What will it take to drive game attendance up?

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Originally Posted by jycww

My kids were born in 86 and 89. They both attended Texas A&M. I seem to remember something that the athletic dept did at A&M which was highly successful. While I may not get all of the details exactly correct (going from memory), hopefully you will get the gist. Each student was given some sort of athletic card at the start of the semester. There were places for each athletic team and as you attended a sporting event, (basketball (men and women), football, soccer, swimming and diving, etc.) you would get the card punched. At the end of the semester, kids turned in their cards with all holes punched and they were entered into contest drawings (I believe) for some awesome prizes, etc. I believe they would get the punches at different times in the games (to try and keep kids in the stands for some of the lesser known sports), and the overall goal was achieved more that just once. My kids found that they loved the atmosphere at the women's soccer games and started going to the games just for the fun of it. Interesting idea, but maybe something like that "could" make a difference. Just an idea.

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That's actually a great idea, which will work even better these days with modern cell phone technology. Instead of punching holes in a school issued plastic card (which is what we used to do with our cafeteria cards at LA Tech back in the stone age), simply have a bar code reader --or some facial recognition readers (Iphone 13's have this)-- doing swipes at the front gate for entrants and exists.

For example, the school could award an attending student 2 "attendance" pts for attending a football game in the 1st quarter, and DOUBLE those points (4) for those students who come out of the Joe Aillet Stadium gate with 5 minutes or less left at the end of the game. So, theoretically, one Tech football game could be worth 6 points to an attending Tech student. The trick is, LA Tech's athletic department will have to make the program points "worthwhile" and valuable with good prizes, etc.... But that ain't brain surgery. It's also a good means to distribute your own brand to your students via giveaways of LA Tech jersey's, jackets, sweaters, other apparel, etc....

BTW, today's technology can help drive the EXACT behavior an athletic department seeks to achieve. For instance, if the school has a big game coming up in women's basketball, the school can easily award 10 BONUS points to students attending and staying for an entire game, etc.... This is so easy, we should be spanked for not already doing something like this. And no, LA Tech has never done anything even close to this. We just now have to technology to do all this.

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Originally Posted by roughedge

Tech has done this before but it fizzled out over time. I don't know how well it was administered but I suspect over time students weren't made aware of the program or encouraged to participate.

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The athletic department --or LTAC-- will have to administer a program like what I wrote about above. It will be a near full time job for someone in or near the athletic department. And if the prizes are good, a program like this will work. Some of the prizes could be as simple as a two "sideline passes" to one of the upcoming football games. Or ten (1) 50-yd line tickets in one of the big suites in the west side press box. Prizes like that will cost the school NOTHING. And I guarantee you some Tech students would love being down on the sideline like that for a football game, or having 9 friends join them in an upscale press box for a party.

Most of this will cost LA Tech nothing.

For 1000 points, you may call a football play.

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Originally Posted by Blue Dawg

For 1000 points, you may call a football play.

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But only when it is 3rd and 93. :rolleyes4:

Or fourth and long inside our own 30 in the first quarter. (Obvious punting situation)

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Originally Posted by Bulldog Tom

But only when it is 3rd and 93. :rolleyes4:

Or fourth and long inside our own 30 in the first quarter. (Obvious punting situation)

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4th and long is easy: HB draw.

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Originally Posted by Blue Dawg

4th and long is easy: HB draw.

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Oh from the Skip Holtz playbook. An oldie, but a goodie. Please do not forget to delay that handoff, gives the defense at least fair chance to react. ;)

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Originally Posted by HogDawg

That's actually a great idea, which will work even better these days with modern cell phone technology. Instead of punching holes in a school issued plastic card (which is what we used to do with our cafeteria cards at LA Tech back in the stone age), simply have a bar code reader --or some facial recognition readers (Iphone 13's have this)-- doing swipes at the front gate for entrants and exists.

For example, the school could award an attending student 2 "attendance" pts for attending a football game in the 1st quarter, and DOUBLE those points (4) for those students who come out of the Joe Aillet Stadium gate with 5 minutes or less left at the end of the game. So, theoretically, one Tech football game could be worth 6 points to an attending Tech student. The trick is, LA Tech's athletic department will have to make the program points "worthwhile" and valuable with good prizes, etc.... But that ain't brain surgery. It's also a good means to distribute your own brand to your students via giveaways of LA Tech jersey's, jackets, sweaters, other apparel, etc....

BTW, today's technology can help drive the EXACT behavior an athletic department seeks to achieve. For instance, if the school has a big game coming up in women's basketball, the school can easily award 10 BONUS points to students attending and staying for an entire game, etc.... This is so easy, we should be spanked for not already doing something like this. And no, LA Tech has never done anything even close to this. We just now have to technology to do all this.

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Originally Posted by HogDawg

The athletic department --or LTAC-- will have to administer a program like what I wrote about above. It will be a near full time job for someone in or near the athletic department. And if the prizes are good, a program like this will work. Some of the prizes could be as simple as a two "sideline passes" to one of the upcoming football games. Or ten (1) 50-yd line tickets in one of the big suites in the west side press box. Prizes like that will cost the school NOTHING. And I guarantee you some Tech students would love being down on the sideline like that for a football game, or having 9 friends join them in an upscale press box for a party.

Most of this will cost LA Tech nothing.

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We have had the same ideas. This is a practical, effective plan to implement. It just requires someone to setup the system and market it. Once it's rolling though it shouldn't be difficult. There is already a sports app, they need to incorporate this type of system into it. Students should be able to track their points, receive notifications instantly when they receive points, see prizes, see when the next opportunity for points is and how much it is worth.

Ideally they would have a system of using student ID cards to check in. I don't know how the student IDs are now but payment cards are increasingly contactless when paying. If student IDs have this feature, they could easy use this as a way for students to check in. They walk up and just tap-in making it swift and effortless. You only need one tap in spot for places like soccer or softball. For football and basketball, there should be multiple spots and there should be a map of locations on the app.

If that's not possible, there is already a Tech sports app that exists that can be reconfigured to scan QR codes and send notifications about points. With QR codes, they could make this process as simple as having small, dedicated glass-encased bulletin boards at each athletic facility and post the print-out of the QR code of that day's game for students to check in. This would probably lead to students sending the QR code to others not at the game so it's not the best system but it's better than nothing. To avoid that, they could reverse it and have a scanner installed at every facility that reads personally generated QR codes from each persons app but that's a bit more work.

Hopefully they would have a manned booth setup at as many games as possible to promote the initiative, answer questions and give out trinkets or even sell merchandise. This would be fantastic to promote student tailgating. Imagine earning points for each hour you check in at the booth while tailgating. They could even offer this to students making the trek to away games or bowl games. The fact that it's so flexible makes it a huge advantage.

All we have to do is wave our ID over a scanner to use the computer labs on campus. Faculty and students. I’m sure this could be used for games.

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Originally Posted by Dawgonit

We have had the same ideas. This is a practical, effective plan to implement. It just requires someone to setup the system and market it. Once it's rolling though it shouldn't be difficult. There is already a sports app, they need to incorporate this type of system into it. Students should be able to track their points, receive notifications instantly when they receive points, see prizes, see when the next opportunity for points is and how much it is worth.

Ideally they would have a system of using student ID cards to check in. I don't know how the student IDs are now but payment cards are increasingly contactless when paying. If student IDs have this feature, they could easy use this as a way for students to check in. They walk up and just tap-in making it swift and effortless. You only need one tap in spot for places like soccer or softball. For football and basketball, there should be multiple spots and there should be a map of locations on the app.

If that's not possible, there is already a Tech sports app that exists that can be reconfigured to scan QR codes and send notifications about points. With QR codes, they could make this process as simple as having small, dedicated glass-encased bulletin boards at each athletic facility and post the print-out of the QR code of that day's game for students to check in. This would probably lead to students sending the QR code to others not at the game so it's not the best system but it's better than nothing. To avoid that, they could reverse it and have a scanner installed at every facility that reads personally generated QR codes from each persons app but that's a bit more work.

Hopefully they would have a manned booth setup at as many games as possible to promote the initiative, answer questions and give out trinkets or even sell merchandise. This would be fantastic to promote student tailgating. Imagine earning points for each hour you check in at the booth while tailgating. They could even offer this to students making the trek to away games or bowl games. The fact that it's so flexible makes it a huge advantage.

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Or Tech students could simply load their student ID's into the "wallet's" of their cell phone, exactly the same way I do my LA Tech football game tickets each week. Everybody carries a cell phone now. When they get to the front gate, they scan it. Done.

THIS needs to happen guys. It's too easy, and I'm sure some other schools are already doing it. The question is, why aren't we?

We don’t have a $40,000 job with that exact description.

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Originally Posted by techman05

We don’t have a $40,000 job with that exact description.

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Yeah, you just can't expect LA Tech to spend 40K a year to make an extra $1.2 MILLION or so, IN ONE SPORT! Increase ticket sales by 10,000 fans per game (e.g., from 13K to 23K per game) for a 6 home game football schedule next year, and that's the minimal impact at $20 per ticket for just football. Now, add-in fan increases in all the other sports, and the number probably exceeds $2 Million a year in improvement.

But someone might mistake us for a school that actually cares about athletics. We wouldn't want that to happen. :rolleyes:

What’s worse is that we don’t have anyone currently on staff at $40,000/yr that we could ask to spend 2-4 hours a week working on this type of deal.

Who makes $40k. Much closer to $30k

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Originally Posted by PawDawg

Who makes $40k. Much closer to $30k

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That’s fine too. If someone could implement a program that attracted and kept students, I would be in favor of bumping their salary to $40k

As bad as Cumbie and his team is it doesn’t matter what you’re giving away. This program is in the crapper.

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Originally Posted by Bone_afide_Dawg

As bad as Cumbie and his team is it doesn’t matter what you’re giving away. This program is in the crapper.

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Death spiral

I don’t know. Maybe being able to beat FIU? Maybe if we had a team that could do that, more people would want to attend?

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Originally Posted by Bone_afide_Dawg

As bad as Cumbie and his team is it doesn’t matter what you’re giving away. This program is in the crapper.

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Yeah probably a miracle at this point.

Some of you seem surprised after having watched this S Show in 2020 and 2021.

It's tough to watch now, but no more so than it was for the previous two years.

BTW, our special teams have been this bad since 2013.

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Originally Posted by PawDawg

Some of you seem surprised after having watched this S Show in 2020 and 2021.

It's tough to watch now, but no more so than it was for the previous two years.

BTW, our special teams have been this bad since 2013.

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I think it’s more of f a hope that Skip was the main problem. I think he was, but that problem filters down to our roster and will have an impact for a while.

Special teams sunk us last night. We have a knack for shanking punts at the worst possible time. Our upbacks had no idea what to do on the pooch kick.

In the second OT, we abandoned what got us to OT in the first place. I’m praying some of the 5 yard passes on 3rd and long were check downs.

I do think we saw how a better passing game opens up the run.

Still really bad in the secondary (coverage and tackling). LBs are usually in position, but are too slow and not real sure tacklers after you get past #44. I actually think our line play has improved on both sides of the ball.

I can see where we’re headed on O. Just don’t have the horses to run it right yet.

I’m less sure where the D is headed.

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Originally Posted by johnnylightnin

I think it’s more of f a hope that Skip was the main problem.

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I was hoping for a little improvement in our record. Not seeing it yet. Just hoping Sonny isn't in over his head.

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Originally Posted by Bulldog Tom

I was hoping for a little improvement in our record. Not seeing it yet. Just hoping Sonny isn't in over his head.

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I think he is, but all new HCs are. We’ll get a better feel for the long term viability of this experiment after a he has a full recruiting season under his belt. If the players buy in, we should see fewer transfers out here in a few months.

Nobody could win more than a few games with what we have on the roster. I think next year we may win 4-5 games as the ceiling. Year 3 will be the year where we will see a turnaround if it’s going to happen at all.

It’s an understatement, I know, to say this team and it’s coaching staff have a long, long way to go before and if Tech ever becomes good again. Maybe it’s a good thing that they’re all going through it together. Maybe it’ll save us some time in the long run. As important as it is that we quickly upgrade our player personnel it’s also very apparent that Cumbie needs to learn and improve at being a head coach. I for one expected him to be considerable further along in what all he was bringing to the table. I overestimated him. I’m not writing him off yet but his learning curve needs to take a major upturn going forward if he’s to right Tech’s program.

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Originally Posted by SicemDawgz

Nobody could win more than a few games with what we have on the roster. I think next year we may win 4-5 games as the ceiling. Year 3 will be the year where we will see a turnaround if it’s going to happen at all.

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First of all, I like how we are fine letting Cumbie build, but weren't fine letting Skip rebuild....

Anyway as for the record, outside of non-conference, we aren't exactly playing a murders row of teams in conference play. 2-10 or 3-9 isn't a great way to end this season.

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Originally Posted by thewyldman

First of all, I like how we are fine letting Cumbie build, but weren't fine letting Skip rebuild....

Anyway as for the record, outside of non-conference, we aren't exactly playing a murders row of teams in conference play. 2-10 or 3-9 isn't a great way to end this season.

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Skip’s time was up. He liked to talk about “building a program” and not just going for short term success. If you’re building a program you shouldn’t have to be “rebuilding” in year 9 or 10. And it’s pretty obvious he didn’t leave much for Cumbie to work with.

It would have helped Holtz’s cause if he hadn’t blamed everything on the 67 seniors that up and graduated on him. Seem to remember him milking that until 2015 at least.

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Originally Posted by thewyldman

First of all, I like how we are fine letting Cumbie build, but weren't fine letting Skip rebuild....

Anyway as for the record, outside of non-conference, we aren't exactly playing a murders row of teams in conference play. 2-10 or 3-9 isn't a great way to end this season.

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You're a f ing moron if you think anyone was ok with the way skip lost games. He played to not lose. If you can't see that Cumbie cares a lot more, then show yourself out. Take thos negative additute and cheer on the piss and purple team.

Holtz wasn’t building anything. He was coasting and operating what was essentially a has-been coaches retirement plan for a bunch of guys who weren’t working at their profession anymore. For his best years Holtz had the talent to win bigger than what he did, he just didn’t want to really beat anyone. Barely winning was good enough for him. The problem was that in trying to barely win you give the other team too many chances to beat you back and that’s what happened to him. Even if we go 2-10 this year we’re better off with Holtz gone.

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Originally Posted by Bone_afide_Dawg

Holtz wasn’t building anything. He was coasting and operating what was essentially a has-been coaches retirement plan for a bunch of guys who weren’t working at their profession anymore. For his best years Holtz had the talent to win bigger than what he did, he just didn’t want to really beat anyone. Barely winning was good enough for him. The problem was that in trying to barely win you give the other team too many chances to beat you back and that’s what happened to him. Even if we go 2-10 this year we’re better off with Holtz gone.

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Exactly!

Red Out! this Saturday. Very appropriate as the whole country, and the free world, celebrates a RED OUT sweeping the nation!

Oh...Go Dawgs! :D

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Originally Posted by thewyldman

First of all, I like how we are fine letting Cumbie build, but weren't fine letting Skip rebuild

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Rebuild what?

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Originally Posted by thewyldman

First of all, I like how we are fine letting Cumbie build, but weren't fine letting Skip rebuild....

Anyway as for the record, outside of non-conference, we aren't exactly playing a murders row of teams in conference play. 2-10 or 3-9 isn't a great way to end this season.

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Why would a coach in their 10th year need to “rebuild”? Why would that ever happen, unless of course they’re like Holtz and at the golf course instead of recruiting. Are you playing devils advocate, or are you really that dense?

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Originally Posted by johnnylightnin

I think he is, but all new HCs are. We’ll get a better feel for the long term viability of this experiment after a he has a full recruiting season under his belt. If the players buy in, we should see fewer transfers out here in a few months.

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Not always true. Look at Jon Sumrall at Troy. Troy was 5-7 last season, Sumrall has them at 6-2 so far this season. This is Sumrall’s first season as a head coach.

Also look at Mike Elko at Duke. Duke was 3-9 last season; they are 5-3 this season and in 2nd place in the coastal. First time coach.

Dan Lanning at Oregon. Last season 10-4 (very good), this season 7-1 (better) and ranked eighth nationally in the CFP rankings.

All three of these guys are first time head coaches, none of them were even interims like Sonny. These examples are from just this year.

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Originally Posted by Bulldog Tom

Not always true. Look at Jon Sumrall at Troy. Troy was 5-7 last season, Sumrall has them at 6-2 so far this season. This is Sumrall’s first season as a head coach.

Also look at Mike Elko at Duke. Duke was 3-9 last season; they are 5-3 this season and in 2nd place in the coastal. First time coach.

Dan Lanning at Oregon. Last season 10-4 (very good), this season 7-1 (better) and ranked eighth nationally in the CFP rankings.

All three of these guys are first time head coaches, none of them were even interims like Sonny. These examples are from just this year.

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Who was your pick? Seriously? I favored SC because of his offensive history. I would have favored the rehire of Jack Bicknell over another year of Holtz.

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Originally Posted by Bulldog Tom

Not always true. Look at Jon Sumrall at Troy. Troy was 5-7 last season, Sumrall has them at 6-2 so far this season. This is Sumrall’s first season as a head coach.

Also look at Mike Elko at Duke. Duke was 3-9 last season; they are 5-3 this season and in 2nd place in the coastal. First time coach.

Dan Lanning at Oregon. Last season 10-4 (very good), this season 7-1 (better) and ranked eighth nationally in the CFP rankings.

All three of these guys are first time head coaches, none of them were even interims like Sonny. These examples are from just this year.

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I can do this too.

Notre Dame and Oklahoma are both 5-3 after going 11-2 last year. OU lost 49-0 to Texas. ND lost to Marshall and still has USC and Clemson on the schedule. Think either of those schools lack talent and resources like we do?

Virginia is 3-5 after going 6-6 last year.

Virginia Tech is 2-6 after going 6-7 last year.

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Originally Posted by PawDawg

Who was your pick? Seriously? I favored SC because of his offensive history. I would have favored the rehire of Jack Bicknell over another year of Holtz.

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I wanted them to at least consider Tim. For what we were willing to pay for a head coach, I thought he would be as good or better than anyone we could get at that price point.

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Originally Posted by SicemDawgz

I wanted them to at least consider Tim. For what we were willing to pay for a head coach, I thought he would be as good or better than anyone we could get at that price point.

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Something had to happen with Tim. My guess is that our former HC and AD crapped on him while our President looked the other way

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Originally Posted by PawDawg

Something had to happen with Tim. My guess is that our former HC and AD crapped on him while our President looked the other way

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I've often wondered what happened with him, and why he was never given a look. He's only making around 315K at OK State, so that wasn't the issue. He's been successful everywhere he's been, and he has established himself in the Ark-La-Tex and Oklahoma recruiting area. He'll get a shot somewhere.

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Originally Posted by PawDawg

Who was your pick? Seriously? I favored SC because of his offensive history. I would have favored the rehire of Jack Bicknell over another year of Holtz.

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Very fair question. I would have hired Rich Rodriguez. RichRod is a much better coach. He has a much better track record than anything Cumbie has ever even dreamed about. Not to mention the 3-star and less talent that became stars under RichRod’s offense. He took guys like QB Pat White (3-star DB), RB Steve Slaten (3-star), FB Owen Schmitt (D-3 transfer), WR Darius Reynaud (3-star) and built a top 10 program that went 33-5 in his last three years at WVU. Doing this with a much smaller budget than teams he competed against. Let’s see 3-star and less talent and a much smaller budget than teams he competed against. Wow that sounds very much like our situation. WVU was just a couple of Pat McAfee missed chip shot field goals from a shot at a national championship. BTW those missed chip shots allowed Les Miles to back door LSU into a national championship.

How is Rodriguez doing this year? He is 7-2, scoring 35.1 ppg (17th in FCS), 413.4 total offense (35th).

Sagarin rankings through October 29, 2022.
74. Liberty
86. WKU
117. MTSU
141. Jacksonville State
143. Louisiana Tech
144. UTEP
146. SHSU
167. NMSU
169. FIU
185. Kennesaw State

He is still doing more with less. Imagine how much better he will be after he has an FBS roster. We really need RR and Freeze to get new jobs this off season.

Now what from Sonny’s resume has you so excited?

Of course none of this matters Sonny is the guy, hopefully it will just take time for him to figure it out.

Tech was NEVER going to hire ULM’s OC as the new HC.

SC’s two predecessors took over programs that had seen a P5 come in and hire our coach. Both of them (one of whom is killing it at TCU right now) had losing seasons in their first years.

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Originally Posted by johnnylightnin

Tech was NEVER going to hire ULM’s OC as the new HC.

SC’s two predecessors took over programs that had seen a P5 come in and hire our coach. Both of them (one of whom is killing it at TCU right now) had losing seasons in their first years.

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You are probably right about not hiring ULM’s OC, but that doesn't mean that was the right call. And, I certainly wouldn't recommend hiring him based of his efforts there.

It will be interesting to see how TCU finishes. They have been the kings of great comebacks. And, I agree SC has time to figure it out. I hope he does. He just wouldn't have been my first choice.

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Originally Posted by Dowty

I can do this too.

Notre Dame and Oklahoma are both 5-3 after going 11-2 last year. OU lost 49-0 to Texas. ND lost to Marshall and still has USC and Clemson on the schedule. Think either of those schools lack talent and resources like we do?

Virginia is 3-5 after going 6-6 last year.

Virginia Tech is 2-6 after going 6-7 last year.

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Huh? Johnny had said all first-time head coaches are in over their head. I disagreed and gave him three examples of first-time head coaches who are not in over their head.

Good smartass comment though, but you are confused again. Nobody was saying every team does better in the first year with a first-time head coach. You keep trying though, you will come up with a good take some time. Like Bone_afide_dawg said you just need to work on that reading comprehension.

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Originally Posted by Bulldog Tom

Huh? Johnny had said all first-time head coaches are in over their head. I disagreed and gave him three examples of first-time head coaches who are not in over their head.

Good smartass comment though, but you are confused again. Nobody was saying every team does better in the first year with a first-time head coach. You keep trying though, you will come up with a good take some time. Like Bone_afide_dawg said you just need to work on that reading comprehension.

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I understood what you meant. I think I’m still right though. If you’ve never done the job before, you’re in over your head…at least in some ways. I think a LOT goes into a teams record with a first time head coach. In fact, I’d argue that the coach’s skill is one of the smallest factors in year one.

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Originally Posted by johnnylightnin

I understood what you meant. I think I’m still right though. If you’ve never done the job before, you’re in over your head…at least in some ways. I think a LOT goes into a teams record with a first time head coach. In fact, I’d argue that the coach’s skill is one of the smallest factors in year one.

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I agree with this. Can you come in and get the tram to believe in you as a person? That’s number one… really for any job where your title involves leading a group of people. After they buy into YOU as a leader, they’ll likely follow you anywhere you want to take it. If you’re doing things with the best interests of the organization and it’s success, the right ones will “get on the bus”… the wrong ones will push back, disagree and either quit or leave. And those are the people you wish the best to, and let the door hit them in the arse on the way out.

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Originally Posted by johnnylightnin

I understood what you meant. I think I’m still right though. If you’ve never done the job before, you’re in over your head…at least in some ways. I think a LOT goes into a teams record with a first time head coach. In fact, I’d argue that the coach’s skill is one of the smallest factors in year one.

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Total disagreement here. Absolutely, totally wrong! In fact, that is a dumb statement. So dumb, I am not even sure how to respond to it.

Let me say this, there have been great coaches of them it was said:

He can beat you with his players, and he can beat you with your players.

Meaning, of course, he will out-coach you regardless who his players are. That is a slight exaggeration, but points to the coaching being the #1 factor affecting how well a team does.

Good coaches make an instant difference, from day one of practice. Long before the first game is played, and during that first season good coaches have made a HUGE difference. Now, if his roster is sub-par then the team might struggle to a losing record, but his coaching has made a difference. Maybe they finish 4-8 when the talent level was 2-10 or 1-11. It's all about creating a winning culture, a can-do attitude. Getting players to improve and play beyond their abilities.

Hate to do this, but I experienced this... I took over the U19 soccer team at Natchitoches. The coach before me was knowledgeable in developing players and he was a super nice guy. His team would have records like 2-16. I took over, moved a couple of players to new positions, made my offense more aggressive applying high pressure, and took that team to the Pelican Cup state championship game, compiling a record of 20-2-2. Same players, with just two additions to the roster. At the very first practice I told my players, "You guys are good! You can play this game and losing is unacceptable." Their eyes lit up and every practice was constructive and intense.

Sorry, maybe I shouldn't have said "dumb." But good coaches are good coaches and don't stop being a good coach just because it is their first year somewhere.

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Originally Posted by Bulldog Tom

Huh? Johnny had said all first-time head coaches are in over their head. I disagreed and gave him three examples of first-time head coaches who are not in over their head.

Good smartass comment though, but you are confused again. Nobody was saying every team does better in the first year with a first-time head coach. You keep trying though, you will come up with a good take some time. Like Bone_afide_dawg said you just need to work on that reading comprehension.

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You cherry-picked first-time head coaches that are having some success. I cherry-picked coaches that aren't.

Just because you can find a random sampling of something to support your position doesn't mean you're right.

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Originally Posted by johnnylightnin

I understood what you meant. I think I’m still right though. If you’ve never done the job before, you’re in over your head…at least in some ways. I think a LOT goes into a teams record with a first time head coach. In fact, I’d argue that the coach’s skill is one of the smallest factors in year one.

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Well we agree Sonny is in over his head. Hopefully he figures it out sooner than later. Should be easier with the changes coming up in cusa. But we will have to disagree about all first time head coaches being over their head. BTW Duke became bowl eligible tonight, wish Sonny was in over his head as much as Elko. ;)

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Originally Posted by Bulldog Tom

Well we agree Sonny is in over his head. Hopefully he figures it out sooner than later. Should be easier with the changes coming up in cusa. But we will have to disagree about all first time head coaches being over their head. BTW Duke became bowl eligible tonight, wish Sonny was in over his head as much as Elko. ;)

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I bet Sonny wishes he had Duke’s budget.

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Originally Posted by johnnylightnin

I bet Sonny wishes he had Duke’s budget.

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I bet Duke wishes they had Sonny's very easy schedule.

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Originally Posted by Bulldog Tom

I bet Duke wishes they had Sonny's very easy schedule.

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Bam!

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Originally Posted by Bulldog Tom

I bet Duke wishes they had Sonny's very easy schedule.

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I’d gladly make that double trade. Duke hasn’t played the strength of their ACC schedule yet.

Everything that’s already been said and then there not be an SEC on TV or a hunting season. From here out attendance is going to dwindle.

When one of our players pulls off his helmet KNOWING that he is costing the team 15 yards we have a problem. We had the same problems with Holtz teams.

I'm not burning $10 worth of gas to drive over and watch this crap even if they are giving away tickets.

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Originally Posted by PawDawg

When one of our players pulls off his helmet KNOWING that he is costing the team 15 yards we have a problem. We had the same problems with Holtz teams.

I'm not burning $10 worth of gas to drive over and watch this crap even if they are giving away tickets.

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For the life of me I can’t understand how we end up with these dummies. I watch a lot of football, and Tech is the undisputed king of low football IQ players.

I remember in the early days of Cumbie coming here him talking about player and coach relationships… about making the game fun. I think in that is something about the coaches not fusing at players or being hard on them. If that’s what Cumbie’s staff is doing then that goes a long way towards players acting like they’re playing in the backyard with their bros and we all know the bad sportsmanship that goes on there. #13 is constantly trying to show himself off. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s got at least a couple more unsportsmanlike calls coming his way before this season is done.

I heard that Cumbie talked about “team” in the coaches show. He asks the players to match their dress when eating meals together, lifting together, and encourages a lot of other “team” mentality concepts. He says the guys who make mistakes on the field are the guys who haven’t bought into that attitude. I would ask why those kids are playing, but I think we have 18-20 injuries and really no choice.

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Originally Posted by techman05

I heard that Cumbie talked about “team” in the coaches show. He asks the players to match their dress when eating meals together, lifting together, and encourages a lot of other “team” mentality concepts. He says the guys who make mistakes on the field are the guys who haven’t bought into that attitude. I would ask why those kids are playing, but I think we have 18-20 injuries and really no choice.

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When you are short on talent, sometimes you have to play the most athletic even if they have bad habits until you have some time to change the culture. We are short on talent across the board and the culture we have had for the last several years has been bad. It’s hard to change all that in one season.Qb play is important….we have QB1 that throws a good deep ball, Cumbie doesn’t trust QB2 to throw it deep or QB2 doesn’t have the arm strength of QB1. The play calling is very different between the two Qb’s.

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Originally Posted by Bone_afide_Dawg

Everything that’s already been said and then there not be an SEC on TV or a hunting season. From here out attendance is going to dwindle.

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maybe we could just put the SEC game on the Jumbotron. At least folks would be in the stands. They could at least watch Tech during TV timeouts and halftime.

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Originally Posted by sportdawg

maybe we could just put the SEC game on the Jumbotron. At least folks would be in the stands. They could at least watch Tech during TV timeouts and halftime.

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Haha, wouldn’t that be something :). Now that you say that it could be the most the Jumbotron is looking at because there’s pretty much nothing of interest to see on it during a Tech game. The replays are usually only one per play and almost too quick after the original play to see and you can forget about getting a replay look at a controversial play.

We have a Jumbotron?
Thought it was just a video board.
LOL

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Originally Posted by Dawgpix

We have a Jumbotron?
Thought it was just a video board.
LOL

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More like Jumbojunk. Are we still paying for that thing?

This may have already been said because I didn’t read every post! App St doesn’t have LSU playing on Saturdays in their state! I know they have p5 schools around them but I don’t think other universities students bail on their hometeam to travel 4-5 hours to watch another school play! Our Tech grads should be in Ruston in JAS instead of BR or the deer stand!

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Originally Posted by DD Dawg

This may have already been said because I didn’t read every post! App St doesn’t have LSU playing on Saturdays in their state! I know they have p5 schools around them but I don’t think other universities students bail on their hometeam to travel 4-5 hours to watch another school play! Our Tech grads should be in Ruston in JAS instead of BR or the deer stand!

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I think the difference in App and us is consistent and sustained success. We used to be consistently mediocre, but we’re not even that anymore. App is now what we used to be: Anyone, Anytime, Anyplace.

What will it take to drive game attendance up? Move our October games to Tuesday & Wednesday

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Originally Posted by sportdawg

What will it take to drive game attendance up? Move our October games to Tuesday & Wednesday

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Looking forward to all the Shreveport fans coming over for an 8pm kickoff on a Tuesday. You’ll be home by 1am. It’s not that bad.

App St is in a much better conference.

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Originally Posted by techman05

Looking forward to all the Shreveport fans coming over for an 8pm kickoff on a Tuesday. You’ll be home by 1am. It’s not that bad.

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WACky Wednesdays with Hawai'i

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Originally Posted by techman05

Looking forward to all the Shreveport fans coming over for an 8pm kickoff on a Tuesday. You’ll be home by 1am. It’s not that bad.

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Hopefully one of our home games will be during the kids Fall Break. That's the only way I will be there / but still probably not because my son will have FB practice.

Exactly! We are going to lose a large majority of our already small dedicated fanbase from out of town for at least 2 games. That will be a huge hit that we can’t afford and Ruston will not turn out to make up the difference.

It sure seems like the more decisions there are for Tech to make regarding the future betterment of the program, the more the powers at be get wrong. I think it’s really obvious now if the writing on the wall before wasn’t, Tech doesn’t care one iota about fans-in-the-seats attendance. Bit be bit we’re getting shrunk and more irrelevant all the time. The day is coming when we’ll probably be looking up at where ULM is compared to us.