What can we do?

[tigerpaws]

To build the spirit necessary to start a winning tradition at ISU? It's a chicken-and-egg problem. The team has been losing, so spirit is low. With spirit low, the team has a slim chance of turning things around.

Heck, as it is now, I hear that many of the players are demoralized and don't even seem to care when they lose. One new player I know, still full of enthusiasm and a drive to win, went to a local store recently to buy an ISU T-shirt, on sale for a couple of bucks. When he approached the cash register the clerk said "what are you buying this for?" -- and laughed when the player said he was on the football team.

Just one anecdote, but incredibly telling as to the lack of spirit in Poky. Any good ideas on how to get some fire going? Without a sense of purpose and a belief that what they do matters, the players will go through the motions and the results will follow suit.

How do we get a drumbeat of anticipation started.....a rolling thunder of excitement for what could be the breakout season? Any and all ideas welcomed!! I just want to instigate the discussion. It's not too late!

 

[bengalcub]

Paws, I can promise you that if ISU is competitive--Pocatello will get behind them. If the team wins even close to half of its games--SE Idaho will start to buzz.

I know folks that are new to the program say that the support is bad--but the support is great considering the results on the field, when you think about it.

All they have to do to start moving things in a positive direction is start to win games. If they continue to lose--the apathy around the program will continue its course. If a good majority of the kids that you have on the team don't care about losing--you simply have the wrong kids and the staff is going after the wrong individuals.

No banners, face paint, parades or community service is going to change things without wins. Please don't take me as being negative. I just think it is a reality of the situation. This team will make its own breaks.

Everyone loves a winning program and people tend to distance themselves from losing programs. It really is not much different anywhere in college football.

 

[spudbowl]

I agree with Cub. However, I also am unhappy that local merchants don't have ISU stuff. I went into a new sports store in Pocatello last week to buy a water bottle for biking. They had cool Boise State and BYU water bottles and no ISU ones. ISU is more than football, it is a major part of this community. Perhaps there is just no market for ISU stuff anymore and business is business and if ISU doesn't sell then businesses won't try to market ISU. Go to the ISU campus during a semester and count the ISU versus BSU hats and shirts, it is 50 to 1 BSU. This is not good but it's a reality. I agree that a winning team would bring out fans and I agree that us 4500 that go to all the losing football games is pretty good but it's tough to not be discouraged. I hope that ISU is working closely with city leaders on developing Poky because Poky and ISU go hand in hand. Many students don't want to attend ISU because of Pocatello, a place that young people (not me) view as not very appealing. I am sure that ISU and the City of Pocatello are working on economic development projects together and this will help the ISU-Poky connection in the long run. BSU cannot become THE university in the state, if it does both ISU and Pocatello will suffer greatly.

 

[spazdog1]

I live in Meridian and work in Boise. I also have an office in Pocatello. I come to Pocatello two or three times a month. I buy Bronco gear and Bengal gear. I have Bronco posters in my Boise office and Bengal posters in my Pocatello office. I will tell you that I receive my Bronco football posters in early August. I've tried to get my Bengal gear at the same time. A couple of years ago, after visiting the dome to pick up football posters several times, I finally picked them up after the third game or so. You heard it... after the third game. And there were boxes and boxes of posters waiting to be distributed. Last year wasn't as bad but if I remember correctly they weren't available until the season started. This is a big problem in my view. How can the community get worked up for the Bengals when the marketing folks can't get the posters to the local merchants before the third game of the season? It frustrates me. IMO... They'd be better off saving the money spent on the posters and find another way to try to connect with the community.

I'll give you another example... I was visiting with a group in Pocatello last week. One of the first things out of their mouth was how is BSU going to do against Virginia Tech on Labor Day. I told him that I thought BSU will be okay. Also, I stated that ISU would go into week two this fall with a two game winning streak. I expect better things from the Bengals this year. Yes. Winning is important and may improve attendance. But check the attendance stats with Nevada and tell me what they are doing wrong. They have a great winning record at home but can't fill their seats. I've been to their stadium in a freaking snow storm in late November and the Boise fans outnumbered the Wolfpack fans... not even close.

I think a part of the Bengals's problem is the media. I've ragged on the media before. But seriously, in my view ISU needs to find a way to associate with the community better than it does and have some media folks in on it.

 

[spazdog1]

Now for a more positive position... I am taking something out of the BSU book for a minute. In the summer months, the fans come up with a motto. When I say the fans, I mean the fans. Many of potential mottos are posted on their fan forum. Way back when, the Broncos were left out of a bowl game after a successful season. Coach Hawkins made a comment that the next year the team would leave no doubt about a bowl selection. The fan forum was abuzz. "Leave No Doubt" was the moto for that season. The next season was "Brick by Brick." The year after Hawaii won the conference championship, the motto was "Take Back the WAC." Fans such as us submit several potentials and everyone on the forum discusses them. I believe one of the forum administrators submit a fan favorite to the football office or A.D.'s office and eventually a theme or motto. Why not start there? Have ISU work their connections with the newspaper and radio. Have them list this forum's web address in articles and over the air and see what happens. Once all of the submissions have been whittled down to two or three, have the school put up poll on their website. Maybe the ticket office can find a few tickets to the season opener for the person who submits the winning motto.

After the winning motto is announced, you guessed it... T-shirts and hats. The school sells a limted number of hats and T-shirts. Will it work in Pocatello? Who knows. FYI... the whole thing with the season motto on shirts and hats has evolved to weekly mottos for home games. For example, last year when Oregon came to Bronco stadium, the motto was "The Myth is True. Ducks Do Crash on the Blue." That was prophetic. Anyway, you can only buy them at the BSU Bookstore and the cost is only $10. And you can buy them on gameday if you'd like. I bought mine. I have a story about that, but not here...

Game day mottos for the Bengals is probably not in the near future. Start with baby steps. Let's come up with a season motto.

 

[biobengal]

Spaz, it must be difficult to cultivate a good relationship with the local media when staffing can be so variable, especially in the print media. I don't think anyone even knows who works the sports desk anymore... we sure haven’t seen anyone step up like Kellis did in his short time here.

However, I really don't think marketing and promotion are the main problems. Merchants, students, kids, etc. all want to associate with a winning program. This is all about wins.... you can print as many posters as you want, but it won't matter if the program isn't something people can be proud of.

If wins are hard to come by the next best thing is to improve facilities and the fan experience. ISU is moving in the right direction in this area. The recent improvements were a much needed shot in the arm. However, I think ISU should take it a step further... put out a small number of bonds and start working on Holt Arena CONSISTENTLY... even if the bonds are pitifully small... even if the funds cover just a small fraction of money for renovations... even if the improvement are just well publicized paint jobs..... even if you have to play an additional money game to keep it rolling. This gives the perception that ISU is moving forward, something they desperately need.

 

[isusuperfan]

Sometimes the best progress doesn't happen with astounding changes like a new arena or a massive stadium expansion/renovation. The best progress will sometimes come by focusing on the little stuff, because it's that attention to the little things that shows you actually care about your program's well-being. It's important to have major goals to work towards, but you can't build the house without the minor details.

Basically, we should focus on the little things while keeping an eye on the big things that we want to do or accomplish.

 

[pocabengal]

Probably the best thing that can be done right now is to plan a big tailgate party for every home game. Invite friends and family that have not been involved ever or have not been for a long time. I have a handfull of friends and family that are excited about going just for the fun of tailgating. I even told some of them to not even go to the game if they don't want to, knowing that they probably will anyway because people are herd animals and they will typically follow the crowd that they are having so much fun with. Another tradition that we should start to do is car flags. You can see a few on gamedays here, but most places you can see hundreds on gameday. If your team wins on gameday, you leave them on sunday also.