Bowling Green State University

[bbneutralfan]

oldeherd you realize that the population in Cabell and Wayne counties is not what it once was and Huntington is down to about 47,000 population and little to none job growth. In case you have not realized this times have changed and interest in Marshall sports has as well. It is an aging population that attends the majority of events and there is little student interest hence few sellouts for any athletic event. If you are truly “olde” then you know this.

 

[Herdmeister]

oldeherd you realize that the population in Cabell and Wayne counties is not what it once was and Huntington is down to about 47,000 population and little to none job growth. In case you have not realized this times have changed and interest in Marshall sports has as well. It is an aging population that attends the majority of events and there is little student interest hence few sellouts for any athletic event. If you are truly “olde” then you know this.

It does amaze me how little interest the students have in attending sporting events. My best friend's son is here and when I see him and ask if he went a game, football or basketball, he will say, I forgot all about it or didn't realize there was a game. And he likes sports. He's a huge Penguin and Nationals fan

 

[herdalicious]

We don’t need to play baseball games in Charleston ever again. Doesn’t make a lick of sense.

Marshall played baseball in Charleston so that they could save money versus building and operating a park of their own. The money saved by doing that helped free up resources for other sports, but left Huntington-based Marshall fans feeling like they were being deprived of access to a Herd sport, which I can totally understand.

Marshall can't fully fund a 16-team athletic department to the point that every team is optimally competitive in its respective sport. We gotta pick our poison(s). If someone brings up building a baseball stadium, it gets 100% support from Marshall fans. Phrase it in terms of removing funding from Football and Basketball to pay for it, that number drops a bit.

My hope is that Marshall can weather this storm (like it did the Civil War, Spanish Flu, the Great Depression, two world wars, Vietnam, New Coke, and 9/11) and get things back to normal within a few years, with nobody permanently losing their jobs. This is pretty much my hope for everything, including my own industry. The harsh reality though is we have to take a step back for a minute and prioritize the things that will help Marshall move forward. Unfortunately, baseball isn't going to be something that helps Marshall get back on its feet.

 

[herdalicious]

My best friend's son is here and when I see him and ask if he went a game, football or basketball, he will say, I forgot all about it or didn't realize there was a game.

Confession: my lifetime interest in sports has always been inversely proportional to the proximity and availability of trim.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

Marshall played baseball in Charleston so that they could save money versus building and operating a park of their own. The money saved by doing that helped free up resources for other sports, but left Huntington-based Marshall fans feeling like they were being deprived of access to a Herd sport, which I can totally understand.

Marshall can't fully fund a 16-team athletic department to the point that every team is optimally competitive in its respective sport. We gotta pick our poison(s). If someone brings up building a baseball stadium, it gets 100% support from Marshall fans. Phrase it in terms of removing funding from Football and Basketball to pay for it, that number drops a bit.

My hope is that Marshall can weather this storm (like it did the Civil War, Spanish Flu, the Great Depression, two world wars, Vietnam, New Coke, and 9/11) and get things back to normal within a few years, with nobody permanently losing their jobs. This is pretty much my hope for everything, including my own industry. The harsh reality though is we have to take a step back for a minute and prioritize the things that will help Marshall move forward. Unfortunately, baseball isn't going to be something that helps Marshall get back on its feet.

Certainly understand the reasoning. But moving forward that doesn't apply. We invested money in the Rt 2 facility and even though it's substandard for a D1 baseball program, we need to utilize it. Busing the team to Charleston, paying rent for Appy Park costs money. I think we can save a few bucks now. Hopefully by some miracle, we'll see a baseball stadium in Huntington in 3-4 years.

 

[herdalicious]

Certainly understand the reasoning. But moving forward that doesn't apply. We invested money in the Rt 2 facility and even though it's substandard for a D1 baseball program, we need to utilize it. Busing the team to Charleston, paying rent for Appy Park costs money. I think we can save a few bucks now. Hopefully by some miracle, we'll see a baseball stadium in Huntington in 3-4 years.

The ideal situation would be C-USA dropping facilities requirements and letting member teams play conference games on any field with a mound and foul poles.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

The ideal situation would be C-USA dropping facilities requirements and letting member teams play conference games on any field with a mound and foul poles.

Yes, that would be ideal. LOL! Hell, this league can't get its shit together on anything.

 

[The Real SamC]

The ideal situation would be C-USA dropping facilities requirements and letting member teams play conference games on any field with a mound and foul poles.

Don't let facts get in the way of CUSA hate, but the idea that CUSA has some high baseball field standards is a legend. Pretty much all it says is a field, a locker room with at least 4 showers, and a separate toilet for each team not accessible by the fans.

 

[Herdmeister]

The ideal situation would be C-USA dropping facilities requirements and letting member teams play conference games on any field with a mound and foul poles.

they have always denied Marshall playing conference games any where except Charleston. They cut us a 2 year waiver only because we had committed to build a stadium. That, is a fact.

 

[oldeherd]

oldeherd you realize that the population in Cabell and Wayne counties is not what it once was and Huntington is down to about 47,000 population and little to none job growth. In case you have not realized this times have changed and interest in Marshall sports has as well. It is an aging population that attends the majority of events and there is little student interest hence few sellouts for any athletic event. If you are truly “olde” then you know this.

Still Cabell has about 90,000-100,000 pop. and Wayne 30,000 or more. Then there's Boyd Co. and Lawrence Co in nearby KY and OH. Putnam has more people than ever and is GROWING. Plus, MU's enrollment today, 13,000 or so, is TWICE what it was when Danny D. played, around 6500 or 7,000. All the more reason for MU to try new/better strategies in marketing and promoting its sports teams, including in non traditional areas outside of GREATER HUNTINGTON!! Can't just be the same-o, same-o business as usual, we're the "HUNTINGTON School" approach that was used when H-town had 80,000-85,000 people or so!

The "times have changed, interest in MU sports. . ." argument is a lame cop out. Times have changed EVERYWHERE in WV, but then again WVU packs 14,000 per game for basketball, and pretty regularly around 60,000 for home football games. Why do their students turn out in mass numbers while at MU . . . ?

 

[muthed]

Still Cabell has about 90,000-100,000 pop. and Wayne 30,000 or more. Then there's Boyd Co. and Lawrence Co in nearby KY and OH. Putnam has more people than ever and is GROWING. Plus, MU's enrollment today, 13,000 or so, is TWICE what it was when Danny D. played, around 6500 or 7,000. All the more reason for MU to try new/better strategies in marketing and promoting its sports teams, including in non traditional areas outside of GREATER HUNTINGTON!! Can't just be the same-o, same-o business as usual, we're the "HUNTINGTON School" approach that was used when H-town had 80,000-85,000 people or so!

The "times have changed, interest in MU sports. . ." argument is a lame cop out. Times have changed EVERYWHERE in WV, but then again WVU packs 14,000 per game for basketball, and pretty regularly around 60,000 for home football games. Why do their students turn out in mass numbers while at MU . . . ?

Why do students turn out in mass numbers at WVU? It's a little tougher to commute to Joisey than it is to Logan.

 

[oldeherd]

Why do students turn out in mass numbers at WVU? It's a little tougher to commute to Joisey than it is to Logan.

Man, if both MU and Huntington can't provide enough of "whatever" on week ends to keep people/students in town rather than going to, gasp!, LOGAN, then both might as well fold up their tents right now!

 

[johns1124]

Why do their students turn out in mass numbers while at MU . . . ?

Not what you meant, but I know what you are saying. Look at the % of Transit and Out-of-State students at MU compared to some Universities. Students, go home for the weekend. Most MU students are not Huntington residents or locals. They are from elsewhere. Figure in what Muthed said above, and it makes perfect since why some games are not sold out at the Joan and Henderson.

 

[GreenDuke]

Still Cabell has about 90,000-100,000 pop. and Wayne 30,000 or more. Then there's Boyd Co. and Lawrence Co in nearby KY and OH. Putnam has more people than ever and is GROWING. Plus, MU's enrollment today, 13,000 or so, is TWICE what it was when Danny D. played, around 6500 or 7,000. All the more reason for MU to try new/better strategies in marketing and promoting its sports teams, including in non traditional areas outside of GREATER HUNTINGTON!! Can't just be the same-o, same-o business as usual, we're the "HUNTINGTON School" approach that was used when H-town had 80,000-85,000 people or so!

The "times have changed, interest in MU sports. . ." argument is a lame cop out. Times have changed EVERYWHERE in WV, but then again WVU packs 14,000 per game for basketball, and pretty regularly around 60,000 for home football games. Why do their students turn out in mass numbers while at MU . . . ?

Week night bb attendance has been and continues to be a problem for WV.
Huggins complains about it every year and except for a couple of attractive matchups there are a lot of empty seats.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

We all know attendance at sporting events across the board has been decreasing for years; now with COVID19, that will be more of a negative impact in the short term, if not permanently. MU needs to really market academics and athletics within a two hour radius of Huntington. Allow students from the KY and OH boarder counties and metro counties to attend MU for at in state rates. Gotta compete against other schools and make it attractive to come here. jmho

 

[bbneutralfan]

herdalicious posted “Marshall played baseball in Charleston so that they could save money versus building and operating a park of their own.” Really? Saved money only because no one went. IF Marshall ever gets a home field then you can say they saved money. For years the baseball team has been nomadic at best.

 

[GoHerdMarshallYes]

Certainly understand the reasoning. But moving forward that doesn't apply. We invested money in the Rt 2 facility and even though it's substandard for a D1 baseball program, we need to utilize it. Busing the team to Charleston, paying rent for Appy Park costs money. I think we can save a few bucks now. Hopefully by some miracle, we'll see a baseball stadium in Huntington in 3-4 years.

If it doesn't happen in that timeframe, I won't blame anyone.
This pandemic has completely thrown everyone off.
At least this can give MU some time to get creative with the situation and work to improve raising funds.

 

[bbneutralfan]

GoHerd CUSA only let us play at the Kennedy Center field with the promise of building a baseball facility.

 

[Herdmeister]

GoHerd CUSA only let us play at the Kennedy Center field with the promise of building a baseball facility.

true

 

[The Real SamC]

Why do students turn out in mass numbers at WVU? It's a little tougher to commute to Joisey than it is to Logan.

WVU's student body is a self-selected group. As, to a degree, is the student body everywhere. WVU offers the following:

- Virtually open admissions, anyone with business at any college can get into WVU (no knock, MU is the same). This is in contrast to the VAST majority of states, including its target states of (northern) Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, which all have a highly tiered and selective public university system where the top schools (with the DI sports) "thin envelope" the majority and refer them down the chain to branch campuses and state colleges you never heard of.

- Ultra low (WV taxpayer subsidized) tuition.

- An academically unchallenging system designed for the type students it enrolls (see above).

- An "Animal House" perpetual drunken party atmosphere.

- Power 5 football and just below the true powers basketball (something almost no other school with as easy admissions offers, certainly to non-residents).

The last two are the most important. The WVU student body is rich kids from the northeast who want to be drunk and watch sports. Their piers who wanted other things from a college made other picks from the 100s of offerings open to them.

MU offers other things. And MU students, mostly for poorer backgrounds, have less choices. Sports are not high on the list of much of the MU student body. They are here for what MU has to offer vis WVU and the various state colleges.

Thus asking why more of the WVU student body turns out for sports is like asking why chocolate sales go up when the annual chocolate lovers club shows up in town. Self-selection.

 

[W-S HerdFan]

.....en route to the ER. I must have CoVid...agreeing w/Sam in this thread...pray for me!

 

[GoHerdMarshallYes]

WVU's student body is a self-selected group. As, to a degree, is the student body everywhere. WVU offers the following:

- Virtually open admissions, anyone with business at any college can get into WVU (no knock, MU is the same). This is in contrast to the VAST majority of states, including its target states of (northern) Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, which all have a highly tiered and selective public university system where the top schools (with the DI sports) "thin envelope" the majority and refer them down the chain to branch campuses and state colleges you never heard of.

- Ultra low (WV taxpayer subsidized) tuition.

- An academically unchallenging system designed for the type students it enrolls (see above).

- An "Animal House" perpetual drunken party atmosphere.

- Power 5 football and just below the true powers basketball (something almost no other school with as easy admissions offers, certainly to non-residents).

The last two are the most important. The WVU student body is rich kids from the northeast who want to be drunk and watch sports. Their piers who wanted other things from a college made other picks from the 100s of offerings open to them.

MU offers other things. And MU students, mostly for poorer backgrounds, have less choices. Sports are not high on the list of much of the MU student body. They are here for what MU has to offer vis WVU and the various state colleges.

Thus asking why more of the WVU student body turns out for sports is like asking why chocolate sales go up when the annual chocolate lovers club shows up in town. Self-selection.

That whole "rely on out of state tuition/students" is about to be fuuuucked! Especially if they don't allow students back on campus.

 

[IslandHerd1]

Marshall needs a broader online class and degree selection