fans are a joke

[TripleB]

So were you in the stadium when you posted this?

Barbe, "Brian" is one of the obsessed UCF fans in disguise doing what they do best ................

[Guest wildrover]

If we were winning there would be more fans, thats just how it is.  It takes a winner to build tradition, only after several years of being a winner will a team not suffer attendance problems from a downturn.  The student section was the best it has ever been last year, it even was the fullest section in the stadium during the Tenn  Tech game, and pretty much overflowing during Army.  The Army game also set a Ray Jay record for attendance this year and what happened?  We lost to one of the worst teams in Div 1A football, in front of our largest home crowd in that stadium.  I don't think the students have been back since.  If we start winning again they will come back, but the team has steadily gone down here the last couple of years, we aren't competitive anymore, its tough for students in a commuter school to get jazzed about their school, let alone their team.  It tough for a community to support a team that if they show up to watch will probably lose, why spend the money, especially if they didn't even attend the university?  FSU, had attendance problems for years, when they started to win, the tradition began and the fans came in droves, if we can start winning, it will do wonders for healing our other wounds.

[Guest Hail Pitt]

USF fans, we understand, but then again we don't when you have teams that have worst records than USF and have more fans at their games than the Bulls, esp since we are future Big East family members.   :'(

[The_Reaper]

The problem is Hail, we are still infants to big time football. In only 8-9 years, we have accomplished more than any team out there since it's inception. BUT, as the team moves forward, the fan base is still stuck in Podunk Iowa or some place. Our marketing dept. sucks, our student participation increased, as long as it is a night game, and the lack of enthusiasm and pre preparation of doings on campus by our student government has led to almost an apathy atmosphere here at USF. All in all, we don't have the donors yet, we don't have the future donors, and we need wins to put butts in the seats. You see, most of the other teams have had established football programs, much like you all. We on the other hand are just GETTING established, or so we say we are. LOTS of changes are needed here, but I guess that's what happens when we get out of the diapers and into the training pants stage we are in now. Only time will tell. All I know is, Go BULLS!    The Reaper

[smazza]

That was a poor showing today - it is as if Football has become basketball.  

I certainly didn't see that coming.

bulliever posted

scary thought

[E.T.]

I'm looking forward to next season.

..but the season was horrible regarding att. and I was not able to make the game because of end of year inventory at work and other things that have caught up to me.

Go BULLS !!!

[Knight_Light]

I've been a season ticket holder for 3 years and this was the first game I left early.  I couldn't take the lack of discipline, dropped passes, missed tackles or penalities any more.  This game could have been very close and maybe even a win if they would have reduced the bone head mistakes. I've been a fan since the beginning and I will continue to support the Bulls.   I guess there's always next year.   I hope we don't see these same mistakes being made then.

Grunge...interesting view.

As far as discipline...believe USF "again" lead the Nation in most penalties per game.

Believe even when USF didn't lead the Nation in penalties...they are usually in the Top 10.

Does lack of discipline ON the field, reflect the lack of discipline OFF the field?? Many coaches think there is a strong correlation between discipline OFF the field, and discipline ON the field.

Everyone knows what type of "discipline" Leavitt gives many of his players (most just "hugs") and has views which he has stated in the Tribune ("I decided in early Spring that I would not suspend ANY player that got arrested in the off-season).

When ESPN announcers are going off about one of your players (believe it was a DE during the UAB Game) on how he was yelling, becoming insubordinate and condescending to your head coach, on NATIONAL TV, and the annoucers are dumbfounded on why the kid wasn't sent to the locker room, and just a few plays later, the kid in SENT BACK IN!!!

You have an obvious discipline problem.

It all starts up at the top.

USF AD's in the past didn't care about "discipline" or public "perception"...it was all about the "W".

It worked...ya'll are joining the BE.

But when you are losing...on National TV...by 3 TD's..and your players are trash talking...and trash talking so much that one ref just shoved a USF player in his FACE MASK to shut him up...ya'll have a problem.

Many at UCF saw this same exact thing unravel over the past 2 years...without control...it could take double that to turn it around.

With the point about discipline brought up by you and now MANY OTHER USF fans, especially over the past month or so....your team/program might be entering a slippery slope..that could take a while to get out of.

KL

[Guest Hail Pitt]

Maybe you guys need an on-campus stadium.  I would love to have Pitt Stadium back.  I love Heinz, but on-campus stadiums build gameday traditions and the stadium does not seem so much 'empty' as to playing in an NFL sized stadium.  Next season, as expected ESPN will move some Big East games to weeknights (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday nights), we all as Big East members need to have a suitable showing when the time comes.  Maybe put endzone covers and just have fans sit in one section.  I seen this at other stadiums, and it adds to the atmosphere.

[Guest wildrover]

We are years away from an on-campus statdium, it would be nice and I think it would help.  On campus I would say last year you started to see the signs of the school starting to trasnform itself into a more traditional less commuter orientated school, a lot of effort was put into on-campus activities aimed at building school spirit and that ever elusive "tradition".  But it seems to have dropped off a bit this year, I think a lot of the functions planned were poorly attended and the students just don't show up.  When you look at school like UF and FSU there really is nothing in their respective towns except the school, half the population of the town is usually a student and the other half affiliated with the school in some way.  At USF, they are in Tampa, the students come to class and then go their own way spread throughout about five counties.  At UF or FSU the nightlife consistes of attending either a college bar or club where everybody in there is a student.  In Tampa the nightlife is either Ybor, BayWalk, Channelside or one of about a million other bars and clubs in the five counties spoke of earlier.  None of them are centered around the school and if there are other USF students in the place you'd probably never know it.  As I understand it, even the few bars around the campus are all pretty much dives and not often patronized by the students.  Its tough for even the traditional full time daytime student to get a sense of "college life"  here at USF, I mean where do they go, what are they supposed to do, after class they all just sort of go, and unlike those other two schools when they leave campus they are no longer surrounded by other students, they don't go to the college bars (since there really aren't any) and their neghborhood probably isn't a couple of blocks from campus and probably isn't filled with other students renting a place with five other studnts within walking distance of theuniversity, they probably live on average 30-60 minutes from campus and have to drive everyday.  I can really only see this town and the students getting out and supporting this team when they start to show signs of being a real legit threat every Saturday.  Thd Lightning, a pro team had to deal with having more visiting fans in the stands until they became winners, the bucs did as well, the D-rays are still like that, their 40k+ stadium has on average 9k a night for a game. The only prescription for changing any of it in this town, that I see, and has worked in the past in the W and lots of them, if we canget that, I think things will change.  

[Guest Mag P]

Wildrover,

I COMPLETELY agree with you on that!

For the Pitt game though I don't think that many people knew of the time change.  I didn't really see that much adversiting for the time change at school.

I'm ready for next season though!

Big East, here we come!