Tennessee

[longislandcuse]

This team is basically the equivalent in the SEC to us in the ACC.

Why are their games sold out and crowds lively?

They invest in their football program and even through losses and years without bowls are always competitive and you can tell they're building towards something.

Fans will show up when you're an average team but have a chance to win every game avoiding the dreaded "game over by halftime" doldrums we've been in.

 

[Mr Peabody]

I think fans will show up even when chances to win are remote it the experience is fun. See Buffalo Bills for example. From tailgating to camaraderie to community ownership, fans are all in.

I think HCSS was and is trying to build that atmosphere here in Syracuse. However, it's a long road with no quick fix in sight. Fans have seen too many coaching staffs on learning curves and don't have faith in the "they're building towards something" feeling.

We need a stroke of luck, a hidden gem like Donnie McPherson from the 1980's to turn this thing around. We were down then with a dome that was half empty and then boom, we became a dangerous exciting team and fans showed up and we snowballed into relevancy.

Rather than trying to find the perfect 5 star recruit, find your hidden gem on the current roster and change your strategy to match the talent you have. Things can snow ball when you can generate excitement on the field.

 

[anomander]

This team is basically the equivalent in the SEC to us in the ACC.

Why are their games sold out and crowds lively?

They invest in their football program and even through losses and years without bowls are always competitive and you can tell they're building towards something.

Fans will show up when you're an average team but have a chance to win every game avoiding the dreaded "game over by halftime" doldrums we've been in.

110% commitment to football. Do you see the new facility they just built, and what they pay for their coaching staff.

 

[Upstate]

hundreds of thousands of alumni in the surrounding 150 miles?

 

[longislandcuse]

hundreds of thousands of alumni in the surrounding 150 miles?

We only need to get half the fans they get at their stadium to fill up the Dome.

 

[Quazzum69]

I think Tennessee has had a little more success in recent years including one of the greatest qbs of this generation (don't say mcnabb is too) followed by the first BCS champioship in 1998. Tennessee probably has never gone through a GRob-like stretch of awfulness either. They have won at least 5 games every season since 1978.

Plus they are in the SEC and play Georgia, SC, Florida and Alabama rotating and usually another marquee top 25 team every year at home.

Since Miami and VT left and before the ACC, SU hasn't consistently had brand name teams at the Dome - the ranked teams we played consisted of West Virginia, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Pitt, Louisville and UConn (lol) not the bluebloods that have name recognition like Alabama and Florida.

Oh, and they have played one of the BCS finalists seven (six of the winners!) of the past eight years hosting them four times.

 

[SWC75]

We don't resemble Tennessee at all. They are a large state school with a tremendous fan base and the state legislature to help them build facilities we could never afford. I think the real question is: with all those advantages, why aren't they better? they used to be on the Alabama-LSU-Florida-Georgia level and yet their on the field record has been similar to ours in the last few years. They just said that their players haven't seen their team beat Florida since they were in the third grade. Why haven't all those advantages produced a greater measure of success?

 

[longislandcuse]

Clearly we're not comparative to Tennessee in a team vs team context, which is why I said Cuse in the ACC vs Tenn in the SEC.

They are a large state school playing all large state schools in the best conference ever.

We're a private school playing a mix if private and state but outside of FSU/Clemson, we don't have the juggernauts Tennessee has to contend with.

Lately their production within the SEC is equal to our production. The difference is they invest in their team and have some semblance of an idea of what they're trying o become.

That production is still putting 100k plus in the stands, we just need half that.

 

[Cheriehoop]

If the students support their team - win or lose - identify with the team and recall great times at and after games - you cultivate a family of loyal alumni fans and they bring their kids to games. How dedicated and loyal do you think this generation of students will be in 10,20,30 years when they don't attend games now while on campus? More and more, locals are being called upon to identify with SU and replace the lack of alumni support. Did anyone wonder if the Metlife games were attempts to lure SU alumni from the NYC, Boston, Philly, DC etc areas to become more invested in the football program and travel to the dome for games?

Even back in 2010, here are the top private school attendance figures as a % of capacity. Note that 2 of them Notre Dame and BYU obviously are national draws. Also note what the capacity is for the other top 3 programs that year.

Top 5 Private Schools

1. Notre Dame 100.00% 80,795/game
2. Wake Forest 96.74% 30,474/game(31,500)
3. Brigham Young 95.84% 61,381/game
4. Texas Christian 95.74% 42,466/game(44,356)
5. Boston College 86.22% 38,369/game(44,500)

Are our expectations realistic as a private college for attendance? What are our goals without being an alumni draw within a 4-5 hour driving radius? Just wondering.

 

[tep624]

We don't resemble Tennessee at all. They are a large state school with a tremendous fan base and the state legislature to help them build facilities we could never afford. I think the real question is: with all those advantages, why aren't they better? they used to be on the Alabama-LSU-Florida-Georgia level and yet their on the field record has been similar to ours in the last few years. They just said that their players haven't seen their team beat Florida since they were in the third grade. Why haven't all those advantages produced a greater measure of success?

This 300 times over. Syracuse is not a state school and will never have the financial support for athletics that a state school does. Nor the enrollment and alumni base. To make matters worse, we are not located in a major metropolitan (boston, NYC. Chicago, etc) area either which would help in attendance when you don't have a large enrollment. We're also not located in a hotbed of recruiting talent.

There are too many people that don't truly appreciate the obstacles a successful Syracuse program has to overcome compared to the Alabamas of the world.

 

[richard levy]

We don't resemble Tennessee at all. They are a large state school with a tremendous fan base and the state legislature to help them build facilities we could never afford. I think the real question is: with all those advantages, why aren't they better? they used to be on the Alabama-LSU-Florida-Georgia level and yet their on the field record has been similar to ours in the last few years. They just said that their players haven't seen their team beat Florida since they were in the third grade. Why haven't all those advantages produced a greater measure of success?

They fired a coach who had a .743 W-L %, went to bowls 15 out of 17 years, for going 5-7 after two years of 9-4 and 10-3 and two bowls. Fans being impatient and with short memories, they fired him. Then, made some bad choices in HC hires, while playing in arguably the most competitive football conference. Georgia fired a coach after consecutive 9-4 seasons. to hire Richt who is always on the hot seat. As you implied on another thread, not giving a coach some time to correct current problems can be a worse alternative

 

[IthacaBarrel]

This team is basically the equivalent in the SEC to us in the ACC.

Why are their games sold out and crowds lively?

They invest in their football program and even through losses and years without bowls are always competitive and you can tell they're building towards something.

Fans will show up when you're an average team but have a chance to win every game avoiding the dreaded "game over by halftime" doldrums we've been in.

Dude not one of your better posts and I like a lot of them but are you trying to compare Tennessee to syracuse? There is none and before they fired the last coach their stands were empty as well, not as empty as ours but still empty. Swc nailed it here

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Compare us to northwestern if you want us to compare us to someone, wake forest, boston college, Pittsburgh.

 

[jgeorge322]

Honestly, the games are insufferable to watch as a fan. I know people will say i dont have perspective but the product just isnt good. Remember when we lost to northwestern in the dome marrone's last year. That was a good game to watch even though we lost. If we had more games like that, instead of this eyesore, i bet the fans would be more engaged.

 

[longislandcuse]

Dude not one of your better posts and I like a lot of them but are you trying to compare Tennessee to syracuse? There is none and before they fired the last coach their stands were empty as well, not as empty as ours but still empty. Swc nailed it here

I'm not comparing Syracuse to Tennessee in a vacuum but as to their role in the SEC comparative to ours in the ACC.

They are a middling, average SEC school who invested in their program. By doing so, even being wildly mediocre, they have brought back the fans. They invested in facilities and a coaching staff.

We can bring our fans back, much like Tennessee even if we don't have immediate success and if, like Tennessee, we are building towards something and can actually stay competitive against good teams, the fans will hopefully take notice.

Eventually there has to be results but my boss is a huge UT donor and is more than willing to give Butch Jones time because they have the money in facilities, are competitive, and have a staff that both recruits and can coach.

With Shafer, I don't see any of this optimism.

Again, not comparing us to Tennessee in a vacuum but whereas they have brought the fans back to a tune off 100k plus per game and keeping big donors happy, we could do the same in the ACC with weaker competition and only needing 40% of their crowd to have a good showing in the Dome. Once they're in the Dome, even if you lose, make it a game. Notice how UT doesn't get blown out anymore? Fans can deal w that when they're not going to games making contingency plans for halftime.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

I'm not comparing Syracuse to Tennessee in a vacuum but as to their role in the SEC comparative to ours in the ACC.

They are a middling, average SEC school who invested in their program. By doing so, even being wildly mediocre, they have brought back the fans. They invested in facilities and a coaching staff.

We can bring our fans back, much like Tennessee even if we don't have immediate success and if, like Tennessee, we are building towards something and can actually stay competitive against good teams, the fans will hopefully take notice.

Eventually there has to be results but my boss is a huge UT donor and is more than willing to give Butch Jones time because they have the money in facilities, are competitive, and have a staff that both recruits and can coach.

With Shafer, I don't see any of this optimism.

Again, not comparing us to Tennessee in a vacuum but whereas they have brought the fans back to a tune off 100k plus per game and keeping big donors happy, we could do the same in the ACC with weaker competition and only needing 40% of their crowd to have a good showing in the Dome.

I think it's obvious that what the university is doing with regard to football isn't working, from hiring to GROB, to the reasons why Marrone grew disgruntled regardless of his leaving and now Scott Shafer. The university either needs to commit to being successful in the modern era or accept our fate as being happy to be in a p5 conference, like duke and wake were for years. I will say this nobody really cares that we were good 25 years ago nor doesn't ensure success in the future but Fridays game has to be the lowest point since. GROB

 

[Bayside44]

I'm not comparing Syracuse to Tennessee in a vacuum but as to their role in the SEC comparative to ours in the ACC.

They are a middling, average SEC school who invested in their program. By doing so, even being wildly mediocre, they have brought back the fans. They invested in facilities and a coaching staff.

We can bring our fans back, much like Tennessee even if we don't have immediate success and if, like Tennessee, we are building towards something and can actually stay competitive against good teams, the fans will hopefully take notice.

Eventually there has to be results but my boss is a huge UT donor and is more than willing to give Butch Jones time because they have the money in facilities, are competitive, and have a staff that both recruits and can coach.

With Shafer, I don't see any of this optimism.

Again, not comparing us to Tennessee in a vacuum but whereas they have brought the fans back to a tune off 100k plus per game and keeping big donors happy, we could do the same in the ACC with weaker competition and only needing 40% of their crowd to have a good showing in the Dome. Once they're in the Dome, even if you lose, make it a game. Notice how UT doesn't get blown out anymore? Fans can deal w that when they're not going to games making contingency plans for halftime.

Their fans have nothing better to do...I did a brief tour of duty in Nashville ages ago, it was nothing for people 5 to 8 hours away to drive across the state to see the Vols. Southern, etc, very different than us.

 

[longislandcuse]

Their fans have nothing better to do...I did a brief tour of duty in Nashville ages ago, it was nothing for people 5 to 8 hours away to drive across the state to see the Vols. Southern, etc, very different than us.

Their fans just love football. It's so passionate down here. My boss lives down here in Atl and has seasons for Tennessee, 4 hour drive. That's pretty normal for down south.

 

[longtimefan]

This team is basically the equivalent in the SEC to us in the ACC.

Why are their games sold out and crowds lively?

They invest in their football program and even through losses and years without bowls are always competitive and you can tell they're building towards something.

Fans will show up when you're an average team but have a chance to win every game avoiding the dreaded "game over by halftime" doldrums we've been in.

Tennessee vs. Syracuse: Both are Orange--though theirs is more creamsicle, and ours, these days, more blue.

 

[richard levy]

Their fans have nothing better to do...I did a brief tour of duty in Nashville ages ago, it was nothing for people 5 to 8 hours away to drive across the state to see the Vols. Southern, etc, very different than us.

The fans may have nothing better to do, but there is certainly plenty to do in Nashville and surrounding area, as noted, the fans across the state, from Memphis to Knoxville and points east, are just passionate about the football played at their state university. Whole different attitude and big-time college gameday experience. Just different in the SEC. Anybody see the crowd in the Grove in Oxford yesterday

 

[Bayside44]

Their fans just love football. It's so passionate down here. My boss lives down here in Atl and has seasons for Tennessee, 4 hour drive. That's pretty normal for down south.

It's a lot more than football. You see that tripe on Gameday yesterday, people at Ole Miss talking about going back to campus to talk to ghosts? I mean it's a bit ridiculous.

For all the stuff some alumni get here, the only ghost we hear is when we are told our wings are ready.

 

[longislandcuse]

It's a lot more than football. You see that tripe on Gameday yesterday, people at Ole Miss talking about going back to campus to talk to ghosts? I mean it's a bit ridiculous.

For all the stuff some alumni get here, the only ghost we hear is when we are told our wings are ready.

I actually liked that bit. He was speaking as a son who lost his father and those memories come alive every time his team plays. I'm down with that.

 

[Bayside44]

I actually liked that bit. He was speaking as a son who lost his father and those memories come alive every time his team plays. I'm down with that.

We're not that type of place. Bonfires, poisoning trees, ghosts (do they really need to say ghosts?) etc.

We need an interesting team or else we will have what we have.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

We're not that type of place. Bonfires, poisoning trees, ghosts (do they really need to say ghosts?) etc.

We need an interesting team or else we will have what we have.

I agree, I don't want to be like the SEC, it's too much down there. Point is you can't just dip your toe in the water, it's almost like the university just prays they can get to 6-6 every year because the commitment from their end isn't showing they aspire for much more. They are about 3-4 years late on the ipf, but better late thane ever I guess

 

[AZOrange]

It's a lot more than football. You see that tripe on Gameday yesterday, people at Ole Miss talking about going back to campus to talk to ghosts? I mean it's a bit ridiculous.

For all the stuff some alumni get here, the only ghost we hear is when we are told our wings are ready.

That tailgate was absurd though...