BG vs NIU

[hammb]

Let's discuss the PATHETIC student turnout. What a joke that was.

I hope as we build a winner I'll be proven wrong, but I have been wondering lately if we will always struggle with student turnout at the stroh. The arena needed to get off campus for non students, but there is no doubt that it's a trek for students living on campus.

No excuse, and I'm still pretty sure our recent losing culture has more to do with it than anything, but it is a thought. When I was part of the student section at Anderson it was very common for people to come in right after class or whatever. The location of the stroh will never be that convenient for the students, and when you don't have a perennial winner any excuse will hurt attendance.

[Flipper]

Part of the price you pay for keeping Louie around those last couple of years...that dull, losing basketball he served up filled interest in the program.

[BGSU33]

Let's discuss the PATHETIC student turnout. What a joke that was.

I hope as we build a winner I'll be proven wrong, but I have been wondering lately if we will always struggle with student turnout at the stroh. The arena needed to get off campus for non students, but there is no doubt that it's a trek for students living on campus.

No excuse, and I'm still pretty sure our recent losing culture has more to do with it than anything, but it is a thought. When I was part of the student section at Anderson it was very common for people to come in right after class or whatever. The location of the stroh will never be that convenient for the students, and when you don't have a perennial winner any excuse will hurt attendance.

I agree, the location of the Stroh doesn't help at all, but the bigger problem is what occurred during the Louis Orr years where it simply sucked the dear life out of our program. Orr is a very nice man, but he was an awful head coach, was here way too long and should never have coached that final year and that is a big part of the reason as to why we're talking and dealing with things like this now. Bringing Orr back for that final year - no matter what the reasons were concering university issues at the time - was the proverbial nail in the coffin. Bringing Orr back for that lame-duck season is going to cost us a couple years to get over and this year we're paying for it despite actually having a decent team. Yes I know attendance is slightly up, but it's still awful considering the product this year, which few care to even bother come watch anymore. It's a shame but BGSU can blame itself for much of it.

Last year, for the first time in 20 years, I refused to spend a single dollar or attended a BG basketball game when Orr was brought back for that final year. It didn't mean I didn't want BG to win, I did, but I simply couldn't stomach Orr standing there shrugging his shoulders, playing guys out of position, not filling the roster with scholarships he sat on, or seeing us struggle like that anymore. I wasn't buying into it any longer. However, BG made a concerted effort to improve with Jans and I responded getting back on the road for as many away games as I can make and attending BG home games again like I did the previous 19 years. But yeah, when I drive 200 miles round trip on a weekday night like tonight but students can't make their way over from a few blocks or our lack of local support, it's frustrating. But I'm not surprised. It's going to take more than just some wins this year to get folks to start coming back. There's no more Orr, but he has left a lingering impact that's still being felt without him and it's going to take time and wins for us to pull out of it.

[zete]

To get them back we will have to win and win and win and win and then win BIG. Is that going to happen?

[guest44]

The student attendance is worse than it was when Orr was here. Last night was brutal. At one point you had like 5 people watching the game, and a girl on a laptop. Where are the other student athletes? Brutal.

[BGSU33]

It will be interesting to see if the students come out for Akron because in past years they have and we've also had a good turnout from the locals too. I believe it's a DH with women's basketball on Saturday so hopefully that will help and not hurt the turnout.

[hammb]

The student attendance is worse than it was when Orr was here. Last night was brutal. At one point you had like 5 people watching the game, and a girl on a laptop. Where are the other student athletes? Brutal.

It's not any worse than it was last year.

I do think the location of the Stroh (along with the quality of the seats students are put into) will always hold back Student attendance and atmosphere a bit from what it was at Anderson. I whole-heartedly agree with where the arena was placed, and have no problems at all giving the premium seats to the paying customers, rather than the students. This is the way it works in almost every other arena in the country, but just saying it's an issue.

Beyond that, the real issue is the state of the program prior to this year. BG has never been able to get fans for a lone good season. We lose them as soon as things go badly, then it takes us years to get them back. If Jans builds a consistent winner student support (along with general fan support) will come back. The arena is a much better place to watch a game than Anderson, and when the team starts winning people will see that and return in droves.

As for attendance figures this year, I don't know if it's just my dumb luck or what, but I've missed more games this year than I have the past several years combined...and this with a team that I actually like watching this year! The issue for me is that we haven't played any of our former staple Saturday early afternoon games. Instead all of our Saturday games have been at 4 or later, and for whatever reason I keep having plans on those game days. No fault of the university, if I didn't have other commitments every Saturday I'd actually prefer those 4:00 game times, but for me this year it hasn't worked out at all. And going to be missing the game against Akron too for the same reason. I don't get a lot of free Saturdays, but the early afternoon games were easy to hit up prior to whatever plans had been made. That's not the case this year, and I realize I'm just one fan (and I bought my tickets anyway, so I probably still count for attendance figures).

Either way, attendance is one of those things I don't bother sweating over. When the product is good the fans will follow, it just doesn't happen right away. For the time being people just don't know what they're missing. It will really help when Jans builds the talent base up higher so we don't have as many clunker games like we had last night too...it was a win, but it wasn't as exciting to watch as most fans would prefer. The group behind me was at their first game and they just kept saying, "Boy we don't look like a 12-5 team..."

[transfer2BGSU]

,,, but there is no doubt that it's a trek for students living on campus.

Baloney! They can hop on shuttle busses that will get them to the Stroh Center.

And how come they show up at the Ice Arena? Is it really that much closer to the residence halls (other than Kreischer)?

Some of the old-timers on this board can regale us with their tales of having to walk to class with a 100 mph wind blowing in their face as they walked up hill in three feet of snow, temperature below zero, and class was never cancelled.

[AZZZZ]

Dumb question...do the students still get in free? I assume they do.

[FalconRollAlong]

Yes students do still get into the game for free. Sometimes they were asked to pay for postseason games like the WNIT. The trend of pathetic student attendance definitely started before Orr started to coach here. Over the last several years the games with best attendance for men's basketball were usually the game against the bottle rockets or when Freddy and Frieda were unmasked.

[BillyLP]

Location shouldn't have anything to do with it in the long run. When I was at Wake their arena was a couple of miles from campus and they would still get a 1,000 or more students out for the big games because they were a winning team (...this was a while ago). If they win more this year the energy will carry over and we'll start to build up a better student fan base. It's a bummer they aren't showing up right away for the success but it's not unusual.

[guest44]

IMO, last night was the worst I've seen since the Stroh opened and classes were in session. Like 20 people total at most bad. Are the Falcon Fanatics or whatever they are called, still around? Heck, they even showed for crap Louie ball.

[Lord_Byron]

. . . Some of the old-timers on this board can regale us with their tales of having to walk to class with a 100 mph wind blowing in their face as they walked up hill in three feet of snow, temperature below zero, and class was never cancelled.

Or as we called it, "the winter of 1977".

[bg1984]

What a timely topic in this thread considering I sent the following Letter To The Editor of the BG News this morning:

"In case many of you students don't know, and based on the number of open seats every night in the student section at the Stroh It's possible you don't, the Men's basketball team is 13-5 overall and 9-1 at home. That is good enough for 2nd place in the MAC East with a critical showdown against Akron this Saturday night. Coach Jans has brought new enthusiasm to the program and he has vowed to bring the old "Anderson Roar" to the Stroh. He can't do it alone! A raucous atmosphere in college basketball needs to be created by students. I'm challenging you to make that happen Saturday night and support the players and staff who have worked so hard to turn the program around. They deserve better than the small crowds that have seen them play. Resident Advisers and Greek Leaders, spread the word that the place to be Saturday night is at the Stroh. If you live off campus, get your apartment roommates and housemates tog! ether. The facility was built to make it difficult for opposing teams to win but that can only happen when you show up and create that atmosphere. You can make a difference and I look forward to seeing that Saturday night with an overflowing student section having fun and supporting the Falcons. It’s your team and your time! Go Falcons! Talons Up!"

I don't expect this letter to have much impact, but at least I'm on record.

As a season ticket holder and 1984 graduate of the university I was as disgusted as anyone with what masqueraded as head coaching the last several seasons in the Men's program. The casual fan was completely driven away and students had no reason to watch. When asked by a friend last season if I was going to one of the games my reply was, "I have to."

The Louis Orr wooden statue approach to coaching didn't produce results and it certainly didn't inspire fans, but as I said in my letter, THIS team and coaching staff deserves better. I'm not sure there is a better coaching job going on anywhere in the country. Coach Jans basically assessed what he was inheriting, added 3 JUCO players, and has motivated Orr's recruits to play to their ability, and here we sit 13-5 besting last year's win total by 1 with 10 games remaining. The man can flat out coach!

The casual fan doesn't understand what a colossal turnaround that is, but what Jans is doing this year is world class! How many times have we said this year, "Well that's a game that we would have lost last year?" That kind of spirit and work deserves support, and the message of what this program is accomplishing needs to be spread to anyone associated with BGSU and who has an interest in basketball.

Here is my fear: He turns this around in the next couple of seasons with 20+ wins and just before we can re-establish the fan support someone else hires him away. Somehow we need to get the message out that NOW IS THE TIME to jump on this bandwagon and fill the Stroh.

With winning under Jans becoming a reality how can it not be possible to fill a 5,000 seat arena? Unlike last year when I dreaded making the trek to the Stroh for what was certain to be total frustration with the direction of the program, I now cannot wait for each home game. That is the feeling we need to get going with 5,000 other folks!

[guest44]

Very well done.