Opinion:
The state of Marshall Football: Where are we, and where are we going?
I love we are in a new conference. It has reignited my spirit towards the Thundering Herd, and made me take a look around the conference at our new foes. Without knowing, I started to feel a sense of unfamiliar territory. Marshall to me, goes back to the Pennington, Leftwich days. I was a toddler, attending MU games when Youngstown St. came to the Joan, and so on. I’m not very old, 35. I feel like I’ve seen the really good, and the really bad. No need to go over the really bad. I’ve traveled to one big away game every year; Tennessee, Ohio St. (Nugent Kick), Leftwich broken leg, Florida Atlantic, Georgia, ect. I have see so many different campus. The experience of the stadiums sets apart most of these schools to me with the crowds, the bands, the atmosphere. It’s electric.
If you’ve read this far, I can only assume you care about the Marshall program. Which leads me to the topic of this thread.
I have many things I would like to see change at the Joan in order to make this team have sellout crowds once again. This is not impossible, guys. I know this because I’ve already been to our new conference foes’ venues. Why are we a bigger school, with more history in football and barely filling the stadium?
In my opinion, it’s the experience. The way the Marshall Home games are now, they feel like a FCS game, or even worse. A high school game. From terrible sounds, which they’ve never fixed. To installing a massive jumbo tron screen that shows 25% of the game and 75% advertisements. We’ve had the same kickoff song for over a decade. It’s horrible by the way. (Remember, Opinion) They play television commercials over the PA. The food is really sub-par. We can drink inside now, that’s cool.
After going to these other programs, its shows how bad and far behind we are. New turf will be nice, and things have improved.
Our stadium needs an immediate and massive overhaul.. Compare our stadium and experience to those only in the SBC and ask yourself where we stack up. Watch a gameday experience there, look for the difference. I love the Herd to death, but as a diehard fan … they really need to try to draw fans like myself, and new young fans to WANT to go to the games. In my opinion, seems easier to just watch the Herd on TV until they make a try to improve the Gameday Experience.
If you think that experience is a team that only wins, See the Cato days when we were undefeated and couldn’t fill the stadium half the year.
Suggestion:
Close off the endzone and remove the old green bleachers. Create a type of Indoor/outdoor bar restaurant to watch the game and have a drink. I’ve seen some table style end-zone seats in my day. Put those on the grass part below the concourse walk area. Creating this new area would force more people into the seats, making it look full. If we begin to sell more season tickets down the road, we can then think about adding more seats to the stadium. The whole stadium needs better seating. It needs a paint job. Needs better bathrooms, concessions, places to watch the game from elements. Parking should be addressed. Hire a professional sound person, doing music and announcements. Why not put the students on the first five rows of the away side of the stadium? Would look better for television?
We’ve got plenty of places to create shuttle rides to the games and better ease of parking. It sounds like a lot, but people will not pay good prices, or show up for old busted up, common cars... I hope that analogy fits there. Its 2022, the recruits see these things too. Invest in the players, Invest in the fans, and they will invest in you.
I have many more ideas, although I have a hard time framing them in a medium sized post.
I think the previous administration lost sight of the fans, and the experience. I look forward to the first game this year, in hopes we see something different. If not, seems like another year of Marshall Football.
TLDR: Marshall needs a major facelift.
The state of Marshall Football: Where are we, and where are we going?
I love we are in a new conference. It has reignited my spirit towards the Thundering Herd, and made me take a look around the conference at our new foes. Without knowing, I started to feel a sense of unfamiliar territory. Marshall to me, goes back to the Pennington, Leftwich days. I was a toddler, attending MU games when Youngstown St. came to the Joan, and so on. I’m not very old, 35. I feel like I’ve seen the really good, and the really bad. No need to go over the really bad. I’ve traveled to one big away game every year; Tennessee, Ohio St. (Nugent Kick), Leftwich broken leg, Florida Atlantic, Georgia, ect. I have see so many different campus. The experience of the stadiums sets apart most of these schools to me with the crowds, the bands, the atmosphere. It’s electric.
If you’ve read this far, I can only assume you care about the Marshall program. Which leads me to the topic of this thread.
I have many things I would like to see change at the Joan in order to make this team have sellout crowds once again. This is not impossible, guys. I know this because I’ve already been to our new conference foes’ venues. Why are we a bigger school, with more history in football and barely filling the stadium?
In my opinion, it’s the experience. The way the Marshall Home games are now, they feel like a FCS game, or even worse. A high school game. From terrible sounds, which they’ve never fixed. To installing a massive jumbo tron screen that shows 25% of the game and 75% advertisements. We’ve had the same kickoff song for over a decade. It’s horrible by the way. (Remember, Opinion) They play television commercials over the PA. The food is really sub-par. We can drink inside now, that’s cool.
After going to these other programs, its shows how bad and far behind we are. New turf will be nice, and things have improved.
Our stadium needs an immediate and massive overhaul.. Compare our stadium and experience to those only in the SBC and ask yourself where we stack up. Watch a gameday experience there, look for the difference. I love the Herd to death, but as a diehard fan … they really need to try to draw fans like myself, and new young fans to WANT to go to the games. In my opinion, seems easier to just watch the Herd on TV until they make a try to improve the Gameday Experience.
If you think that experience is a team that only wins, See the Cato days when we were undefeated and couldn’t fill the stadium half the year.
Suggestion:
Close off the endzone and remove the old green bleachers. Create a type of Indoor/outdoor bar restaurant to watch the game and have a drink. I’ve seen some table style end-zone seats in my day. Put those on the grass part below the concourse walk area. Creating this new area would force more people into the seats, making it look full. If we begin to sell more season tickets down the road, we can then think about adding more seats to the stadium. The whole stadium needs better seating. It needs a paint job. Needs better bathrooms, concessions, places to watch the game from elements. Parking should be addressed. Hire a professional sound person, doing music and announcements. Why not put the students on the first five rows of the away side of the stadium? Would look better for television?
We’ve got plenty of places to create shuttle rides to the games and better ease of parking. It sounds like a lot, but people will not pay good prices, or show up for old busted up, common cars... I hope that analogy fits there. Its 2022, the recruits see these things too. Invest in the players, Invest in the fans, and they will invest in you.
I have many more ideas, although I have a hard time framing them in a medium sized post.
I think the previous administration lost sight of the fans, and the experience. I look forward to the first game this year, in hopes we see something different. If not, seems like another year of Marshall Football.
TLDR: Marshall needs a major facelift.
