we have going against us make it difficult to attract the players we want for the men's program. Being a school with no football program and without a large traditional student population is holding us back. I'm surprised that Chris, having been here as long as he has now, and being an old football coach, wouldn't have really pushed and found a way to raise the money to begin a football program.

Sure, we could be lousy for a few years, but at least we'd have a drawing card for a lot of students, and we older fans, who enjoy the pageantry of weekend football games in the fall. We are already in a league with an established program, so we wouldn't have to worry about finding an affiliation. Plus it would solidify our position in the Sun Belt.
We already have a decent stadium right here in Little Rock for immediate use. I would hope at some point in the near future, the powers that be would see that this could increase the interest in more students choosing UALR, instead of UCA or ASU. As LRTrojan has said, if we don't get on the stick, UCA is going to pass us right by. We can't sit around with our fingers up our rear ends and expect something good to happen. Plus as has been said, we've been undefeated in football for over 50 years.

I don't think football is the issue nor being a commuter campus. Being residential and having football could be positive... BUT...

The real issue is relevance.

Look at ASU. First 18 years the Convo was open never averaged under 4,200 for a season. Had 22 games with 8,000 or more in attendance. All but two of those years drew 5,000 to 6,000 a game for the season.

Then it fell to the 3,000 range and hasn't recovered.

The teams stopped being relevant. ASU had a division title in there but honestly how relevant in the larger basketball world is a division title when you are barely in the top half of the nation in RPI and have the third best record in the league?

When you look at the years we drew very well, we had points when we were looking like a bubble team, got some NIT bids, beat some quality teams and some name teams (not always the same thing).

We know from experience that if people think ASU or UALR is a contender for NCAA play or an NIT bid, that fans respond. No one cares if you are best in the Sun Belt / American South / Southland / TAAC. They care whether you are among the better teams in the country.

I think you can finish third with a top 100 RPI team and draw better support with a first place second 100 RPI team. I don't think many fans know where a team is in the RPI but their gut sense of how good you are tracks fairly well with RPI.

(03-09-2010 11:20 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  I don't think football is the issue nor being a commuter campus. Being residential and having football could be positive... BUT...

The real issue is relevance.

Look at ASU. First 18 years the Convo was open never averaged under 4,200 for a season. Had 22 games with 8,000 or more in attendance. All but two of those years drew 5,000 to 6,000 a game for the season.

Then it fell to the 3,000 range and hasn't recovered.

The teams stopped being relevant. ASU had a division title in there but honestly how relevant in the larger basketball world is a division title when you are barely in the top half of the nation in RPI and have the third best record in the league?

When you look at the years we drew very well, we had points when we were looking like a bubble team, got some NIT bids, beat some quality teams and some name teams (not always the same thing).

We know from experience that if people think ASU or UALR is a contender for NCAA play or an NIT bid, that fans respond. No one cares if you are best in the Sun Belt / American South / Southland / TAAC. They care whether you are among the better teams in the country.

I think you can finish third with a top 100 RPI team and draw better support with a first place second 100 RPI team. I don't think many fans know where a team is in the RPI but their gut sense of how good you are tracks fairly well with RPI.

Well said.