I didn't know there was so much uncertainty on the roster; thought the recruiting coaches could make a more definitive evaluation based on limited observation before presenting an offer. I think if I were a recruit, I'd want the coaches to let me know no later than the end of the first season if he didn't see a path to me getting much playing time the next year, so I could go somewhere else, maybe to a JC. None of this having one play in one game in 3 years. Everyone wants to be in the movie, even if it's
just to say, "These pretzels are making me thirsty !", but no one wants to just be a tree.

Is title-IX dependent more on maintaining a balance of roster spots or scholarships ?

I'll tell you the reason I am asking so many questions. I've made no secret of the fact that I think UCD has some unnecessary-and maybe not unpopular but under-supported-teams. No teams are likely to be affected in the near future, but in the case of a financial crisis (like another pandemic, or a large and sustained reduction in donations) the University will have to take a look at how they can reduce expenses. In the past year Sonoma State dropped all sports; San Francisco State dropped a couple of their programs. UCD is stronger than both institutions, but it's not completely impervious. There may come a time when they have to drop programs. They did drop wrestling and rowing, so there are precedents.

Since football has so many participants it is the main reason why there are significantly more women's teams for balance. I had previously thought that it was all or nothing when counting participants toward Title-IX, like the whole football team would potentially need to be cut if multiple women's teams were to be removed. However, if you're telling me they could reduce rather than eliminate the football team, and cut the proportional amount of female sports, that changes a lot.

I thought opting in allowed UCD to pay players but didn't obligate them to do so, such that they could do or not do it.

I was thinking dropping significatly below 105 shouldn't be a big issue since they don't use close to that in any season. They basedneed players for reserves and a practice squad but not THAT many.

High schools typically have 40-50 players, don't they ? So, doubling the roster to allow for more position specialization and increased chances of injury against more physical competition I guess ? Davis controls how many scholarships it gives and how many players it has so long as it does not exceed the limits. As a result, the only advatage (it seems to me) to having those 20 extra players is it gives you more bodies for practice games.

If UCD were to reduce its roster to 85 each year, would this have Title-IX implications ?

Well that's nothing. Football doesn't need more than 105 players in any season. Don't at least 1/3 of their players see no game action in any year? I think I saw one of the QB's or former QB's has played one game in 3 yrs ? If it was about honoring existing commitments just bring in fewer new players.

I don't understand what the negative of opting in is for Davis if it just ALLOWS them to pay players. Does it compel them to do anything ?

Do they even still have the Aggie Pack in same form in which it existed in the 90s-00s ? I thought someone on here (Jdur?) said it was either very reduced or no longer existed ? My internet search only turned up articles from the Ron Gould era and earlier.

You're fighting a huge uphill battle to get students interested in, let alone passionate, about sports. If they didn't attend or particularly enjoy them in high school, how do you motivate them ? It used to be that the Aggie Pack could lure lots of students with the promise of free stuff-what were they competing with ?

Now, regarding sports, I think UCD students are more like my very old cat. She used to lose her mind when I'd mention cat treats and even claw me if I didn't get them out fast enough. Now I can mention them, shake the container, and bring the treats to her; but she still doesn't care more than half the time. And like my cat the students of today want to hide under the furniture and dramatically cough up hairballs.

You can promote the sports to death, and it still won't be enough. You need some kind of sports marketing genius to think of something so powerful it can overcome all the suffocating apathy. Build it bigger (spend more money) and make it fancier just doesn't work anymore. Short of telling the students that the opposing team is Israel, which wouldn't have been acceptable even in less P.C. times, I don't know how you get a bunch of yelling students there.

Maybe social activism is the key? If students thought they were doing some good by attending it could combat some of the apathy. You could hypothetically scale back the giveaways to save money + then hold that savings up as a carrot. Students could also donate to the pot. The more students that attend, the greater percentage of that money that goes to a cause of more universal interest, like the homeless. Any leftovers roll over to the next event. Like a 50-50 raffle but you don't win anything.

There are some real challenges with this approach too. For one thing, you would have to only pick causes that are not politically-charged. Homelessness is a fine cause; nobody likes to see or smell them. Providing aid to Gaza presents the possibility of students yelling, "Free Palestine" instead of "Go Ags", and that risks alienating the townies, whose money you want to attract. You already have the students'money.

Also, scaling back giveaways could have a negative effect on local businesses. Would Steve's Pizza have been around as long as it has without the powerful advertising of their product being given away at basketball games to students ? Whenever I go there it is not packed with townies. So perhaps reducing giveaways is not the way to fund social activism. Could UCD raise the funds by eliminating redundant/under-performing sports that are poorly attended and reallocating that slice of the pie ?

As I stated, you need a sports marketing genius to tackle this problem. It's fine to have ideas for the profesionals to kick around, but the members of a message board don't come close to having all the answers.

I do think, if it's not doing so already, the university should be polling students to find out what causes students care about the most, even for just general purposes. The current approach of

THERE IS A FOOTBALL GAME
ADMISSION IS FREE FOR STUDENTS
WE'LL BE GIVING STUFF AWAY

doesn't work so well anymore on its own.

So you manage to get them to come-how do you get them to care about the game ? If they don't care they won't be loud in a way that supports the team. I don't know how you can instill that in people. You either care or you don't. I cared. I cared about UCD winning every contest, even if it was something minor like volleyball. I had cause to dislike volleyball too.

I like how it completely made up players. There are so many on the roster In any season I had to verify they didn't exist. I wonder if it didn't just randomly generate names based on baby naming trends, kind of sarcastically picking up on the "-Ayden or rhymes with it" trend ? Ethan seems like a popular name these days too. Never mind the cousin-marrying, attempted suicide by sled stigma of "Ethan Frome". People don't read books anymore.

North Dakota has a player named Ethan Cole, but he's a defensive lineman. There's an Aidan Williams playing for Washburn University (Division II-Topeka, KS). I bet he'll be thrilled to be a 6'5, 285 lb Division I quarterback. There are two Aidans (spelled exactly the same) on the roster. Such fun for younger Gen X and older millenials to haven given their kids "-ayden" names. Washburn teams are known as the "Ichabods".

I hope you're joking about that. Kadeezy didn't do anything wrong. He's been respectful in his time here.

I was joking about using ChatGPT (an artificial intelligence application for your smartphone) to predict who would win the Big Sky Conference instead of actually playing the games. Looks like he went ahead and asked ChatGPT how well it thought the Aggies would do in the upcoming season. It was fun to see what AI thought would happen.

I've been told that the free version of ChatGPT hasn't been updated in a few years so it may have thought C.J. Hutton was still on the roster.

There you go, folks. Aidan Williams, C.J. Hutton, Will Davis, Marcus Reed, and Ethan Cole will lead the Aggies to an 9-3 record. No reason to go to the UW, ID, or MSU games unless you're a glutton for punishment. Those games are on the road, so enjoy your season tickets ! :joke:

Well done ! If ChatGPT came up with that, it's as good as any predictions any publication or message board poster would come up with it-even if it involves players who aren't on the team.

Because college football just isn't fun if you can't predict the hell out of it. Why even play the games ? Just ask ChatGPT who will win the Big Sky Conference and save a lot of money.

Jessup U. has the public prayer too. It struck me as unusual because other religious-affiliated schools I've been to for games (Saint Mary's, Santa Clara, San Francisco) don't do this. If not for the big chapel, a first-time visitor to University of San Francisco would scarcely know it has a religious affiliation. The campus looks kind of like American River College on a hill in 1970.

I think the different prayer practice is because USF, SMC, SCU are all featured prominently in the cities in which they are located, They attract all kinds of townies who may not be religious. They still want these fans' business. Rocklin is already a bit exclusive . So anyone who follows the private college baseball team from Rocklin all the way to Lincoln to watch them play is probably a close-knit group that knows the drill and is totally good with it.

Did the Catholic kids really play better ?

You're not wrong. People do like to donate to colleges that they think promote their values. GCU does promote its religious aspect in ads, although I don't know how much of that comes through in their many online degree programs.

Grand Canyon has a supreme edge in fundraising because it is for-profit. It can raise huge amounts of money more easily by offering investment opportunities. When you "invest" in UC Davis it is a straight donation. You have to be satisfied with whatever token non-monetary item it is in position to offer you in the way of thanks (opportunities to purchase preferred seating/parking, invitations to meet+ greet events with athletes and coaches, etc.) and the knowledge that you helped a cause you believe in. It's not so much unlike when you donate to charities to feed poor hungry children, and the kids write you thank you letters.

At Grand Canyon they can actually offer you a monetary return, and that's huge. I used to be anti-GCU, but really it's no worse than any other legal highly successful business. It raises and invests money well, then it turns its gains into improving its product for consumers (students) and compensation for investors.

I'm surprised more private colleges don't do this-they are more business than school anyway. You can get a degree anywhere, but private colleges are in the business of selling exclusivity. You want smaller classes ? More gates and less-accessible locations to keep those townies and poor people out ? More rigorous academic standards (not necessarily in all cases) to keep the dummies from disrupting your learning with their dumb questions and general dumbassery ? You want classmates who only believe in your god ? In that bloated tuition you are paying a premium to keep people away.

Also, NIL has further blurred the distinction between college and pro sports. Are we really even rooting for students anymore or just free agents who agree to wear the jerseys of schools we support for a year or two?

Grand Canyon spent over $1 billion to build 10 new athletics facilities not so long ago. They have a dedicated practice facility for basketball and immaculate fields just for their club teams. They don't half-@ss anything and they don't share facilities with anyone. I don't know how big their appetite is to spend several hundred million at least to build a football stadium but also to make the financial commitment to have the program be FBS very quickly. Who is going to want to come to GCU to see FCS football when they could just go see an ASU game ? I could sooner see them taking over the Phoenix Coyotes' facility and adding ice hockey.

GCU has 20 teams without football and they concentrate on doing them all well. To add football would probably require adding 3-4 more women's programs to balance it.

I often think UCD spreads itself too thin with 25 teams (9 men's, 16 women's). There are a few sports (equestrian, field hockey, beach volleyball) that are clearly just there for Title-IX purposes and do not compete in venues intended for the community to really come out and support them; they're like private clubs . Two of the three are also redundant. But it's so difficult to see a path to UCD cutting redundant, under-performing, or low-interest teams when football is around- but you want to keep football. The only clean reduction in sports I could see reasonably happening is discontinuing both golf teams, giving them 23. I think college golf is unnecessary anyway. It's more of an elitist individual sport being passed off as a team sport.

The answer to the early SJSU games turned out to be much simpler- the Mountain West Conference has a 10-run mercy rule after the 7th inning ! Even with that rule the Spartans managed to lose one game in Albuquerque 25-5!!!!

The mercy rule will really help out UC Davis because its pitching is not elite (really never has been) and it's going to get clobbered playing in all these hitter-friendly environments. The only way they really will win conference games on the road is to develop elite hitting so they can win HR derbies. Much easier said than done when half of the games are played at Dobbins Stadium. At least this way when they're getting destroyed they don't have to waste pitchers on the last 1-2 innings. That last part is important too because starting next season the maximum roster size drops from 40 to 34, so they can't carry as many pitchers.

The baseball roster for 2026 will be interesting too. According to UCDAVISAGGIES.COM 9 players were seniors this year, and junior Leighton Helfrick also graduated. So you have 30 potential returning players for 34 spots. However, they have at least 5-6 incoming freshmen per FieldLevel.com, and they're going to need a few junior college transfers too to make up for losing so many players to graduation, so I'm guessing these would-be returners may not be on the roster in 2026

OF Jack Castagnola- 2 years with the team. Barely played as a freshman, did not play as a sophomore.

P Sal Batres-borderline call. He pitched 2 years for UCD and was initially touted as a closer/starting pitcher, but he gave up 10 walks in 3 innings in 4 appearances this year per the UCD website, and had mixed results as a freshman. The talent is there but on a smaller roster I don't how many spots on the pitching staff they'll have.

P Zach Romero-another borderline call. His first two years were pretty decent for essentially getting just mid-week work. This year though he pitched in just 1 game, and it was late in the season, so it makes me wonder if he was injured or just dropped in the pecking order behind the freshmen ?

P Jack Meek-on the bubble. He just didn't pitch very well. On the bright side, junior college transfers tend more often than not to complete their senior seasons at UCD, and they usually improve. Also, he kept the walks to a minimum, which is very good.

P Sam Papp. He's been on the roster for 2 years and hasn't appeared in a game. In baseball that has more meaning than in football.

OF Caden Pinnick-he'll likely be too busy with football. If he were the third QB, a kicker, or punter and not as crucial to the main football practices I could see him playing baseball.

I did not include any of the other freshmen who didn't play this year (Schelp, Ireland) because it's not clear whether that was due to injury or coach's decision.

While I did use playing time as a metric in making this list I left Bonanno off of it because his UCD profile says he had TJ surgery during or prior to his true freshman year. It stands to reason he wouldn't play much this year. Perhaps others on the list have similar situations ?

I've seen 10-12 games at San Josè Municipal Stadium. It gets packed for SJ Giants games because of its affordability for pro baseball, MLB affiliate, and unique promotions like the beer batter (If a designated opposing player strikes out before the 7th certain beers are half price for a limited time.) What is pretty neat is that the outside of the ballpark is decorated with pictures of notable SJ Giants alumni like Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford. It's a pretty old park-built in the 1940's.

So it's a nice place to see a minor league game but looks like a ghost town for the Spartans. They are the secondary tenants, and from looking at the Spartans schedule it looks like they play a lot of day games, and some of their games end early not due to weather (time crunch w/the Giants' practices?) It's a city ballpark just a couple of blocks from the football stadium.

I would recommend for anyone thinking of going there to see an SJ Giants game instead of SJSU, so as to see the place at its best. Also, and this is important, you pretty much need to drive there. There is no public transportation whatsoever that will take you within even 1/2 mile of the place + you definitely don't want to walk there. I thought I was clever just walking from the America's Best Value Inn (closest lodging), avoiding parking. Do not do this ! Like other parts of San Josè there are missing sidewalks + you're forced to walk really close to a large homeless encampment on E. Alma Ave. each way because there's no sidewalk on the other side of the street. Not a nice part of town either. Stay in a nicer area + drive there.

I have been to Peecole Park (Nevada), but it doesn't really have anything on Dobbins Stadium. If Greater Nevada Field (where the Triple-A Reno Aces play) is any indication, the altitude definitely thwarts pitching. The other day the River Cats played an 11inning game there. After 10 innings it was tied 7-7. Sacramento won in the 11th by a score of 15-13 ! Greater Nevada is a nice stadium, but I thought the food sucked. Better just to eat and gamble at "The Row", which is maybe 2 blocks from Greater Nevada and about a mile from the UNR campus.

UNLV's ballpark looks sharp. I was going to include it on a visit to LV during COVID-19 but wound up cancelling it + going to El Paso, where I was able to eat inside Applebee's while all the losers in CA had to socially-distance outside or get take-out. Getting away from CA made the whole trip worthwile. UTEP doesn't have a team but the AAA El Paso Chihuahuas have a really neat-looking park, the interior of which you can completely view from the pedestrian path behind the third base stands. One could hypothetically set up a lawn chair + watch a game as well as anybody in the park It has a much smaller capacity (only 7-8,000) than Sutter Health Park but still has two decks.

Black student enrollment at Salt State in 2024 was 7%

Is Salt State a typo or a new nickname for CSUS ? If it's a new nickname I would be very interested to hear about the origin. Are the students over-seasoning their food ? If a typo you should contact UCD about a potential side job in sports information/marketng because this is better than Bog Biggs Field. When are we going to see IC Davis or UC David from them ?

I wouldn't mind if UCD and Sac State even just stopped playing each other in all sports (assuming no future common conference membership). The temptations to save on travel costs and fill the football stadium once a year are too great to make this happen. It would be nice to get rid of the toxic nastiness around the Causeway Classic. That is a tradition that doesn't need to continue, but people will insist on it sticking around because of history. Maybe this will happen organically if Sac State finds a way to FBS or their current effort fails. bankrupts the athletics dept.

Actually I think they will continue to play each other in Big West men's soccer, right? Well, get rid of it in football, basketball, softball, women's soccer, and baseball at least. It would be nearly impossible to avoid Sac State in gymnastics, track and golf. (Golf is not a real team sport so it should just be cut) If it's a money issue finding a new opponent, just play 1 fewer contest

The next time one of you guys makes a remark about the length of my posts I will refer you to this topic thread, to remind you I'm not the only one. Yeah, sorry-just can't do max. three word reactions to every single football play like some of you because absolutely no one else is watching the game . The reminder may not be necessary though, as half of us will probably be pushing up the daisies before the topic's run its course at this rate. By then Aggie Sports Talk will be mostly ads in Vietnamese about how to properly clean office light fixtures.

I don't agree with the way Sac State is doing things, but I do know they need to do something, so it's good that they at least recognize it. As it stands Sac State is a junior college with more rigorous classes (I'm assuming)and a bigger parking lot. It needs something to set it apart in order to stop being a nothing university. Its selling point right now is that it is located in Sacramento and there are college degree-seeking people in Sacramento. In that sense it is the university equivalent of Denny's, a location of which is just a couple of blocks away if memory serves.

As TrainingRm67 has reminded us, the CSU's primarily exist to serve the communities where they are located, as opposed to private schools, which exist to serve the people who have the wherewithal to purchase exclusivity. For example, Sonoma State, a public school, serves people who like to pay way too much for housing near wine (OMG WINE!!!!!!), but who care way too much or not at all about sports. By canceling sports it is serving its community.

I just wanted to dump on SSU for a moment. Anyway, if Sac State decides to deviate from the CSU model it can have negative consquences. I'm not going to get into the consequences because someone else has/will.

@FullertonBaseballFanThat's disappointing. I was hoping with his coaching record he would be up for a head coaching position somewhere, but at least it's Division I job. He really turned around SF State baseball, which was no small task. Back in the common CCAA days the Golden Gators had a bad team that only seemed to put it together when they played UCD.

I don't think Schifano would have been an upgrade to Tommy Nicholson if the Aggies were in a position to make a coaching change.

I believe Nicholson advanced the program pretty close to its ceiling in 2024, and very few other coaches would have done better. Baseball is one of those D-I men's sports where a lot of potential recruits have serious designs on playing in the pros, not necessarily pursuing a four-year degree. Some go to junior colleges to get drafted early (Bryce Harper). UCD (in baseball) can't really get the athletics-first/only players some of the other Big West programs can and UCI/UCSB have location advantages when pursuing the academically-minded talent. This situation will not get better in the Mountain West.

With the elimination of their baseball program, SF State will likely fulfill its goal to remove the baseball field in favor of green space.

https://goldengatexpress.org/83963/sports/sf-state-to-remove-baseball-field-tennis-court/

Sac State should just cancel all the football nonsense. This is stupid. There is little merit in spending what will turn into hundreds of millions of dollars in the hopes of the football team someday generating enough revenue to justify the expenses.