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Post by oudrummer on Jan 27, 2015 0:12:29 GMT -5
I'm not kidding. I want a job on athletics where my job is to coordinate them better and ensure that NEVER happens again.
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Post by arsenal926 on Jan 27, 2015 23:08:13 GMT -5
People seem to forgot that the Grizz Gang was absolutely packed for the first game of the year. With that in mind, I think it's more of a game day experience problem than any type of the students simply won't come.
Try to put yourself in the position of those who are leading the Grizz gang.
2012- completely nondescript season. 20-16 with a first round tournament loss to Southern Utah.Whatever. 1 Bad season not a big deal, I mean come on, the 2 years before were the best in university history
2013- No Reggie anymore and we go 16-17. This was my first year and also where some of the problems begin to arise. We go 16-17 (In the Summit!) and play only 1 D1 home game while the students are on campus. Blown out by IPFW in the tournament and not a single memorable moment throughout the season.
2014- First year in the Horizon. We get to play Detroit. YAY! Well the Detroit crowd was absolutely electric. Problem is we still sucked. The 2 wins against Detroit are my favorite b-ball moments as an Oakland student. And truthfully I think they're pretty good. I loved beating those guys, but when I try to think about that 3rd and 4th memory it's kind of disappointing.
2015- By this point the overwhelming majority of the student section has no idea who Benson or Hamilton are. The seniors have seen maybe a handful of games where they can go home and say "remember how fun that game when Oakland did..." By this point the culture of winning is non existent in the students mind. The gameday experience isn't anywhere near good enough (nor would it be at any other school with our home schedule) to have a engaged student section when we've never seen anything resembling a good Oakland b-ball team.
Start winning consistently and the crowds will be like they used to. Make memories and friends will bring friends. Because I'll tell you what: I love Oakland bball more than any sport, but I'm not sure I would take a friend to any game from 2011-2014.
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Post by ouxcalum on Jan 28, 2015 8:53:01 GMT -5
attendance problems aren't exclusive to oakland. didn't MSU's football coach call out the students for not showing up recently? and that's a great team at a power conference school.
it would be great to have a packed student section and house for every game but it's unrealistic. it's going to fluctuate. win more consistently and the attendance will be better and similar to the 07-11 years. while oakland's student population has grown, it's still a commuter school where more students wear michigan or michigan st gear than oakland stuff. not to mention, it's in one of the most saturated pro sports regions in the entire nation.
bottom line is, grizz gang and athletics can do all they want to improve attendance, but this is a situation where the team has to win & make noise in postseason play.
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Post by oudrummer on Jan 28, 2015 9:04:39 GMT -5
You're not wrong and it is a problem across all college sports. But we're not talking about 2,000 students even, although imagine if... We're talking about 500 students. A BRAND new dorm was opened up this year. That's even more freshman on campus who can't go do much else. We need to have GG members (not just the e board!) in that dorm an hour before tip rounding people up. Go out and find people. Get them in for a game. And when they're there, get people into it. Get stupid. Be college kids. Make people laugh. Yell. A lot. You don't have to like basketball. If you enjoy making an ass of yourself (in a respectful kind of way) then come out to a game. It's a 2 hour break from college. It should be a lot of fun. We need to create that and get people in the doors.
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Post by ougradbob on Jan 28, 2015 12:26:02 GMT -5
oudrummer100% CORRECT!!!! I can't think of a better way to blow off some steam, and it's healthy for the kids to take a break from the books! It's only 2 hours out of the day. You don't even need 500 students to make that section look packed. You have some great ideas...In fact, I wonder how many kids don't go to the games because they think they have to pay for a ticket. All they have to do is show their ID to get in -- right? How cool is that!
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Post by oudrummer on Jan 28, 2015 12:41:50 GMT -5
Yup it's free!! The problem in the past has been students getting in for free and then sitting elsewhere in the orena. They are supposed to be checking tickets much more and keeping students in the student section
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Post by Garry Gilbert on Jan 29, 2015 9:43:56 GMT -5
Terrific job last night, Grizz Gang. I love love love college basketball, and games such as last night's are the reason why.
Looking forward to February 15 when Detroit Mercy comes to the O'rena. See you there.
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Post by spiritsquad on Jan 29, 2015 19:09:43 GMT -5
It's definitely disappointing to hear how far the Grizz Gang has fallen in the past few years... especially after all of the hard work people such as myself and oudrummer had put in over the years. Although I'm not anywhere near as connected to the team as I used to be, I am still following everything going on and hopefully now that it's the second half of the season and gearing up for March Madness here shortly maybe we can get some new fans in the stands and take advantage of all of those new people who are living in that new dorm and elsewhere. Unfortunately it's hard for me to get to many games nowadays but any game that is on TV I am definitely watching and I still watch them on ESPN3 as much as I can. Hopefully the team plays well the rest of the season and it makes for an exciting end to the year  |
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Post by bigguy on Jan 30, 2015 7:53:06 GMT -5
win and they will come! That's what it takes. End of story. It's impossible to pack the arena when you lose. As much as everyone wants to say just rally up supporters, most of America jumps on the band wagon of a winning team and jumps off just as quick when you are not winning. It's is not an Oakland problem, it is a problem with college and professional sports in every town across the country. Need a better team to pack the ORena!
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Post by oudrummer on Jan 30, 2015 8:54:33 GMT -5
I guess I thought what is now an 8 game win streak at home would count as winning.
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