Wildcat Ryan wrote:On the subject of Montana having a great fanbase, WE KNOW, good for them, we dont have to be reminded of it every freaking day. Its easy to have a great fanbase, when your an FCS team in an FCS dominated state, in Utah, there are 3 FBS schools within about 100 miles of each other, and 5 total division 1 teams. When your not the biggest show in the state, you wont get as big a crowds as the big shows, BYU and Utah they are the biggest show, they are all the media talk about. You can talk about fans from other states, but what does that prove? "Hey I saw a Montana fan in Florida" ok so a guy that lived in Montana moves to Florida and Montana is well known? I have 3 friends, who are ironically a LameYU, a Utah and a UTah State fan, NONE of them new who Montana was before i told them, despite Montana coming to Ogden every year.
Bet you anything Weber's basketball victories over Michigan State and North Carolina are more known about than Montana's 2 FCS National Titles.
Having said that I congradulate Montana for having built a powerhouse program, that has continually dominated the Big Sky, and contended well for the NC. But Im leaving it at that, If Montana is embarassed by being in the Big SKy, then they should leave.
On the subject of EWU, dont let thier schedule fool you, THEY ARE GOOD. Weber will have thier hands full, and Im still sticking with my prediction of an offensive shootout.
Wow. Where to begin. You complain about not being the biggest show in the state and having trouble drawing fans, then your program shoots itself in its foot EVERY YEAR for a few hundred thousand dollars. AS I said, short term solution to a long term problem. Our fanbase wasn't built in a a day, and if we had 15 .500 seasons under our belt, Wa/Griz would still seat 12,500. Not sure where you're going with the whole "weber basketball" thing....known about more, by WHO?
Finally, nobody has ever said Montana is "embarrassed by being in the big sky". But we would love nothing more than to play to packed houses everywhere we go., and the solution to the almighty dollar ain't rocket science. Yeah, you start with one strike against you by having more competition, but I still believe that if you went 9-2 or 10-1 every (or most) year, the fan base would come. Maybe not immediately, but it would come, and the need to play FBS schools to prop up the budget would go away.
Hell, go out and find some rich Weber Grad and have them donate a bunch of money to eliminate the need....
