Rob Ambrose, by the numbers

[DocMinnegan 9]

My man Tgr4life, it's not putting words in your mouth when I simply mention the person responsible for the very action that you called out.  You say that the key is fundraising, so I pointed out the person responsible for doing that job. If the HEAD COACH is accountable for ON THE FIELD, shouldn't the HEAD FUNDRAISER be held responsible for RAISING MONEY.  I mean, this is the job they were hired to do.  You cannot make excuses for the lack of performance of the team on the field by sharing that "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." and then back off in your next post.  C'mon man, don't be that guy. 

Tgr4life actually went on to double down on the comment with "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." 

So who is responsible for "changing the trend at the school" in fundraising?

It's not the head coach, his job is to recruit, coach, and manage the football program.

It's partly the Director of Athletics, expressly when the AD, like TL, is supposedly a "fundraiser".

But, more than anyone else, RAISING MONEY is the absolute focus of one person more than any other, the TOP FUNDRAISER for Towson Athletics, which, as I have shown above, is simply not qualified to do the job in comparison to his peers at Delaware and James Madison.

You cannot complain about not having fundraising dollars, tie that to the non-performance on the field, and not hold the people accountable who are charged with actually raising money.

[Tgr4life 169]

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. 

[DocMinnegan 9]

Actually, ND State was 5th in attendance last year in FCS, but don't let the facts get in the way of your entertaining, yet off balance take.

FCS Attendance, 2016 - Top 5

1. Montana, 

25,377

2. James Madison

19,844

3. Florida A&M 

19,710

 

4. Jackson St.

19,660

5. North Dakota St.

18,556

 

The average attendance for the CAA was 9,232 in 2016.

Towson's average attendance was 5,703 in 2016, down considerably every year since 2011.

2008 - 4,980 > Last year of Coach Combs

2009 - 6,283, +26%

2010 - 7,107, +13%

2011 - 8,949, +26%

2012  - 8,691, -3%

2013 - 8,473, -2.5%

2014 - 7,288, -13.9%

2015 - 6,594, -9.52%

2016 - 5,703, -13.53%

2017 - 5,783

And so far this year, 5,783, which so far is a gain of +80 fans per game.  Delaware and Rhode Island games still to come, so unless there is a push at the end of the year it could end up as a 10-year low for attendance.

 

[Tgr4life 169]

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. 

[DocMinnegan 9]

13 hours ago, Tgr4life said:

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. 

Tough sell?  Absolutely.  The numbers above prove that. No argument there.

Is FCS the right place for Towson?  Absolutely.  Why?  FCS is not Towson's problem, that's many fold. 

[towson2006 9]

Hey, I may agree with some of what Doc is laying down here, but I am still here just haven't posted in awhile. Also Cole Field House is nowhere near close to being paid off by donors. That thing is like $196 million and they used $40 Million of state funds on it. The rest will probably come from students.