Student attendance thoughts and How to Fix it

[mg2009]

raze the REA

edit for realistic suggestions:

play teams people have heard of. Montana and montana state aren't going to cut it alone. We'd be averaging at least 1k more attendance in the valley, because people would know who we are playing, care about who we are playing, and their fans would come in larger numbers, similar to montana this week. Same thing applies to basketball. Going to the BSC was a bad idea, outside of the name brands, there is noone of interest for the average midwesterner.

You can say we could have never gotten into the summit/mvfc, but we never even tried.

later games would help. I didn't drink friday but i did work, and getting out of bed and to the alerus was a struggle.

[Cratter]

Getting out of bed by two pm was a struggle for you?

[Let'sGoHawks!]

Getting out of bed by two pm was a struggle for you?

Wait til he has kids!

[geaux_sioux]

raze the REA

edit for realistic suggestions:

play teams people have heard of. Montana and montana state aren't going to cut it alone. We'd be averaging at least 1k more attendance in the valley, because people would know who we are playing, care about who we are playing, and their fans would come in larger numbers, similar to montana this week. Same thing applies to basketball. Going to the BSC was a bad idea, outside of the name brands, there is noone of interest for the average midwesterner.

You can say we could have never gotten into the summit/mvfc, but we never even tried.

later games would help. I didn't drink friday but i did work, and getting out of bed and to the alerus was a struggle.

People in Grand Forks would not care about Missouri St, Indiana St, Illinois St, Western Illinois, and Youngstown St. The only reason they might care about SIU would be because of Lennon. Obviously they'd care about the old NCC foes and NIU is the equivalent of Montana and Montana St.

[siouxforeverbaby]

Okay, I will bite.

Question 1 - 4, they show up, but there is no way that I should be able to hear the football team and cheerleaders on the other side of the Alerus over the student section when I am a section away from them. The Alerus is not that far away, I have walked it from Wilkie and it took maybe 10-15 minutes. I have also taken the shuttle and that took longer than walking. Like someone already said, $5 is not that much...especially if you get 4 other friends to come with you. All that means is that you can't buy one more beer at the bar that night and if you tailgate...you probably won't need that beer by the time that you get to the bar.

Question 2 - One question I have to fix this is where the heck was the "student section" for tailgating? Before the Homecoming game, I walked the tailgating area and I don't think that I ever found it. I don't think that requiring football attendance or basketball attendance is a good idea for getting lower bowl tickets at the Ralph. What if you have a person who has been a fan of UND hockey for their entire life and were never exposed to UND football (It can happen)? Or they are an aviation student, who can only find flying time on Saturdays? Are they supposed to be punished because they either don't know how exciting football can be at UND or because they have class requirements to get done?

I don't know if there is just one "fix" to this problem. I agree that Student Government, the Greek Life, and perhaps the Athletics dept could do more to help promote football to the students, which would help...but perhaps they also need to ask the students why they don't attend the games or stay for the entire game to come up with more solutions.

I do have this to say though and I have said it before...The Alerus is too far away is NOT an excuse. I did it for 5 years....you can do it now. The games being too early are NOT an excuse. Until my last year, 95% of games were at 1:00pm and I still made it there by 10:30 for tailgating, most of my older friends had been there since around 8. We have to get ready for hockey is NOT an excuse. You can do it, I have timed it...and had time for a brief supper before going over for hockey. Some of the excuses just don't hold up.

[mg2009]

Getting out of bed by two pm was a struggle for you?

i work til 4 am 5 nights a week while a full time student in a program you actually have to study for. Like alot of students, i'm beat by the time the weekend comes around.

[82SiouxGuy]

When UND moves out the Alerus what will that building be besides empty. Not too many concerts going there to keep it in the black.

Lots of trade shows and conventions, plus all of the other meetings and events. Last winter and spring the arena was booked every weekend from late January until early June except 2 or 3. The Alerus Center makes good money on UND football, but a lot of other things happen there that you don't have any clue about.

[Irish]

WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN

and improve tailgating and in game crowd participation and team intro

Couldn't agree more - the question is how long are we willing to wait - for each season of mediocrity, the way back gets harder.

[82SiouxGuy]

I am just thinking like a college student(devils advicate). I know I am not one but if I had a choice to walk to a game the REA is a hell of a lot closer than the Alerus. I like I am in walking distance to the Fargodome, and growing up I walked to the Hyslop, Memorial Stadium and the Ralph. I used to ride bike all over GF (ahh the 80's).

Most students aren't walking to the games. Most have cars or have access to cars or rides. Also, as has been repeated multiple times, there is a shuttle from campus so they don't have to walk if they don't want to walk. Actually, I would guess that a majority of students live off campus so that removes the excuse for a large group of students. Distance to REA versus distance to the Alerus Center depends on what part of campus you live. For students living on the west end of student housing or in all of those apartments between 42nd and the interstate it is probably pretty close or possibly closer to the Alerus Center. But most of them aren't walking anyway, so that isn't a big deal. If they want to go they can get there without a problem.

[geaux_sioux]

Couldn't agree more - the question is how long are we willing to wait - for each season of mediocrity, the way back gets harder.

Last season was not mediocre. Just a bit boring at times. This year has more fireworks than any season since 2007. My question is other than a perfect record and the #1 ranked defense offense and team in the nation, what more do fans want? There were so many times against Montana where an awesome huge play was made and most of the fans sat on their lazy asses and barely cheered. That crap pisses me off like non other. After the offense we had to watch last year you'd think fans would be ready to cheer but apparently only a few are.

[82SiouxGuy]

Couldn't agree more - the question is how long are we willing to wait - for each season of mediocrity, the way back gets harder.

It's the first year out of transition and the first year in the conference. Winning a league title this year was a pretty lofty goal and probably not realistic. NDSU didn't make the playoffs until the 3rd year in the MVFC and didn't win the conference title until the 4th year, and they supposedly had the best transition ever in the history of transitions. Being in the middle of the conference isn't the goal, and not where they should want to be long term. But it isn't an unexpected result for a team new to a conference and in the first year as a full member of Division I. UND needs to continue recruiting better players and improving the team. It looks like they probably have one more step to take to compete as one of the top teams in FCS. Then they have to keep doing it on a regular basis.

[Irish]

It's the first year out of transition and the first year in the conference. Winning a league title this year was a pretty lofty goal and probably not realistic. NDSU didn't make the playoffs until the 3rd year in the MVFC and didn't win the conference title until the 4th year, and they supposedly had the best transition ever in the history of transitions. Being in the middle of the conference isn't the goal, and not where they should want to be long term. But it isn't an unexpected result for a team new to a conference and in the first year as a full member of Division I. UND needs to continue recruiting better players and improving the team. It looks like they probably have one more step to take to compete as one of the top teams in FCS. Then they have to keep doing it on a regular basis.

Agree that it's the first year of full conference membership and we shouldn't expect to win it all. However, our transition has been lackluster, 8-3 last year with the worst schedule ever, nonwithstanding. NDSU had two 10-1 seasons where they could at least thump their chests and talk about how well they would have done in the playoffs and had several signature wins. If we don't see significant improvement over the next two years, it'll be a long way back. Remember how long it took to recover from the Burns years. I think many Sioux fans are readjusting their expectations downward at this point.

[82SiouxGuy]

Agree that it's the first year of full conference membership and we shouldn't expect to win it all. However, our transition has been lackluster, 8-3 last year with the worst schedule ever, nonwithstanding. NDSU had two 10-1 seasons where they could at least thump their chests and talk about how well they would have done in the playoffs and had several signature wins. If we don't see significant improvement over the next two years, it'll be a long way back. Remember how long it took to recover from the Burns years. I think many Sioux fans are readjusting their expectations downward at this point.

I don't think they should readjust their expectations long term. I just think that they should be realistic about getting there. NDSU is a tough comparison because they had a really good transition. If compared to most schools making the jump to DI, I would guess that UND did better than average. They arrived in the Big Sky competitive with most of the top teams, other than the Eastern Washington game that just went sideways. There is plenty of work to do, but I expect UND to make the playoffs one of the next couple of years. Hopefully they can figure out the defensive issues and be in the playoffs next year. I also expect UND to compete for football titles most years in the Big Sky and I expect them to compete for National titles just like the top teams in conferences like the Big Sky, the MVFC and the CAA. They just have to figure out the last couple of steps to get there.

[Vegas_Sioux]

Bring the band back to tailgating, nothing like seeing the pride of the north grill fired and ready to feed the band before pregame. Which (pregame) looks awesome but I might be a bit bias.

[geaux_sioux]

Agree that it's the first year of full conference membership and we shouldn't expect to win it all. However, our transition has been lackluster, 8-3 last year with the worst schedule ever, nonwithstanding. NDSU had two 10-1 seasons where they could at least thump their chests and talk about how well they would have done in the playoffs and had several signature wins. If we don't see significant improvement over the next two years, it'll be a long way back. Remember how long it took to recover from the Burns years. I think many Sioux fans are readjusting their expectations downward at this point.

We're an average defense away from being undefeated or a one loss team. This team is loaded on offense and has alot of young up and coming guys. The team has also had to fight through 3 huge injuries (Kleason, Hanson, McGill) and have done so admirably minus the EWU game. We only graduate a few key guys on offense and replace them with the top QB recruit in the history of the program and some massive young hogs. On defense we replace our dline with guys with plenty of experience and two stud fr in Edwards and Carrothers. The defense won't get worse than this year and we get rid of Mersereau's worthless ass so things are looking up. I think the team will be better next year and learn from the mistakes of earlier this season. I think you need to take off the brown tinted glasses.

[mg2009]

We're an average defense away from being undefeated or a one loss team. This team is loaded on offense and has alot of young up and coming guys. The team has also had to fight through 3 huge injuries (Kleason, Hanson, McGill) and have done so admirably minus the EWU game. We only graduate a few key guys on offense and replace them with the top QB recruit in the history of the program and some massive young hogs. On defense we replace our dline with guys with plenty of experience and two stud fr in Edwards and Carrothers. The defense won't get worse than this year and we get rid of Mersereau's worthless ass so things are looking up. I think the team will be better next year and learn from the mistakes of earlier this season. I think you need to take off the brown tinted glasses.

So all UND loses is its starting qb, backup qb, and only good running back on offense, and we get to break in a brand new QB with zero game experience ? We're set!

[Sioux2007]

I think the problem is the large Alerus Center logos on the field. Make the field look like it's ours with the itnterlocking ND at the 50 yrd line. HA!!!

[geaux_sioux]

So all UND loses is its starting qb, backup qb, and only good running back on offense, and we get to break in a brand new QB with zero game experience ? We're set!

Mollberg is the real deal. We lose Sutton, big deal. We lose Lynch who is a really good hog. We lose a great qb and a very good one. We'll plug in new guys and be fine.

[UND-FB-FAN]

Next season, neither Jake Miller nor Jer Garmin will be starting at RB; there will be a transfer or JUCO player - I can almost guarantee it. Mussman has made it known in the last couple of weeks that the talent level needs improvement. I'd say he definitely looks for a runningback, defensive back, and even a JUCO QB to add depth.

[homer]

Next season, neither Jake Miller nor Jer Garmin will be starting at RB; there will be a transfer or JUCO player - I can almost guarantee it. Mussman has made it known in the last couple of weeks that the talent level needs improvement. I'd say he definitely looks for a runningback, defensive back, and even a JUCO QB to add depth.

This leads to something I was thinking on the drive back from Grand Forks after the game. UND returns 5 WR's next season and has 2 talented RFr. that will be getting playing time. If I'm an FBS QB who is looking to transfer this year for whatever reason, with the HUGE numbers Hanson has put up this season, knowing that you have all these WR coming back and pretty much an entire starting Oline returning, UND has to be a school you look at right? I know we have Molberg and Bartels who I think one of the two is going to be a stud but if another Braden Hanson comes knocking and we need to add an older QB, we take a look right.

Also, I agree, I think 3 positions se a JUCO this year. Running back, DB and LB. I have no problem trying to plug a hole going that route as a temperary fix but we didn't put to much focus on the secondary recruiting last season and we need to start to develop some players there.

[geaux_sioux]

Next season, neither Jake Miller nor Jer Garmin will be starting at RB; there will be a transfer or JUCO player - I can almost guarantee it. Mussman has made it known in the last couple of weeks that the talent level needs improvement. I'd say he definitely looks for a runningback, defensive back, and even a JUCO QB to add depth.

I don't see qb as a huge area of need. Mollberg will be really really good. I've seen him make some throws that 18 year olds shouldn't be able to make when I saw him in fall camp. A nice rb would be awesome.

[geaux_sioux]

This leads to something I was thinking on the drive back from Grand Forks after the game. UND returns 5 WR's next season and has 2 talented RFr. that will be getting playing time. If I'm an FBS QB who is looking to transfer this year for whatever reason, with the HUGE numbers Hanson has put up this season, knowing that you have all these WR coming back and pretty much an entire starting Oline returning, UND has to be a school you look at right? I know we have Molberg and Bartels who I think one of the two is going to be a stud but if another Braden Hanson comes knocking and we need to add an older QB, we take a look right.

Also, I agree, I think 3 positions se a JUCO this year. Running back, DB and LB. I have no problem trying to plug a hole going that route as a temperary fix but we didn't put to much focus on the secondary recruiting last season and we need to start to develop some players there.

Plugging holes worked really well for ndsu at db and lb.

[UND-FB-FAN]

I don't see qb as a huge area of need. Mollberg will be really really good. I've seen him make some throws that 18 year olds shouldn't be able to make when I saw him in fall camp. A nice rb would be awesome.

Need depth. A lot of stress put on the coaching staff this year with that so I can ensure they make that a non-issue next season and add another QB, probably JUCO but could also be a recruit. Hanson from Grafton likely won't be on the team next season.

[geaux_sioux]

I'd welcome a good drop down but want no part in another juco qb, no thanks.

[bincitysioux]

My take:

Student attendance and participation has actually been a very pleasant surprise for me this season for the most part, considering what I've witnessed over the course of the last 4-5 years.

Last Saturday against Montana was the first time this year I've been disappointed by the turnout. Having said that, I was disappointed with the entire turnout for that game. Not so much by the total number (~9,300) but by the break-down.

Prior to the Griz game, the Alerus roughly has had:

-1,500 to 2,500 students

-100 to 300 fans of the opposition

-Around 9,000 total fans

For the Griz game, the Alerus roughly had:

-1,000 students

-2,000 to 3,000 fans of the oppostion

-Aroung 9,000 total fans

That tells me that alot of prospective fans, whether they be students, season ticket holders, or casual fans didn't show up last Saturday.

As far as student attendance....................I don't want to hear any BS about the Alerus being too far away. If you're near Wilkerson and you have class in Witmer you get there either by foot or by automobile. If you're in Swanson and you have class at Clifford you get there either by foot or by automobile. Sure, there is housing East of Columbia Rd. that would be quite a trek to the Alerus. There is also alot of housing West of Wilkerson that was quite a trek to Memorial.

Fact is, the casual fans, whether they be students, high-rollers, the average Joe, loyal Alums.................other than the rubes like us, they are not going to turn out for the games unless they know they can expect to see a big win.