Oblinger Talks MBB Schedule, Fan Experience
Major changes are coming inside Trask Coliseum — on and off the court
Points in the paint will surely be an emphasis for the UNCW men’s basketball team this season, but they’ll pale in comparison to the hotel points the Seahawks rack up from November through January.
See the complete schedule here
In Wednesday’s schedule release, it was revealed that UNCW would play nine of its 12 nonconference games away from Trask Coliseum, with three non-Division I opponents (Mount Olive, Columbia International, Montreat) making up the home slate.
To compound matters, the Seahawks will begin the CAA schedule with two road games, meaning they’ll play in Wilmington just three times over a 66-day period before a Division I opponent, Monmouth, visits Trask on Jan. 11, 2024.
“It's a situation where a lot wasn't scheduled last fall, and really there were a lot of home and homes that rolled off last fall,” Athletic Director Mike Oblinger said. “And with the difficulty of playing here, having a home schedule this year was very difficult to put together.”
Upon his arrival in April, he discovered that only one game was locked in for this season, beginning a months-long scramble to compile a schedule that makes sense for the likely CAA preseason favorite.
That, in itself, added another challenge.
With nine players returning from a squad that played in the CAA championship game in March, and a program that has won 51 games over the past two seasons, potential opponents aren’t jumping at the chance to play at Trask, where the Seahawks are 25-5 over that stretch.
"People know how good we can be here, and they know the community comes out and supports it, and they know the environment,” Oblinger said. “That's obviously a testament to our place, but it is a challenge.”
“We have a high percentage of returners …I think that definitely scares some people off, to be truthful. I think some people are looking at us as being super-competitive and coaches are human.”
With that level of talent and experience on the roster, it made sense to take on the challenge this season and then move forward with their new approach to scheduling for 2024-25, which already has five games locked in.
“If we were going to take a year where we were going to be on the road a little bit more than we wanted to be, with this mature team, then we were willing to do that this year,” Oblinger said. “It's kind of a product of talking to Coach [Takayo Siddle], understanding where we are. He feels comfortable with where we are in terms of philosophy change and where we are going forward — this certainly would be an anomaly for us.”
The lack of quality home games early on overshadows a fantastic road schedule, as the Hawks have a mix of big opportunities (at Kentucky, Arkansas), strong peer opponents (Murray State, Florida Gulf Coast, Marshall) and regional rivals (UNC Asheville, Appalachian State, East Carolina).
Moving forward, Oblinger plans to build schedules on opponents from the latter two categories, prioritizing home-and-home deals with quality mid-majors and opponents that bring some regional intrigue.
“I think we need to be more creative in how we schedule,” he said. “I think we really need to be intentional with the number of home games, meaning I would like to see an increased number of home games over the averages that we've had over the last few seasons; I think we owe that to our fans.”
As for road guarantee games against high-major opponents, Oblinger would like to reduce them over time as the budget allows. This season, the trips to Kentucky and Arkansas will net UNCW $180,000.
How does he see the Seahawks filling that revenue gap in the future, should those games go away?
“So, we sell tickets to our home games,” he said, laughing.
If only it were that simple.
Oblinger knows that the first steps in that mission involve improving the Trask experience to keep regulars coming back and spending more money, and newcomers have to come see it for themselves.
First, some upper-level season-ticket prices were significantly reduced. This week, lower concessions pricing was announced, with some items dropping by 50 percent.
“I fully understand we need to break down barriers to allow people to come see us and make it easy,” he said.
Oblinger promises more changes are coming for this season, and along the way, they’ll be taking a look at every aspect of the fan experience, down to when fans arrive on campus.
“We're talking through how people get welcomed, how people park, what concession options we have, how people transfer throughout the building and travel to get to restrooms,” he said. “We're going to increase the number of sale opportunities. I'm really, really cautious and really aware of concession lines … those are things that hurt the overall experience.
“Whether you're buying a ticket or you're buying a hot dog or you're buying a t-shirt or you're trying to make a donation, we need to get all the barriers out of the way for our fans to support us at a high clip, and having a really healthy, robust, attractive home schedule is really important.”