Re/MaxGriz said:
True -
What about after the remodel how the UM "moved" the students off the floor to the 2nd deck for a year or two. Seemed to make a lot of student fans upset and stop going to the games.
I also think the firing of Holst was something that did not make the average Griz fan too happy either.
There were a declining number of students even before the remodel. Pretty throughout the '90s, student attendance has declined. I sat on the opposite side of the student seating thru the '90s and kept noticing more empty seats each year in the student section. But, yes, it did lose some attendance from students not going. But, the way it was trending, the student section would likely be near empty now. Blaine Taylor was putting out a less than exciting product even though it did win some conference championships. I really hated his revolving door substitution pattern. Killed several rallies.
There really hasn't been any decline in attendance due to Holst being fired. It did make some fans mad the way it was done, but the program was still declining even with Holst. The players were not really playing for Holst. The team barely made the tournament in 2002. It took Holst to make some kind of bribe the players to play for him that enabled the Griz to win the tournament. Basically, he would let them play if they play defense. That tells me he never let them play during the regular season. If he did, I think Griz would have hosted the tournament that year. Also, in 2000, the Griz were off to the worst start in many years in conference, 1 - 4. It took a motivation speech by Kryskoviak, assistant coach at the time, to turn the team around. Holst was quite lucky to have Krysko as an assistant that year.
But, Hogan fires Holst, and makes a bad decision hiring his buddy from Florida State. I consider that two bad coaches were hired by Hogan. But, coaching isn't the reason for the bad remodel. It is hard to get around the seats unless there are nobody in them. The concession areas are so cramped that it doesn't take to many people to make it to crowded to get around, but I guess with the low attendance at the games it doesn't matter. The east side is the best side as most fans go to the west side concessions. Also, The railings in the front row of the upper levels are so low, you are in danger of falling over and cracking your skull hitting the cement concrete floor if your not careful enough.
And, lastly, the arena is so sterile it creates somewhat bad environment. The old arena had it so that noise would bounce off the ceilings, echo throughout and it would be so much noisier. Lady Griz BB team sold out the arena (first team to do it) and if it was in the old arena, the decibel level from the fans would be so much higher. But in the new arena, Some of that noise would have been lost in the rafters.
But, because of the remodel and that the noise doesn't echo off the ceilings like it did before, concerts are better, with better accoustics.
