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We've had some lite discussions on this topic before. I think now is a good time to bring it up again. Hookdown said this in another thread...
No reason at all we cannot duplicate Butler's (or VCU, or George Mason, or Zaga....) success if we put our mind to it
Agree? Before you comment, keep in mind those schools are SRO for every game. Success means winning AND great attendance.
Any other Southern schools outside of the ACC who do this?
Memphis, but they play in an NBA arena and have the 18th largest MBB budget in the nation (5x larger than our's)... And their football program pays the price. Just ask Tommy West.
Butler football is non-scholarship. VCU, Gonzaga, and George Mason don't play football at all.
I don't think you have to choose between football and basketball. Until USM football tanked, they were what we could be in football (provided you don't hire a flop coach and set your program back 30 years). At the same time, they were building a pretty good basketball tradition. It all boils down to winning. You want Shreveport? Go to bowls 3 out of every 4 years and you'll have them. Same with basketball. Get to the dance every other year and you'll see the TAC fill up.
What makes this difficult is the fact that we'll always have coach turnover. Our scheduling from Dykes to Holtz was actually perfect. We should've been bowl qualified by now. I like the idea of having some ideological guidelines for the coaches we hire (uptempo, pass heavy, ect).
It can be done in both sports, but hiring the right coaches is crucial. We're dramatically hindered in hiring the right coaches when we decide to pay our new guys 300K less than we were paying our old guys.
Time is your friend. Impulse is your enemy. -John Bogle
What is USM's NCAA MBB Tournament record in the last 22 years?
Ans: 0-1.
JL, I don't believe football's success or failure has a part in what I'm digging for. You said...
Same with basketball. Get to the dance every other year and you'll see the TAC fill up.
Not saying this can't happen, but history proves you wrong on it happening at LaTech. I believe it takes much more than winning here. That's where I'm trying to take this discussion.
I'll defer to others on basketball. Since I've been a Tech fan we haven't been anywhere near what I described. Are you suggesting that, in our part of the country, basketball will never be "cherished" like it is at Butler, Gonzaga, ect? I will say, after living in basketball country, it certainly is a different animal up there.Originally Posted by maddawg
Time is your friend. Impulse is your enemy. -John Bogle
For Tech to ever realize its "potential" we have to have the $$ to make it happen, and no egos to stand in the way. Would the Lady Techsters have returned to Women's BB Elite Status if Dan had just agreed to give Kim another year? Baylor's success would say "YES" --- but Baylor has the $$ to make it happen. At a school like Tech you must have that very rare combination of "GREAT COACH" and "BLIND LOYALTY" --- and you don't find that needle in today's coaching haystack very often.
Another thing to consider...
- 59% of FBS teams (76/129) make bowl appearances.
- 19% of Division I teams (68/351) make NCAA MBB Tournament appearances.
Guaranteed C-USA bids:
- 5/14 (36%) for bowl games
- 1/14 (7%) for the NCAA MBB Tournament
Getting a bid to the Big Dance is much tougher than earning a bowl bid.
I think it would be a marketing person's dream job, but it would not be an easy job.
I believe proper marketing is a must.
Chuck, we are talking Basketball here, not WBB.:icon_wink:
The same holds true for men's. Russo or Eagles could have done it building off the Karl Malone years. They both left for more money. I think Eagles (rest in peace) would have stayed, if we had tried hard enough. He LOVED Tech. You need THAT type of loyalty and talent to build something that will last. With WBB, Leon was that.
HAHA! I had a feeling you'd say that.
Eagles had the run we are now hoping for. Largest attendance during the Malone and White years was not even a sellout was it? We NEVER marketed outside of what Teddy Allen did and what the local papers printed.
Right!! No need to aim that high (WBB) and set ourselves up for disappointment.
Don't you know Russo would be pleased now that MBB really had surpassed WBB? Wasn't he the coach who'd get on the PA and encourage Techster fans to stay for MBB as the second game in a doubleheader?
I was surprised at the crowd Wednesday and hope we regularly see 4000+ this season and average 4500+ in conference THIS YEAR. Is that doable? Last year we averaged 3,531. Area colleges were ULL (2,175); NLUlm (!,255); NSU (1,803). And some CUSA numbers in 2012-13:
UTEP.............8,490
Charlotte.......6,093
Marshall.........5,598
Southern Miss..4,802
ECU...............4,659
Tulsa..............4,580
UCF................4,523
UAB................4,118
Houston...........3,707
SMU................3,443
Tulane.............1,851
Rice................1,742
NTSU..............3,518
UTSA..............1,264
MTSU............. 5,410
WKU...............4,714
NCAA 12-13 attendance link: http://static.psbin.com/a/j/rnpftk9i...attendance.pdf
WE'VE GOT A SHOT HERE TO REALLY GET IT GOING!! Maybe 5,000 in 2014-15? Ya gotta believe (AND SHOW UP AT GAMES!!!)
After watching BTB's video its fairly obvious that there were less than 2,000 in total attendance Wednesday night -
There are a little under 2,000 red seats (1800 and change) so unless they are full and a good overflow into the blue you don't come close to 3,000 let alone 4K
I just want a true 3,000 to 3,500 each and every game and work from there -
I think we could see a couple of 5k games on the weekends and maybe a Thursday
But we are getting there slowly
''Don't be a bad dagh..."
I noticed the same thing. Many of the seats that are normally filled were empty. That shows what happens on Wednesday night games in North Louisiana. Monday or Thursday games would be better as the students are still in town and these nights do not conflict with high school basketball.
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