Jeff Goodman ranks the Big Ten's chain of command

SelectionSunday

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Minnesota 10th of 14.

A sampling of comments. ...

Where they win: “The new practice facility is phenomenal, and you can sell Minneapolis and St. Paul. It’s an unbelievable, underrated city. They also have a good fan base.” – Big Ten assistant coach

The knock: “The weather. It blows. And unless you are really nostalgic, Williams Arena.” – Big Ten assistant coach

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This weather bullshat is bullshat. That's lazy work by Goodman - merely using opposing coaches' negative recruiting tactics to populate his column space.
 

Admit I've never been to any big10 arena besides Williams. Ive always really enjoyed Williams Arena. Is it really a negative for the gophers compared to other arenas?
 

Admit I've never been to any big10 arena besides Williams. Ive always really enjoyed Williams Arena. Is it really a negative for the gophers compared to other arenas?

I've been to Welsh-Ryan in Evanston and Carver-Hawkeye in Iowa City. I suppose this could always be homer bias, but Williams blows away both of them. I can't speak to the rest of the league.
 

I've been to Welsh-Ryan in Evanston and Carver-Hawkeye in Iowa City. I suppose this could always be homer bias, but Williams blows away both of them. I can't speak to the rest of the league.

I have been to most of the big 10 arenas and ours is the best. Where we do not match up is the number and enthusiasm of the students.
 


This weather bullshat is bullshat. That's lazy work by Goodman - merely using opposing coaches' negative recruiting tactics to populate his column space.

So true. I grew up in Madison, went to school in Minnesota and now live in Chicago (just north of Evanston). The winters have sucked in all 3 places, and I know they're no better in Champaign, Iowa City, West Lafayette, Ann Arbor, East Lansing, State College and Piscataway. They may be moderately more tolerable in Bloomington, Lincoln and College Park, but none of those are LA, Tempe or Coral Gables, FFS. Such a tired trope.
 

So true. I grew up in Madison, went to school in Minnesota and now live in Chicago (just north of Evanston). The winters have sucked in all 3 places, and I know they're no better in Champaign, Iowa City, West Lafayette, Ann Arbor, East Lansing, State College and Piscataway. They may be moderately more tolerable in Bloomington, Lincoln and College Park, but none of those are LA, Tempe or Coral Gables, FFS. Such a tired trope.

I don’t know about Lincoln, but Omaha is cold as hell. Windier than Mpls and the general isolation of the area makes it way worse.
 

Here is the graphic with the rankings, for those who are curious.
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So true. I grew up in Madison, went to school in Minnesota and now live in Chicago (just north of Evanston). The winters have sucked in all 3 places, and I know they're no better in Champaign, Iowa City, West Lafayette, Ann Arbor, East Lansing, State College and Piscataway. They may be moderately more tolerable in Bloomington, Lincoln and College Park, but none of those are LA, Tempe or Coral Gables, FFS. Such a tired trope.

Goodman should have interviewed Lewis and Clark, who much preferred the subzero cold of Fort Mandan to the rainy hell of Fort Clatsop. He should interview our late summer houseguests from College Station. Even our cool, wet late summer weather was a welcome relief for them from the incessant heat and humidity back home. We got it better than we think, people.
 



Admit I've never been to any big10 arena besides Williams. Ive always really enjoyed Williams Arena. Is it really a negative for the gophers compared to other arenas?

I've been to Crisler, very underwhelming, no thanks, give me the old crusty barn any day.
 

Admit I've never been to any big10 arena besides Williams. Ive always really enjoyed Williams Arena. Is it really a negative for the gophers compared to other arenas?
The Kohl Center is a Communist Bunker. Williams is much better...except for...bathrooms...
 

Don't take the quotes out on Goodman. He's just reporting highlights of what they said.
 

I think the aforementioned nostalgia is showing in this thread. I love the Barn, but it is the next athletic building that needs a renovation.
 



I think the aforementioned nostalgia is showing in this thread. I love the Barn, but it is the next athletic building that needs a renovation.
It's defy needs some upgrades, but it should stay at all costs

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If you're going to do Williams "right," I think you'd have to expand it both north and south, which I think would mean closing 4th Street - maybe converting it to a pedestrian plaza. There's actually some positive potential to that, but you'd have to replace/reroute the function of 4th in some way - probably shifting it over to 5th. You're eliminating a lot of pavement, so it would seem disastrous from the standpoint of traffic capacity and flow, unless we got really creative, which I suppose we could do. This is scary and exciting at the same time.
 

Couldn't that last category be flipped around, call it academic-prestige, and considered a positive? Looks like we beat Becky!
 

This weather bullshat is bullshat. That's lazy work by Goodman - merely using opposing coaches' negative recruiting tactics to populate his column space.

I wish it were, but it's really true in the eyes of most people from out of state. Not that everyone knows the weather everywhere, but if you were to ask people to rank states by weather, we would be near the very bottom. Do you dispute that? Remember, we're not talking about our personal opinions--we're talking about potential recruits. Weather is going to be a big negative for most of them, and certainly only a positive for a very small portion (probably mostly just Minnesotans).
 

I agree that many of the newer Big Ten venues are underwhelming and thus make Williams Arena, even with its warts competitive. The only Big Ten venues that are clearly better are:
-Maryland
-Nebraska
-Michigan State (maybe due to fans)

Wisconsin has an uninspiring tomb, OSU is a boring 1990s hockey arena, the rest are all relics as well, just more recent relics, $ spent putting lipstick on aging pigs. (illinois- best of the group, Crisler, Mackey, Carver-H, Penn State swung and missed, Indiana- should have bulldozed it with all that open space to build new)

Northwestern might be doing something that works for them though, as bad as Welsh Ryan was before they gutted it and started over, short of a full demolition, it could be good as a small type space.

The challenge in fixing Williams centers around space constraints due to footprint issues and the roof design.(and sight lines- overhangs and posts) I think some large open fan focused space could be created all the way out to the sidewalk on University and even back towards Oak Street that could be integrated into the seating areas to make a better experience. Improving flow and access to nice things is key even if the actual seating remains cramped. I'd be all for abandoning the old hockey space, moving Volleyball elsewhere, blowing out the wall and extending the whole thing to the west.
The problem is all of these things are very expensive, but possibly worth doing.

With Williams Arena, anything they could do to open up the outer walls to some new open concourse space with concessions, restrooms, Big TV screens, lounges, views to the outside, with some connection to the seating areas would help greatly, especially with some open views to the floor. A full demolition and new space would probably be way cheaper, but it might be great if done right.

The travesty is that the old building has some charm, but they ruined a lot of it over the years, with all of the 50s/ 60 era renovations- bricked up windows, ugly, cheap renovations, much like Wrigley Field until the recent renovations, looked nothing like a classic early 1900s stadium if you looked close.
 
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I wish it were, but it's really true in the eyes of most people from out of state. Not that everyone knows the weather everywhere, but if you were to ask people to rank states by weather, we would be near the very bottom. Do you dispute that? Remember, we're not talking about our personal opinions--we're talking about potential recruits. Weather is going to be a big negative for most of them, and certainly only a positive for a very small portion (probably mostly just Minnesotans).

You think you're disagreeing, but you're only reinforcing my point that perception becomes more real than reality for people who are reality challenged, and it gives people something to talk about, something to use against us, and something to fill column space with.
 

You think you're disagreeing, but you're only reinforcing my point that perception becomes more real than reality for people who are reality challenged, and it gives people something to talk about, something to use against us, and something to fill column space with.

Many reasons to like living here but weather is not one of them, in my opinion. The winter starts earlier and lasts longer than many of the other conference locations.
 

Many reasons to like living here but weather is not one of them, in my opinion. The winter starts earlier and lasts longer than many of the other conference locations.

I do have to repeat this occasionally, and now is probably one of these times.

I'm not claiming that this is southern California, but this city has a run of 5 straight months with an average high temp of between 65 and 85 and 6 straight months with an average high between 60 and 85. So, very livable for months on end. Aside from the west coast and New England, no other area of the country can claim this. This is a huge selling point that more than counterbalances the brutal winters for a lot of people, which explains why people do actually live here and, in fact, stay here after moving here from other areas for whatever reasons. I personally think it would be hell for school children on summer break to be imprisoned indoors most of the time because it's so hot and humid that it's practically unlivable. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

All that said, I'd sure like to have an arrangement upon retirement where I can migrate for part of the year. Dusk's song "A Different Shade Of Brown" does resonate.

 




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