GB standing firm.....

[Falconboy]

From the BG football press conference report by the BG News.
http://www.bgnewssports.com/2008/11/wee ... s-and.html

[screammachineman]

I see where GB's coming from, and where Chris V is coming from.

I agree mostly with Chris...CMU and Ball State are completely different and incomparable to BUF/BG game.

I interviewed Chris V for the radio recently and he's a very intelligent guy. He carries himself well and has a lot of valid points.

[zerothehero]

The more I read about this the more upset it makes me. GB needs to spend more time developing game plans to beat the Miami's and EMU's at home than the attendance numbers. Obviously this is occupying too much of his time. I think the kids deserve better too starting with you Coach.

[jpfalcon09]

He's stubborn and lives in his own little world. He sees it the way he does, and no one's gonna change how he feels about that. As the guy in the article said, while this game has "implications", the overall track of the season turned off a lot of people. When you draw the crowds that the Minnesota and EMU games did and lose, people aren't going to come back. Winning at home cures a lot, and if the team went 5-7 this year and and all 5 of the wins were at home, attendance wouldn't be much of an issue because the team won at home.

[Bleeding Orange]

The more I read about this the more upset it makes me. GB needs to spend more time developing game plans to beat the Miami's and EMU's at home than the attendance numbers. Obviously this is occupying too much of his time. I think the kids deserve better too starting with you Coach.

This is the reason that this is all so silly and embarrassing for Gregg Brandon and, consequently, BGSU. Gregg Brandon is not paid to stand on the sidelines and count the number of butts in the seats. He is paid to recruit, maintain a respectable program, train his players to succeed both on the field and off, and win on game day. In a tangential sense, recruiting fans is part of his job, and I only say that because it is nice when a coach makes some public appearances every now and then, and winning never hurts, of course. In fact, that should be the extent of a coach's concerns.

For Coach Brandon to be so concerned with attendance figures during the week leading up to the school's nationally televised rivalry game is stupid. It is beyond stupid, in fact, and I have lost a lot of respect for the man because of it. WE ARE PLAYING TOLEDO IN FOUR DAYS. Should I repeat that? Okay: WE ARE PLAYING TOLEDO IN FOUR DAYS. No matter what our record is, at Bowling Green we play the entire season for the opportunity to beat those guys, no matter what the sport is. So what is our coach doing during rivalry week? Why, bitching and moaning about things that are outside of his control like a petulant child, of course!

When I first read about this following the game on Friday night I didn't think it was that big of a deal. In fact, I even agreed with him to a certain extent. But, this has dragged out for three days and counting now. I'd really like us to be able to hang on to the Peace Pipe for another year, but if our coach is more worried about our home attendance when our next home game isn't for another nine months in the days leading up to the game, I'm not too optimistic about our chances.

If this is something that Coach Brandon is so concerned about, wait a damned week. In doing so, it wouldn't seem as though he were making excuses for an embarrassing, inexplicable implosion against a team that was dead and buried for three quarters, and it wouldn't create the perception that he doesn't give a crap about a rivalry that is older than he is. Yes, Coach, those seniors that have fought and battled for 4-5 years did deserve better than the crowd they had on Senior Night. But, and I think more importantly, they deserve a coach who is going to put them in a position to succeed on the field, and who respects the traditions of the institution that they have given so much of themselves to.

After Friday we can talk about attendance, "true fans," and, yes, your future here. For the time being, close out the E-mail, and get off the Internet. But before you do, please be so kind as to burn my avatar into your memory permanently.

[always a falcon]

The more I read about this the more upset it makes me. GB needs to spend more time developing game plans to beat the Miami's and EMU's at home than the attendance numbers. Obviously this is occupying too much of his time. I think the kids deserve better too starting with you Coach.

This is the reason that this is all so silly and embarrassing for Gregg Brandon and, consequently, BGSU. Gregg Brandon is not paid to stand on the sidelines and count the number of butts in the seats. He is paid to recruit, maintain a respectable program, train his players to succeed both on the field and off, and win on game day. In a tangential sense, recruiting fans is part of his job, and I only say that because it is nice when a coach makes some public appearances every now and then, and winning never hurts, of course. In fact, that should be the extent of a coach's concerns.

For Coach Brandon to be so concerned with attendance figures during the week leading up to the school's nationally televised rivalry game is stupid. It is beyond stupid, in fact, and I have lost a lot of respect for the man because of it. WE ARE PLAYING TOLEDO IN FOUR DAYS. Should I repeat that? Okay: WE ARE PLAYING TOLEDO IN FOUR DAYS. No matter what our record is, at Bowling Green we play the entire season for the opportunity to beat those guys, no matter what the sport is. So what is our coach doing during rivalry week? Why, bitching and moaning about things that are outside of his control like a petulant child, of course!

When I first read about this following the game on Friday night I didn't think it was that big of a deal. In fact, I even agreed with him to a certain extent. But, this has dragged out for three days and counting now. I'd really like us to be able to hang on to the Peace Pipe for another year, but if our coach is more worried about our home attendance when our next home game isn't for another nine months in the days leading up to the game, I'm not too optimistic about our chances.

If this is something that Coach Brandon is so concerned about, wait a damned week. In doing so, it wouldn't seem as though he were making excuses for an embarrassing, inexplicable implosion against a team that was dead and buried for three quarters, and it wouldn't create the perception that he doesn't give a crap about a rivalry that is older than he is. Yes, Coach, those seniors that have fought and battled for 4-5 years did deserve better than the crowd they had on Senior Night. But, and I think more importantly, they deserve a coach who is going to put them in a position to succeed on the field, and who respects the traditions of the institution that they have given so much of themselves to.

After Friday we can talk about attendance, "true fans," and, yes, your future here. For the time being, close out the E-mail, and get off the Internet. But before you do, please be so kind as to burn my avatar into your memory permanently.

God, I've missed you!

[BGFootball]

and then if he ignores the emails and doesn't respond to them people get pissed because they think he doesn't care and isn't man enough to stand up for himself...you just can't win around here huh?

[Dukefann9er]

DONT CALL OUT THE FANS!

THAT IS A JOKE

[BgWaRrIoR]

and then if he ignores the emails and doesn't respond to them people get pissed because they think he doesn't care and isn't man enough to stand up for himself...you just can't win around here huh?

No one is criticizing him for standing up for himself. I give him credit for it. The problem we all have is that of his views. It is not a head coach's job to bash the fans. Its simply undefendable and unprofessional. He can think the crowd is pathetic but its his job as HC to keep it to himself. Like many have already said, he should be watching film and preparing for TSUN and for a difficult off-season. Winning at home goes hand in hand with attendance, anyone can tell you that. So GB needs to shut his pie hole and get to work. He would save himself a lot of trouble..........

[Dukefann9er]

Losing a 20 points the fans had no part in that..

[hammb]

Honestly, I commend coach Brandon for responding to the various e-mails, but I don't think he should be doing so. It's cool that you can e-mail the coach and get a response, but I think it's pretty unprofessional for a head coach to be engaging in e-mail banter with fans. On the one hand I love the thought that I could e-mail our head coach and he would respond, but on the whole I honestly don't think it's in our best interest for him to do so.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

Honestly, I commend coach Brandon for responding to the various e-mails, but I don't think he should be doing so. It's cool that you can e-mail the coach and get a response, but I think it's pretty unprofessional for a head coach to be engaging in e-mail banter with fans. On the one hand I love the thought that I could e-mail our head coach and he would respond, but on the whole I honestly don't think it's in our best interest for him to do so.

He doesn't respond to all e-mails. He obviously feels very strongly that he was justified in everything he said, and that's why he's replying to everything and copying his boss. Perplexing how such a smart guy can be so dumb.

[BGSU33]

In relation to all that has happened surrounding the recent comment, I’m not really upset at all that GB called out our fans. Heck, many of us have been doing it for years and there are issues with support and attendance when it comes to BG athletics for the most part. What I am angered by is “when” he touched on the topic – minutes after coming off the colossal collapse to Buffalo like that. We all know what happened watching teams like EMU and Miami torch us late in the game, then to see UB do it down 20 in the 4th quarter with a shot at a MAC Championship and bowl game on the line, and you dive into the size of the crowd?

How about anteing up and talking first about how we basically pissed away our season in one quarter, how we didn’t close out, how our play at home has been poor, how our playing calling has been spotty, etc. If you want to add something about the crowd before you close out, go ahead. Heck, if we won this game, I could almost agree with him opening up with this out of frustration. But I’ll tell you what, the frustration abound is much more so because of the circumstances surrounding the outcome of the game and the way it unfolded than the amount of support, or lack thereof. The mere fact the crowd was even in his mind - at that time - was upsetting to me.

Does it suck we didn’t have a lot of fans there? Hell yeah, who doesn’t want a large crowd or packed house at home? But our crowd size sure as hell didn’t suck nearly as bad as what happened to us in the 4th quarter collapse against Buffalo, or basically against everyone that we played aside from Kent State at home this year. The bottom line is, in the MAC, at almost every school, if you win, the fans will come. Yeah you can’t win all the time. Every team wants to, few come close, but when they do, fans (students and locals alike) will come. You see the crowds at Ball State this year? You think it’s been like that in Muncie for years? They were playing in front of half empty stadiums for years before this season. But when you take a team like BG, picked to win the division, and drill them into the ground with a 1-4 mark at home, you’d better be very careful who you start calling out, and when you do it. I for one would have really appreciated hearing some accountability and seeing some signs of responsibility for what happened in this game instead of his assessment of the crowd size.

We, like many MAC schools, may have a lot of fair weather fans, but they are fans, and whether they care a lot or a little, they are who we’ve got. Where they a lot of people at CMU the other night for BSU? Yeah. But damn, CMU is defending MAC Champs, the two teams came in a combined 18-2 with perfect 6-0 records in the MAC, and one of them is in the Top 25. What about over in Kalamazoo last week with a 9-2 WMU squad that played in front of as many people as we did against UB, and WMU usually draws very well. Like it or not, we’re not Ohio State where we’re going to get 105,000 for a team that is .500 or below. If we get 5,000 or 25,000 from one game to another, you cherish each and every one of them and hope they come back, and bring others with them. And if you’re going to touch on the support or lack thereof, there’s a time and a place for it. But for it to be stirred up after your team just did what it did, it was wrong. Take some responsibility and deal with the bigger issue at hand. If you do a good job yourself (for example – win), the crowds sizes will take care of your concerns.

[Ydfalcon]

In relation to all that has happened surrounding the recent comment, I’m not really upset at all that GB called out our fans. Heck, many of us have been doing it for years and there are issues with support and attendance when it comes to BG athletics for the most part. What I am angered by is “when” he touched on the topic – minutes after coming off the colossal collapse to Buffalo like that. We all know what happened watching teams like EMU and Miami torch us late in the game, then to see UB do it down 20 in the 4th quarter with a shot at a MAC Championship and bowl game on the line, and you dive into the size of the crowd?

How about anteing up and talking first about how we basically pissed away our season in one quarter, how we didn’t close out, how our play at home has been poor, how our playing calling has been spotty, etc. If you want to add something about the crowd before you close out, go ahead. Heck, if we won this game, I could almost agree with him opening up with this out of frustration. But I’ll tell you what, the frustration abound is much more so because of the circumstances surrounding the outcome of the game and the way it unfolded than the amount of support, or lack thereof. The mere fact the crowd was even in his mind - at that time - was upsetting to me.

Does it suck we didn’t have a lot of fans there? Hell yeah, who doesn’t want a large crowd or packed house at home? But our crowd size sure as hell didn’t suck nearly as bad as what happened to us in the 4th quarter collapse against Buffalo, or basically against everyone that we played aside from Kent State at home this year. The bottom line is, in the MAC, at almost every school, if you win, the fans will come. Yeah you can’t win all the time. Every team wants to, few come close, but when they do, fans (students and locals alike) will come. You see the crowds at Ball State this year? You think it’s been like that in Muncie for years? They were playing in front of half empty stadiums for years before this season. But when you take a team like BG, picked to win the division, and drill them into the ground with a 1-4 mark at home, you’d better be very careful who you start calling out, and when you do it. I for one would have really appreciated hearing some accountability and seeing some signs of responsibility for what happened in this game instead of his assessment of the crowd size.

We, like many MAC schools, may have a lot of fair weather fans, but they are fans, and whether they care a lot or a little, they are who we’ve got. Where they a lot of people at CMU the other night for BSU? Yeah. But damn, CMU is defending MAC Champs, the two teams came in a combined 18-2 with perfect 6-0 records in the MAC, and one of them is in the Top 25. What about over in Kalamazoo last week with a 9-2 WMU squad that played in front of as many people as we did against UB, and WMU usually draws very well. Like it or not, we’re not Ohio State where we’re going to get 105,000 for a team that is .500 or below. If we get 5,000 or 25,000 from one game to another, you cherish each and every one of them and hope they come back, and bring others with them. And if you’re going to touch on the support or lack thereof, there’s a time and a place for it. But for it to be stirred up after your team just did what it did, it was wrong. Take some responsibility and deal with the bigger issue at hand. If you do a good job yourself (for example – win), the crowds sizes will take care of your concerns.

I couldn't agree more. I think that in principle, GB has some semblance of a point. But the fact remains that he made it in the wrong way, at the wrong time. In the last several years that I have been attending BG, I have grown to be more and more of a fan. I was never an OSU fan, (or a UM fan for that matter) and so the way that they get drilled down my throat every so often bugged me. It bugged me more when BGSU students would root for OSU when the two schools played each other, or leave a live BG sporting event to go watch OSU on tv in their dorm room. I understand being an OSU fan. I am not saying that you can't be a fan of more than one team. But I think that if you go to a given school, it really is preferable if you support that school above others. I have a girlfriend who goes to the University of Tennessee. In the time I have been with her, I have gotten to be a Vols fan as well as a Falcons fan. But I told her that if that strange circumstance were ever to happen that BG played Tennessee in any sport, I would root very hard for BG the whole way.

But I digress. The fact is, yes, GB has a point that BG players deserve better support for their efforts from the fans. But I also absolutely understand why a lot of people didn't go to the game. Some of it is that they absolutely could not make it, and a fair amount is that it wasn't worth it to them to make that extra push, to come after work even if they did miss kickoff. It wasn't worth it to them to brave the cold and wind that is Bowling Green in November, given the team's performance (especially at home) thus far this year. Championship implications or not, it's been a rough season at BG and optimism was running thin.

I was there because I really wanted to take my girlfriend to a Bowling Green game before I graduated and so we bought her a ticket and this girl who spent her whole life living in the moderate by comparison Tennessee winters learned the words to Ay Ziggy Zoomba (after a lifetime of singing Rocky Top), drove seven hours North and stood outside in that cold which she is far from acclimated to, determined to stay to the end, in order to see what my school's football games are like. And yeah, on a personal note, I really wish we could have made a better showing for her, both in terms of the crowd and the outcome, but I know she understands. In no small part due to the fact that even the wildly popular Tennessee Vols football program has seen dramatic decreases in attendance this year for pretty much the exact same reasons... failure to field a winning team, especially at home. On top of that, this season has led to their coach, Phil Fulmer, finally being fired after calls for his sacking for the last three or four years. And this is a man who has been coach since the early 90's, has a National Championship on his resume, and hasn't said much, if anything, bad about the fans, much unlike GB who just got a contract extension.

The fact of the matter is this, yes, BG has some issues to work on in terms of growing the fan base and turning casual fans into loyal ones, but alienating the ones you do have is certainly not the way to grow that base to the level it ought to be.

[FlyingBurrito4]

bgnewssports.com has the full audio of the Monday press conference online:

http://www.bgnewssports.com/2008/11/wee ... audio.html

Gotta give my props to this site - they've been the best source in regards to the whole situation