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Time for Changes

Green Cookie Monster said:
SDHornet said:
OldSchoolHornet said:
If you really want to have an impact on the outcome you'll need a much stronger approach than a handful of guys on this site sending emails to Wanless. The Sacramento Bee offered the Sac State fans a voice this morning in the form of a poll. Try getting a couple thousand people to say Sperbeck should be gone and maybe you'll grab some real interest from someone higher up the food chain than Wanless.
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I agree but unless someone wants to take a more coordinated approach there isn’t much else to do. As an individual, choosing not to spend my money on the program and sending in emails is about the only real sway one has. If enough people feel the same way and withhold funds then the impact is greater. If there were any major boosters that did the same thing then the impact is even more meaningful.
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Our average attendance tanked this year, besides the UCFE game, we should be down 30% or more. That should be a red flag.

Weber State coach will not return, Jody Sears.
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Attendance has been down all over We continued to outdraw the other California FCS schools;

Sac State 7,867
Cal Poly 7,300
the dungpile 6,331

FCS will never be a good drawn in California, and at a lot of other places with higher levels of football available. People not directly connected with the program don't take FCS seriously.
Southern Utah drew something like 3,000 for Northern Arizona Saturday with playoff berths on the line.

Watch attendance figures this weekend for the first round of the playoffs.
 
Historical attendance numbers per NCAA.org:

2013, 6 games
Cumulative: 47,207
Average: 7,868

2012, 5 games
Cumulative: 45,544
Average: 9,109

2011, 5 games
Cumulative: 47,766
Average: 9,553

2010, 5 games
Cumulative: 37,882
Average: 7,576

2009, 5 games
Cumulative: 49,676
Average: 9,935

2008, 6 games
Cumulative: 49,103
Average: 8,184

2007, 5 games
Cumulative: 39,496
Average: 7,899

We hosted Montana and farmville and had the second lowest attendance ever under Sperbeck. Homecoming drew under 10k…it was an epic fail at the turnstiles this season and that was with the first ever coherent marketing plan for the program. There is just no way to put a positive spin our attendance. I’m not buying the “hey they suck at it too so it ain’t that bad” argument. How other programs fare should have no impact on our expectations and goals.

So how does this tie back into the “changes needed” theme of this thread? People are tuning out Hornet football and that directly impacts the bottom line. Wanless can head it off and make changes, or keep doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result. Rational people call that insanity.
 
SDHornet said:
Historical attendance numbers per NCAA.org:

2013, 6 games
Cumulative: 47,207
Average: 7,868

2012, 5 games
Cumulative: 45,544
Average: 9,109

2011, 5 games
Cumulative: 47,766
Average: 9,553

2010, 5 games
Cumulative: 37,882
Average: 7,576

2009, 5 games
Cumulative: 49,676
Average: 9,935

2008, 6 games
Cumulative: 49,103
Average: 8,184

2007, 5 games
Cumulative: 39,496
Average: 7,899

We hosted Montana and farmville and had the second lowest attendance ever under Sperbeck. Homecoming drew under 10k…it was an epic fail at the turnstiles this season and that was with the first ever coherent marketing plan for the program. There is just no way to put a positive spin our attendance. I’m not buying the “hey they suck at it too so it ain’t that bad” argument. How other programs fare should have no impact on our expectations and goals.

So how does this tie back into the “changes needed” theme of this thread? People are tuning out Hornet football and that directly impacts the bottom line. Wanless can head it off and make changes, or keep doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result. Rational people call that insanity.
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I never brought up the topic, just bringing some balance to the thread. If you or others post such threads it should be open for a rational discussion from all sides.
My point (again) is that college football attendance is down most places, it has little to do with the head coach. Going back to your Montana example NAIA Southern Oregon drew 7,543, Montana 6,361. Even Montana with all their FCS success is not a name recognized as a must see game for Californians.
The Causeway is more of a regional social event, it will always draw regardless of who is coaching or the records of the teams. It's interesting to note however that the dungpile can't even sellout their 10.000 stadium for the Causeway. Was that Biggs fault? How about, Cal Poly they were they lost 2 regular season games last year (one to Sperbeck's Hornets) and made the playoffs. We still outdrew them without the Causeway, was that Walsh's fault?
 
Yes…yes it is. Everything that occurs under a HC (good and bad) is their responsibility, including ticket sales. As HC you are the face of the program, you own everything that happens with/to it.

I get where you are going with your sluggish attendance argument. It’s hitting everyone in all sports both college and pros. Probably has more to do with the economy and the middle class getting completely wiped out by broke-dick domestic policy, but that is another argument for another forum.

Look, we drew double during the Montana game 2 years ago than we did this season. UM coming to town is a much bigger draw compared to the other BSC programs that come to town (combination of fans knowing who they are and UM having a fan base that travels well). Over the last 5 years we averaged 8,871 and saw a drop off of just over a 1,000 from that average this season (1k per game at $15/ticket = $90k potential revenue lost). There is no excuse for that considering the home schedule. Fans just aren’t buying what Sperbeck is selling, time for change.
 
Green Laser said:
Green Cookie Monster said:
SDHornet said:
OldSchoolHornet said:
If you really want to have an impact on the outcome you'll need a much stronger approach than a handful of guys on this site sending emails to Wanless. The Sacramento Bee offered the Sac State fans a voice this morning in the form of a poll. Try getting a couple thousand people to say Sperbeck should be gone and maybe you'll grab some real interest from someone higher up the food chain than Wanless.
Click to expand...
I agree but unless someone wants to take a more coordinated approach there isn’t much else to do. As an individual, choosing not to spend my money on the program and sending in emails is about the only real sway one has. If enough people feel the same way and withhold funds then the impact is greater. If there were any major boosters that did the same thing then the impact is even more meaningful.
Click to expand...


Our average attendance tanked this year, besides the UCFE game, we should be down 30% or more. That should be a red flag.

Weber State coach will not return, Jody Sears.
Click to expand...

Attendance has been down all over We continued to outdraw the other California FCS schools;

Sac State 7,867
Cal Poly 7,300
the dungpile 6,331

FCS will never be a good drawn in California, and at a lot of other places with higher levels of football available. People not directly connected with the program don't take FCS seriously.
Southern Utah drew something like 3,000 for Northern Arizona Saturday with playoff berths on the line.

Watch attendance figures this weekend for the first round of the playoffs.
Click to expand...

Those two other FCS programs don't have a strategic plan in place expecting 11K attendance.
 
Green Laser said:
Your simplistic view of athletics is amazing!
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I know; if you think something is unattainable it will be. We should be striving to be the best, not looking around at other comparable programs and shrugging our shoulders in indifference.
 
I think some UC Davis fans thought attendance would go up just with the increased level of competition in FCS over D2. We have dropped from 9000 average attendance in better D2 years to 6000. Winning games puts fair weather friends in the seats and UC Davis, Sac State and Cal Poly did not do that well winning games this year. When the Causeway Classic was up near 20,000, both teams were good.
 
First Round FCS Playoff Attendance from Championship Subdivision.com;

Tennessee St at Butler Attendance: 1928
Bethune-Cookman at Coastal Carolina Attendance: 3007
Sacred Heart at Fordham Attendance: 4787
Furman at SC State Attendance: 4871
Southern Utah at Sam Houston St Attendance: 4069
Samford at Jacksonville St Attendance: 8992
South Dakota St at Northern Ariz Attendance: 5077
Lafayette at New Hampshire Attendance: 3,286

What a joke, all of those head coaches should be fired for not creating more interest!
If the NCAA doesn't subsidize these games (which I doubt) these schools are losing money.
 
You do know there is an athletic director in charge of promoting sports for the university and boost ticket sales right? Getting paid over 150k to do just that.
 
Oldhornet23 said:
You do know there is an athletic director in charge of promoting sports for the university and boost ticket sales right? Getting paid over 150k to do just that.
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I know and they are not earning their money, that is where the focus on attendance should be directed not on who the head coach is. My post was in response to comments on this thread that Sperbeck was ultimately responsible for low attendance.
 
http://hornetsports.com/information/directory/bios/athletic_admin/bannister?tmpl=/information/directory/bio-template" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here is the man in charge of promoting Hornet Athletics.
 
Yeah fire the coaches for taking care of business and getting their teams into the playoffs. If Sperbeck does what he should have been doing and takes this team to the playoffs you know damn well this thread doesn’t exist.

BTW how do those attendance numbers compare against their season averages? No students on campus and people already having travel plans for T-Day no doubt have its impact on the turnstiles.

Bannister has been here less than a year; let’s see if the increased marketing effort seen last summer is sustained.
 
According to the Bee today, Sperbeck has two years left on his contract.

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/12/02/5964698/hometown-report-petersens-withdrawal.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
Green Cookie Monster said:
According to the Bee today, Sperbeck has two years left on his contract.

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/12/02/5964698/hometown-report-petersens-withdrawal.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Finally some details on this. So we are stuck with him for 2 more years, so much for that 3-5 year extension. :roll: Now the changes that need to happen are a complete overhaul of the defensive coaching staff and most likely a search for a new OC when Peterson leaves. A qualified ST coach wouldn’t hurt either.
 
Man, too bad we don't open with UW next year instead of in 2015. I'm sure they'll be in disarray and would've been a good shot for Coach Sperbeck to get his 3rd Pac-12 win (and an extension). I think Cal will be much improved next year when we open with them (they needed a comeback to beat Portland State this year for their only win).
 
Kadeezy said:
Man, too bad we don't open with UW next year instead of in 2015. I'm sure they'll be in disarray and would've been a good shot for Coach Sperbeck to get his 3rd Pac-12 win (and an extension). I think Cal will be much improved next year when we open with them (they needed a comeback to beat Portland State this year for their only win).
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Don't be too certain. It may take the golden bears the OOC portion of their schedule to actually put it all together. Also, rumor has it that QB Zach Kline is transferring. Supposedly, he's considering SDSU.
 
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