(11-08-2015 08:58 PM)owl40 Wrote: Said in many times on other threads.
All stakeholders need hope for this program. There was hope before this season that program was moving in right direction but that is mostly gone now.
Natural result is the conversation moves from the few passionate stakeholders left looking to the HC to provide that hope but get coachspeak like 'need to work harder' instead. Other non-passionate stakeholders just eject and go on to other things and result in even more empty seats in HRS.
Then conversation goes to looking for the AD to make a HC change for someone else to provide hope. Passionate fanbase points out all the positive examples of energy and hope being injected into other 'like' programs which is missing at Rice FB but is there in spades for Rice MBB and WBB. Problem is that other 'like' schools funded their change. At Rice, nobody is willing to get their checkbook out to fund what it would take for coaching change as we barely scraped enough together for EZF. So financial realities with no additional Brian Patterson-like people emerging make status quo reality. Back to earlier posts on 'it is a Rice problem, not a DB problem' Just hot air here on Parliament.
So against that backdrop of reality, regardless of outcome of 7-5 or 5-7 against this weak schedule, it is imperative for DB and/or JK to show the small remaining base on why there is hope that days will be better (e.g., new staff coming in, new players, new schemes, etc.) in the future. I'm sure the EZF and all the frosh getting experience this year will be the answer to that question but not sure it is enough to satisfy the thirsty stakeholders. They need more..
The AD answering to the President/BoT can't sustain dwindling empty seats in HRS forever. He can obfuscate it with some creative ways to count tickets 'sold' but can't sustain empty stadiums forever. Rice needs butts-in-seats and combo of poor Rice FB product on field packaged with uninteresting opponents is not going to get it done. Eventually those financial realities become greater than the FB staff cost/recruitment realities of today.
Which appears to be why some are urgently concerned that our present course under this coach, if it was to have been ultimately successful at all, was taking way too long and we are rapidly running out of time.
(11-08-2015 08:58 PM)owl40 Wrote: I like DB. Much more than most here. I want him to succeed and show that you don't have to be a jerk like many top FBS coaches to win. Other than winning out convincingly as first priority, my recommendation for him is to get up and connect with the few remaining people left on why there is hope to better days ahead and why people should care and pay attention to Rice FB. Paint a picture and a vision and explain crisply and specifically how you get there. Bridge it to the broader athletic vision supplied by JK. Not in fire and brimstone, throw a chair sort-of-way as that is not his style but in an emotional, authentic way that shows people DB is the guy that is going to get this program to a better place vs. just being the nice guy who graduates the kids and comes across satisfied w/ the status quo. He needs to expose himself in candid way vs. standing behind the normal coachspeak lines. I think if he does not do that, than he will continue to just lose support (beyond Parliament) until it forces change. I do think if he does than he gets a longer rope as people just want a plan on what is going to change to make this program relevant and aligned w/ the broader athletic vision. And that is all people want...a path to something better and relevant.
Not a bad summary, Owl40. But by the latter part of Season 9, I think more people not only wanted to hear words about a clear plan for the first time if he was to return in year 10, they wanted to have already seen clear signs (no longer ambiguous or debatable) of execution of that plan.
Ah, yes--painting. As to your imagery bolded above, it might appear to some you are asking this artist:
![[Image: Expensive-painting-Children-drawing-1361519683_16.jpg]](http://www.torange.us/photo/18/13/Expensive-painting-Children-drawing-1361519683_16.jpg)
to suddenly now turn on a dime and transform himself overnight into something closer to this artist:
![[Image: seurat-jatte.jpg]](http://www.theartwolf.com/articles/impressionism/seurat-jatte.jpg)
At this point, I'm not sure how many really still believe how realistic that may be, but I'd settle right now for someone like this as an improvement over the artist we have:
![[Image: Bob_at_Easel.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/70/Bob_at_Easel.jpg)
After all, though many people chided him, legions of fans watched him and found his work and show entertaining, and he was highly marketable in his own way to fans all across the nation, something we very much seem to be sorely lacking in right now in football, as you so eloquently pointed out.
Look, the first one is a very nice drawing by a nice kid and I have stuff like this on my 'fridge and enjoy it. It is great in its own way, especially if you know the one who did it personally. But few if any would part with real money for it, or spend much time watching it being created more than perhaps once.
Now the second is worth a lot of money to a lot of people. Even people who don't know much about art can generally appreciate there's something special going on behind there. The third is more pedestrian, but still highly entertaining to many, and sells and is highly marketable. Though not a master in absolute terms, it holds its own very well and makes more than enough money and is entertaining enough to justify its existence. We'd all like to have the master artist here. Barring incredible luck, it's hard for us to come by it under our present circumstances. We at least need a "Rusty" to keep us from sinking lower at this point.
UH can't even sell out their small stadium with and undefeated team. Houston's college FB interest is UT Whorns and TAMU$...
