Does the U lack the alumni support to have on a great football team?

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GO4INLALALAND

GO4INLALALAND

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It is clear that strong alumni support is necessary to have a successful program. Not only from a financial standpoint, but also from an excitement standpoint that makes high schoolers want to play at a college. We had a sellout game today and it was the 4 one this season. This is unprecedented since we have been playing at TCF. It does seem that enthusiasm is growing for gopher football. While this season may pose as a set back to fan enthusiasm, do we have the alumni interest in Gopher football to really take this program to the next level. Do we have the alumni and fans necessary to warrant the building the second level at TCF. That is what we need..that kind of passion for Gopher fb so that we get the money needed to build a top notch program. Do we have that? I want to believe we do, but do we have the fans to warrant the building the second level of TCF? IMO, not for a long, long time. Consequently, I believe we are going to be stuck in this pattern of struggling to finish in the top three of the Western Division. Thoughts?
 

It's a long process that will take a generation or so. You have to make the brand of Gopher football something "cool" that people want to be a part of. That's how Wisky has done it. In the past 20 years it has been viewed as a destination that people want to be a part of. I interviewed a guy a few weeks ago. He's in his mid 20's, lived in the Twin Cities his whole life and was a UofM grad. In the interview I asked him to describe his college experience, what led him to Minnesota, etc. His reply was "Well I wanted to go to Madison but when I didn't get in I went to Minnesota instead. It was ok." Needless to say, I wasn't impressed as an interviewer but more importantly, that's an alum with a very mediocre allegiance to his alma mater.
 

GO4INLALALAND said:
It is clear that strong alumni support is necessary to have a successful program. Not only from a financial standpoint, but also from an excitement standpoint that makes high schoolers want to play at a college. We had a sellout game today and it was the 4 one this season. This is unprecedented since we have been playing at TCF. It does seem that enthusiasm is growing for gopher football. While this season may pose as a set back to fan enthusiasm, do we have the alumni interest in Gopher football to really take this program to the next level. Do we have the alumni and fans necessary to warrant the building the second level at TCF. That is what we need..that kind of passion for Gopher fb so that we get the money needed to build a top notch program. Do we have that? I want to believe we do, but do we have the fans to warrant the building the second level of TCF? IMO, not for a long, long time. Consequently, I believe we are going to be stuck in this pattern of struggling to finish in the top three of the Western Division. Thoughts?
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To have excited alumni you need to have a winning tradition (Well, at least that anyone alive remembers).
 

Another experience I had in the corporate world....a few years ago I got paired up with a mentor (a senior vp) on a project. He was based in our Boston office and called to chat and get to know me. In the conversation I learned he was a Gopher grad. I instantly inquired if he still followed the football team. He responded "not really. I was at that Michigan game in 2003 and it was awful. I grew up in Wisconsin so I tend to pay attention to Bucky." Talk about a buzzkill....vomit in the mouth. Another alumni who would rather follow a rival. Winning tradition, that's what matters.
 

We're not gonna get anywhere till we win a bowl game. Let's start there.

Small victories and the fans come slowly. It's gonna take decades.
 


From an excitement standpoint, yes. From a financial standpoint, it probably doesn't matter. Between these two considerations, the latter is clearly the bigger deal to college football programs today. Here's my crazy conspiracy theory:

I sit on the visitors side (a.k.a. the sunny side) and stare at many empty seats between the 30's even on "sellouts" like today. I suspect many of these seats are corporate. In the last couple of years, I've noticed larger blocks of these empty seats despite being the premium ones. I realize the CEO of some company may be an alum of the U and their company may acquire a block of seats, but I think many who occupy these seats behave differently than "regular" season ticket holders. I'd argue regular season tickets have a greater emotional investment in their team but probably don't bring the same level of financial support as the corporate counterparts.

I suspect that it is less about building alumni support and more about increasing the corporate one. I'm convinced that the U doesn't care as much about the rank and file alumni but tolerate the dumb ones like me who are willing to pay the increased ticket prices. The ticket office told me matter of factly that they don't care if I do not renew my tickets which leads me to believe that the consolidation of corporate seating is underway.

I know more than a few alumni that have cancelled their season tickets this past year. I don't buy that they have been replaced in kind by new, non-corporate, season ticket holders. There may be some new alumni and general buyers of tickets but my hunch is the U is going after the corporations and their big money.

Long term I don't know if this is the right strategy but I think it is the one being pursued in today's environment of big time college football. I have no real evidence to back up my assertions but it seems no one can seem to get a straight answer from the U ticket offices about renewals these days. Consequently, I base my conspiracy theory on articles such as this one:
http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/roa...um-students-business-tv-ncaa-michigan-tickets
I'm hoping someone will post factual evidence that supports or disproves my assertions.
 

From my time at the U 99-03, I only really see Ron Johnson and Tony Patterson following the gophers, and I guess Ben Utech and Tyrone Carter too. Greg White, Darryl Reid, Asad Abdul I'm pretty sure don't follow the Gophers too closely. Hearing that Maroney had only been back to the U one time since his glory days surprised me. Time to get the alumni back to see what is being built and grow the support.
 

I love the University of Minnesota and wish I could get to every game, but living in Houston makes for only getting to a game or two and selling the rest of my season tickets. Let's talk about the financial piece of the puzzle. I have always found that the only conservative bone in Minnesotans is their financial bone. I don't see the wealthy people giving to Minnesota like the southern schools donate to their alma maters. Texas, aTm, Baylor, TCU man these alums give millions upon millions to their schools.
The culture of giving to your alma mater is totally different in Texas compared to Minnesota. This is not necessarily a criticism, just a fact.
Also,I firmly believe that football is an important part of a University experience, and our days watching the Gophers in the Metrodome killed 25 years of students getting to enjoy a great Saturday afternoon experience. Football under the dome completely sucked! I can only hope that TCF stadium brings back great memories for the recent and future graduates and that the wealthy grads will help make Gopher football great again!
 

Start winning more games and the alumni interest will blossom.

1. Beat Becky this season.
2. Get bowl eligible and win the bowl game.
3. Win winnable games with regularity.
4. Make it difficult for visiting teams to win at the Bank.
 



I will echo what others have said about the Metrodome almost negating a whole generation of gopher fans.

Let's say there are 4 generations of Alumni available to support the program. I think the program still is supported well by the oldest and second oldest generations. It's that 3rd generation that is smaller due to not winning and the Metrodome years. With the return to TCF and if the program continues to have success the youngest generation and future should continue to grow.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
Another experience I had in the corporate world....a few years ago I got paired up with a mentor (a senior vp) on a project. He was based in our Boston office and called to chat and get to know me. In the conversation I learned he was a Gopher grad. I instantly inquired if he still followed the football team. He responded "not really. I was at that Michigan game in 2003 and it was awful. I grew up in Wisconsin so I tend to pay attention to Bucky." Talk about a buzzkill....vomit in the mouth. Another alumni who would rather follow a rival. Winning tradition, that's what matters.
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This is a real problem for the U. It does seem that there is a large disconnect between the U and its alumni. I went to school from 91-95. There were several of my friends that hated being at the U and did eventually leave - one went to UW. Even myself, when I go back to campus it does feel a lot more collegiate than when I was there. When I was there the feeling was that this was a school that was in the Big 10, but it was not a Big 10 school. Big 10 football, basketball did not make a large impact on campus life. I do believe that having an on-campus stadium will have a positive impact on integrating college athletics with campus life, but so much damage has been done to the alumni base by past U regents, faculty and administrators that it is going to take generations to get students and alumni excited about U athletics. Without that broad alumni support, I believe that we will continue to struggle to field successful teams. It is a shame.
 

WorkingMyTailOff said:
I will echo what others have said about the Metrodome almost negating a whole generation of gopher fans.

Let's say there are 4 generations of Alumni available to support the program. I think the program still is supported well by the oldest and second oldest generations. It's that 3rd generation that is smaller due to not winning and the Metrodome years. With the return to TCF and if the program continues to have success the youngest generation and future should continue to grow.
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You are on to something. Between my wife's family and my family I know 7 seven people that hold U of M degrees. Guess how many of them are passionate about Gopher athletics....0! The U was a school to get a degree. They enjoyed going to school at the U, but athletics had no impact on the school experience. Accordingly, they don't really care about U athletics now. I talk to them about Gopher fb, bb, and they are interested, but they are not passionate by any stretch. No passion like that which is needed to build a top notch fb program.
 

It'll take a while to fill the gap left by the three decades in the Dome.
 



GO4INLALALAND said:
This is a real problem for the U. It does seem that there is a large disconnect between the U and its alumni. I went to school from 91-95. There were several of my friends that hated being at the U and did eventually leave - one went to UW. Even myself, when I go back to campus it does feel a lot more collegiate than when I was there. When I was there the feeling was that this was a school that was in the Big 10, but it was not a Big 10 school. Big 10 football, basketball did not make a large impact on campus life. I do believe that having an on-campus stadium will have a positive impact on integrating college athletics with campus life, but so much damage has been done to the alumni base by past U regents, faculty and administrators that it is going to take generations to get students and alumni excited about U athletics. Without that broad alumni support, I believe that we will continue to struggle to field successful teams. It is a shame.
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Why was that, if I may ask?
 

station19 said:
Why was that, if I may ask?
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+1 like to know as well, went to the U 93-96 and I certainly didn't hate it. I also wanted to go to school in a large city in order to setup my post-collegiate life. I grew up in Milwaukee and had no interest in going to Madison to experience the hippie drinking life


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

The U is not like a lot of other B1G schools. It is an urban environment, with a significant amount of students who are commuters. In Madison, Iowa City, Lincoln, etc, the FB game is the most important day of the week. A much higher % of students live on campus. People plan their entire week around tailgating, parties, etc.

In MN, the FB game is just another option for people. Yes, there are the die-hard fans, but I submit there are more casual or on-the-fence fans who pay attention if the team is doing well, but lose interest if the team is losing.

And, like it or not, there is a lot more to do in the Twin Cities - music, arts, Pro sports, etc.

And - final point - I don't think you can underestimate the impact of almost 50 years without a conference championship. Imagine this conversation: grandchild to grandparent - "Gee, Grandpa, do you remember the last time the Gopher FB team won the B1G title?" "No, squirt - that was before I was born." Lack of tradition = lack of alumni support.
 

GO4INLALALAND said:
This is a real problem for the U. It does seem that there is a large disconnect between the U and its alumni. I went to school from 91-95. There were several of my friends that hated being at the U and did eventually leave - one went to UW. Even myself, when I go back to campus it does feel a lot more collegiate than when I was there. When I was there the feeling was that this was a school that was in the Big 10, but it was not a Big 10 school. Big 10 football, basketball did not make a large impact on campus life. I do believe that having an on-campus stadium will have a positive impact on integrating college athletics with campus life, but so much damage has been done to the alumni base by past U regents, faculty and administrators that it is going to take generations to get students and alumni excited about U athletics. Without that broad alumni support, I believe that we will continue to struggle to field successful teams. It is a shame.
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I attended around the same time you did and share some of your perceptions.

Here's what I saw:
1. The U was a place you went to attend classes. It wasn't a community. It was a commuter campus.

2. The U campus was a dump until Yudof arrived. Simply filthy. The buildings on old campus had unbelievable deferred maintenance issues. They closed down a big chunk of Nicholson at one point due to asbestos concerns. Jones Hall was slated for demolition at one point. Coffman had that terrible deteriorating '70s makeover; the interior was dark and dank.

3. Students at the U didn't perceive it as a prestigious, "destination" university. Some of this was due to the admissions policies at the time. It was seen as a place that anybody could attend, even if that wasn't the truth. For many of the best students, the U was a fallback, safety school. Wisconsin was seen as far more prestigious and with a much better campus atmosphere.

Another poster mentioned an interviewee who expressed the view that the U was mediocre or just ok. I know a lot of alums who felt that way. In fact, a very successful friend and Carlson alum from the '90s once described the school as exactly that: mediocre. This is supposed to be one of the U's most prestigious schools.

It also took 6 or 7 years for a large number of students to get their degrees. Go look at the 4-year graduation rate for students who arrived in that era. It's not pretty.

4. In terms of football, it was just plain bad (Wacker years). I lived in Sanford one year, the football dorm, and nobody cared about the football players. The idea of the "big man on campus" was pretty passe.


There's a view often expressed on these boards that lack of support for U athletics is the result of administrative neglect over several decades. This is true to a point, but I think the problems the U has with alumni support are much deeper than that.
 

The other issue, and one that was brought up in the Strib recently, is that the U doesn't really actively court Minnesota students. It's a better deal tuition-wise if you come from a reciprocity state, and also that the U has a lot of international students. I suspect that if you grew up in Wisconsin, rooting for the Badgers, or Iowa and the Hawkeyes, that loyalty doesn't go away. I have a lot of friends who went to UND, and it was a school I considered, but I would never have rooted for the Sioux over the Gophers.

And the notion that cheering for the Gophers (except hockey) is not "cool" has been the case in Minnesota for a long time. When I was in high school, guys always wore FB and BB stuff from USC, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, but never from Minnesota.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
The U is not like a lot of other B1G schools. It is an urban environment, with a significant amount of students who are commuters. In Madison, Iowa City, Lincoln, etc, the FB game is the most important day of the week. A much higher % of students live on campus. People plan their entire week around tailgating, parties, etc.
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I know it's overstated, but the point about having other things to do is definitely somewhat true. For example, I am a huge gopher football fan but Saturday was also the Zombie Pub Crawl in Minneapolis. I of course went to the game but I'd be lying if I didn't say the pub crawl was enticing. Getting dressed like zombies and attending one or more of the great concerts they had available. Thats just a small example, but it's rare that a Gopher football game is the marquee event that the city is talking about all week. Not to mention all of the professional sports we can access as well, which can't be said for much of the West except Northwestern. We have Wild here now which is an event every week and Wolves are starting up also. There's a lot going on in the cities.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

I was listening to some of the callers in to CCO yesterday morning and most of them were downright mean in their comments about the Gophers and Coach Kill. I felt like calling in and asking why the pro teams in this town get an automatic "pass" from all the fans. How many Super Bowls trophies do the Vikings own? ZERO, how many Stanley Cups do the Wild own. ZERO! How many NBA championships to the T-Wolves have? Everyone is super pumped about the upcoming season. How have the Twins been doing lately? Even this year, they didn't make the playoffs, yet everybody in town is talking about what a GREAT year they had. So the Gophers lose one to Nebraska after they had won the past 2 years and everyone is talking about how they stink, their Coach doesn't know what he is doing, their Coaching staff is "stupid". I even heard a caller talk about he can never ever support the Gophers because they always lose (what about the last 2 years?) And another caller complained about all the tax dollars that are going into the new Athletic Village project to support losing programs. He said why should we taxpayer support these programs? This is also laughable because there are NO TAX DOLLARS going into the new project. Say what you want, but all of these comments reflect common views of our Gopher programs among the average sports fans in the state. They will LOVE their pro teams, no matter what, but the Gophers, that's another story.
 

Gopher Placenta said:
I attended around the same time you did and share some of your perceptions.

Here's what I saw:
1. The U was a place you went to attend classes. It wasn't a community. It was a commuter campus.

2. The U campus was a dump until Yudof arrived. Simply filthy. The buildings on old campus had unbelievable deferred maintenance issues. They closed down a big chunk of Nicholson at one point due to asbestos concerns. Jones Hall was slated for demolition at one point. Coffman had that terrible deteriorating '70s makeover; the interior was dark and dank.

3. Students at the U didn't perceive it as a prestigious, "destination" university. Some of this was due to the admissions policies at the time. It was seen as a place that anybody could attend, even if that wasn't the truth. For many of the best students, the U was a fallback, safety school. Wisconsin was seen as far more prestigious and with a much better campus atmosphere.

Another poster mentioned an interviewee who expressed the view that the U was mediocre or just ok. I know a lot of alums who felt that way. In fact, a very successful friend and Carlson alum from the '90s once described the school as exactly that: mediocre. This is supposed to be one of the U's most prestigious schools.

It also took 6 or 7 years for a large number of students to get their degrees. Go look at the 4-year graduation rate for students who arrived in that era. It's not pretty.

4. In terms of football, it was just plain bad (Wacker years). I lived in Sanford one year, the football dorm, and nobody cared about the football players. The idea of the "big man on campus" was pretty passe.


There's a view often expressed on these boards that lack of support for U athletics is the result of administrative neglect over several decades. This is true to a point, but I think the problems the U has with alumni support are much deeper than that.
Click to expand...

discochris said:
The other issue, and one that was brought up in the Strib recently, is that the U doesn't really actively court Minnesota students. It's a better deal tuition-wise if you come from a reciprocity state, and also that the U has a lot of international students. I suspect that if you grew up in Wisconsin, rooting for the Badgers, or Iowa and the Hawkeyes, that loyalty doesn't go away. I have a lot of friends who went to UND, and it was a school I considered, but I would never have rooted for the Sioux over the Gophers.

And the notion that cheering for the Gophers (except hockey) is not "cool" has been the case in Minnesota for a long time. When I was in high school, guys always wore FB and BB stuff from USC, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, but never from Minnesota.
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Interesting stuff guys....thanks.
 

go4rob said:
I was listening to some of the callers in to CCO yesterday morning and most of them were downright mean in their comments about the Gophers and Coach Kill. I felt like calling in and asking why the pro teams in this town get an automatic "pass" from all the fans. How many Super Bowls trophies do the Vikings own? ZERO, how many Stanley Cups do the Wild own. ZERO! How many NBA championships to the T-Wolves have? Everyone is super pumped about the upcoming season. How have the Twins been doing lately? Even this year, they didn't make the playoffs, yet everybody in town is talking about what a GREAT year they had. So the Gophers lose one to Nebraska after they had won the past 2 years and everyone is talking about how they stink, their Coach doesn't know what he is doing, their Coaching staff is "stupid". I even heard a caller talk about he can never ever support the Gophers because they always lose (what about the last 2 years?) And another caller complained about all the tax dollars that are going into the new Athletic Village project to support losing programs. He said why should we taxpayer support these programs? This is also laughable because there are NO TAX DOLLARS going into the new project. Say what you want, but all of these comments reflect common views of our Gopher programs among the average sports fans in the state. They will LOVE their pro teams, no matter what, but the Gophers, that's another story.
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Agree. The sad part is many people are influenced by these comments.
 

I'm hopeful the worm is turning on this issue.
Younger students/alumni have at least a semblance of real college gameday traditions to think back upon. There have been great games at the new stadium, nice wins, field stormings, etc.
Like it or not, the generation that has so much cynicism towards gopher football is getting older and frankly probably not buying season tickets.
Also, I have to believe the militant anti-sports crowd entrenched at the U is losing more battles than they win, even if they get a pat on the head here and there.

Time heals all, the key I think is to stay the course with a coaching staff that can bring respectability AND not rest upon their laurels.
As the schedule eases the next few years and some key players develop into upperclassmen I think we'll see the 8 win seasons and even hiccup years like this one raise their ceilings towards bigger goals.

A few keys to keeping the fanbase and alums moving towards a better place:
1)Continue to go to bowls, even crappy ones.
2)Continue to reach out to the public positively, even if they hate you for stupid reasons. Outreach to the fans and alumni cannot turn ugly like it did for Mason.
3)Recruit hard and never settle.
4)Beat Wisconsin. It shouldn't matter as much as it does, but the only way you ignite the Twin Cities' competitive spirit is to either win big and a ton or beat the team from drunkland across the river. Beat the Badgers and you get as many slaps on the back around town as you would from a 9 win season.(Believe it)
5)Once the Vikings leave TCF Bank, continue to elevate the gameday festivities. Organically I've seen the crowds seem to get younger and more festive this year. I think the light rail has given the 25-35 year olds an easy way into the game from areas in Minneapolis and they don't have the same cynicism towards public transit that older folks do. Also the students have put the rest of the stadium to shame this year with their outstanding support. That is the future fanbase, keep them coming and having fun and you'll see them at least adopt the Gophers as one of their teams like most in the TC have for the pro teams.
 

I totally agree with this perspective.

My first year at the U was 1981, the last year in Memorial Stadium (hangs head). Then we move in to the Metrodome and it's antiseptic, sit on your hands, don't cheer too loudly Non-University managed environment. I really railed against that mentality, but it wears on you. The team didn't do anything to counter that effect. They got their butts handed to them from 1982 on. Even the carpetbagging optimism of "Sweet" Lou Holtz was met with a heartily sour mentality of pessimism because of the lack of University spirit "allowed" in the Dome. After graduation, the lack of sustained winning has made it very hard to go beyond pessimistically jaded optimism.

Being back on campus helps. Having had some solid years really helps. However losing like we did Saturday makes it easy to fall back in to the pessimistic mentality of despair. Couple that with a continual dirge of "inappropriate behavior" streaming out of local media about the Gophers make it disheartening. The media makes other programs, in state and out, seem like angels compared with our football team and most male athletics at the U.

I find it very hard to be optimistic about the remainder of this season, due to this baggage. What does it take to wipe that away? A whole lot of winning and I don't see that happening until next year.


WorkingMyTailOff said:
I will echo what others have said about the Metrodome almost negating a whole generation of gopher fans.

Let's say there are 4 generations of Alumni available to support the program. I think the program still is supported well by the oldest and second oldest generations. It's that 3rd generation that is smaller due to not winning and the Metrodome years. With the return to TCF and if the program continues to have success the youngest generation and future should continue to grow.
Click to expand...
 

go4rob said:
I was listening to some of the callers in to CCO yesterday morning and most of them were downright mean in their comments about the Gophers and Coach Kill. I felt like calling in and asking why the pro teams in this town get an automatic "pass" from all the fans. How many Super Bowls trophies do the Vikings own? ZERO, how many Stanley Cups do the Wild own. ZERO! How many NBA championships to the T-Wolves have? Everyone is super pumped about the upcoming season. How have the Twins been doing lately? Even this year, they didn't make the playoffs, yet everybody in town is talking about what a GREAT year they had. So the Gophers lose one to Nebraska after they had won the past 2 years and everyone is talking about how they stink, their Coach doesn't know what he is doing, their Coaching staff is "stupid". I even heard a caller talk about he can never ever support the Gophers because they always lose (what about the last 2 years?) And another caller complained about all the tax dollars that are going into the new Athletic Village project to support losing programs. He said why should we taxpayer support these programs? This is also laughable because there are NO TAX DOLLARS going into the new project. Say what you want, but all of these comments reflect common views of our Gopher programs among the average sports fans in the state. They will LOVE their pro teams, no matter what, but the Gophers, that's another story.
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I agree with what you are saying. One thing I will point out is most "on the fence" or casual fans don't consider last year or the year before as winning. Us die-hards do because we know how far we've come, but the casual fan sees 11 straight losses to Wisconsin, another bowl loss and an 8-5 record last year. Alvarez didn't build his program by finishing with 8 wins. Most us here know that last year was a very good year, but clearly it wasn't enough to get the fence sitters/casual fans to care much. They need double digit win season, BT title game, etc. to become engaged.

Go Gophers!!
 

The lack of campus life in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s probably means we lost a generation of potential fans.

How do you connect with those former commuters? If you answer that, you win!!!!
 

Some additional Thoughts -

The make up of the U students has changed since I was a student.
The ratio of men to women was much greater years ago. (Men probably have a higher % who become football fans)
It is difficult to get into the U with a "C" average. I don't want to be critical but I bet "C" men tend to follow sports more than "A" men for many understandable reasons.
A greater % of non Minnesota students since the U has been more selective talent wise.
The Dome years away from campus.
Many of the years, not much to get excited about.

Now look at the Vikings - yesterdays game had every seat filled and the seat cost was more.
With out statistic knowledge - A larger percentage of non college grads
Viking fans buy tickets even if they know that the Vikes may lose as many games as they win. (Of course they expect more, but).

So whats the solution?
Get more fans who didn't attend the U or for that matter never attended a college.

How can this be done?
Most of this falls on the U itself. I think they understand this. The football team is getting much more support than they did 15 or even 10 years ago.
New Stadium
The new Athletic complex
Doing everything to get students interested again.
The coaching staff is not only building up the quality on the team but is doing alot to building up fan interest in other ways.

Soooo- in light of all this I am very optimistic about the future.
 

Success breeds alumni support. As it is the team is getting the athletics center.... your move team.
 

go4rob said:
I was listening to some of the callers in to CCO yesterday morning and most of them were downright mean in their comments about the Gophers and Coach Kill. I felt like calling in and asking why the pro teams in this town get an automatic "pass" from all the fans. How many Super Bowls trophies do the Vikings own? ZERO, how many Stanley Cups do the Wild own. ZERO! How many NBA championships to the T-Wolves have? Everyone is super pumped about the upcoming season. How have the Twins been doing lately? Even this year, they didn't make the playoffs, yet everybody in town is talking about what a GREAT year they had. So the Gophers lose one to Nebraska after they had won the past 2 years and everyone is talking about how they stink, their Coach doesn't know what he is doing, their Coaching staff is "stupid". I even heard a caller talk about he can never ever support the Gophers because they always lose (what about the last 2 years?) And another caller complained about all the tax dollars that are going into the new Athletic Village project to support losing programs. He said why should we taxpayer support these programs? This is also laughable because there are NO TAX DOLLARS going into the new project. Say what you want, but all of these comments reflect common views of our Gopher programs among the average sports fans in the state. They will LOVE their pro teams, no matter what, but the Gophers, that's another story.
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CCO has the focus and vitriol of Grandpa Sports. Why you sit and listen to something that MY generation found irrelevant in sports talk is beyond me.
 

Everything GO4INLALALAND says about alumni support is true especially from that era.

GO4INLALALAND said:
It is clear that strong alumni support is necessary to have a successful program. Not only from a financial standpoint, but also from an excitement standpoint that makes high schoolers want to play at a college. We had a sellout game today and it was the 4 one this season. This is unprecedented since we have been playing at TCF. It does seem that enthusiasm is growing for gopher football. While this season may pose as a set back to fan enthusiasm, do we have the alumni interest in Gopher football to really take this program to the next level. Do we have the alumni and fans necessary to warrant the building the second level at TCF. That is what we need..that kind of passion for Gopher fb so that we get the money needed to build a top notch program. Do we have that? I want to believe we do, but do we have the fans to warrant the building the second level of TCF? IMO, not for a long, long time. Consequently, I believe we are going to be stuck in this pattern of struggling to finish in the top three of the Western Division. Thoughts?
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We are from the same undergraduate era GO4INLALALAND. Football under Niels Haselmo was not important and campus the majority of students back then were commuters. Couple that with the fact that the campus was dirty, blighted and not well maintained, with old buildings and the tunnels and West bank bridge smelled foul. There was some crime(both my brother and I got burglarized losing a TV a, VCR or stereo) until Yudof came on board. Then you know why only about 30 to 35% even finished their undergraduate degrees back then because the U made it difficult to get classes at convenient times or made it much more difficult to work around a work schedule. The buses were always stuffed like cattle cars so full of people, parking was not easy to get, the U made it difficult to get classes available to graduate in less than 5 or 6 years, and nobody students wise, seemed interested in anything but maybe Hockey or to a lesser extent men's basektball. Like you said it was a means to an end(a place to get a degree) and many people felt C's get degrees and were not motivated to do U-Rop projects(like they have now) or excel at research. Faculty openly mocked the football team back then because many were undergraduates from Nebraska or Wisconsin, or a whole group of student advisers that hated sports at least that was my experience. The spirit of campus and the focus on the undergraduate experience has changed a lot, at the U, it is noticeably different and you can see how much better campus even looks these day's. TCF bank stadium leaves me envious to want to go back in time.

We each only lived in the dorms one year (Frontier or Pioneer) because that is all we could afford. All of us had to work jobs and got very little support financial aide wise from school or parents. God bless Jim Wacker he tried but we played no defense in those days and there was lucky if there were 800 to 1,000 student ticket holders than, I think one year there were 812 of us. They begged us to buy season tickets for $30 something bucks one year and were always giving away free food or tickets to try and drum up support.
I always thought the Students even in the Dome under Mason didn't realize how good they had it because of all of the horrible and poor football we had to watch. The only fun games I remember were the Purdue shootouts with Chris Darkins running a lot, and the upset of Syracuse when Tyrone Carter was a freshman.
Couple that with in those days the U did very little for campus life or for helping Alumni find internships or jobs and you can see why people from that era mostly don't connect to the U or Gopher football. I can even see why players from that era would not connect back to campus or the program so readily.

I will admit me and my younger and older brother, all Alums(CLA, Architecture, College of Agriculture) were not Gopher football fans growing up because we didn't have cable and we didn't watch any college football at all. The Gophers were not followed by family just the Vikes and pro sports like the Twins because they had the cheapest tickets. There is a whole generation growing up in the 1980's to middle 1990's lost alumni wise and fan-base wise that didn't grow up following the Gophers or do not connect back to the U, because campus life and football was so poor back then and no source of pride. Couple that with Bucky starting to go to Rose Bowls and we lost a lot of potential fans even in the Twin Cities.
The U didn't treat a whole generation of fans or alumni very well, so to expect them to connect back to Gopher football or campus will be hard. There were two generations of fans, that did not live like current students and didn't experience the success they had in the old days in the 1960's and 1950's so your talking about a lot of people that even if they still cheer for the Gophers didn't have a great campus experience to fall back on. I would be willing to bet the U is dead last in Alumni giving and support compared to all other Big 10 University's because of generations of lost fans and Alumni, and the 40 to 50 years of mediocre collegiate sports and scandals.
Hopefully they can continue to build some loyalty and a good undergraduate experiences for the kids, because the 1980's and 1990's the U was just a place to get a degree.
 

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