student section.
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The band always looks like they are having a good time, even when we are getting blown out on a regular basis.
Not trying to get on the students at all. I think it is however an indictment on what is going on with the program at this time.
Can someone explain the student ticket process? Do your students pay for tickets? It sounds like they might be part of their student fee. So do they just sign up for season tickets then?
My thought is if there is no charge for the tickets then there's a psychological factor of there not being any value to the ticket from the get go. Then any reason not to go to the game becomes valid.
I feel like you guys have the chicken/egg problem in that it's harder to recruit without tradition/fan support thus making it harder to win which leads to low fan support. It really takes catching lightening in a bottle with hiring the right coach that can improve recruiting and win some games. But then there is the problem where the coach will likely move on. So you need someone with a reason to stay for the long haul. It's incredibly hard to make the jump to being one of the 15 or 20 programs that are destination jobs for coaches. Oregon might be the most recent team to do it. It is taking them gobs of Nike cash to get it done and really the jury is still out if they are going to make it post Chip Kelly/Marcus Mariota.
My thought is if there is no charge for the tickets then there's a psychological factor of there not being any value to the ticket from the get go. Then any reason not to go to the game becomes valid.
I feel like you guys have the chicken/egg problem in that it's harder to recruit without tradition/fan support thus making it harder to win which leads to low fan support. It really takes catching lightening in a bottle with hiring the right coach that can improve recruiting and win some games. But then there is the problem where the coach will likely move on. So you need someone with a reason to stay for the long haul. It's incredibly hard to make the jump to being one of the 15 or 20 programs that are destination jobs for coaches. Oregon might be the most recent team to do it. It is taking them gobs of Nike cash to get it done and really the jury is still out if they are going to make it post Chip Kelly/Marcus Mariota.
Our shitty students who make excuses not to attend games will become shitty alumni who make excuses not to donate.
Supporting your school and alma mater is a duty, if you choose to look at it that way. If you don't look at it that way, you are useless to me anyway.
Supporting your school and alma mater is a duty, if you choose to look at it that way. If you don't look at it that way, you are useless to me anyway.
Many many good examples in here why we just don't have a great fanbase. ..yet we expect great things
I get that yesterday was hard to watch...I was there from 6am thru the end of the game
But don't be surprised when the day comes and we actually have good coin, and we still can't get some quality coaches to chose us over other options
To the poster asking what the students 'obligation ' is....I guess you have no school pride
College football is...I don't know...only the most visible public commercial for your school. Hello bueller. Are you effing kidding me with this attitude?
I was actually surprised because the students have been rock solid the past few years. I should have known something was up when osu wasn't jammed to the gills in the student area.
Look...everyone is free to do what they want. But then don't be surprised when people talk about our fan base the way they do. They're right. We are simply not a big time fan base. Not at all. (And I get we don't have much to root for so please spare me the excuses )
I get that yesterday was hard to watch...I was there from 6am thru the end of the game
But don't be surprised when the day comes and we actually have good coin, and we still can't get some quality coaches to chose us over other options
To the poster asking what the students 'obligation ' is....I guess you have no school pride
College football is...I don't know...only the most visible public commercial for your school. Hello bueller. Are you effing kidding me with this attitude?
I was actually surprised because the students have been rock solid the past few years. I should have known something was up when osu wasn't jammed to the gills in the student area.
Look...everyone is free to do what they want. But then don't be surprised when people talk about our fan base the way they do. They're right. We are simply not a big time fan base. Not at all. (And I get we don't have much to root for so please spare me the excuses )
All this talk about underage drinking I the lots but just an observation from having gone to the Michigan game and tailgater on the golf course. Maybe it was because it was a private lot but there was hardly any presence of police or security that I could see and during the course of the day there were a lot of students that made their way to tailgate with people on the fold course. Not sure if it was that way in other lots. That being said the tailgate scene there did not seem at all out of control and was a lot of fun. The whole Michigan experience around football makes RU look like a Mickey Mouse operation.
And to fault the students for not showing up in the cold for what is a likely blowout is just plain dumb - I don't care who the opponent is. Until Rutgers can do a better job of instilling school spirit, pride, and real (not contrived) tradition this is going to be the reality. Schiano got it moving in the right direction but it needs to be sustained to keep things going. Hell we traveled out to Michigan last week and have season tix and considered not going yesterday to see the inevitable outcome.
And to fault the students for not showing up in the cold for what is a likely blowout is just plain dumb - I don't care who the opponent is. Until Rutgers can do a better job of instilling school spirit, pride, and real (not contrived) tradition this is going to be the reality. Schiano got it moving in the right direction but it needs to be sustained to keep things going. Hell we traveled out to Michigan last week and have season tix and considered not going yesterday to see the inevitable outcome.
Very weak showing. I believe student tickets are free, so taking season tickets and the not attending is a little sleazy in my mind. I would have a policy that if the ticket was not scanned in at the game then the student is charge the cost of the ticket, maybe $25. Obviously some control would be needed to assure one ticket scanned per student and scanned back out if leaving within 15 minutes or so. Students shouldn't be able to get 7 tickets and then just show up for OSU and MSU.
Underage drinking is common throughout the country. We need a law that allows 18 - 21 year olds to consume alcoholic beverages with less the 3% alcohol.
We are poorly coached but everyone needs to recognize our schedule is very difficult.
Underage drinking is common throughout the country. We need a law that allows 18 - 21 year olds to consume alcoholic beverages with less the 3% alcohol.
We are poorly coached but everyone needs to recognize our schedule is very difficult.
Pointing to other bad behavior or low standards does not make me feel better. Never liked that loser mentally. Students should always represent their school. I don't CARE what other schools do .
I'd prefer the drinking age to be lowered to 18 or removed completely. Increase alcohol education and penalties for the 18-21 yr old for dui. I don't think the issue is drinking but that <21 be able to do it responsibly.
The failure of students to show up ought to be remembered and addressed. We have set aside too many seats for them. I would consider taking away sections and allocating them to the public, perhaps more new alumni seating at an attractive price. We do not need to reserve space for no show students. Also, to say Students pay for tickets out of fees us a joke. Sell student season tickets on a first come first serve basis with open seating only in the section specified. Once it is determined how many sections are sold out, open the remainder to the public.
I know there will be bitching, but I'd rather see empty seats that anyone could buy than freebees reserved for students who chose not to support their classmates.
I know there will be bitching, but I'd rather see empty seats that anyone could buy than freebees reserved for students who chose not to support their classmates.
@jason21psu Rutgers students can claim a "free" ticket because part of their mandatory students fees are designated to go toward the athletic department. Tickets are claimed on a game by game basis, one per student, and there are rules in place about claiming and not using tickets. Students do have the option to buy a season ticket which guarantees them a seat, but most opt to claim their free ticket. You are probably right about the students not feeling as much of an obligation to go because of the somewhat free nature of the tickets.
Another hot topic on this board is the crackdown on student tailgates and the increase in ticketing underage drinking. Although some on this board dispute it, it has driven some students out of lots and to pregaming on college ave. This causes some students to never make it to the stadium.
There were definitely situations with large and unruly tailgates that needed to be addressed, unfortunately from the students point of view, the police have become overzealous in ticketing. As an example, my daughter was at her friend's family tailgate. The friend took a beer out of a cooler, saw a police officer approaching and quickly passed the beer to his father. Although he didn't even take a sip he was ticketed for underage possession - $350.00. To me that was a situation that could have been handled with a warning.
Another hot topic on this board is the crackdown on student tailgates and the increase in ticketing underage drinking. Although some on this board dispute it, it has driven some students out of lots and to pregaming on college ave. This causes some students to never make it to the stadium.
There were definitely situations with large and unruly tailgates that needed to be addressed, unfortunately from the students point of view, the police have become overzealous in ticketing. As an example, my daughter was at her friend's family tailgate. The friend took a beer out of a cooler, saw a police officer approaching and quickly passed the beer to his father. Although he didn't even take a sip he was ticketed for underage possession - $350.00. To me that was a situation that could have been handled with a warning.
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Nebraska certainly has a rich tradition but is no national power this year and hasn't been for awhile. Students looked at this as 4-6 versus 3-6. Can't blame them. Same with basketball why go if the product stinks?
My wife and I went to the game in Madison. 10 minutes before kickoff at Wisconsin, the student section was empty. It never filled up during the game and immediately after the Jump Around at the beginning of the fourth quarter it emptied out. Yes, the weather (it was rainy and cold) the time (11:00 am kickoff) the opponent ( us) arguably had an affect. But it shows that we are not unique in students not blindly showing up no matter the overall circumstances.
The difference is, in Michigan police are there to protect, not to generate revenue. In NJ, most suburban police departments are primarily about raising revenue. Even after the Paris attacks, the main goal is not safety but more that $350 fines be issued because a 20 year old has a beer.
You realize we are also an academic school and have thousands of student run organizations on campus that instill just as much or even more school pride than our football program does. So to relate not showing up to a football game as not having school pride is ridiculous. Students can support the school in a million different ways and I bet a lot of those will also have a positive impact on society (charities/fundraisers, organizations like EWB...)
How about you people talk to these students? Ask them why they dont show up? Dont just judge them based on your years at RU. That tailgating issue has a lot do with it. The other issue is that they just dont care about CFB.
A couple months back, I started a fundraising campaign for RU SOE on my FB page and I asked my friends why RU had one of the lowest endowments per alumni. I got many messages and the general consensus was that they are still paying off loans and will eventually contribute money to Rutgers but mostly everyone stated that would not be donating to RU athletics. They were angry that part of their loans were for an athletic subsidy that in no way was related to their academic courses. I think every semester each student contributes about 200? (I understand many will say that is the equivalent to tickets to the games, but that goes back to the situation of students wanting to come to the game)
That being said, I agree completely that CFB is the most public commercial for our school but our on field and off field issues have given RU a way worse reputation then anything our students could have done. Being a young alumni who lives in Texas and surrounded by CFB fans, Rutgers has a horrible reputation and I constantly try to fight with these people. The most depressing thing is that at this rate,in ten to fifteen years, our reputation of being a great academic school is also going to be tarnished by our CFB reputation...assuming we dont turn things around. I say this because the older folks will have retired from their respective jobs and the younger folks like myself who are intertwined with social media will have taken jobs at higher levels in industry...and all we see on social media about RU is the bad things.
You simply don't get it
And spare me your patronizing. ..I guarantee that I do and have done more for our school of engineering and its students than you ever will
You can do both pal...
Whatever man, we have different opinions but what matters is how we make change...constructive criticism...calling out young alumni and students isn't going to do anyone any good...
Fair enough. Peace.
But i ask you to please see the football program for what it has the potential to be in terms of lifting up the entire university's profile which I know is what we both want.
A big reason I have turned the page on flood is because of the mockery he has brought on our university due to his handling of the incidents the past few months...so trust me I don't like the black eyes either. But it doesn't need to be that way at all.
"I agree. I get we are bad, but barely 1500 students showing up for a 3:30pm game against a National Power with rich tradition like Nebraska is a joke. I would have understood if 10k came, and then left as we got down 21-0, but to never show up, that can not entirely be blamed on our record or Flood. We were an 8 point underdog, and this game was 21-14 at one point. Do you think an extra 8000 students may have helped? Terrible job by students, and I am not a Flood supporter."
This sums up my feelings about this. 1500 students for a B1G opponent like Nebraska is an embarrassment. The 1968 game against LAFAYETTE had twice that many. We are a Big Ten university with a Patriot League student body. How can anyone expect a coach to recruit the top talent in NJ when those kids know what the RU students are like, at least where football (and basketball) is concerned.
Also, using 400,000 as the total of alumni who could be a potential fan base is not valid. That figure likely includes Newark and Camden alums who didn't even attend the Rutgers campus with a football team. That's like saying that alumni of Cal-Berkeley should be attending UCLA games. Not gonna happen. But a huge portion of that 400,000 figure represents grad students, professional students, and part-time students. At RU or elsewhere, those people are not going to translate into fans of an undergraduate athletic program. I was a grad student at Ohio State but was never really a fan of their programs. Part-time students are usually evening students who work full-time during the day and often are married with families. A more realistic figure would be 100,000 - 150,000.
This sums up my feelings about this. 1500 students for a B1G opponent like Nebraska is an embarrassment. The 1968 game against LAFAYETTE had twice that many. We are a Big Ten university with a Patriot League student body. How can anyone expect a coach to recruit the top talent in NJ when those kids know what the RU students are like, at least where football (and basketball) is concerned.
Also, using 400,000 as the total of alumni who could be a potential fan base is not valid. That figure likely includes Newark and Camden alums who didn't even attend the Rutgers campus with a football team. That's like saying that alumni of Cal-Berkeley should be attending UCLA games. Not gonna happen. But a huge portion of that 400,000 figure represents grad students, professional students, and part-time students. At RU or elsewhere, those people are not going to translate into fans of an undergraduate athletic program. I was a grad student at Ohio State but was never really a fan of their programs. Part-time students are usually evening students who work full-time during the day and often are married with families. A more realistic figure would be 100,000 - 150,000.
The students were busy studying for tests. Leave them alone! Ok, maybe not tests, but the homework is hard.
Seriously, doubt the student body thinks about Nebraska as us old timers. Grew up a Nebraska fan as a kid because their annual game against Oklahoma used to be the only televised game that I could actually watch on ABC. The last time Nebraska won an NC was 1998? I think, and the oldest students were, what, 4 years old. This is not your father's Nebraska team.
Seriously, doubt the student body thinks about Nebraska as us old timers. Grew up a Nebraska fan as a kid because their annual game against Oklahoma used to be the only televised game that I could actually watch on ABC. The last time Nebraska won an NC was 1998? I think, and the oldest students were, what, 4 years old. This is not your father's Nebraska team.
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Personally speaking I think 1500 is a disgrace. When we played Penn State it was raining and windy, the weather was just terrible but the entire student section was full. I think that everyone has made decent points as to why the student section was empty. I firmly believe that our student population is very diverse and perhaps a significant percentage of that population has no connection to football. Listen, my girlfriend talked me into going to a Phillipsburg HS this Friday evening. I was literally shocked at how full the stadium was with parents and fans. The Student section was completely full. They had a game program that was on par and maybe nicer than Rutgers. I was literally shocked to see how many group 4 championships they have won over the years. I was equally shocked to read that for many years they played in the tough Pennsylvania league (Penn League). I sparked up a conversation and asked why so much success for what is barely considered a working class community? They said, we as a community support the program, we sometimes outnumber opposing fans during their home games, we believe and endorse a team first mentality, no attitudes tolerated and no self proclaimed superstars are welcome. Over my lifetime I've been to 100's of HS football games and this was truly special.
This argument that students have no clue who Nebraska is (might as well be William and Mary) is way more denigrating to them than questioning why they don't at least show up and then leave when we are getting blown out.
I have way more confidence in their intelligence and awareness than you do.
Students, please answer this question,
Yes or no answer. Come on, I know you know.
I know the difference between (Mich, Mich St., Ohio St., Penn St. Wisconsin, Nebraska).........................and.......................(william and Mary, Colgate, Lafayette, Cornell)
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