Red Hill said:
Red Hill's Advice for ISU Fans &Alumni:
Build a high school stadium in a farm field near the Spokane airport.
Make sure the high school field has just enough seats to take advantage of Griz fans who will travel to the game.
The stadium does not require locker rooms, you can just use a gas station restroom or if you are lucky, borrow some space from a basketball arena a 1/4 mile down the road.
Install a hideously ugly turf that will make you the laughingstock of college football but bring some short- lived national attention to the school.
In the spring before the turf is put in, tell recruits how beautiful it's going to look but don't EVER let them ever see it until they have already commited.
Most importantly, you need to be able to keep the talent from a very underated high school football state from leaving. You should have a shot at any player that is not being recruited by UW, WSU, or Central Washington and pray every night that the Zags never add a football team.
If this all works, you should at least be competitive and make a freak run at a national title whenever you decide to put in another ugly rug.
So who wants to help raise the $40,000 or so to build a high school stadium near the Spokane airport? This could be all we need to rise to the next level. I'm sure we could spray paint the grass if we needed to, just until funds are available for a disgusting color of turf.
Great post Mr. Hill, although in your recommendation you forgot to mention that they also don't have running water, outdoor plumbing, or electricity in Cheney, WA, either - a problem that the EWU engineering department is frantically trying to remedy!
I appreciate the humor, but in all seriousness, I think most EWU fans, coaches, players, etc. are aware that the facilities need to be improved to maintain EWU's status as a perennial Big Sky challenger and playoff caliber team. At the moment there's apparently a proposal going forward to the Regents for a complete remodel of the entire east side of the stadium - something that is drastically needed and that we, as fans, are very excited to see come to fruition. The locker rooms were re-done in 2003, and are amongst the best in the Big Sky Conference, as are the weight/conditioning facilities - remember that the Seahawks conducted summer training at EWU for a number of years - something the school benefited from. We have a modern press box/donor suites facility that was also part of the 2003 remodel, along with the north end zone facility. When the East side of the stadium is complete, we'll have a great 15k-ish size FCS stadium that will do justice to the the quality of our football program.
As for your assertion that Eastern Washington's football program is the "laughing stock of college football", I suppose you and I will have to agree to disagree on that point.
However, I do understand how you could feel that 5 playoffs appearances, four national Player of the Year Award Winners, multiple Big Sky offensive and defensive MVP Award winners, multiple All-Americans, and a National Championship - all accomplished within the past 7 years, would be something to laugh at. And to think all those accomplishment were done by kids who were passed up by Central Washington (don't kid yourself). :roll: And, gee-whiz,
we also have an NFL pro-Bowler who actually acknowledges and donates to our program, and is proud to be an alum. The last time I saw Allen on Monday night football he claimed Los Gatos High School. Nice.
As for the red turf, it is what it is - you either love it, or hate it. We like it, as do a lot of other people around the country, although I am sure that there's equally as many people who don't. Can't please everyone, I suppose. Can't say I really like the appearance of Holt Arena too much, either, but "to each their own"?
And while you are correct that EWU is a distant third in the Spokane media market, the greater Spokane area is approaching 650k people - that's more than adequate to support multiple football programs, and there's plenty of room for growth. EWU averaged right at 9k per game this season, which is actually over 100% of capacity when you consider there's only 8700 permanent grandstand seats. Not spectacular, but not bad for a season that didn't include a Montana home game......I haven't seen ISU's attendance figures this year, perhaps they were over 9k, I don't know. But attendance has increased, and the Athletic Department is working very hard to keep it improving. I like the direction they're going. I wonder what ISU's position in the SE Idaho market might be......a distant third, behind Boise State, and BYU, perhaps? Just a thought, but I think fans of FCS schools can certainly agree that it's difficult to compete with the Pac-12's, BSU's, and BYU's of the world. Just don't try to act like ISU is in any other position than EWU, PSU, NAU, UNC, or any other Big Sky school that has to compete in-state with much larger and more high profile programs. Tsk, Tsk, good Sir.
Another point we will agree on is that Washington is, in fact, a highly under-rated HS football State. And that's probably a big ingredient in EWU's success over the years, we get some great kids that for whatever reason got over-looked by the Pac-12 schools. But we also do branch out to Oregon, California, and yes, Idaho.
We've gotten some great players from those states, to include the 2010 Idaho Gatorade Player of the year. I wonder why he didn't even consider ISU? Very puzzling, indeed.
Anyway, all the smack aside - congrats on the hire of Coach Kramer! He's a terrific coach, and I'm sure he'll get ISU competitive given due time. :thumb:
