Anybody Missing Bruce Van De Velde Yet?

[HogDawg]

Here's a good, off-season topic.

I was just looking at our upcoming OOC home football schedules for the next few years and it made me wonder if any of you guys miss Bruce Van De Velde yet?

On BVD's watch, LA Tech hosted some great OOC HOME games against Miss St (in 2008, when BVD was Deputy AD), Navy (2010), Grambling (2010, in Shreveport), Houston (2011), Southern Miss (2011), UNLV (2012), and Texas A&M (2012, in Shreveport). Under Van De Velde, We also had outstanding ROAD games at LSU, Ole Miss, Miss St, Illinois & Virginia (we went 3-2 in these road games, losing the MSU game in OT and leading LSU at halftime.) Oh...and we played a bowl game against TCU.

Since BVD didn't resign until July 1, 2013, I'm sure he was also responsible for our 2013 schedule that included a home game against ARMY at the Cotton Bowl, and a road game at NC State.

Also, BVD hired some pretty good coaches in both football and men's basketball. This is from Wikipedia:

Van De Velde developed and implemented the largest fundraising campaign in LA Tech's athletics history and increased total annual contributions to athletics from $1.6 million in 2008 to over $6 million in 2012. He also hired head coaches Skip Holtz and Sonny Dykes, and men’s basketball coach Michael White. The football program won the Western Athletic Conference title in 2011 and achieved its highest-ever national ranking in 2012. The men’s basketball team won the Western Athletic Conference title in 2013 behind a 27-7 record and the women’s basketball team won WAC titles in 2010 and 2011.

It was also on BVD's watch that LA Tech received the much-needed invite to CUSA and began play in 2013.

That's a pretty darn good resume for anybody at LA Tech. In a span of only 4-5 years, BVD's Tech teams won a football conference title, a men's basketball conference title, two women's BB conference titles, achieved its highest national ranking ever in football and transitioned into CUSA.

So.....do you miss him yet?

[faninmonroe]

Here come the DD supporters....


...and can't blame them - DD was responsible for most, if not all of the positives in your thread.

[PawDawg]

Miss. St. - Dooley

Navy - Not certain, but I think it was Oakes...same with Army that was moved to Dallas by BVDV (THAT worked out well)

A&M in S'Port could have been in Ruston. BVDV moved it to S'Port

Grambling in S'Port was a cluster and it was done by BVDV

Houston and USM (pre C-USA) were Dooley

UNLV was BVDV (I think)

We didn't play lsu in BR while BVDV was AD

Ole Miss, Illinois, NCSt, and Virgina were all BVDV

BVDV did not hire Holtz

[HogDawg]

Miss. St. - Dooley

Navy - Not certain, but I think it was Oakes...same with Army that was moved to Dallas by BVDV (THAT worked out well)

A&M in S'Port could have been in Ruston. BVDV moved it to S'Port

Grambling in S'Port was a cluster and it was done by BVDV

Houston and USM (pre C-USA) were Dooley

UNLV was BVDV (I think)

We didn't play lsu in BR while BVDV was AD

Ole Miss, Illinois, NCSt, and Virgina were all BVDV

BVDV did not hire Holtz

BVD was Dooley's Deputy AD --which really means he was the acting AD while Dooley was coaching-- back in 2008. We did play at LSU in 2008, but I'm sure that was probably scheduled by Dooley the previous year (2007).

[BOSTON]

BVDV did not hire Holtz

Unless I'm missing something...BVDV WAS the man in charge when Holtz was hired.. He might have been on the way out... But Tommy inherited him if my memory serves...

[RhythmDawg]

Unless I'm missing something...BVDV WAS the man in charge when Holtz was hired.. He might have been on the way out... But Tommy inherited him if my memory serves...

neither hired him.

[dawgs1]

neither hired him.

This is true. Athletic Council & Prez.

[dawgs1]

Our problem is that "THE TECH" cannot market. IMO we should hire an assistant AD from a power 5 program (with like circumstances as us). MS St, TX A&M, OK St., or K-St. to name a few. This individual must me confident & aggressive. This individual must also seek feed-back from alumni, former athletes, fans and obviously his bosses. Must schedule proactively in all sports. No more FCS football games. Better to play neutral FBS games in the larger markets where we recruit. This individual must have the ability to utilize the inexpensive to free resources around campus (think outside of the box).

We have a college of business that is not being utilized for sports marketing. I could go on & on. Corporate sponsorship seems to be an afterthought. 10K alumni in Shreveport, 5K in Dallas and another 5K in Houston. TV & internet sports production is another afterthought. We don't even have coaches shows widely broadcast. This is a joke. We are still operating like we were when we were in the Southland Conference.

[Dogsince65]

lets play Marc Antony-- "the good that men do are buried with their bones." (paraphrase) Well done HogDawg -- I have never felt he was the main reason for the I-Bowl fiasco...your words would look pretty good on a bio===

[RhythmDawg]

The good things that BVDV did were good. The bad things that BVDV did...were bad. The very bad things that BVDV did...the average fan doesn't know about.

[HogDawg]

The good things that BVDV did were good. The bad things that BVDV did...were bad. The very bad things that BVDV did...the average fan doesn't know about.

What does THAT mean? Seriously?

[RhythmDawg]

What does THAT mean? Seriously?

It means he treated some alumni and some faculty like crap...including some alumni who gave a bunch of money to Tech...and he lied to some alumni, and he used money donated by some alumni inappropriately for things other than what it was given for...and it really pissed me off. One of those alumni won't give another dime to Tech until he gets an apology from the athletic department and the president, and considering those positions have changed, that apology likely isn't coming.

[maverick]

It means he treated some alumni and some faculty like crap...including some alumni who gave a bunch of money to Tech...and he lied to some alumni, and he used money donated by some alumni inappropriately for things other than what it was given for...and it really pissed me off. One of those alumni won't give another dime to Tech until he gets an apology from the athletic department and the president, and considering those positions have changed, that apology likely isn't coming.

How hard is that to do? "I am sorry you were treated that way and I can assure you that will not happen on my watch."

[RhythmDawg]

How hard is that to do? "I am sorry you were treated that way and I can assure you that will not happen on my watch."

considering the current AD and President have no idea it occurred, pretty difficult. But hey, maybe they will read this.

Edit: there is no expectation of an apology from the current administration, and there is no lack of confidence that things will be done the right way.

I am working on a little project that, we hope, will morph into a major project. Hopefully, once the President signs off on the entire project, it will be announced...including on this board. The first money has already been spent and much more committed to be spent...not just given. I already have the individual I was writing about committed to this project. So all should be well soon anyway.

[PawDawg]

What does THAT mean? Seriously?

This was pretty big

I miss his not-so-anonymous posts on here, comically attempting to blow his own horn.

Yes, we have proof.