UConn Student Football Apathy Needs Prompt Attention

[Husky25]

I know it was. Wasn't in Chestnut Hill either.

36 minutes vs. An hour forty-five for a "home" game, Smart Guy.

 

[Salzano14]

36 minutes vs. An hour forty-five for a "home" game, Smart Guy.

How does UConn do for their home games 36 minutes away?

I'll see myself out.

 

[Husky25]

Do they teach what a straw man is at the Heights? Good day, sir.

 

[BoatShow]

BC rents fans for 4 years at a time then they never come back.

 

[primus74]

UConn needs to do everything they can to engage the student body. This will increase future season ticket sales from early alumni and hopefully keep them season ticket holders for life. That's how the big schools get 100,000 fans in a stadium. Of course, they've been working at this for generations. UConn will never have a 100,000 seat stadium, but the future of the program revolves on getting and retaining students to attend games.

 

[Drew]

Fault lies with all parties involved.

I enjoy your posts, Drew, and the program needs more fans like you, but in all fairness, this thread shouldn't be taken as a afront to students for their complaining. The student complaints in the article have ferretted out real issues. On the other hand, I am blaming students for not having any perceived involvement in a solution. Alumni and non-student fans can only do so much and populating the stands behind the South End zone is not one of them.

Also, in all fairness, Alumni and non-student fans see only the end product. We see the unoccupied aluminum benches after halftime, but we are also consumers of a product. We are not the provider of the entertainment or transportation and we can't really affect change in student life (beyond an e-mail to John Seagrave or Dan Evan, as noted above). So what does it matter, really, what the Boneyard at large thinks of your ideas for improvement? If they were important enough to bring up, then they are important enough to bring up to someone that can affect real change. If no one is notified, it cannot be addressed. The non-student population of the Boneyard 1) does not have the authority and 2) should not be expected to take up a cause, while those who the cause is supposed to benefit the most sit back and do nothing because of the self-admitted entitlement generation.

At least that's the perception, if not reality, from 30,000 feet.

Very fair points Husky, I agree us as students could definitely do more to raise awareness. Most of if not all of the Greek organizations don't have these issues as we get our own busses and throw our own tailgates so while I am aware of some of these problems I haven't experienced them to the degree that others who post here/lurk might have. Maybe they would be better suited to bring it up with SUBOG or Uconn.

 

[Waquoit]

FWIW, it's a nationwide situation. - LINK

 

[MASSconn]

Some of you guys on this board are absolute fools saying the students are "spoiled."

No- they're not. UCONN is a Div1 athletic program with one of the longest commute from campus to football stadium in all of college sports (barring UMASS). I agree with one of the interviewees- it was an absolute chore getting there and back. I did it for 4 years. Especially when you are drinking. The entire situation is somewhat embarassing and I know for a fact working with admissions that it directly detracts many big sports fans towards UMICH/UMD/PSU ahead of us when the academics are similar.

To the posters who suggested that is very easy to get from campus to the stadium- I know most of you graduated 20-30 years ago but no it is not. Parking is a pain, traffic is awful on 84/44 and the walk from the busses/pricingrules are borderline ridiculous. On top of that we are not very good.

This is why half the students leave at halftime. If you force the students to stay the full game you will do far more damage. You don't see this at Gampel do you? Even when we sucked in 2009-2010 it was a madhouse. I agree with these complaints completely. I even got the chance to speak to Warde about it. He listens and is working with Diaco to help the student experience as much as possible. It's a tough, tough situation to find the right solution.

In the next 1-3 years I think you will see most of our ideas come into place. Busses should be $1 at most, students should be dropped off in the back lot and subog should set up a tailgate for every game. They have a massive budget and could use it for something useful once in awhile.

 

[Colt house75]

Some of you guys on this board are absolute fools saying the students are "spoiled."

No- they're not. UCONN is a Div1 athletic program with one of the longest commute from campus to football stadium in all of college sports (barring UMASS). I agree with one of the interviewees- it was an absolute chore getting there and back. I did it for 4 years. Especially when you are drinking. The entire situation is somewhat embarassing and I know for a fact working with admissions that it directly detracts many big sports fans towards UMICH/UMD/PSU ahead of us when the academics are similar.

To the posters who suggested that is very easy to get from campus to the stadium- I know most of you graduated 20-30 years ago but no it is not. Parking is a pain, traffic is awful on 84/44 and the walk from the busses/pricingrules are borderline ridiculous. On top of that we are not very good.

This is why half the students leave at halftime. If you force the students to stay the full game you will do far more damage. You don't see this at Gampel do you? Even when we sucked in 2009-2010 it was a madhouse. I agree with these complaints completely. I even got the chance to speak to Warde about it. He listens and is working with Diaco to help the student experience as much as possible. It's a tough, tough situation to find the right solution.

In the next 1-3 years I think you will see most of our ideas come into place. Busses should be $1 at most, students should be dropped off in the back lot and subog should set up a tailgate for every game. They have a massive budget and could use it for something useful once in awhile.

Hi MassConn,
I graduated almost 40 years ago and agree with you on damn near every point. I think if possible, as part of the schools annual budget, the busses to the Rent should be FREE. Period!!!
Next point, is this: you should be dropped off right next to the stadium, near C gate and student gate with a giant student tent set up just for yourselves. Inside the tent should be either free food or part of your meal plan etc,etc if that is the way it's still done on campus(??). Show your ID etc.
The student section of the Rent is extremely important not for just the visuals. Ask RGIII when he couldn't get off a snap due to the noise!!!
Would like to see a raffle for free stuff out of the bookstore/coop for those attending.

Your point on us not being very good...don't lose the faith brother...we will, again, and UCONN football will make you proud when you look back on it. Trust me on that.

 

[Bonehead]

And the season ticket holders who don't want to drive all the way to Storrs are what? The students' argument that the games should be on campus is absolutely positively 100% valid.

Disagree - I dont have the demographics but I would be SURE that the majority of season ticket holders live closer to E Hartford than they do to Storrs - I could be wrong but even so with your theory the student section was three to ten times as large as it is today when games were on campus - NOT.

 

[mets1090]

Disagree - I dont have the demographics but I would be SURE that the majority of season ticket holders live closer to E Hartford than they do to Storrs - I could be wrong but even so with your theory the student section was three to ten times as large as it is today when games were on campus - NOT.

I think his point was that people will say they need to play in E Hartford rather than move Storrs (ignore other valid arguments against on campus stadium or for on campus stadium for the purposes of this thread) to appease season ticket holders because it cuts their commute. Then people turn around and criticize students for whining that they have to go 35ish minutes on a bus to get to games for their own school's football team. Hence he quoted a post saying students are snobby for wanting things for free.

Never mind that UConn is one of the more expensive public schools in the country. I don't think it's too much to ask for a couple bus rides for free when you shell out $100k for your education.

 

[Bonehead]

I think his point was that people will say they need to play in E Hartford rather than move Storrs (ignore other valid arguments against on campus stadium or for on campus stadium for the purposes of this thread) to appease season ticket holders because it cuts their commute. Then people turn around and criticize students for whining that they have to go 35ish minutes on a bus to get to games for their own school's football team. Hence he quoted a post saying students are snobby for wanting things for free.

Never mind that UConn is one of the more expensive public schools in the country. I don't think it's too much to ask for a couple bus rides for free when you shell out $100k for your education.

Ok - I would agree with free bus rides - doable.
I read it differently - as if 20000 screaming students would show up if the stadium was on campus.

My bad.

 

[Husky25]

Well, only one other person, other than you, actually used the word, "spoiled," and a current student admitted that current students are indeed a part of a generation with an overwhelming sense of self-entitlement. So, there's that.

Getting students to the games and getting students to stay inside the stadium are two entirely different issues facing this football program. The distance may have something to do with it, but it is not the overwhelming reason by any stretch. Your suggestions should be implemented (as well as many of those suggested by posters on the first 4 pages), tute sweet regarding the buses and SUBOG/USG, etc., but let's not drum up easily curable justifications excuses about them for why the south end zone stands empty at halftime. After all, students are already there (why not stay) and how many kids take the buses in the first place?

Also, I don't buy that traffic is awful at 7:30 on a Saturday morning. It is certainly no worse than weekday rush hour for a basketball game in Hartford. It also would be much better than 15-25,000 cars traveling the other way on 44 and 195. If you want to make an argument on why kids don't go to games, start with the parking. Why are student paying the same amount for parking as a regular fan? How do they not have their own parking tag at a deep discount? Street parking is free for Hartford basketball games and is obviously free for games at Gampel. So in light of an on-campus stadium being unfeasible, parking at football games should be nominal, at most, for students. Also Drinking and driving is not an argument either. If you are tell me that it's because there's no designated driver yet, then students are better off staying in the stadium to sober up and not be tempted by that final free beer at the car.

Getting back to keeping students in their seats, it really is not a mystery why students leave. What is a mystery is how to address it. Students feel (and they are probably correct) that they can be better entertained elsewhere (This includes returning to their cars for one more game of beer pong before they leave.) and they are not willing to take the 5-10% chance that UConn can pull off another Pittsburgh '06. Simply because it has not happened in their academic lifetime. Here's another not so tightly held secret. It's the same reason the crowd in general leaves starting mid way through the 3rd quarter. They stay just long enough to see if UConn can score on their first second half possession. If not, many are gone.

Do the XL Center seats empty at halftime for basketball (they didn't in my year and Hartford is at least another 10 minutes further down 84)? When I was in school, they told us that the bus(es) for basketball would leave the Civic Center 15 minutes after the final buzzer. Basically enough time to get from the Ann Street side of the arena to the front entrance. So why do buses start leaving at halftime for football? Beyond that, I think it is a little unreasonable to compare the two sports. 2009-10 was a down year for Men's hoops (and thought the game had started to pass Calhoun by. Turns out Dyson quit and Robinson for, all of his athletic ability, really wasn't that good of a basketball player), but that team was sandwiched between 2 Final Four teams.

Again this is my view from 30,000 feet (And I only graduated 15 years ago).

 

[MASSconn]

'There are more season ticket holders near East Hartford rather than Storrs"

Ya, and I'm sure most SEC/BIG12/10 schools have all of their season ticket holders around their stadiums. You guys are delusional..

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Ok - I would agree with free bus rides - doable.
I read it differently - as if 20000 screaming students would show up if the stadium was on campus.

My bad.

20,000? No. Many more than currently do? Unequivocally yes.

 

[Bonehead]

20,000? No. Many more than currently do? Unequivocally yes.

Not according to zls and others. There's nothing interesting about this team and they have better things to do with their time.

I could be wrong but wouldn't make a difference - there would just be more students tailgating and playing drinking games in parking lot.