We used to never lose at home...those were the days.
3-3 at home 🤮
3-3 at home 🤮
Remember when...
- Thread starter BleedsGreen33
- Start date
And gas prices were 1.65
And we had an atmosphere that was better than a middle school Jv game
Bobby, Chad, Randy, and Byron and a host of great players are not walking through that door again. That might have been the pinnacle of anything we ever see at Marshall.
Bring back Pruett or Donnan if you want to get back to that
I don't recall a season where the strudents basically didn't show up for any home game like this year. There was a decent showing the first game but after that, it was pretty sad. The university has to do something to get them engaged and back in the stadium.
The big thing about the support and crowds from 1991- 2003 was, we were on a steep upswing, going from a big dog in 1AA to the MAC, winning and dominating the MAC, having 3 Heisman candidates, first bowl games and wins, first rankings, a lot of success, all being new to the fan base. Then you had Sports South and THN to build our brand and exposure. A charismatic coach in Pruett.
We also had about 15K more people in Huntington plus corporate sponsors like Key Centurion, Ashland Oil, CHH and St Mary's, etc. The stadium didn't have the end zone bleachers either, thus the place looked fuller.
Then 2005 hit, better competition, not great success, more losses, population and corp. support dwindled, more things to do, etc. Now students don't care, kids on their phones, less people attending sporting events across the board. Tough situation for MU to address. Winning big again will help.
The big thing about the support and crowds from 1991- 2003 was, we were on a steep upswing, going from a big dog in 1AA to the MAC, winning and dominating the MAC, having 3 Heisman candidates, first bowl games and wins, first rankings, a lot of success, all being new to the fan base. Then you had Sports South and THN to build our brand and exposure. A charismatic coach in Pruett.
We also had about 15K more people in Huntington plus corporate sponsors like Key Centurion, Ashland Oil, CHH and St Mary's, etc. The stadium didn't have the end zone bleachers either, thus the place looked fuller.
Then 2005 hit, better competition, not great success, more losses, population and corp. support dwindled, more things to do, etc. Now students don't care, kids on their phones, less people attending sporting events across the board. Tough situation for MU to address. Winning big again will help.
Twolf - good post. I am afraid that the evolution of technology has forever altered the attendance challenge. Too many choices for the kids these days........
Neither BP (78), nor JD (76) are walking through that door anytime soon.
The atmosphere is what it is because we now compete in a consumer atmosphere where 100% of college football games are presented in HD (many in 4K) nationwide. We have gone from it being a thing that we were on TV once and a while to bitching that the particular TV channel (or, gasp, one of them there internet thingys) is not suitable.
Getting an individual to commit to a live one game means giving up just soaking in all of college football from his living room or favorite bar.
The live gate is what it is, both in terms of students and others because this is a sports town and a sports region. People know when the team is good, and when know-nothings and hucksters are spewing idiocy like this team “controlled its own destiny” and “had turned a corner” and was “improving” and, get this, “learning”. Nobody who knows anything about sports thought MU had more than a puncher’s chance last week, nor against UAB. Selling snake oil is a skill, and we don’t have anybody really good at it right now.
The atmosphere is what it is because we now compete in a consumer atmosphere where 100% of college football games are presented in HD (many in 4K) nationwide. We have gone from it being a thing that we were on TV once and a while to bitching that the particular TV channel (or, gasp, one of them there internet thingys) is not suitable.
Getting an individual to commit to a live one game means giving up just soaking in all of college football from his living room or favorite bar.
The live gate is what it is, both in terms of students and others because this is a sports town and a sports region. People know when the team is good, and when know-nothings and hucksters are spewing idiocy like this team “controlled its own destiny” and “had turned a corner” and was “improving” and, get this, “learning”. Nobody who knows anything about sports thought MU had more than a puncher’s chance last week, nor against UAB. Selling snake oil is a skill, and we don’t have anybody really good at it right now.
No kidding. How many times did we hear this excuse the last 10 years?
Our marketing of football is pretty sad for sure... I got an email this week about a ticket special, on Saturday at 10 a.m.
If you don't live within an hour or so of Huntington, setting up a ticket special email that gets to people 5 hours before kickoff isn't helping anything (let alone the fact most people have plans made for their Saturday before 10 a.m. the day of).
We have been over and over the many reasons why attendance is lacking... Winning cures a lot of it, better marketing and student engagement would certainly help, and playing teams people want to see (in the non-conference because that's all we control) would be great.
If you don't live within an hour or so of Huntington, setting up a ticket special email that gets to people 5 hours before kickoff isn't helping anything (let alone the fact most people have plans made for their Saturday before 10 a.m. the day of).
We have been over and over the many reasons why attendance is lacking... Winning cures a lot of it, better marketing and student engagement would certainly help, and playing teams people want to see (in the non-conference because that's all we control) would be great.
Nope. This is an ongoing issue for us. Not just this year. Move along.
Bottom line our fan base is not what we think it is. It never has been. We talk crap to MAC schools about needing to do canned food drives for tickets yet our fans complain about paying $35 a ticket.
It's Huntington, WV. There's NOTHING else to do. Marshall isn't in an area that's bursting at the seams with entertainment options. I mean it's not like we're wondering why we can't draw 50 or 60k a week. We can't pull 30k. 30k!
Marshall fans show out for opponents and that's it. Open the season next year with some random P5 and we'll have a sell out.
I'm convinced you could mail every resident in Huntington 4 free tickets and we still wouldn't get 30k people.
There's always an excuse. Always. If you want to be somewhere or do something you'll do it. If you don't you'll look for excuses. Fans wanted Doc gone. Well he's gone. Now it's wait and see if Huff is going to be any good first. Then it's the offense, then it's the weather, then it's the opponent, then it's concession prices and on and on and on. Our pricing is on par if not better than most programs that actually field a good product on the field.
Once all the people directly related and 1 step removed from the plane crash pass away we're going to struggle to draw 10-12k a game.
In terms of live gate?
Not really.
The main issue with live gate, in today’s marketplace, is simple. Winning. And, more than that the PERCEPTION that we have a chance of winning a particular game over an opponent with merit. After Week 5, and certainly after Week 6, it was evident that this team was incapable of winning against any team was not dysfunctional.
Want to sell more tickets? Don’t lose to the first 3 teams with a pulse you play and then break out of that with an OT win over an awful team.
I agree with this take. I find it hard to accept certain posters bitching about this season when they dont step up and support the program financially when the change was made.
We may view it as excuses but to some there are legitimate reasons for not attending. It's not like we are the only school going through it - that doesn't make it better but it's a fact.
I know I can't do a darn thing about it other than attend games, donate and support our school. The fact is, this is on Marshall. For decades they have milked the same donor base. Now that donor base is dying off, moving, etc. They don't engage students - that's a huge issue on many fronts. I see rabid student sections at many games, not just the big boys. Major lack of communication between Marshall and it's students.
The topic IS about past and present. Try some new material.
That "everyone's going through it" stuff is a an excuse to rationalize our poor fan participation. This isn't anything new. Since we expanded it's made us look bad. Even in the I-AA days we barely showed out for playoff games. Surprisingly they're some of our worst attended games.
30k man. 30k. We're not talking capacity or 50k+ a game. Shoot with a new HC that supposedly "energized the program" we didn't draw 25k one time. There's no excuses. Not even COVID because I've been seeing packed stadium all across America.
Face it. We just don't have the fan base we think we do.
We keep blaming the students. What's the student section account for? 5k maybe? What do students have to be with the supposed life long Herd fan that doesn't bother to come to games or worse yet drives 3+ hours every other Saturday to just sit outside the game and get drunk. They're literally watching the game on a satellite they paid several hundred dollars for in the parking lot of the darn game.
I have been a Marshall fan for 30+ years and I have heard the same tired excuses over and over again and it's always someone else's job. Yet Marshall "fans" puff their chest out and think we belong in better conferences and deserve marquee bowl games.
We never should have expanded the stadium.
Man, I just pulled the top 15 things to do list, and I be damned if herdman's Pullman Square forum didn't make #3 on the list. The Joan only made it to #8.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g59175-Activities-Huntington_West_Virginia.html
Marshall does have a special fan base, and has every right to feel superior to many programs, including most of the lowly MAC. The fact that we are at the level we are, considering school size, state government hostility, and the region’s economy, is all the evidence of that you need.
Blunt fact is that, there are probably, out of the 130 I-A programs, at least 30 to 40 which could win every game and no one would care. Including 90% of the MAC and more than half of CUSA (including the team that manhandled us last Saturday).
Marshall isn’t that. Put a team on that field that has a chance to win versus a team that is competitive and we show up. This year, it was evident to everyone who knows football that we were incapable of that after the ECU game, which the point was then further driven home in the games vs MTSU and then ODU. The public perceived this as a bad team and stayed away. And their perception was proven true for the rest of the season, as the team played out the string and lost two out of the three games it played versus legitimate teams thereafter.
Blunt fact is that, there are probably, out of the 130 I-A programs, at least 30 to 40 which could win every game and no one would care. Including 90% of the MAC and more than half of CUSA (including the team that manhandled us last Saturday).
Marshall isn’t that. Put a team on that field that has a chance to win versus a team that is competitive and we show up. This year, it was evident to everyone who knows football that we were incapable of that after the ECU game, which the point was then further driven home in the games vs MTSU and then ODU. The public perceived this as a bad team and stayed away. And their perception was proven true for the rest of the season, as the team played out the string and lost two out of the three games it played versus legitimate teams thereafter.
We don’t have the fan base we think we do. Never have. We averaged just under 29K for our best team ever.
We may get a bump in the coming years due to a few name teams like Navy and Tech coming in. Plus we will get a short term bump when we get Appy, Coastal, Ga Southern and other SB teams on the home slate. The newness will draw a few.
If we ever average over 26-27K again, I would be shocked. I participate and donate, not gonna piss my pants over it. It is what it is.
I think a big part of that problem was Marshall being 1-AA for a long period of time. You had many people, even within the Huntington area that likely rooted for both WVU and Marshall. Played at different levels, so it was okay to do then. That's a whole generation of fans that are now in their 50's, like mlblack and bleeds. When the Herd went back to 1-A, I believe they lost a lot of fans to WVU, particularly those within an hour drive from Huntington. I was one of those dual-citizenship fans back then, but unlike most, I gave the middle finger to WVU, and rode with the Herd.
We've been in the CUSA since 2005 and moving to the Sunbelt. No one cares about the MAC. "Take it to the history thread."
It’s not Bobby or Jim… it’s the department as a whole. There is a ton wrong with our game day presentation and that completely impacts attendance. Nothing we do inside the stadium is an “experience”.
we have a great tailgate atmosphere… but that’s it, and that energy stays outside the stadium. We’ve got to fix it. Some things that would have have been discussed at length on other posts. The problem is that it’s been dismissed by some on this site as “gimmicks” and “not a solution”. And clearly, the athletic department feels the same way.
This comment was sponsored by Dutch Miller Chevrolet. If you didn’t buy Dutch, you paid too much!
Cabell-Huntington Hospital and St Mary’s are your partners in health!
we have a great tailgate atmosphere… but that’s it, and that energy stays outside the stadium. We’ve got to fix it. Some things that would have have been discussed at length on other posts. The problem is that it’s been dismissed by some on this site as “gimmicks” and “not a solution”. And clearly, the athletic department feels the same way.
This comment was sponsored by Dutch Miller Chevrolet. If you didn’t buy Dutch, you paid too much!
Cabell-Huntington Hospital and St Mary’s are your partners in health!
Winning is a huge part of the equation but the experience is what gets the average fan coming back and turns them into a hard core fan and future donor. This is the aspect Marshall doesn't seem to understand. It's like minor league baseball,. people go to watch a game but more to be entertained and enjoy the day/evening. Sports is an entertainment business, and we gotta get that fixed.
Opponents matter... Look at the crowds for P5 teams when they visit, then look at "good" G5 teams, then look at the rest.
Here are our future five years of non-conference home opponents... Then where I can just about guarantee they will rank in attendance.
2022 -- Norfolk State, App State
2023 -- Virginia Tech, Navy
2024 -- Western Michigan, TBD
2025 -- Army, ECU
2026 -- Liberty, TBD
1. Virginia Tech
2. Navy
3. Army
4. App State
5. ECU
6. Liberty
7. Western Michigan
8. Norfolk State
Virginia Tech will be a sellout... Army and Navy may get to 30k... App, Liberty, ECU around 25k... The rest will be 18-20k. And yes, I am talking actual people at the game not the announced tickets sold since half the chairbacks will be empty for every game that isn't VT or a service academy.
Here are our future five years of non-conference home opponents... Then where I can just about guarantee they will rank in attendance.
2022 -- Norfolk State, App State
2023 -- Virginia Tech, Navy
2024 -- Western Michigan, TBD
2025 -- Army, ECU
2026 -- Liberty, TBD
1. Virginia Tech
2. Navy
3. Army
4. App State
5. ECU
6. Liberty
7. Western Michigan
8. Norfolk State
Virginia Tech will be a sellout... Army and Navy may get to 30k... App, Liberty, ECU around 25k... The rest will be 18-20k. And yes, I am talking actual people at the game not the announced tickets sold since half the chairbacks will be empty for every game that isn't VT or a service academy.
Where's Marco? I've not noticed him doing much of anything at games. Used to do the sweetheart thing with roses. Not anymore. Interacting with kids in the stands. Not anymore. Male Cheerleaders doing presses with the female cheerleaders in the stands. Gone. And the team entrance before the game looks like a funeral procession. Bring back the blowup tunnel and the fog. It's the little things that are being overlooked. Jason Toy passing out Wendy's fries and United Bank cups is not entertainment.
.
Probably even better at getting the talent paid once they got into Htgn too.
I don't think we had to pay Chad, Troy and others. Troy was working on a watermelon farm when he was offered. The only school to offer him too. Came to Huntington with all of his possessions in a paper bag. Donnan took average players and developed them into solid football players that wanted to win. Had a great staff to go along with it.Probably even better at getting the talent paid once they got into Htgn too.
I agree that Donnan probably was the best developer of talent that we had. Pruett the best motivator. jmho
I think Pruett and Donnan and their staff were equally great at developing talent and Is why we were successful with them.
Everybody talks about our great players from the past but with the exception of Moss and Bradshaw many of our guys who are all timers and played in the NFL we’re not highly recruited guys. They came to Marshall raw and were developed by BP and JD and their staffs into high level college players and NFL players.
One of our Mt. Rushmore of QBs, Chad Pennington had exactly 1 offer, a FCS, when he came to Marshall. In 5 years he became a heisman finalist and a first round draft pick. Watching Chad’s first game in IAA vs watching him against Clemson as a senior was like watching a different guy.
I think that is the key thing that was missing with Snyder and Doc. Don’t know yet with Coach Huff, is that ability to turn a 2 star into a 3 or 4 star by the end of their career. If they came in highly rated they usually continued to do well but if it took development they usually regressed.
I know everybody talks about Huff being a great recruiter but I’ll be a lot more excited to see him recruit kids that fit his system, develop them and turn them into 4 star kids by their junior year.
I'm counting Chad's first game as the Chatty game, not the previous game when he came in after Harris and Zban were hurt. 5 INT's against UTC, but I believe we still won. I think UTC had a guy by the name of Terrell Owens.
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