Model of Success

While watching the UCSB-UCI game Saturday night, I was thinking about the successful models the Gaucho hoops team (Men) could follow to ensure a successful program for years to come. I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before, but the exact model that needs to be replicated is the Lady Gauchos. Kudos to the announcer for popping this seemingly obvious thought into my head.

If Bob Williams needs any ideas on how to run a successful program, he need go no further than down the hall to talk to the man with the plan (below), Mark French.



Under French, the Lady Gauchos have been to the NCAA Tournament 11 times since the 1991-1992 season. Under Bob Williams, the Men's team has been to the NCAA Tournament once in his 10 years as head coach.

If Bob comes out lacking ideas from his meeting with Coach French, he needs to go to the other successful coach in the building, Tim Vom Steeg, the Men's soccer coach. TVS has led the soccer team to multiple NCAA Tournaments since 2002, including a National Championship in 2006.



There you have it Bob. Two coaches with a track record of success. All you have to do is borrow their formula, copy and see the results pay off.

One more thing that is pretty impressive. The Indianapolis Star put together a database of NCAA reporting schools finances for each athletic department. It's from the school year 2004-2005. Here is the link:

http://www2.indystar.com/NCAA_financial_reports/

The only sortable sports are football and basketball, so we can't use soccer from the report. However, during the year on those forms, the Lady Gauchos sold $136,478 worth of tickets as compared to the Men's $62,713. That is damn impressive! Say what you want, but, in reality Men's Basketball has always been more popular than Women's Basketball at most schools. That's just the nature of the beast, regardless, Coach French and his ladies managed to double up the Men's team.

Also impressive is the fact that the Women receive less monetary support from the University than the men. In the end, the Men out-revenued the Women. However, this is mainly a result of the fact that the Men have a sports camp that puts money into their revenue stream while the women have no such thing under their revenue.

The last figure that really stands out to me is the promotion expense. The men's team had about $4,500 to work with, while the women had a little more than $20,000. I don't know about the budgetary workings of the athletic department, but it seems that Coach French has this down right. All in all, the women's team has put up some impressive numbers, both financially and record-wise. I hope one day that the Men's team will suck up to the Women and learn how to right this ship, otherwise, history is doomed to repeat itself.