Great post! I am horribly frustrated, but will never give up on the Dawgs! Like many of you, this season has been heartbreaking. I can't say if it is the youth, injuries, or what. I think Holtz has done a great job the last three years, though, and I am not willing to give up on him after one very heartbreaking season. All I can hope is that we finish strong now. Probably the most frustrating part is that we are about 8 points from just having one loss on the season. I hope our players and Holtz don't throw in the towel and we surprise FAU with a big upset.
I will be in Shreveport Friday night for the Rummel-Byrd playoff game, and in Ruston on Saturday to watch the Dawgs knock off FAU.
As I posted on the High School Sports thread Rummel and Tech are "suffering" through mirror-image seasons. Both have had injury woes, some bad luck, and both are 1-4 in close games. When I saw the Raiders would be playing in S'port I never, not for an instant, concerned myself with this being a disappointing season. Instead I said, "I'll be there to support my Raiders!" No matter what.
And then it struck me...why am I treating Tech differently? So...GO DAWGS!!! Beat dem Owls!
I can't believe you just wrote that about our fans. A little effort? Are you kidding? That's a POS thing to say to our fans. There's not a single fan you can blame for the current shape this football team is in.
Considering how poorly this team has performed this season, LA Tech fans have turned out in very good numbers in Ruston, in Birmingham, and in Houston. Don't try to drive a wedge between our fans and our football team.
Hang in there, OLDBLUE! I've been disappointed this year and actually consider the next three games as practice for next year. However, I will be in Ruston for the last two home games to yell and support the Dawgs, And yes, I was in Houston and Birmingham this year to support them. They have been damn close, but no cigar. Doo doo happens!!
77 I appreciate your words. It is tough to make the drive 7-hour drive from Abilene Texas every weekend Tech's playing at the Joe and I don't make it to every game (BTW I am a season ticket holder, LTAC, Alumni Assoc). My biggest problem is 1) driving through the DFW Metroplex (I HATE DRIVING THROUGH THE METROPLEX) and 2) that the mainstream hotels in Ruston charge outrageous prices for a single or 2-nights stay...$170 plus per night and that's conservative. I have a daughter that's a student there so the cost is not a factor just to spend some time with her (although her and mom spend most of that time shopping) and to watch the Dawgs...but really...a hotel room in Ruston for $170/night! I work for the Department of the Air Force and am on the road 120 days or more a year and stay in some of the major hotel chains but have never paid that much. I guess if you want the room, you have to pay the price. But for a weekend to watch a Tech game, my out of pocket expenses are easily $500 or more for that weekend and that doesn't include what mom and daughter spends for their shopping spree.
Listening to BTB Radio last week made me think of this thread. They spent the first segment harping on poor attendance as if most of our fans are skipping out on games to go sit in the deer stand. It further reinforced my position that folks in Ruston just don't get the big investment most of fans have to make to attend games from out-of-town. Again, kudos to everyone who showed up for the FAU game.
Now student attendance is a different story. That FAU game may have been our worst student attendance for a good weather game while school was in session since the end of the JB3 era, and this quarter we have the largest enrollment in Tech history.
TMc screwed the frats and everyone else with his asinine tailgating rules...
I'm an asshole! What's your excuse?
1. Don't choke away 4 games, and don't lose home games.
2. Leadership. Foster good relationships between Athletic Dept., University, and student groups (Greeks, ministries, other). Don't alienate Greeks! Instead of wasting money on stuff like foam sticks, use marketing budget to incentivize student group attendance. AD has great assets like DAC to offer for student events/parties that students are actually paying for with fees.
Tmac has developed a playbook for killing the Game-day experience, he has perfected the process, he has been successful at something.
I would say this board has actually came up with many, many good ideas for increasing student attendance, but those suggestions have fallen on deaf ears.
The easiest way to get them there, ASK the students, they can tell you, mainly make it fun again.