The Sad State of BG Men's Athletics

[Falcon777]

I am a BG grad from back in 1975 and am a frequent viewer of this site but an infrequent contributer. I live too far away to attend many events but I do follow the Falcons as much as I can. Bowling Green is my school regardless of the sport. I don't have a second favorite school and I am not a front runner. Thus it distessed me that I have never seen the men's programs at BG as bad as they are right now.
I can understand why the hockey program has struggled. There are many more schools with hockey programs today so there are fewer players available. In addition, the Ice House which was great when I was there has not kept up with the times. Making it more challenging is the fact that in the CCHA there are schools much larger and with much higher expense accounts than BG. In all it is much more difficult to recruit today for BG than it was 35 years ago and the success of our program down thru the years no longer has the impact it once did. However, the program does appear to be getting better.
I am more concerned about what has happened to the football and basketball programs at BG. We are becoming a bottom feeder rather than a perennial title contender. How can BG lost to schools like Howard and Albany. No matter how inexperienced we are we still should not lose those games. It's unacceptable. And if we think the new arena is going to automatically make our basketball program a MAC contender we are sadly mistaken. Ball State's new arena a few years ago has had no positive impact upon their program.
My biggest concern is the football program. While BG has not won a MAC title since 1992 it has been one of the premier programs in the MAC for many of the years since that title. With the steady decline in the quality of MAC football recently it would seem to be the ideal time for BG to dominate the conference and to win some titles. Instead, this year
the team appeared to quit on the coaches and the university. It's one thing to lose close, hard-fought games like they did early in the season but to literally mail it in against Kent State, Toledo and especially Western Michigan at the end of the season is embarassing and they should be ashamed. BG does not mail it in at least they didn't used too. I don't buy the excuse that the team is young and had injuries. Every team has injuries and this team regressed as the season went on.
I look at the only verbal commit list that I've seen and it shows 7 recruits of which only 2 are from Ohio. None are from the Cleveland or the Cincinnati area. These are the prime areas for recruits in Ohio and we either are not recruiting those areas or we are not being successful. I loved going to Bowling Green and always thougt it almost sold itself. Now I wonder if it has it changed for the worse or is this coaching staff is just not up to the task. Something better be done soon or will be looking too much like Eastern Michigan and not enough like the BG teams of the past.
Does anyone share my feelings and what do you feel needs to be done to restore the pride that comes with being a Falcon?

[LowryFalcon]

BG in my opinion has always been a up and down rollercoaster in sports. Take football for example, in the early 90's we were great and then became a crappy team for years until 2001. Urban brought new life to this school that lasted for nearly 10 years but even in those 10 years we had ups and downs. We've had some great teams and some horrible teams. I believe in Clawson and I think he has more potential for this teams "Future" than any of the other coaches we've seen in the last 20 years. I agree with you that this years team was handing teams games in the late season but this was more of a mental breakdown by the whole team than just the coachs mistakes. I know Clawson made some bad choices this year but when your team has no emotion its hard to fire up the team. Almost every game I saw this year (all the home games including WMU and Mich., and Ohio) we were never in it emotionally. Thats one thing I found myself saying at almost every game. Early in the season when I watched the Troy game I was fired up, although we lost I thought this was a great team and against Marshall we played one hell of a game. But after that game is when we lost players and Schilz got hurt and the line broke down and IMHO I think Schilz got rattled mentally after this. This combine with a horrible OL stopped us from being able to run. We all know that Geter is a great running back but for him to excel he needs holes and without those holes he doesnt have the power to break through for good yardage aka this is why we saw him run side to side instead of up the middle. For basketball its the same thing. We've had some good teams and bad teams throughout the last 20 years. Dakich had some success for awhile but it was also season after season up and down, good and bad. I dont have too much faith in Orr anymore as I dont see any emotion with this team. From the times I've seen Calhoun play its made me less confident in him as a player as he seems to try to score no matter what the outcome. Hopefully he becomes a smart player cause right now he is not.
I believe the Stroh will help recruit players and why I say this is because although I love Anderson Arena it is like a high school arena and when we move into the Stroh it will be very helpful in pulling in some better recruits.
Just my two cents!

[BGWriter]

While the Stroh SHOULD help in the recruitment of better players -- you still have to have a coach who can get them there.

Sorry, but nothing about Coach Orr's resume says he is that guy. I am thoroughly unimpressed with his recruiting so far, and don't see the players he's bringing in helping BG back to the top of the standings.