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Good post. Yes, the student section was much less full yesterday against SMU than it was during last week's game against Southeastern Louisiana. I was shocked at that.Originally Posted by Cal&Ken
I don't know who's running the BAND OF PRIDE now, but they are doing a great job. The BOP played great, they played loud, and they legally harassed the opposing team at every opportunity, which tells me they are attentive to the game conditions.
Most of those complaining about student attendance never had to deal with an afternoon TV game that our horrible TV contract called for. Facing the afternoon sun from 2:30 to 4:00 is enough to run them off.
Our former AD began tearing down attendance from students and non-gold lot fans years ago. Blame him and crappy scheduling for lack of tailgating and attendance. Throw Skips many losses and crappy product in if that was part of your issue like it is mine.
I attend Baylor games sitting in the sun. It is hot, and I am older than they are. If you want to see the game, you go. It was actually raining right before kickoff. There is a ton of work needed by our current AD, because blaming someone is a waste of time. Those that are in the position now have to "fix" the problem, and there is a lot of work needed to get students there.
The parallel is too close to ignore.
The money school train for women's basketball was just starting to pull out the station when the Mulkey fiasco happened, and it was gone when Budke left for Oklahoma State. Tech would still have fallen behind, but it would have been at a much slower rate if Mulkey had run the program for even a few years. Tech has been irrelevant on the national scene for 15 years now.
The conference realignment train is getting ready to pull out of the station now. If something isn't done, by the time it is done Tech will be too far behind to ever catch up. The new conference structure won't be creating many if any new openings once this round of realignment is done. If Tech isn't irrelevant nationally already, it most certainly will be in the not-too-distant future.
I agree. The sun beating down on you on those bleachers will run off everyone but the diehard fans. The heat index had to be close to 100 yesterday. Afternoon football in Louisiana during September just kills any kind of crowd, especially on the east side.
Just FYI.......you guys have NO IDEA how caught off guard last week our new AD and LA Tech's leadership-- was with regard to the AAC's expansion as it relates to LA Tech. Here we were hosting SMU --an AAC team-- this past week, and NOBODY in our administration ever bothered to reach out and invite AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco and his associates to our game. Here was a GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY to roll out the red carpet in Ruston and really win over Aresco and other AAC leaders, on OUR turf, and yet, nobody at Tech --or even anyone representing Tech-- even bothered to call and invite these people in for a Dog and Pony (pardon the pun) show until it was too late.
I couldn't believe it. Tech's leadership was dormant.
What TECH should have done was send a private plane to fly Aresco and his associates to Ruston, put 'em up at Squire Creek for one or two nights and have a series of "realignment" meetings --maybe even a round of golf (if weather permitted)-- before the game on Saturday afternoon.
But, none of that happened.
Of course, if you make an inquiry now, people in leadership will tell you, "Oh yeah, we reached out to Mr Aresco and offered to send a private jet to pick him up and bring him to Ruston". But know this: That only happened on Wednesday/Thursday this week after a couple of us "concerned supporters" made some calls and made the suggestions. There was no plan. And that's what was disturbing. Needless to say, our administration never reached Mr. Aresco.
I'm telling you, our leadership was caught asleep at the wheel in Ruston last week. Some of you forget that this is "Dr Eric Woods'" very first rodeo as the #1 person in an athletic department. I'm convinced, he literally doesn't know what to do in these situations, and thus, ended up doing nothing proactively, until it was already too late. Hence, LA Tech is truly paying a price for hiring a "junior" guy for that position. Oh, I don't doubt he is a talented guy that may some day be the best AD caliber talent in the world. But right now, he appears to be just another junior administrator that still has a lot to learn.
I’m shocked!! Great post
In a nutshell why Tech is going to remain sucking the hind teat. Like all the other sport metaphors, we always seem to be playing from behind. So here we go again hoping for a crumb at the table to sink our teeth into and make the best out of being an also-ran.
I remember the water cannon game. At least I remember 1. It was 100 degrees down there. Our group was there the whole time, but we were and are still die hard. I don’t remember how strong the student support was for that game.
That was a Labor Day game against Nevada in 2004. Hot as Hades!!
Yep, I also remember the home opener in 2002 being a hot one. I worked all morning putting up tailgate tents and 2 sets of scaffold for the tv crew. I legitimately thought about going to the ambulance and asking for an ice pack and an IV. It was brutal.
Guys.North Texas isn’t going to the MWC for facilities and winning games. Neither is UAB and FAU. We have everything in place. Winning programs and great facilities but WE are not in a market. No matter if we invited Aresco to Ruston for a BJ from 7 virgins, we were not getting invited to the AAC.
Maybe so. BUT, we didn't have to GUARANTEE that outcome by being so stupid and unprofessional.
Yeah. Some of you do.
I don’t feel like Tech would have fallen behind as much I believe the other institutions would have risen up and around us. But there’s no doubt we would still be riding high had Kim Mulkey somehow stayed at Tech.
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