Men's basketball hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament in 34 years
Women's basketball hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament in 14 years
Football hasn't won a MAC title in 10 years

Sports that have never won a MAC title:

Baseball
Men's Cross Country
Women's Golf
Women's Tennis
Women's Track
Volleyball

(06-03-2015 09:22 AM)DetroitRocket Wrote:  Men's basketball hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament in 34 years
Women's basketball hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament in 14 years
Football hasn't won a MAC title in 10 years

Sports that have never won a MAC title:

Baseball
Men's Cross Country
Women's Golf
Women's Tennis
Women's Track
Volleyball

Just considering FB, MBB & WBB which are the three sport that I am most familiar with, I am not sure that I would use happy/unhappy to characterize my feelings so much as frustrated. After having gone thru some rough times all three programs appear to be back on track again and are competing at a high level and that is encouraging, but what I do find frustrating is that during their respective "championships droughts" you list, each sport has had teams that were preseason favorites on a number of occasions and in every single instance, one way or another the wheels came off the wagon and they fell short of the mark.

It is unrealistic to expect a team to win it all every single time they have the potential to do so; however, it is very frustrating to me that these programs are NEVER able to pull it off time after time when they have to potential to do so and are even favored to do so. When those opportunities present themselves I would expect to win a few and loss a few, but not fall short every single time in every single sport .

Rather than thinking of Toledo sports in terms of "Toledo Tough" I now tend to think of them as "Always a Bridesmaid, never a Bride" because while all three programs have enjoyed a lots of success, none have managed to achieve the ultimate success even after coming so close so many times.

If there was a MAC category for an overall "close by no cigar" trophy the Rockets should win it hands down. This doesn't mean I don't enjoy the success that they do have, but without that occasional "ultimate success" to reflect back on there is a bit of a void.

I am sure this is not what the Suzy Sunshine Crowd want to hear, but that is what I think.

(06-03-2015 04:38 PM)T-Town Wrote:  

(06-03-2015 09:22 AM)DetroitRocket Wrote:  Men's basketball hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament in 34 years
Women's basketball hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament in 14 years
Football hasn't won a MAC title in 10 years

Sports that have never won a MAC title:

Baseball
Men's Cross Country
Women's Golf
Women's Tennis
Women's Track
Volleyball

Just considering FB, MBB & WBB which are the three sport that I am most familiar with, I am not sure that I would use happy/unhappy to characterize my feelings so much as frustrated. After having gone thru some rough times all three programs appear to be back on track again and are competing at a high level and that is encouraging, but what I do find frustrating is that during their respective "championships droughts" you list, each sport has had teams that were preseason favorites on a number of occasions and in every single instance, one way or another the wheels came off the wagon and they fell short of the mark.

It is unrealistic to expect a team to win it all every single time they have the potential to do so; however, it is very frustrating to me that these programs are NEVER able to pull it off time after time when they have to potential to do so and are even favored to do so. When those opportunities present themselves I would expect to win a few and loss a few, but not fall short every single time in every single sport .

Rather than thinking of Toledo sports in terms of "Toledo Tough" I now tend to think of them as "Always a Bridesmaid, never a Bride" because while all three programs have enjoyed a lots of success, none have managed to achieve the ultimate success even after coming so close so many times.

If there was a MAC category for an overall "close by no cigar" trophy the Rockets should win it hands down. This doesn't mean I don't enjoy the success that they do have, but without that occasional "ultimate success" to reflect back on there is a bit of a void.

I am sure this is not what the Suzy Sunshine Crowd want to hear, but that is what I think.

+1

Happy? Yes. Satisfied? No.

(06-03-2015 04:38 PM)T-Town Wrote:  

(06-03-2015 09:22 AM)DetroitRocket Wrote:  Men's basketball hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament in 34 years
Women's basketball hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament in 14 years
Football hasn't won a MAC title in 10 years

Sports that have never won a MAC title:

Baseball
Men's Cross Country
Women's Golf
Women's Tennis
Women's Track
Volleyball

Just considering FB, MBB & WBB which are the three sport that I am most familiar with, I am not sure that I would use happy/unhappy to characterize my feelings so much as frustrated. After having gone thru some rough times all three programs appear to be back on track again and are competing at a high level and that is encouraging, but what I do find frustrating is that during their respective "championships droughts" you list, each sport has had teams that were preseason favorites on a number of occasions and in every single instance, one way or another the wheels came off the wagon and they fell short of the mark.

It is unrealistic to expect a team to win it all every single time they have the potential to do so; however, it is very frustrating to me that these programs are NEVER able to pull it off time after time when they have to potential to do so and are even favored to do so. When those opportunities present themselves I would expect to win a few and loss a few, but not fall short every single time in every single sport .

Rather than thinking of Toledo sports in terms of "Toledo Tough" I now tend to think of them as "Always a Bridesmaid, never a Bride" because while all three programs have enjoyed a lots of success, none have managed to achieve the ultimate success even after coming so close so many times.

If there was a MAC category for an overall "close by no cigar" trophy the Rockets should win it hands down. This doesn't mean I don't enjoy the success that they do have, but without that occasional "ultimate success" to reflect back on there is a bit of a void.

I am sure this is not what the Suzy Sunshine Crowd want to hear, but that is what I think.

This is pretty much how I feel, but I wouldn't be as frustrated if we were winning championships in the "minor" sports.

We win a lot of championships in soccer and W cross country. Kent owns W golf. Baseball is perpetually awful and M country is there simply to give men the requisite six sports. They will be lucky to ever place a runner in the Top 10. Football will come back, M hoops has won a couple MAC Championships but not the Tournament and W hoops seem to me to be on the cusp of greatness again. I love UT but second place sucks.

If our kids are graduating and staying out of trouble, then I am happy with them. That should be the primary yardstick for a successful program as a UT alum.

But what's really satisfying as a transplanted fan, outside of MAC championships, yearly $#!t kickings of BG, and bowl/tourney wins, is people knowing who these guys are. I moved to NC early in 2002, and back then people would say "Toledo, huh? Sheesh, I wouldn't want (fill in ACC team here) playing those guys". Nowadays I get "Toledo, huh? Are you guys D-1?". That's a deflating kinda thing.

At any rate, I'm still a proud Rocket. But (outside of what we all agree on), hearing a few Tar Heels talk about being afraid to meet UT in a mythical matchup would be nice again.

Now that I've rambled on like Grampa Simpson....

Vball has a banner in Savage. I love our facilities and fan base. Would be even better if we could build on some championships. They will come. We aint the Cubs.

I think I'm happier than I would be if I were a fan of about 8 or 9 other MAC schools, maybe even 10. Not enough championships but we do seem to be a factor many seasons. What I don't get is why any prospective MAC athlete would think that any other MAC school has better facilities or a bigger fan base...and you can major in just about anything at UT. So it frustrates me when I see some better athletes--ones who could be difference-makers as Rockets--choose to go to DeKalb or Mount Pleasant, for example. Not ripping on those locations or schools, just can't see what the attraction to an athlete would be.

as far as the aleays the dridemaid never the bride thing. Compared to where we were at in football and mens basketball a few years ago, yes I'm happy, we weren't even in the wedding back then, now at least we have a pretty dress. Womens basketball i think have been down the last several years to a point it was concerning, but I feel the program has infused some good MAC talent, and now that coach Cullop has found a map of Toledo and Northwest Ohio to recruit from I think the future can be bright. The next step is to keep a few B1G caliber women and men at home for basketball and football. Other than Chris Green who is a special case.

Rocket4Life...agree. Also agree that we have not "finished" like we should have in FB and the last 2 seasons in MBB. This year will be big for FB with our schedule. We will see.
All in all, we make an impact on the conference with our Big 3 Sports almost every year. Certainly would not trade places in those 3 sports, facilities and fan base with any other MAC school.

(06-04-2015 12:24 AM)bcunn3128 Wrote:  I think I'm happier than I would be if I were a fan of about 8 or 9 other MAC schools, maybe even 10. Not enough championships but we do seem to be a factor many seasons. What I don't get is why any prospective MAC athlete would think that any other MAC school has better facilities or a bigger fan base...and you can major in just about anything at UT. So it frustrates me when I see some better athletes--ones who could be difference-makers as Rockets--choose to go to DeKalb or Mount Pleasant, for example. Not ripping on those locations or schools, just can't see what the attraction to an athlete would be.

I agree.