To build off another similar post. We certainly can become a juggernaut again, we can dominate again, we can strike fear in CFB again but its going to take money and a HELL of A LOT of hard work!!!!
This BOT, Frenk, and the Athletic Department, need to make a decision. They need to decide that the football program, if done right, can be a HUGE asset to the University as a whole (not just what we make in jersey and apparel sales) - and if they don't see that we are truly in trouble.
If we make a commitment to paying coaches, investing in facilities, and most of all really investing in a propaganda and marketing campaign for recruiting this school can be the likes of which no one has ever seen. The realization that Schnelly wanted before leaving for some professional expansion team, or that Butch envisions now after realizing his mistake leaving for the Browns can finally come true.
I don't care what people say. If the times have changed, it doesn't mean we can't use the old times, the tradition, and the things that made them great and merge them to a new strategy with the modern era of CFB.
You invest the right way, make a commitment to the program and kids will start to stay, and we will win multiple championships again.
From the top down we need a commitment.
Stadium: Make the tough but necessary choice to make a standard rates. One for the 100s and one for 200s, closing off the upper deck all together and releasing those tickets at a reasonable price once those two sections have filled up. We can't make a new stadium, and even if we could, that realization won't come for another 5 to 10 years, a valuable time we can't wait for. So we need to bite the bullet and make some tough but necessary decisions to fill the lower bowl of Sun Life at a reasonable rate. It may seem like we would lose money, but if you lower the price enough to incentivize those who can only afford the upper deck to pay a tad more and fill the lower bowl the atmosphere will be better, the perception will be better, the players will enjoy it more, and it would be an overall no brainer.
Coaches: There needs to be a commitment to paying coaches AND their assistants. Yes, it sucks because we've never been able to pay well but its what must be done to compete now a days, if the school wants to be taken seriously and not lose the "brand" that brings them money they better learn to shift money to athletics in a way they never did before. I am not saying you pay 5M, but certainly 2M TO 4M with 500K to 1M for top assistants, and 300K for others. This way not paying that extra 2M that Saban or Urbs get, will make a coach think, hey its worth not taking that much if we are going to have good recruiting and good assistants with the best chances to win right away.
Recruiting: There needs to be the BIGGEST investment here. There should be billboards, leaflets, pamphplets, a dedicated (almost its own department) social media team, signs at top highschools, to the point of annoyance around south florida with propaganda. Slogans, cool designs, etc. We need things that push and say "stay home and win" - "play with your friends and win" - "stay home and become champions" - "Can you imagine if you all stayed home...how many games do you think you would win?" - "The U, put on for your city not another's and you'll see just how much we'll win & make you first rounders" - things that I am sure better marketers than myself could be creative with LOL. There also needs to be real investment with that being the push, to keep kids home. When they walk into a recruits living rooms you make them feel like if they stayed they would be playing with an all star team every year if they stay, and BAMA's, LSU's, and Ohio States, would never be able to compete, why make them better when you can star here - you could create your own damn all star recruit game & field that at the army all american game! Sure we'll lose those divas, as you do every year, because they want the limelight being the only good player on some team. But regardless there needs to be a push to show just how many championships they could win if they just stayed and make WINNING RINGS be the reason to stay. I am talking, even hiring or investing in a school sponsored website dedicated to following and highlighting recruits from south florida...make your own, legal and within the rules, website with a non-numbered, list of recruits from the area to show how those are the guys who could stay and destroy. Give them some pride for being from south florida!
Regardless, this U can become a JUGGERNAUT again if we tie the past with the changing way of the game. It can be scary good, if and only if, we are willing to see the writing on the wall that this is the world we now live in, it needs to change & if it doesn't we are BIG trouble. You create this, we can win so many god damn championships we will be able to start popping up buildings everywhere again.
We are at a precipice of failure or complete domination - a true dichotomy!
Its going to take a real leader. We can't rely on Wins & Losses to be proud and pump are chest that we're a private school with success, we need to start on a real level to invest, and no that doesn't mean 5M to 7M for coaches like Harbaugh/Urban/Saban, that doesn't mean creating a channel like Texas, or even a facility like Oregon, but it does mean just enough to be RIDICULOUS for a school with less than 17k students.
I know you guys think it will never happen, and I don't blame you but for now I have no choice but to believe these are the things they are talking about in the meetings. They need to work their asses off to turn this around, because its not just about football but about the University too - and if we don't then Finebaum may end up being correct.
This BOT, Frenk, and the Athletic Department, need to make a decision. They need to decide that the football program, if done right, can be a HUGE asset to the University as a whole (not just what we make in jersey and apparel sales) - and if they don't see that we are truly in trouble.
If we make a commitment to paying coaches, investing in facilities, and most of all really investing in a propaganda and marketing campaign for recruiting this school can be the likes of which no one has ever seen. The realization that Schnelly wanted before leaving for some professional expansion team, or that Butch envisions now after realizing his mistake leaving for the Browns can finally come true.
I don't care what people say. If the times have changed, it doesn't mean we can't use the old times, the tradition, and the things that made them great and merge them to a new strategy with the modern era of CFB.
You invest the right way, make a commitment to the program and kids will start to stay, and we will win multiple championships again.
From the top down we need a commitment.
Stadium: Make the tough but necessary choice to make a standard rates. One for the 100s and one for 200s, closing off the upper deck all together and releasing those tickets at a reasonable price once those two sections have filled up. We can't make a new stadium, and even if we could, that realization won't come for another 5 to 10 years, a valuable time we can't wait for. So we need to bite the bullet and make some tough but necessary decisions to fill the lower bowl of Sun Life at a reasonable rate. It may seem like we would lose money, but if you lower the price enough to incentivize those who can only afford the upper deck to pay a tad more and fill the lower bowl the atmosphere will be better, the perception will be better, the players will enjoy it more, and it would be an overall no brainer.
Coaches: There needs to be a commitment to paying coaches AND their assistants. Yes, it sucks because we've never been able to pay well but its what must be done to compete now a days, if the school wants to be taken seriously and not lose the "brand" that brings them money they better learn to shift money to athletics in a way they never did before. I am not saying you pay 5M, but certainly 2M TO 4M with 500K to 1M for top assistants, and 300K for others. This way not paying that extra 2M that Saban or Urbs get, will make a coach think, hey its worth not taking that much if we are going to have good recruiting and good assistants with the best chances to win right away.
Recruiting: There needs to be the BIGGEST investment here. There should be billboards, leaflets, pamphplets, a dedicated (almost its own department) social media team, signs at top highschools, to the point of annoyance around south florida with propaganda. Slogans, cool designs, etc. We need things that push and say "stay home and win" - "play with your friends and win" - "stay home and become champions" - "Can you imagine if you all stayed home...how many games do you think you would win?" - "The U, put on for your city not another's and you'll see just how much we'll win & make you first rounders" - things that I am sure better marketers than myself could be creative with LOL. There also needs to be real investment with that being the push, to keep kids home. When they walk into a recruits living rooms you make them feel like if they stayed they would be playing with an all star team every year if they stay, and BAMA's, LSU's, and Ohio States, would never be able to compete, why make them better when you can star here - you could create your own damn all star recruit game & field that at the army all american game! Sure we'll lose those divas, as you do every year, because they want the limelight being the only good player on some team. But regardless there needs to be a push to show just how many championships they could win if they just stayed and make WINNING RINGS be the reason to stay. I am talking, even hiring or investing in a school sponsored website dedicated to following and highlighting recruits from south florida...make your own, legal and within the rules, website with a non-numbered, list of recruits from the area to show how those are the guys who could stay and destroy. Give them some pride for being from south florida!
Regardless, this U can become a JUGGERNAUT again if we tie the past with the changing way of the game. It can be scary good, if and only if, we are willing to see the writing on the wall that this is the world we now live in, it needs to change & if it doesn't we are BIG trouble. You create this, we can win so many god damn championships we will be able to start popping up buildings everywhere again.
We are at a precipice of failure or complete domination - a true dichotomy!
Its going to take a real leader. We can't rely on Wins & Losses to be proud and pump are chest that we're a private school with success, we need to start on a real level to invest, and no that doesn't mean 5M to 7M for coaches like Harbaugh/Urban/Saban, that doesn't mean creating a channel like Texas, or even a facility like Oregon, but it does mean just enough to be RIDICULOUS for a school with less than 17k students.
I know you guys think it will never happen, and I don't blame you but for now I have no choice but to believe these are the things they are talking about in the meetings. They need to work their asses off to turn this around, because its not just about football but about the University too - and if we don't then Finebaum may end up being correct.
