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I saw Underwood's son is joining SMSU in a GA role after a playing career at UWEC. Kinda cool.
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This comment from a recent commit was in a St. Cloud LIVE story:
"Ever since Coach Underwood went to Southwest he has helped change the team culture down there. Every single player and coach wants to win and that's evident when you visit with them."
The kid's HS coach was Phillip Klaphake and he was teammates with Patterson's kid, who redshirted at SMSU this year.Comment
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Not sure if this was mentioned yet or somewhere else but I see Nebraska Kearney is at SMSU next yearComment
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My count is up to 32 as of this morning, with the latest two coming from the regional footprint of Arizona.Originally posted by Stanger86 View PostComment
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Wednesday will be interesting -- I wiss there was a social with highlights etc. but the reality is most folks wouldn't show up anyway so I don't blame the coaches and admin for banging that - fan interest is just low and it isn't because they don't like Scott - just low interest which is weird because it has never been like this in my 25 years in town. Not sure what to make of itComment
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I should qualify this some. People pay attention. they listen to the weekly radio show, they follow on social media, they go to games as our attendance is decent (and we had 4 hoops games in a row with good crowds) but there are not many hard core fans any more. younger generation is just different. Hard for us old timers to put a finger on itOriginally posted by MrMustang View PostComment
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That's kinda just life as a small D2 suitcase college with not much tradition and ambiance. Kids come, go to school, get the degree, and leave town.Originally posted by MrMustang View Post
That being said, I do agree - it seems like people aren't as interested as they once were. I think there's a few reasons for that. Pandemic might be the biggest driver - which seemed to really hit the basketball program hard especially. The spark that the football program had in 2013-2017 was snuffed out too and ended on a whimper. Underwood inherited a bad program and has to manage it under new transfer portal rules.
It's a perfect storm more than anything, IMO. I don't make it to campus a whole lot anymore, but I have noticed that there seems to be some more student attendance. Especially in volleyball, that was the biggest change.Comment
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you are spot on about 2020. Really hurt SMSU sports and interest and it is a slow grind back. Wish it was not the case, but it is.Originally posted by SW_Mustang View Post
Worst part is the administration was full bore on with lockdown and closure and didn't buck MnSCU at all.Comment
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What I'm curious about is why it hit the basketball program so hard, much harder than others. We had very solid attendance and have since retracted, at least it's dull whenever I can go now.Originally posted by MrMustang View Post
Did people find other things to do during 2020 and decide not to come back? I know the Hawaiian Night debacle didn't help things. It used to be "the show" in Marshall during winter weekends. And it's not like we've been football team awful on the court either.
It's a head scratcher, and an uphill battle. I'm a believer that crowd size matters..Last edited by SW_Mustang; 02-06-2024, 06:15 PM.Comment
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I think another thing to keep in mind regarding basketball attendance is the stupid change to half of the doubleheaders. Sometimes consistency is the most important thing, even as little as being able to count on the men's game starting at 7:30. It's also worth noting that this is a nationwide issue, not just at SMSU. We are still 16th in D2 attendance, which is pretty close to on par with where we've usually been. Our average attendance is literally ONE off from where it was five seasons ago. That year we were 25th in D2. Northern's reported attendance is down by over 1,200 in that time, but still hanging on to first place. Augie is down by 1k as well.Originally posted by SW_Mustang View Post
But anyways, back to football...Comment
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One more commitment known today makes 35 that I expect to sign come tomorrow. Will be interesting to see how many "silent commits" we end up with, if any...Comment
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Combination of things.Originally posted by SW_Mustang View Post
It is cold in winter and people got conditioned to watching online when they couldn't go in person. People got used to it and it is easier to sit at home and watch for free than trek out in the cold and also pay to go.
there are also less kids on campus despite the administration touting increased enrollment. Yes, enrollment is up but the number on campus is not. So there are just less students on campus which hurts attendance.
Having men play first also hurt attendance for sure on Friday nights.
Hawaiian Night also did not help. Yep, we can say people should get over it, but that is not what it is about. It is more about the administration taking its customers for granted and thumbing their nose at them. The "we know better than you hicks" mentality. It came off as elitist and it was. To make it worse, no one was pushing this except a handful of people who didn't care about sports or go anyway so they accomodated people who had no real interst in Hawiian Night and irritated a whole bunch of long time fans and alums who did,
Didn't even have a post game social this year. Great alumni outreach. Amazing.Comment
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