Don't tell me to shut up - I've been following Aggie sports since 1964 and hope to see a natty before I leave this earth. Lighten up dude.

Sorry. I just get annoyed with all the stupid excuses and lack of accountability of our admins by our fans. We have people complaining about advertising, saying college station is a bad town relative to other college towns, and poor concessions at the games. Who cares about that stuff?

When you win, the food and beer tastes better and the town comes alive. You think advertising, DJs, and concessions are LSU, Georgia, or Bama fans' concerns? No, It's winning.

You could argue that there's only ONE big sport. Or that there are TWO.

There is no big 3. Baseball titles don't make a peep nationally.

We want to win in ALL sports. But only 2 make huge national impact. And arguably only 1. But there is no argument for 3.

I just take the doomer pill. Why? In the rare times the aggies wins anything, it's a pleasant surprise. Expect losing, all the time. Makes life as an Ag easier.

Pedro Infiniti said:

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chick79 said:

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...We are the largest university in the country. ....

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Pennsylvania State University holds this moniker; by almost 20,000 attendees.

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Not to derail, but that's across multiple large campuses in their system.

State College has 40-45K undergrads on main campus, and they funnel 20-25K to other locations.
https://admissions.psu.edu/apply/statistics/

Older stats, but similar breakdown currently from what we saw when investigating.
Current overall enrollment is 88K which I believe includes grad students.

https://www.psu.edu/news/academics/story/penn-state-fall-2022-enrollment-relatively-steady-outperforms-national-trends/

When you experts can explain in detail exactly what it takes to win a Natty in any sport, I'll worry about it…

If there were a "foolproof formula", then everyone would win nattys…

maroonthrunthru said:

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When you experts can explain in detail exactly what it takes to win a Natty in any sport, I'll worry about it…

If there were a "foolproof formula", then everyone would win nattys…

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You really want to know? In football the answer is easy. An elite defense and an average offense can get the job done or An elite offense with excellent qb play and average defense can get it done.

You can also have an elite offense and defense and do it. See Georgia this year. When has A&M ever had any of Those things? When we had Johnny, we had a mediocre defense that cost us a couple of games. We had a good defense in 2020 and a very average offense.

The way I look at it, it's always going to be easier for A&M to field a great defense with the recruits we get. Our #1 problem has been qb play. We have had one great qb in the last two decades. Once that piece is fixed, we can make a serious run at a natty. It's incredible we have not been able to intentionally recruit and field an elite qb to this point. Johnny was someone that was overlooked and fell in our lap.

Meddling has to be in the top 3. There are other things I'm sure but they sticks out the most. And then, when anything is sniffed out.

People making decisions deflect any accountability. Period.


You think about just Football for example.

there is not another program who would have even considered:
-extending Fran
-hiring Sherman
-hiring Sumlin
-extending Sumlin
-extending Fisher

Those are 5 extremely big gaffs with not much time in between.

That's just football.

I would measure the athletics department by two standards:

1. Money/Balance Sheet (Great shape in this category)

2. Learfield Directors Cup standings (A&M was ranked #79 last I looked. This is not acceptable.)

33 said:

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I would measure the athletics department by two standards:

1. Money/Balance Sheet (Great shape in this category)

2. Learfield Directors Cup standings (A&M was ranked #79 last I looked. This is not acceptable.)

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Yikes.

Pepe SiIvia said:

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maroonthrunthru said:

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When you experts can explain in detail exactly what it takes to win a Natty in any sport, I'll worry about it…

If there were a "foolproof formula", then everyone would win nattys…

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I'll tell you exactly what it takes. The exact opposite of everything this athletic department has tried to do for the last 83 years.

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Pretty much lol. With the draught we have it really is as if we have tried not to win championships.

McKinney Ag69 said:

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I really don't understand the posters here who say "college station is a tough sell for basketball players, or they don't want to come here because football is always going to be king."

Are Waco and Tuscaloosa great sells for college basketball players? How about Lubbock? Football will always be king at those schools too and none more so than Alabama. Look at what they have been able to accomplish. It just seems like an incredibly lame excuse. College station is an objectively better town than all of those and closer to major cities.

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It's just for some people to rationalize why we have never made it past the sweet 16.

Friend, we aren't Lilly white.

Need consistency in deep post-season runs. Instill this mentality and culture not "It's great. We made the playoffs. Let's see how far we get." For this to happen, need to consistently hire quality coaches/staff and consistently retain upper class talent that produces.

Consistency is the key. We are not consistent in any sport except soccer and T&F.

TXAGBQ76 said:

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um, you are wrong... we were ranked number three in the final poll after the CWS; um, you are also wrong with our CWS record- which was 2-2, as we beat tu and Notre Dame- losing twice to ou...

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How amazing is it that you're using a third place finish in the baseball final polling to argue that the athletic program is fine?
Does all that straw get on your maroon sweater when your clutching so desperately?

Oh good, sip troll is here to bring everyone back to earth on a thread full of Aggies complaining about the state of Aggie athletics.

Good job, champ! You won another message board thread!

Pedro Infiniti said:

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chick79 said:

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...We are the largest university in the country. ....

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Pennsylvania State University holds this moniker; by almost 20,000 attendees.

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Not that this is anything to brag about but it does appear to be A&M
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_public_university_campuses_by_enrollment

We have gone thru everything except 2 positions. AD and pres. I don't think we've ever had a great AD. Byrne did job with the non big 3 sports. The president has to be able to help with athletics behind the scenes. We've either had pres's that tried but couldn't do much or most are heavily academic based and spend majority of time dealing with politics and overseeing research, etc. Of those 2, the AD has to have the plan and clout. The pres has to be powerful enough to let the AD do it without resistance. Woodward may have tried but ran into resistance from bma's.

dp

chick79
9:53p, 3/18/23

AG


I'm used to it and immune to it. Been following Aggies sports since 1969. While we've had some nice moments of success we've underachieved miserably in all sports over the decades. I can understand it when we were mostly a small mostly male military school but there is really no excuse now considering our resources and the money we pump into the athletic program. We are the largest university in the country. I would suggest finding other things to do like I have over the years.

Me too!

So, correcting inaccurate info is now a straw man statement? Sounds like you got triggered there Karen.

We're not wot winning.

Close thread.

The Debt said:

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TexasAggie_97 said:

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Final 4 in baseball last year.

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um...no.

We finished 5th/6th. 1-2 omaha record.

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No. 2-2. We beat ND and the sips. We were Def final 4.

Well it's more about the three most popular men's sports in the country, and you could argue baseball is declining. But still, the big ones are football and basketball and one is clearly the giant.

There's this much about basketball whether some don't recognize it. Internationally, programs like UNC, Kentucky, and Kansas are huge with their basketball brands. They pay attention the tournament.

3rdgenAg3 said:

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When it comes to the three big men's sports. I'm just wondering what y'all's opinions are.

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You don't accomplish success by throwing mega bucks at it. There were only two recent coaches in A&M football history that had the ability to win it all, Bryant and Sherrill. The powers that be want an instant fix, Fisher. Bryant and Sherrill had to build a program. Building a program doesn't happen overnight. Bryant won only one game his first year.

It would be interesting to ask the question What Are We Doing Right?

We've made it this far and no one has called out the OP for misspelling drought every time they typed it?

My absolute favorite is when posters come on to a sports message board and tell other posters to stop caring about sports. Pure internet gold.

Fire every coach after every loss. Its the only way to get serious about our expectations

Pedro Infiniti said:

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chick79 said:

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...We are the largest university in the country. ....

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Pennsylvania State University holds this moniker; by almost 20,000 attendees.

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He said University, not Penitentiary

An observation from outside.

Texas A&M is like the Chicago Cubs or the Dallas Cowboys. No matter how the team is doing, you're nearly selling out the place, you sell a lot of merch, and you get a lot of donations. Win or lose, doesn't matter.

Good in many ways, but bad in at least one way--winning or losing doesn't relate to fan intensity. No matter the outcome, you and your money will always be there for them. So, in the end, does it really matter?

Ole Miss is a much smaller place, a much smaller fanbase, and let's face it--we have fewer resources available to us (no, not "poors", just lesser form of rich). If we aren't actively taking risks and trying to succeed, then we're in trouble. Our fans will just stop showing up. That might get read as a lack of loyalty, but it's really just a market choice. I've seen a home football game (albeit many years ago) with 22,000 fans when the team sucked and the weather was bad.

To some degree, you can't get change unless you vote with your feet.

Spoiler alert--A&M will never get it done with Ross Bjork. Been there, done that. Talks like Tarzan, delivers like Jane.

In the last 5 years

Football finished in the top 5 and won a new years 6 bowl and beat Bama in 2021
Baseball went to the CWS in a new coaches first year
Basketball Finished 2nd in the SEC in Both the Regular Season and the Tourney this year and Second in the Tourney Last year.


No one is happy with what happened in football last year. However, this years team has a ton of potential and returning experience.

If this is not good enough then you really need to find a new hobby. Hopefully one that will bring you some joy.

As for the money.. Who the hell cares. It isn't yours so why worry about it.

ironmanag said:

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As for the money.. Who the hell cares. It isn't yours so why worry about it.

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um, if you're a season ticket holder...it's your money

chick79 said:

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We've had alot of bad hires for athletic director too. I loved Bill Byrne and he demanded excellence in all sports which I agreed with. Since he left we've had a lot of bad ADs. I liked Woodward but his heart was set on going back to LSU. Bjork is an empty suit.

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Serious question. What does an AD do? I'd like to know what you think they do to shave such strong opinions on who is good and who is bad.