Drew
Its a post, about nothing!
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2013
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I will say this much:
I love UConn football. Absolutely love it. Way more so than UConn basketball (and I could not care less about the women's team). I'm a college football guy through and through.
That being said- the game day experience at UConn truly does not resemble a real collegiate game day experience. I'm not trying to spark a major debate on this topic, but going to other schools that have emphasized football for much longer and been around much longer would give a better idea of what a "true" game day experience should look like. Go to a game at LSU/Penn State/Nebraska/Ohio State etc and you'll see what I am referring to. The closest thing in the northeast to this I'd say is PSU or Army. Never been to a Rutgers or Syracuse game but can't imagine Cuse having a great environment in that grotesque pathetic excuse for a stadium of theirs.
UConn's football "experience" was often run much like a pro team. This is often the way the entire UConn AD has run all sports programs. Part of the reason that college fans like college ball is that it is different from professional sports. These are kids were talking about. Its supposed to be fun. They're supposed to make mistakes. It's supposed to provide insane highs and then two seconds later rip your heart out. Its supposed to be nostalgic. We already miss on a LARGE part of this experience by not having the stadium located on campus (I know the logistical issues I'm just speaking from an experience stand point). This means we need to do a more than excellent job incorporating the band, the student body, and other arms of the University such as the Alumni Association into the game day experience in order to try to replicate this as much as humanly possible. For the most part, we did the exact opposite. We hired a crappy corny DJ to pump in random music that had nothing to do with the University, we charged students to travel to the games, there were zero efforts from the AA to organize tailgates/reunions/celebrations surrounding the games. The only people that went were the true "UConn" fans, or those that were interested in supporting winners. Even the stadium itself, while it has great views, leaves plenty to be desired. Parking lots can be insanely far, the tailgating is heavily monitored to essentially ensure you have a moderate amount of fun but not too much (no throwing the football- really?).
David Benedict understands this in a way that neither of his predecessors did and immediately took action on changing a MULTITUDE of things surrounding the game day experience in order to try to change this narrative. Diaco started this through the Husky Walk/Entrance into the stadium through the stadium/having the team sing the fight song with the band after the game ends, but Benedict is taking this to the level it needs to be taken to. I can absolutely understand why @Deepster wouldn't have enjoyed attending the games. No matter how much I love UConn and UConn football, the game day experience left a lot to be desired. If you're going to ask someone to donate thousands to the program and spend 6-7 full days out of a year on UConn football, that experience has to be worth it every single time, or else fans will come and go after a while because they are not being entertained. I look forward to seeing how these changes to the game day experience that Benedict has implemented work as the season goes on this year and I hope that people attend games and find out for themselves. Go Skies!
I love UConn football. Absolutely love it. Way more so than UConn basketball (and I could not care less about the women's team). I'm a college football guy through and through.
That being said- the game day experience at UConn truly does not resemble a real collegiate game day experience. I'm not trying to spark a major debate on this topic, but going to other schools that have emphasized football for much longer and been around much longer would give a better idea of what a "true" game day experience should look like. Go to a game at LSU/Penn State/Nebraska/Ohio State etc and you'll see what I am referring to. The closest thing in the northeast to this I'd say is PSU or Army. Never been to a Rutgers or Syracuse game but can't imagine Cuse having a great environment in that grotesque pathetic excuse for a stadium of theirs.
UConn's football "experience" was often run much like a pro team. This is often the way the entire UConn AD has run all sports programs. Part of the reason that college fans like college ball is that it is different from professional sports. These are kids were talking about. Its supposed to be fun. They're supposed to make mistakes. It's supposed to provide insane highs and then two seconds later rip your heart out. Its supposed to be nostalgic. We already miss on a LARGE part of this experience by not having the stadium located on campus (I know the logistical issues I'm just speaking from an experience stand point). This means we need to do a more than excellent job incorporating the band, the student body, and other arms of the University such as the Alumni Association into the game day experience in order to try to replicate this as much as humanly possible. For the most part, we did the exact opposite. We hired a crappy corny DJ to pump in random music that had nothing to do with the University, we charged students to travel to the games, there were zero efforts from the AA to organize tailgates/reunions/celebrations surrounding the games. The only people that went were the true "UConn" fans, or those that were interested in supporting winners. Even the stadium itself, while it has great views, leaves plenty to be desired. Parking lots can be insanely far, the tailgating is heavily monitored to essentially ensure you have a moderate amount of fun but not too much (no throwing the football- really?).
David Benedict understands this in a way that neither of his predecessors did and immediately took action on changing a MULTITUDE of things surrounding the game day experience in order to try to change this narrative. Diaco started this through the Husky Walk/Entrance into the stadium through the stadium/having the team sing the fight song with the band after the game ends, but Benedict is taking this to the level it needs to be taken to. I can absolutely understand why @Deepster wouldn't have enjoyed attending the games. No matter how much I love UConn and UConn football, the game day experience left a lot to be desired. If you're going to ask someone to donate thousands to the program and spend 6-7 full days out of a year on UConn football, that experience has to be worth it every single time, or else fans will come and go after a while because they are not being entertained. I look forward to seeing how these changes to the game day experience that Benedict has implemented work as the season goes on this year and I hope that people attend games and find out for themselves. Go Skies!
