quote:
What have you seen to suggest Sterk is neglecting basketball?

A school that does not care about basketball?
I think the Stewart years when Babs was trying to run athletics into the ground would contradict your assertion about the Tiger fanbase not caring about basketball.
I think the fans support would return if we saw a full season of improvement and play that suggested better things are coming. Have not seen much of that since Haith's first season.

It's bigger than Sterk. I think it goes back to the beginning of Mike Alden's reign. He bungled the program badly, and the athletic department continues to let it twist in the wind. They built a cavernous arena and then gave all the good tickets to corporate sponsors and big wigs who never show up to any games. It looks terrible on TV even when the team is winning. The marketing department hardly moves the needle in trying to sell the program, especially when it comes to driving local interest. The parking situation for the arena is a joke...the common fan has to park a half mile away and walk through freezing weather. Students and CoMo residents are the lifeblood of the basketball fanbase. Both have gone away.

I'd like to see them make a serious commitment to changing the gameday atmosphere in the arena. Curtain off the upper decks if we have to. Let fans move into the unused corporate seats in the lower bowl. Do whatever it takes to get students to show up.

Personal anecdote: I found some old pictures of a game I attended in 2011. It was the home opener versus Truman State University. Frank Haith had just been hired...nobody had ANY idea that team was going to win 30 games coming off an 8-8 Big 12 season and losing 5 of their last 6 before Mike Anderson bolted. Despite playing a nobody D2 school and the notoriously underwhelming hire of Frank Haith, the student section was about 90-95% full. The rest of the arena was empty (per usual) but the students were there in force. Watch any good college atmosphere today, and it is driven by the student section. Mizzou needs to figure out how to get them to care again.

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Posted by TigerAndBadger

Member since Aug 2017

234 posts

Posted on 1/27/20 at 1:30 pm to KCM0Tiger

quote:
Personal anecdote: I found some old pictures of a game I attended in 2011. It was the home opener versus Truman State University. Frank Haith had just been hired...nobody had ANY idea that team was going to win 30 games coming off an 8-8 Big 12 season and losing 5 of their last 6 before Mike Anderson bolted. Despite playing a nobody D2 school and the notoriously underwhelming hire of Frank Haith, the student section was about 90-95% full. The rest of the arena was empty (per usual) but the students were there in force. Watch any good college atmosphere today, and it is driven by the student section. Mizzou needs to figure out how to get them to care again.

Honestly, I think there is some significant juice to theory that fan engagement has dropped significantly with the move to the SEC. Sure, there was an initial surge of excitement. But now, we are in a conference with states in which we have very little to no cultural or historical ties. Being in the Big 12, there were plenty of alums from various schools around to banter with; be it at work, or just socially. That just doesn't exist with us in the SEC. Toss on the protests and generally declining attendance, and you get our current state of affairs.

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Posted by Saltonking44

Member since Apr 2017

427 posts

Posted on 1/28/20 at 5:18 pm to KCM0Tiger

I fully admit I am not an expert on Basketball and I am much more of a football guy but what you said about the Marketing Dept hit a home run.

Remember when Marketing leased billboards all over SEC territory telling everyone we were proud to be in the SEC, there was a sense of pride back then.

These days I watch Clownzo sit on the bench yawning and I am thinking what is wrong with this picture.

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