This program is not moving forward. It's actively getting worse.
1. This program should not be at a talent disadvantage to anyone outside of the top 25.
I'm tired of the talent excuse. This wasn't Bama or FSU we were playing. We have 10+ years under the same staff, recruiting all their own players with a full roster. There should be no "we need more talent". There's should be no more "Let's wait to rebuild the OL, or we need to add more talent at this other position" - 10+ years in, we need to have a pipeline of players ready to step in immediately.
I know, it's hard to do when your roster is 40% wide receivers who don't play and JUCO's who can't find the field.
We're not recruiting at a level that will move this program forward.
Where's our NFL guys? The Hilltoppers have all sorts of guys playing on Sunday. Other CUSA teams regular show up on draft day. We have one guy from the last 9 years that was drafted and still on an NFL roster, Byard, and our school's rep is so bad at developing players, he couldn't even get a combine invite. The rest of our NFL guys are from years ago. This isn't a program that's recruiting top talent and developing them.
It's almost incomprehensible that a program with a 10+ year old staff has that few players in the NFL.
2. Effort. There is none.
Watching this team leaves me with a pit in my stomach. I don't think we as fans can demand results, but we can demand effort. I didn't see any last night. There wasn't a lot of give-a-crap going on out there.
They played like a team that simply wanted to fast forward to the next sad sack CUSA team to roll in here so that we can hang 50+ on them and point and say "hey, hey, look at this offense, look at how great we are!"
AND WE ALL SAW IT COMING FROM A MILE AWAY!
It's the same story - Vandy, WKU, any bowl game that anyone might give a crap about, any game that might generate any level of excitement. We roll over. It's embarassing.
This lack of backbone is so deep ingrained in the program, it's not going to turn around. You can see it in the "meh, whatever, nothing we can do about it, time to move on" statements we see after every single one of these, multiple times a year.
3. The fans deserve better.
I'm sick and tired of people complaining about the fans. We show out when you give us a reason to. This is a program that can be one of the best in G5. There's money out there, we don't need to prostitute this program around college football.
But not only does this program feed us all a steady stream of gut-punch disappointment after another, it's disgustingly condescending about it, as well.
Whether it's tweets from any number of mouthpiece accounts, staff complaining about not having a full stadium, or the players social media whine-fest about the lack of attendance, "Raider-Traitors" - well, you know what, guilt-trips only work when there's something to feel guilty about.
I didn't come last night. You know what, I feel good about sitting home and flipping between FSU/Bama and a few dead-on-arrival series from MT/Vandy.
Every program gets the fan base it deserves - and this one has earned nothing. And squandered any goodwill from anything good it might do once a year.
I know, we don't need me as a fan. Go put on my Orange. Who cares about fair-weather fans like me.
You're absolutely correct. You don't need me. You can be completely happy with your 6-7 seasons, and 2/3rds empty Floyd's, and patting yourselves on the back about how loyal you all are as this team punches you in the face for the 13th, 14th, 20th seasons, whatever.
4. The Future.
What does the future hold for this program? Well, IMHO, it's dead. Murdered by mediocrity.
I know that seems harsh, but the way I see it, CFB is entering a phase where it's going to be sink or swim for a lot of programs. This is where we need to be building a solid foundation of a fan base that sustains the program and sees it through tough times. It's there. It's not like we don't exist. We see it from time to time, like last night.
There's going to be a separation here, probably sooner rather than later, and we're watching our opportunity to get in the lifeboat squandered away by "competing" instead of winning.
We continue, year after year, to drive fans away. And, incredibly, the Big Cheese's don't even seem to understand why!
Again, I'm asking any one of you to give me a single reason to come back to an MT football game this year, or even next year - that doesn't include "because you're alumni". I bet you can't do it.
Why is our fan base dwindling? We can lament the state of college football - too many HD games on TV, people don't like football, but that's all BS that keeps us front the real problem, and keeps this program from looking at itself in the mirror. All those fans from last night - they're not coming back. They and their $$$'s are gone, probably until next year, at least. Mostly likely, not then either.
I don't have an answer for it.
Maybe, just maybe, if McPhee/Massaro starting demanding more, starting actually holding this program accountable, starting trying to win championships instead of just being bowl eligible - visible striving for excellence, not just above average.
That'll never happen. Because that would cause some self-assessment that maybe the M&M boys are not doing their jobs to the best of their ability.
Much easier to blame bad fans, or changing college football landscape, than admit that maybe what you're doing isn't working.
Rant over.
1. This program should not be at a talent disadvantage to anyone outside of the top 25.
I'm tired of the talent excuse. This wasn't Bama or FSU we were playing. We have 10+ years under the same staff, recruiting all their own players with a full roster. There should be no "we need more talent". There's should be no more "Let's wait to rebuild the OL, or we need to add more talent at this other position" - 10+ years in, we need to have a pipeline of players ready to step in immediately.
I know, it's hard to do when your roster is 40% wide receivers who don't play and JUCO's who can't find the field.
We're not recruiting at a level that will move this program forward.
Where's our NFL guys? The Hilltoppers have all sorts of guys playing on Sunday. Other CUSA teams regular show up on draft day. We have one guy from the last 9 years that was drafted and still on an NFL roster, Byard, and our school's rep is so bad at developing players, he couldn't even get a combine invite. The rest of our NFL guys are from years ago. This isn't a program that's recruiting top talent and developing them.
It's almost incomprehensible that a program with a 10+ year old staff has that few players in the NFL.
2. Effort. There is none.
Watching this team leaves me with a pit in my stomach. I don't think we as fans can demand results, but we can demand effort. I didn't see any last night. There wasn't a lot of give-a-crap going on out there.
They played like a team that simply wanted to fast forward to the next sad sack CUSA team to roll in here so that we can hang 50+ on them and point and say "hey, hey, look at this offense, look at how great we are!"
AND WE ALL SAW IT COMING FROM A MILE AWAY!
It's the same story - Vandy, WKU, any bowl game that anyone might give a crap about, any game that might generate any level of excitement. We roll over. It's embarassing.
This lack of backbone is so deep ingrained in the program, it's not going to turn around. You can see it in the "meh, whatever, nothing we can do about it, time to move on" statements we see after every single one of these, multiple times a year.
3. The fans deserve better.
I'm sick and tired of people complaining about the fans. We show out when you give us a reason to. This is a program that can be one of the best in G5. There's money out there, we don't need to prostitute this program around college football.
But not only does this program feed us all a steady stream of gut-punch disappointment after another, it's disgustingly condescending about it, as well.
Whether it's tweets from any number of mouthpiece accounts, staff complaining about not having a full stadium, or the players social media whine-fest about the lack of attendance, "Raider-Traitors" - well, you know what, guilt-trips only work when there's something to feel guilty about.
I didn't come last night. You know what, I feel good about sitting home and flipping between FSU/Bama and a few dead-on-arrival series from MT/Vandy.
Every program gets the fan base it deserves - and this one has earned nothing. And squandered any goodwill from anything good it might do once a year.
I know, we don't need me as a fan. Go put on my Orange. Who cares about fair-weather fans like me.
You're absolutely correct. You don't need me. You can be completely happy with your 6-7 seasons, and 2/3rds empty Floyd's, and patting yourselves on the back about how loyal you all are as this team punches you in the face for the 13th, 14th, 20th seasons, whatever.
4. The Future.
What does the future hold for this program? Well, IMHO, it's dead. Murdered by mediocrity.
I know that seems harsh, but the way I see it, CFB is entering a phase where it's going to be sink or swim for a lot of programs. This is where we need to be building a solid foundation of a fan base that sustains the program and sees it through tough times. It's there. It's not like we don't exist. We see it from time to time, like last night.
There's going to be a separation here, probably sooner rather than later, and we're watching our opportunity to get in the lifeboat squandered away by "competing" instead of winning.
We continue, year after year, to drive fans away. And, incredibly, the Big Cheese's don't even seem to understand why!
Again, I'm asking any one of you to give me a single reason to come back to an MT football game this year, or even next year - that doesn't include "because you're alumni". I bet you can't do it.
Why is our fan base dwindling? We can lament the state of college football - too many HD games on TV, people don't like football, but that's all BS that keeps us front the real problem, and keeps this program from looking at itself in the mirror. All those fans from last night - they're not coming back. They and their $$$'s are gone, probably until next year, at least. Mostly likely, not then either.
I don't have an answer for it.
Maybe, just maybe, if McPhee/Massaro starting demanding more, starting actually holding this program accountable, starting trying to win championships instead of just being bowl eligible - visible striving for excellence, not just above average.
That'll never happen. Because that would cause some self-assessment that maybe the M&M boys are not doing their jobs to the best of their ability.
Much easier to blame bad fans, or changing college football landscape, than admit that maybe what you're doing isn't working.
Rant over.