Sure is fun watching the Bulldogs Spring practice without having to use camouflage and/or binoculars.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...l+for+visitors
Hummmmmmmmm.
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Sure is fun watching the Bulldogs Spring practice without having to use camouflage and/or binoculars.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...l+for+visitors
Hummmmmmmmm.
way to go Dooley!!!:laugh:Quote:
Originally Posted by DQDawg
Dooley puttin the law down over there in Knoxville.
Stirring up some hornets.
LMAO.
I really think when all is said and done, we get the gold mine and UT got the shaft. Amazing how what looked like diaster at the time, may very well turn into a huge blessing for us. Time will tell, but I like the way things are looking right now.
I have no doubt the on-the-field product will be much better under Dykes, and this will ultimately lead to much more off-the-field support from alumni and boosters. Dooley did a great job getting the ball rolling on a lot of off-the-field initiatives, but never fielded a product that people outside of the die-hards would support. When we add the groundwork Dooley laid off-the-field to the product we're about to see from Dykes in the coming seasons, we should see some amazing things in Ruston. At any rate, I'm doubling down on that prospect.
In regard to Dooley's actions in Knoxville, he was on a short leash to start with. A place like Tennessee with its traditions and endless line of high-profile boosters will not tolerate this type of perceived disrespect for long without some serious results on the field. I know he wants to be like Saban, but without the National Championships under his belt he'd better win quick at UT. I have a feeling if they go any worse than 7-5 next year, his ass will be strapped to one of the barges outside the stadium and sent down the river.
Dooley better be policing the barges outside the stadium then...not sure I see more than about 7 wins out of this schedule. The Oregon game in week 2 is key...a loss there makes it hard to figure better than 3-4 in the first 7.
09/04/10 vs. Tennessee-Martin Knoxville, Tenn. TBA
09/11/10 vs. Oregon Knoxville, Tenn. TBA
09/18/10 vs. Florida * Knoxville, Tenn. TBA
09/25/10 vs. UAB Knoxville, Tenn. TBA
10/02/10 at LSU * Baton Rouge, La. TBA
10/09/10 at Georgia * Athens, Ga. TBA
10/23/10 vs. Alabama * Knoxville, Tenn. TBA
10/30/10 at South Carolina * Columbia, S.C. TBA
11/06/10 at Memphis Memphis, Tenn. TBA
11/13/10 vs. Mississippi * Knoxville, Tenn. TBA
11/20/10 at Vanderbilt * Nashville, Tenn. TBA
11/27/10 vs. Kentucky * Knoxville, Tenn. TBA
I think Dooley will do fine at Tennessee. In fact, I betcha LSU makes a run for him after next season.
Let them make a run for him and keep their grubby paws off Sonny.Quote:
Originally Posted by boxerdog
I have never seen a more perfect storm turn out SO perfect! Dooley comes in and excites the fan base, gets the facilities in order, gets us to a bowl game, lays the groundwork for some tremendous improvement across the board. He then leaves and we get what should be a MUCH better coach and all the groundwork is still there and people are excited about it! WOW! Has Tech ever seen such a great outcome in just a few years time???????? I love what he did as AD and think that he did what no other could do in that role at that time. Now, we have the coaches to go with it and I see nothing but Sonny sky ahead!!!!!!!!!!!! And even old Dan is involved and excited!
I am LOVIN IT!
I agree that we've come a very long way in a very short time. It is imperative that we build on the momentum we have and keep it going. We must get more donors into LTAC as well as more rear ends in the seats at our games. A realistic goal for LTAC is 10% increase each year. I think that a realistic goal for average home attendance this year is 22,500.Quote:
Originally Posted by champion110
Maybe next practice DD should order pizza and Powerade for the former Tennessee players, media, etc.
Like that's gonna happen. :laugh::laugh::laugh:Quote:
Originally Posted by Dawgpix
To follow up on your post Champ, in DD's three years home attendance increased from 14,600, NCAA 2006 statistics, to 21000, Tech 2009 statistics. That is a 44% increase. If SD does as well we will run out of stadium capacity in his third year. DR brought in DD and BVDV who together laid the foundation then brought in SD. DR should get some credit for a masterfull job. If 10 is a good year, better start the stadium expansion project.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RealityCheck
I see 5 probable wins, UTM, UAB, Memphis, Vandy, and UK. Everything else is a toss-up at best.
Oregon will have a better team, but they lost their QB for the year. Not sure how that is going to affect them. Plus how many more will be suspended or kicked off the team between now and then?
I agree..... It took D.R. WAY too long to get in the game, but he did get in it and deserves some credit for doing so.Quote:
Originally Posted by Snapdawg
I agree totally with the "long time to get in...", but I think he finally realized that the cheapest, quickest way to get to 15K students was to showcase athletics. And to his credit, he's doing it in tough economic times.Quote:
Originally Posted by champion110
Quote:
Originally Posted by DQDawg
I thought he wanted to keep the attendance around 12K total? I would love to see us get to around 18K undergrad, but that is a long time off, if ever.
Hook, I'm hearing that 15K would support all the research and faculty work needed to maintain a very high level of academic respectability. Not sure where that came from
I have been told that the new goal is 15K raised from the old 12K number being used last year. For the reasons DQ listed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DQDawg
Cool! What would be the proposed grad/undergrad split?
Tech's 2009 average was 20,000 and not 21,000. That's still a 37% increase over 2006. And another 15-25% increase to the 23K-25K range is well within reach in 2010.Quote:
Originally Posted by Snapdawg
It will be difficult because our fanbase generally attends every game. When you have 7 games, there's more opportunity for folks here and there to miss some. It's harder for us to maintain an average over more games.
If weather holds up, I think a 22K average next year could be on the low end if these turn out to be what I hope are conservative estimates.Quote:
Originally Posted by FishingBack
Navy 26K
USM 28K
USU 21K
Idaho (HC) 23K
Fresno 21K
Nevada 15K
That's 134K for 6 games, so you could lose 2K and still have a 22K average.
It depends on winning. If we are winning and have a chance at a decent bowl, that Nevada number should jump through the roof - possibly even beating the USM # (and I know the USM number takes into account the USM crowd).Quote:
Originally Posted by RealityCheck
Mil, I usually agree with you, but when you look at the average attendance before dooley got here and what it was last year with a 4-8 record I think you will see that much more than the die-hards are onboard. Now we just have to see if it will continue to improve!Quote:
Originally Posted by mildawg
Dooley did a great job getting us moving in the right direction, but I don't personally believe we would have ever reached our full potential on the field under him. And the only way we'll ever double LTAC giving and have sell out crowds in Ruston is to WIN consistently over time. Other than the die-hards, Ruston and the surrounding area is filled with apathetic fans that are looking to jump on someone's bandwagon.Quote:
Originally Posted by rustydawg
If you're old enough, think back to the TAC during the days of Malone and the crowds they used to pack in there. Look at it today. As far as football, we've not even sniffed the same sort of success. String together several winning seasons and bowl games, possibly even a BCS game, and there's no telling what could happen in Ruston.
Even though Dooley did a remarkable job in moving us forward on attendance (to include student involvement) and LTAC, I personally don't believe we'd have ever achieved the necessary success on the field under Dooley. Just one person's opinion, though.
http://georgia.scout.com/2/955921.html
"The phrase, "This Aint Kansas Toto," aptly fits by inserting a Louisiana Tech name change concerning the Volunteers level of media coverage. As many was one fourth were not present on Wednesday."
One of the biggest unknowns is how the casual tech fan and/or grad (i.e. one who rarely if ever attends tech games but has some interest in tech) will respond if we put together 4-5 winning seasons and bowl games. Will they get on board and make the committment to attending games, buying seasons tix, giving to LTAC, etc.???
Since moving to D1A, i don't think that we have ever won CONSISTENTLY. Even during the Rattay "golden" years, it was a winning season followed by a medicore/poor season. plus, being independent kept us out of bowl games, etc. which only accelerates momentum.
I think it is funny that there are 167 Tennessee posts on this story. One of my favorite posts is:
"This just in, interview with Coach Dooley...
Coach: Hello
Media(Hooker): I have a question
Coach: Go ahead
Media (Hooker): Why did you interrupt me?
Coach: I'm sorry, did you ask your question? (puzzled look on face)
Media (Hooker): There you go again, interrupting me, and why do you have that puzzled look? are you getting all shook up about my questions? Are you here to kill this program?
Coach: Excuse me? (Puzzled expression, has now changed to totally mystified look of talking to a crazy person)
Media (Hooker): I knew it! Your here to destroy the program, wait till I write my article about you buster!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by rustydawg
Quote:
Originally Posted by mildawg
If I remember correctly, at the Tech and Tails 3 kickoff event they talked about attendance and getting the casual fan in Ruston. They threw some numbers out there that were pretty eye opening. Those of you who were there can correct me if I'm wrong, but they said that the population of Ruston, not including surrounding areas or Tech students, is like around 30k. When you start looking at those who have the money to spend casually like on a football game you take in certain factors. The two that stick out in my mind are young adults who still live at home with no jobs or go off to school but either way don't have any money to spend and the largest number is the elderly who have their every penny budgeted and don't have the extra to spend on tickets to a game. He gave percentages for all the different groups to come up with a figure of actual Ruston people that could afford to attend the games, and the number was like 5k. The reason I mention this is because I don't think even winning consistently will bring in many more "local" casual fans. This is one of the biggest reasons we need to market ALL of North Louisiana. I think winning consistently will bring in more fans, but they're going to have to come from somewhere other than Ruston.Quote:
Originally Posted by 1L_dawg
Very good point. In order to fill our stadium we need to pull in about 3% of the population in north La.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dirtydawg
i was really thinking more about the casual fan in surrounding areas such as Shreveport/Bossier, Monroe, Winnfield, ElDo, etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dirtydawg
So we already get a large percentage of the eligible Rustonites to our games. I wounder how many eligible folks live within 30 miles of Tech and even care about Tech?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dirtydawg
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dirtydawg
If that is the case our ticket price structure is wrong...
On any given Saturday or basketball evening 1/2 or better of our seats are unsold, is it because of PRODUCT or PRICE?
You draw a circle within a radius of 120 miles of Ruston in all directions and set your price structure based on the data dervied from that population...
I still say Ruston and the immediate area is very UNDER SOLD in all facets -
Was at the doctor today in Ruston because I had surgery on my shoulder recently. A big kid from Cedar Creek who apparently a football player and does track. He must throw something good in track. His mom said something about him having the second best throw in the country. They were talking about colleges and Tech was mentioned. He laughed at the idea and said "they are in the WAC". That mentallity is all around Ruston and N. LouisianaQuote:
Originally Posted by olddog75
Who was the last Cedar Creek kid that was good in college?Quote:
Originally Posted by techfan01
that reminds me of the article that I read in the Dallas morning news this morning about the Smith kid from Plano East. I think he was committed to us and got a last minute offer from Virginia. He is transferring because he is the odd man out. Sometimes those bigger conference are not what they are cracked up to be.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FieldDawg
Plano East quarterback Riko Smalls is leaving Virginia. He was either committed to us or we were at the top of his list. At the very end, Virginia offers him; Small accepts without visiting the school. Virginia has a new coach, which may have influenced Smalls' decision.
Plano East also had a tight end/defensive end (Kevin Smith) that committed to us and changed to Wake Forest.
Quote:
Originally Posted by olddog75
it is Smalls, I got the names mixed up..
Here is a link about the story: http://www.fantasysp.com/cfb_player_news/Riko_Smalls/
http://highschoolsportsblog.dallasne...s-virgini.html
Damn good question. Tag Rome is the only one I can think of that had a productive college career at NLU. Jerry Hinton played DE for Tech back in the early/mid 80's but injured his knee and never was the same.Quote:
Originally Posted by boxerdog
I remember Jerry Vascacu (?) played for Vanderbilt.Quote:
Originally Posted by TECH88
Quote:
Originally Posted by boxerdog
Yep, you're right. He also sustained an injury while at Vandy and never reached his full potential.
The last number I saw for the entire Lincoln Parish was 42,000 with 60% non-caucasian.Quote:
Originally Posted by olddog75
Lincoln Parish is about 57% white and 39% black and has a popluation a little over 42k
Not to mention, when Dooley signed for such a large contract with Tennessee it opened the eyes of many very good and up coming young coaches, thinking, if I can go to LaTech, make a splash, then I too might hit the lotto. Don't misunderstand me as I want stability in our coaching ranks as much as anyone but I don't think it hurt when Dooley secured his retirement...Personally, I think Dykes is a winner and will do as much good on the field as he does off, Dooley was a great Admin person without a personality. I think Dykes is both...or so I hope. Regardless, at this stage in our growth it will be hard to maintain good young coaches but if they continue to leave for Dooley bucks it will be much easier to obtain them.Quote:
Originally Posted by champion110
Quote:
Originally Posted by champion110
Bullshit - being 15 years too late doesn't qualify you for credit.
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by glm47
:laugh::laugh::laugh: (more like...'nice of you to show up after the boat left the dock!')Quote:
Originally Posted by glm47
Here is a question I have wanted to ask for a long time. If SD had the same policy as DD about closed practices, would any of you be griping about it? So far, it seems that some of you feel that SD's best move as a coach has been allowing all of you back into practice.
I, for one, am at work all day and don't give a darn about practice. So this was never a concern for me under JBIII, DD, or now. I just can't accept that this is actually a point of discussion.
Your figures are a little off, but your point is well taken. It is going to be difficult to get more local casual fans to attend games. As much as it pains me to admit, not everyone in and around Ruston cares about Tech or Tech football and if they do they are probably already coming to the games (especially after the 2008 bowl-winning season). I think if we want to see another increase in attendance next year we will have to win more games and play in the post season.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dirtydawg
By local fans, I was talking southern Arkansas, Shreveport, Alexandria, etc. To me, that is "local." Then again, I live in West Virginia, so Alabama is "local" when discussing north Louisiana. I know for a fact there are many more casual fans right there in Lincoln Parish that Tech could draw with a winning product, but that number definitely has a limit. It will take us casting a wide net over the "local" (i.e. ArkLaMiss/Tex) region to attract the fans necessary to fill the stadium on a routine basis.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dirtydawg
I give credit when it happens. All is not forgotten, but if you don't give credit when it happens, forget having it happen again. It took a long time (MUCH too long), but it did finally happen. I credit Dooley for opening his eyes. Now, we have to keep the ball rolling.Quote:
Originally Posted by glm47
Dykes should be able to keep the ball rolling by winning. BVD needs to keep D.R. in the picture with the infrastucture - facilities, marketing, fan base, LTAC......
Side note: I'm really pleased to see our new AD at every football practice. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by champion110
i'm not in ruston anymore, unfortunately, but for me it is a big deal. i thought dooley's decision completely showed me that he had no clue about his fan base or his community. ruston is a small, tight-knit community, and this is one of the things you should seek from your local community -- interest, participation, commitment. there's absolutely no reason for tech football to close its practices, especially considering the practice field (i know we're in the stadium for spring training) is wide open on the corner of one of the busiest streets in ruston!Quote:
Originally Posted by techman05
Quote:
Originally Posted by TECH88
FWIW our old AD was at every football practice also...
And Jim was at most of those I attended -
:laugh:Quote:
Originally Posted by Dwayne From Minden
Outside of the media, how many people called Dooley and said "I'm coming to watch practice" and were told "no"?
I'd say very few.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cool Hand Clyde
Not trying to draw comparisons because there is none, only making an observation.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dwayne From Minden
The "new" AD WAS at just about every football practice the last couple of years, too, cuz that's where he could communicate with the AD.Quote:
Originally Posted by TECH88
How many people on here actually called Dooley?Quote:
Originally Posted by Cool Hand Clyde
Quote:
Originally Posted by DONW
I cut out the article from the Indy Bowl and sent it to him "from his friends" at our organization, along with a note of thanks for his hard work and dedication. I didn't get a call back or email or letter or anything. I wasted a laminating sheet, envelope, and a stamp for that.
I've mailed him articles out of the newspaper about recruits and never heard from him, but, I know he looked at one of them because he told a coach to call me.Quote:
Originally Posted by techman05
I got a note from him regarding a contribution, it was unexpected and appreciated.
Well aware of that, TMo.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dawgpix
I knew you were.:icon_wink:Quote:
Originally Posted by TECH88