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Post by wcatradio75 on Oct 5, 2018 22:42:08 GMT -5
It did not happen in 1983 when the Cats played for the 1AA National Championship. Correct me if I'm wrong because that was 13 years before I was born, but Ramsey (86ish) and the baseball stadium (78ish) were both built around that time. Not to mention EJ Whitmire was built in the 73ish. That seems like a pretty good stretch for athletics funding to me. Two things - We had an administration that was willing to support athletics more back then. Also - big donors - Jordan-Phillips was mostly corporate donations. Between Dr. Alex Pow ('68-'72), Frank Brown (interim), and Cotton Robinson ('74-'84) - they all helped improve facilities on campus. From the Catamount Sports web page: "Construction of E.J. Whitmire Stadium was completed in 1974 at an initial cost of $1.66 million that was granted by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1971."The other item is that we have more than doubled our commitments to the Catamount Club over the past 10 years and it gets no recognition from administration. So why can't the Gen. Assembly grant us money for a renovation?
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Post by wcu77 on Oct 7, 2018 6:46:13 GMT -5
I seem to recall this being mentioned some time ago but still seems to be true. The administration has done a remarkable job over the past few years expanding and renovating the campus and attracting a larger student body but have largely ignored athletics. They seem to want the burden to raise athletic funds to be on the Catamount Club so they can do other things. That is very short sighted and I think is eventually going to come back and bite them. I am hearing rumblings (louder then usual this time) of some considering cutting back their member contributions or stopping altogether because of the recent change in levels with no meaningful explanation and the continued poor results from the athletic department. Why continue or increase one's contribution when the end result is the same old poor performance year in and year out?
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Post by WesternFan on Oct 7, 2018 7:59:46 GMT -5
I seem to recall this being mentioned some time ago but still seems to be true. The administration has done a remarkable job over the past few years expanding and renovating the campus and attracting a larger student body but have largely ignored athletics. They seem to want the burden to raise athletic funds to be on the Catamount Club so they can do other things. That is very short sighted and I think is eventually going to come back and bite them. I am hearing rumblings (louder then usual this time) of some considering cutting back their member contributions or stopping altogether because of the recent change in levels with no meaningful explanation and the continued poor results from the athletic department. Why continue or increase one's contribution when the end result is the same old poor performance year in and year out? IMHO, they chose the wrong year to revise the giving levels of the Catamount Club. I think just that one thing would have reduced overall giving to the CC next year, but that combined with a now expected 3-8 football season, spells disaster for the Catamount Club's fundraising.
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Post by gocats18 on Oct 7, 2018 8:41:41 GMT -5
I seem to recall this being mentioned some time ago but still seems to be true. The administration has done a remarkable job over the past few years expanding and renovating the campus and attracting a larger student body but have largely ignored athletics. They seem to want the burden to raise athletic funds to be on the Catamount Club so they can do other things. That is very short sighted and I think is eventually going to come back and bite them. I am hearing rumblings (louder then usual this time) of some considering cutting back their member contributions or stopping altogether because of the recent change in levels with no meaningful explanation and the continued poor results from the athletic department. Why continue or increase one's contribution when the end result is the same old poor performance year in and year out? IMHO, they chose the wrong year to revise the giving levels of the Catamount Club. I think just that one thing would have reduced overall giving to the CC next year, but that combined with a now expected 3-8 football season, spells disaster for the Catamount Club's fundraising. I agree. Football season is headed downhill quick. Pitiful year of baseball last year. And basketball season wasn't much better. There really isn't much of a rallying point.
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Post by wcugrad95 on Oct 8, 2018 9:27:52 GMT -5
I know several of you are not stats guys, but the numbers don't lie. Here is where we stand nearly 1/2 way into the season on defense:
Points allowed per game: 39.2 Passing allowed per game: 315.4 Rushing allowed per game: 175 Total yards allowed per game: 490.4
In SoCon play: Points allowed per game: 53.3 (last) Passing allowed per game: 395.3 (last) Rushing allowed per game: 189.7 (7th - but haven't faced the TO teams yet) Total yards allowed per game: 585 (last)
We are also 8th in number of penalties (34 for 315 yards - average of almost 7 and 63 yards per game), we allow teams to convert 43% of their 3rd downs (32 of 75) and 60% of their 4th downs (9-15). All of those 4th down attempts have come since we got into SoCon play, and I would assume we see teams continue to go for it against us at a clip of 3 or more per game.
We clearly showed the past 2 weeks that if our offense doesn't show up early, once we are down it is going to be hard to recover - and we can't afford to turn the ball over (we now have 9 turnovers with 4 picks and 5 fumbles lost - but have put the ball on the ground 8 times). We played the first 2 games without a turnover - if we had one in the first game we probably would have lost it and would be 2-3 with a D2 loss on the schedule.
The penalties, turnovers, blown coverages, lack of adjustments, playing guys who have no business being on the field because they are hurt, special teams issues, etc. are coaching problems. I would be way more lenient if we were showing signs of life and losing simply because we are young and making bone-headed mistakes. If we were up there pushing for 7 wins again and just can't get over the hump then I turn that blame to the admin about not giving us the funds needed to recruit and develop the kinds of guys we need to be SoCon champs and making playoff runs.
We need to be as good as we can - and with the talent we have on the roster in my opinion that is more than a 3-win season. If we can get to 5 or 6, I would then turn my attention back to the long-term view of funding. At this stage we have the team and coaches we have. I don't agree that we all go into a "fire everybody" mode - at an FCS school that is going to be an after-the-season conversation at best. So let's try and focus on supporting the kids and the program, and concentrate on if there are things we can do to try and find wins against at least a couple more teams.
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