Whats with the EWU students?

[clawman1]

At the game on Saturday there was a nice crowd. Noticeable missing were the students. Before tip off I counted 87 people in the student section. By the middle of the first half that number may have increased to two hundred or so. There may have been a few people that were not students and a few students sitting elsewhere but the point is what better do they have to do on a Saturday afternoon.
There are over 12,000 students at Eastern. Even if my physical count on Saturday is half of how many students were actually there, that is only about 3% of the enrolled students.
What the problem with students at Eastern?
bunch a duds!

 

[EWUEagleEye]

At the game on Saturday there was a nice crowd. Noticeable missing were the students. Before tip off I counted 87 people in the student section. By the middle of the first half that number may have increased to two hundred or so. There may have been a few people that were not students and a few students sitting elsewhere but the point is what better do they have to do on a Saturday afternoon.
There are over 12,000 students at Eastern. Even if my physical count on Saturday is half of how many students were actually there, that is only about 3% of the enrolled students.
What the problem with students at Eastern?
bunch a duds!

I think it's tough to find good info/publicity for the team. Google search for Eastern Washington basketball or EWU hoops etc and most of what you find is empty ESPN, Yahoo and/or CBS sports pages on the team. To get the students and the folks from Spokane, we need to generate a lot of attention and in the internet era they need to be able to find information about the team easily.

On top of that, and maybe even more importantly, they need to find belief. The Eagles have made one NCAA tourney appearance and they got rolled after a great first half. If these Eagles keep winning and we all keep talking about them and posting blogs etc, the fans will come.

 

[EWURanger]

At the game on Saturday there was a nice crowd. Noticeable missing were the students. Before tip off I counted 87 people in the student section. By the middle of the first half that number may have increased to two hundred or so. There may have been a few people that were not students and a few students sitting elsewhere but the point is what better do they have to do on a Saturday afternoon.
There are over 12,000 students at Eastern. Even if my physical count on Saturday is half of how many students were actually there, that is only about 3% of the enrolled students.
What the problem with students at Eastern?
bunch a duds!

Good question considering they show up for football most of the time, and you don't even have to sit in the elements for basketball. And BTW, fall 2014 enrollment actually puts EWU at 13,500 students.

 

[clawman1]

At the game on Saturday there was a nice crowd. Noticeable missing were the students. Before tip off I counted 87 people in the student section. By the middle of the first half that number may have increased to two hundred or so. There may have been a few people that were not students and a few students sitting elsewhere but the point is what better do they have to do on a Saturday afternoon.
There are over 12,000 students at Eastern. Even if my physical count on Saturday is half of how many students were actually there, that is only about 3% of the enrolled students.
What the problem with students at Eastern?
bunch a duds!

I think it's tough to find good info/publicity for the team. Google search for Eastern Washington basketball or EWU hoops etc and most of what you find is empty ESPN, Yahoo and/or CBS sports pages on the team. To get the students and the folks from Spokane, we need to generate a lot of attention and in the internet era they need to be able to find information about the team easily.

On top of that, and maybe even more importantly, they need to find belief. The Eagles have made one NCAA tourney appearance and they got rolled after a great first half. If these Eagles keep winning and we all keep talking about them and posting blogs etc, the fans will come.

I gave them the benefit of a doubt and still only 3 out of 100 students were there. Are you saying if there was more attention on the internet there would all of a sudden be 4 or 5 out of 100 students?????? As far as your NCAA tournament point that is VERY weak too. There is only 1 Big Sky representative per year. How many years do the Eagles have to win the conference before maybe 1 or 2 percent more would attend a basketball game.
You are giving them more credit than they deserve. Even in most high schools with a winning record you can get 10% of the students to attend.
I'm standing by my first impression...losers!

 

[LDopaPDX]

I think a lot has to do with the fact Eastern has lost all it's basketball tradition. The Giacolleti years saw routine attendances above 3,000, and did the Bob Hofman years. I remember 6,000 packing the place for the Idaho game back in 1989. It may take a year, but consistent winning will get the fans back.

 

[EWUEagleEye]

At the game on Saturday there was a nice crowd. Noticeable missing were the students. Before tip off I counted 87 people in the student section. By the middle of the first half that number may have increased to two hundred or so. There may have been a few people that were not students and a few students sitting elsewhere but the point is what better do they have to do on a Saturday afternoon.
There are over 12,000 students at Eastern. Even if my physical count on Saturday is half of how many students were actually there, that is only about 3% of the enrolled students.
What the problem with students at Eastern?
bunch a duds!

I think it's tough to find good info/publicity for the team. Google search for Eastern Washington basketball or EWU hoops etc and most of what you find is empty ESPN, Yahoo and/or CBS sports pages on the team. To get the students and the folks from Spokane, we need to generate a lot of attention and in the internet era they need to be able to find information about the team easily.

On top of that, and maybe even more importantly, they need to find belief. The Eagles have made one NCAA tourney appearance and they got rolled after a great first half. If these Eagles keep winning and we all keep talking about them and posting blogs etc, the fans will come.

I gave them the benefit of a doubt and still only 3 out of 100 students were there. Are you saying if there was more attention on the internet there would all of a sudden be 4 or 5 out of 100 students?????? As far as your NCAA tournament point that is VERY weak too. There is only 1 Big Sky representative per year. How many years do the Eagles have to win the conference before maybe 1 or 2 percent more would attend a basketball game.
You are giving them more credit than they deserve. Even in most high schools with a winning record you can get 10% of the students to attend.
I'm standing by my first impression...losers!

I certainly didn't mean to say that internet attention would bring the fans back, sorry for being confusing. The key point for me there was that the Eagles need to keep winning. The internet stuff is more of a symptom of the lack of interest and then also I believe it's easier for students to get excited and talk about something they can easily educate themselves on.

Anyway, I am not trying to defend the lack of attendance, I just take a more optimistic view and believe the Eagles just need to keep winning to fill those bleachers more.

 

[AussieFan]

I think you have a valid point Winning teams draw the crowds. Nobody wants to see a losing team hno: EWU has been winning but it does take time for the students to realize this. It will take a bit more time but the student section will soon be thumping with eager EWU students cheering the team on. Hopefully then, we will finally get some "home court" advantage :thumb: Go eags!

 

[EWUEagleEye]

Yeah, people want to cheer for a winner, that's why the football attendance is so good right now. The basketball team hasn't won more than 15 games since the 2003-2004 season (17-12) and hasn't had even a winning record since 2006-2007 season (15-14). Coach Hayford has had a long uphill climb to get the team into contention, let's see if some more winning doesn't bring some more students out of the woodwork.

 

[clawman1]

I think a lot has to do with the fact Eastern has lost all it's basketball tradition. The Giacolleti years saw routine attendances above 3,000, and did the Bob Hofman years. I remember 6,000 packing the place for the Idaho game back in 1989. It may take a year, but consistent winning will get the fans back.

My point is specifically the students. As I look around at the crowd it is pretty good, mostly non students. I think it is sad that students won't walk across campus to support their school.

 

[Seattle Eagle]

At the game on Saturday there was a nice crowd. Noticeable missing were the students. Before tip off I counted 87 people in the student section. By the middle of the first half that number may have increased to two hundred or so. There may have been a few people that were not students and a few students sitting elsewhere but the point is what better do they have to do on a Saturday afternoon.
There are over 12,000 students at Eastern. Even if my physical count on Saturday is half of how many students were actually there, that is only about 3% of the enrolled students.
What the problem with students at Eastern?
bunch a duds!

I think it's tough to find good info/publicity for the team. Google search for Eastern Washington basketball or EWU hoops etc and most of what you find is empty ESPN, Yahoo and/or CBS sports pages on the team. To get the students and the folks from Spokane, we need to generate a lot of attention and in the internet era they need to be able to find information about the team easily.

On top of that, and maybe even more importantly, they need to find belief. The Eagles have made one NCAA tourney appearance and they got rolled after a great first half. If these Eagles keep winning and we all keep talking about them and posting blogs etc, the fans will come.

I gave them the benefit of a doubt and still only 3 out of 100 students were there. Are you saying if there was more attention on the internet there would all of a sudden be 4 or 5 out of 100 students?????? As far as your NCAA tournament point that is VERY weak too. There is only 1 Big Sky representative per year. How many years do the Eagles have to win the conference before maybe 1 or 2 percent more would attend a basketball game.
You are giving them more credit than they deserve. Even in most high schools with a winning record you can get 10% of the students to attend.
I'm standing by my first impression...losers!

I think you are underestimating the effect that Gonzaga being very good for a sustained period of time has had on our basketball program. It will take more than one good season to consistently get several thousand fans into Reese Court.

 

[GoldenEagle]

At the game on Saturday there was a nice crowd. Noticeable missing were the students. Before tip off I counted 87 people in the student section. By the middle of the first half that number may have increased to two hundred or so. There may have been a few people that were not students and a few students sitting elsewhere but the point is what better do they have to do on a Saturday afternoon.
There are over 12,000 students at Eastern. Even if my physical count on Saturday is half of how many students were actually there, that is only about 3% of the enrolled students.
What the problem with students at Eastern?
bunch a duds!

I think it's tough to find good info/publicity for the team. Google search for Eastern Washington basketball or EWU hoops etc and most of what you find is empty ESPN, Yahoo and/or CBS sports pages on the team. To get the students and the folks from Spokane, we need to generate a lot of attention and in the internet era they need to be able to find information about the team easily.

On top of that, and maybe even more importantly, they need to find belief. The Eagles have made one NCAA tourney appearance and they got rolled after a great first half. If these Eagles keep winning and we all keep talking about them and posting blogs etc, the fans will come.

I gave them the benefit of a doubt and still only 3 out of 100 students were there. Are you saying if there was more attention on the internet there would all of a sudden be 4 or 5 out of 100 students?????? As far as your NCAA tournament point that is VERY weak too. There is only 1 Big Sky representative per year. How many years do the Eagles have to win the conference before maybe 1 or 2 percent more would attend a basketball game.
You are giving them more credit than they deserve. Even in most high schools with a winning record you can get 10% of the students to attend.
I'm standing by my first impression...losers!

I think you are underestimating the effect that Gonzaga being very good for a sustained period of time has had on our basketball program. It will take more than one good season to consistently get several thousand fans into Reese Court.

Most Gonzaga fans can’t get a seat in the sacred McCarthey Center. There are plenty of fans from Spokane that should be following the EAGS. Those alienated, unworthy Gonzaga fans without season tickets that can’t compete in the Catholic pecking order should be targeted by an aggressive marketing strategy by EWU to drive out to Cheney and watch a good team. Chaves could use statements like “Hey commoners, come out to Cheney and watch a team that won’t disappoint you in the tournament.

 

[Vic E. Wallace]

GoldenEagle,
Normally our Students come to the games about 10 minutes after the tip off. It seems as if this is the normal, on all the sports, and they leave early, especially Football Times, some leaves at half time. Well the games we have had w/o/ Students being back we had crowds of 1800+, 1600+, last game was a little over 2000. :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: Should be a great crowd today. Up playing with my Great Grand Daughter, she was 9 months old on the 29th, she is in the living room now playing. Her brother is now 7 years old, they both live with me and my Daughters. :nod: :nod: :nod: :nod: "They are so Precious. Vic Wallace

 

[EWUEagleEye]

Sounds like a pretty good way to spend a Saturday morning Vic!

 

[EdubU10]

ESPN listed the attendance of the Idaho game at 3,017. That's awesome! Keep winning and Reese will fill up.

 

[93bird]

Attendance was probably closer to 3500. One of the ticket booths was having a hard time printing tickets so they had to hand write them. I must have waited in line for 20 minutes and there were only 6 people ahead of me. This is the third or fourth time I've seen lines reach 20 or 30 people deep. It was well worth the wait. The students packed their section and did a great job down the stretch. Best atmosphere I've seen in a decade.

 

[Rafter_Reese]

In the early 2000's Reese did see crowds around 3,000 pretty consistently and the student section always filled up. Coach Ray had a very solid squad back then. Snow, Merritt, Axton, Hester, just to name a few. Those players won games and the fans knew what they were coming to see night in and night out. It took a while for the fans/students to figure out what they had back then, but once they found out they kept coming. That team was a lot like this one. They knocked off a team in the Top 10 in St. Joe's.

I think the same thing is happening now. Students and fans are figuring it out and we have some huge home games coming up with the likes of Sac St. and Montana. One pattern I have noticed this year is that our Saturday crowds are much larger than our Thursday crowds. This is because (IMO) many Spokane families are able to make the drive out on the weekend but not Thursday night due to work the next day, school night for kids, etc. After our game against Idaho I think that will change. I'm guessing our Thursday games will start to draw over 2,500 but it will be more students and less Spokane families. I think students at EWU will tell their friends what they saw last Saturday against Idaho and they will spread the word. This is just my hunch. Saturday games (especially the high profile matchups) should be over 3,000 the rest of the way IF we keep our winning ways. We just need to keep winning. Reese is a great place to watch a basketball game when we pack it in. Winning does wonders. If the Eags win, they will come. If this team can make the BIG DANCE, it could create a new hoops culture on campus. That was kind of starting to happen/develop around 2005ish but things went down hill quickly after Coach Ray left. It only takes one incoming class of freshman students to see what an awesome student section can look like in Cheney, and they can run with it for 4 years and pass the tradition on to future generations. I believe that will happen with Hayford at the helm.

From the Rafters....
go eags!

 

[MLEagle]

In the early 2000's Reese did see crowds around 3,000 pretty consistently and the student section always filled up. Coach Ray had a very solid squad back then. Snow, Merritt, Axton, Hester, just to name a few. Those players won games and the fans knew what they were coming to see night in and night out. It took a while for the fans/students to figure out what they had back then, but once they found out they kept coming. That team was a lot like this one. They knocked off a team in the Top 10 in St. Joe's.

I think the same thing is happening now. Students and fans are figuring it out and we have some huge home games coming up with the likes of Sac St. and Montana. One pattern I have noticed this year is that our Saturday crowds are much larger than our Thursday crowds. This is because (IMO) many Spokane families are able to make the drive out on the weekend but not Thursday night due to work the next day, school night for kids, etc. After our game against Idaho I think that will change. I'm guessing our Thursday games will start to draw over 2,500 but it will be more students and less Spokane families. I think students at EWU will tell their friends what they saw last Saturday against Idaho and they will spread the word. This is just my hunch. Saturday games (especially the high profile matchups) should be over 3,000 the rest of the way IF we keep our winning ways. We just need to keep winning. Reese is a great place to watch a basketball game when we pack it in. Winning does wonders. If the Eags win, they will come. If this team can make the BIG DANCE, it could create a new hoops culture on campus. That was kind of starting to happen/develop around 2005ish but things went down hill quickly after Coach Ray left. It only takes one incoming class of freshman students to see what an awesome student section can look like in Cheney, and they can run with it for 4 years and pass the tradition on to future generations. I believe that will happen with Hayford at the helm.

From the Rafters....
go eags!

I agree completely. There are way more students living on campus and in Cheney then ever before and a culture of attending football games and cheering has already been created. It is and will spill over to Reese with the wins.

I hope we have some recruits coming to visit the next couple of weeks because they will see a great atmosphere.

 

[GoldenEagle]

In the early 2000's Reese did see crowds around 3,000 pretty consistently and the student section always filled up. Coach Ray had a very solid squad back then. Snow, Merritt, Axton, Hester, just to name a few. Those players won games and the fans knew what they were coming to see night in and night out. It took a while for the fans/students to figure out what they had back then, but once they found out they kept coming. That team was a lot like this one. They knocked off a team in the Top 10 in St. Joe's.

I think the same thing is happening now. Students and fans are figuring it out and we have some huge home games coming up with the likes of Sac St. and Montana. One pattern I have noticed this year is that our Saturday crowds are much larger than our Thursday crowds. This is because (IMO) many Spokane families are able to make the drive out on the weekend but not Thursday night due to work the next day, school night for kids, etc. After our game against Idaho I think that will change. I'm guessing our Thursday games will start to draw over 2,500 but it will be more students and less Spokane families. I think students at EWU will tell their friends what they saw last Saturday against Idaho and they will spread the word. This is just my hunch. Saturday games (especially the high profile matchups) should be over 3,000 the rest of the way IF we keep our winning ways. We just need to keep winning. Reese is a great place to watch a basketball game when we pack it in. Winning does wonders. If the Eags win, they will come. If this team can make the BIG DANCE, it could create a new hoops culture on campus. That was kind of starting to happen/develop around 2005ish but things went down hill quickly after Coach Ray left. It only takes one incoming class of freshman students to see what an awesome student section can look like in Cheney, and they can run with it for 4 years and pass the tradition on to future generations. I believe that will happen with Hayford at the helm.

From the Rafters....
go eags!

I agree completely. There are way more students living on campus and in Cheney then ever before and a culture of attending football games and cheering has already been created. It is and will spill over to Reese with the wins.

I hope we have some recruits coming to visit the next couple of weeks because they will see a great atmosphere.

Super pumped for the next couple weeks and on to hosting the BSC Tournament! This team is so exciting to watch, especially watching the team evolve over the past few years.