucrative"

[Old Coach]

Indiana University just announced they will let their current deal with adidas expire..and will...
"explore" other options that are more "lucrative"

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/indiana/2015/07/07/iu-exploring-options-lucrative-apparel-contract/29834051/

http://wishtv.com/2015/07/11/iu-exploring-its-options-for-its-next-apparel-contract/

obviously programs with winning teams, that draw arenas full of fans and sell a lot of merchandise command the best deals....
I'd have to think our bargaining power has shrunk some over the past few years with declining success, attendance, and fan base....
but we're poised to make a comeback so maybe we can get in on the "lucrative"

No doubt that winning means a lot in these deals. Kansas is entering their 3rd year of a 6 year, $26 million agreement with Adidas.

Louisville's Adidas deal is a massive $39 million for 5 years that started a little over a year ago.

[tornado]

we need to get where Wichita has gotten in the past few years - they were worse than us in 2006-2009 - they have gone up from there & we have gone way down..
you have to look at the major moves that were made in 2007, 2008 & 2009-11 as the beginning of all our decline

[Old Coach]

we need to get where Wichita has gotten in the past few years - they were worse than us in 2006-2009 - they have gone up from there & we have gone way down..
you have to look at the major moves that were made in 2007, 2008 & 2009-11 as the beginning of all our decline

I guess I don't understand what that has to do with the Adidas deal. I'm sure it isn't the most lucrative deal, but at the time, Bradley had no universal apparel and shoe deal at all. Every program was wearing something different, and there was no brand connectivity. In a nutshell, the deal that Bradley has is better than what they had before. Can it get better with improvements on the playing field? Absolutely. That said, I know of at least 1 coach who will fight tooth and nail to keep Adidas.

[tornado]

our ability to swing a deal or market BU's brand has everything to do with how we are positioned in the marketplace - fan base, attendance, support, donations, tickets sold, numbers of fans who show up at road games and tournaments and wear BU apparel, and the more vague sense of national prestige (like being on Sports Illustrated or in the Sweet 16) -

ALL of those factors were at historic HIGHS just 6-8 years ago and then plummetted to historic lows by 2015 -
Just saying - if Bradley had the opportunity to work a new deal with Nike, adidas, etc...
we'd now be in a way worse position and be forced to take a way worse deal because of bad decisions - just sayin'..

[Old Coach]

our ability to swing a deal or market BU's brand has everything to do with how we are positioned in the marketplace - fan base, attendance, support, donations, tickets sold, numbers of fans who show up at road games and tournaments and wear BU apparel, and the more vague sense of national prestige (like being on Sports Illustrated or in the Sweet 16) -

ALL of those factors were at historic HIGHS just 6-8 years ago and then plummetted to historic lows by 2015 -
Just saying - if Bradley had the opportunity to work a new deal with Nike, adidas, etc...
we'd now be in a way worse position and be forced to take a way worse deal because of bad decisions - just sayin'..

Fair enough... I guess I'm just a little more willing to credit Mike Cross with striking the deal that he did, considering there was no agreement in place during the "historic highs".

[tornado]

I just hope we can acknowledge and learn from the horrible decisions & mistakes of the recent past and avoid making those same destructive moves in the future - we almost killed a Top 40-50 basketball program and nearly drove it into DIII
..yet I still sense a small pocket of deluded, marginally supportive fans (not on this message board) who think the past 4-5 years was a great era and who think those who made all the bad decisions are heroes..

[Old Coach]

I just hope we can acknowledge and learn from the horrible decisions & mistakes of the recent past and avoid making those same destructive moves in the future - we almost killed a Top 40-50 basketball program and nearly drove it into DIII
..yet I still sense a small pocket of deluded, marginally supportive fans (not on this message board) who think the past 4-5 years was a great era and who think those who made all the bad decisions are heroes..

Seriously? I don't know anyone who thinks that the last 5 years of Bradley basketball were a great era. I certainly don't run in those circles. I haven't spoken to a single person who wasn't greatly disappointed.

As for the D-III thing, I don't believe that was even remotely likely, but it makes for a great story.

[Chico]

Maybe not DivIII, but moving all home game to a gym would have put the program close to DivII.

[tornado]

Seriously? I don't know anyone who thinks that the last 5 years of Bradley basketball were a great era. I certainly don't run in those circles. I haven't spoken to a single person who wasn't greatly disappointed.

As for the D-III thing, I don't believe that was even remotely likely, but it makes for a great story.

well, then stay away as I generally do (except when I want a little humor) from certain places that those sentiments still actively exist...
... several people who posted (over a 2-year span) & participated in the discussion thread elsewhere titled "President Glasser -Best President in school history"
continued to applaud and support the very decisions that sank Bradley - and even now are still strangely arguing and contorting themselves into bizarre arguments that the problems were NOT the admin we had from 2008-09 thru 2015 but that the full blame should go elsewhere - even on people who haven't been at BU for 6 or 8 or even 15 years (some even still blame Mo for current acute disasters)!

[Da Coach]

And though I would not put anyone here into this category, and we'd all like to move past this, there were (and still are) a few perimeter fans who proclaimed every move by Michael Cross and Joanne Glasser as "great moves", when most real fans could see clearly that they were driving Bradley basketball to unprecedented failure, and the athletic department into virtual bankruptcy. Some even proclaimed Glasser to be the greatest president in Bradley history.