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Post by Yote 53 on Sept 20, 2010 21:18:58 GMT -6
Yeah, well our old moderator decide to blow up our board the day before one of our biggest games in history, In less than two weeks we've rebuilt it, better than ever, and growing by the hour. So saying there is nobody here, yeah, there is a reason for that.
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Post by shamrock on Sept 20, 2010 21:20:32 GMT -6
We/NDSU fans can bash the UofM all we want but i would think when we were backed up into the gophers student section will be about as loud as its going to get this year. Crowd noise isnt going to intimidate us as much as youd like to think. Ed always says we just want em to show up we dont care if they are yellin at us or for us as long as they are there! haha.
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Post by bisoninnwmn on Sept 20, 2010 21:32:12 GMT -6
Oh please, don't even brag about how loud the FargoDome is. I played against NDSU in a packed house and it is not that loud. Conversely, I remember a game against Mankato in the Dome where it was so loud when you got in a stance you couldn't hear anything and the Dome floor was vibrating through your fingers. If the FargoDome is so great how come there are threads all over Bisonville complaining about fans not showing up, about bluehairs sitting on their hands, and even complaining about people standing up and cheering to loud? It was loud on saturday....were you there?? Morgan State had many (6-7) false starts.....that wasn't because of the so called "blue-hairs" as you put it. Good for you that your so called dome is loud......but we have more season ticket holders than fans for your games.... ......so I suspect that the FFD is probably louder than USDs dome.
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Post by yotemeal on Sept 20, 2010 21:37:11 GMT -6
I couldn't make coaches corner to hear Ed's statements. Taking at face value what's been quoted and paraphrased in this thread, I have no problem with Ed's comments, although I do think they're a bit premature. The home football schedule is loaded, with NWOKST serving as the cupcake. If we're only putting 7,500 in the stands against the UNIs and Cal Polys of the world, well, let's just hope that doesn't happen.
Let's also hope the athletic department remains proactive in its marketing and gameday evolution. Ticket buyers are consumers. Crossing your arms and blaming people for not buying in won't move product. People need to be sold on Coyote Athletics. I trust Mr. Sayler and his staff are aware of the task at hand.
I'm less than two years into the workforce with a mountain of student loan debt, yet I make the modest minimum contribution to be part of the Howling Pack, and I've also purchased season football tickets. I know I'm in the minority amongst my peers, but I see others slowly coming around.
I hope to see lots of red in Fargo.
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Post by usdfbalum on Sept 20, 2010 21:39:08 GMT -6
Oh please, don't even brag about how loud the FargoDome is. I played against NDSU in a packed house and it is not that loud. Conversely, I remember a game against Mankato in the Dome where it was so loud when you got in a stance you couldn't hear anything and the Dome floor was vibrating through your fingers. If the FargoDome is so great how come there are threads all over Bisonville complaining about fans not showing up, about bluehairs sitting on their hands, and even complaining about people standing up and cheering to loud? It was loud on saturday....were you there?? Morgan State had many (6-7) false starts.....that wasn't because of the so called "blue-hairs" as you put it. Good for you that your so called dome is loud......but we have more season ticket holders than fans for your games.... ......so I suspect that the FFD is probably louder than USDs dome. Good for you on having that many season ticket holders. Thankfully that is not the contest Saturday night.
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Post by bisoninnwmn on Sept 20, 2010 21:41:31 GMT -6
It was loud on saturday....were you there?? Morgan State had many (6-7) false starts.....that wasn't because of the so called "blue-hairs" as you put it. Good for you that your so called dome is loud......but we have more season ticket holders than fans for your games.... ......so I suspect that the FFD is probably louder than USDs dome. Good for you on having that many season ticket holders. Thankfully that is not the contest Saturday night. You got it....decide it on the field!!
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Post by Yote 53 on Sept 20, 2010 21:49:16 GMT -6
No, I wasn't at the game last Saturday. I am speaking from actual experience having played in both venues.
Just because Morgan St was undisciplined that doesn't mean crowd noise will have an effect on a squad who has already played in much larger venues.
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Post by #1CoyoteFan (Admin) on Sept 20, 2010 21:52:49 GMT -6
USD has no business going D-I? That is an outragously bad statement. USD beat Minnesota two weeks ago and put up more points than USC did against the Gophers and USD has no business being in D-I? That doesn't make any sense. I think USD proved on the football field why they belong in D-I. Also, USD won a men's basketball conference championship, and while the GWC may not be the best league, it proves that USD is better than other D-I schools. I mean honestly, Indiana State continues to field a football team year in and year out.
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Post by shamrock on Sept 21, 2010 0:24:23 GMT -6
Yeah that statement doesnt make sense. I agree with Coyotefan #1 USD definately belongs at this level regaurdless of the outcome saturday. also minnesota beat a team this year that went to and won a bowl game last season. i realize mid ten state isnt a great team but they are definately a solid D1
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Post by Coyote Fan on Sept 21, 2010 1:01:24 GMT -6
I am glad this discussion is taking place. I am also glad Ed said something about it and I truley hope that David Sayler and the USD Athletics Community takes this very seriously. This was just brought up by Ed but myself and others have been saying this for years. This isn't a new revelation.
What is interesting is that the online support of USD is much further behind the other schools than the attendance is. Saturday the attendance was listed as 8,700 but it may have been closer to 7,000 actually in attendance, not counting the players, refs, training staff, coaches etc.
I would venture to guess that USD is behind those other schools 10-1 in online support. In actual attendance numbers the difference isn't nearly that wide. USD still draws about two-thirds what SDSU draws.
USD and to some degree SDSU has the size of the immediate community as a distinct disadvantage. Fargo likely has a metro population of 150,000 or more. Grand Forks about 50 to 70K. Brookings maybe 18K and Vermillion about 10k. That is a huge difference right there.
Another difference is that USD just simply doesn't have the number of undergraduates to build the fan base as the other schools. USD makes out well in graduate students but those types don't tend to grow up with and support the university if they didn't do their undergraduate at USD. That is a definate factor working against USD.
On the positive USD is really improving the campus and the leadership is much better at the top right now than it has been in the past. When I went to school Betty Turner-Asher was president and I am still not sure if she was anything more than a name plate on an office. The leadership of a University and the leadership of the Athletic Department can do alot to make up for the difference in actual numbers of attending fans and can help make up the different in money donations coming in.
This needs to definately be a joint effort and I have screamed my lungs out forever for people to come to games, take their support online and get their asses off their seats to cheer.
I have also been one of the biggest outspoken people in getting USD to focus on USD and to stop worrying about the school up north so much. Of course I have my online run-ins with SDSU fans but my supports for the U is complete when it comes to putting my energy on the table. I have often times been one of the only ones to be in a game thread during a game and feel damn loney wondering where the rest of Coyote Nation is. I think because of my perceived controversy at times people might tend to distance themselves from me because of my passionate writing. I guess if your choice to to distance yourselves from one of the most passionate Yote fans around that is your decision. I always wants what is best for USD and I crave success on the fields and courts of play.
I think USD has gotten behind over the years by showing a lackadasical attitude towards athletics. Case in point the football program. I have no idea how the USD community allowed Coyotes football to stink it up for the most part from 1988 thru 2004. It seemed like no one was being held accountable for anything. Sorry to say this to those with ties but how Rankin was allowed to coach this football team at all is beyound me. To me that simply showed that the Coyote Fans just didn't care enough to voice their opinion. As unpopular as I was I went blue in the face wanting John Austin fired. I took a ton of critisism from the loyalists and was probably severely hated but how can anyone look back and say my attitude was uncalled for and tha t the result of the subsequent firing was not complete great for the University. I look at it as if no one else was going to do it I was. We as USD fans should not have accepted the state that the program was in. I simply was losing patience and had no more tollerance for crummy Coyote football any longer. The same things was allowed to happen to the Womens Basketball Program for many years. It was a true embarrassment. We cannot afford to allow our programs to reach the low levels they were sinking too in the past. In football the lean years probably took a toll on alot of fans, I know it did on me. There was basically a whole generation (including myself) that may have been very turned off to Coyote Football because of it. If I wouldn't have been as loyal as I had been and loved the sports so much I wouldn't have bothered coming to the dome for most of the decade of the 90's. I can see why other fans didn't want to come.
Some people despise my writings, some people think I am off the wall. One thing I am is passionate. It would be nice if we had a few more of me that cared as much as I do, even if it leads to heat of the moment outbursts at times. My heart is and will always be with the Yotes. Sometimes I may treat them with tough love but one thing I will be is loyal till the end. What I mean by that is being loyal in always wanting what is best for the long term good of USD. With that said I try to look at things from a neutral perspective. I don't want to get too tied into having personal biases or anything like that. I guess during the game I am a huge homer but when the heat settles down I try to put myself in an administrators shoes more than just simply the shoes of a biased fan that may not see the complete picture because of just that, biases.
USD definately needs to stop talking about getting the fans involved more and start doing it. This board should be advertised and if I had never known of google I would never know that this exists. Sometimes having a board to mingle with other fans is like the online version of the coffee house talk. The more one participates in things like this the more one is likely to put their money into the program by donating or buying game tickets. I have never seen an adverrisement at the dome, never heard anything on the radio, nothing.
USD is moving in the right direction. Now it needs to keep the momentum going. Having Ed talk about this, even if it rubs people the wrong way is absolutely the right thing to do. USD need to capitilize on the Minnesota game. I feel as if the USD Women's basketball team didn't really capitilize on their national title game appearance. It seemed like the program just went downhill so fast. I believe it will rebound but for what they accomplished in 2008 I believe the talent that has taken the floor over the past couple of years is not what it should be as a result. Ryun Williams deserves his chance and I believe will definately get this thing rolling in the next year or two.
USD has very nice momentum in football and in mens basketball and we all know if there are two sports that a university wants to be strong in those are it.
Personally I feel great about being a USD fan right now. I look so forward to football and basketball for the rest of the year and into 2011. I see two programs absolutely heading in the right direction right now. Were not only headed in the right direction, we have gotten there in some respects. Let the train keep picking up steam.
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Post by #1CoyoteFan (Admin) on Sept 21, 2010 1:12:17 GMT -6
I think everyone is overlooking the job that David Sayler is doing already. I know for a fact that he has been taking steps and actions to get the word out about USD athletics ever since he got on campus. Now it just take us to look at it. He is totally milking USD's win over Minnesota and he wants to turn it into as many conference proposals that he can. Plus he is working to get the students at the games as well and is looking into a basketball/volleyball arena already. He is doing a top notch job and comes from a university that is also top notch. I have all the faith in him.
In regards of the USD women's bball team, Lavin failed to recruit toward the end of his career which gave Williams basicaly very little to work with. Lavin relied on transfers for his last couple of years and had very little desire to go Division I. He unintentially left the cupboards bare as well.
I do agree that USD needs a more passionate fan base, but I think the win over Minnesota was huge in getting that ball rolling. There is a time to make it sound like a positive, and it seems like a negative tone on the fan base is being made right now at the wrong time. USD is at an all time high in banter, but it seems like it's being ignored by some passionate fans. Embrace it and help it! This is not a time to debate how the fans should be better. We should be milking the Minnesota win right now to get more fans, not throwing the U under the bus right now. The time will come for that....
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Post by Coyote Fan on Sept 21, 2010 1:29:25 GMT -6
I guess I don't know exactly the wording Ed used in his comments so I can't give a completely informed response to it. I don't think USD fans should be made to feel badly but at the same time Ed is a good embassador and if he is calling out the fans and asking for more I am all for it. Maybe he did overreacte I am not sure but it's important to absolutely capitilize when the opportunity presents.
I am also 100% all in on Sayler and liked the hiring from the get go. He is positive, educated and from what I have read and heard about him I am greatfull he was hired.
I also want to throw out a comment on USD's hiring process as of late. It seems like the U is using a committee to make some of the more important decisions and hirings. I have liked every result that has come out of that process. The first biggie was obviously the choice to go D1. I was all-in from the first hint or rumor that USD was going D1. I took the time to write a long e-mail to Joel Nielson as to why I thought USD should go to D1. I got a generic response but I do believe those things do matter. The committee was also responsible for Sayler as well. I am not sure about Ryun Williams or the other newly hired coaches. I believe that great decisions are being made behind the scenes.
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Post by usdfbalum on Sept 21, 2010 7:08:03 GMT -6
I think everyone is overlooking the job that David Sayler is doing already. I know for a fact that he has been taking steps and actions to get the word out about USD athletics ever since he got on campus. Now it just take us to look at it. He is totally milking USD's win over Minnesota and he wants to turn it into as many conference proposals that he can. Plus he is working to get the students at the games as well and is looking into a basketball/volleyball arena already. He is doing a top notch job and comes from a university that is also top notch. I have all the faith in him. In regards of the USD women's bball team, Lavin failed to recruit toward the end of his career which gave Williams basicaly very little to work with. Lavin relied on transfers for his last couple of years and had very little desire to go Division I. He unintentially left the cupboards bare as well. I do agree that USD needs a more passionate fan base, but I think the win over Minnesota was huge in getting that ball rolling. There is a time to make it sound like a positive, and it seems like a negative tone on the fan base is being made right now at the wrong time. USD is at an all time high in banter, but it seems like it's being ignored by some passionate fans. Embrace it and help it! This is not a time to debate how the fans should be better. We should be milking the Minnesota win right now to get more fans, not throwing the U under the bus right now. The time will come for that.... Not a case of throwing Coyote Fans under the bus at all. This is a preaching to the choir moment on here. The uninterested alumni are being thrown, and thrown hard. The fact is that we need to help spread the word and help - Sayler is going to help, but we are the ones that can accelerate the process. There remains a lot of work to be done with perception on the program. My neighbor is a professor at USD. I have tried for five years to get him to a game and I have only gotten him to one woman's basketball game. When I told him the week of the Minnesota game that I was going to Minneapolis to watch the game - he said "Oh, is Minnesota doing well this year? - I said, well I am going to watch USD - he said he was unaware USD was playing them." In contrast my wife is going to grad school at SDSU (I know, fire away at me...) and her professors are constantly before and after class discussing Jackrabbit athletics and tailgating etc. We have a lot of work to do. I am sure the people posting here or lurking silently are too.
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Post by Yote 53 on Sept 21, 2010 7:38:38 GMT -6
If a professor at the U is so far out of touch about what is going on around campus then that is truly sad.
I view Ed's words as a call to arms. This team has been travelling the country the last couple years. Ed has regularly given us feedback on the atmosphere of other stadiums. He is also telling us what he is up against on the recruiting trail. What he is saying is the USD community better get its butt in gear or this recent success will be lost. That's not just the athletic dept's job, not just the U faculty's job, but it's job of all alumni and fans to get more people involved.
CF, I'll agree a whole generation of USD students was lost to Coyote Football in the late 80' early 90's. I think we're getting the next generation back. The Coyote Crazies started as a small tfringe thing and now there is a huge banner over the student section that says "Home of the Coyote Crazies". The student section was full this past weekend. I thought attendance was better than what was reported. The environment was a bit dull though because the opponent was so bad. For stretches I could hear the humming of the PA system, it was that uneventful. Nexst week will be better.
I do, however, disagree about the small alumni base. USD is a very old university, oldest in the Dakotas, and it has a very large alumni base. Tapping that base is the key.
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Post by yotemeal on Sept 21, 2010 7:51:58 GMT -6
I agree that Mr. Sayler has already done a nice job of firing up the fanbase, and he's been here a whole 5 minutes.
It will take a multi-faceted cultural shift for the USD fanbase to realize its potential. It will require (as we're already witnessing) a sweeping air attack (mainstream marketing) and grass roots ground attack (student/alumni engagement). I went to undergrad during the Austin era. With the exception of huge games, the thought of attending home football contests was almost joke. I definitely wasn't an exception.
One of the major positives I'm already seeing is the improvement of the tailgating scene. The more wholesome crowd might not like this, but the great college football venues are the ones with a party-like atmosphere. I'm not advocating for crude, drunken behavior, but the "12th man" isn't very effective when he could easily be mistaken for a retirement home/Saturday daycare. Party = energy = hostile environment = everything home field advantage is about.
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