Following the season-ending loss to the tall tough terrific and talented Tulsa Tomatoes, Marcum opened the proceedings with "Drinks are on me!" and then took questions.
"What progress did we achieve this season? Let me count the ways. We got the fans back, with four-and-five ball postgame ratings, full houses, and clearing $100,000+ a week.
"We survived our initial season of DIII. This meant having at least two positions a game started by 20 or 21 year olds. They're all on much sturdier legs now, but it is always a challenge to blend these guys into positions they are learning and not guarantee a loss.
"Our rotation, surprising to me, became rock solid this season. We have five trainees, three for season games, two playing 48 minutes in the Cup / scrimmages. Then comes three members of the team in five seasons, Markham, Heard and McHugh. Sroka and Call are veterans to be replaced, probably within three seasons. Marcum and Miles, roster filler, take the last two spots and clean up the towels.
"When to move on from Sroka and Call is an interesting call. Right now, Sroka pulls in huge amounts of merchandise, plus keeping this team competitive. There is something of a contradiction between declining veterans and rising youngsters, and not sure how that works out over the next three seasons, which is the minimum for the five trainees i have now. From what i can tell, the decline during and after 35 can be dramatic. But Sroka can lose 20 TSP and still have the highest total on the team, and i figure that is three seasons of decline.
"If this squad can percolate as is for two, three seasons, then the franchise should have a large bundle of cash available -- sort of rocket fuel for the team's future rise. The goal is at least one NT player, ideally from the USA. We can all dream, right?"