Potential new program: University of Central Oklahoma

[dbeshear]

Right now it is still in the early-formative stages. Having started one program before, I want to see how much better it can be done this time.

The higher-up that is genuinely interested in getting this started (He bought a good buzzer-system just on the chance of putting a team together!) wants an idea of what other programs spend, membership numbers, where all they travel, how much are coaches paid, etc.

I completely understand if you don't want to air your private business here. I believe I have this set for private messages and emails. I'm also on Facebook. I will be contacting Harvard, Chicago, Maryland, Berkeley, Wash U, and some others directly, but information from any school is appreciated, especially since we won't be at that level for at least 4 years.

If can get him to open up the checkbook again, we will be attending MAGNI at UM-Rolla Missouri S&T. (Too many things change over dozen or so years.) If not, we'll see what we can scrounge up.

[mhayes]

Your post reads more like an e-mail instead of a forum message. But welcome to the circuit. I'm not sure if the teams at OU, OSU, and Tulsa are still active, but if so, they would be good people to contact about getting your program off the ground. People here can give you countless words of great advice as well.

ETA: I'm not sure what the closest ACF Fall tournament is to your location, but that would be a great tournament for your guys to attend. Also, I believe WashU is hosting a mirror of the Delta Burke tournament which is aimed towards novice players.

[Susan]

Right now it is still in the early-formative stages. Having started one program before, I want to see how much better it can be done this time.

The higher-up that is genuinely interested in getting this started (He bought a good buzzer-system just on the chance of putting a team together!) wants an idea of what other programs spend, membership numbers, where all they travel, how much are coaches paid, etc.

I completely understand if you don't want to air your private business here. I believe I have this set for private messages and emails. I'm also on Facebook. I will be contacting Harvard, Chicago, Maryland, Berkeley, Wash U, and some others directly, but information from any school is appreciated, especially since we won't be at that level for at least 4 years.

If can get him to open up the checkbook again, we will be attending MAGNI at UM-Rolla Missouri S&T. (Too many things change over dozen or so years.) If not, we'll see what we can scrounge up.

Dan, you might want to also consider contacting programs that have gotten started more recently (VCU, Mizzou, and Brown come to mind, though I'm sure people can suggest more), since they'll have more useful advice for you as you get started.

Also, as a Chicago alum, I can tell you that Chicago is completely anomalous in terms of budget and travel schedule; I'm not sure if you're trying to get an idea of what an average team's numbers are or what the extremes are, but Chicago is not going to be much use for the former.

[Matt Weiner]

what other programs spend

I put together a budget for everything VCU could possibly pay for in a year and it was $16,000. This assumed 2 teams at most things, flying to 3 total tournaments, and a huge amount for room reservation fees for hosting lots of events. In reality we will probably spend around $4000 this year, about half of that on the costs of flying to, lodging at, and registering for ICT. A program that is not dedicated to going to every tournament will spend less, a program that has to fly more often or sends a second/third/fourth team more often will spend more. And hopefully your school does not charge you to host tournaments, or, like us, you have found other places that let you use rooms for free.

, membership numbers

The average college program probably has 8-12 people who sometimes come to practice, and 3-6 people interested in attending tournaments regularly. Some can regularly field D teams, some rarely can get a fourth player for a single team.

where all they travel

A respectable program will attend the closest ACF Fall, ACF Regionals, and NAQT Sectionals, wherever they may be, as well as all other events within reasonable driving distance, the latter being defined somewhat more liberally for teams in the West. A program that is capable of qualifying out of SCT for ICT should go to it as well as ACF Nationals.

, how much are coaches paid, etc.

Very few teams have coaches. A few of the former College Bowl-only programs that stuck around for the NAQT-ACUI era still do, and I am a freelance "coach" for VCU. I am reimbursed out of the VCU club account for what I spend on gas driving teams to tournaments, bringing my net salary to $0. I don't know if the few schools with coaches who are faculty members pay them or not.

VCU has operated as a very active team since 2002, and has received money from the university once, in the form of $1000 of reimbursement towards our almost $3000 of ICT costs last year. All the rest of our budget was raised by hosting high school or college tournaments. If you can get rooms on campus and plug in a question set from elsewhere, I would suggest doing this often, and you can fund most or all of your team that way without needing to ask members to pony up for tournament fees. Anything you can get from the university is great.

[Windows ME]

If you can get rooms on campus and plug in a question set from elsewhere, I would suggest doing this often, and you can fund most or all of your team that way without needing to ask members to pony up for tournament fees.

When you say this, you are explicitly referring to hosting tournaments right? how would this work in an area without a developed trivia circuit?

[mhayes]

When you say this, you are explicitly referring to hosting tournaments right? how would this work in an area without a developed trivia circuit?

From what I gather, Oklahoma has an active high school circuit, so there should be a decent number of teams that would attend a tournament they host.

[Windows ME]

When you say this, you are explicitly referring to hosting tournaments right? how would this work in an area without a developed trivia circuit?

From what I gather, Oklahoma has an active high school circuit, so there should be a decent number of teams that would attend a tournament they host.

I actually wasn't asking about Oklahoma.

[Charbroil]

ETA: I'm not sure what the closest ACF Fall tournament is to your location, but that would be a great tournament for your guys to attend. Also, I believe WashU is hosting a mirror of the Delta Burke tournament which is aimed towards novice players.

We are; you can contact our team about it at [email protected] (if you haven't already done so).

The nearest ACF Fall site is, I believe, Truman State; since I don't know if their president wants his email floating across the Internet, I'll send it to you in an email.

[dbeshear]

Your post reads more like an e-mail instead of a forum message. But welcome to the circuit. I'm not sure if the teams at OU, OSU, and Tulsa are still active, but if so, they would be good people to contact about getting your program off the ground.

Tulsa has something, because they are hosting an OQBA HS tournament on October 15. I think Oklahoma has gone dark again, I have yet to hear back from them and I tried to contact them before posting here. Neither Oklahoma nor Oklahoma State attended NAQT Sectionals in Springfield MO last year. As for sounding like an email, I guess it's just the way I write.

Also, as a Chicago alum, I can tell you that Chicago is completely anomalous in terms of budget and travel schedule; I'm not sure if you're trying to get an idea of what an average team's numbers are or what the extremes are, but Chicago is not going to be much use for the former.

I'm dreaming big here, I might as well shoot for the stars. The worst they can say is "Yes!" If I can give them numbers of what a Tier-I perennial National Championship contender spends, maybe I can get a good fraction of it to start and build up (or at least maintain) with WHYDFML. One of the mistakes we made at Oklahoma back in the 90s was that we had significant success on our own, so the admin there saw no need to fund us.

(I just realized that the Chipster was an emoticon here. Does he still put one Ohio and one baseball question in every packet?)

Very few teams have coaches. A few of the former College Bowl-only programs that stuck around for the NAQT-ACUI era still do, and I am a freelance "coach" for VCU.

Damn, I had hoped that at least one of the perennial contenders would have persuaded their school to hire a full-time coach. Oh well, Plan B.

MAGNI is out for us after all, we won't be able to get all our ducks in a row that quickly. ACF Fall is likely in the same position, plus while we could have done Rolla with only one night's stay (6 hour drive), Kirkville would almost certainly require 2 nights (8.5 hour drive). Oklahoma did Gateway in 1999 as a one-nighter, and I slept all day Sunday after the post-tournament drive back to Norman (8.25 hour drive), I was also 29 then instead of 41. Given that I've played at everyone's Nationals at least twice, I doubt I can qualify as a "novice". I can try to get something together for Gateway, but I can't promise anything. Barring something coming up in January, it looks like we'll be putting in our first appearance at NAQT Sectionals.

Thank you for your information so far. I do look forward to meeting y'all in person soon.

[alexdz]

Neither Oklahoma nor Oklahoma State attended NAQT Sectionals in Springfield MO last year.

As the TD for that event, I can tell you that OSU was signed up but dropped out last-minute due to weather.

I have a pretty substantial contact list from last year's SCT that I can send you if you want it, with teams from AR, MO, KS, and OK. PM me if you're interested.

[ubungeeek]

As the TD for that event, I can tell you that OSU was signed up but dropped out last-minute due to weather.

Was it the real reason?

User was reminded to add a signature.

[Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)]

What are you implying?

[Nine-Tenths Ideas]

I'm not sure I believe in this so-called "weather" phenomenon.

[Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)]

I-44 was literally closed due to snow that day.

[dbeshear]

I'm not sure I believe in this so-called "weather" phenomenon.

I do, I had to work in it.

I just didn't realize NAQT Sectionals was the weekend after The '11 Blizzard.

Stretches of northeastern Oklahoma had the most snow and the coldest temperatures since the last glaciation period.

[KGeee]

Welcome. We have been waiting for years for UCO to put together a team. The closest team to you is Langston. They scrimmage Oklahoma State regularly. There are four (semi) active teams in Oklahoma that field teams every year: Langston, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Tulsa.

There are a lot of different ways to practice, but all it takes to form a team that goes to tournaments is about three to four committed people, and somebody with skills to sell it to the Admin, and it seems with the game show you were on and money won---that shouldn't be too hard. My best advice is to start scrimmaging folks. Edmond is in the center of it all, which would make it relatively easy for you to scrimmage OU, OSU, or Langston. OU practices every Thursday, Langston practices every Wednesday and Thursday. Email me and I'll send you to contacts to Langston to scrimmage, and they have Oklahoma State's.