Texas Aggie update:

Donate To GopherHole
This thread, particularly TexasAggie's posts need to be forwarded to Teague and Kill. So many good ideas that would both increase student attendance and, most importantly, are student run.
 

Dr.Don said:
Too many say "Just Win, They Will Come". That is total b.s.
Click to expand...

Yep, ask Alabama how just win helps their student (and overall) attendance. The key is to have competitive games, where you are neither getting blown out nor blowing out the other team on a regular basis. If the outcome cannot be predicted reliably prior to the first snap, the game is worth watching. No one wants to watch Ohio State play the Little Sisters of the Poor (Gordon Gee reference for ya').

Losses stink, and they feel bad when you are leaving the stadium, but if it was a close loss you can spend the week talking about what could be done, or looking forward to the next game. Wins feel good, but if the game is wrapped up by halftime, who wants to stick around? The worst I've ever seen our fanbase was last season's 70-14 rout of South Carolina State (with our third string in at the half). Probably a good 15-20k had returned to their tailgates by the fourth quarter. We were beginning to look like those nancies over in Austin with so many empty seats during a game.

So, I don't think it's "just win," it's more "stay in the game and keep it interesting."
 

TexasAggie11 said:
Yep, ask Alabama how just win helps their student (and overall) attendance. The key is to have competitive games, where you are neither getting blown out nor blowing out the other team on a regular basis. If the outcome cannot be predicted reliably prior to the first snap, the game is worth watching. No one wants to watch Ohio State play the Little Sisters of the Poor (Gordon Gee reference for ya').

Losses stink, and they feel bad when you are leaving the stadium, but if it was a close loss you can spend the week talking about what could be done, or looking forward to the next game. Wins feel good, but if the game is wrapped up by halftime, who wants to stick around? The worst I've ever seen our fanbase was last season's 70-14 rout of South Carolina State (with our third string in at the half). Probably a good 15-20k had returned to their tailgates by the fourth quarter. We were beginning to look like those nancies over in Austin with so many empty seats during a game.

So, I don't think it's "just win," it's more "stay in the game and keep it interesting."
Click to expand...

Magic words for keeping the crowd. But we have to get there first. Then watch out. Gophers can dig long holes to Aggie land and sneak up behind you and bite you in the Aggie.

btw, aggie, a gopher knows where to bite an armadillo to gain an advantage.
 

T0brbxV.jpg
 

TexasAggie11 said:
You could also reserve the first ten or so rows for a spirit organization and call it Gopher Town. To sit there you have to wear the maroon and gold striped overalls and be really rowdy during the game. Maybe they have paddles or cowbells or whatever to set them apart. As it becomes fun to sit with these guys, you expand their section to twenty, then thirty rows, and after that you have started a culture and a tradition.
Click to expand...

If we did that here, there'd be a lot of "down in fronts" thrown their way.
 



Honestly, sometimes I wonder with the Gopher marketing staff does. A lot of great ideas from TexasAggie, many that seem like no-brainers and might cost next to nothing. He gave us some of those same ideas last fall, and we've had countless threads over the years that contained some of these ideas and many others from our own fans.

I work in marketing. Some ideas are genuinely difficult or expensive to implement. The U is pretty much at the point where they have to say "we'll try anything." But sometimes I think they're sitting around saying, "That's a good idea but it sounds hard."
 






Aggie11, just have to give you a little good natured grief as my Beaver baseball team beat your Aggies to advance to the Super Regionals. My best childhood friend's son will be a freshman at A&M this fall, so we are planning to do a combo football/golf weekend before he graduates. Go Beavs!
 

beavergopher said:
Aggie11, just have to give you a little good natured grief as my Beaver baseball team beat your Aggies to advance to the Super Regionals. My best childhood friend's son will be a freshman at A&M this fall, so we are planning to do a combo football/golf weekend before he graduates. Go Beavs!
Click to expand...

The best team won the regional, that's for sure. Best of luck to the Beavers in the next round! This was our seventh straight trip to the NCAA regionals, but we seem to be taking steps backwards since our trip to the CWS in 2011. Maybe next year will be more promising and we'll have a chance at a rematch (A&M now trails OSU 4-5 in all-time competition between our schools, and this is our fourth loss in a row in the series).

However, I am hopeful that Texas A&M will exact their revenge on the state of Oregon later this week during the NCAA outdoor track and field finals in Eugene. Our men and women come into the competition at #1 and #2, respectively, and each have a fair shot at winning the championship.

Look me up when you make it to College Station. It is an undisputed fact that I give the best VIP campus tours, and I'd be glad to host your group. Also, if your friend is planning on taking his son to his New Student Conference this summer, there is a good chance that they will bump into me if they attend the evening social the night before.
 




Keyser-13 said:
Aggie,

Hopefully no hard feelings over the Kohl Stewart pick by the Twins. Looks like he will sign with us
Click to expand...

As he should. Being a fourth overall pick and the money that will bring is something hard to pass up. He can always go to college after his playing days are done.
 

Kyle Field was named for a Professor of Horticulture?!?! I would say that the situation is ripe for naming rights. I mean, sure, we have to keep it Kyle Field, but how about Kyle Field AT (fill in name of large, multinational energy company or large, multinational ag company or mid-sized regional bank)Stadium?

Seriously, is there talk of corporate naming rights for the stadium, plazas, and other areas?
 


I'm wondering if A&M fans were resigned to the fact Kohl Stewart was very likely going to go the baseball route. All the news here say the Twin's first round pick will sign with the Twins, but I'm sure he sees college football as a backup plan. The downside of 4 star qb's ;)
 

maroon and gold said:
Kyle Field was named for a Professor of Horticulture?!?! I would say that the situation is ripe for naming rights. I mean, sure, we have to keep it Kyle Field, but how about Kyle Field AT (fill in name of large, multinational energy company or large, multinational ag company or mid-sized regional bank)Stadium?
Click to expand...

First and foremost, if the stadium were to be renamed Kyle Field at ___, most people other than broadcast announcers and the head of the 12th Man Foundation would still call it Kyle Field. I would imagine that we would be highly selective of any naming deal, and like Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park, the company would have to have a solid reputation and have ties to Texas A&M.

While any sum above $100 million would be nice to have, I don't see us as being in a position of dire need to jump at just any naming offer. The name Kyle Field, like many famous stadiums, holds significant value to us. I do not expect to see Kyle Field at Adidas Stadium anytime soon. The Flag Room in the Memorial Student Center has been available for naming rights for over a year, but no one wants to touch it because it is simply the Flag Room to us. I bet Kyle will be the same.

Besides, after renovation, suites are going for as much as $15 million per year, and they're just about sold out already. There will be plenty of other opportunities for naming rights of other parts of the stadium to raise appropriate funds, as well.

- - - - - - - - - -

Edwin Jackson Kyle was more than just a professor of horticulture. This is a bit lengthy, but a good read as to why we named the field in his honor.

Mention the name Edwin Jackson Kyle to Aggies from the last three or four decades and no doubt the imposing structure of Kyle Field comes to mind. Kyle was recognized as "Mr. Texas A&M" for most of his career. His service to the school, state and nation made him one of the giants in the history of Texas A&M. He was born at Kyle, Texas on July 22, 1876, the son of Fergus and Anna Moore Kyle. Ferg, as his father was known throughout the state, served numerous terms in the Texas legislature. To his undying credit, he co-sponsored the Alamo purchase bill, thus playing an active role in saving the famed shrine of Texas liberty.

E. J. Kyle attended a mixture of public and private schools until he entered the sophomore class at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas in the fall of 1896. He excelled at A&M in almost every endeavor. Rising rapidly within the Corps, Kyle became the highest-ranking cadet in the junior class. In his final year he was "senior captain," then the highest rank in the Corps of Cadets. In addition, he was class president, president of the Y.M.C.A., and valedictorian. Even more amazing is that, through an unexpected vacancy, Kyle became acting commandant for one month. This office also made him a voting member of the A&M faculty and the only student ever to serve in such capacity.

After graduation from A&M in 1899, Kyle entered Cornell University, where in 1901, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture. He received a Master of Science in Agriculture there in 1902. While at Cornell, he was actively involved in the production of fruits and vegetables for the Pan-American Exposition of 1900. Later in life, the University of Arkansas recognized his many scientific and academic contributions with an honorary PhD in 1941.

Kyle returned to A&M in June of 1902 and embarked on a career of service to his school, his state and his nation. Employed initially as an instructor in Horticulture, he became department head and was promoted to full professor in 1905. When A&M established the School of Agriculture in 1911, Kyle was the first dean. Forever after he was known to thousands of Aggies simply as "Dean Kyle."

His list of accomplishments at A&M would require a book length bibliography. In addition to basic scientific research on vegetables, fruits and nuts, Kyle became a promoter and champion of agricultural education in the public schools. He wrote prolifically in his scientific field of research and for the cause of education. In 1912, Texas adopted his Fundamentals of Farming and Farm Life as a standard elementary textbook. By the mid-1940s this text had sold over 500,000 copies, an enormous publication run for the era.

From his earliest days at A&M, Kyle became actively involved with the athletic program of the school. He was solely responsible for the location and initial construction of the first stadium.

The documented history of Kyle Field in the Texas A&M Archives is voluminous. The story begins in 1904 when E. J. Kyle, a young instructor, became president of the General Athletic Association, a precursor to Texas A&M's Athletic Council. At the time, athletic contests were held on the drill field about where Simpson Drill Field is currently located. During these events a hat was passed among those in attendance to pay for expenses. The results were at best unsatisfactory.

Kyle realized that if athletics were ever to amount to anything it would need a fenced off area dedicated just to athletics. So, he took matters into his own hands. A goodly portion of College lands at the southern edge of the campus had been assigned to him for horticultural experiments. Since he had more space than he needed, it seemed the perfect place for another kind of experiment.

Kyle Field was born as a 400 x 400 foot all-purpose athletic area in the Spring of 1905. It would, however, take more than fencing and chalk lines to make Professor E. J. Kyle's vegetable patch playable. From the very beginning and for the next century, Kyle Field would undergo almost continuous modification, improvement and expansion. That first year, only a few baseball games were played there as heavy rains and poor drainage forced the team to return to the drill field for home games. Undaunted, the Aggie nine handily won the state championship.

Students and coaches banded together to level the field and pull the grass burrs. In fact, the students even donated the unused portion of their "breakage fee" to provide badly needed cash.

In March of 1905, Kyle persuaded his good friend G. S. Parker, a prominent Bryan citizen and lumber yard owner to sell him $378.07 worth of fencing materials on account. Later that same year, Kyle purchased an additional $312.63 worth of lumber to build two bleachers which could seat approximately 500 people. It was not much, but Texas A&M had its first stadium.

After a few minor changes, including expanding the fenced area to 250,000 square feet, the field was ready for football. On October 7, 1905, A&M played its first football game on Kyle Field, defeating Houston Y.M.C.A. 29 to 0.The next year the Bryan Eagle reported: "A&M has one of the finest athletic fields in the State, with accommodations on the bleachers for six hundred people. Yes, and chiefly through the efforts of the students." Obviously pleased with the school's pioneer efforts, the 1905 Longhorn (Texas A&M Yearbook) stated: "the Athletic Department, though comparatively young, is rapidly rising into prominence. The Athletic Field will enable the Corps to witness more games played on the home grounds, as well as enabling the management to schedule games with the more important colleges and universities."

Interest in athletics grew rapidly at A&M, quickly outgrowing the original crude wooden benches. While there was much excitement, there was very little money and a shortage of adequate funding would plague the fledgling athletic department for decades to come.

In 1907 Professor Kyle once again stepped into the breach and purchased the covered wooden grandstand from the Bryan Fair Association with his personal check. The stands were disassembled board by board and hauled in wagons to the campus. Here, they were painstakingly reassembled. With Kyle watching over each new improvement, his vision of a "first rate" facility gradually began to take shape.

In 1908 the students recognized his tireless efforts in their behalf by unofficially naming the playing ground Kyle Field. For forty years A&M and former students repeatedly called upon his services to bring stability to the athletic program.

By 1909, a former student visiting Kyle Field would have noted with pride the great strides made in just four short years. The Bryan Daily Eagle noted that, "it has a grandstand and bleachers and there are accommodations for at least a thousand people comfortably and more under a standing room only condition....Shower baths for the home team and for the visitors and lockers for each team have been put under the grandstand." A visitor might have also noticed assistant coach Charlie Moran using the College's old grey mule to grade the quarter-mile track, apply afresh layer of cinders and lay out one of three baseball diamonds in preparation for the upcoming season. Sweating behind that old mule, Moran probably never dreamed that in just a few short weeks he would become head coach and that his name, like Kyle's, would become permanently linked to Texas A&M football greatness.

Dean Kyle retired from Texas A&M in 1944. He then served briefly as Director of the Farm Credit Administration at Houston. In January of 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him United States Ambassador to Guatemala. As before, his accomplishments were too numerous to list. After his resignation in 1947, Kyle was called back to Guatemala to receive that nation's highest decoration, "The Order of the Quetzal." At that time he was the only American to be so honored.

He returned home to his beloved A&M in 1948, making his home in Bryan. Kyle died at his home on December 26, 1963, leaving an unparallel legacy of service and devotion. In the early history of the school, his influence was immeasurable.

jun96db.jpg
 

Sparlimb said:
I'm wondering if A&M fans were resigned to the fact Kohl Stewart was very likely going to go the baseball route. All the news here say the Twin's first round pick will sign with the Twins, but I'm sure he sees college football as a backup plan. The downside of 4 star qb's ;)
Click to expand...

We'd be pretty upset with him if he didn't take the millions of dollars and play pro ball. It's a chance of a lifetime, college can come a few years later.
 

TexasAggie11 said:
We'd be pretty upset with him if he didn't take the millions of dollars and play pro ball. It's a chance of a lifetime, college can come a few years later.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I chose the football route over the guaranteed baseball money and it eats me up every day. Now I just sit around with broken knees and Jim Beam.
 

Can we stop with the stupid Aggie crap in Gopherhole yet?
 

Parski1 said:
Can we stop with the stupid Aggie crap in Gopherhole yet?
Click to expand...

No, Aggie11 gives us another off campus fan, rooting for us, and giving us fun things to chat about. If ya don't like it parski, suck a lemon. It will cheer you up.
 

Dr.Don said:
No, Aggie11 gives us another off campus fan, rooting for us, and giving us fun things to chat about. If ya don't like it parski, suck a lemon. It will cheer you up.
Click to expand...
I checked the Texas A&M athletic web site and they have NO Minnesotans on their football roster. This sacred web site should be reserved for discussion about the MINNESOTA GOPHERS (and universities in neighboring states with 30+ Minnesota kids playing for them).
 

Parski1 said:
Can we stop with the stupid Aggie crap in Gopherhole yet?
Click to expand...

Agreed. The worst thing about Aggies is that they think they are a military academy. Needless to say the standards aren't the same.
 

kellyleeks said:
The worst thing about Aggies is that they think they are a military academy.
Click to expand...

The worst thing about kellyleeks is that he is woefully ignorant when it comes to this matter. ;)

Texas A&M is one of six, and is the largest of the, senior military colleges.

CONTINUATION OF SUPPORT TO SENIOR MILITARY COLLEGES
Section 544(a)–(c) of Pub. L. 105–85 provided that:
‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF SENIOR MILITARY COLLEGES.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘senior military colleges’ means the following:
‘‘(1) Texas A&M University.
‘‘(2) Norwich University.
‘‘(3) The Virginia Military Institute.
‘‘(4) The Citadel.
‘‘(5) Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
‘‘(6) North Georgia College and State University.
‘‘(b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
‘‘(1) The senior military colleges consistently have provided substantial numbers of highly qualified, long-serving leaders to the Armed Forces.
‘‘(2) The quality of the military leaders produced by the senior military colleges is, in part, the result of the rigorous military environment imposed on students attending the senior military colleges by the colleges, as well as the result of the long-standing close support relationship between the Corps of Cadets at each college and the Reserve Officer Training Corps personnel at the colleges who serve as effective leadership role models and mentors.
‘‘(3) In recognition of the quality of the young leaders produced by the senior military colleges, the Department of Defense and the military services have traditionally maintained special relationships with the colleges, including the policy to grant active duty service in the Army to graduates of the colleges who desire such service and who are recommended for such service by their ROTC professors of military science.
‘‘(4) Each of the senior military colleges has demonstrated an ability to adapt its systems and operations to changing conditions in, and requirements of, the Armed Forces without compromising the quality of leaders produced and without interruption of the close relationship between the colleges and the Department of Defense.
Click to expand...
Source: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE...itle10-subtitleA-partIII-chap103-sec2111b.pdf

Now, I cannot comment as to the rigor of the experience of Texas A&M University's Corps of Cadets as compared to West Point or Annapolis, but I am also doubtful that anyone here has firsthand experience of both to be able to offer real insight. However, at least one site ranks Texas A&M right up there with both, above Air Force Academy and others. A&M is also ranked as a veteran-friendly school.

“In true Texas tradition … The men of Texas A&M can stand up to any men in the world and compare favorably their education and training for leadership—leadership in the pursuits of peace and, if it comes to war, leadership in battle.”
—GEN Omar Bradley
Click to expand...
Bradley, as you may remember, is the last five-star general in the United States military. I think he might know what he is talking about.

About 20,000 Texas A&M former students served in the armed forces during World War II, some 14,000 as officers and twenty-nine in the rank of general. The university thus provided more officers for the armed forces during the war than both of the military academies combined.
Click to expand...
Source: http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kct08


Feel free to talk smack to your guests on this forum (although I have no idea why one thread has to bug you so much), but please know what you are talking about. No, we are not a SERVICE academy, but we are a senior military academy and have a proud tradition of service to our country.
 

Eagan said:
I checked the Texas A&M athletic web site and they have NO Minnesotans on their football roster.
Click to expand...

We do have a head coach who spent four seasons coaching your wide receivers and quarterbacks and a defensive coordinator who spent four years as your defensive ends coach, if that does anything for you. :p
 

Eagan said:
I checked the Texas A&M athletic web site and they have NO Minnesotans on their football roster. This sacred web site should be reserved for discussion about the MINNESOTA GOPHERS (and universities in neighboring states with 30+ Minnesota kids playing for them).
Click to expand...

Yeah - so stick that were sun don't shine Doc Don.
 

TexasAggie11 is smart enough to know that the vast majority of folks on g-hole appreciate his thoughtful contributions to our site. In fact, I'm tempted to start a "Who Would You Most Want to Vote Off the (Gopherhole) Island" and make it a 3-man contest with TA11, parski and fatrick. I don't think it would be going out a limb too much to say TA11 ends up being the last man standing. What I think would be interesting is to see who goes first, fatrick or parski.
 

MNGoldenGophers1 said:
TexasAggie11 is smart enough to know that the vast majority of folks on g-hole appreciate his thoughtful contributions to our site. In fact, I'm tempted to start a "Who Would You Most Want to Vote Off the (Gopherhole) Island" and make it a 3-man contest with TA11, parski and fatrick. I don't think it would be going out a limb too much to say TA11 ends up being the last man standing. What I think would be interesting is to see who goes first, fatrick or parski.
Click to expand...

I would not vote any of them off. Their contrasting styles of posting provide a variety of entertainment and head shaking concussions.
 

Dr.Don said:
I would not vote any of them off. Their contrasting styles of posting provide a variety of entertainment and head shaking concussions.
Click to expand...

I agree with the contrasting styles part but only two of them give me migraine headaches.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom