Minimizing the obvious value of winning in drawing crowds is hilarious. Stats don’t lie, but folks can talk themselves into anything these days. Ahh, the age of fake everything.
https://csnbbs.com/thread-878129-post-16173001.html#pid16173001
If that’s true then we have more problems in a few years. JMU isn’t a replacement for ODU on the court.
The biggest shift we have had on the field wise is Hill clearly sets winning as a standard where the previous leadership did not. Judy and Co felt like people should support the U because it was the right thing to do and if we didnt there was something wrong with us. While some of us do have that level of commitment it is not realistic to expect the majority of our alums and students to support a program just because they should. Under Judy Lambert gets an extension, under Hill he gets fired. It’s as simple as that. Hill knows winning is a key component, we just need a few more early adopters to join in or come back to help us take off. A few more thousand int he stands and the master plan and I think we stand a VERY good shot at the AAC. The hole we were in was very deep but we are digging our way out.
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Not talking about 60k. Based on our student enrollment, alumni base, and market size we should draw 20k if we are freaking 0-10. It’s not fake news that FBS recruits aren’t thrilled about playing in front of 11,000 fans.
0-10? And you think people are going to show up? That would be nice, but in REALITY they won’t here or anywhere. Delusional.
Actually, the team we’d be replacing finished 1-11 and averaged more than 20k. As did Rutgers. Louisville was 2-10 and averaged well over 30k. You seem to epitomize the fair weather fan. It’s not enough to have a football program after all these years, but that fans will only support their alma mater / hometown team if it meets their winning criteria?
God, I’d like to think we are better than that.
Me too, but…
Did they really average that many or were those “inflated” figures that are typically reported?
I’m sure some were season ticket holders who may not have physically been there every game. But the bottom line is that any school looking to move into a better conference would benefit from a fan base showing that it gives a damn. What good is a large market if nobody watches or cares?
All aboard!
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clt says we are fine. Look at appy, they only seem to show up to road games.
FWIW, what UConn actually averaged in a 38,000 seat stadium:
We all know UCONN lost interest in football, which is why they are leaving. I’d hope we’d aspire to do better than a team that is leaving due to non-interest. They got OUT of the AAC; we are trying to get IN.
If your position is that we don’t need more support, that’s fine. Good luck with that. But I’d hate to see our AD have to explain to an AAC Expansion Committee that our fans will come; just after we start winning.
UConn not only school to lie about actual attendance but inflating by over 50% seems excessive. Of course, we claimed to have had a MBB 7’ C who proved to be 6’8"!
The big market cuts two ways. When you are winning it will be big, but losing there are plenty of other entertainment options.
Judy’s opinion was everyone should just show up because we should and that is just not the way it works. We don’t have any past success to fall back on, we have no tradition and we fumbled winning getting out of the box. In fact we haven’t really had any winning of any kid to excite the fanbase.
Remember UCONN played in 5 bowl games from 2004-2010, including a Fiesta Bowl appearance and a loss to Oklahoma. Their program has been around since 1901 - so yeah I would hope their attendance is decent.
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I wanted to put this here in case I wanted to find it later. Huntington is the 2nd largest city in WV. I have never been there, but it is not what I would have guessed based on that label.
Census _________Population
1930_____________75,572
1940_____________78,836
1950_____________86,353
1960_____________83,627
1970_____________74,315
1980_____________63,684
1990_____________54,844
2000_____________51,475
2010_____________49,138
The median income for a household in the city was $23,234, and the median income for a family was $34,756. Males had a median income of $30,040 versus $21,198 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,717. About 17.5% of families and 24.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.8% of those under the age of 18 and 12.5% of those 65 and older.
Now the Marshall fans that I have met have all been nice people, and I am sure they are proud of their university and teams, as they should be. However, this is not the profile of a city that you invite to join your conference if you aspire to go head to head with the P5. I can see why they have good fan support though–what else could there be to do?
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By 1980 Huntington was smaller than Gastonia around the same time.
And Hattiesburg, MS
Census _________ Population
1930_____________18,601
1940_____________21,026
1950_____________29,474
1960_____________34,989
1970_____________39,648
1980_____________40,829
1990_____________41,882
2000_____________44,779
2010_____________45,989
The median income for a household in the city was $24,409, and the median income for a family was $32,380. Males had a median income of $26,680 versus $19,333 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,102. About 21.5% of families and 28.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 36.3% of those under age 18 and 16.7% of those age 65 or over.
The help put this into perspective, Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools has 46% more students than the populations of Huntington and Hattiesburg combined.
|2017 |859,035 |17|
year, pop, national rank
|2016 |842,051 |17|
|2015 |827,097 |17|
|2014 |809,958 |17|
|2013 |792,862 |16|
|2012 |775,202 |17|
|2011 |756,213 |17|
|2010 |731,424 |17|
|2009 |704,422 |18|
|2008 |687,971 |18|
|2007 |669,690 |19|
|2006 |652,202 |18|
|2005 |631,160 |19|
|2004 |614,446 |19|
|2003 |601,245 |20|
|2002 |590,857 |21|
|2001 |581,562 |21|
|2000 |569,858 |22|
|1990 |426,984 |33|
|1980 |314,447 |47|
|1970 |241,178 |60|
|1960 |201,564 |59|
|1950 |134,042 |70|
|1940 |100,899 |91|
clt says guess this city