Spring Practices will be closed again this year | Syracusefan.com

Spring Practices will be closed again this year

LeMoyneCuse

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Now that I'm back in Syracuse, I reached out to HCSS's secratary to ask if spring practices will be open. The answer: Sorry, but no.

Sounds like it is Spring Game only.

I'm going to make impassioned pleas, and I hope others do the same. But it's not looking good.
 
Now that I'm back in Syracuse, I reached out to HCSS's secratary to ask if spring practices will be open. The answer: Sorry, but no.

Sounds like it is Spring Game only.

I'm going to make impassioned pleas, and I hope others do the same. But it's not looking good.

Wow, that is disappointing. Didn't we at least get one open practice and the spring game last year?

I guess things could be worse. We could be Pitt, who isn't even having a spring game. Or Rutgers, who doesn't even have a head coach (cement heads do not count).
 
Really the coaches call, at this point the fans aren't coming back for anything less than 9-3 or something of that nature, spring game is more than sufficient. Leave it up to the coaches. The diehards are use to getting kicked in the gonads
 
Looks like it's back to the grassy knoll again.

If they are going be #hardnosed with us, we are going to be #hardnosed right back.

I propose we buy a drone and stream all practices live. It will work great until the IPF is completed. At that point, we will need to buy infrared cameras to watch the action.

predator-drone1.jpg

Infrared-Image-B-10-19_low1.jpg
 
Infrared-Image-B-10-19_low1.jpg
[/quote]

Is that a Brontosaurus. I can't tell...how am I gonna be able to tell who is on the offensive line?
 
If they are going be #hardnosed with us, we are going to be #hardnosed right back.

I propose we buy a drone and stream all practices live. It will work great until the IPF is completed. At that point, we will need to buy infrared cameras to watch the action.

predator-drone1.jpg

Infrared-Image-B-10-19_low1.jpg


Let's just hire these kids for surveillance...
 
Did we start off the year so well last year that the closed practices really helped?
 
I understand why practices were closed last year--new coaches, new system, etc. They were also replacing a lot of key personnel, and were scratching for any minor advantage that the element of surprise might provide.

Doesn't make much sense now for a program that has some fences to mend with the local fanbase in order to drive up attendance.
 
I understand why practices were closed last year--new coaches, new system, etc. They were also replacing a lot of key personnel, and were scratching for any minor advantage that the element of surprise might provide.

Doesn't make much sense now for a program that has some fences to mend with the local fanbase in order to drive up attendance.

According to the e-mail I received, practices are closed for a "variety of reasons."
 
Wow, that is disappointing. Didn't we at least get one open practice and the spring game last year?

I guess things could be worse. We could be Pitt, who isn't even having a spring game. Or Rutgers, who doesn't even have a head coach (cement heads do not count).

Does the cesspool that is NJ have a spring to practice in?
 
Really disappointing. Obviously it's mostly the die-hards who would attend you would think after everything we have put up with the last 15 years they would throw us a bone.
 
Very disappointing. Wish they would reconsider.
 
Really disappointing. Obviously it's mostly the die-hards who would attend you would think after everything we have put up with the last 15 years they would throw us a bone.

I think the university figures the die-hards aren't going anywhere, so decisions like this aren't critical in a push to increase attendance. The problem is that die-hards are your grass-roots, unpaid marketing department - which the university continues to show no inclination to cater to in any way, shape, or form. Which I imagine means our die-hards are less "die-hard" than fans at other schools, and less interested in acting as the unpaid marketing arm for the school. Which then makes bringing in new fans much harder and dependent on a spectacular season (or more likely, two) to get attendance back up.

I started supporting the athletics department at UAlbany after I got a Masters from there, and UAlbany has consistently worked much harder at making me feel my support was appreciated and valued than Syracuse has. I thought that might be because they competed at a lower level and both had to and could work harder. Then I married a Penn State grad who supported PSU athletics, and after getting catered to by the Nittany Lions endlessly I realized that Syracuse University is just utterly clueless at lower level donor creation/maintenance. It really does seem the only thing SU is willing to put any effort into is the gigantic "grand slam" donations. Those folks don't really care about open football practices...and therefore neither does Syracuse.

It's been this way for 20+ years - it seems to be deeply imbedded in the institutional culture at SU. I doubt it's going to change any time soon.
 
I think the university figures the die-hards aren't going anywhere, so decisions like this aren't critical in a push to increase attendance. The problem is that die-hards are your grass-roots, unpaid marketing department - which the university continues to show no inclination to cater to in any way, shape, or form. Which I imagine means our die-hards are less "die-hard" than fans at other schools, and less interested in acting as the unpaid marketing arm for the school. Which then makes bringing in new fans much harder and dependent on a spectacular season (or more likely, two) to get attendance back up.

I started supporting the athletics department at UAlbany after I got a Masters from there, and UAlbany has consistently worked much harder at making me feel my support was appreciated and valued than Syracuse has. I thought that might be because they competed at a lower level and both had to and could work harder. Then I married a Penn State grad who supported PSU athletics, and after getting catered to by the Nittany Lions endlessly I realized that Syracuse University is just utterly clueless at lower level donor creation/maintenance. It really does seem the only thing SU is willing to put any effort into is the gigantic "grand slam" donations. Those folks don't really care about open football practices...and therefore neither does Syracuse.

It's been this way for 20+ years - it seems to be deeply imbedded in the institutional culture at SU. I doubt it's going to change any time soon.

Spot on. SUAD could definitely take some lessons from lessons from the big boys on how to run a program. How we do it now, and i'm talking everything, is second class.
 
According to the e-mail I received, practices are closed for a "variety of reasons."

A "variety of reasons"? Some guesses...

1) They're doing this so that they can give their full and undivided attention to the junior day visitors.

2) It's part of the university's public humiliation of Mayor Miner for blocking the new stadium.

3) They don't want the fans to freak out while Coach Adam figures out the difference between a tackle and guard.

4) IPF-envy has made the coaches self-conscious. Surely when we've got our's up and running, they'll open practices up again.

5) They're afraid of a Broyld uniform malfunction.
 
A "variety of reasons"? Some guesses...

1) They're doing this so that they can give their full and undivided attention to the junior day visitors.

2) It's part of the university's public humiliation of Mayor Miner for blocking the new stadium.

3) They don't want the fans to freak out while Coach Adam figures out the difference between a tackle and guard.

4) IPF-envy has made the coaches self-conscious. Surely when we've got our's up and running, they'll open practices up again.

5) They're afraid of a Broyld uniform malfunction.
Well played!
 
I think at this point it would be easier to assume that all Spring practices will be closed, no matter who the coach is. If some year, they are open, view that as a pleasant surprise. Otherwise, it seems like it's the standard operating procedure.

Almost makes me think they should close the Spring Game. I'd love for it to be open, and for coaches to really use it as a competitive scrimmage where important depth chart analysis can occur. But if you're going to close spring practices, then that probably means you are going to run a vanilla Spring Game for the public. Which kind of makes it a waste of what could be a very important development practice.

Personally I think football coaches are way too paranoid about this stuff, but it doesn't really upset me. Like I said, SOP.
 

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