Tgr4life

Agreed

Not what I am saying at all. While Bill Russell would get nervous...when, for one of the very few times, he did not play to his ability, he never used "nerves" as an excuse. You can be nervous, but one needs to have the ability to still play to their ability, make good decisions and follow game plans. Being nervous is not an excuse for mental mistakes and poor decision making.

Nerves are an unacceptable excuse. When you are a scholarship basketball player at Division 1 level, you need to be ready as soon as the whistle blows! These guys have played hundreds of AAU games that would determine of they get a scholarship. If you get nervous you should be playing for the Towson Club basketball team. In the end, the only games that really matter are played in March. There are twenty some exhibition games to get ready for the conference championships.

This is Mike Morsell’s team. He needs to show his leadership. Coach Skerry, and every other coach in every other sport, needs a leader who the players respect, listen to and follow. Without that player, a team is in trouble. Mike needs to take this team and demand excellence in both effort and results. How successful Mike is will determine how successful this team is.

I am done. When you cant even admit that FCS is a tough sell.................................Having a discussion with as negative a person as one could find produces nothing positive. I do hope at some point you can find the half full part of the glass....like what our coach does for his student athletes. Have a good day.

I agree. Fundraising is the responsibility of the person you mentioned. No question about it. I did not back off of anything. Everyone has a responsibility. Development has responsibility for fundraising. Coaches are responsible for product on the field. All I said is that everyone has to do their job to make a project as large as a football program work. I am sorry if there was a misunderstanding as to how I phrased it. See we can agree. I just have a problem when one person is given all the blame......since so many have a job to do in order to make everything work. FCS football is a tough sell....anywhere other than Fargo, ND. It just is. And when a university has visions of grandeur, such as JMU, it an drive an entire department broke. I am only trying to be realistic both financially and competitively. I think we have a good guy at the head of our football program....you might disagree, but as I said, FCS football I a tough sell.

Please don't put words in my mouth, but we agree on may things. We certainly would like to see more wins, since winning is more fun than losing. However, there are many people that have a hand in both success and shortcomings. The coach gets too much credit for wins and too much blame for losses. The ones that need the support are the players.....after all, the real reason for an athletic department and competitive collegiate athletics is to provide the student athletes with an environment that helps young men and women to grow on the field and off the field. If alums are only interested in winning and not the other parts of what a team environment can do, they are missing the larger point of college athletics. Again, winning is more fun than losing......but that is not the only measure.

The "we are not funded card" is actually a true statement. You can post the numbers as you have, but if you look across the NCAA Football universe, all of the significant advances are made through outside donations, not budget. Cole Field House was redone through donations, many SEC schools are building new facilities through donations....not budget. Money needs to be raised from outside of the budget process in order to appropriately fund the program. We can debate the point as to 'loyalty to Towson"....or "firing an alum" and we are entitled to different points of view (which we do have), but there is NO question that in order for a program to succeed regularly, outside money is necessary. Budget covers the bare necessities. Football and basketball, nationally, are the sports where alumni donate the least. For a FCS school to succeed regularly, someone needs to change that trend at that school. By the way, just because James Madison wants to move up.....that does not mean anyone wants them.

While there is no question that winning is better than losing, you should look at the entire picture. The statement earlier of any sport, including football and basketball, having exceptional resources is just an alternative fact. Every once in a while an underfunded program can make a magical run. In the end, the teams with the resources win. Football funding is a big number, but only compared to other sports at Towson. Percentagewise, compared to other football programs we compete with....the number is not really competitive. Towson Athletics just does not have and therefore can not provide sufficient resources to consistently win. Citing the RA salary, one is trying to make the case that it is a big number......it is not.....certainly not compared to others in ours and comparable conferences. Anyone is allowed to disagree with decisions made by the staff, and the record says other decisions might have worked out better, but until Towson University and Towson Athletics is funded at a level comparable to our competition, we will have these discussions. The administration wants coaches to overcome deficiencies in funding for the student athletes. Provide the funding and then we can truly measure the job that the staff is doing. It might be interesting to see the entire Athletics budget and see how much is spent on administrative salaries before you address the won-loss football record and tie it to the RA salary. Then we can have a discussion as to the appropriate conference we should compete in......financially. Follow the money.

Perhaps thus discussion can return to having an air of civility. Name calling should have ended in 4th grade.

Had an interesting conversation with 20 current students yesterday to find out why they do not come to games....basketball or football. The consensus is that FCS football is just not interesting to them. They would rather sit home and watch Alabama or LSU. They also indicated that lack of tailgating is a significant deterrent. Wins and losses were important, but not as important as the other two. Several students also said they would like to have greater interaction with the student athletes themselves. That would give more of a reason to support the teams. Whether or not these feelings are justified is not important. As long as current students have these feelings, attendance will be poor. In basketball, they indicated that the lack of seeing a "name" team...or even a "name" players is a big part of the indifference. When they found out that Michigan came at the grand opening of the wood floor in the Towson Center, their eyes lit up hoping for something similar to that. I certainly got the sense that all these students want is a reason to come to the games. T-shirts and pizza and Military Appreciation Day are no longer the answer. I hope there is some plan in the near future there can be a committee and a diverse one to answer the attendance issues and help the Tigers build more student support. That is something we all want.

What are the mistakes you are referring to?

Attendance has, for an inordinate period of time, been lacking. It likely will remain that way. For all Skerry has done with the program, in the end, he has not won anything substantive. They are now competitive, but what does that get you, besides a trip to Belfast. Football just does not draw much from students and to those who are not students, Baltimore does not support FCS football....they are Ravens, Oriole's and Terps. Many ADs and many marketing folks have tried to turn the table. They have been unsuccessful. Sometimes you just have to be aware and admit where you stand in the hierarchy. I am certain this administration and coaching staffs are working as hard as they can, but I am not sure there will be different results.

Mat, My point is very simple. I have followed this and other Towson chat boards for a number of years and I am not sure I have seen a group of more negative people (other than Philadelphia Eagles fans). A team here is 16-2 and the answer above is...the soft part of the schedule is over. This is not you in particular...in fact, you are the exception to the rule. my guess is these kids...and they are kids...work as ahrd as they can, but so does the other team. Again, folks wake up in the morning figuring out what to complain about, while minimizing what a great job, in this case, the volleyball team has done.

Unbelievable negativity. They lose 1 match and the complaining starts. These young ladies have done a phenomenal job. I think the '27 Yankees lost at least one game.

Matt, I agree. All about the score, situation, etc. I think you would agree no one would call a play that they don't think will work. Right sometimes. Wrong sometimes. Let's go get em at College Park and hope we are right more often than we are wrong.

If it works, it is a great call. If it doesn't it's a horrible call. Pretty easy to make the call afterwards. I might not have made the call and you might not have either, but again, if it works all the fans say "We caught the by surprise.....What a great call". All I am saying is no one should say that a call makes no sense. They should say "It makes no sense to me".....or I don't understand that call. No one on the outside knows what is happening on the sideline.

I agree that they played poorly. That does not mean the decisions that were made were bad decisions......just poorly executed. There is a reason for decisions. If they did not work, they just were executed poorly. To say the decisions made no sense...that's is only to you. To the coach, they made perfect sense. Just need to practice so they work better

The first post says "I get it. The object is to wn". Then that individual goes on to complain about how they won. Complaints about specific plays and players. The game is a total combination and in the end.......The Tigers did what they wanted to do.....they won. If you all knew as much as you think you know, you would be a D1 Head Coach. .....and you are not Next week might be a different story. Stop whining and take the win!

Five new head coaches this coming year. Should be interesting.

Winning is a vague term. I guess you can look through his hires and see if all of these people have anything in common.

Women's Golf took a position at Georgetown. It was posted on Georgetown's website

Just think it will be a new culture for all. I am interested to see the results.

Women's Golf coach moved on as well

I am sure he is a great choice, but people of any age can have passion!