eagle 93

[eagle93]

My opinion is this. There is tremendous apathy in the fan base. We lose too much, you say. You have to give the fans something to show up for, you say. You can make all the excuses you want to, but until the alumni, students and fans start packing that stadium your going to continue to struggle. I did some checking this weekend and I looked at 20 different schools with enrollments all at least 5,000 students below ours.  All games were at home. All of the schools were at .500 or below. All 20 schools had at least 40,000 asses in seats. We have a fine-ass stadium that's not ever full. You guys want to treat the symptoms and not the disease. Hell we can hire and fire coaches and AD's until the freaking cows come home and it will continue to not make a damn bit of difference. All I read on here is all we have to do is hire the right coach and all will be well. Bullshit. A couple of years ago we played UT San at Apogee for essentially the West. Was that stadium full? Hell no. The very idea that we played a bowl game in effing Dallas and less than 40,000 show up. We have 100,000 alumni in the metroplex for God's sake. Let's face it. School pride is something we are not good at as a whole. I'll wind up this tirade with this. The day before the bowl game, I was talking to two couples from down the street. All were alumni. I asked them if they were going to the game. One answered that they were going to a movie and the other couple were going to hit the after Xmas sales. I just hung my head and walked away. WTF!!

[ColoradoEagle]

You need sustained, consistent winning. Four winning seasons in the last twenty years is nowhere even close. Most people didn't consider the Sun Belt wins worth a damn. So most view it as one winning season in the past 20 years. I'm honestly surprised that 18-25k regularly show up at all.

[EagleMBA]

My opinion is this. There is tremendous apathy in the fan base. We lose too much, you say. You have to give the fans something to show up for, you say. You can make all the excuses you want to, but until the alumni, students and fans start packing that stadium your going to continue to struggle. I did some checking this weekend and I looked at 20 different schools with enrollments all at least 5,000 students below ours.  All games were at home. All of the schools were at .500 or below. All 20 schools had at least 40,000 asses in seats. We have a fine-ass stadium that's not ever full. You guys want to treat the symptoms and not the disease. Hell we can hire and fire coaches and AD's until the freaking cows come home and it will continue to not make a damn bit of difference. All I read on here is all we have to do is hire the right coach and all will be well. Bullshit. A couple of years ago we played UT San at Apogee for essentially the West. Was that stadium full? Hell no. The very idea that we played a bowl game in effing Dallas and less than 40,000 show up. We have 100,000 alumni in the metroplex for God's sake. Let's face it. School pride is something we are not good at as a whole. I'll wind up this tirade with this. The day before the bowl game, I was talking to two couples from down the street. All were alumni. I asked them if they were going to the game. One answered that they were going to a movie and the other couple were going to hit the after Xmas sales. I just hung my head and walked away. WTF!!

I feel your pain!

You need sustained, consistent winning. Four winning seasons in the last twenty years is nowhere even close. Most people didn't consider the Sun Belt wins worth a damn. So most view it as one winning season in the past 20 years. I'm honestly surprised that 18-25k regularly show up at all.

Yes. Winning and competitive teams will drive attendance over time. We got our dead cat bounce with Apogee and Mac's hiring. I felt things were trending upward until late last year and this year to date. It will take several things coming together to get back on the upward track.

[NorthTexan95]

38k showed up for the bowl game.  The people are there ... they just need a reason.

Edited October 12, 2015 by NorthTexan95

[meanrob]

I can name schools off the top of my head that win and don't draw 25k.

WKU, NIU, Toledo, Utah State, Ark State, Ohio, Bowling Green, and Rice. Probably more. 

The year NIU went undefeated and went to the Orange Bowl they averaged a whopping 15,670. 

In 1999 Boise State went 10-3 and averaged 22,979. 

In 2013 we averaged 21,030. Not that big a difference. Difference is they progressed, we regressed. 

There's no correlation between student body size and winning. If so, why are TCU and Baylor in the top five? And both of those teams brought in quality coaches before filling the stadium. Floyd Casey was a ghost town before Briles arrived.

TCU was a joke pre-Franchione. The magical year they went to the Sun Bowl and beat USC they averaged 27,181. And that includes a home game with Oklahoma.

The ball has to start with a good coach. Period. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[UNTexas]

Sucking year in and year out is the cause of this. People aren't going to waste time and money to see a shitty product. People were showing up until our team decided not to show up. Get use to no butts in seats when you get prison raped by FCS teams at our stadium on Homecoming. The program is a disaster and that is solely the fault of the University, the Athletic department, and the players. Fans will jump on a bandwagon if they have a reason to.

[UNTDoc]

Its a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts.  People need to show up to get recruits excited about whats happening at UNT, but fans want to see wins.  Ergo, wins beget fans, which beget better recruits.  You have to start somewhere, and that somewhere is with more than 4 winning seasons in the last 20 years. 

[foutsrouts]

I can name schools off the top of my head that win and don't draw 25k.

WKU, NIU, Toledo, Utah State, Ark State, Ohio, Bowling Green, and Rice. Probably more. 

The year NIU went undefeated and went to the Orange Bowl they averaged a whopping 15,670. 

In 1999 Boise State went 10-3 and averaged 22,979. 

In 2013 we averaged 21,030. Not that big a difference. Difference is they progressed, we regressed. 

There's no correlation between student body size and winning. If so, why are TCU and Baylor in the top five? And both of those teams brought in quality coaches before filling the stadium. Floyd Casey was a ghost town before Briles arrived.

TCU was a joke pre-Franchione. The magical year they went to the Sun Bowl and beat USC they averaged 27,181. And that includes a home game with Oklahoma.

The ball has to start with a good coach. Period. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got rid of one of the bad coaches, now get rid of the guy that hired them. Nuff said.

[Got5onIt]

I can name schools off the top of my head that win and don't draw 25k.

WKU, NIU, Toledo, Utah State, Ark State, Ohio, Bowling Green, and Rice. Probably more. 

The year NIU went undefeated and went to the Orange Bowl they averaged a whopping 15,670. 

In 1999 Boise State went 10-3 and averaged 22,979. 

In 2013 we averaged 21,030. Not that big a difference. Difference is they progressed, we regressed. 

There's no correlation between student body size and winning. If so, why are TCU and Baylor in the top five? And both of those teams brought in quality coaches before filling the stadium. Floyd Casey was a ghost town before Briles arrived.

TCU was a joke pre-Franchione. The magical year they went to the Sun Bowl and beat USC they averaged 27,181. And that includes a home game with Oklahoma.

The ball has to start with a good coach. Period. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And some signature wins to ignite the fanbase....

[rcade]

TCU didn't need strong fan attendance to become a good/great football program. Why should we accept that excuse for UNT?

[drex]

It would be interesting if North Texas sucked it up, spent the money for a big time coach.  We've never done it....hire an assistant somewhere and pray for the best.  A proven head coach would be good (I am not discounting Mac's time at Iowa State).  I must say that the Hayden Fry hire was a gamble, as he had been canned by SMU...it worked out pretty well for us.  I guess ultimately it's a crap shoot, but more money for a proven coach might just cut down the odds of failure.

[Gonegreen68]

I know a top HS player that will be playing D1 football somewhere in 2 years. He did not know much about UNT so he quietly took a campus tour this summer and then went to a camp there. He loved the facilities, the stadium and the words of Mac. He told me he was interested in playing there because of the focus on academics and the fact that he might have a better chance of starting sooner there than a bigger program. Then the big loses started piling, when I tried to talk about UNT he did not say much.  I saw him today and he said with a new coach and hopefully a new offensive scheme he'd like to make a go of it at UNT. I'm not saying this kid would make a difference or save the day. I am  just saying that it's not complicated to recruit a really good High School player.

A chance to start sooner

A chance to make a difference

Great facilities

Great academics

Sell him that or see him on tv in a few years knowing that he could have been wearing green instead of red. These kids have been play makers since pee wee. They don't want to sit the bench.

You can have a football team or a football program. Get a Coach that recruits he will win. Win and the seats will be filled.  

[UNTflyer]

My opinion is this. There is tremendous apathy in the fan base. We lose too much, you say. You have to give the fans something to show up for, you say. You can make all the excuses you want to, but until the alumni, students and fans start packing that stadium your going to continue to struggle. I did some checking this weekend and I looked at 20 different schools with enrollments all at least 5,000 students below ours.  All games were at home. All of the schools were at .500 or below. All 20 schools had at least 40,000 asses in seats. We have a fine-ass stadium that's not ever full. You guys want to treat the symptoms and not the disease.

I think you have this backwards.  Apathy is a symptom of the disease - losing.
 

Losing is a disease, as contagious as polio.
Losing is a disease, as contagious as syphilis.
Losing is a disease, as contagious as bubonic plague.
Ah, but curable.

Now, I want you to imagine you are on a ship at sea, on a vast calm ocean gently rocking.

[rcade]

The McCarney thing was looking real good on January 1, 2014.  It fell apart very quickly.  It's okay to have raw feelings.  But, although I'm a little red-assed at the fans taking any sort of blame for the state of the football program, it's difficult for me to want to throw Rick Villarreal completely under the bus.   

Take any school where college football is serious business and attracts a rabid fan base.

How many ADs could survive two bad head coaching hires stretching over 10 years?

To me, keeping Rick Villarreal in the job at this point is an tacit acceptance of mediocrity. The same logic that Villarreal used when telling Dan McCarney it was over should be used by President Smatresk on Villarreal. 

[UNTflyer]

Consistent winning will bring in fans.  Plain and simple.  You can't get mad that people don't show up to watch losers.