Some Guy’s Exit Interview with Susan Herbst

[EBonz30]

SNY does do a wonderful job with UConn basketball in general....

 

[pepband99]

If she was really informed/transparent she would realize students do travel to The Rent in masses BUT they don’t go in the stadium.

I've come around on this point. They need to cut the busing back to 4th quarter only. It's insane that fees are being used to actively discourage students from attending the game. It's not like they would be cutting attendance.

 

[UofCT]

It's the biggest misstep we ever made in relation to the football program. Poor leadership from the state.

The football program does not owe you anything

 

[polycom]

I've come around on this point. They need to cut the busing back to 4th quarter only. It's insane that fees are being used to actively discourage students from attending the game. It's not like they would be cutting attendance.

So hold students hostage? Lol what. Did you even attend UConn ?

 

[upstater]

Those days are long over. North Carolina and Maryland don’t draw flies.

They aren’t coming back.

50,000 fans per game at UNC.

 

[whaler11]

50,000 fans per game at UNC.

LOL.

Join us in reality. Their building was light blue Rentschler all year.

 

[whaler11]

@upstater thinks UNC averages 50,000 fans... and last year in response they cut the building’s capacity from 63,000 to 51,000.

See if they will let you audit a math class.

Is less more? UNC will find out after cutting Kenan Stadium football seating capacity.

 

[superjohn]

You both read this board enough to know damn well this fanbase is too fickle, too front-running, and just overall to inconvenienced to expect the majority of the fans who fill up the stadium (hint: not the students) to drive an extra 1+ hour (minimum with traffic) up to Storrs to watch this football program.

I don't think the general fanbase or the infrastructure in Storrs would support the more remote stadium.

And to save @upstater 1,000 words on how Penn State has a similar situation with the small roads leading into their campus, just pause for a moment and reflect that you are drawing a parallel between Penn State and UConn football fandom.

The stadium should be on campus because that's where college football should be played. I've been to games in the Midwest and South and people will drive 8 hours to the middle of nowhere and make a vacation out of it all to watch a college football game. Connecticut is an incredibly spoiled place though where a 45 minute drive is considered a major undertaking. It just kind of culturally sucks for college football so not really sure it ever really would have worked.

 

[the Q]

I found her comment that there might be too many sports to be interesting. With the current budget climate dropping to the minimum might not be a terrible idea, but having to offset football for title Ix is a big juggling problem.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The stadium should be on campus because that's where college football should be played. I've been to games in the Midwest and South and people will drive 8 hours to the middle of nowhere and make a vacation out of it all to watch a college football game. Connecticut is an incredibly spoiled place though where a 45 minute drive is considered a major undertaking. It just kind of culturally sucks for college football so not really sure it ever really would have worked.

During my 3 years at KU we had 2 Nebraska home games. What a sight on Saturday morning. The endless line of RVs, pickups etc. all flying Nebraska flags rolling into town. Most programs don’t travel like that, but at Nebraska they travel hours for home games too, so what’s the difference?

Here’s an example of what’s different? After a huge win at the Rent, what happens? You get on a bus? What a buzzkill. How about a giant outdoor area at Ted’s / Huskies were hundreds of fans walk to from the stadium, chanting cheering, maybe carrying the goalposts they tore down so celebrate over beers and fun. That’s college football and we don’t get to have it with an off campus stadium.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

The stadium should be on campus because that's where college football should be played. I've been to games in the Midwest and South and people will drive 8 hours to the middle of nowhere and make a vacation out of it all to watch a college football game. Connecticut is an incredibly spoiled place though where a 45 minute drive is considered a major undertaking. It just kind of culturally sucks for college football so not really sure it ever really would have worked.

I don't quite understand how you say it never really would have worked here. When in the Big East we were pulling in 30k+ a game. It's not waxing poetic of nostalgia to say the building was loud.

Since we didn't have tradition at all, having the stadium centrally located for the state played a huge part in that.

Us getting dumped to the minor leagues and becoming the worst program in FBS I don't think are indictment of our fans or the location of the stadium at all.

If the stadium was on campus today we would literally be drawing 500 people a game.

 

[ucp990411]

I don't quite understand how you say it never really would have worked here. When in the Big East we were pulling in 30k+ a game. It's not waxing poetic of nostalgia to say the building was loud.

Since we didn't have tradition at all, having the stadium centrally located for the state played a huge part in that.

Us getting dumped to the minor leagues and becoming the worst program in FBS I don't think are indictment of our fans or the location of the stadium at all.

If the stadium was on campus today we would literally be drawing 500 people a game.

Students would go thus build a base of alumni going to the games. Some would still be going to their old stomping grounds 20 years later. Instead there are very few students that actually go that there is no base of alumni that are fans. Going back to campus for games is part of the deal. Bring your kids to show them where you went to school is cool. Instead they can bring their kids to East Hartford and immediately leave after the game. Now that’s quite an experience.

 

[mauconnfan]

Interesting to read all the takes on the football stadium location, the students attendance and everything else. As a casual UConn football fan I was very interested in many games early on season ticket holder myself as well as the company I work for, they were competitive and fun to watch as the opening Indiana game proved. They actually even became pretty damn good soon thereafter. But then a couple of horrid hirings and things fell apart, they aren't fun to watch unless they're playing a team as abysmal as they are. Even then not so sure what's so fun about a 48-45 game with 2 pretty awful football teams.

So my take is the stadium is fine there at Cabela's, would've been fine on campus or anywhere within the 30 minute range. They just can't be awful they need to be good, much more competitive and fans will come. They lost the casual fans with the HCPP and HCBD signings and that's on the university no one else. Randy has a tough road, doubt he'll stay on long enough to get them back where they can be competitive even in the AAC. The program is in trouble and where they play for now means little to nothing to me or most casual fans. One party a year just to meet friends and tailgate is about it.

 

[superjohn]

I don't quite understand how you say it never really would have worked here. When in the Big East we were pulling in 30k+ a game. It's not waxing poetic of nostalgia to say the building was loud.

Since we didn't have tradition at all, having the stadium centrally located for the state played a huge part in that.

Us getting dumped to the minor leagues and becoming the worst program in FBS I don't think are indictment of our fans or the location of the stadium at all.

If the stadium was on campus today we would literally be drawing 500 people a game.

I was making a point about how culturally UConn sucks for college football. Other parts of the country they don't whine about having to drive 45 minutes to watch a game, instead they plan their falls around when and where they will be watching their team. They take off time and park their RV's days before games to make a vacation out of it. The whole idea that people are worried about driving an extra half hour is so foreign to the rest of the country.

 

[upstater]

@upstater thinks UNC averages 50,000 fans... and last year in response they cut the building’s capacity from 63,000 to 51,000.

See if they will let you audit a math class.

Is less more? UNC will find out after cutting Kenan Stadium football seating capacity.

Thanks for the link:

UNC’s attendance averaged 50,071 per game last season

Student section:

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I was making a point about how culturally UConn sucks for college football. Other parts of the country they don't whine about having to drive 45 minutes to watch a game, instead they plan their falls around when and where they will be watching their team. They take off time and park their RV's days before games to make a vacation out of it. The whole idea that people are worried about driving an extra half hour is so foreign to the rest of the country.

That's thing though - other parts of the country are having attendance issues. UConn held their own before essentially being relegated to the minor leagues and a lot of that is due to the fact that they had a stadium accessible for a lot of the state.

It's all a moot point, but if UConn was in the ACC we'd be drawing 30k a game even with this garbage team. 4 or 5 win seasons and the place would be packed.

 

[tentoes4rings]

Thanks for the link:

Student section:

Ironically my last UConn football game was when we played at UNC in 2009. We were undefeated and in the Top 25 and got throttled! Very electric atmosphere there, good mix of alums and students. Count me in The Rent location is fine group, we used to pack it pretty well 10 years ago and I enjoyed attending several games per year.

This reminds me of the constant debates on WFAN in the early 90s on why the Yankees didn’t draw well. Many people theorized it was due to the stadium location, traffic etc. In reality it was because they stunk. When they got good in the mid 90s the stadium became a complete non issue and has never been widely discussed again. Winning solves everything.

 

[pepband99]

So hold students hostage? Lol what. Did you even attend UConn ?

No. Go, and attend, or don't go. Shuttling students back and forth to tailgate isn't a good use of AD funds.

 

[pepband99]

So hold students hostage? Lol what. Did you even attend UConn ?

And yes, I was in the marching band, so not only did i attend, but i went to almost every home game, albeit in Memorial, for 4 years. On some days, that's closer to being "held hostage" than having to watch a game.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

I get that more students would go if the stadium is on campus. But if the stadium was moved to on campus you're getting the students who don't really care about football but its something to do. But those aren't the people who might become life long fans and buy season tickets as alums. They are already going.

This is completely backwards.

Current students don't care about football? While student attendance is down across the country, so is *all* attendance. Moving it on campus incentivizes more people to come because the event is right there in front of them and they can see the people there, the tailgating, the stadium, the cars pouring into campus. It's easy to get the ones onboard who didn't know they'd enjoy it.

Current students are the ones who become lifelong fans of college sports because it's their alma mater, they build the connection to the school and the program they followed as students. This model has proven successful at every major athletic school.

This reminds me of the constant debates on WFAN in the early 90s on why the Yankees didn’t draw well. Many people theorized it was due to the stadium location, traffic etc. In reality it was because they stunk. When they got good in the mid 90s the stadium became a complete non issue and has never been widely discussed again. Winning solves everything.

Not even close to an equivalent comparison. There isn't a disproportionately high number number of Yankee fans condensed in one portion of NYC as there is with any university, particularly UConn. Pro and college sports are not an equivalent comparison whatsoever.

 

[CL82]

Lunatics using Penn Freakin’ State as a benchmark for this clown car program. Good lord. Acting like we should have had all this tradition pop up out of nowhere and that all the folks in this state should start caring about a program out of the blue is absolute banana land. We aren’t Penn State, Maryland, UVA etc. those are just fantasies in a crazy person’s mind.

Benchmark or target?

#readingcomprehension

 

[DFW HOYA]

The key word here is culture. Texas A&M draws 31,000 students each and every game--they fill up three decks across the field from the high-paying donor class. The expectation is that you attend games as a show of school spirit, plain and simple. By cntrast, an AAC school like SMU might draw 100 students to a game--it's no longer in the cultural DNA of the school.

The question is whther UConn wants to have that cultural tie to football that they have at Penn State, West Virginia, or (to a lesser extent) Maryland, or if it will be relegated to the cultural priority football has at UMass or URI.

 

[CL82]

That's thing though - other parts of the country are having attendance issues. UConn held their own before essentially being relegated to the minor leagues and a lot of that is due to the fact that they had a stadium accessible for a lot of the state.

It's all a moot point, but if UConn was in the ACC we'd be drawing 30k a game even with this garbage team. 4 or 5 win seasons and the place would be packed.

I'm not sure that it was accessibility that drove demand rather than novelty and success. It's not like people we're just wandering around saw the Rent and walked in. We were brandy new to "big time" football and got one hell of start out of the box. People jumped on it. I don't see that changing if we're in Storrs instead of East Hartford.

 

[upstater]

The key word here is culture. Texas A&M draws 31,000 students each and every game--they fill up three decks across the field from the high-paying donor class. The expectation is that you attend games as a show of school spirit, plain and simple. By cntrast, an AAC school like SMU might draw 100 students to a game--it's no longer in the cultural DNA of the school.

The question is whther UConn wants to have that cultural tie to football that they have at Penn State, West Virginia, or (to a lesser extent) Maryland, or if it will be relegated to the cultural priority football has at UMass or URI.

Hard to compare UConn to a private school with less than a third of UConn's student population. UConn should be compared to the state schools in the conference, or else state schools without other state schools in the state. Such as Maryland.

People are not aspiring to B1G land grant status with their 50k students.

That's not in the cards for several reasons, but the brute fact of numbers is one of them. We're pointing out that at places like the B1G schools, students migrate to tailgates/the stadium on Saturday mornings. It's just part of the tradition. Families who arrive on campus also tailgate, take in the game, see campus, go to dinner. Students party. It's a festive occasion.

That was the whole point of the PSU posts. They get 110000 fans at those games. No one was saying UConn is shooting for that.

 

[tentoes4rings]

This is completely backwards.

Current students don't care about football? While student attendance is down across the country, so is *all* attendance. Moving it on campus incentivizes more people to come because the event is right there in front of them and they can see the people there, the tailgating, the stadium, the cars pouring into campus. It's easy to get the ones onboard who didn't know they'd enjoy it.

Current students are the ones who become lifelong fans of college sports because it's their alma mater, they build the connection to the school and the program they followed as students. This model has proven successful at every major athletic school.



Not even close to an equivalent comparison. There isn't a disproportionately high number number of Yankee fans condensed in one portion of NYC as there is with any university, particularly UConn. Pro and college sports are not an equivalent comparison whatsoever.

I disagree. Can somebody pull the attendance numbers during Edsall’s first reign and compare to what they are now. You’re discounting fans in the lower end of the state and NYC who did and would support the team at Rentschler if it was a top 25 caliber program again.