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Not sure how many people this speaks to, but we are in a different phase of life than my die-hard be at every game days. We buy our tickets. However, weeknights have dance practice, cheerleading, and homework. Weekends are cross country meets often a couple of hours away. Or my son says, “the fish are biting, let’s go to the lake!” Or “The wind is right, let’s go get that buck!”
I’m more worried about that than any game my kids aren’t directly involved in.
I mean a big part of it is student engagement. You need student engagement to build the alumni base that continues to go to games. Louisiana Tech is known for it's engineering and science programs, and frankly many of those students aren't engaged with football as a whole and not just Tech athletics. Points, wins, better tailgating aren't gonna get them interested in a sport they aren't interested in. Those that are interested won't really get jobs in the area and will probably move to Texas so they won't attend the games. The other program is Tech is a commuter school and if you're not in Ruston on the weekends are you really gonna drive back for the game? Ruston is a pretty expensive college town rent wise and at 3.50 a gallon how likely are you to make that trip from Monroe or Shreveport to come to campus?
About as likely as they are to spend $16 on a Philly steak sandwich at DawgHouse. My bro in law graduated in engineering and came to 1 game in 4 years because I made him go. He was always working an internship out of town for the job he got after grad. A lot of them seem to do that. Work like a Dawg and then retire early and comfortable.
Itiot!Originally Posted by thewyldman
There's that welcoming spirit that Barks and Bytes was known for on campus!
Yes, disparaging an opposing viewpoint always moves things forward! Adversity is a good thing as long as opposing view points can work together. The current buzzword is “teamwork”. I haven’t seen much evidence of it lately.
He doesn't have any "view points" that will help. I (we) have never bitched about growing our fan base w/out offering suggestions that will help. Here's what he stated.
- Louisiana Tech is known for it's engineering and science programs, and frankly many of those students aren't engaged with football as a whole and not just Tech athletics
-Those that are interested won't really get jobs in the area and will probably move to Texas so they won't attend the games.
-The other problem is Tech is a commuter school and if you're not in Ruston on the weekends are you really gonna drive back for the game?
-Ruston is a pretty expensive college town rent wise and at 3.50 a gallon how likely are you to make that trip from Monroe or Shreveport to come to campus?
None of the above is a "viewpoint" that will make things better. These are the same lame excuses our leaders have used for years. Things were going well and growing leaps and bounds until our current president hired the former AD who destroyed what was growing. Even with the up and down Holtz years this would have continued to grow, but instead our current president just kept on and keeps on doing more of the same regarding the game day experience.
Dat be it!
A few observations, critiques, recommendations from the homecoming game against Rice:
- I went to use the bathroom at the permanent “Bulldog Village” pavilion around 1:10pm. Apparently they close the bathrooms at 1 PM with a 2 PM kick off? So you’ve got all this tailgating and drinking of various beverages and one of the few places to be able to go to the bathroom is closed an hour before kick off? This is completely BONEHEADED. My recommendation is to close the bathrooms at kickoff so that people can transition to using the bathrooms within the stadium.
- The group running the concessions does a great job. Efficient, friendly, kept the lines moving. One person stays at the cash register and takes your order and another runner brings your items to that register. Good system.
- AD Wood has already addressed this on Tech Football’s Facebook page, but there needs to be more of the electronic handheld scanners that validate tickets at the gates. I understand electronic validation of the tickets but when one person has the scanner and the scanner is malfunctioning for whatever reason you get long lines trying to get into the stadium. Simple solution is just to get more scanners or to look at another system to validate tickets. I think Wood is doing a good job and he is already on this .
- Hideaway Park, specifically (the legendary) Garland Gregory Hideaway Park being where the students are corralled.
What is the thinking here? Do the students want to have their own space away from all the old folks? Or did TECH push them over there? Students provide the energy at a game, not necessarily the alumni, or the corporate tents. The energy in Bulldog Village vs Hideaway Park is night and day. I understand that alumni contribute to the university and therefore earn a position closer to the stadium whether it be parking or tailgating, but can we not try incorporating more students into the tailgate area that’s closer to the stadium? Let’s not forget we were all students and we were probably a little bit wilder than we are now right?
Your hideaway park observation is an interesting one. For a school like Tech (especially during these low interest days), we need to congregate the energy.
Students really carried the energy into……….halftime. After that they were out. From giveaways, to activities, to just making it a fun environment for students, we obviously get and F as a school. The students do not care.
Did you hear the reaction when Lyddy took the field? Like I said, if it’s just the last few games of this season or the next 3.5 seasons, we have to ride the Lyddy train as far as it takes us. That is the only way to keep the people who are still coming and maybe, just maybe, add a few butts in seats.
They probably figured since the team quits at halftime there's no reason to stay.
Seriously though, I'm not sure there is a good bandaid to this problem. The whole student fanbase needs to be rebuilt somehow
I really think it’s the generation we are raising. When we were in school, it feels like more of us stayed even though fewer of us where there at the kickoff. Students in general don’t care as much anywhere.
And….we play LSU in 2025 which will be either Lyddy’s junior or senior year. We can dream right? That we beat LSU in Baton Rouge?
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