Nasty is right. Fan enthusiasm was the highest since 1981. Then, Hawaii.

(04-16-2015 06:00 PM)Noodles Wrote:  Nasty is right. Fan enthusiasm was the highest since 1981.

Yep. Few want to help cook, but everybody wants two helpings of dessert when it comes out.

(04-15-2015 06:30 PM)rednblackattack Wrote:  I would love to bring our rivalry back with Southern Miss. A program I know for a fact UofL fans have always respected

HELLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!1!!!

(04-16-2015 05:16 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  

(04-16-2015 04:59 PM)nastybunch Wrote:  I'll have to disagree with ya ole buddy on the Hawaii Bowl fiasco. While it was good for the players and even your son, it completely left out the people who pay for their scholarships to the most part. Probably the biggest mistake in Southern Miss athletics history, besides the hiring of Johnson of course.

I don't know. Seems a few more of them would have showed up in St. Petersburg a year earlier if they were so fired up about making a bowl trip.

I don't think we were league champions that year. 20 to 25 thousand at the Liberty Bowl the years we were champions should tell you how many would have been there instead if the dozens that could go to Hawaii. Fiasco at it's worst....

(04-13-2015 05:58 PM)AndreWhere Wrote:  This thread is, like, the definition of Tulane. They have no identity other than being marginally better than a few other colleges in the region. They're a party-school consolation prize for out-of-towners who couldn't quite get into Penn or Cornell. Tulane skates by, attracting a lot of lazy, second-tier smart people with good weather and good dope. Because these people are lazy, the sports fans among them have manageable expectations. Sugar Bowl? Peach Bowl? No, let's just settle for beating up on a normal college from the poorest state in the USA on Internet message boards, a college with a student body made up largely of young black women who are the first in their family to attend college. Dude, Tulane is the ******* embodiment of so many of the things that are wrong with this world.

Oh for goodness sakes get over yourself. Some dumazz with ratings at the bottom of the ocean gives you a little crap and you act like he does. It's like your football program - you have 1 bad season and you act like the world is at the end. And my goodness, how much crap did we get from USM fans over the years?
Tulane is the largest economic engine in NOLA, and nothing else is close. For all of the boo-hooing idiots in this state whine about the eastern kids, those eastern kids EACH bring, oh, 50K of fresh money into this state every year (aside from some brains they bring into the state). Now multiply that by the enrollment and then attach the multiplier and see where it gets you. Those kids are forced to go into the inner city and perform community service in order to graduate, something you should appreciate. Large employment numbers - yea, all that is wrong in this world. Yea, Tulane fans and alumni half-ass it for football....so what? The only victim of that is us.
As for Southern Miss being some poor school, please. Is Southern Miss under the axe of a crazed governor trying to impress Iowa voters by slashing their budgets 50% or more? Well, that's what ULL and La Tech face. Sou Miss is a major research university, the recipient of federal research dollars equivalent to schools like T Tech and Syracuse, and more than ULL, La Tech and ULM COMBINED.
(diminish the importance of research at your own risk - remember, who makes these decisions...presidents, whose main job is education).
Find out how your athletic department is broke after 1 lousy season and 1 bad contract - that's not normal and ridiculous for a school like Sou Miss.
The only thing you should be boo hooing about is the basketball situation - looks like USM got screwed there.
Eager Eagle may have his thing about certain other schools, but he is right re his general optimism for USM.

(04-16-2015 06:00 PM)Noodles Wrote:  Nasty is right. Fan enthusiasm was the highest since 1981. Then, Hawaii.

I could hardly believe it when I heard that news.

(04-17-2015 07:44 AM)nastybunch Wrote:  

(04-16-2015 05:16 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  I don't know. Seems a few more of them would have showed up in St. Petersburg a year earlier if they were so fired up about making a bowl trip.

I don't think we were league champions that year. 20 to 25 thousand at the Liberty Bowl the years we were champions should tell you how many would have been there instead if the dozens that could go to Hawaii. Fiasco at it's worst....

Administrations can't make day-to-day decisions based upon the assumption that if conditions are just right, fans will flock to the bandwagon. That applies to both individual schools and conferences who may or may not be considering extending a membership invitation. The FACTS were we had an embarrassing showing at our previous bowl game and, as goldstandard said, didn't even sell out our allotment for the championship game.

It actually kinda p***ed me off the way the same fans who gave up on the season after the loss to Marshall in Week 2 and swore off the program after the UAB game took it personally because they in turn weren't rewarded with a potential bowl trip when they were finally ready to get off their asses and get behind the team. At some point--whether it be bowl selections, conference affiliation, or anything else--you lose your right to complain about being treated like the weak fan base you are. That was a 10-2 regular season, and we only cracked 30K at home twice, one of which was Homecoming. 25,000 in Dallas? There were barely 25,000 at the last home game.

I'm not totally dismissing your point. I get it, I understand it, and yes, sometimes you have to strike while the proverbial iron is hot. However, I also see the other side of the fan equation, realize there were other reasons for choosing Hawaii on top of that, and am willing to let it go instead of harping on how it affected me-me-me.

(04-17-2015 10:34 AM)HarborPointe Wrote:  

(04-17-2015 07:44 AM)nastybunch Wrote:  

(04-16-2015 05:16 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  I don't know. Seems a few more of them would have showed up in St. Petersburg a year earlier if they were so fired up about making a bowl trip.

I don't think we were league champions that year. 20 to 25 thousand at the Liberty Bowl the years we were champions should tell you how many would have been there instead if the dozens that could go to Hawaii. Fiasco at it's worst....

Administrations can't make day-to-day decisions based upon the assumption that if conditions are just right, fans will flock to the bandwagon. That applies to both individual schools and conferences who may or may not be considering extending a membership invitation. The FACTS were we had an embarrassing showing at our previous bowl game and, as goldstandard said, didn't even sell out our allotment for the championship game.

It actually kinda p***ed me off the way the same fans who gave up on the season after the loss to Marshall in Week 2 and swore off the program after the UAB game took it personally because they in turn weren't rewarded with a potential bowl trip when they were finally ready to get off their asses and get behind the team. At some point--whether it be bowl selections, conference affiliation, or anything else--you lose your right to complain about being treated like the weak fan base you are. That was a 10-2 regular season, and we only cracked 30K at home twice, one of which was Homecoming. 25,000 in Dallas? There were barely 25,000 at the last home game.

I'm not totally dismissing your point. I get it, I understand it, and yes, sometimes you have to strike while the proverbial iron is hot. However, I also see the other side of the fan equation, realize there were other reasons for choosing Hawaii on top of that, and am willing to let it go instead of harping on how it affected me-me-me.

Yep, same kind of home crowds that year as we had in the years we won the title and took large crowds to the Liberty Bowl. This kind of thinking by our administration and fans has led us to where we are. Hard to understand. If you don't think that playing Penn state in Dallas would have drawn a big USM contingent, and pleased the fans, I don't know what to tell you. I guess you liked the selling of the Nebraska game and love whore games....

Selling of the Nebraska game was absolutely necessary. We need(ed) money in the worst way. Wouldn't have affected the outcome of the game in any fashion, let's be honest.

I do think it would have been around 15k in Dallas to play Penn State. We had a lot of momentum.

It's hard to put into words how remarkably stupid it was to play that game in Hawai'i instead. Independent of the fact that we would've kicked Penn State's asses.

The selling of one of our biggest home games ever was just another of a long line of stupid decisions that we have made at USM lately. It was light work to sell it and took no effort to do. Being innovative and thinking outside the box would have taken some effort. Too much to ask for I guess. Oh well, it is long over and maybe we are starting back up. Hopefully we won't continue to make stupid decisions in the future.

(04-17-2015 10:51 AM)nastybunch Wrote:  I guess you liked the selling of the Nebraska game and love whore games....

Totally against selling a home game except in the most extenuating of circumstances.

I've gone back and forth on the "whore" games as the years have gone by. During the BCS era, they didn't make much sense because the goal for all practical purposes was an undefeated season. Now, with the new system, you can get away with a loss or perhaps even 2, so there's more upside to grabbing the payday.

As unfavorable as the Alabama series was all those years, and as happy as I was at the time to hear we pulled the plug, I don't think it's totally coincidental that we haven't been the same program since it ended. At the very least, offering recruits that particular road trip was always something we had over UAB, whom the Tide refused to play.

Another factor is dealing with this same mentally unstable fan base that demands the football team not be "whored out," but then when you give them home-and-homes with teams like NC State, Kansas, and Virginia whines about the the schedule being "dumbed down" and insists its not real "FOOTBAWWL" without a couple of SEC powers on the slate.

(04-17-2015 11:05 AM)nastybunch Wrote:  Oh well, it is long over and maybe we are starting back up. Hopefully we won't continue to make stupid decisions in the future.

For the first time in quite possibly ever, I feel like the grown-ups are in charge of the place.

I like what I'm hearing from Bennett, especially in terms of trying to elevate the school in terms of quality instead of quantity. Admit better students, have alumni with more resources down the road. Just trying to grow enrollment with folks who are going to take 7 years to graduate if they ever do, just so you can say "we got 'X' more dollars from the Federal government this year" was bad strategy for the long run.

McGillis, I believe, has a lot of qualities of which we were and are in need. That said, the beginning, middle, and end of everything is going to be increasing the annual operating budget. Even if he does everything else right, to fail in that regard would be an overall failure.

A lot of good points... I wish we had more reasonable fans as you on board.

Firing Ellis Johnson never would've been in the cards unless that game was planned on being sold to Nebraska before that decision was made.

It was one of the very few times that any decision within the athletic department was well thought out in the past 5 years.

McGillis' next challenge: what to do with Scott Berry. I'm intrigued.

(04-17-2015 11:46 AM)HarborPointe Wrote:  

(04-17-2015 11:05 AM)nastybunch Wrote:  Oh well, it is long over and maybe we are starting back up. Hopefully we won't continue to make stupid decisions in the future.

For the first time in quite possibly ever, I feel like the grown-ups are in charge of the place.

I like what I'm hearing from Bennett, especially in terms of trying to elevate the school in terms of quality instead of quantity. Admit better students, have alumni with more resources down the road. Just trying to grow enrollment with folks who are going to take 7 years to graduate if they ever do, just so you can say "we got 'X' more dollars from the Federal government this year" was bad strategy for the long run.

McGillis, I believe, has a lot of qualities of which we were and are in need. That said, the beginning, middle, and end of everything is going to be increasing the annual operating budget. Even if he does everything else right, to fail in that regard would be an overall failure.

I agree with you HP. They are trying to get folks back and not just through social media and emails. They are getting personal and calling and meeting folks.

Ace...

We have. We have enjoyed kicking USM around.

(04-17-2015 01:56 PM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  We have. We have enjoyed kicking USM around.

This is a good attitude to have. I like it!!!

Ace...

(04-17-2015 12:21 PM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  McGillis' next challenge: what to do with Scott Berry. I'm intrigued.

Rumor I've heard is if we don't go to a Regional, he's out. And he knows it. Do you think it's a coincidence our schedule is crap this year?

(04-17-2015 02:03 PM)Ace Barker Wrote:  

(04-17-2015 01:56 PM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  We have. We have enjoyed kicking USM around.

This is a good attitude to have. I like it!!!

Ace...

There's not a lot of teams out there that Rice is .800 against. We have to enjoy it while we can.