When you attend a great university like Texas A&M and you hear jokes about us, you tend to just laugh along with them. But after a while they really get old. Especially when you have athletic teams in the past 5 years that just don't even seem to try and acheive on the field what the Aggie Spirit is supposed to be all about. And you have all those do gooders spouting that you support the team no matter what gets so old because the team and the coaches are doing nothing to earn that support. College athletics is big business now and if our program were a private businees enterprise, we would be shut down because of the money being spent for the product being put out and the satisfaction being generated for that product. There is no chemistry with this team nor the coaches. We pamper and spoil all of them and don't hold any of them accountable. We give gigantic raises before any proof of accountability. We allow so much publicity to be laid on some players which I'm sure makes many of the others feel that they deserve as well. If some players don't execute, they continue to play no matter how bad they are. Yet we say they can do that because Aggies support their team and other fans don't. That's the difference. The other's fans and coaches and programs build winners and we just sit back and accept mediocrity and now possibly being below Baylor in the Big 12. I've seen it for years and it's called Aggie football.

"And you have all those do gooders spouting that you support the team no matter what gets so old because the team and the coaches are doing nothing to earn that support. College athletics is big business now and if our program were a private businees enterprise, we would be shut down because of the money being spent for the product being put out and the satisfaction being generated for that product. "

Agreed. As a graduate of another school it continues to amaze me that a school the size of A&M with it's enormous fan base, money and clout can field nothing but mediocre teams in key revenue sports.
I think that Ags are not demanding enough. Y'all make fun of the whining by other schools but most Ags appear to me to be too complacent. If the head coach is getting paid $2 mil you have the right to be extremely upset with this current mess. But i see all this "true ags are loyal, etc." You can be loyal but still raise a huge stink with the administration over what is going on.
Just a view from an outsider.

No disagreement with your outside review, gopitt. The current staff makes it seem as though we should have zero say in what happens in and around our team.

We should be doing better in all aspects, but are not.

yep

I'm from UH and UH has been down for years. Have an 0-11 year and going through 2 horrible coachs.

UH may not have the crowd numbers, but the alumni make it clear for what they want. UH does not have anywhere near the amount of money tamu has for sports, but UH is making due to get the bang for their buck. It's slowly working.

I agree with Pitt, I don't know why "Fightin' Texas Aggies" are being so complacent with the way sports are being run here.

Spot on, Red. Dave Maggard (UH AD) is doing a fantastic job at UH. UH may have a small fanbase, but they are very passionate nad aggressive.

[This message has been edited by Missouri City Aggie (edited 10/9/2005 5:44p).]

Our problem is 2 fold: 1) We as Aggies have this delusion of being this elite athletic department with unlimited funds that is underperforming WRONG and 2) We are a late comer to College Sports Inc. and are having to play catch up to everyone else who got on board before us. Allow me to elaborate:

Despite our delusions we are not one of the biggest and baddest athletic departments in the country. Our Total Revenues in the Big 12 is fifth best at 50 million after Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Tech and OSU are not far behind us. Nationally, about 20 of your major D-I schools have revenues of between 50 and 100 million dollars annually and they are the ones who are consistently competing on the national stage.

Most of these schools are between 50-60 but with some big spenders like Michigan(68 mil),Florida (70 mil) Texas (80 mil) and tOSU (100 mil). Essentially though, this means we are at the bottom of the elite category in terms of money and are still surprised that we dont go very far in national level competiton.

Your schools like Tech and OSU are ignoring their small potatoe sports for the most part and pouring every penny into the 2 money sports and it helps negate that 10 million dollar difference that we spend on the non revenure sports in an attepmt to have a nationally recognized athletic department with every sport ranked.

We dont spend more than most other schools, so why should we dominate like the big spenders do? We're average at best in terms of money and money is wht gets you the best coaches, facilities, players etc.

Do we have potential? Yes, but it wont happen for a while (10-20 years) for 2 reasons. 1) we are one of the largest schools in America but have only become so recently. Less than a decade has passed since we had our first 40,000+ class, but for people our parents and grand parents age (the ones who have enough disposable income to contribute) the alumni base is much, much smaller the further you go back. The good news, is that assuming no more growth for either institution, we will eventually have a living alumni base as large, wealthy and (hopefully) enthusiastic as tu's. For now though, we get by on a lot of enthusiasm and spirit that helps make up for our lack of deep pockets and sheer numbers.


[This message has been edited by Aglax2005 (edited 10/9/2005 6:56p).]

^
^
Is that you BB?

BB is a **** faced fraud.

he's right and you know it...still doesn't excuse the piss poor performance of this team.

72jag, right on!

I hate that we dump money into minor sports like womens hoops, volleyball, etc....

But in terms of spending on football - I don't think you can argue that we don't pay our coaches or coordinators as well as or better than anyone else in the country. Find me another coach with a losing record earning $2 MM per.

here here.

cue the twisted sister:


"We're not gonna take it..."

72jag - You hit the nail right on the head!

Until the former students start demanding more from the players and coaches - nothing will change!

Big XII Football is BIG BUSINESS! Until we start hitting them in the "pocket book" - nothing will change.

Stop paying the ridiculous price of $50.00 - $75.00/ticket to see this lackluster performance and stay at home. When that stadium is 1/2 full - you can bet SOMETHING will be done whether it comes from the Board of Regents, Gates, Byrne or Francione.

We can still support our team from home by listening to the radio, seeing them on t.v (if they will be on tv again this year) or by reading the paper.

It's going to take the ones that contribute the big $$$$ - not someone like me - with no $$$$.

Oh yeh, I forgot to mention:

Stop believing everything the best Propaganda machine in America (meaning the A&M and BCS media) puts out every year about how good the Ags are, how we signed the best recruits in the nation, how we have the best coaches anywhere, etc, etc, etc. We go through this EVERY year.

When is the A&M & BCS press going to start asking the "tough questions" of Fran, Byrne, Gates, and the Board of Regents?????? When????

When are they going to quit making excuses?????
When?????

When are we going to quit saying "oh wait til next year"? When?????

I'd say starting this weak. Even the front page of the Eagle today questions Fran's "rebuilding". Then again, it is a Premeaux article...

I'd say starting this week. Even the front page of the Eagle today questions Fran's "rebuilding". Then again, it is a Premeaux article...

Cotton1986,
About the BCS media, they are just a puppet of the athletic departemnt to sell more tickets. And the high paid coaches have paid thousands just for the lots at Miramont Country Club not counting what their homes costs. And you think the real estate investors care about the fans, Hell no, they want Fran to keep his millions and his marketing schemes so they can sell more homes to those over paid coaches. It's about time that Aggies ask for accountability before forking over millions but the joke is on us AGAIN.

Thank you for submitting your vote to TexAgs.com

Currently, your vote is the 1 vote in support of this message.

P.S.

I will not be renewing my season tickets, and will suspend any further 12th man donations until those in charge of our athletic program AT LEAST proclaim publicly that the current state of mediocrity we are embroiled in is unnaceptable, and that the return on our donations (read: investments) is subpar and those in responsible will be held accountable.

Until that time, no more money leaves my pocket.

I understand and agree with everything except the following:

quote:

---

Less than a decade has passed since we had our first 40,000+ class

---

The enrollment was 45,000 back in 1987. Perhaps before. Other than that, good points. Especially that being dissatisfied doesn't necessarily mean disloyal. In this case, it means extra loyal. Expecting better.

I'm not a huge potbanger, but when I hear Fran's "I don't know" responses to player mindset questions, I can't help thinking about how his system stresses the importance of responsibility and accountability.