Zipgrad01 Posted November 5, 2013 Report Share Posted November 5, 2013 Actually, I am not sure I would agree with that. Where in our history has there ever been consistent sellouts regardless of the winning streaks or quality of the facility? As we all recognized, this past weekend had a lot to offer - Wagon Wheel, Can't State (10 miles away), a likely win, former players there and last but not least the honoring of Jim Dennison. Hell, the place should have been filled just to honor Coach D. It WAS the best weekend to bring recruits in. The expectation here was that this game at Infocision would be electric as it gets and the celebration after the win was going to be fun (since it has been a while). I am just saying I was disappointed, did not find it to be electric, and nobody outside of the players/coaches seemed that overjoyed about a win we have wanted for a looooong time. If I was a recruit - I would not have been wowed (outside of meeting Tressel and the Bowdens) and left my recruiting trip scratching my head a bit. The school is pulling out all the stops - building beautiful facilities, bringing in great coaches, using Bobby Bowdens and Jim Tressels, Lebron James, Terry Bowdens for their experience and name recognition. Seriously, these are extremely popular/influential people at UoA and I have to imagine 90% of the schools out there would KILL to have one of these guys let alone all of them in one place. In my mind, I think the administration are doing everything they can and doing it in a smart fashion. They are playing the cards they are dealt. All the players and coaches work just as hard as any other program in the country (if not harder). Why can't a population like Akron fill Infocision (29K) for ATLEAST one friggin day to at least make it look good to the recruits we all want. If the place was 3/4 full, loud and electric, choosing to play football at UoA is a pretty easy decision, especially compared to ANY MAC school. I am not trying to argue. My fear is this............when do the fickle Akron fans run out of excuses to not support the teams? When does the University say "we tried, it’s time to cut our losses". When do the Bowdens, Dambrots Tressels say.........I am out of here, this place is a graveyard. Then we are left with these state of the art facilities rotting in the middle of this beautiful campus that is being built. And, people want a new basketball arena ? We put the cart in front of the horse when we built the football stadium. We werent that good of a program yet and we were banking on the stadium putting us over the top. The basketball team is a bad analogy. Everywhere I go, including out of state, I have people comment to me how good our soccer and basketball teams are. People know, especially recruits. As long as the team doesnt flop in the beginning of the season, the JAR will be mostly filled every night and it is a downright awful place to watch a game. Building a new arena is the only thing that will put that program on another level. Granted, we dont need a 20k arena either. I think your expections of what you expected for the Can't game were unrealistic and I think your opinion of what the recruits experienced is overstated. Lets win 8-10 games per season for a while before we start talking about cutting our losses because the Can't game wasnt full enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Z Posted November 5, 2013 Report Share Posted November 5, 2013 We put the cart in front of the horse when we built the football stadium. We werent that good of a program yet and we were banking on the stadium putting us over the top.Not that it matters, but the financial upkeep of the Rubber Bowl was becoming a burden. If we waited to become a good program first, we would still be sinking money into that pit. The JAR is not in such dire condition. Hopefully in two years this conversation will seem trivial, and we will all be complaining about the new ticket cost due to supply and demand...."It took me a half hour after the game to get out of Lot 9 because of the traffic, what can be done?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Kangaroo Posted November 5, 2013 Report Share Posted November 5, 2013 Bowden has signed some great recruits despite a selling point of "Three Consecutive 1-win seasons." And in year one, he had all of maybe 5 weeks to recruit? Now that we are officially out of the "dregs" column, I can't wait to see his Signing Day commits! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a-zip Posted November 5, 2013 Report Share Posted November 5, 2013 Bowden has signed some great recruits despite a selling point of "Three Consecutive 1-win seasons." And in year one, he had all of maybe 5 weeks to recruit? Now that we are officially out of the "dregs" column, I can't wait to see his Signing Day commits! Me too!! I certainly hope I am wrong with my speculations but it IS frustrating the community can't get out and help the cause for ONE game. The impact for a recruit to see a full, energetic stadium is huge when weighing where you want to play in your next 4 years. Also, I played for Coach Dennison and remember how pissed we all were in his treatment by UoA. It would have been nice to atleast have folks show their appreciation for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valpo Zip Posted November 6, 2013 Report Share Posted November 6, 2013 Bowden has signed some great recruits despite a selling point of "Three Consecutive 1-win seasons." And in year one, he had all of maybe 5 weeks to recruit? Now that we are officially out of the "dregs" column, I can't wait to see his Signing Day commits! I agree. I am expecting a great recruiting class this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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