Taking the next step

[Bozemaniac]

Re: Taking the next step

Talking about the first Montana game is against board rules. Tread lightly....

I thought it was La Crosse that we weren't supposed to talk about.

[Kemo]

Re: Taking the next step

I thought it was La Crosse that we weren't supposed to talk about.

Both fall into the "First Rule of Fight Club" category.

[CappinHard]

Re: Taking the next step

We have a winner. I don't care about team GPAs....not one bit. I'd be tickled pink to win with a bunch of kids of who don't do well in school. I do not, however, wish to win with kids of questionable character. Example: Johnny doesn't do well in school, but he's a great kid. He'll bring down the team GPA significantly, but we can get him into school and he'll be at church every Sunday. IMO, sign Johnny up. I'm not convinced that he gets an offer from our current coaching staff.

As far as expanding the fanbase, ya'll are making it way too complicated. The answer is simple: WIN. All else will fall into place, but you have to WIN first. No matter how many radio shows you have, news articles written, or positive tailgating experiences, you will not grow the fanbase to level we all want without WINNING.

Where's Charlie Sheen when I need him............

Now we're getting somewhere. I agree with all of this.

[thumper_76]

Re: Taking the next step

Or stop laying eggs at really important times. Ie, last year at Western Illinois, or the first half at Montana in the playoffs (that first half debacle cost us that game), or a couple years ago at Misery State, or the way we got our asses handed to us by NDSU at home last year (not saying we should have won, but we didn't even compete). You can come up with one or two examples EVERY YEAR. That's the **** I get tired of seeing. Those eggs really cost us. With a win at Western last year we almost certainly get a seed. We host a second round playoff game. That'd go a long way in expanding our fan base and growing SDSU football. Until we figure out how to stop that kind of stuff it's going to be tough to really take the next step.

To be honest were at a point where we will consider every loss except one to NDSU or maybe UNI as a disappointing one. Because we expect to win. And then when we win the disappointing ones we consider disappointing now, the ones we do end up losing will be disappointing. It's a vicious cycle.


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[thumper_76]

Re: Taking the next step

We have a winner. I don't care about team GPAs....not one bit. I'd be tickled pink to win with a bunch of kids of who don't do well in school. I do not, however, wish to win with kids of questionable character. Example: Johnny doesn't do well in school, but he's a great kid. He'll bring down the team GPA significantly, but we can get him into school and he'll be at church every Sunday. IMO, sign Johnny up. I'm not convinced that he gets an offer from our current coaching staff.

As far as expanding the fanbase, ya'll are making it way too complicated. The answer is simple: WIN. All else will fall into place, but you have to WIN first. No matter how many radio shows you have, news articles written, or positive tailgating experiences, you will not grow the fanbase to level we all want without WINNING.

Where's Charlie Sheen when I need him............

This isn't necessarily true. We've already drawn in two crowds bigger than pretty much every crowd we had last year besides the Marker Game. If we bring in over 13,000 this weekend that would prove it wrong to be honest. Winning is a huge part but it's certainly not all of it. You can say the crowds are from the new stadium and you would be right. And that would just prove my point. Winning isn't the only way to draw crowds. If Augie is undefeated are they selling out every game? It's not 100% winning cures all.


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[MontanaRabbit]

Re: Taking the next step

To be honest were at a point where we will consider every loss except one to NDSU or maybe UNI as a disappointing one. Because we expect to win. And then when we win the disappointing ones we consider disappointing now, the ones we do end up losing will be disappointing. It's a vicious cycle.


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Big difference between losing and being completely unprepared/unmotivated/un-whatever. See NDSU and the first half of the Montana game last year. That's a trend with this program. And it's a disturbing trend.

I can deal with a loss if we just flat out get beat.

[MontanaRabbit]

Re: Taking the next step

We have a winner. I don't care about team GPAs....not one bit. I'd be tickled pink to win with a bunch of kids of who don't do well in school. I do not, however, wish to win with kids of questionable character. Example: Johnny doesn't do well in school, but he's a great kid. He'll bring down the team GPA significantly, but we can get him into school and he'll be at church every Sunday. IMO, sign Johnny up. I'm not convinced that he gets an offer from our current coaching staff.

If he's in church every Sunday he may get an offer. If he isn't then I agree with the last sentence above.

Completely agree with the questionable character guys.

[BigGoosie13]

Re: Taking the next step

Just a comment on cappinhard's note about growing the fan base in Watertown. I agree that Watertown is also a source for more fan support. I would not go so far as to say Watertown doesn't embrace SDSU but its certainly true that the number of fans from Watertown attending SDSU events has the potential for a lot of growth.

A lot of Jackrabbit gear being worn in Watertown and I see quite a few Watertown people at Jacks games. There can be a lot more. The Dunham's store in Watertown seems to be expanding its selection of Jacks gear. Employees of that store tell me that SDSU gear is easily the best seller and they have trouble keeping it on the racks. In my view, the interest is there but attendance at events has a lot of room for growth. I think if we simply stay on the current course -- and that includes having the success we've had in recent years -- the fan base and fan interest in Watertown will expand accordingly.

I've talked with alums in Watertown about trying to imitate what appears to be going on in Yankton with the Yankton Jacks group.

Can confirm, I was downtown at The Lounge for the SDSU-Oral Roberts Summit League game and everybody was there to watch the Jacks. I don't believe any watch party was organized for it either. Their was alot of people, especially young (like young-mid 20's like me), dressed in Jacks gear all throughout the downtown bars afterwards as well celebrating.

[Nidaros]

Re: Taking the next step

This isn't necessarily true. We've already drawn in two crowds bigger than pretty much every crowd we had last year besides the Marker Game. If we bring in over 13,000 this weekend that would prove it wrong to be honest. Winning is a huge part but it's certainly not all of it. You can say the crowds are from the new stadium and you would be right. And that would just prove my point. Winning isn't the only way to draw crowds. If Augie is undefeated are they selling out every game? It's not 100% winning cures all.


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Augie lost to UM-Duluth this past weekend, but what you are saying is 100 per cent agreeable with me. I know that's not saying anything, but cant give you rep pts.

[thumper_76]

Re: Taking the next step

Augie lost to UM-Duluth this past weekend, but what you are saying is 100 per cent agreeable with me. I know that's not saying anything, but cant give you rep pts.

There are a lot of other examples, we out draw a lot of teams in our own division that have won national championships. At the same time, we get out drawn by SWAC teams that are god awful.

That being said, we do have to keep improving. We do have to make deep playoff runs to get to where we want to be, with the Montanas and NDSUs of the world. We do have to knock off NDSU, and in the playoffs. In the immediacy we need to win all of our remaining home games, and we have to make the playoffs. If we don't it will be a serious blow to our momentum we have been building. We have the team now to do it.

Also, addressing the bringing in iffy guys and transfers, that tends to lead to an inconsistent program. Look at Illinois St. We think we're upset because we lost to Cal Poly, imagine what we would be like if we had just lost to EIU and Indy St. Look at how NDSU does it. They have almost no transfers. Using transfers to fill a hole is one thing, trying to build your team off of them is another. There is a reason a lot of these transfers are transferring in the first place, and the majority of them aren't because they are tearing it up at their FBS squad.

One thing not mentioned around here but I see talked about by NDSU fans and others, is how amazing their strength coach is. There's a reason NDSU doesn't wear out at the end of games against FBS opponents and always wear down the opposition, and a lot of it has to do with their strength and conditioning program. I'm not saying we have a bad S&C program for our guys, just that NDSUs seems to be on another level. Being in Fargo and listening to their player interviews, it's AMAZING how often they bring up their S&C coach, even talking about what happened in the game. That's one of the hidden keys to their miraculous run, and I'm sure a lot of bison fans would likely agree with me.


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[TK22867]

Re: Taking the next step

This isn't necessarily true. We've already drawn in two crowds bigger than pretty much every crowd we had last year besides the Marker Game. If we bring in over 13,000 this weekend that would prove it wrong to be honest. Winning is a huge part but it's certainly not all of it. You can say the crowds are from the new stadium and you would be right. And that would just prove my point. Winning isn't the only way to draw crowds. If Augie is undefeated are they selling out every game? It's not 100% winning cures all.


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We're talking about growing and expanding the fan base. The shine and draw of a new stadium only lasts so long. You have to keep a winning product on the field or you'll lose those casual fans as quickly as you earn them. Just ask the Minnesota Twins.

[SDSUAlum08]

Re: Taking the next step

Big difference between losing and being completely unprepared/unmotivated/un-whatever. See NDSU and the first half of the Montana game last year. That's a trend with this program. And it's a disturbing trend.

I can deal with a loss if we just flat out get beat.

The losses to NDSU in football have worked their way into the coaching staff. They are totally shocked when playing that team. Sort of how NDSU had Nagy for a while.

[thumper_76]

Re: Taking the next step

As a thought. I know it's premature but since we have talked about the coaching staff, I have a thought to float out there. Zimmer has said he thinks Stig retires in three years or so. I've been reading a lot about the situation down in Charleston Southern, it really seems like the administration has an ax to grind towards their coach Chadwell. If we wanted to have a plan in place for when Stig retires, I think it would be a great idea to try to court him as a coordinator to succeed Stig when he retires. With what he has been able to accomplish with CSUs resources is incredible. Plus he's great in rivalry games. Has to directly compete with the Citadel, has a field that is sub par to most high school fields, and managed to put together a team that went into the Fargodome and take the bison to overtime. The administration down there went hugely overboard in punishing "violations", namely a tweet that was sent to a recruit at the wrong time and athletes using book money at the book store where the employee told them to use the money or it goes away. Young coach with tons of energy who I would bet we could get to come here if we wanted to. Just a thought looking to the future.


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[Nidaros]

Re: Taking the next step

As a thought. I know it's premature but since we have talked about the coaching staff, I have a thought to float out there. Zimmer has said he thinks Stig retires in three years or so. I've been reading a lot about the situation down in Charleston Southern, it really seems like the administration has an ax to grind towards their coach Chadwell. If we wanted to have a plan in place for when Stig retires, I think it would be a great idea to try to court him as a coordinator to succeed Stig when he retires. With what he has been able to accomplish with CSUs resources is incredible. Plus he's great in rivalry games. Has to directly compete with the Citadel, has a field that is sub par to most high school fields, and managed to put together a team that went into the Fargodome and take the bison to overtime. The administration down there went hugely overboard in punishing "violations", namely a tweet that was sent to a recruit at the wrong time and athletes using book money at the book store where the employee told them to use the money or it goes away. Young coach with tons of energy who I would bet we could get to come here if we wanted to. Just a thought looking to the future.


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I believe finding a successor to Coach Stig will bring out a number of candidates, as they did in 1969 when Ralph Ginn retired. Dave Kragthorpe replaced Ginn, and I once had a conversation with a player that played that one year he was coach. Kragthrope was definitely a very good coach and he went 3-7 the one and only year at SDSU. BYU hired him away and he was offensive coordinator for a few years. They really started the passing game that now exists in the Big Sky when Kragthrope was hired at Idaho State. During his tenure at Idaho State, the Bengals won the Big Sky and the National Championship which has not happen since. Read more here, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Kragthorpe

Kragthorpe was followed by Dean Pryor who went on to Arkansas State and later became AD. In both cases, these guys had better opportunities and moved on. John Gregory found home at SDSU and was asked to leave after 10 years, followed by Wayne Haensel a loyal alum who did his best to make a great program at SDSU. Mike Daly gave the program a boost with more resources.

I think that something similar to the Kragthorpe-Conrad experiences could happen when Stig retires. No doubt a number of good candidates will be in line to take the job, but we have the stepping stone hazard to deal with. We are going to need some reserves to deal with better offers that come that way to the Stig successor. Lets hope we can find some one like Chadwell who will stay awhile and make a difference.

[Justwin]

Re: Taking the next step

As a thought. I know it's premature but since we have talked about the coaching staff, I have a thought to float out there. Zimmer has said he thinks Stig retires in three years or so. I've been reading a lot about the situation down in Charleston Southern, it really seems like the administration has an ax to grind towards their coach Chadwell. If we wanted to have a plan in place for when Stig retires, I think it would be a great idea to try to court him as a coordinator to succeed Stig when he retires. With what he has been able to accomplish with CSUs resources is incredible. Plus he's great in rivalry games. Has to directly compete with the Citadel, has a field that is sub par to most high school fields, and managed to put together a team that went into the Fargodome and take the bison to overtime. The administration down there went hugely overboard in punishing "violations", namely a tweet that was sent to a recruit at the wrong time and athletes using book money at the book store where the employee told them to use the money or it goes away. Young coach with tons of energy who I would bet we could get to come here if we wanted to. Just a thought looking to the future.


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Les Miles is available