TSU88

When you say the roster is still not complete, are you intimating they’re adding more players? Hasn’t summer practice already started?

As to nobody caring, I think the apathy of TU students & alum is beyond dispute-I offer as exhibit A the 4K attendance for the home playoff game vs Fordham, the year we made the championship game run. Now, speaking for myself, I will be at every home game, but must confess a degree of ambivalence as it relates to the football program, stemming from the failure to capitalize on the championship game appearance in January 2014, the infuriating losses to the likes of Central Connecticut State, URI & Elon (when they stunk), the spectacular flame outs of ballyhooed transfers like Olsen & Mahalak (in Mahalak’s case, no ones fault, just bad luck), the refusal to bring in a new OC, which smacks of nepotism, and my own perception that the comments in the media of the HC sometimes make him come across as a snake oil salesmen. As for the players you listed in your post that started this thread, I will be pulling for them, and wish them great success, the same as I do for all the players representing my alma mater. No one would be happier than I were they to collectively vault us back into the playoffs. But unless & until that happens, I will continue to view this program with a jaundiced eye

Good luck!!! And watch out for reindeer’s!!!

How about a 4-team tournament at the new DC gym? 2 from Baltimore (us, and UMBC, Loyola, Morgan or Coppin) vs 2 DC teams (Howard, GW, AU, G’town). Call it the Baltimore-Washington Challenge or something similar.

I predict, barring unforeseen issues with bus 🚌 or plane ✈️ transportation, we will play 11 games.

Whoa, slow down there. You mean there’s a “New” Mexico? (My homage to the Simpson’s) As far as I’m concerned he could have transferred to Mexico City. Good riddance

Meanwhile, it also appears we got an O-Line transfer from Charlotte. A kid originally from Frederick County. I’m still concerned about the RB position. I like that we appeared to have shored up CB. Looks like we have good depth on O-Line & WR; also still concerned about D-Line

Well, to be fair, I’m not pessimistic on every pickup, and hope this kid catches 50-60 balls this season. Having said that, it arouses my curiosity when I read how he’s had a history of indecisiveness & school hopping; backed out on UNC, transferred from UCLA, linked to Syracuse but that didn’t come to pass, transferred to Pitt, only to leave there. I’m hoping for the best. We shall see.

What year is he in? Junior? Senior? Certainly sounds good on paper, but I’ve had my hopes dashed before when it comes to big name PAC 12 transfers (Morgan Mahalak, cough cough) Yes, you needn’t remind me that comparing Clark to Mahalak is like comparing an 🍎 to an 🍊. Still, there’s a reason all these guys transfer in the 1st place. Some pan out, some don’t

Heard anything about this new QB? I watched his hudl clip & he looks to be quite athletic-a read option type that I’ve been clamoring for us to get for some time.

I like that old saying...who said it?

I realize T Flacco is onboard, but he has very little history as a college QB-didn’t play at Rutgers & played sparingly at WMU. Maybe he’ll come in & set the world on fire, but either way, RA’s blunt assessment of Stover is discouraging & I’m assuming they would prefer not to burn Miller’s red shirt year.

Great. An immature QB who had a bad spring. What could possibly go wrong?😳

Nice to hear how nice the kids are. Look, we all want them to go 30-0, but it’s also important to remember they’re ambassadors for the school. I have no clue how they’ll perform on the court, but it already feels like a breath of fresh air to me, when compared to last year’s team (which included a pouter/quitter in Ingram, EK yelling at everyone, Morman kicked off, & prima donna ZM) I’m glad to hear PS talking about pushing to play a game or 2 in the 19-20 season in the new DC arena. In the thread about the tournament moving there I actually posted my hope that we would play a game there, against someone like American or GW. Obviously, Skerry read my post 😉 Mat, you mentioned a transfer named Adams-is that the kid from USD who’s sitting out this upcoming season?

Informative post. Really looking forward to see all the new guys. I think we’ll be better at the point with Howard/Dottin vs Starr. I’m skeptical we’re going to get much out of Thomas, but I’d love for him to prove me wrong. Really, at this point, my bar for him is pretty low-15 to 20 minutes a game, 5 points & 5 boards a game,with 5 fouls to give. I’m more excited about Sanders & Tunstall (hoping he can play at 220 lbs). Also hard not to be excited about Solomon (big upside) & Yagi. If Yagi can face up & drive, he might turn out to be a real steal. Can’t wait to see Betrand & Timberlake & Fobbs. In particular we really need Fobbs to pick up some of the scoring slack. Just as my expectations are low for Thomas, so too are they low for McNeill. If he averages more than 5-6 ppg I’d be pleasantly surprised. With the addition of guys who have been winners like Betrand & Dottin, & the subtraction of certain members of last year’s squad, this upcoming squad should be fun to watch, & night surprise a few people along the way.

I don’t want to see football 🏈 dropped. I would like to see a vast improvement in marketing football and basketball 🏀 & fundraising. I believe specific suggestions on how to improve marketing were discussed in a different thread, so I won’t belabor the point. As to fundraising, with all the TU alumni spread out throughout the region, it would be great to get a small donation from many, & larger donations from those dedicated few. How that is accomplished, I leave to those more versed in the intricacies of fundraising. I would also like to know what, if any, long range plan is in place for football. Is the plan to stay FCS or is there any discussion as to whether going FBS has any feasibility? Obviously, it’s hard to imagine the latter, when we’re drawing 6-7K a game (at most) in the FCS, but, for lack of a better cliche, failing to plan is planning to fail

It appears Montana has replaced Loyola Chicago in the Bahamas tournament. Too bad, I would have liked to have seen how we measured up to Loyola, but a consequence of their final 4 appearance is that they presumably backed out of the Bahamas tournament for something with more exposure and/or more lucrative. Btw, Montana went 26-8 last year, won the Big Sky regular season and tournament, and lost to Michigan by 14 in the NCAA tournament. They are far from a slouch

The UMBC game has a different implication this coming season. Playing Loyola & Morgan makes perfect sense, from an economic standpoint. I’m glad we’re not playing Coppin

I don’t wish him ill, nor will I be rooting for him. Glad he will be far away. Out of sight, out of mind. This chapter is closed & time to look forward

Why is Vermont, GW, UVA, UMBC, Bahamas & AC tournament extremely uninspiring? Other than most of them are road games, but that’s the trade-off for playing in 2 pretty cool tournaments. I’m already booked for the Bahamas, & might go to AC also

Dude’s made more stops on his tour than The Rolling Stones on their last tour.

Since we’ll be playing in DC, maybe we can take a page from the Caps, & finally win the tournament after years of futility. I think it’s safe to say that if we win 1 of the 3 tournaments that will be played in DC, no one is going to care where we won it

In the interests of defending my enormous ego, it was another poster, not I, who said the new venue is in the middle of a bad neighborhood. I’m bullish on DC. Just drove on a worknight recently from my home in Baltimore to have dinner at the Old Ebbitt Grill, on 15th Street, NW. was taken by how folks were safely walking the streets in that area at night. Not sure I would have felt safe doing that on the streets of my hometown

I’m not sure you’re grasping the subtleties of my argument. I am arguing in FAVOR of the new DC venue, by pointing out that statistically, DC is safer than Baltimore, a city which previously hosted the tournament. So, the rest of my argument in FAVOR of the DC venue, is that it is perhaps unfair to assert the neighborhood the new venue is in isn’t a good one (I’ve personally never been there, but I’m still going to go to the tournament) when the tournament was previously held in Baltimore, which isn’t renowned for being a bastion of public safety. Further, in a prior post, I pointed out that DC will probably bend over backwards to make sure the area is safe for those attending the tournament.

So, the attendance for last season’s tournament championship game (C of C vs NE) was 7,945. I dare say at least 7K of those in attendance were C of C fans. How much less would the finals attendance have been if C of C had been knocked off in either the quarterfinals or semifinals? Maybe a couple thousand? The entire 4 day tournament drew 21,941. That means the attendance for the 1st 3 days totaled 13,996, for an average of 4,665 a day, barely more than what this new venue in DC holds.