Post by longtimebooster on Nov 15, 2012 10:13:14 GMT -8
There has been much gnashing of the teeth about current fball attendance. And rightfully so. But before we panic and start inviting Diamonds in the Rough to play at halftime, let's take a deep breath, review the history of Aztec hoops and fball in San Diego, and consider a few things.
* A look at hoops attendance is very enlightening. I was on the AAF Board in the late '80s and early '90s and became very close to the AD Miller, the hoops coach Brandenburg, and then Fuller, Trenkel and Bay. I can't tell you how many times I sat having a beer with those guys or with their assistant coaches (Trenkel didn't drink) and discussing the issue of poor hoops attendance. I told them that San Diego wasn't a bad basketball town, it was just a town with bad basketball. One doesn't follow the other. I then told them about Smokey's 5 or 6-year run when he had Cage, Gwynn, Watson, Allen, et. al., and won himself a WAC Championship and NIT and NCAA Tourney invites. I told them about how hoops was probably one big season away from establishing a program and packing the Sports Aroma every night. I also told them about how the team had about a dozen games over a two year period where there were 8k to 9k at the Sports Arena during games with UNM, UTEP, Villanova, etc., and the place was absolutely rocking. They were all astonished to hear that and looked at me like I was from Mars. I said that fans would come to the games, but the product needed to be much better than average. They needed two or three 20+ win season to win people back and get them excited. The general consensus I got back during these conversations was incredulity, mixed with the firm believe that even if you hired John Wooden and won 30 games, fan support would always be mediocre because San Diego wasn't a hoops town. I never once bought into that, and thank goodness neither did Fisher.
* Football, at least, has a tradition in San Diego. And just like hoops, there needs to be at least three or four solid years in a row to bring the fans back. One of the reasons I attended SDSU was because of the fball team. I visited both UCSD and SDSU during my senior year. UCSD was quite possibly the most boring place on the planet. SDSU was a blast. The other thing that caught my attention was how just about everyone I met talked about how much fun the fball games were. It was the February after the big win in '77 over Florida St. I kid you not, at least half the students in every dorm had their ticket stubs from that game tacked to their doors. It was crazy. And everyone talked about how great that game was. It sealed the deal for me. The '78 season was a bit of a bust (still had about 40k at each game, though), but the '79 season was killer. There were some phenomenal games (Miami, Wisconsin, Arizona, etc.) Attendance ranged between 35k to 50k for each game. All the students would show up 3 hours before the game for keggers in the parking lot. Just grab 30 or 40 of your friends, find someone with a pickup truck, pick up a 3 or 4 kegs, bring a hibachi, a football and someone with a great car stereo to blast, and you're in business. The final game of the year was epic. It was the infamous BYU-SDSU game for the WAC Championship. Unfortunately, it was on T-giving weekend and most of the students were dispersed. I believe the official attendance was about 58k, but I can tell you the stadium was sold out. There wasn't an empty seat (capacity was 63k). It was easy to sneak in back then, plus lots of students who were out of town gave their ticks or ID cards to friends who definitely went to the game. The first 5 minutes of that game was as loud of a sporting event as I've been to in San Diego. (Would've been incredibly loud for the entire game, except for Marc Wilson's four TD passes in the first quarter.) The point is this: The problem isn't the Q, or the fans, or the beaches, or the sunshine, or the students. Rather, just like hoops, it's mostly the product. And Aztec fans have been burned so often, they're going to need more than a couple flash-in-the-pan seasons to become believers. The Hoke/Long regime definitely has the program on the right track. But now Rocky needs to close the deal, just like Fisher did. Luggie almost closed the deal, but just couldn't. There were AT LEAST 8 games under Luggie where if SDSU would've won, the Aztecs would've sold out the stadium for three or four games following. Yet we couldn't beat Miami, couldn't beat BYU, couldn't beat USC, couldn't beat Fresno St., etc., etc., etc. Luggie lost virtually every big game and potentially program-changing game he had a chance to. It was uncanny. But make no mistake. The opportunity was there. Had Luggie won just half of those big games, Faulk would've had a Heisman, SDSU would probably be in the Pac-12, and we'd be putting 60k fans in the seats each Sat. Seriously.
* Now that everyone agrees that we've completely squandered a quarter century, what's next? For starters, Long needs to close the deal. How does he do that? First, he needs to run the table this year in convincing fashion. He needs to thump Wyoming and then take BYU to the woodshed. Show the community that not only does he have a decent team, he has the foundation for a great team. He needs to finish the season in the Top 25 and gain momentum for next year. No missed field goals. No muffed punts. No bad calls by the refs. No Chad Bunn's. No excuses. Just git 'er done. If Rocky & Co. can do that, then the world is their oyster. They really do have a great foundation coming back. They have some pizzaz and marketable players for the next season -- namely Dingwell and Muema. Those are guys who will get a lot of hype and who people will want to come out and see. But Rocky can't rest on his laurels. He and his staff need to build on their success and go out and land one of the best recruiting classes in the history of SDSU. He needs to go get some BCS-quality studs to fill the gaps and take the team to the next level in 2013. IF -- and that's a big IF -- Rocky is able to do those things, we'll have a killer team next year. Like hoops, we might even start the season ranked. If the team can get out of the gate 3-1 or even 4-0 (big upset of OSU?), then the Aztecs can be pretty much assured of closing the season with an average attendance of 50k+. Might even get 60k for a couple of big games (Boise St., etc.) Seriously, it could happen. But at this point, it's 90% up to the team and its coaches, not the marketing department and not Neil Diamond.
'Nuff said.
* A look at hoops attendance is very enlightening. I was on the AAF Board in the late '80s and early '90s and became very close to the AD Miller, the hoops coach Brandenburg, and then Fuller, Trenkel and Bay. I can't tell you how many times I sat having a beer with those guys or with their assistant coaches (Trenkel didn't drink) and discussing the issue of poor hoops attendance. I told them that San Diego wasn't a bad basketball town, it was just a town with bad basketball. One doesn't follow the other. I then told them about Smokey's 5 or 6-year run when he had Cage, Gwynn, Watson, Allen, et. al., and won himself a WAC Championship and NIT and NCAA Tourney invites. I told them about how hoops was probably one big season away from establishing a program and packing the Sports Aroma every night. I also told them about how the team had about a dozen games over a two year period where there were 8k to 9k at the Sports Arena during games with UNM, UTEP, Villanova, etc., and the place was absolutely rocking. They were all astonished to hear that and looked at me like I was from Mars. I said that fans would come to the games, but the product needed to be much better than average. They needed two or three 20+ win season to win people back and get them excited. The general consensus I got back during these conversations was incredulity, mixed with the firm believe that even if you hired John Wooden and won 30 games, fan support would always be mediocre because San Diego wasn't a hoops town. I never once bought into that, and thank goodness neither did Fisher.
* Football, at least, has a tradition in San Diego. And just like hoops, there needs to be at least three or four solid years in a row to bring the fans back. One of the reasons I attended SDSU was because of the fball team. I visited both UCSD and SDSU during my senior year. UCSD was quite possibly the most boring place on the planet. SDSU was a blast. The other thing that caught my attention was how just about everyone I met talked about how much fun the fball games were. It was the February after the big win in '77 over Florida St. I kid you not, at least half the students in every dorm had their ticket stubs from that game tacked to their doors. It was crazy. And everyone talked about how great that game was. It sealed the deal for me. The '78 season was a bit of a bust (still had about 40k at each game, though), but the '79 season was killer. There were some phenomenal games (Miami, Wisconsin, Arizona, etc.) Attendance ranged between 35k to 50k for each game. All the students would show up 3 hours before the game for keggers in the parking lot. Just grab 30 or 40 of your friends, find someone with a pickup truck, pick up a 3 or 4 kegs, bring a hibachi, a football and someone with a great car stereo to blast, and you're in business. The final game of the year was epic. It was the infamous BYU-SDSU game for the WAC Championship. Unfortunately, it was on T-giving weekend and most of the students were dispersed. I believe the official attendance was about 58k, but I can tell you the stadium was sold out. There wasn't an empty seat (capacity was 63k). It was easy to sneak in back then, plus lots of students who were out of town gave their ticks or ID cards to friends who definitely went to the game. The first 5 minutes of that game was as loud of a sporting event as I've been to in San Diego. (Would've been incredibly loud for the entire game, except for Marc Wilson's four TD passes in the first quarter.) The point is this: The problem isn't the Q, or the fans, or the beaches, or the sunshine, or the students. Rather, just like hoops, it's mostly the product. And Aztec fans have been burned so often, they're going to need more than a couple flash-in-the-pan seasons to become believers. The Hoke/Long regime definitely has the program on the right track. But now Rocky needs to close the deal, just like Fisher did. Luggie almost closed the deal, but just couldn't. There were AT LEAST 8 games under Luggie where if SDSU would've won, the Aztecs would've sold out the stadium for three or four games following. Yet we couldn't beat Miami, couldn't beat BYU, couldn't beat USC, couldn't beat Fresno St., etc., etc., etc. Luggie lost virtually every big game and potentially program-changing game he had a chance to. It was uncanny. But make no mistake. The opportunity was there. Had Luggie won just half of those big games, Faulk would've had a Heisman, SDSU would probably be in the Pac-12, and we'd be putting 60k fans in the seats each Sat. Seriously.
* Now that everyone agrees that we've completely squandered a quarter century, what's next? For starters, Long needs to close the deal. How does he do that? First, he needs to run the table this year in convincing fashion. He needs to thump Wyoming and then take BYU to the woodshed. Show the community that not only does he have a decent team, he has the foundation for a great team. He needs to finish the season in the Top 25 and gain momentum for next year. No missed field goals. No muffed punts. No bad calls by the refs. No Chad Bunn's. No excuses. Just git 'er done. If Rocky & Co. can do that, then the world is their oyster. They really do have a great foundation coming back. They have some pizzaz and marketable players for the next season -- namely Dingwell and Muema. Those are guys who will get a lot of hype and who people will want to come out and see. But Rocky can't rest on his laurels. He and his staff need to build on their success and go out and land one of the best recruiting classes in the history of SDSU. He needs to go get some BCS-quality studs to fill the gaps and take the team to the next level in 2013. IF -- and that's a big IF -- Rocky is able to do those things, we'll have a killer team next year. Like hoops, we might even start the season ranked. If the team can get out of the gate 3-1 or even 4-0 (big upset of OSU?), then the Aztecs can be pretty much assured of closing the season with an average attendance of 50k+. Might even get 60k for a couple of big games (Boise St., etc.) Seriously, it could happen. But at this point, it's 90% up to the team and its coaches, not the marketing department and not Neil Diamond.
'Nuff said.
