Solution to our Basketball Woes

[Salsa]

If you had to choose just one, which would it be?

1-Fire Coach Dakich, and whoever else we can blame
2-Replace all the players
3-Replace the AD (hold it--I guess we can scratch that one)
4-Hire an incredibly impressive new coach and assistants with the largest salaries in the MAC
5-Replace the fans
6-Recruit incredibly impressive players whose academics are so horrible that "real" universities don't want them. Then, enroll them in classes like Georgia used to do.
7-Build an incredibly impressive arena with incredibly impressive support facilities
8-Recruit players by offering them money and incredibly impressive other perks
9-Cheat in any way we can think of
10-Move to Division III

My vote, without a doubt, is #5--Replace the fans.

Overall, their support this season has been abysmal. And while we're at it, we might as well replace the football fans. We'll keep the womens hoops fans. I guess a 28-2 record and no MAC losses must have built some support.

[ZiggyZoomba]

I don't think you can expect the vast majorty of fans to support this program right now. Replacing the fans would only result in more disheartened fans down the road. Honestly, if you were here, Professor, you'd understand. You see what we post and you catch the scores, but to go to games... it's just been tiresome. That's something I never thought I'd say about BG basketball.

Fans support winning teams. It's that simple. The majority of fans are what you'd call fair weathered. They're not the "lifers" that you get on here. We're going to be here/there no matter what. We'll complain, we'll moan, we'll sing praises when due... but MOST fans want to go to a game, see some excitement, and get a win. This team hasn't created that environment in a while. They play hard... most fans don't appreciate that.

Fans also want a comfortable environment in which to watch a game. Anderson Arena doesn't provide that. They don't want to walk a mile in January to watch a game. They don't want to come on to campus and wonder where they're allowed to park for games (there's no signage at ALL for game-day parking...NONE).

You come to one game, struggle to find parking, walk in from behind the cemetary, sit on 40-year-old benches that are held together with duct tape in some instances... watch a hard-working team strugle to get 60 points, lose, have to walk back from the game to your car... most people aren't going to come back.

[orangeandbrown]

Grant, excellent post. Reasoned, and from one of our most loyal fans.

Salsa, that was uncalled for.

I take my nine year old to the games, and we have gone for four seasons now on a "rarely miss a game" basis. The first three years, it was great. There was some electricity, fans were into the game, the team competed. He loved it, I loved it, father/son bonding, many high fives, good finishes, thousands of dollars in concessions, etc.

By the end of this year, we could hardly drag ourselves back.

We're not bad fans. We care about the team. We like Dan Dakich. We're not whiners.

But everything Grant described is right---we went through that exact experience almost every night. Most people aren't going to do that, and you're taking them for granted if you think they are.

Something's wrong with this program. But its not the fans.

[Salsa]

OK, Grant. But why the less than impressive attendance and fan support for the football team over the last few years? How many teams can boast of what we've had--top 25 rankings, a Heisman candidate, frequent TV appearances, etc.?

And the fan support for basketball has continued to deteriorate the last few years.


I keep telling myself that our athletic programs (yes, mens basketball was lousy this season) are getting there when it comes to performance, recognition, support, etc.

Improvements to facilities have been disappointing. Thank God Bob Sebo stepped up. If we don't get an official announcement about a convocation center before the end of the current semester I'm really going to be downcast.

Overall, I'd say our fan support over the last few years has fallen well below the performance of our teams.

Now, if we get both the Sebo Center and a Convocation Center, our programs might get a real jump start that will improve fan support.

[Schadenfreude]

7-Build an incredibly impressive arena with incredibly impressive support facilities

I'm one of the Anderson defenders. When it's full, there is no more intimidating home court advantage in the MAC, if not all of Middle America.

But what Jim Larranaga pulled off last night is another sign, I guess, that Anderson Arena is a real noose around the neck of our program during the off season, when recruits come in to take a look.

It looks like campus leaders are of a mind to build another arena.

If they do it right, it could be good.

My number one concern is that the new place will be too big for our fans to fill or make noise in.

If they can break the seating into two levels -- with a curtain and a lighting scheme that hides the upper levels when they aren't in use -- then maybe we can get a small piece of what we like about Anderson in the new building.

I'm not sure a new building could ever be as wonderfully noisy. But maybe it could be intimiate.

If we can get that much, then I'm all for it -- and certainly it would be easier to recruit.

Cooper Tire Fieldhouse, anyone?

[hammb]

You see what we post and you catch the scores, but to go to games... it's just been tiresome. That's something I never thought I'd say about BG basketball.

I thiink I missed 2 home games this season. One of those was the UT game which I tried to make up for by going to the one in Toledo. In the beginning of the year the team was bad, but they were working hard, and I appreciated that. It wasn't really resulting in wins, but you could tell the group was giving it their all.

Towards the end of the season that was no longer the case. You went to every game knowing they were going to lose it was only the margin of defeat that was in question. The team stunk and they had mailed it in on their season and their coach...they blatantly didn't listen to him. The team still lacked athleticism and talent to compete when they weren't working their asses off. The result was that the group was actually painful to watch. It hurt.

I hated attending games towards the end of the season. Still I went hoping I'd see something different. I went hoping to see some glimmer of hope for the future. If nothing else, I went to give myself some credibility when I bitched about this team on the boards. I didn't want to go to the games, but still I did because it almost felt like it was an obligation to me. There are certain people that I only see at basketball games so it worked out at least I got to see a few friends that way. Beyond that there was no redeeming quality of the games. As Grant indicated I sometimes drove around the parking lots for 20 minutes looking for a spot so I could walk 1/2 mile or more to the arena. It was not something I looked forward to.

You wanna know how bad it's gotten to watch BG basketball? There were about 5-10 games this year that were buy one ticket get one free. In a large majority of those I could not even find anyone to go who wanted my free ticket after I bought mine. And you know what, I don't blame them one bit.

Just remember that when you're replacing fans you're gonna have a real hard time replacing people like Grant, Warthog, Metzger, Option, myself,a nd I'm sure many others. I saw all of those guys at games down the stretch, along with many other regulars that still came to nearly every game. You'll be pretty hardpressed to find replacements for those of us that are still going to these games because they flat out suck to watch...



As for my vote I'm replacing the coach, because I'm positive he's the reason we continue to lose players. Then I look into replacing Anderson Arena with something that is more fan friendly, especially in location. I know for a fact that the reason some of my family members don't go to more games is because they cannot walk the distances required to attend a game.

[Salsa]

I hope it's clear that a good deal of my original post was tongue in cheek.

Now. here's my serious opinion.

I recall a statement by Urban Meyer a few years back. He said we might have a good team but we don't have a good program.

What I think we all want is not only good teams but good programs. And I'm sure we all realize that building good programs does not happen quickly.

I don't think the problems we have in basketball will be solved simply by hiring a new coach.

I'll restrict myself to 3 requirements for building a good program, not just a good team, especially in football and basketball.

1-having a good team
2-having good facilities
3-having good fan support

The one which might be the most difficult to build at BG is good fan support. It seems to me that our fan support is frighteningly fragile.

Leading into the football season, the enthusiasm and expectations among fans was higher than I had ever seen it. By season's end, the deflation was enormous. And sometimes we forget that in our last game, we were playing for the divisional championship, a spot in the MACC game, and a probable Bowl invite. We lost on a final play in 2 overtimes.

So, to me our fan support is disappointing to begin with, and on top of that what we do have is very fragile.

I think we can have good teams, and I'm optimistic about getting good facilities. The toughest nut to crack may be building good fan support.

But I'm hopeful we can build all three.

GO BG!!

[orangeandbrown]

I hope it's clear that a good deal of my original post was tongue in cheek.

Well, I missed that. So, I apologize if I overreacted.

A quick comment. I have been watchng Falcon athletics for 30 years. Fan support has always been fragile, and I don't actually believe it is ever going to change very much.

Yes, last year's team was playing for all that stuff in football. Also was 5-5 with a losing record at home, playing for a division title in a very weak division.

[svillefalcon]

I hope it's clear that a good deal of my original post was tongue in cheek.



I'll restrict myself to 3 requirements for building a good program, not just a good team, especially in football and basketball.

1-having a good team
2-having good facilities
3-having good fan support

The one which might be the most difficult to build at BG is good fan support. It seems to me that our fan support is frighteningly fragile.

Leading into the football season, the enthusiasm and expectations among fans was higher than I had ever seen it. By season's end, the deflation was enormous. And sometimes we forget that in our last game, we were playing for the divisional championship, a spot in the MACC game, and a probable Bowl invite. We lost on a final play in 2 overtimes.

So, to me our fan support is disappointing to begin with, and on top of that what we do have is very fragile.

I think we can have good teams, and I'm optimistic about getting good facilities. The toughest nut to crack may be building good fan support.

But I'm hopeful we can build all three.

GO BG!!

Salsa, In order to have great fans support, you need to have at least a decent team and atleast decent facilities...we dont have either right now. You cant expect fans to come out and supporty a half-assed team in a half assed arena.

[CrazyFan]

As another poster posted, everyone is putting the blame on DD. Take a real close look at DD and Jimmy Laranaga. Their almost identical in winning/losing seasons and Jimmy could never win the MAC; either can Dan. Jimmy leaves and now look what he's done with his program; multiple NCAA Tourney appearances. For all we know these kids are leaving cause they are tired of playing in these low grade, bush league facilities. And yes, I knw they knew this when they got here, but try playing 12 road games at other higher class arenas and then coming back home to AA. It's a slap in the face. I think we need to start focusing on our facilities a little more and DD a little less. He's proven he can win.

[BleedOrange]

I'll restrict myself to 3 requirements for building a good program, not just a good team, especially in football and basketball.

1-having a good team
2-having good facilities
3-having good fan support

Salsa, the very FIRST thing needed for building a strong D1 basketball program is the coach. Facilities don't mean anything if you don't have the right coach. Consider recent histories at Eastern Michigan and Duke, relatively speaking, as examples for both sides of that point. With the right coach, you build and maintain good teams. These good teams bring in fans and establish loyalty and "brand recognition". From there, better facilities become appropriate. Without the right coach, the program will go nowhere.

MAC schools are in the awkward position of not being able to afford the type of coach worth keeping. Our most successful coaches consistently leave $125K for $4-600K jobs. Generally speaking, if a MAC coach isn't successful enough to be a candidate for a higher paying job, he isn't successful enough to keep his MAC job for the long term, either. (Charlie Coles is an exception to this because of his age. It's fair to that Hawkins and Christian are or will become candidate for higher paying jobs. Smith and DD are on the other side, and imo, TOS at Ohio is too. Joplin has proven to be extremely border line. The school's still out on Judson, and Dambrot and Ramsey are just too new.)

I would prefer to pay a proven D1 coach a competitive salary, which is something we definitely are NOT doing. That, coupled with a good, fan-friendly facility that actually dignifies the program, would go a very long towards creating a consistenly strong program and fan base.

[BleedOrange]

7-Build an incredibly impressive arena with incredibly impressive support facilities

I'm one of the Anderson defenders. When it's full, there is no more intimidating home court advantage in the MAC, if not all of Middle America.

But what Jim Larranaga pulled off last night is another sign, I guess, that Anderson Arena is a real noose around the neck of our program during the off season, when recruits come in to take a look.

Cooper Tire Fieldhouse, anyone?

I'm with you on this. AA is truly electric when we have a good team and a good team is visiting. And to be honest, that aspect of AA won't be replicated in a new facility.

However, recruits see AA when its empty, and that can be quite anti-climatic. The locker room is cramped. The lobby is cramped. The north wall gives the building a high school feel. It compares poorly to everything in the MAC except for Rose arena at CMU. (Don't get me wrong, Savage and Millett suck.)

I've always suspected that AA's diminutive presence (not to mention fan-unfriendliness) contributes to our problems with fan support. The facility helps shape the people's perceptions of the program. AA says SMALL TIME. Perhaps people don't take BG basketball as seriously as they would otherwise, and view the program in a dimmer light than programs like Dayton and Xavier. Just a theory. I give a smidgen of credence to the theory that if you build it, ultimately more will come.

[BGorDeath]

I know this is the BB forum, but this topic was brought up...do you really think the Sebo Center is going to attract fans to a football game? For the casual fan, it provides nothing but a building in the north endzone. A convo center would do more for basketball than the Sebo Center will do for football, even though many think the Sebo is going to cause the Doyt to be packed when completed.

[Red Wing Fan]

I'll restrict myself to 3 requirements for building a good program, not just a good team, especially in football and basketball.

1-having a good team
2-having good facilities
3-having good fan support



GO BG!!

Coach Miller and the women's team seems to be doing just fine in Anderson Arena.
Bottom line - if you WIN, the fans will come - no matter how far the walk. Nobody likes to keep watching their team get beat. I was there because I have season tickets, period. There was NOTHING about this season that was fun.

[Warthog]

Cooper Tire Fieldhouse, anyone?

Given that Cooper's bond rating was lowered to junk bond status yesterday, I doubt they are wanting to invest in naming an arena. On the other hand, big oil seems to be printing money nowadays. How about Marathon Petroleum Convocation Center?