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Well Griz it appears MWC may be going very big
- Thread starter billings_poke
- Start date
Spanky said:
same old spanky cookie cutter post for the last 5 years.
Were you at the N Iowa friday night game??? That my friend was college football at it's finest!! Do you really want to trade that for the "who gives a fvck" bowl on a tuesday night on espn 3?
The move up is coming, probably sooner than most think, but it has to be done right, not just a knee jerk move to appease spanky!
Spanky said:
Spanky, you rarely post about anything except when it gives you a chance to give your move-up speech once again. Why is it so important to you to see the Griz go from being a dominant team who plays for the chipper frequently, to being a 7-5 also-ran whose goal for the year is to play in some obscure bowl game that nobody gives a sh*t about? It just makes zero sense to me.
By the way, there is a way to remedy those full stadiums that you speak about....... and that is to make the move up.
OrgonGriz
Well-known member
I just really want our Griz to stay relivant. There are only a handfull of FCS teams that have solid attendance , our Griz being one of them. If a good majority of those teams like Appy and GSU look to step up that number of FCS schools with solid attendance and fan support gets even smaller. I am aware that many FBS schools have poor attendance. However even with that poor attedance they have many more butts in the seats than almost every FCS school. I have been to PSU games in the past when the Griz were not playing and it was sad to say the least, maybe 2k in attendance.
I just feel that there has been so much done at UM to build up the program over many years and it would be a shame to see it stall. The Griz are better than what the current BSC and FCS has to offer IMO. The Griz are a king pen in the FCS along with what I would say are 5 or 6 other school.
I believe the only way for our Griz to continue to build is to try and get put in with other mid major schools. I can only hope that this MWC/ CUSA merger along with the MAC, SBC and WAC teams can form conferences of like sized programs and there is a position for the Griz.
I am not 100% sure what direction these mid majors are heading in regards to bowls or a playoff format but they are all working to keep relivant and growing and IMO thats good.
I think it would be great to be in a confernce with schools that have fan support that would at least match or exceed the Griz. I think the powers to be at UM really need to look long and hard at where they are and where they really want to be. I just do not belive in the next 3 to 5 years the FCS ranks will be anything as they are currently.
GO GRIZ!
I just feel that there has been so much done at UM to build up the program over many years and it would be a shame to see it stall. The Griz are better than what the current BSC and FCS has to offer IMO. The Griz are a king pen in the FCS along with what I would say are 5 or 6 other school.
I believe the only way for our Griz to continue to build is to try and get put in with other mid major schools. I can only hope that this MWC/ CUSA merger along with the MAC, SBC and WAC teams can form conferences of like sized programs and there is a position for the Griz.
I am not 100% sure what direction these mid majors are heading in regards to bowls or a playoff format but they are all working to keep relivant and growing and IMO thats good.
I think it would be great to be in a confernce with schools that have fan support that would at least match or exceed the Griz. I think the powers to be at UM really need to look long and hard at where they are and where they really want to be. I just do not belive in the next 3 to 5 years the FCS ranks will be anything as they are currently.
GO GRIZ!
AZGrizFan said:
This irritates me too. People always point to Idaho and say, "This is why Montana shouldn't move up" but Idaho is apples and oranges compared to Montana. Idaho didn't have near the fan support when they moved up, nor the facilities that Montana currently does. You can't compare the two, IMO. Same with Western Kentucky.. they had/have a good hoops program, but not a real strong football program, and they're struggling big time in the Sun Belt now. Marshall, Nevada, and Boise might be closer to reality but even then, you can't really compare Montana to a school on the East coast, and you can't compare UM to Nevada as Missoula is nowhere near as big as Reno. You can't compare UM to Boise either.. while the trucking school in Idaho has had unprecedented success on the field their academics aren't great so they can recruit some pretty questionable players that get passed over by PAC12 schools. Plus Boise has one of the top growing economies in the country (last time I read about this sort of thing). Every case is different when a school moves up and have their own set of challenges. :twocents:
Montana doesn't have the financial resources or pool of wealthy alumni to raise enough money to be fully successful in FBS. The economy of Missoula is down now too. In this regard, Montana is more like Idaho than Boise St. Financial resources are an important part of success for a school moving up.
Montana is closer to maximizing its revenue potential from attendance/ticket sales than virtually any team that has moved up. It's attendance is already very high. It's ticket prices are also quite high. UM would not be able to count on significant increased revenue from increased attendance and increased ticket prices to fund moving up.
Montana doesn't even have credible locker rooms or weight room--let alone an indoor practice facility, credible press box or credible academic center.
I also don't think Montana and Missoula are attractive to enough potential big-time out of state recruits. Idaho, Wyoming and even Wash St suffer from this too. This would be an impediment to complete success at a higher level.
Not having playoffs, or not being able to get into any new FBS playoffs, would also be a big negative for many UM fans, and interest and support would likely decline among a significant segment of UM fans.
i too believe that UM would be looking at a success level involving 7-5 seasons, and probably below that initially--depending, of course, on the conference/competition.
All that being said, with continuing realignment and potential impacts on FCS, UM should continue to look forward and keep its eyes open.
Montana is closer to maximizing its revenue potential from attendance/ticket sales than virtually any team that has moved up. It's attendance is already very high. It's ticket prices are also quite high. UM would not be able to count on significant increased revenue from increased attendance and increased ticket prices to fund moving up.
Montana doesn't even have credible locker rooms or weight room--let alone an indoor practice facility, credible press box or credible academic center.
I also don't think Montana and Missoula are attractive to enough potential big-time out of state recruits. Idaho, Wyoming and even Wash St suffer from this too. This would be an impediment to complete success at a higher level.
Not having playoffs, or not being able to get into any new FBS playoffs, would also be a big negative for many UM fans, and interest and support would likely decline among a significant segment of UM fans.
i too believe that UM would be looking at a success level involving 7-5 seasons, and probably below that initially--depending, of course, on the conference/competition.
All that being said, with continuing realignment and potential impacts on FCS, UM should continue to look forward and keep its eyes open.
PlayerRep said:
I generally agree
I generally agree that Montana is currently close to maximizing its revenue potential from ticket sales. However, I think there are circumstances that could arise in which Montana could capitalize upon.
This can be fixed, and is being fixed.
I think this is a fair statement, but I don't totally agree. Missoula wouldn't attractive talent like many PAC-12 schools, but when comparing against MWC schools I think Missoula and the University in general would be very attractive.
I don't think anyone has a crystal ball that can say this would or wouldn't happen. People have made very logical arguments supporting the opposite. My opinion is that both arguments are based primarily in beliefs and emotion. The people who believe Montana should be playing better competition are going to believe attendance would stay steady or improve because of the better competition. People who believe Montana should stay put believe attendance would suffer because of the no playoffs or not winning every game. You can't really win this argument without changing someones entire set of beliefs. My belief is there is no guarantee Montana is going to have a winning record at the current level, and attendances could suffer at the current level, and that is always overlooked.
Fair enough.
I agree 100%
PlayerRep said:
If this project that UM is currently fundraising for comes through, I think we'll be right in the thick of things as far as how we stack up w/ schools in the current Mountain West. I don't think Montana is at a point where it can pay a coach over a million dollars (yet) like Wyoming and Colorado State have done. Wyoming draws a lot of recruits from the Houston area and now the Seattle area.. kids come to Wyoming, and the guys that Wyoming recruit are high character guys who work hard and play well on the field.. and the coach has no problem weeding out the guys who don't want to be in Laramie. I suspect that recruiting will go up at Washington State with the hiring of Leach.. I bet the quality of athlete that goes to Pullman will increase tremendously.
OptimusPrime
Well-known member
Wazzu is working on it:
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http://thecougarfootballproject.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
GrizMusician
Well-known member
OptimusPrime said:
That's going to be nice when it's done! :thumb:
blazerbird
Well-known member
You guys are in a real pickle. If you don't jump to a super conference now, you could be waiting a long time for an opening . If you stay in the Big Sky, will the fans continue to be content with two or three home playoff games every year without a national championship? I won't pretend to have the answers, but I do think reassessment of the Griz plan to stay in the FCS is necessary.
GrizMusician
Well-known member
IMO, I think the Griz would do better than most give them credit for against most MW-CUSA teams. Obviously the first few years would be difficult due to recruiting & scholarships.
PlayerRep said:
The economy is down EVERYWHERE. Using that as an excuse is lame as hell. And it won't ALWAYS be down, BTW (just as long as Obama is in the White House
).And "not attractive enough"? Have you ever been to Tuscaloosa, AL? Norman, OK? Lincoln, NB? Shitholes, every single one, yet somehow a forward-thinking administration coupled with good coaching and recruiting allowed these three armpits of America to build football powerhouses, literally in the middle of nowhere. Yet somehow, universities located in the absolute most gorgeous places on the continent (UCLA, ASU, Northwestern, U-Dub) CONSISTENTLY struggle to be successful. It ain't all about location...it's about finding a coach who knows how to win, athletes who want to WIN and who believe Missoula is the place to do that.
And I went to school in the Palouse...Missoula looks NOTHING like the Palouse, acts nothing like Moscow or Pullman, and has virtually nothing in common with WSU or Idaho. And it sure as HELL doesn't look like Laramie. Pullman has a population of 29,000. Moscow Idaho has a population of 24,000. Laramie's population is just over 30,000. Missoula county has a population of 110,000.
To me, the biggest detriment to moving up isn't a fear of being sucessful, nor a misguided fear of "no playoffs" (because I think that playoffs are eventually coming to ALL of football), it's the almost guaranteed requirement that the # of Montana-born players would go from 35-50% of the roster down to problaby 10% or less. But I could live with that if it was Boise State, Utah, Air Force, Nevada and Wyoming visiting Wa/Griz instead of SUU, UNC, UND, Liberty and PSU.
GrizMusician
Well-known member
This will sound like a silly question - but if Boise can move up & do well, why can't the Griz?
GrizMusician said:
Naysayers will tell you because Boise is the exception, rather than the rule....or blame it on their ability to recruit questionable character because of their low standards....or the fact that Boise has 1 bazillion people or any other number of excuses....
