While the school was fortunate enough to be invited into the Big East, the attitude and atmosphere is still that of a MAC school. The University quite frankly needs to money to do any of the things you have proposed and unfortunately its just not there. Maybe if WVU negotiates out for 2012 along with the buyouts from SU, TCU and Pitt we can get some money to do some of those things. This is what should be top priority:
1.) Absolutely have to find some sort of sponsor to endorse the program, that will be willing to put money into it. Plus this will provide a good source of advertisement around the city.
2.) New basketball arena/Renovate the Shoe. Completely renovate the Shoe and play the games at US Bank until its ready. This is a must. A new arena with a good team generally generates excitement. The goal should be to get the average attendance to 10k+. Students think its a football school, have to change that somehow.
3.) Move majority of the football games to PBS and change the entire playing surface so its possible to remove the Bengals stuff to at least put a C-Paw somewhere on field. Keep a few games at Nippert against the smaller opponents until we can draw a legit crowd of 45K+ should be the goal.
4.) Gotta work to get a home and home with a NCAA caliber team, as well as a made for TV game every once in a while. The attendance isn't going to vary that much if its Kent State or Northwestern State, so need to set up a series with a good team.
