…another Natty for Men’s Soccer or a conference championship by any other team? I’ll start. Another Natty for Men’s Soccer.
Which will happen first….
- Thread starter Herd Insider
- Start date
Men's soccer is playing at a different level than any other sport here. We have the facilities and the coach, it is going to be a dice roll, every year. As long as this AD doesn't screw it up.
Football is a lost cause. We are stuck with CH for another year. It will take a qualified coach at least 2-3 years after that to fix what he has broken. Never will happen.
Men's basketball is a token effort. As long as DD is here, and he will be here as long as he wants and then will name his successor, it is what it is.
Women's basketball seems like we have a good coach now. She will need a few years to get things right, but why not.
Baseball, for all the hype, is not going to be a big deal in West Virginia in a league with teams in the South. We have a natural disadvantage in recruiting that cannot be overcome.
Softball. Etc. Don't know, don't care.
Football is a lost cause. We are stuck with CH for another year. It will take a qualified coach at least 2-3 years after that to fix what he has broken. Never will happen.
Men's basketball is a token effort. As long as DD is here, and he will be here as long as he wants and then will name his successor, it is what it is.
Women's basketball seems like we have a good coach now. She will need a few years to get things right, but why not.
Baseball, for all the hype, is not going to be a big deal in West Virginia in a league with teams in the South. We have a natural disadvantage in recruiting that cannot be overcome.
Softball. Etc. Don't know, don't care.
As per usual, no actual thought in the reply. Of course, this poster actually thought this was a good football team, not two months ago, before the cold douche of reality was applied.
So this 6-6 team (5-6 vs I-A, Z E R O wins vs. teams with winning records) is not "broken"?
You accept mediocrity.
So this 6-6 team (5-6 vs I-A, Z E R O wins vs. teams with winning records) is not "broken"?
You accept mediocrity.
As I've said countless times. You offer no thoughts or analysis to the program or players at all, other than to say "they are bad". You probably rarely watch a game which is why you dont get into specifics about the activities on the field other than pointing out a final score as your evidence. You're a lazy "fan" who only showed up here when the losses happened. When they won, you cowardly failed to show up here at all. Unlike most real fans that have discussed the potential for real fixes and necessary changes needed, you've been shown to be a hypocrite and a liar when real discussion about coaches, players and ADs happen.
You are a douchebag fan, which is why you will always be mocked. You are no REAL fan of Marshall. Like a poster said above. Stick with posting schedules, TV listings and ESPN rants. It literally is the only thing you offer on this board that might not be automatically laughed at.
So someone who knows so little about football as horrid team was actually good, has the nerve to actually criticize my posts. At least this time you tried to use actual words, and not just emojis. Sadly, you had to resort to name calling, as you have no point.
This is a bad football team.
This is a bad football team.
Why don’t you allow the same excuse for football? Recruiting in Georgia, Texas, and Louisiana - all states with schools in our conference - is far more fertile than recruiting West Virginia.
How did Bob Pruett win so big? Jim Donnan did too. Marshall went to a IAA title game in the late 80's, back when the Southern Conf was an aboslutley stacked IAA conference. Football has done it before and it did it after 20 plus years of losing and starting a program from scratch.
Why all the sudden now can't we win big again? I am being serious with the quesion.
NIce effort but try using some emojis next time because your attempt at writing understandable English was terrible with this attempt.
I'm exactly on point which is why you were nowhere to be found the second half of last season and rarely the first part of this one after being wrong last year. You gladly and consistently reappeared the second half of this season while offering nothing specific to any thread you appeared in. You dont because you can't. YOU dont appear to have any specific knowledge about the game or even what playing a team sport entails for that matter.
Additionally, when I've asked, you purposely avoided telling us exactly when the last time you, a supposed fan, attended a game or even watched a game. How about a Big Green donation??? Like I said. You're no real fan of Marshall. Everyone sees it.
Keep the Unabomber type-ESPN manifestos coming.
Because players were getting compensated under the table. We had a load of props that many other schools wouldn't or couldn't take during that era.
Because everyone can do it, out in the open.
Not totally buying that. If so, then we need to do it better. I don't think that is the big problem for Coach Huff. Coach Huff is not recruiting well. His gameplans are not good. His adjusments are not good enough. Bob Pruett could coach. Jim Donnan could coach. George Chaump could coach.
"So how is Marshall going to do it better" when the fan base withholds donations and money because of a 6-6 year. How are we "going to do it better" when the same fans whining about not winning sit at home and find every excuse possible to not financially support the programs?
Everyone wants coach Huff to be accountable for avg outcomes, and yet very few fans want to be held accountable for their below average participation and giving to the school they supposedly "love".
Really? Tell that to the top tier programs who are consistently in the top 25 or competing for their league championships yoy. Money and benefits work at bringing in talent. Now that Marshall doesn't corner the market in that category for players at our level, now that once, lower-level programs have moved up with updated facilities and player benefits, we have struggled. I'm not suggesting having an improved coaching staff wouldn't turn things around, but CONSISTENTLY, "doing it better" aka- what we did in the 90s will likely be unattainable. It takes money. Money our fan base seems to eagerly withhold when we have an avg year.
Our fan base, in general, (90%?) doesn’t give money, period.
You have to be a big time school (ex Clemson), where they’ve had an IPTAY club
(I pay ten a year) to get the average fan to contribute beyond the tickets they buy & concessions etc.
Spears challenge is to expand the base and create additional revenue by getting sunny side fans giving something, while the press box/chair backers give more……..
imo
WS
And, today is “Giving Tuesday” for the Big Green!
Shooting for 50k
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Yep, for years Marshall has ignored the little guy. The dude who can donate 25-50.00 a month. They want the hone run hitters. Sadly, those are few and far between, and getting fewer as older fans die off. Yeah it takes a lot of smaller donors to make a difference, but there are a hell of a lot more of those than the home run hitters.
It shocks me that many alumni and fans don't know you can join the BG for 10.00 a month on the auto draft plan. It's easy. And, very easy to increase donations each year without busting the family budget. jmo
I'd love to know how the seat/money grab from a few years ago worked out for us. How many fans did we lose compared to how much revenue we gained. Is that new money still flowing; or did it dry up once the novelty wore off?
Twolf - I’d venture they received more revenue by a good bit, at the expense of the bad will it generated amongst the legacy fans that were pushed aside….
If they actually cared to give $$, they would take the time and find out.
But, as we read here on a regular basis, some admit they just dont care anymore and that withholding the $10 is going to prove a point that they dont like the coach inside of 3 years he's been here.
The same argument can be made about those who refuse to vote. If you don't vote, fine. But you most certainly shouldn't complain about what's transpiring because you choose to stay home on election day.
I love the Mark Twain quote:
“Everyone wants to complain about the weather, but nobody wants to do anything about it.”
“Everyone wants to complain about the weather, but nobody wants to do anything about it.”
From ChatGPT:
The quote "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it" is often attributed to Charles Dudley Warner, a 19th-century American writer. However, it's important to note that there's some debate about the true origin of this quote, as it's also associated with Mark Twain.
Hmmmmmm……maybe it’s like whether or not a globe trotting rich dude could be effective coming back into college athletics as an OC? On the + side, he has his own fleet of limos to carry the players down to Midway for burgers & shakes after games……
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Even Twain admitted that it was said by Warner.
Sincerely,
Somebody who grew up in the same city that Twain spent most of his adult life and is where he is buried
I just donated $100. Not much, but today it will be matched by Steve & Pam Ellis, making the total $200. If you’re considering making a year-end donation, today is the day!
I encourage all of you reading to pull the trigger - every dollar counts!
WS
Won't be long till you post the schedules and articles of baseball...in a foolish attempt to absolve yourself from all the criticism you had of the team.
But we won't forget how against the projects you were. I wouldn't be shocked if you had said the same thing about soccer when the field was first built...since "soccer for all the hype isn't going to be a big deal in West Virginia."
We're still waiting on the stadium permits......
Baseball is a spring sport, playing from the cold time into the warm, in a college context. Soccer is the reverse.
Since 1990 ONE program has won the College World Series from a cold weather state. Oregon State. Where the average March temperature is 56 degrees.
All the rest are from the South, southwest, Arizona or California.
Soccer, which plays in college from the warm time and into the cold time, is different. Only in the playoffs is it really cold, and, a quick look at the TV and streaming listings shows that things like the Premier League, the Bundesliga, and UEFA, and, in the USA/Canada, the MLS, play in all weather, going all right now. Columbus and Cincinnati play on Saturday. In Cincinnati. In Europe it is played from late summer across the winter and ends in the spring. In places like the UK, Germany, Netherlands, etc, where it is cold. It is part of the sport. In the same time period, soccer championships have been won from West Virginia, Indiana, Maryland, DC, Virginia, Ohio, Connecticut, and Illinois.
It is totally different. The baseball field is nice, and should have been done 50 years ago. THANK YOU Big Jim. Greatest Governor Ever (at least for Marshall issues, if not overall). But, at the end of the day, if you are a "Sun Belt level player", whatever that means, you tell me who you pick:
South Georgia (GA Southern)
Myrtle Beach (CCU, which won a championship)
Louisiana (ULM and ULL)
Texas (TSU)
Southern Mississippi (USM)
Huntington, WV
It is Sesame Street level. "Which one of this things is different from the others? Which one of these things does not belong?"
We will do MASSIVELY better in baseball. Not having a field at all was embarrassing, and made us last choice for most recruits, and rightly so. But "massively better" is still not anything like what soccer is doing. Temper your expectations.
Update! They have reached the 1/2 point!
$12,500 out of the $25k goal. C’mon folks, dig!
Couldn't have said it better myself.
If the team struggles, simply "fire everyone" as though their mere $2,000 donation a year is going to fund it.
It's a really dumb attempt at entitlement.
It's the same idiocy as overweight rednecks yelling, "just stand up!" To a guy getting his face pounded in while stuck in Side Control.
MU wins, and the fans get mad because they didn't win in a certain way.
People think MU just magically has money and can afford to toss it around like the P5 does...gets mad and "that'll show 'em" behavior like not coming to games or withholding money, then complain about why can't MU be like <insert flash in the pan team with a shelf life of success of 2 years>
Honestly, there does need to be a standard for MU almost every year, that is not only attainable, but rational.
But asking any rationality from fans is a lost cause.
What makes you think they’ve ignored anyone? That’s an unfounded statement based on your perception.
That can't be true. We are so backwards and poor
Stop trying to talk your way out of this with optimism.
Everyone can see through your BS.
Thing is, corporate folks are willing to pay substantially more to get their names out there. So the BG can't really be bad for wanting that revenue stream.
The issue is the $50.00 a month donor expects MU to do far more than it can. They elevate themselves to the level of the $50,000 a month donor.
They are not the same, by any means.
There's also no organization within the fambase itself. The BG members?! Not many, I forgot how many we currently have, but enough to collectively stand together and demand an AD make changes? Probably not.
There is no strength in numbers for MU because they do not have numbers to begin with...so the "little guy" fan can complain all the want, it does nothing, and until MU fans can actually get more organization, their presence will always be ignored.
20+ Years ago while still living in WV I and some others attempted to work with the Alumni office to build a stronger organization of Alumni across the region. Our plan was to start closer to home and then model it through Charlotte, Atl, and into Florida where a larger number of Alumni live. We believed at that time communication was poor, events were thrown together (if there ever were any). Very little was planned or communicated. There was no strategic plan at executing anything by anyone at Marshall. The offices were understaffed and lacked quality leadership.
Additionally, the Big Green and Alumni Assoc seemed to actively work against each other. Granted their goals were/are somewhat different, but it was an absolute shitshow top to bottom at that time. It was our belief due to the size of Marshall, and the limited resources and staff these organizations possessed, the best strategic move should have been combining their efforts, working together to develop alumni lists, member targets, coordinated communications and events. We believed this would have worked more effectively in meeting their overall goals of raising money and involvement by their members. IT WENT NOWHERE. The only thing that seemed to matter to anyone at these groups was "who was going to get credit, control and the money".
The alumni group wanted our money, but little to no other input. The BG at that time wanted nothing to do with the Alumni Assoc. After a few months of trying to work with these people, we quit trying. "volunteering" shouldn't be as painful as pulling teeth. It was just easier to send an annual gift and let the rubes at Marshall fight over it.
It was my feeling then, and probably would be now if I really wanted to get involved, most of these bureaucrats prefer the status quo. They want money with no other involvement by their members. They celebrate a day of raising 50K but could have achieved a much higher number with a little more planning, organization, and member/alumni involvement.
We have about 3300 members the last time I heard. About the same as a decade ago. Sutherland hasn't done much to elevate the group or increase numbers from what I have seen. Could be wrong on that. The little guy can help, to ignore the small donors is a huge mistake. Most start low and increase giving over the years. Thus by not cultivating this segment, the BG is potentially missing out on thousands of dollars over the course of said donors time and possibly more. Multiply that out by many in the same situation, the dollars add up significantly.
Not only that, but how many corp. or big donors are out there to bring in the fold? Not very many, who don't already give. The fan base is older and drying up. Better get the little guy involved for the future.
Good post. I'd say the status quo is the same 20 years later. Thank you for your efforts at the time.
They need some ideas like you mentioned for sure. I hear a lot of "it's the way we've always done it". Well, that way isn't working......
I personally know of several people and family members who have tried to reach out about donations in the past, only to hear crickets. That said, it has gotten better. Ryan Crisp does a damn good job. But again, the whole organization could be better. jmho. Three things Marshall needs to invest heavily in above all else -
1. Growing the BG in members, and increase staffing.
2. Student recruitment.
3. Marketing the school to every HS within a 3 hour drive of Huntington.
jmho.
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