(11-15-2015 04:05 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(11-15-2015 10:40 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  This was by far the largest turnout for the young alumni crowd. Unfortunately they were given a show that was not worth their money.

Good thing we threw a good tailgate at least.

I thought the trailgate's brisket by Goode was quite good ... (certainly better than hotdogs and burger patties in the Stadium Club). But they sold out of the good beer very quickly. My options were Bud, Bud Light and Michelob Ultra. Yuck!

I was more referring to the tailgate that my friends and I threw. But I did like the effort Rice put into the overall tailgate. Unfortunate that you got stuck with crap beer. It amazes me how the vendors at the Rice game don't recognize that there is a pretty good demand for craft beer that people are willing to pay a premium for.

I submitted a comment to JK for the podcast about how we are planning to increase fan attendance given what just happened. I ask, not to rub anything in, but out of curiosity as my efforts to convince my friends and their friends to show up have, for the most part, failed. Several people who came in just for this homecoming said they aren't coming back.

I have a lot of faith in JK and his staff (Tanner, Jana, Paul, Shu etc.) but they are in a very tough position now. Our two showcase games, homecoming and the Texas game were unmitigated disasters and it is going to be very hard to try to bring the non-die hard fans back.

(11-15-2015 04:18 PM)Antarius Wrote:  I submitted a comment to JK for the podcast about how we are planning to increase fan attendance given what just happened. I ask, not to rub anything in, but out of curiosity as my efforts to convince my friends and their friends to show up have, for the most part, failed. Several people who came in just for this homecoming said they aren't coming back.

I have a lot of faith in JK and his staff (Tanner, Jana, Paul, Shu etc.) but they are in a very tough position now. Our two showcase games, homecoming and the Texas game were unmitigated disasters and it is going to be very hard to try to bring the non-die hard fans back.

Don't forget Baylor and La Tech. Those two, Texas and this game are the 4 games where people outside of my usual Rice circle actually brought up the game to me during the week, i.e. they knew we had a game and who we were playing. The 4 that some casual Houston sports fans were at least semi-paying attention to. And we were blown out in all of them.

(11-15-2015 04:24 PM)RiceFootball2K5 Wrote:  

(11-15-2015 04:18 PM)Antarius Wrote:  I submitted a comment to JK for the podcast about how we are planning to increase fan attendance given what just happened. I ask, not to rub anything in, but out of curiosity as my efforts to convince my friends and their friends to show up have, for the most part, failed. Several people who came in just for this homecoming said they aren't coming back.

I have a lot of faith in JK and his staff (Tanner, Jana, Paul, Shu etc.) but they are in a very tough position now. Our two showcase games, homecoming and the Texas game were unmitigated disasters and it is going to be very hard to try to bring the non-die hard fans back.

Don't forget Baylor and La Tech. Those two, Texas and this game are the 4 games where people outside of my usual Rice circle actually brought up the game to me during the week, i.e. they knew we had a game and who we were playing. The 4 that some casual Houston sports fans were at least semi-paying attention to. And we were blown out in all of them.

and those ^%&^% fair weather "fans" in red are now showing up over there. I almost tore up the front page of the Chronicle Sports section

Two things:

1. I never leave games early. I left half the way through the second quarter.

2. Yeah, the EZF will be nice but if the rest of the stadium looks like trash, we still won't be able to recruit anyone.

(11-15-2015 11:36 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  There is one other factor that I think is critical. This is the same one that I had in the forefront in 2009-2011: Timing. There will soon be another shift in the tectonic plates of college athletics. If the XII doesn't get a team into the playoffs this year (and if ND wins out they probably won't), they're going to look to expand. Yes the NCAA is looking at letting them have a championship game with fewer than 12 teams, but that's not really the issue (and the XII isn't that happy with a championship game anyway). The issue is that with everybody playing everybody and with Iowa State and Kansas and maybe K-State and WVA, and this year Texas, their strength of schedule sucks. They need to add a couple of teams to bump up everybody's SOS, two divisions with an 8-game conference slate lets them add an intersectional game to bolster schedule strength, instead of just playing weak sisters OOC. Where that enters in is that UH will make a strong push to go to the XII at that point. Our chances of that are nil, but there might be a move to fill UH's slot in the American. That would actually be a pretty good place for us, with the likes of SMU and Tulsa and Tulane and Navy and Memphis, at least schools that people have heard of and that have some semblance of tradition from the past. If we're to be considered for that slot, we need to move up in football and basketball, and in a hurry. We missed any serious consideration for the last move because of 2009-11. If we had 4 or 5 straight bowl appearances, we would probably get strong consideration, but if we end up 5-7 or 6-6 this year, and no better the next, then we are probably punting another opportunity to move up. Timing is critical, and this ship needs to be righted in a hurry.

This worries me. We partially missed out on the AAC because at the time the football product was terrible. Now, an opening may occur and you're going to leave the guy during the last miss in charge again? Huge gamble. This a is big reason to change coaches immediately and show that Rice isn't satisfied with the results.

(11-16-2015 10:28 AM)WIowl Wrote:  

(11-15-2015 11:36 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  There is one other factor that I think is critical. This is the same one that I had in the forefront in 2009-2011: Timing. There will soon be another shift in the tectonic plates of college athletics. If the XII doesn't get a team into the playoffs this year (and if ND wins out they probably won't), they're going to look to expand. Yes the NCAA is looking at letting them have a championship game with fewer than 12 teams, but that's not really the issue (and the XII isn't that happy with a championship game anyway). The issue is that with everybody playing everybody and with Iowa State and Kansas and maybe K-State and WVA, and this year Texas, their strength of schedule sucks. They need to add a couple of teams to bump up everybody's SOS, two divisions with an 8-game conference slate lets them add an intersectional game to bolster schedule strength, instead of just playing weak sisters OOC. Where that enters in is that UH will make a strong push to go to the XII at that point. Our chances of that are nil, but there might be a move to fill UH's slot in the American. That would actually be a pretty good place for us, with the likes of SMU and Tulsa and Tulane and Navy and Memphis, at least schools that people have heard of and that have some semblance of tradition from the past. If we're to be considered for that slot, we need to move up in football and basketball, and in a hurry. We missed any serious consideration for the last move because of 2009-11. If we had 4 or 5 straight bowl appearances, we would probably get strong consideration, but if we end up 5-7 or 6-6 this year, and no better the next, then we are probably punting another opportunity to move up. Timing is critical, and this ship needs to be righted in a hurry.

This worries me. We partially missed out on the AAC because at the time the football product was terrible. Now, an opening may occur and you're going to leave the guy during the last miss in charge again? Huge gamble. This a is big reason to change coaches immediately and show that Rice isn't satisfied with the results.

I really don't think this had much, if anything, to do with it. I think it was almost solely rooted in our lack of institutional support, financial support, and unwillingness to advocate for inclusion.

Case in point, look at Tulane. Tulane joined the AAC in 2014 after finishing above .500 one time from 2003 to 2013 - that was 7-6 in 2013. Sure, they brought the market of New Orleans, but more importantly, in 2012, Tulane stepped up financially by beginning to build their $55 million, on-campus, Yulman Stadium.

At a crucial time in conference realignment, Tulane proved that they were willing to put up or shut up and financially back/support their football program in a way they had not done in decades. They made their case for inclusion, which had nothing to do with on-field results, while we sat back and did nothing.

IMO, changing our coach has little to do with us getting an invite, changing our program's culture and outside perception by investing in it significantly (which you can do by changing coaches), is what will show other conferences that we will not be a drain on their resources. We have to show that we will pull our own weight, and it's hard to do that when your locker room has leaky roofs and your stadium is an eyesore.

This is not an argument for keeping DB, this is an argument that, with regards to conference realignment, it is about much more than winning.

(11-16-2015 10:46 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(11-16-2015 10:28 AM)WIowl Wrote:  

(11-15-2015 11:36 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  There is one other factor that I think is critical. This is the same one that I had in the forefront in 2009-2011: Timing. There will soon be another shift in the tectonic plates of college athletics. If the XII doesn't get a team into the playoffs this year (and if ND wins out they probably won't), they're going to look to expand. Yes the NCAA is looking at letting them have a championship game with fewer than 12 teams, but that's not really the issue (and the XII isn't that happy with a championship game anyway). The issue is that with everybody playing everybody and with Iowa State and Kansas and maybe K-State and WVA, and this year Texas, their strength of schedule sucks. They need to add a couple of teams to bump up everybody's SOS, two divisions with an 8-game conference slate lets them add an intersectional game to bolster schedule strength, instead of just playing weak sisters OOC. Where that enters in is that UH will make a strong push to go to the XII at that point. Our chances of that are nil, but there might be a move to fill UH's slot in the American. That would actually be a pretty good place for us, with the likes of SMU and Tulsa and Tulane and Navy and Memphis, at least schools that people have heard of and that have some semblance of tradition from the past. If we're to be considered for that slot, we need to move up in football and basketball, and in a hurry. We missed any serious consideration for the last move because of 2009-11. If we had 4 or 5 straight bowl appearances, we would probably get strong consideration, but if we end up 5-7 or 6-6 this year, and no better the next, then we are probably punting another opportunity to move up. Timing is critical, and this ship needs to be righted in a hurry.

This worries me. We partially missed out on the AAC because at the time the football product was terrible. Now, an opening may occur and you're going to leave the guy during the last miss in charge again? Huge gamble. This a is big reason to change coaches immediately and show that Rice isn't satisfied with the results.

I really don't think this had much, if anything, to do with it. I think it was almost solely rooted in our lack of institutional support, financial support, and unwillingness to advocate for inclusion.

Case in point, look at Tulane. Tulane joined the AAC in 2014 after finishing above .500 one time from 2003 to 2013 - that was 7-6 in 2013. Sure, they brought the market of New Orleans, but more importantly, in 2012, Tulane stepped up financially by beginning to build their $55 million, on-campus, Yulman Stadium.

At a crucial time in conference realignment, Tulane proved that they were willing to put up or shut up and financially back/support their football program in a way they had not done in decades. They made their case for inclusion, which had nothing to do with on-field results, while we sat back and did nothing.

IMO, changing our coach has little to do with us getting an invite, changing our program's culture and outside perception by investing in it significantly (which you can do by changing coaches), is what will show other conferences that we will not be a drain on their resources. We have to show that we will pull our own weight, and it's hard to do that when your locker room has leaky roofs and your stadium is an eyesore.

This is not an argument for keeping DB, this is an argument that, with regards to conference realignment, it is about much more than winning.

As I've said before, I'm almost positive that if we were in NO and Tulane was in Houston, or UH was UNO, we'd be in the AAC. Not saying those other things weren't factors against us, but not wanting to double up on on the Houston market was far and away the main one.