AtlantaTiger

1 hour ago, TuTigers2012 said:

What made you think that they aren’t great?  Black and gold glasses?

Close game as of 5:51pEST, no? 

While I'm not expecting Towson to win, W&M doesn't exactly look like a world-beater.  It looks like Campbell and Charleston Southern gave them all they could handle and what appears to be a fairly mediocre Elon squad beat them in a fugly 14-6 game.  

I'll say 28-24 W&M, but I will also completely hedge and say I wouldn't be surprised if Towson pulls out a 27-20 win.

Go Tigers.

I can’t get too bent out of shape about a 7 point loss to an Albany team that thumped Villanova and had very respectable showings against FBS programs Hawaii and Marshall. They are a better team than we are at this point in time but we’re clearly better than we were in week 1.  Progress. 
 

Don't have a great feeling about this matchup but wouldn't be completely surprised if we found a way to pull it out.  As of now, I'm saying 34-24 Albany.

Just now having a chance to see the box score and the highlights.....very happy to see Lukkas Londono make such a clutch play towards the end.  Love those scrappy Bergen County dudes!

Absolutely outstanding win. Can’t wait to see how some on here might still come for Shinnick.

Go Tigers!! 

41-17 UNH......and will still not be a reason to panic about Shinnick.  

53 minutes ago, tigerjake said:

https://x.com/JakeShindel/status/1707066632210731313?s=20

Rob Ambrose makes his return to coaching as a defensive analyst at Maryland

Taking a page out of the "Nick Saban School of Coaching Rehabilitation".  A smart move that keeps him plugged into the coaching community & network.  Maybe he parlays this into a full-time gig with the Terps next season or more likely lands at a school like ODU, Marshall, etc......a regional mid-major.  

So is the belief that this roster is stacked with superior talent and that Coach is inept for not being able to win with what he has? 
 

It appears to me he’s working with a patch-work group of marginal players. Leftovers from Ambrose, transfers who didn’t cut it at other programs, dudes looking for a last chance to play college ball and first year kids. This isn’t a terribly impressive group of players. Let the man have a couple of proper recruiting cycles.

Also, his UWF team, a team he literally built, is currently 3-1. What’s that you say? It’s not comparable since it’s a D2 program? It’s all relative, the guy knows football and the kind of players it takes to win at the respective level. I think UWF would beat this Towson team today. 

I’ll tell you what’s set Towson football back behind so many other programs. It was Towson’s refusal to part ways with “lifetime contract” coaches like Gordy Combs and Ambrose. Year after year of mediocre seasons with no consequences. The program was managed like a high school team. And you’re shocked that an outsider can’t come in and can’t get things rolling after 4 games?? A few of you are delusional. 

50 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

This is pretty good article. There are some good thoughts and facts and other stuff just made up.   
Michigan and Georgia are in large college towns not too far from major cities. You have UT, Univ Tennessee, Ohio state, Minnesota, nc state, Arizona state. Univ Washington, etc are all in mid to larger cities/college towns. Baltimore is not that big of a town. It is in fact the furthest from a college sports town. 

The students don’t care and what do we think they ever will? They mock athletics and complain about student fees. Would winning really help? Sure to some extent but even with west and Benimon the stadiums were 3/4 full max and most left at half. Silly little giveaways get them in the gates for a bit and they are gone. We used to be able to claim that it was an affordable family event but has anyone seen the ticket prices recently?!

JMU was successful because they wanted to be. We don’t. It’s that simple. They had/made the money work to spend to be sucked full. They spent more in their last few years in the caa than most all other G5 programs. That’s for all sports. They have some of the highest student fees in the nation. We don’t have enough money to buy out a coach in their last year of the contract. 

By not knowing what type of school we want to be, we have a minimal eggs to go around and they are being spread amongst too many baskets, rather than being all in on a few sports. 

I think the new AD has new ideas and plan to change but we will see how successful they are.

 

Look forward to others thoughts on this and for the same old same old to criticize and tell me just be happy we have programs, record doesn’t matter. 

Fully admit that I have a local bias and it's a sample size of ONE, but I look at a school like Kennesaw State, here in GA (~15 miles north of Atlanta).  I think this qualifies as a metro/suburban University similar to Towson.

-Didn't have a football program until 2015

-Play FCS; Big South Conference

-On-campus stadium holds 8,300

-Undergrad Enrollment: ~33,000

-Program winning %: .739

This is a school that compares very well to Towson in all facets from academic reputation/status, local reputation, media coverage (or lack thereof), light years behind in fan interest compared to the "big-boy" in-state programs and the local pro teams.  I would guess that the university budgets & endowments are not too different or are similar in relative terms.  They don't pack their stadium on game days either.  They even wear black & gold like our Tigers.

And yet, this time next year, they'll be a card-carrying member of C-USA and the media & financial benefits that come with it.  In less than 10 years of existence.    

Now, that .739 winning % over 8+ seasons is pretty damn stout and clearly has something to do with the move.  Winning solves a lot of problems and gets noticed.  

1 minute ago, Blounge said:

Oh yeah miss Debbie (I think that’s her name) was always a sweetheart. Like an IHOP/Waffle House waitress asking “how you babies doin?”

Miss Debbie was the best!  Twenty-plus years later, I can still taste those chicken patties and smell the waffle batter.  #Towerlife

Nice win.  Clearly making progress each week with signs of improvement across most (not all) position groups.  Will this most likely be a 3 or 4 win season?  Yes.  Is that unexpected or unacceptable for a first-year coach?  Of course not.  Still very bullish on Shinnick and his long-term plan.

Go Tigers!

27-24 Towson. 

Man, I wish there were as many fans coming for Skerry’s head as there are coming for Shinnick’s.

Pete is TWO games into his Towson career. Two. Everyone settle down. He’s working with a bit of a patchwork roster and hasn’t had a full recruiting cycle to work with yet. The two teams we’ve played so far aren’t the dregs of college football. 
 

Clearly we’re in need of better QB play. I’m confident that will be addressed in the future. 

Hens to the FBS?

Can't wait for 3:30! However, thinking it will be 38-13, Terps.  

Go Tigers!

1 hour ago, mat1992 said:

Late addition, Big juco safety that can fly. Had some pretty big offers

https://x.com/presidenial6ix/status/1697063598676201807?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

Is it true that this guy is 25 years old? 

Nathan Kent is the projected QB1?  He's a walk-on, correct?

1 hour ago, TuTigers2012 said:

Haha I mean it’s not pretty.  It needed to be replaced as it was beat up and an eyesore but what is that design?! 

It's the track & field equivalent of having a football field with red, blue or black turf as some colleges do.  

A random & fairly irrelevant observation but looking at the most current TU roster I think I only count 6 guys from the great state of New Jersey.  It felt like close to 1/3 of the team were Jersey dudes in my era of late 90's early 2000's.  Some amazing football talent in Jersey, hope those high school relationships are still intact.

Go Tigers!

I can't wait for the season to start!  There's something exciting about not knowing exactly what we have as a team.  Could year one under Shinnick be a complete roll of the dice and/or train wreck?  Sure, and he gets an understandable free pass if it is. 

However, could there be a little bit of first-year magic where this collection of transfers, vets, walk-ons and unknowns catches some teams sleeping and manages to win a lot more games than most would expect?  I wouldn't be surprised if that's also the case.

On a completely unrelated note, I may be most excited for Towson's switch from being a Pepsi school to a COCA-COLA school!!  That in itself is a BIG win!!

In this wild age of "big-boy" conference realignment why not look to grow the CAA too.  SoCon programs like Chattanooga, Mercer and Furman would be solid additions to the CAA.....respectable football and/or basketball programs that would help expand the geographic footprint of our conference.  

43 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

Shouldn’t matter. Football or not. Competitor (lol) or not.  He comes from a very similar school and seems to be very well qualified. Good hire!  Didn’t one last presidents come from a small private religious school??

Towson is the antithesis of Alabama and those schools 

I think it matters to a degree.  A president who is either or indifferent, or even worse, unsupportive of athletics (read: football) can present hurdles for progress.  Generally speaking, successful sports programs have Presidents that are in lockstep with the AD and the vision that they have.  On a scale from 1-10, what is Dr. Ginsberg's interest and appetite for Towson having championship programs?

Some "esteemed" members of academia and university leadership look down their nose at the athletic programs. I just want to know that he's not one of them.

On 8/2/2023 at 10:19 AM, mat1992 said:

Comes from George Mason

A very interesting choice.  Seems like he's more than qualified on the academic leadership side.  I wish him nothing but the best and unprecedented success in leading our beloved university.

As it relates to this forum, what are we getting as far as an NCAA athletics-supportive and competent president?  Mason, if it is anything, is a "basketball school", but even they have been a bit up & down over recent years.  With no football at Mason what will President Ginsberg's perspective be on fielding a competitive football program?  I would love to learn more about his relationship and experience in collegiate athletics and how he views their importance and relevancy.