FOOTBALL Homecoming set

[JohnDavidBlue]

I hate this being an ageist thing. I have seen men in their 60s run circles around younger men and I have seen vice versa.

If you could, without a doubt, state that our coaching staff is doing EVERYTHING they can to better the program, that would be a consolation to the mediocre record. But I don't see it from them or the AD.

 

[crposton]

So because better results are not guaranteed, we should just stick with what we have, even though the life has been sucked out of the the football program. That is such loser talk.

I think you should read the very next sentence where I said “I am not saying we should not do some of that.” Whatever fits your narrative though. Point of my post is it seems everyone assumes new will be better. I hate when things are cherry picked to fit a narrative.

 

[crposton]

I am sure CM has some similar thoughts about the fans and he would be right. It takes everyone to be at the level you all talk about. The administration needs to be changed, coaching staff needs to be changed, and fanbase needs to be changed. When UCF went 0-12 they averaged over 30k fans in a town where there is a lot to do on a Saturday. We could go undefeated one season and the very next hav fans staying home after a couple losses. As far as the bowl game argument. Making a bowl game every year is an accomplishment. I obviously want and think we should accomplish more than just making a bowl like conference championships and winning the bowl games. Underlined that and made that bold so the prior sentence would not be called loser talk or mediocrity or whatever. Stock does not have facilities or fanbase to sell the kids, so he has to use something. Fanbase is worse than facilities in my opinion. Just pointing out that changing the administration, coaches, logo, etc. will not change the fair-weather nature of our fans. Sprinkling in a conference championship every 3-4 years and making bowl games the others will not satisfy you all either.

 

[mtfblue]

You can't compare UCF to this situation, just a few years before 0-12, they won the Fiesta Bowl. I lived in Orlando, when they played off campus and it was horrible. When they built the stadium on campus, they made it an event to the students who came and sold the program to the alumni and community. It's a big party on campus and in the stadium. Not bland and dry like at MT.

 

[crposton]

Do you believe we would average even 20k fans a few years after winning a NY6 bowl if we went 0-12? I don’t.

 

[mtfblue]

that was not butts in the seats, yes we could've sold 20k in corp tickets, and they had new hope in scott frost as well. They also capitalized on FSU, UM, and Uf being avg or if not done by making this run and having a 1st draft pick in Bortles and numerous other picks. They won back alumni, that rooted for the big 3 in Florida, when they were kicking ass and playing good football. They didn't choke when the opportunity presented itself. TN has been a disaster for a 8 years now and MT didn't capitalize on it.

 

[TrueBlue147]

I think you should read the very next sentence where I said “I am not saying we should not do some of that.” Whatever fits your narrative though. Point of my post is it seems everyone assumes new will be better. I hate when things are cherry picked to fit a narrative.

I think most people that want a change understand that getting a new coach/administration does not automatically guarantee success. It is a risk worth taking to shake things up.

 

[TrueBlue147]

I am sure CM has some similar thoughts about the fans and he would be right. It takes everyone to be at the level you all talk about. The administration needs to be changed, coaching staff needs to be changed, and fanbase needs to be changed. When UCF went 0-12 they averaged over 30k fans in a town where there is a lot to do on a Saturday. We could go undefeated one season and the very next hav fans staying home after a couple losses. As far as the bowl game argument. Making a bowl game every year is an accomplishment. I obviously want and think we should accomplish more than just making a bowl like conference championships and winning the bowl games. Underlined that and made that bold so the prior sentence would not be called loser talk or mediocrity or whatever. Stock does not have facilities or fanbase to sell the kids, so he has to use something. Fanbase is worse than facilities in my opinion. Just pointing out that changing the administration, coaches, logo, etc. will not change the fair-weather nature of our fans. Sprinkling in a conference championship every 3-4 years and making bowl games the others will not satisfy you all either.

The fans owe the coaches, football team, and administration nothing. You can try to guilt the fans all you want for not showing up and spending their hard earned money on the lousy product/investment that is MT football, but it's not their fault the stadium is empty. It is the coaches, football team, and the administration's fault. They need to provide a product that is worth the price of admission. They have failed to do so, and that's how we got to the point we at now.

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

The fans owe the coaches, football team, and administration nothing. You can try to guilt the fans all you want for not showing up and spending their hard earned money on the lousy product/investment that is MT football, but it's not their fault the stadium is empty. It is the coaches, football team, and the administration's fault. They need to provide a product that is worth the price of admission. They have failed to do so, and that's how we got to the point we at now.

To a degree your right but the challenge is much bigger. Winning a few more games will not really matter. We all thought in the late 90s that we would actually joining something bigger. But college FB has changed drastically in the last 20 years, a change that none of us could have predicted - the way people operate now opens up any College FB team to be there favorite. If your not covered by ESPN your nothing. I graduated in 1988 from MT, I bet if you were to ask grads who was their favorite FB team the list would not be that diverse. Today if you were to ask the question at MT I bet you'd get multiple answers and they would be mostly top 20 teams not named MT.

And, if its a P5 team you can watch any of them anytime regardless of where you live. Think about how cool it was to be an Oregon fan several years ago because of the uniforms and good play, it was "cool" to be an Oregon fan.

Basically we are still in 1-AA, they just call it G5. There is no way for us to really create a program that matters nationally and so fans and their expectations have changed. Many of the P5 teams are in danger of being marginalized.

I don't have any answers, so maybe changing coaches gives us hope but it doesn't change the facts of the current state of College FB or the state of mind of fans.

 

[crposton]

The fans owe the coaches, football team, and administration nothing. You can try to guilt the fans all you want for not showing up and spending their hard earned money on the lousy product/investment that is MT football, but it's not their fault the stadium is empty. It is the coaches, football team, and the administration's fault. They need to provide a product that is worth the price of admission. They have failed to do so, and that's how we got to the point we at now.

The football team has gone to 4 straight bowl games. Now I know to you all that means nothing, but only 27 teams have been to more consecutive bowl games. The price of admission is not that much and I would say worth it. I want conference championships and am tired of 6-8 wins, but our schedule does not leave a lot of room for error. You look at last year and you can pretty much bet Georgia and Kentucky are losses, UAB a second time sucked but hard to beat same team back-to-back, FIU we beat if Brent stays in the game, I have nothing for Vandy or App State. Losing to App State acceptable, but not like we did. Next year we play Michigan and Iowa away (2 losses most likely) and Duke at home (also more likely a loss than not). That leaves 9 games we can expect to be able to win. Maybe if we had more fans show up we would not have to play 3 pay games to stay afloat. I know you all will say if the product was better you would show up, but see how it is a double-edged sword? I am just saying if you show up when things are good and don't when they aren't then you are a fair-weather fan. If you feel like I am trying to guilt you maybe you are guilty. I am not trying to guilt anyone. Just saying how I feel about our fans.

 

[crposton]

To a degree your right but the challenge is much bigger. Winning a few more games will not really matter. We all thought in the late 90s that we would actually joining something bigger. But college FB has changed drastically in the last 20 years, a change that none of us could have predicted - the way people operate now opens up any College FB team to be there favorite. If your not covered by ESPN your nothing. I graduated in 1988 from MT, I bet if you were to ask grads who was their favorite FB team the list would not be that diverse. Today if you were to ask the question at MT I bet you'd get multiple answers and they would be mostly top 20 teams not named MT.

And, if its a P5 team you can watch any of them anytime regardless of where you live. Think about how cool it was to be an Oregon fan several years ago because of the uniforms and good play, it was "cool" to be an Oregon fan.

Basically we are still in 1-AA, they just call it G5. There is no way for us to really create a program that matters nationally and so fans and their expectations have changed. Many of the P5 teams are in danger of being marginalized.

I don't have any answers, so maybe changing coaches gives us hope but it doesn't change the facts of the current state of College FB or the state of mind of fans.

Yes I could not agree more. G5 is treated like FCS, so I say we drop down where they will let us compete for a national championship. All we can compete for at this level are bowl games that don't make our fans happy and a conference championship that is basically worth nothing in the eyes of most people.

 

[cipman2000]

Yes I could not agree more. G5 is treated like FCS, so I say we drop down where they will let us compete for a national championship. All we can compete for at this level are bowl games that don't make our fans happy and a conference championship that is basically worth nothing in the eyes of most people.

We get to play Michigan and Iowa next year. Those are games that everyone has an interest. Dropping down does nothing for us, this school has the same type of demographics a UCF. Get the coach out into the local communities, recruit better talent, create a buzz for the alumni. Unacceptable to give up. Unacceptable.. largest undergrad university in the state.

 

[SpaceRaider]

Next year we play Michigan and Iowa away (2 losses most likely) and Duke at home (also more likely a loss than not). That leaves 9 games we can expect to be able to win.

Honestly, the way things set up, I will not be surprised, at all, if MT loses its home opener. If that happens, heads should roll.

 

[Raiderclyde]

Murfreesboro is a city of 138,000 by latest estimates and destined based on projections to be 200,000 in another decade—2030. The fan base will be there if we only capitalize. Except a few “our town, our team” signs in the fall one would barely notice a football game is being played on any given Saturday. It’s not well publicized and one has to look hard to find MT Football on the radio dial or on television. Sure, online apps exist: example, one can listen to Murray State online on the Froggy 103.7 app and it’s the same with Jacksonville State, APSU, TTU, or just about any team in Ohio Valley Conference as there is an app for that or at least a presence on Tunein. Folks, we are beginning to enter our third decade as an FBS/1A member in football only to accomplish so little. Think about where we are in the food chain of major college athletics. Quite frankly, MT hasn’t really progressed as much as it appears, it’s mainly status quo in most sports and we are getting squeezed into irrelevance with each passing year. And, many have lost patience or no longer care because other avenues exist as evidenced by the number of empty seats in Floyd Stadium...that’s where MT is circa mid 2019.

Why can’t we be as good as a middle of the road P5 team year in and year out? I would like to be on the level of Syracuse, Cincinnati, Washington State, or Kansas State. It’s leadership, effort, and a little bit better job of recruiting local talent. And, if we cannot or unwilling improve leadership, maybe it’s time to pull the plug on FBS and return to FCS and reallocate monies elsewhere to where it can benefit our brand. Think next five years tells us which direction we ultimately head and our esteemed Board of Trustees need to really wake up and hold folks accountable, and not be buddies—as Bob Dylan alludes “the times they are a changin”.

 

[cipman2000]

Murfreesboro is a city of 138,000 by latest estimates and destined based on projections to be 200,000 in another decade—2030. The fan base will be there if we only capitalize. Except a few “our town, our team” signs in the fall one would barely notice a football game is being played on any given Saturday. It’s not well publicized and one has to look hard to find MT Football on the radio dial or on television. Sure, online apps exist: example, one can listen to Murray State online on the Froggy 103.7 app and it’s the same with Jacksonville State, APSU, TTU, or just about any team in Ohio Valley Conference as there is an app for that or at least a presence on Tunein. Folks, we are beginning to enter our third decade as an FBS/1A member in football only to accomplish so little. Think about where we are in the food chain of major college athletics. Quite frankly, MT hasn’t really progressed as much as it appears, it’s mainly status quo in most sports and we are getting squeezed into irrelevance with each passing year. And, many have lost patience or no longer care because other avenues exist as evidenced by the number of empty seats in Floyd Stadium...that’s where MT is circa mid 2019.

Why can’t we be as good as a middle of the road P5 team year in and year out? I would like to be on the level of Syracuse, Cincinnati, Washington State, or Kansas State. It’s leadership, effort, and a little bit better job of recruiting local talent. And, if we cannot or unwilling improve leadership, maybe it’s time to pull the plug on FBS and return to FCS and reallocate monies elsewhere to where it can benefit our brand. Think next five years tells us which direction we ultimately head and our esteemed Board of Trustees need to really wake up and hold folks accountable, and not be buddies—as Bob Dylan alludes “the times they are a changin”.

In other words what a great “college town”. I agree we need better leadership from all university participants.

 

[crposton]

We get to play Michigan and Iowa next year. Those are games that everyone has an interest. Dropping down does nothing for us, this school has the same type of demographics a UCF. Get the coach out into the local communities, recruit better talent, create a buzz for the alumni. Unacceptable to give up. Unacceptable.. largest undergrad university in the state.

Not necessary saying to give up, but to be able to have a chance to compete for a national championship, which UCF showed will never happen under the current system.