TAMUK- Will it ever recover?

[LSC Fan]

It safe to say the balance of this decade has been a crap show at TAMUK/A&I. Really compared to most programs who have a long, storied history. Or ones who would love to establish such history, the apathy is a mile wide and a mile deep. And the play on the field speaks for itself. Frankly my days of caring are coming to a close here real soon because the sense of urgency from the President of this school down to the fan and alumni base just is not there. I want to be proved wrong, but since 2012 we only have one season in that time span where we looked like a program on the rise. The rest of the time looked like last night in Portales where we gave up 564 yards. If the Hounds had not come out somewhat flat after the storm delay, they could have done much better on the yards stat as well as the points on the scoreboard.

Most of the upper tier in our conference and around D2 are constantly doing something to attract and retain quality recruits If you don't believe me, look at Eastern New Mexico for example who used to be an auto W on most of our schedules who were considered upper tier once upon a time. They got a nice stadium now and they are no longer just a W on everyone's schedule. I'm confident WTAM will be back in the top tier with what they have on their campus now. We get to hear on a weekly basis via our athletic department distributed newspaper about facility upgrades at programs all over the country and I really don't think the light bulb goes off down on the crap we have and why we are not advocating plans of our own. Or the same for many in our fan and alumni base. Again apathy is like a chronic illness and it's winning the battle and we might as well let the war be won. To cut to the chase, the break the glass moment is long passed and it will take a half a decade of longer moment to rebuild this thing. And it wouldn't be fair to bring in another good man (which Coach Wilk is) and make promises of giving him all the tools he needs when he REALLY won't have all the tools he needs.

So without a plan going forward, I think we should just something radical and shut the thing down and dedicate it to sports that we can be competitive in. Let's just do what some others do and get really good in baseball (done well here as is) and basketball and be done with it. The girls volleyball program is moving upwards and the softball program showed it has the ability to make itself a national power, so inject the cash there as well. Start swimming, men's tennis and golf and give the track and field ( another sport we have made a mark in) the cash flow as well and all that has been done in Javelina Stadium on the football field can all be memories we can talk about going into our older years. It wouldn't be the first time, not the last time a program shut down. WTAM did it for a few years and look at them now. Lamar and UTA both did it and Lamar did come back when the apathy broke with their fan and alumni base. Let's just do it because we are just pouring money down a bottomless pit with no mission other than maintaining the status quo.

Does the NCAA sponsor Cricket? Oh our athletic fees went to build some nice facilities for that sport as well.

[DIIguru]

ENMU turned their program around before getting a new stadium. They went 8-3 LSC co champs, 7-4, 6-5 in the 3 years before the new stadium. They are also only funded for 25 or so scholarships so not sure they are a great example. They just do a lot with what they have

[Boohaha]

ENMU turned their program around before getting a new stadium. They went 8-3 LSC co champs, 7-4, 6-5 in the 3 years before the new stadium. They are also only funded for 25 or so scholarships so not sure they are a great example. They just do a lot with what they have

I agree,

Eastern recruits a different kind of athlete, they love the under dog, additiinally they recruit the state of NM well, really well.

The hoggies need to find their neich again, see what kinds of athletes they can get and run a system that fits them.

[lantana]

Couple of thoughts.....

No. 1, I agree with LSC Fan in principle (need new facilities, etc.), but I do believe we can still attract good athletes, and this year is a good example... The current roster has a ton of good athletes IMO, but coaching is suspect, and that is the difference. For example, now that we have a top notch punter on hand, we still have trouble on deep snaps, and this is the THIRD straight year of that. High snaps = delay on getting punts off = generate blocks or short distance punts...and couple that with rugby, sideways running punts, and the result is a mess. That is coaching, not quality of players since we have one of the best punters in Texas on hand. Also, why did we redshirt him in year one rather than play him? Nothing gained IMO in having an excellent punter red-shirt when we could have used that extra distance last year.

And, don't get me started on OL...we now have one player on OL who just cannot block, and on many downs absolutely (and I mean absolutely) does not touch a single defensive player, and I could go on and on.... And, again I mention, why are we using 5'10" QB's (two of them) in behind an OL of 6'3" to 6'5" lineman, while trying to play a pro-style drop back offense. Why did we not go to a run/pass option offense 2, 3 years ago once we signed the shorter than 6' QB's, and, and,.....

No 2., We are now getting kicked on defense (ENMU), whereas prior to this we had only a marginal offense. Now, we are just being killed on both sides of ball... If the option offense is tearing us up, and we do not have the facilities to attract better players, then why not adopt the option or wishbone offense, just as ENMU has in place, and which has proven successful over the years at Georgia Tech, the three military academies, and so on?

No. 3. I do agree that we need better facilities, but that is not the sole reason we are suffering. We have good if not excellent players, but our various O and D schemes seem out of whack... I am old enough to recall the "fear" of having to sent the Hogs to ENMU knowing they were going to play the option against us, and even tho we won a lot, that offense is great when your facilities and geographic location are suspect (read ENMU at Blackwater Draw). And, I do recall the days when we ran the option into a long winning streak (the Richard Ritchie days), so maybe we need to go that route again....?

Just some thoughts, not too happy with the way this season is going...

lantana

[Boohaha]

Couple of thoughts.....

No. 1, I agree with LSC Fan in principle (need new facilities, etc.), but I do believe we can still attract good athletes, and this year is a good example... The current roster has a ton of good athletes IMO, but coaching is suspect, and that is the difference. For example, now that we have a top notch punter on hand, we still have trouble on deep snaps, and this is the THIRD straight year of that. High snaps = delay on getting punts off = generate blocks or short distance punts...and couple that with rugby, sideways running punts, and the result is a mess. That is coaching, not quality of players since we have one of the best punters in Texas on hand. Also, why did we redshirt him in year one rather than play him? Nothing gained IMO in having an excellent punter red-shirt when we could have used that extra distance last year.

And, don't get me started on OL...we now have one player on OL who just cannot block, and on many downs absolutely (and I mean absolutely) does not touch a single defensive player, and I could go on and on.... And, again I mention, why are we using 5'10" QB's (two of them) in behind an OL of 6'3" to 6'5" lineman, while trying to play a pro-style drop back offense. Why did we not go to a run/pass option offense 2, 3 years ago once we signed the shorter than 6' QB's, and, and,.....

No 2., We are now getting kicked on defense (ENMU), whereas prior to this we had only a marginal offense. Now, we are just being killed on both sides of ball... If the option offense is tearing us up, and we do not have the facilities to attract better players, then why not adopt the option or wishbone offense, just as ENMU has in place, and which has proven successful over the years at Georgia Tech, the three military academies, and so on?

No. 3. I do agree that we need better facilities, but that is not the sole reason we are suffering. We have good if not excellent players, but our various O and D schemes seem out of whack... I am old enough to recall the "fear" of having to sent the Hogs to ENMU knowing they were going to play the option against us, and even tho we won a lot, that offense is great when your facilities and geographic location are suspect (read ENMU at Blackwater Draw). And, I do recall the days when we ran the option into a long winning streak (the Richard Ritchie days), so maybe we need to go that route again....?

Just some thoughts, not too happy with the way this season is going...

lantana

That's what im saying, the Kingsville qb's looked plenty mobile, and the 2 outside receivers are pretty dang good esp number 5, you make the defense have to account for a mobile qb and it changes the game significantly.

Rotating 3 qbs is the dumbest thing i have ever seen, I could see having a set package for certain specific situations, short yardage, goal line, think bell dozer from ou. But the repeated rotation just did not make sense.

Midwestern has made a good living out of the spread option, its not as committed to the run game that ENMU's system is but its not a pro style drop back pass type either....

[javs26]

The Kingsville QBs are horrible. They just plain suck but Wilkinson's offense is just plain vanilla. I did not watch the game last night and will not watch another game this year. Hopefully most fans stop going to the games and stop watching. That is already happening. No one cares and should care about this garbage that is being put on the field. This has to be Wilkinson's last year but like LSC Fan has said in the past and myself, without upgrades the football program is going no where because they will not be able to attract a good coach or players.

[LSC Fan]

ENMU turned their program around before getting a new stadium. They went 8-3 LSC co champs, 7-4, 6-5 in the 3 years before the new stadium. They are also only funded for 25 or so scholarships so not sure they are a great example. They just do a lot with what they have

I know the current turnaround began before the new stadium and the schollie limit is still in place. But it probably helped big time with stability and like I said, you are not an auto W for the top tier anymore as they better be prepared to play you all at home and away. The ENM staff has done a wonderful job molding the program around it's strengths. It just needs to take that next step and getting to 36 schollies might help do that eventually.

[LSC Fan]

Couple of thoughts.....

No. 1, I agree with LSC Fan in principle (need new facilities, etc.), but I do believe we can still attract good athletes, and this year is a good example... The current roster has a ton of good athletes IMO, but coaching is suspect, and that is the difference. For example, now that we have a top notch punter on hand, we still have trouble on deep snaps, and this is the THIRD straight year of that. High snaps = delay on getting punts off = generate blocks or short distance punts...and couple that with rugby, sideways running punts, and the result is a mess. That is coaching, not quality of players since we have one of the best punters in Texas on hand. Also, why did we redshirt him in year one rather than play him? Nothing gained IMO in having an excellent punter red-shirt when we could have used that extra distance last year.

And, don't get me started on OL...we now have one player on OL who just cannot block, and on many downs absolutely (and I mean absolutely) does not touch a single defensive player, and I could go on and on.... And, again I mention, why are we using 5'10" QB's (two of them) in behind an OL of 6'3" to 6'5" lineman, while trying to play a pro-style drop back offense. Why did we not go to a run/pass option offense 2, 3 years ago once we signed the shorter than 6' QB's, and, and,.....

No 2., We are now getting kicked on defense (ENMU), whereas prior to this we had only a marginal offense. Now, we are just being killed on both sides of ball... If the option offense is tearing us up, and we do not have the facilities to attract better players, then why not adopt the option or wishbone offense, just as ENMU has in place, and which has proven successful over the years at Georgia Tech, the three military academies, and so on?

No. 3. I do agree that we need better facilities, but that is not the sole reason we are suffering. We have good if not excellent players, but our various O and D schemes seem out of whack... I am old enough to recall the "fear" of having to sent the Hogs to ENMU knowing they were going to play the option against us, and even tho we won a lot, that offense is great when your facilities and geographic location are suspect (read ENMU at Blackwater Draw). And, I do recall the days when we ran the option into a long winning streak (the Richard Ritchie days), so maybe we need to go that route again....?

Just some thoughts, not too happy with the way this season is going...

lantana

As usual Lantana brings in a great perspective.

Somewhere along the line and I think this goes back to the Bo Atterberry days in the earlier part of this decade when the decline began, the coaching staff were discouraged from casting a wider net when it came to recruiting which coincided with the decision to redirect schollie dollars . The push was to get more local athletes and thus quality depth took a hit and even getting quality starters took a harder hit. I think our current staff bought into the hype some of the local players , namely a few who have been given a chance at certain skill slots including QB. But it might be the best they can do considering the circumstances, so part of me would like to give the staff the benefit of the doubt. But Lantana is 100% correct about not adjusting the offenses to play to their strengths. Dyal came from the same High School system that produced Manziel and a couple of other college QB's who quietly made a good career from themselves at the next level. I watched him and those QB's play my local high school more than a few times in the playoffs and it's run and gun and if he can find the open target right away while scrambling , it's off to the races. He and Detmer to be fair are not drop back passers by training.

The play of the O-line and the entire defense goes back the lack of depth issue. Getting beat up by a run dominated offense almost requires a good two deep especially on the D-line and LB slots. Our one deep is not very good at all and I fear what MSU, Commerce and Tarleton are going to do to us in the coming weeks. I somewhat disagree with Lantana about the good athletes thing at least when it comes to the O-line. We have been horribly undersized and physically manhandled too many times in the last few seasons. Again, look where those athletes are coming from and what competition they had to face most of their high school years compared to where our LSC counterparts are getting their big uglies and the difference is like night of day. It goes back to the push to go local. Same goes for our D-line where we do have some good athletes, but we need a two deep full of them or at least remarkably better than what we are attracting currently.

[Techster88]

ENMU turned their program around before getting a new stadium. They went 8-3 LSC co champs, 7-4, 6-5 in the 3 years before the new stadium. They are also only funded for 25 or so scholarships so not sure they are a great example. They just do a lot with what they have

['89HOG]

YES!!!

[LSC Fan]

What changed that catapulted Tarleton?

That's a very good observation. Recall it wasn't too long ago Commerce was a laughing stock as well.

So I guess things can be turned around down here? But.........

[JavsFan]

Does the NCAA sponsor Cricket? Oh our athletic fees went to build some nice facilities for that sport as well.

That is just flat out false. This is the same kind of misinformation that the aptly named Dick Watson spews out. It is meant to inflame, not inform, and destroys credibility.


The intramural facilities (including the cricket fields) are paid for by a recreation sports fee, not from the athletics fee. There was a student referendum in 2014 that included two proposals. One was for the rec sports fee which would fund the rec sports complex and second vote to increase the athletic fee to $20 per hour (max 13 hours). There was a strong turnout because of the rec fee, primarily for the cricket fields. The referendums and fee increases passed overwhelmingly.




The junior high drama club hysterics have gotten old. As much as I hate seeing the football team struggling, reading all the pants-****ting posts on here is 100 times worse. I will continue to support the program, and I will continue to offer my opinions to admin face to face, but I doubt I'll be around the MB any more. I see why a few long term supporters don't come around either.

['89HOG]

That is just flat out false. This is the same kind of misinformation that the aptly named Dick Watson spews out. It is meant to inflame, not inform, and destroys credibility.


The intramural facilities (including the cricket fields) are paid for by a recreation sports fee, not from the athletics fee. There was a student referendum in 2014 that included two proposals. One was for the rec sports fee which would fund the rec sports complex and second vote to increase the athletic fee to $20 per hour (max 13 hours). There was a strong turnout because of the rec fee, primarily for the cricket fields. The referendums and fee increases passed overwhelmingly.




The junior high drama club hysterics have gotten old. As much as I hate seeing the football team struggling, reading all the pants-****ting posts on here is 100 times worse. I will continue to support the program, and I will continue to offer my opinions to admin face to face, but I doubt I'll be around the MB any more. I see why a few long term supporters don't come around either.

I remember lurking on the MB since as early as '04 and read a lot of posts before I finally joined in '07. ACU & WT fans were joining left & right due to their success and I I decided to finally join to show my loyalty and not be counted as a fair-weather fan in the event our new HC would turn the ship around. 12 very humbling years later and I'm still watching in disbelief. I know nothing about the internal happenings of our program. I'm grateful when some of you would provide information on PMs. I'm planning a trip for the WOU game and hope to see you guys there.


GO HOGS!!!

[LSC Fan]

That is just flat out false. This is the same kind of misinformation that the aptly named Dick Watson spews out. It is meant to inflame, not inform, and destroys credibility.


The intramural facilities (including the cricket fields) are paid for by a recreation sports fee, not from the athletics fee. There was a student referendum in 2014 that included two proposals. One was for the rec sports fee which would fund the rec sports complex and second vote to increase the athletic fee to $20 per hour (max 13 hours). There was a strong turnout because of the rec fee, primarily for the cricket fields. The referendums and fee increases passed overwhelmingly.




The junior high drama club hysterics have gotten old. As much as I hate seeing the football team struggling, reading all the pants-****ting posts on here is 100 times worse. I will continue to support the program, and I will continue to offer my opinions to admin face to face, but I doubt I'll be around the MB any more. I see why a few long term supporters don't come around either.

So where is the increase in athletic fees going to? If I got it wrong, I'll fess up. The point is we increased fees for something and little to none appears to be going to the football program. All of these Capital Fund Raising Programs we were are told have raise millions of dollars for the university and not one bleep from the movers and shakers or the administration on what if anything is going to be done.

And it's not "Junior High Drama Club" hysterics. It's calling it like it is. Talking the administration down there is absolutely worthless because they don't listen to us little people who are not part of the club down there. Some of us who don't have access like you have good ideas too, but we get written off.


It shouldn't be up to anyone on this board or anywhere to have to address the issues "face to face." Right now the program is almost Category 5 hurricane mess, 8.0 earthquake zone, or whatever disaster area you want to compare it to and the administration just sits there as they have the last six or seven years while our counterparts are proactive. And we are supposed to keep quiet? I guess so.........

Here's the deal so you and the rest of the long term supporters can have your time on this forum. I will deactivate my profile and forever be gone.

I'm calling it a day.

[Techster88]

That is just flat out false. This is the same kind of misinformation that the aptly named Dick Watson spews out. It is meant to inflame, not inform, and destroys credibility.


The intramural facilities (including the cricket fields) are paid for by a recreation sports fee, not from the athletics fee. There was a student referendum in 2014 that included two proposals. One was for the rec sports fee which would fund the rec sports complex and second vote to increase the athletic fee to $20 per hour (max 13 hours). There was a strong turnout because of the rec fee, primarily for the cricket fields. The referendums and fee increases passed overwhelmingly.




The junior high drama club hysterics have gotten old. As much as I hate seeing the football team struggling, reading all the pants-****ting posts on here is 100 times worse. I will continue to support the program, and I will continue to offer my opinions to admin face to face, but I doubt I'll be around the MB any more. I see why a few long term supporters don't come around either.

Not sure what planet you are on but if I was an alum of TAMUK I would be tired of being an also ran, lackey or second class citizen or fill in the blank yourself. The only way any of this makes sense is if the admin is thinking of no longer sponsoring football.