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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...plus comments...Charleston Souther!

Not really much difference. The AD gave away alot of tickets to schools kids for the Charleston Southern game. Games like Oregon in the past always had good attendance and give aways were not as important. Historically you have 12000 student tickets, 25000 season ticket holders, and usually about 10,000 t0 15000 walk up crowd. The give aways were to counter act a drop in the walk up crowds...usually when uninteresting opponents were coming to town. You still have the 12000 student tickets and probably about 22000 season ticket holders (not sure because they have been hiding the numbers for awhile). The walk up crowd is probably now running 5000 to 10000. People could not give away ticket to Charleston Southern, I know people who tried.

I think some of the core fans and many of the more casual fans have lost interest. CU is not very competitive, Watching us beat Charleston Southern was not very exciting.

That was honestly the most boring blowout victory by CU I have ever seen.
 
I'm going to take a bit of a contrarian viewpoint on the attendance issue. I think that without a boatload of effort over the last 10 years, CU's attendance would be a lot worse for a game like last Saturday's. Losing sucks, and it's hard to market around a crappy program. Bohn did everything he could to generate passive interest in the program, hoping it would blossom into passionate interest once people got the opportunity to enjoy the game day experience. Without that effort, I think we would be a lot worse off now.

I'd love to visit with Rick George and find out what his vision for the athletic department is. What does he want to accomplish? Great leaders are able to articulate their vision and obtain buy-in from their team. As much as we all rail against Dick Tharp, the guy did have a vision for the AD. He wasn't afraid to vocalize it, either. I haven't seen that from the last two ADs. Bohn was more of a "put out the fires" guy. I'm hoping George will be more pro-active.
 
George has been busy trying to catch up and the floods did not help, but I am still waiting for him to say something or share some vision.
Seems he would come out in a setting with the media around to start addressing some changes, lining out some goals and start sharing about the direction of the program. He needs to be more visible. I have not received emails like I have in the past from the AD and am not seeing any moves being made? Starting to look as though the school handed out some fat paychecks, signing bonuses and got the recipients on board, now it is time to get the fans on board.

He / CU better hurry - the fan base will erode a little more every Saturday.
 
George has been busy trying to catch up and the floods did not help, but I am still waiting for him to say something or share some vision.
Seems he would come out in a setting with the media around to start addressing some changes, lining out some goals and start sharing about the direction of the program. He needs to be more visible. I have not received emails like I have in the past from the AD and am not seeing any moves being made? Starting to look as though the school handed out some fat paychecks, signing bonuses and got the recipients on board, now it is time to get the fans on board.

He / CU better hurry - the fan base will erode a little more every Saturday.

Need some patience still. George said he was going to take 90 days when he got hired to evaluate the whole AD.
 
You act like this is something new. CU football attendance has ALWAYS been bandwagon. Go back to the 1994 game against Iowa State - 10-1 CU, ranked #7 in the country, final home game of the season, legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate starting at RB (on the verge of breaking 2,000 yards for the season), nice bright sunny day ---- and the smallest home crowd of the season shows up.
 
I watched the replay last night

The crowd was AWFUL. Maybe less than 2k students
Adkins was shot out of a cannon
Gillam struggled with the option in the 1st half, but had an excellent 2nd
CSU was absolutely terrible
Maybe 2 of Sefo's completions weren't along the sideline. He needs to pass between the hashes more
De'Jon Wilson is a sparkplug on defense. He played well but maybe too small to play like that in the Pac?
Woodson Greer was everywhere
 
It's a gigantic negative reinforcement loop. Thanks DiStephano for emphasizing NCAA compliance and APR above excellence on the field and throughout the facilities.
I don't believe that we should be thinking about academics and compliance versus athletic viability in mutually exclusive terms. There are plenty of teams, 3 or 4 in our own conference, who are able to exceed at both. In my opinion, it is not a negative to strive toward this.
 
I don't believe that we should be thinking about academics and compliance versus athletic viability in mutually exclusive terms. There are plenty of teams, 3 or 4 in our own conference, who are able to exceed at both. In my opinion, it is not a negative to strive toward this.

I think his point was that CU emphasized academics and compliance at the expense of athletic ability and investment in the program. They are not mutually exclusive, but CU chose to think of them as if they were. Basically CU was saying, if academics and compliance are excellent, I don't really care if the athletic product is any good.
 
I think his point was that CU emphasized academics and compliance at the expense of athletic ability and investment in the program. They are not mutually exclusive, but CU chose to think of them as if they were. Basically CU was saying, if academics and compliance are excellent, I don't really care if the athletic product is any good.
Thanks for the reply. I know I am deviating from the thread topic a bit here, but could you provide some examples as to how CU has neglected athletics to benefit academics. I am not disagreeing with you, I am just genuinely curious, due to being a recent grad my history with CU athletics is limited. And just to play Devil's advocate, do you believe that it's wrong for an academic institution to put academics at the forefront, even if it is at the expense of athletics? Just curious, thanks for listening.
 
Thanks for the reply. I know I am deviating from the thread topic a bit here, but could you provide some examples as to how CU has neglected athletics to benefit academics. I am not disagreeing with you, I am just genuinely curious, due to being a recent grad my history with CU athletics is limited. And just to play Devil's advocate, do you believe that it's wrong for an academic institution to put academics at the forefront, even if it is at the expense of athletics? Just curious, thanks for listening.

There have been studies done that investment in athletics leads to gains in academics (obviously not 100% but Oregon is a good example...albeit a little extreme with Nike $$)


Sent from a red light
 
There have been studies done that investment in athletics leads to gains in academics (obviously not 100% but Oregon is a good example...albeit a little extreme with Nike $$)Sent from a red light

Thanks 'Tini, do you have a link to the study you are referencing? I would be interested to read exactly what the correlation is because Oregon undoubtedly spends millions more than CU, but is ranked more than 20 spots behind us in the latest US News College rankings. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities
 
There have been studies done that investment in athletics leads to gains in academics (obviously not 100% but Oregon is a good example...albeit a little extreme with Nike $$)


Sent from a red light

USC under Carol is actually a much better example.

Their application rates Sky-rocketed allowing an already good academic institution to be even pickier with who they let in. From 2 years before Carol's arrival to the end of his tenure USC saw significant gains in 2 of 3 professional schools, alumni giving, and undergraduate performance and rank.
 
When UF was in its dynasty years, I had family friends who were rejected with 4.2 GPA's and low 30's on their ACT's. People want to be winners and be associated with winners. With UF football and basketball winning national championships, their application rates skyrocketed as well leading them to be super selective. Investing in football does nothing but help the university as a whole and since our AD is separate from the University in terms of money, getting out of their way and letting them be successful only helps the University.
 
That was honestly the most boring blowout victory by CU I have ever seen.

Given how bad we've been over the past decade, I thought it was actually pretty enthralling to watch CU push anybody around. To each their own, I guess.

USC under Carol is actually a much better example.

Their application rates Sky-rocketed allowing an already good academic institution to be even pickier with who they let in. From 2 years before Carol's arrival to the end of his tenure USC saw significant gains in 2 of 3 professional schools, alumni giving, and undergraduate performance and rank.

I know that I've posted this before, but I had a high-level academic at Boise State tell me that their application rates jumped something ridiculous like 28% year over year after the Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma.
 
Thanks 'Tini, do you have a link to the study you are referencing? I would be interested to read exactly what the correlation is because Oregon undoubtedly spends millions more than CU, but is ranked more than 20 spots behind us in the latest US News College rankings. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities
Here's a thread talking about it

http://www.allbuffs.com/showthread.php/79251-Something-the-Admin-needs-to-read
 
When UF was in its dynasty years, I had family friends who were rejected with 4.2 GPA's and low 30's on their ACT's. People want to be winners and be associated with winners. With UF football and basketball winning national championships, their application rates skyrocketed as well leading them to be super selective. Investing in football does nothing but help the university as a whole and since our AD is separate from the University in terms of money, getting out of their way and letting them be successful only helps the University.

Thanks, this seems like a logical theory. I would have to believe that there exists a tipping point however, how else would you explain LSU, South Carolina, or other institutions that overemphasize the importance of athletics. I believe once you reach this tipping point you may be flooded with applications, but the vast majority of them will be from individuals who want to tailgate/party for 4 years at a great football school, not necessarily bright individuals who happen to value their school's sports teams.
 
Thanks, this seems like a logical theory. I would have to believe that there exists a tipping point however, how else would you explain LSU, South Carolina, or other institutions that overemphasize the importance of athletics. I believe once you reach this tipping point you may be flooded with applications, but the vast majority of them will be from individuals who want to tailgate/party for 4 years at a great football school, not necessarily bright individuals who happen to value their school's sports teams.

There are a lot of variables, of course.

But if you examine CU's situation, you'll note that we get very little financial support from the state. As a result the school is necessarily highly dependent on the out-of-state tuition dollar and (my impression) willing to compromise somewhat on admission standards to attract that essential money.

So the question becomes, how do you market to out-of-state 17-year-olds which? You display a good football team in those key living rooms in So. Cal and Texas. At least, don't make yourself a laughingstock. Teens are fickle. I came to CU from out-of-state because we had a good football team. I don't think I hurt our admissions stats.

Do we know that LSU's academic standing hasn't benefitted from its football team?
 
I don't believe that we should be thinking about academics and compliance versus athletic viability in mutually exclusive terms. There are plenty of teams, 3 or 4 in our own conference, who are able to exceed at both. In my opinion, it is not a negative to strive toward this.

Here's the case for athletic neglect by CU leadership:
Around 1999 the Athletic Department published a comprehensive plan to upgrade Balch and build an indoor practice facility on the north side of Franklin Field. These plans have sat idle for a nearly decade and a half. Mind you, this was during a time when conference peers in the B12 were laying out hundreds of millions of dollars in an athletics facilities arms race. It wasn't just the traditional powerhouses like Nebraska, Texas, and Oklahoma making huge investments in things like palatial weight rooms, Godzillatron video boards, athletic dormitories, and stadium capacities exceeding 80K or 100K seats. The middle and low end of the conference made major upgrades. Schools like Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Kansas State, and Baylor built indoor practice facilities, made stadium upgrades, and installed spacious academic training rooms for their student athletes. CU football just got a modest inflatable practice bubble, a renovation to the locker room, and a some video boards. To this day, upgrades to Folsom remain in limbo. The South athletic complex doesn't have pluming. Meanwhile in the P12, our new peers including Oregon, Cal, Stanford, Wazzou, Arizona, Oregon State, and Utah have completed recent upgrades, once again leaving CU football in the dust. Mind you, CU wasn't cheap when it came to construction over the past 15 years.. Hundreds of millions were plowed into the Anshutz Medical complex in Aurora. On the Boulder campus, plenty of new construction has been going on, JILA, ATLAS center, the visual arts complex, Benson Earth Sciences, the Wolf Law Library, Koelbel expansion at Leeds business school, and so on. When you hear Chancellor DiStephano speak on the subject of athletics investments, his focus is on asking for $50 million as table stakes and his priority is shoring up the north side of the east stands for safety reasons. There has not been any clear vision, but token comments about nebulous expectations about being competitive in the conference.

A lot of schools have suffered a scandal of one type or another within the athletic department. Baylor Basketball had a murder. Penn State had a pedophile coach. Sex scandals involving coaches made headlines at Texas, Arkansas, and Louisville. NCAA violations involving recruitment are commonplace, with Oklahoma State, USC, Auburn, Ohio State, Miami, and so on. Texas A&M has its hands full with Johnny Manziel signing thousands of autographs. I assert that leadership at any of these programs are more adept at managing through their crisis than CU's leadership was in handling Barnett's scandal. CU's approach was to go heavy on institutional control, putting the athletic department under the chain of command of Chancellor DiStephano, a man who clearly has proven to be something short of a football fanatic. Under DiStephano, the culture at CU is to not put up much of a fight when some walk-on football players eat for free at the training table, resulting in the loss of a few scholarships. Our Dan Hawkins hire was attractive because he was considered squeaky clean, loved up the kids, and kept APR high. The fact he was given a year five is beyond irresponsible. The fact Embree followed Hawkins was unconscionable. Over time, our admin has proven time and again that they are more concerned with athletics saving a dime than earning a dollar.

Compare how CU handled our scandal with how A&M recently handled Johnny Manziel. A&M lawyered up with the same law firm that defended Auburn and Cam Newton. Texas A&M didn't admit anything to the NCAA, even though Johnny Football was seen on instagram to be everywhere except in the class room, signing autographs in hotel rooms, clutching a bong, failing to show up at the Manning QB camp, and basically popping bottles and screwing models. The net outcome...half game suspension. In contrast, former CU QB Colt Brennan got booted and banished to Hawaii because he was stupid. The whole CU football team were not adequately defended following Lisa Simpson and Katie Hnida's allegations of rape, even though no names were named, no criminal charges were ever filed, and no one ever went to jail.

Yes, CU leadership has a track record of considering football to be a necessary evil instead of some prized asset. And the poor performance we keep seeing on the field is just a case of CU administrators reaping what they have failed to sow.



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I hate seeing the attendance trend, especially since the fanbase stayed so strong through the Hawkins year and Embree years. Sucks that MM isn't getting that kind of support out of the gate. But I agree that the attendance will be fine once the product improves. Even transplant people who are sports fans but aren't CU fans will typically come for a big game in Boulder to enjoy the event and post facebook pictures to up their "like" count. Being completely outclassed in every conference game just does no good.

He's a bit of a no name coach and that's not going to help the draw. Things might have been different if we went out and hired someone with more name recognition. It's water over the dam now.
 
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