I think the word is out in Canada that we have a Canadian AD and what that would mean to a Canadian recruit. Support!! Plus, a real world class coach in Jen Gross. We are so lucky to have her.

Does anyone know if Chima will graduate with his class next month? Or has he just left school in the wake of all of his problems. I and i know most of all of you agree that he was a big star for the Ags when he was here. Lots of charisma. So sad to see how it ended. I do hope that he has a successful career ahead of him. I would like to keep track of his whereabouts and life. Can anyone help me?

Our club equestrian teams are completely self-funded. The membership fees (hunter jumper only) are as follows: Dues: $92 per quarter; IHSA membership: $45; Team Horse Use: $200 per quarter; Coaching fees (mandatory 8 lessons) $190 per quarter; Insurance: $10; Show fees: $19.50 per day; Hotel: $30 per night; Gas: team shares cost. So figure $600 per quarter on average. Kastel Denmark sponsors the team. It makes equestrian apparel but apparently does not supply the team with unis. Members are expected to share their clothing, helmets, and boots, etc. with team mates! Thus, this sport is very expensive and the fact that just the hunter jumper team has 35 members is a real credit to the organizations popularity. How the Varsity Team is funded will be one of the first questions the new coach will have to answer. Hope Dr. Blue mentioned this to the Addidas folks during his negotiations!

Sorry to follow, but will addidas supply the tack and equipment for the horse athletes? Up to 20 horses needed for a major NCEA event. Average cost of tack is roughly $2000 per horse, this is an expensive sport.

UC Davis announced today a new equipment contract with adidas. Addidas to supply uniforms and equipment shoes etc. for all ICA sports. That’s a lot of equipment and amounts to a lot of money. According to IndyStar that could amount to close to $2000 per football player, if you include practice gear, extra shoes for different surfaces, mouth guards, under garments, etc. But addidas does not make equestrian gear which for English competitors is hugely expensive. For example: boots- $250-300; competition jacket- $249-350; helmet- $400-500; breeches- $85; gloves- $50; and for some jumping events an inflatable body protector is required- $250-350. So, somewhere in the $1500 to 2500 range for each athlete. Western much less, but still significant. So I guess addidas just has to write a check to the athletes to cover these costs? It would be interesting to learn just how this will be handled.

I know we are very young. Struggling for wins. But competitive and don’t give up. I do have a question about Trautner, our ambidextrous young pitcher. Why no playing time. Did he not work out? Injuries? Or just young and untested? I would come to a game just to see him in action. Better right or left? The stats do not tell that story.

This single event may just be enough to save the program. Good luck Lumberjacks!

It turns out, UC not so clean. UCI did the same thing a few years back by creating out of whole cloth a nonexsistent FAKE “UCI indoor woman’s track team!”. This was a few woman and not even close to FAUs fraud, so not so upsetting. Also, i have to clarify this: Title IX reports go the Dept. of Education, not the NCAA. My mistake. But with our new Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, I wonder if she even cares about this stuff.

Well it now appears that our addition of these 2 new sports was just a complete waste of money. Washington Post reports this morning that Florida Atlantic University had the same problem we did. Not enough woman athletes. Not good under Title IX. So rather than adding sports, FAU simply added woman athletes- FAKE ONES that is. 50+/- all woman’s track teams members and submitted this new figure to the NCAA. So no Title IX problem. But there was a problem when a Palm Beach Post reporter found out about it. FAUs response: Oops, “clerical error.” OK, nice try, but it sure worked for awhile!

Sorry to follow, but, by the way, remember the ADs reference to “philanthropic support” necessary to pick this sport? My niece says that two of her competitors in her equestrians meet in SoCal were named Jennifer Gates and Eve Jobs. Yes, note those last names for the record. Yes, the Gates and the Jobs daughters! Gates at Stanford has no equestrian team. Do not know about Eve. Further info to come. . . .

My equestrian competitor niece just came back from a big SoCal equestrian event; says that our move to add equestrian as a varsity sport was the talk of the meet. Not surprising that there is much speculation is that we will attract a very large and qualified pool of head coaching applicants as well as student athletes. What i did find surprising is that she said there was also a lot of talk about people wanting to donate horses to the program= as sort of a “thank you” for adding this sport. This is apparently a very big deal for the equestrian world. These people also tend to have a lot of money and are not above showing their appreciation by spending it. Interestingly, one competitor she knows (from California) is on a Texas college equestrian team is thinking of transferring to UCD, but wonders if she has to sit out a year. Does anyone know if she would have to sit in this situation?

I seem to see some similarity in the recruitment strategies of both hawk and les. Go high when you can, but look at the edges for the players who do not or have not been +3 +4 which are actually out of out range anyway both in MBB and FB. Maybe they have a beer together at the grad from time to time.

Does he have to sit for a year as a transfer?

I noticed on the baseball news today that the pitcher shown (no number) is wearing the old style “CA” hat which was the traditional hat used for decades of aggie baseball. Is the team now wearing this style hat again? I definelty prefer this hat to the “UCD” version.

Does anyone know what’s up with Jackson? Was he injured? Did he even play? Is he on the squad still?

What about Matt Neufeld? Has not played for us yet, but has a lot of history. Seems like he could really add some muscle inside. Canadian and Aussie players seem to play with a no fear attitude that we sometimes lack. Maybe Fuller as well. The English are a tough breed.

Do we need an ICA spokesperson? She’s here and near and very good!

I agree with blue.. what is an interesting question is: how do we get these foreign players? I can’t imagine Les traveling to the UK to actually see this guy. Is it possible our budget can sustain this? Or as is more likely this is all done on line with consults with the UK guys. Great job by Les to get this very good player!

This guy looks like the real deal! I did not think we had anymore open spots or scholarships on the team. Is he the next Ogubalu?

Zither, you are correct. They just nailed (supposedly) the long sought after “east area rapist” and it turns out he went to sac state and became a cop, then a serial rapist and killer. Can you just imagine what the bee would do with this story if he went to UC Davis?