Great to see

[AllWeatherFan]

All you need to know about the relevance of the FCS title game is that it’s played in a soccer stadium in a burb no one has heard on a random Saturday before most people on the west coast are awake.

Wait, are you dissing "South Fargo," you S.O.B.? :?: :?: :?:

 

[PlayerRep]

All you need to know about the relevance of the FCS title game is that it’s played in a soccer stadium in a burb no one has heard on a random Saturday before most people on the west coast are awake.

The Frisco stadium is also the home of an annual FBS bowl game now. SMU v. La. Tech last year.

"Initial planning had been to have teams from The American face a Sun Belt opponent in 2017 and 2019, and face a MAC opponent in 2018.[1] In 2017, the inaugural game featured a matchup between The American (SMU) and Conference USA (Louisiana Tech). The Frisco Bowl currently has an affiliation with The American through the 2021 season, and a second team will be picked from an at large conference."

The stadium is apparently good enough for FBS post-season bowl games, but not good enough for Everett.

 

[EverettGriz]

So, PR, you're saying the fcs "national" championship that everyone seems to value so greatly is on par with a bowl no one has ever heard of including teams from (not even the champions mind you, just teams from) the worst two FBS conferences in the land?


Got it. That's definitely something to aspire to....

 

[citygriz]

"Enrollment is down 5% again this fall. Just announced. I just can't imagine financial resources being diverted to the basketball team to get to the Sweet 16." PlayerRep

Wonderful irony here, PR. One not inplausable reason enrollment is down is because of all the negative national publicity brought on by our football program. Let's no re-litigate it. But it was Public. It was National. It was Negative.

I guarantee this: A Sweet 16 appearance would help enrollment, not hurt it.

 

[PlayerRep]

"Enrollment is down 5% again this fall. Just announced. I just can't imagine financial resources being diverted to the basketball team to get to the Sweet 16." PlayerRep

Wonderful irony here, PR. One not inplausable reason enrollment is down is because of all the negative national publicity brought on by our football program. Let's no re-litigate it. But it was Public. It was National. It was Negative.

I guarantee this: A Sweet 16 appearance would help enrollment, not hurt it.

I don't agree that enrollment was down much because of UM's football team. To the extent sexual assault publicity was part of the problem, that was because of some of Engstrom's decisions, Gwen Florio, the Missoulian and Krakauer.

JJ was acquitted and not even kicked out of school. Can't blame anything on him. Donaldson, yes. No players who bothered to fight UM sexual assault proceedings were even kicked out of school. False or weak claims, and a horribly biased dean. Can't blame that on football.

Hauck had been gone a couple years before enrollment started going south. Can't blame it on him. Pflu didn't do anything wrong, other than support JJ, and Plfu was vindicated on that.

A Sweet 16 appearance would be highly highly unlikely without diversion of a huge amount of resources.

Hiring Bodnar, and Hauck to a lessor extent, is what will help solve the enrollment decline and problem.

 

['68griz]

"Enrollment is down 5% again this fall. Just announced. I just can't imagine financial resources being diverted to the basketball team to get to the Sweet 16." PlayerRep

Wonderful irony here, PR. One not inplausable reason enrollment is down is because of all the negative national publicity brought on by our football program. Let's no re-litigate it. But it was Public. It was National. It was Negative.

I guarantee this: A Sweet 16 appearance would help enrollment, not hurt it.

I don't agree that enrollment was down much because of UM's football team. To the extent sexual assault publicity was part of the problem, that was because of some of Engstrom's decisions, Gwen Florio, the Missoulian and Krakauer.

JJ was acquitted and not even kicked out of school. Can't blame anything on him. Donaldson, yes. No players who bothered to fight UM sexual assault proceedings were even kicked out of school. False or weak claims, and a horribly biased dean. Can't blame that on football.

Hauck had been gone a couple years before enrollment started going south. Can't blame it on him. Pflu didn't do anything wrong, other than support JJ, and Plfu was vindicated on that.

A Sweet 16 appearance would be highly highly unlikely without diversion of a huge amount of resources.

Hiring Bodnar, and Hauck to a lessor extent, is what will help solve the enrollment decline and problem.

+1

 

[citygriz]

Who needs additional resources? I think we may have a Sweet 16 team--players and coaching staff--right on campus, right now.

 

[PlayerRep]

Who needs additional resources? I think we may have a Sweet 16 team--players and coaching staff--right on campus, right now.

I hope you are right. And then I look forward to major gains in enrollment.

 

[Zirg]

All you need to know about the relevance of the FCS title game is that it’s played in a soccer stadium in a burb no one has heard on a random Saturday before most people on the west coast are awake.

The Frisco stadium is also the home of an annual FBS bowl game now. SMU v. La. Tech last year.

"Initial planning had been to have teams from The American face a Sun Belt opponent in 2017 and 2019, and face a MAC opponent in 2018.[1] In 2017, the inaugural game featured a matchup between The American (SMU) and Conference USA (Louisiana Tech). The Frisco Bowl currently has an affiliation with The American through the 2021 season, and a second team will be picked from an at large conference."

The stadium is apparently good enough for FBS post-season bowl games, but not good enough for Everett.

No one had ever heard of (or been to) Huntington,WV before the Griz played there in 2 chippers (and Randy Moss put it on the map), and nobody who visited Huntington or Chattanooga (I've been to both twice) has any desire to ever return, so I don't know how or why a wealthy Dallas-suburb and gorgeous new stadium would get besmirched compared to the 2 awful previous host-sites/cities. Chattanooga and Frisco's stadium's capacity are within 300, and, the US national soccer team played Jamaica at Finley Stadium (Chatty) in 2017,so I guess it's a "Soccer stadium" too.

 

[4theluvofgriz]

PR: I'm not talking about another one-and-done here. God knows we've had enough of those these past decades--UNLV, Florida State, Oregon, Wisconsin, Syracuse, Michigan. That won't move the needle. But when we beat Nevada, and came within a half of beating Boston College to get to the Sweet 16, that showed us the potential for basketball. We got tons of press, and plenty of national air time. And it would have escalated had we made it to the Sweet 16. Please remember:
1. Unlike a Division 1-AA National Championship, the Big Dance is a huge national sporting event--for many of my friends, more important even than the Super Bowl. It's an occasion for office pools, profiles in national publications on all the schools, human interest stories ad nauseum, and constant constant attention on ESPN and the other sports channels. It arrives at the point that football is over, the NBA schedule is going through its doldrums, and the baseball season hasn't yet started. Thus the Big Dance fills a huge void, and has almost no competition for the National Sports Attention.
2. Remember, I'm talking Sweet 16 here, not the ratings for a one-and-done on TBS. And while I can't access those number right here, I know the numbers for the Sweet 16 increase significantly, to something in the range of five to six million viewers per game. And for the Final Four, the numbers in 2017 soared to 23 million when the game was on CBS, but dropped to a combined 16 million this year when the championship games aired on three cable channels.

My point is, basketball at the Division One level provides the OPPORTUNITY for massive exposure, a la Gonzaga or Creighton or Loyola of Chicago, teams that performed well in the national glare. But the way our football program is structured, there is no chance for much national exposure. And while you say it is a "very nice championship, and not easy to achieve," I would argue that ANY championship is very nice and not easy to achieve, whether Little League, PONY league, church league, YMCA. It's a matter of exposure.

I know all that. However, the chances of UM getting to the Sweet 16 are very remote, in my view. The chances of advancing in the FCS football playoffs are much better and have been done many times in the past. I don't see why you need to denigrate or minimize the accomplishments and thrill of advancing in the FCS playoffs, and even to the national championship game, to discuss your goal for UM basketball. I didn't come back at your post calling it pie in the sky. Perhaps you could show more respect for Griz football and FCS.

As for national exposure, personally, I couldn't care less about that. For me, it's joy of following or playing the sport--for myself, and the players and others--not the number of people watching on tv. It's the games, the guys, and the accomplishment (hopefully success).

I played in front of 60,000 people. I played on ABC TV every year. I played in the biggest ABC game of the week, with the no. 1 ABC crew. That was fun, and I can mention it in times like this. But what I got out of the game and get out of following the Griz and Dartmouth/Stanford now, have nothing to do with how many people watched on tv, or the ratings. It was the comradery, the sense of accomplishment, the lessons learned, etc. It is the friends and connections I made. These continue to provide joy, as well as push/pull me along in my professional life. I now enjoy seeing "my" teams work to achieve success each year. It can be thrilling to share their successes. It's fun knowing a few of them and their parents, and the coaches. It's fun stopping at practice. It's fun getting to know other Griz fans.

To me, as a former player and now fan, winning the FCS championship would be every bit as good as winning the FBS championship.

I believe you guys are talking from 2 different view points. Citay is talking from a University point of view and PlayerRep is coming from a participants point of view. I agree with both of your statements when I look at it in that respect.

Perhaps partially true, but I am also talking from the university viewpoint too. I believe the mission of a university is to educate and produce graduates equipped to deal with whatever they decide to do in life. Part of education is sport. But I don't believe the mission of a school like UM is to go to the Sweet 16 in basketball, or move to FBS in football. That would take and divert too many resources, especially financial ones.

I agree with citay that it is good and important to continue to grow, but that can be done in multiple ways and getting to the Sweet 16 is not the way I think UM should grow. Jeez, only 16 schools get the Sweet 16 every year. Are the thousands of other schools "dying" by not getting to the Sweet 16..

Had UM gone to the WAC, which is right before the WAC folded, UM would have been screwed. Thanks god that didn't occur.

You don't speak for the university...... you are not even an alumnus. Why don'tyou go pontificate on the Dartmouth Greenies basketball program?

 

[PlayerRep]

All you need to know about the relevance of the FCS title game is that it’s played in a soccer stadium in a burb no one has heard on a random Saturday before most people on the west coast are awake.

The Frisco stadium is also the home of an annual FBS bowl game now. SMU v. La. Tech last year.

"Initial planning had been to have teams from The American face a Sun Belt opponent in 2017 and 2019, and face a MAC opponent in 2018.[1] In 2017, the inaugural game featured a matchup between The American (SMU) and Conference USA (Louisiana Tech). The Frisco Bowl currently has an affiliation with The American through the 2021 season, and a second team will be picked from an at large conference."

The stadium is apparently good enough for FBS post-season bowl games, but not good enough for Everett.

No one had ever heard of (or been to) Huntington,WV before the Griz played there in 2 chippers (and Randy Moss put it on the map), and nobody who visited Huntington or Chattanooga (I've been to both twice) has any desire to ever return, so I don't know how or why a wealthy Dallas-suburb and gorgeous new stadium would get besmirched compared to the 2 awful previous host-sites/cities. Chattanooga and Frisco's stadium's capacity are within 300, and, the US national soccer team played Jamaica at Finley Stadium (Chatty) in 2017,so I guess it's a "Soccer stadium" too.

Chattanooga has become a terrific place and city, by the way. Renovation. Booming tech industry. Young people moving to Chattanooga. I liked Chattanooga before too, but it's gotten steadily nicer over the years.

Top 25 place to live in US: https://holeinthedonut.com/2013/05/23/chattanooga-best-place-to-live-in-america/

https://livability.com/tn/chattanooga/real-estate/why-chattanooga-tn-is-one-of-the-best-places-to-live

 

[argh!]

i just wanna know who is snoop dawg?