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

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touchdownvikings said:
Academics have improved, but there's still not a serious commitment - and it has cost the U in terms of its alumni base. A lot of us who did not go to the U are successful, (and would have gone, had the U been committed to being a top tier institution). Even now (I just looked this up for the latest year)... ACT midrange of admitted students: UMN 26-30. UMich 30-34. The seventy-fifth percentile at the U is the twenty-fifth percentile at the UMich. Frankly, this is pathetic. And it shows: does Goldman Sachs interview undergrads at the U, does Google interview undergrads at the U, Blackstone? You get the gist. That's why I had to go elsewhere and why I pay for my kid to go to Michigan. And, as I said before, most institutions simply couldn't be top tier. We choose not to be. And it hurts us all.
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You sound like someone with Michigan ties. The U-M arrogance oozes all the way through your post.
 

Met a gentleman from Goldman Sachs at a conference last year. He graduated from Ole Miss.
 


I can see why there is a generation abyss between 30 and 50 at the U. I went there from 87-92, lived off campus with 6 other guys only one besides myself graduated. We enjoyed our life then but the U wasn't a great school to go to, we would spend weekends with friends in Mankato or St. Cloud because the atmosphere was better, I even commuted down to Mankato early on Fridays to make pick up basketball games there, because the U just wasn't a place you spent anymore time at than absolutely necessary. This was at the dawn of the email and computer age so imagine a sprawling campus where you had to stand in line for hours to register for classes only to get to the head of the line and find out your first and second choices were full and now try to furious flip through a class list the size of a small phone directory to figure out what to do next to avoid spending another year waiting to get a prereq to move on to the next prereq. Coffman stunk, the bridge stunk so bad inside that people would walk on the outside even on the coldest days of the winter. The computer science building and a few medical buildings were the only ones with air conditioning. The Civil Engineering building was the only building that held engineering classes that didn't feel like a world war II bunker. The U had just figured out that computers were not just a fad and added a computer science 4 year degree, when I enrolled they didn't have one and kids had to go to Mankato to get a 4 year Csci degree. In the 5 years I was there I can't remember a single building being renovated or improved, shut down for repair when they were dangerously falling apart yes, but not renovated. Several of my roommates and I had season tickets to Basketball, we all got hooked young on the Willie Burton era and enjoyed most of Clem's tenure as coach. That was probably the most engaged we ever got in campus life. Like everyone else we all had a favorite college football team that was not Minnesota because the U was so bad it was a joke.

Long story short I felt like I pulled my education out of the U of M despite their lack of help. The saving grace for me was a good internship program that landed me a job after I graduated. When it came time for my kids to go to school I discouraged the U because I wanted them to go somewhere where they didn't have to fight the school they were at to get an education. I don't think that is the way the U of M is now, but I couldn't ignore my personal experience. Although I am an Alum, and have season tickets for football, I don't feel any more connected to the U than my friend who has seats next to me that graduated from Augsburg. I'll keep the tickets based on enjoying the experience, not based on loyalty to my alma mater.
 

LakerFan said:
I can see why there is a generation abyss between 30 and 50 at the U. I went there from 87-92, lived off campus with 6 other guys only one besides myself graduated. We enjoyed our life then but the U wasn't a great school to go to, we would spend weekends with friends in Mankato or St. Cloud because the atmosphere was better, I even commuted down to Mankato early on Fridays to make pick up basketball games there, because the U just wasn't a place you spent anymore time at than absolutely necessary. This was at the dawn of the email and computer age so imagine a sprawling campus where you had to stand in line for hours to register for classes only to get to the head of the line and find out your first and second choices were full and now try to furious flip through a class list the size of a small phone directory to figure out what to do next to avoid spending another year waiting to get a prereq to move on to the next prereq. Coffman stunk, the bridge stunk so bad inside that people would walk on the outside even on the coldest days of the winter. The computer science building and a few medical buildings were the only ones with air conditioning. The Civil Engineering building was the only building that held engineering classes that didn't feel like a world war II bunker. The U had just figured out that computers were not just a fad and added a computer science 4 year degree, when I enrolled they didn't have one and kids had to go to Mankato to get a 4 year Csci degree. In the 5 years I was there I can't remember a single building being renovated or improved, shut down for repair when they were dangerously falling apart yes, but not renovated. Several of my roommates and I had season tickets to Basketball, we all got hooked young on the Willie Burton era and enjoyed most of Clem's tenure as coach. That was probably the most engaged we ever got in campus life. Like everyone else we all had favorite college football teams that was not Minnesota because the U was so bad it was a joke.

Long story short I felt like I pulled my education out of the U of M despite their lack of help. The saving grace for me was a good internship program that landed me a job after I graduated. When it came time for my kids to go to school I discouraged the U because I wanted them to go somewhere where they didn't have to fight the school they were at to get an education. I don't think that is the way the U of M is now, but I couldn't ignore my personal experience. Although I am an Alum, and have season tickets for football, I don't feel any more connected to the U than my friend who has seats next to me that graduated from Augsburg. I'll keep the tickets based on enjoying the experience, not based on loyalty to my alma mater.
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Your experience sounds eerily similar to mine; I'm a couple years older. Best memories for me were playing on the golf team where I met some great guys I still keep in touch, and going to hoops and hockey games. Went to very few football games.
 


vagopher said:
The fairly dramatic improvement in graduation rates and admission standards seems to belie your assertion that "there's still not a serious commitment." What's the basis for your assertion? Many of Minnesota's professional schools and graduate programs rank in the nation's top 20. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unive...dia.org/wiki/University_of_Minnesota#Rankings Plus it has been suggested that Minnesota's improvement in graduation rates and admission standards have not yet been recognized in current ratings, but inevitably will be.
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He just wanted to be a dick.
 

Sounds like to me touchdownvikings wanted his kids to go to Michigan simply so he could say he had kids going to Michigan and he's not going to back down about academics regardless of what he reads that states Michigan isn't the best school for 'Wall Street careers'.

His kids are attending or have attended Michigan. Big whoop. His kids are no more likely to get chosen for a Wall Street job over a kid who went to Ole Miss simply because they went to Michigan. We should sit back and let him have this dream. We can take solace in that HIS dream of having kids at Michigan is doing only two things - the ability to tell people he has kids at Michigan and having to pay out of state tuition.

That Michigan State game has to sting.
 


LakerFan said:
I can see why there is a generation abyss between 30 and 50 at the U. I went there from 87-92, lived off campus with 6 other guys only one besides myself graduated. We enjoyed our life then but the U wasn't a great school to go to, we would spend weekends with friends in Mankato or St. Cloud because the atmosphere was better, I even commuted down to Mankato early on Fridays to make pick up basketball games there, because the U just wasn't a place you spent anymore time at than absolutely necessary. This was at the dawn of the email and computer age so imagine a sprawling campus where you had to stand in line for hours to register for classes only to get to the head of the line and find out your first and second choices were full and now try to furious flip through a class list the size of a small phone directory to figure out what to do next to avoid spending another year waiting to get a prereq to move on to the next prereq. Coffman stunk, the bridge stunk so bad inside that people would walk on the outside even on the coldest days of the winter. The computer science building and a few medical buildings were the only ones with air conditioning. The Civil Engineering building was the only building that held engineering classes that didn't feel like a world war II bunker. The U had just figured out that computers were not just a fad and added a computer science 4 year degree, when I enrolled they didn't have one and kids had to go to Mankato to get a 4 year Csci degree. In the 5 years I was there I can't remember a single building being renovated or improved, shut down for repair when they were dangerously falling apart yes, but not renovated. Several of my roommates and I had season tickets to Basketball, we all got hooked young on the Willie Burton era and enjoyed most of Clem's tenure as coach. That was probably the most engaged we ever got in campus life. Like everyone else we all had a favorite college football team that was not Minnesota because the U was so bad it was a joke.

Long story short I felt like I pulled my education out of the U of M despite their lack of help. The saving grace for me was a good internship program that landed me a job after I graduated. When it came time for my kids to go to school I discouraged the U because I wanted them to go somewhere where they didn't have to fight the school they were at to get an education. I don't think that is the way the U of M is now, but I couldn't ignore my personal experience. Although I am an Alum, and have season tickets for football, I don't feel any more connected to the U than my friend who has seats next to me that graduated from Augsburg. I'll keep the tickets based on enjoying the experience, not based on loyalty to my alma mater.
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You summed up my college experience to a large degree. The only difference is that I remained on campus during the weekends my first two years and it was pretty much a ghost town. In addition, you had to search hard to find a party if you were not in a frat or part of the hockey team, fb team, etc., which I wasn't. It was this lack of a collegiate community that turned off my friends that did transfer.

You raise another interesting point about not wanting your kids to go to the U. When my old college buddies and I went back together in Minneapolis several years ago for the Cal v. MN game, we were having drinks on Friday night at Brit's Pub. My one college buddy asked me if I would want my kids to go the U. I really had to think about it considering how the U was during my time and how difficult it was to get the classes you wanted, no student support and graduating in a timely manner was extremely difficult. However, even a few years ago I noticed dramatic positive changes at the U and my family members who graduated from the U after I did, did not have the same experience that I did. It is clear that the U is not the commuter campus it once was, admissions standards have dramatically gone up, and the on campus stadium certainly brings a college feel to campus. In light of these positive changes, I did tell my friend that I would not be opposed to my kids going to the U. In fact, my 10 year old daughter has put the U on her list of colleges along with UCLA and UC Berkeley.

As has been mentioned before, we have lost a lot of alumni due to the U poor treatment of students and athletics during the 70's, 80's and 90's. Even after I graduated, I did not even bother to follow Gopher fb because it was so bad and I did not feel like I had any real connection to the U, despite getting my degree there. It wasn't until Mason came in and started winning that I became reengaged with the U and have since become a strong supporter of the school. I do think that more alumni will become reengaged with the school if we have a winning program, but it does take alumni support, i.e. financial support, to have a winning program. It is good to see new enthusiasm for the fb program, I am just concerned that this year could really be a blow to the enthusiasm that last year created going into this year. If the fb team fizzles out from here on out, you are going to hear "The same old Gophers." There are going to be a lot of empty seats by the end of this season and certainly heading into next season.

Plus, even if the U starts off strong next season, many fans will sit on the sideline waiting for another implosion, further delaying the consistent and broad based alumni support the fb program needs to be successful and compete in big time college athletics.
 



GO4INLALALAND said:
If the fb team fizzles out from here on out, you are going to hear "The same old Gophers." There are going to be a lot of empty seats by the end of this season and certainly heading into next season.
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Yeah that is my fear that if you couple a poor season (4-8, 5-7) with the big bite on ticket price increase you will lose everything you have gained from two good consecutive seasons. Versus if you had waited one more year to increase price we get a much easier schedule of crossover and much for likely outcome of a 6+ win season. Will be interesting to see how many first time season ticket holders turn around and drop if the first season is poor.
 

To clarify an earlier post, the U seemed to deemphasize undergraduate education and the undergraduate experience during that era. I can't speak from first-hand experience, but I've been told the U focused on the research mission and graduate education for several decades. Undergraduates were an afterthought. From the perspective of alumni support, especially to the athletic teams, this was incredibly destructive since graduate students usually hold allegiance to their undergraduate universities, not their graduate schools. The athletic scene isn't a major part of graduate student life.
 

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