New hire raises profile of WSU basketball

[Raider Country]

New hire raises profile of WSU basketball
Brad Brownell brings Division I coaching experience to Raiders
By Kyle Nagel

Dayton Daily News

By luring away a sitting Division I head coach and bumping his base pay by about $65,000 per year from its previous coach, Wright State University has made a significant commitment to winning with Brad Brownell. After four years as the head coach at North Carolina-Wilmington, Brownell assumed the WSU job last week as, most agree, a great choice by WSU Athletic Director Mike Cusack.

Here's how he stacks up to University of Dayton coach Brian Gregory, and how the two athletic departments compare:

Category Brad Brownell
Age 37
Head coaching seasons 4
Record 83-40 (.675)
NCAA tournament appearances 2
Seasons as an assistant 11
Mentor Jerry Wainwright
Category WSU
Full-time undergraduates 10,831
Men's basketball revenue 2004-2005 $1,545,012
Athletic department revenue 2004-2005 $7,889,692
Athletic department profit 2004-2005 $0 98
Average attendance 2005-2006 5,046
Basketball venues Nutter Center (11,019)

Category Brian Gregory
Age 39
Head coaching seasons 3
Record 56-37 (.602)
NCAA tournament appearances 1
Seasons as an assistant 13
Mentor Tom Izzo
Category UD
Full-time undergraduates 6,675
Men's basketball revenue 2004-2005 $7,882,979
Athletic department revenue 2004-2005 $15,310,765
Athletic department profit 2004-2005 $481,998
Average attendance 2005-2006 12,423
Basketball venues UD Arena (13,409)

www.daytondailynews.com/sports/content/sports/ud/daily/0409udwsu2.html

[wsu97]

We don't need to play UD to validate our program and I have never understood why so many fans are obsessed with them. I would rather see Wright State schedule Xavier than UD.

[observer]

NCAA victories in the past 10 years.

UWM - 3
Butler - 2
Detroit - 1
Dayton - 0

I'll take wins over the first three any day.

[observer]

Sorry Butler, I think you might actually have three NCAA tourney wins in the past 10 years.

[BBall Fan]

UD's last encounter with a Horizon League Foe:

2001 NIT at UD Arena

Detroit 59
Dayton 42

Enough said.

[Pauley]

"We don't need to play UD to validate our program and I have never understood why so many fans are obsessed with them. I would rather see Wright State schedule Xavier than UD."

I think WSU beating UD three times, especially in 1990, satisfied a lot us. Prior to that, I kind of had that intense desire to play UD because I knew that WSU could be competitive with Dayton. Now that WSU has won a few times, it isn't as important to me. Perhaps if you are working with someone who is rubbing UD's recent success in your face, then that would definitely be annoying to a passionate and proud Wright State basketball fan. As someone who completed a master's program at UD, my feelings have softened a lot too. I've always respected UD basketball, but I sensed some of the arrogance in years past that some posters often bring up. I would rather see WSU play other up and coming programs than focus its energies on reviving a rivalry that apparently only one side even wants.

[raider fan]

Well put Pauley! Like you said, since we've won almost half the games we've play against them I personally don't feel the need to prove anything.

I always felt that by UD not wanting to play us speaks volumes about their concerns of losing to WSU. Lets be honest, UD would like nothing better then to put its "little brother" in it place but they have this fear/reality check that little brother is growing up and is now a threat to big brother. I kinda take it as a compliment.

[SilkySouthpaw]

I agree. I think in certain ways the Gem City Jam would be cool again just because we would have a fierce rival again. But other than that, I don't want to play them at all. You know, this hire of BB and us being talked about in way that we are, is making a lot of UD fans that I know pee down their leg!

Hey Pauley I like your avitar. I got one up over on this board too.

[cincyraider]

First off Silky that is a pretty good avatar ;D
Second, the real loser when the Gem City Jam was cancelled was the community. The Gem City Jam has tremendous potential in terms of generating money for local charities. Not to mention the excitement of a rivalry for us fans. I think it was a shame it was cancelled. Even the DDN realizes that.

[Big D]

If people really cared about this game, it would be played again. The truth is not enough people cared about the game when we were playing it, let alone enough interest to bring it back now. The last few games were nowhere close to being sellouts for WSU or UD. There has never been a real push to get the game going again either. Several times a year, some WSU fans bring it up on Raiderroundball or on UDpride. The DDN prints a story on it every year or every other year, but the community as a whole doesn't care.

[cincyraider]

Big D you are probably right. I haven't lived in Dayton for a quite some time so it's hard for me to pickup a vibe on how the average Daytonian may view this. Too bad for Dayton though. The Crosstown Shootout generates alot of money for local charities.

[JohnL]

The problem with some fans is they have selective memory.

Dayton played Detroit one year after the game mentioned above and won 80-69.

[JohnL]

Silky,

Why would a UD fan pee down their leg. I think their main concern is what is going on at Xavier.

I understand your hatred for UD but I really don't think they are that worried about it.

[Guest]

Xavier could not care less about Dayton. X owns UD!

[JohnL]

I wasn't talking to you.


They do not own UD. UD has a 20 game lead on them in wins and they pretty much split every year.


Who does WSU own? Cederville?