Who called UAB for a stadium tour?

[Triple B]

5 minutes ago, Rocky Style said:

I don't agree with that though.  We were competing, getting high attendance, and just squandered it.  Then we embraced the "we were #2 once / remember the WVU game" status quo mentality to carry us into the next conference.

High attendance but not high donorship investing in the program, which may or not have been there with the demotion but had a better chance than people just buying tickets to watch a successful USF play BCS teams.

[El_Toro_86]

23 minutes ago, Triple B said:

That's because we never should have been a BCS program in the first place ....

Whether it was warranted or not we were given a golden ticket and did nothing with it and now we are suffering the consequences.  With better leadership, we could have used that golden ticket to cement our place.

[usf97]

35 minutes ago, BayIslandBull said:

I can't think of any BCS team that has dropped 2 tiers in conference stature like we have (BE > AAC > AAC 2.0), let alone a downward spiral.

We will never move out of the basement of college football without significant investment in the program. If we do not build an OCS, then start paying players NLI money directly...

I think we have a few examples of teams that have made upward and downward movement. 

The obvious downward teams are USF, UConn and Southern Mississippi. USF was never "viewed" as a BCS team. UConn got in because of their basketball and former relationship with the Big East. 

Louisville and Cincinnati continued to invest. As did Houston and UCF. 

[BayIslandBull]

18 minutes ago, Triple B said:

Why would they need to invest in football .... why would the donor base need to start giving like a BCS program? It was so easy to get there that everybody just took things for granted. The one place Athletics dropped the ball, IMO, was not figuring in an IPF when they upgraded the other facilities, which were a priority.

You didn't answer the question of why we should never have been in the BCS.  I think we were a great fit.

Edited October 27, 2021 by BayIslandBull

[Triple B]

Just now, El_Toro_86 said:

Whether it was warranted or not we were given a golden ticket and did nothing with it and now we are suffering the consequences.  With better leadership, we could have used that golden ticket to cement our place.

I think that's where having an AD with a little more experience with football at the BCS may have helped, but LRS was there at that time, too ....... but I'm still putting this as a fail all the way around, administration and fan base.

[Rocky Style]

1 minute ago, Triple B said:

High attendance but not high donorship investing in the program, which may or not have been there with the demotion but had a better chance than people just buying tickets to watch a successful USF play BCS teams.

I go back to the experience not connecting to the university since it was a quasi-pro experience.  It doesn't hit people in the "nostalgia feels" like it needs to.  I believe this is why UCF saw their donor base increase with the rustbucket.  

Granted, I am extremely biased here and might be extrapolating here.  It's a chicken or the egg looping argument, but it's what the intuition is telling me.  I just knew it wasn't an authentic CFB experience from the moment I started going to games.  That's when I made no money as a recent grad, but still paid whatever I could.  Now I am in a better position and I am ready to donate some money here if they could confirm that it will go to this specific thing.  I am just one person though.  They could have capitalized when there were more of me.  Anyway, yada yada...

[Rocky Style]

2 minutes ago, BayIslandBull said:

You didn't answer the question of why we should never have been in the BCS.  I think we were a great fit.

We still are.  If we were playing substantial games we would sell out and it would be rowdy.  No one cares about Tulsa Football in Tampa Bay.

[BayIslandBull]

3 minutes ago, usf97 said:

I think we have a few examples of teams that have made upward and downward movement. 

The obvious downward teams are USF, UConn and Southern Mississippi. USF was never "viewed" as a BCS team. UConn got in because of their basketball and former relationship with the Big East. 

Louisville and Cincinnati continued to invest. As did Houston and UCF. 

UConn is the closest example, but they voluntarily decided that basketball was their priority. Southern Miss was never in a BCS conference. 

[BDYZR]

10 minutes ago, Rocky Style said:

That's what I said, but apparently I was wrong.  Still waiting...

For completion or simply seeing dirt moved? We've already begun with ordering permits and supplies. I would assume that actual construction will start before the end of the year and completion before the start of fall camp next year.

[BulledOver]

5 minutes ago, Triple B said:

High attendance but not high donorship investing in the program, which may or not have been there with the demotion but had a better chance than people just buying tickets to watch a successful USF play BCS teams.

You touch on the age old USF debacle, Why? Don't alumni, community and businesses want to get more involved and donate (be a part of) USF?? Nothing new. Well discussed. And, still nobody can actually figure it out. Lot's of theories have floated and been batted around. I wonder, since our academic entrance standards have gotten so high, has it brought in a student that has never had any interest in athletics? Are their students who come from other countries/cultures that are zeroed in on academics and have no interest outside of that? Or, do a high portion of grads just feel nothing towards USF, just moving on? Obviously, the crew on TBP care about USF that's why we are here. If there was an answer I think USF entities would be pursuing it full gear. It's a big: I Don't Know??  You watch all these other teams play P5 G5 D2 and they have fans, lot's of fans. Pretty sad for a USF fan to watch.