The Boardroom presents:

 If I ran the Athletic Department....

After over 10 years of relative failure in Division one, it is time for changes.

1) We have too many sports.

• Division 1 FCS teams have more resources than us for football, which must mean were supporting too many sports to adequately support football.  Once we build up football we should have the income base to reestablish other sports.

2) We do not play to our strengths.

• High School athletes in New York play Lacrosse and Field hockey
• Our city is #2 in NHL ratings
• The Baseball season starts in February, and plays mostly during Buffalo's coldest months

3) We do not see ourselves as midwestern

• We don't have rivals with Ohio and Michigan
• Our alumni base tends to go big city on the East Coast, in the South or to the West, not to the midwest.
• Our student population is heavily influenced by New York City and the East Coast.

4) We are a big name results oriented city

• Unlike small schools in small towns, Buffalo has professional options for their dollars.
• We want to play local rivals, big names and get into the tournaments/bowl games.

Using those 4 points as a guideline, if I was Athletic Director of UB I would make the following changes:

1) Discontinue failing programs:

• Men's Baseball
• Men's Cross Country
• Men's Swimming and Diving
• Men's Tennis
• Men's Track and Field
• Men's Wrestling
• Women's Cross Country
• Women's Swiming and Diving
• Women's Track and Field

2) Add new programs:

• Men's Lacrosse
• Men's Ice Hockey
• Women's Field Hockey
• Women's Lacrosse

3) Leave the MAC, Join the MAAC

• In Basketball, if were going to be in a one bid league, we might as well be in a one bid league we can dominate.  Also we'd have games in the New York City Metro area, for recruiting, and Big 3 match ups vs Niagara and Canisius.
• In Hockey we could play in the Atlantic Hockey conference with Niagara and Canisius.

4)  Join the Big East

• As part of the MAAC in basketball, and with our own hockey conference, we would be a little more attractive to the Big East.  We'd be the last piece of the NY metro area puzzle.
• We wouldn't need to join the Big East in Basketball which is already over sized.
• We could join the Big East in all other sports and enjoy a natural rivalry with Pittsburgh and Syracuse.

 5) Save money & build smart

• This move would decrease our scholarship count by 56.6, and add two potential revenue sports in Hockey and Lacrosse.
• Hockey could be played in the Pepsi center.
• UB stadium could remove the track, (no need for it without the track team) and renovate the stadium.
• Alternatively, the university could build a new stadium to house 6 of 18 Buffalo sports ( Football, Men's & women's soccer, men's & women's lacrosse & field hockey.