Boosters caught up in WSU frenzy
Mar 13, 2007 1:44:58 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Mar 13, 2007 1:44:58 GMT -5
www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2007/03/13/ddn031307wsuboosters.html
Boosters caught up in WSU frenzy
Backers enjoying return on investment as community rallies behind Wright State.
By Marc Katz
Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
FAIRBORN — At some colleges, "boosters" not only help fund athletic programs, they sometimes take them over.
Local businessmen Fred Setzer and Bob Mills act as though they're happy just to have front-row seats for basketball games.
"We always wanted the winning to draw prominence to the university," said Mills, who designed the school's Setzer Pavilion/Mills-Morgan Center basketball practice facility and was part of the interviewing process for coach Brad Brownell.
"My goal was to have two universities (in Dayton) have notoriety," Setzer said. "And I have the greatest respect for UD."
Setzer, an electronics contractor, started his involvement with the school as part of the business advisory board.
"I got caught up in it," Setzer said. "I shared my dream."
Mills, a building contractor, was brought into the mix by the late Erv Nutter, whose name is on the arena where the Raiders play.
"Erv talked to me many, many years ago," Mills said. "He asked me to support the university and support athletics in particular. If athletics were done properly and on a winning scale, it would bring the university notoriety. He took my wife and I to UK and showed us the building he built there with the dream he'd do that at WSU."
Yet while a major arena was built and sports were added, not much was happening on the winning side, except in swimming. There were plenty of 20-win seasons in high-profile men's basketball in the 1980s and a Division II National Championship in 1983, but after going Division I in '86, not much followed.
In 1993, the Raiders qualified for their first Division I NCAA appearance.
Since then, most seasons the Raiders were happy to be above .500. Still, when WSU Athletic Director Mike Cusack broached the idea of a basketball training center with a weight room for all sports, the community — behind Setzer, Mills and partner Sam Morgan — bought the idea.
"Booster or supporter, either one, we want to be there to assist whatever the university wants to do," Mills said. "Of course, it's easier to react after some wins."
On the flip side, boosters who don't get enough wins can make demands, usually costing jobs in athletic departments.
"Bob and Fred are the most visible," Cusack said, "but there are lots of people who you don't see who donate significant amounts of money. Not a single one of them has ever tried to influence me.
"It's amazing; I've had none of that."
Mills and Setzer could sit in a luxury box at the top of the arena, yet choose to sit low to be closer to the rest of the fans and the players.
When last week's Horizon League championship game was finished, both stayed long after the game was over. Mills had taped the game and watched it again at home.
"I was still awake at 4 o'clock trying to come down from the high," he said. "It was just a tremendous experience. And to see all those fans in there. I didn't think we'd ever live that long."
Boosters caught up in WSU frenzy
Backers enjoying return on investment as community rallies behind Wright State.
By Marc Katz
Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
FAIRBORN — At some colleges, "boosters" not only help fund athletic programs, they sometimes take them over.
Local businessmen Fred Setzer and Bob Mills act as though they're happy just to have front-row seats for basketball games.
"We always wanted the winning to draw prominence to the university," said Mills, who designed the school's Setzer Pavilion/Mills-Morgan Center basketball practice facility and was part of the interviewing process for coach Brad Brownell.
"My goal was to have two universities (in Dayton) have notoriety," Setzer said. "And I have the greatest respect for UD."
Setzer, an electronics contractor, started his involvement with the school as part of the business advisory board.
"I got caught up in it," Setzer said. "I shared my dream."
Mills, a building contractor, was brought into the mix by the late Erv Nutter, whose name is on the arena where the Raiders play.
"Erv talked to me many, many years ago," Mills said. "He asked me to support the university and support athletics in particular. If athletics were done properly and on a winning scale, it would bring the university notoriety. He took my wife and I to UK and showed us the building he built there with the dream he'd do that at WSU."
Yet while a major arena was built and sports were added, not much was happening on the winning side, except in swimming. There were plenty of 20-win seasons in high-profile men's basketball in the 1980s and a Division II National Championship in 1983, but after going Division I in '86, not much followed.
In 1993, the Raiders qualified for their first Division I NCAA appearance.
Since then, most seasons the Raiders were happy to be above .500. Still, when WSU Athletic Director Mike Cusack broached the idea of a basketball training center with a weight room for all sports, the community — behind Setzer, Mills and partner Sam Morgan — bought the idea.
"Booster or supporter, either one, we want to be there to assist whatever the university wants to do," Mills said. "Of course, it's easier to react after some wins."
On the flip side, boosters who don't get enough wins can make demands, usually costing jobs in athletic departments.
"Bob and Fred are the most visible," Cusack said, "but there are lots of people who you don't see who donate significant amounts of money. Not a single one of them has ever tried to influence me.
"It's amazing; I've had none of that."
Mills and Setzer could sit in a luxury box at the top of the arena, yet choose to sit low to be closer to the rest of the fans and the players.
When last week's Horizon League championship game was finished, both stayed long after the game was over. Mills had taped the game and watched it again at home.
"I was still awake at 4 o'clock trying to come down from the high," he said. "It was just a tremendous experience. And to see all those fans in there. I didn't think we'd ever live that long."