The former MAC member & current fellow G5 member is kicking it into overdrive in hopes to become a perennial Top 25 college athletics program. This is what thinking big looks like. I really wish we saw more of this drive for our Toledo Rockets.

(02-28-2017 12:17 AM)inductchuck16 Wrote:  The former MAC member & current fellow G5 member is kicking it into overdrive in hopes to become a perennial Top 25 college athletics program. This is what thinking big looks like. I really wish we saw more of this drive for our Toledo Rockets.

UCF enrollment=64,000+
Ohio State enrollment=66,000+

(02-28-2017 02:11 AM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  

(02-28-2017 12:17 AM)inductchuck16 Wrote:  The former MAC member & current fellow G5 member is kicking it into overdrive in hopes to become a perennial Top 25 college athletics program. This is what thinking big looks like. I really wish we saw more of this drive for our Toledo Rockets.

UCF enrollment=64,000+
Ohio State enrollment=66,000+

Warm weather, expanding population. Toledo can't match that. Hard to believe that UCF will ever challenge UF or FSU in athletics unless they want to build a 70K football stadium and tear down their BB arena.

Being in the metropolis of Orlando would likely do wonders for any program.

Also remember that school only added Division I athletics not too long ago making the move from D2 or even D3. I am fairly certain they didn't have football until the 1980s or even later. Toledo cannot match a school like that and shouldn't try. We are apples and oranges to a 64k+ student school in Orlando, Fl.

Huge stadium. Can they match Florida and Miami for fans, though, to fill that thing up?

(02-28-2017 09:01 AM)utxctrack Wrote:  Also remember that school only added Division I athletics not too long ago making the move from D2 or even D3. I am fairly certain they didn't have football until the 1980s or even later. Toledo cannot match a school like that and shouldn't try. We are apples and oranges to a 64k+ student school in Orlando, Fl.

Not in terms of attendance, revenue $$$, budget $$$. But the quality of revenue sports teams UT can and should compete.

I guess I'm not following what you're trying to say. I would say Toledo matches up well with UCF already. UCF is growing from a young D1 school. They have the $$$ that we can never match. So without $$$ it is like trying to say that we should be as good as any 64k school which is not realistic? Maybe I'm missing your point?

(02-28-2017 10:57 AM)utxctrack Wrote:  I guess I'm not following what you're trying to say. I would say Toledo matches up well with UCF already. UCF is growing from a young D1 school. They have the $$$ that we can never match. So without $$$ it is like trying to say that we should be as good as any 64k school which is not realistic? Maybe I'm missing your point?

UCF has been Division I as long as Boise State, since 1996. Their football program started in 1979. Small schools like Butler. Gonzaga, etc. are able to compete in BB on the national level without huge budgets. Boise State has done that in FB. The big $$$ in no guarantee for success. You do have to spend some $$$ though. UT has moved ahead in the past 10 years, especially facilities and athlete academics. i still think it can do a better job in Athletic Department marketing and building its brand.

Winning MAC titles, it's a lot easier when you're near the top than trying to climb from the bottom.

(02-28-2017 09:52 AM)Toledo Football 1st Wrote:  Huge stadium. Can they match Florida and Miami for fans, though, to fill that think up?

Miami is actually a private school with little alums in the Miami area. They actually only draw 30- 40,000 for home games.
Where UCF is a state school with 4 to 5 times the students.

(02-28-2017 09:52 AM)Toledo Football 1st Wrote:  Huge stadium. Can they match Florida and Miami for fans, though, to fill that think up?

UCF stadium seats 44,000
2016 average home attendance 36,000

(02-28-2017 11:44 AM)Terry Wrote:  

(02-28-2017 09:52 AM)Toledo Football 1st Wrote:  Huge stadium. Can they match Florida and Miami for fans, though, to fill that think up?

Miami is actually a private school with little alums in the Miami area. They actually only draw 30- 40,000 for home games.
Where UCF is a state school with 4 to 5 times the students.

The Canes are a national brand and have won titles...The UCF Golden Kights, not so much...Lack of support for them (Miami) is puzzling...

Gonzaga and Butler are able to be good at basketball at the expense of the other sports and because they do not have football. Butler has non-scholarship football. Boise made the big jump as a lottery shot. But look at the PNW and very few Division I schools and their state anchor school is not competitive. Unlike here.

We spend so much time comparing ourselves on this board to all these other schools and maybe we should just try to be the best Toledo we can. Every school has different selling points and struggles. UCF is a gigantic school. That was D3 in our lifetime and had zero dorms only like 15 years ago. So they are improving. But who cares? We aren't them.

We need to be the best MaC school we can. We aren't even that right now. Zero MAC titles in ANY sports since 2014 (1). Before that it was 2012 (1).

(02-28-2017 12:25 PM)FMRocket Wrote:  

(02-28-2017 11:44 AM)Terry Wrote:  

(02-28-2017 09:52 AM)Toledo Football 1st Wrote:  Huge stadium. Can they match Florida and Miami for fans, though, to fill that think up?

Miami is actually a private school with little alums in the Miami area. They actually only draw 30- 40,000 for home games.
Where UCF is a state school with 4 to 5 times the students.

The Canes are a national brand and have won titles...The UCF Golden Kights, not so much...Lack of support for them (Miami) is puzzling...

Yeah, I figured Miami drew a much larger attendance. Maybe it's the humidity down there.

(02-28-2017 10:57 AM)utxctrack Wrote:  I guess I'm not following what you're trying to say. I would say Toledo matches up well with UCF already. UCF is growing from a young D1 school. They have the $$$ that we can never match. So without $$$ it is like trying to say that we should be as good as any 64k school which is not realistic? Maybe I'm missing your point?

I've always said it, and some don't want to hear it, but here I'll say it again.........
The REAL Problem with Toledo Athletics is the association with the MAC......
people are judged upon the company you keep.
The MAC is seen as a 2nd or even a 3rd tier conference
and there are a lot of schools pretending to be Division I in the MAC.

I don't know how many times people have said to me, "aren't you guys Division II"

(02-28-2017 09:52 AM)Toledo Football 1st Wrote:  Huge stadium. Can they match Florida and Miami for fans, though, to fill that thing up?

When I was down there in 2003 for the game I was surprised and impressed with the lack of Gator/Seminole/Cane gear being worn in and around the Citrus Bowl. Good support for their home town team (what a novel idea).
Great game with a lot of offense. Rockets, I believe won by three.

(02-28-2017 01:52 PM)Terry Wrote:  

(02-28-2017 10:57 AM)utxctrack Wrote:  I guess I'm not following what you're trying to say. I would say Toledo matches up well with UCF already. UCF is growing from a young D1 school. They have the $$$ that we can never match. So without $$$ it is like trying to say that we should be as good as any 64k school which is not realistic? Maybe I'm missing your point?

I've always said it, and some don't want to hear it, but here I'll say it again.........
The REAL Problem with Toledo Athletics is the association with the MAC......
people are judged upon the company you keep.
The MAC is seen as a 2nd or even a 3rd tier conference
and there are a lot of schools pretending to be Division I in the MAC.

I don't know how many times people have said to me, "aren't you guys Division II"

agree with Terry, as long as Toledo stays with the MAC, we will never get any respect from other schools. The MAC sucks, our attendance in all of the major sports keep going down, because of the weak teams in the MAC. Who would like to sit in the Glass Bowl on a November night and watch Toledo & Eastern Michigan only season ticket holders, but bring in a school like Cincinnati or Marshall, Temple we would fill the place, but, that won't happen as long as are in the MAC.

(02-28-2017 01:52 PM)Terry Wrote:  

(02-28-2017 10:57 AM)utxctrack Wrote:  I guess I'm not following what you're trying to say. I would say Toledo matches up well with UCF already. UCF is growing from a young D1 school. They have the $$$ that we can never match. So without $$$ it is like trying to say that we should be as good as any 64k school which is not realistic? Maybe I'm missing your point?

I've always said it, and some don't want to hear it, but here I'll say it again.........
The REAL Problem with Toledo Athletics is the association with the MAC......
people are judged upon the company you keep.
The MAC is seen as a 2nd or even a 3rd tier conference
and there are a lot of schools pretending to be Division I in the MAC.

I don't know how many times people have said to me, "aren't you guys Division II"

The MAC is a problem, but so is a lack of titles. A few titles and attendance would be up. Time to win a few.

(02-28-2017 12:43 PM)utxctrack Wrote:  Gonzaga and Butler are able to be good at basketball at the expense of the other sports and because they do not have football. Butler has non-scholarship football. Boise made the big jump as a lottery shot. But look at the PNW and very few Division I schools and their state anchor school is not competitive. Unlike here.

We spend so much time comparing ourselves on this board to all these other schools and maybe we should just try to be the best Toledo we can. Every school has different selling points and struggles. UCF is a gigantic school. That was D3 in our lifetime and had zero dorms only like 15 years ago. So they are improving. But who cares? We aren't them.

We need to be the best MaC school we can. We aren't even that right now. Zero MAC titles in ANY sports since 2014 (1). Before that it was 2012 (1).

Toledo as a city wastes way too much energy wishing it was something else.

Other cities don't do that. Blame the daily local

Agree totally with your post

Note to all wishing a new conference

Other conferences do not want a team from a declining media market in shadow of UM and OSU

Nobody is calling