Tigerfan

I struggle more with Pat Skerry and the basketball team. We averaged 2,000 a game in the 1980's and played in a 1 bid league. 40 years later we still average 2,000 a game and play in a one bid league. Basketball is cheaper to run and we play in a great high school basketball area(DC/Balto).

You make good points but: I graduated in 1982 and we still draw the same in basketball or 2,000 a game. That is almost 40 years. Football draws about 2,000 more than 40 years ago. We have made very little progress in 40 years.

Have we tried everything possible to get the students to the games? How can Nova, Richmond and William & Mary draw the same in football as us with only 9,000 students? Both schools are in area's with plenty to do(Virginia Beach, Richmond and Philly).

That helps. How about a bonus program for the Athletic Department staff. If they increase student attendance a certain % they get a bonus.

That is one option. Would also have pep rally's with the team at the Colony, Donnybrook, Towson Place and other off campus apartments with tickets and free piizza/beer.

Until Towson realizes student attendance should be highest priority, we will never get great in football or basketball. Students who attend games will donate to the athletic department as alumni and come back as alumni/increase attendance. Our problem is lack of significant money to pay off poor coaches and get good coaches and landing great players. Empty stadiums do not land great players.

My problem with Tim Leonard is the following: 1, No increase in football and basketball attendance since he's been at Towson and enrollment has increased. In fact, student football attendance has really declined the last 3-4 years. 2. We pay $450k to $500k for Pat Skerry and we get a middle of the pack CAA team with no post season appearances. At some point, we need to aim better. My hope is when is contract is up we do not renew it. East Coast/ Balto/DC is known for B-Ball not football. Should we spend more money to get better?

I like playing 1 FBS team every year and an academic school (Ivy League or Patriot League team) every year.

Yes. Even our basketball attendance has dropped. We go from 10,000 students in the 1980's to 23,000 and we draw the same number of students? We also have 9,000 more students living within 2 miles of campus compared to the 1980's. School administration has done a poor job.

Bingo. I've decided our athletic department/administration needs help if they can only get 6,000 for Homecoming. The Homecoming crowd was the worse in 10-15 years.

Yes. It's sad Villanova is outdrawing us for football. They are a little bigger school than Loyola of Maryland. Only 9,000 students. Really have to blame it on Towson's athletic department and administration. A realistic crowd for Towson homecoming/Delaware game should be 10,000-15,000. .

We should decide if we want Skerry soon for the long run He is 67-57 In the CAA the last 7 years excluding his first year. Took over an awful team his first year. How long do you keep a coach than cannot make the NCAA or NIT. Worth taking a chance on someone else soon if no NCAA the next few years. Got to take a risk in hopes of making a big in basketball. Maryland is in the same boat with Turgeon. He has to make the sweet 16 this year in my opnion to extend his contract.

I agree with the Villanova comparison except for 2 things. Why can't we get better in basketball. There are great players around us. Should we settle for middle of the pack Skerry forever? Vilianova has about 9,000-10,000 students and we have 23,000 but we draw the same amount for football? The commuter excuse no longer exist with our 12,000 residential students. Still believe our administration is not promoting sports enough for basketball and football. 1,500 students-2,500 students for Delaware and Homecoming ?

I was thinking the Delaware game. They had maybe 1,500-2,000 students there. Was not at Homecoming but the total crowd was the worse for Homecoming in a long time(6,000). We use to get 8-10 thousand when Waddell was here.

My biggest concern with the athletic department is reaching the students. If they do not attend games, they will not come back as alumni and donate to the Athletic Department. The student crowds have really declined at the football games compared to the Terrence West years. There appears very little effort to promote the game to the students.

I like your fraternity and sororities idea. This group likes to party and we should have at least 1/2 the Greeks at every game.

With 23,000 students at Towson, key is getting more students to attend the games. If they do not come as students, they likely will not come as alumni. Its also proven at all colleges that more residential students come to the games than commuters. Starting next year Towson will have 12,000 students living in campus owned/non owned dorms and apartments, If I was the Athletic Director, i would schedule various meet/greet happy hour/pep rally's throughout the football/basketball season at the off campus apartments, university owned dorms, and center of campus . Free beer/soda/snacks would be available. These happy hours/pep rally's would happen every year.

Stats show how poor our defense is. Ambrose would have regular playoff teams if he know how to coach defense.

I am not an Ambrose hater. He is a solid coach and took over at a really down time. However, its time for a change if we do not make the playoffs this year or next. Worth the risk on greatness to find someone else. Believe if we are a regular playoff team our fan support would improve. Maybe average 10,000 a game rather than our current 7,000. We averaged 9.300 a game when West was here.

See no reason why we cannot draw 10,000 to 15,000 a game as Delaware. We are a similar size school.

Hard to image that Towson a school with 23,000 students,12,000 residential students with the opening of Towson Row and 101 York and 165,000 alumni should drop football. 8.5 million on a 600 million to 1 billion dollar budget sounds small.The only school our size that does not have a team is George Mason.? Rather see a change in head football coach and leadership to win games and increase attendance . The student tailgating policy is still a mess and we need more parking lots to tailgate without buying a parking pass.

I agree Ambrose has done a solid job. Would like to see the next step or becoming a regular playoff team. Agree that people would not be beating the door down to coach at Towson. We draw 6,000-9,000 a game and have 1,500 season ticket holders. Hoping a regular playoff team would increase attendance plus we are expanding to a 2nd campus in Downtown Towson.

I am okay with playing large schools like Maryland/Rutgers/Temple/Wake Forest with 40,000-60,000 stadiums but not jumbo schools top 10 Florida/Georgia/Penn State with 90,000-100,000 seat stadiums. We will get killed. Not even close to the same league.

I did not think of the surface lots on Cross Campus drive at the Adm building. May be a good addition if Towson promotes it. I know for homecoming they are having tailgating at the Liberal Arts building. Maybe one of these 2 lots should be available for at least Parents weekend, Homecoming and the Delaware game.

It's good the parking lots are filling up but not good for people that want to tailgate with no place to park. I brought food and beer last year to tailgate and could not find a spot. Parked in the union and left the tailgate supplies in the car.