Michael Kelly speaking some truth

[Triple B]

6 hours ago, BayIslandBull said:

Büllshit. Did you invest your future by going to some band or entertainer's 4 year accredited institution of higher learning? Alumni need to lift up the school, not the other way around.  If the opposite was true, you should've gone to a different school. Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, etc all suck at athletics, but they don't need to. For the rest of us, athletics is marketing. When is the last time you asked Coca-Cola or Amazon or X company to help you, your kids, other family, or friends? Putting The University of South Florida should mean something on a resume/CV. 

The entertainment analogy only works when you're talking the Tampa Bay area in general. I think you've got 3 levels of fans here. First, the alumni that support for reasons you outlined.

Second, the group that includes those fans brought on board with a tangential connection (relative, etc) and those fans supporting because of wanting to support local team.

The third is where the entertainment value comes in, IMO. Fans needing more than just an attraction to the program to go to games. May come in the form of who we're playing, or what we're playing for (ie, national ranking). The school can do what it can to control the latter part of that but can only do so much with the former. The sad part is that there are way too many alumni in this 3rd group and that's one the big uphill battles MK is fighting.

[usf97]

USF has come a long way in 25 years. Going from what was viewed as a commuter school along the lines of HCC (with no football) to US News Ranked Public School #46 and national recognition.

A USF degree is considered the same value in an education as Temple (at triple the tuition price) and Colorado & Oregon (double the tuition). 

USF has a lot to be proud of and sure the football team isn't that entertaining but this is a university first. It represents the Tampa community. 

Tampa is better off for having USF and USF is better off for having a football team and athletics. What the football program did back in the 2000's with a shoestring budget, a rabid coach and some good connections in CUSA was something spectacular and unprecedented. I don't think that early success should tarnish what the school is attempting to build. 

I see what they are trying to do but it's going to take some time. I'd rather Kelly be honest with the fanbase and alumni than try and sell us that things are going great like he initially tried to do after his 1st season with Charlie Strong. 

[bulloni]

7 minutes ago, usf97 said:

USF has come a long way in 25 years.

All things considered our program is pretty impressive for how young it is. Sort this list by the first year they played football and compare us to other young programs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NCAA_Division_I_FBS_football_programs

Any school around our age doesn't even compare in terms of attendance and accomplishments in football. UCF has another 18 years of playing to build a fanbase. In FSU's 25th season they had still never finished a year ranked and their stadium had a capacity of 40k.

A fanbase can only be so big in such a short amount of time. Even when we're bad we're pulling in 30k a game in attendance.

 

[Guest Jonesy Bull]

I think its summed up tp a degree as the "Chicken and the Egg" concept.  I think the Egg part of the equation went out in the early 2000's.

As has been stated, the hardcore Alums are going to show up no matter what, but it is not a large enough group for the size of our School unfortunately (reasons vary widely, but primarily we are not a consistently established enough program).  The semi to marginal fans are only going to show up if there is a reason to show up.  I.e., the Team has to be entertaining and winning a lot more than losing.  Beat big teams on at least a semi-normal basis as we did in the mid to late 2000's.  Be able to really compete for a place at the Big Boy post season table (appears that is much more likely now than before).  

So I think we are in the "Chicken" stage, not the "Egg" stage.  This is where that MK statement has a problem.  Don't know for sure he meant it that way.  To add to the problem, we are competing against the Tampa professional teams that are currently experiencing more popularity than ever before.  We have to be able to "show up and out" in order to be noticed in this market place.  The Tampa community is big enough to embrace USF as part of the establishment in Sports, but we have to give them a reason first, imo.

[Friscobull]

1 hour ago, Jonesy Bull said:

I think its summed up tp a degree as the "Chicken and the Egg" concept.  

You move to Zephyrhills and now you are a farmer using farming analogies , I didn’t realize they would accept you big city folk out in dem parts.  

[Roaming Bull]

1 minute ago, Friscobull said:

You move to Zephyrhills and now you are a farmer using farming analogies , I didn’t realize they would accept you big city folk out in dem parts.  

[jchem1995]

Beating the Gators is priority number one.

[NewEnglandBull]

1 hour ago, jchem1995 said:

Beating the Gators is priority number one.

Baseball season is over man

[Friscobull]

17 hours ago, chapelbull said:

I bet that thing is still stuck to somebody's bulletin board 

I doubt it, wasn’t exactly HR appropriate to be displayed in an office setting.  

[bulloni]

2 hours ago, jchem1995 said:

Beating the Gators is priority number one.

Reasons for hope:

• They looked absolutely terrible in their bowl game with their draft eligible players sitting out. They could be in for a big step back this year after losing all that talent.
• They play Bama at home the week after and we were **** last year, so they're players will probably be looking past us a bit.

Reality

• They're an SEC team full of blue chips. The difference in the trenches is too much to overcome and they'll be able to run the ball down our throats so losing their passing attack doesn't really matter. And the fact that its at noon in September, our defense will probably be gassed by the end of the first quarter after they've been gashing us for 15 yards at a time.