Permission to Rant?

[JCloned]

I caught a little of Ken Miller on the way home and surprise, my rant isn't about what he said. My rant is against the Cyclone fans calling in who kept saying you have to remember he is coaching at Iowa State, or we aren't...or we can't expect...you have to remember we are Iowa State. You are darn right. We are Iowa State. We are a proud University that is committed to excellence. We will compete for championships. We will play meaningful game every week of the season.

We can't expect more because you have to remember who we are....give me a break. So afraid to let go of 8-24 b/c they are don't believe we can do better.

Sad.....so does the EIU arrogance regarding ISU come from their own feathered brains or are they just repeating what our own fans say.

Rant over, return to regular programming

 

[Cyclonesrule91]

Ya, I heard that too, and specifically, the EIU fan that said "I am a Hawk fan number 1, but if Ferentz had done the same thing as McCarney, I would want him replaced too".........Ya right, they lose to Indiana during their BCS championship season and their ready to replace Ferentz without a second thought.

 

[clonehome]

Great post. it's sad

All it would take is a great coaching job and suddenly the low self esteem and doubt would be erased. The Iowa program was in terrible shape when Hayden Fry arrived in '79. Iowa's record over the previous 15 years was as bad as any stretch in ISU history. I know this because I can remember the tail end of the misery before they hired Fry. 56-0 against Nebraska, 56-7 at home against Purdue......and that was 1980 in Fry's 2nd year.

Dan McCarney did a good job of at least easing the pain for Cyclone football fans. But his mediocre performance has only reinforced the doubters. We need one guy to come in and make it happen. Like Snyder at KSU, Rich Brooks at Oregon, Fry at Iowa, Mike Leach at TT, Schiano at Rutgers, McCartney at Colorado, Gary Barnett at Northwestern. It can be done. Sustaining it is something different, but I'd be satisfied with something short of that. Just a 3-5 year stretch where we win the Big XII North and play on New Year's Day a couple times. (And maybe even the stars align and he pulls off that one upset where we beat OU or Texas for a conference title. Remember that ISU had not won a conference basketball title in 55 years, until Larry Eustachy did it twice in a row.) Just to prove that it can be done. And it can.

 

[Wesley]

Iowa was as low as Iowa State at times. If it can be cdone at Iowa to the next level, it can be done at ISU. Louisville and West Virgina look pretty good now.

 

[JCloned]

I agree. We need all Clones to get on the bandwago and move forward

 

[dccyclone25]

I agree. We need all Clones to get on the bandwago and move forward

Exactly. And so what if we do get rid of Mac? Do any of his apologists think that there is no one out there that can coach/recruit better than Mac? It is sad that they think the best we can do is a guy that at best *could* be an assistant coach at another BCS school.

 

[goldmember]

That Scott guy who called in ranting and raving is an absolute idiot and embarrasment to ISU.

 

[clones11]

wait stop the ranting you asked for permission and with out getting it you ranted anyways bad form sir bad form.....j/k ;-)

 

[ISUFan22]

Did anyone listen to the Jon Miller show yesterday, where a Cyclone fan called in rambling about nothing. Part of his nonsense included this quote.

"Jon, I wanted to mention recruiting quick and then I'll hang up. I keep hearing how ISU can't win a Big 12 title and a national title. Well if you took the Texas recruits or USC recruits, etc - and put them in an ISU uniform - we could win titles too!"

Really, Mr. Expert? Here, all along, I thought it was our uniforms that kept us from winning all these years. So you mean to say, if all the Texas players showed up in Ames and put on our Cardinal & Gold - we could win? Wow...what an amazing discovery - ground breaking stuff.

Mr. Expert, right now what you don't understand, is we can't get that caliber of player right now. If I offered anyone in the country a scholarship to Texas and then one to ISU - where is the kid gonna go? It's a brainless choice that basically 10 out of 10 athletes are going to sprint toward Austin.

 

[Lastplace]

I agree with the post about West Virginia and Louisville...some people wouldnt even know they had a football team about 5 years ago. Look at Rutgers...young excited coach..undefeated in 3-4 years of being there.

Good things CAN happen to ISU football...the fans are there, the facilities will be there, and there is no reason why the Big 12 North shouldnt be decided every year when we play Nebraska. We just need something NEW and someone NEW in the program to spark up the fire again.

It is time for a change, and I think we will get it after this year.

 

[Wesley]

Like the Billy Joel song about starting the fire. Have JP play that song before Saturday's game over the loudspeaker and watch the crowd raction.

 

[clonestotop]

I agree with the post about West Virginia and Louisville...some people wouldnt even know they had a football team about 5 years ago. Look at Rutgers...young excited coach..undefeated in 3-4 years of being there.

Good things CAN happen to ISU football...the fans are there, the facilities will be there, and there is no reason why the Big 12 North shouldnt be decided every year when we play Nebraska. We just need something NEW and someone NEW in the program to spark up the fire again.

It is time for a change, and I think we will get it after this year.

The fans are there? We are 3-6 and fans are so far off the bandwagon its disgusting. They are talking about 35,000 people there tops this weekend. The fans aren't there. Only there if we are doing well. This isn't every Cyclone fan but it sure as hell is a lot of them. How many people have you heard in the last 2 week say they aren't going to any more Cyclone games till something changes? Give me a break. Get off your high horse and be a true fan. That is my rant.

 

[JCloned]

wait stop the ranting you asked for permission and with out getting it you ranted anyways bad form sir bad form.....j/k ;-)

My bad, may I have permission to rant in Sir.

:biggrin9gp:

 

[Skyh13]

The fans are there? We are 3-6 and fans are so far off the bandwagon its disgusting. They are talking about 35,000 people there tops this weekend. The fans aren't there. Only there if we are doing well.

What team doesn't that apply to? Seriously, now.. yes, we want everyone to support the team, but let's be realistic. If they're talking about 35,000 being there... then obviously, fans are there. Sure, we aren't selling out, but you already know why. We aren't doing well. And how can you possibly expect us to sell out when we're last in our conference? Could you honestly ask that of ANY other football team in the nation?? Of course not! The only sports team I know of that can possibly sell out while still completely sucking and being in last place is the Chicago Cubs. And you know what? Half of the people there either don't go for the game or don't want to waste the season tickets they bought.

We are all fans, that's why we care so much. That's why we want to do better. Yes, we shouldn't resort to abandoning our team, but in general lower attendance comes with being in last place. That's just the way it works, and you can't ask for sellout crowds when this is the case.

 

[Clonefan94]

This is another thing that bothers me about some Cyclone fans. "Support no matter what!" You know, that only goes so far. We are trying to build a fan base here, not keep one that really didn't exist. You were getting people in the stands because expectations were high this year, not because they are the Cyclones. You have to put a good product on the field to attract fans. What 35,000 in the stands will prove is that you have about 35,000 people who are die hard fans of Iowa State. The other 15-20 thousand that didn't show were merely people who thought they could see some good football, but, aren't willing to sit through another ISU crapfest. It's not the fans fault. It's like me trying to feed you a candybar made of crap. You're supposed to eat it becaus I say you are, not because it's good or fun to eat. It's the exact same with ISU football. Until you make it good football or at least fun to watch, you aren't going to get anyone but your 30-35,000 true fans out there. In the end, if ISU wants more fans, they have to put a good product on the field year in and year out. You can't have 2 0-fer seasons every 4 years and expect a lot of excitement. And you especially can't sell people on the fact that, "This is the best ISU can expect" as a way to drum up fans. Sell, "We expect nothing less than winning seasons!" Sell, "We expect a conference Championship" Sell, "We expect a New Years DAy Bowl" That's the atmosphere people want to be involved with. Not, "What do you expect, this is ISU, the best we can do." Quit blaming the fans, it's not our fault. Put a team that wins games out on the field and people will show up. Put a team on the field that's not known for pissing the end of the season down their leg and you'll get fans in the seats in November. Sell excitement and you'll get excitement. Sell crap and you'll get a bowl of crap.

 

[JCloned]

I like to hunt pheasants. Every year I typically miss a game for a hunting weekend with family. This weekend I will be out chasing some birds. Each year I give my tickets to friends/family who are Clone fans who don't have football tickets. This year in my circle of friends I had no takers.

Now I don't say this to slam clone fans. Instead, it is always those fans who are on the fence or stuggle with the financial or time commitment to buy season tickets who fill up the last 10,000 or more seats. When there is excitement a reason to believe, they come. Right now the hard core fans among us (which I include myself in) are not expecting good things in the next three weeks. How can we expect their optimism when we are seeing the reality of our team. Other than this weekend I will still be in the stadium as will most of us diehards. The rest are gone for this year and I really have a hard time blaming them. We need to have program that they get excited and passionate about. They are the ones who will take us from 30,000 to 40,000 season ticket sales. With the current direcion of our progam they have better things to do....even when my tickets are free.

 

[clonestotop]

Well your guy's responses just shows one of many things that differs ISU from a good football program. If Nebraska, florida, A&M, hell even Iowa were 3-6 they would still have that place packed. We keep talkin about wanting to become one of those programs, well DO your part!!! Recruits no when the fan base isn't behind a team, they aren't dumb. Its like you want all this stuff given to you before you give back

 

[dccyclone25]

Well your guy's responses just shows one of many things that differs ISU from a good football program. If Nebraska, florida, A&M, hell even Iowa were 3-6 they would still have that place packed. We keep talkin about wanting to become one of those programs, well DO your part!!! Recruits no when the fan base isn't behind a team, they aren't dumb. Its like you want all this stuff given to you before you give back

So it's the fans' fault that Mac can't coach his way out of a paper bag, or that the players we do have make untimely late hits and fumble the ball and drop passes?

Wow, I didn't know we were so crucial to the game.

 

[Clonefan94]

Your are right Clonestotop. We are building a fanbase now. Our tickets are not hard to get. The reason those teams keep people coming is because even in a bad year there is hope for the next. So, they don't want to lose their tickets by selling them off. For ISU, we can't afford bad years. To get to that level, an ISU ticket has to be a tougher thing to get. You have to make it something that a fan will not be willing to part with come hell or high water. Give us even a hint of NU, Florida, A&M or Iowa's past successes and you'll see the same thing happen. No one seems to want to hear this, but, it wasn't a packed stadium week in and week out that turned a terrible program bad. It was the program getting better than put people in the seats. Establish a winning tradition and the tradition of a full stadium will follow. Those teams didn't suddenly just have 80,000 people showing up for games for no reason. They showed up because they were winning games. I guarantee you, had Nebraska put a few more seasons together like they had in 2004 you'd have seen things drop off their or a coaching change made. Another big difference is those programs aren't willing to see attendance drop. So, they will make necissary changes to keep people in the stands. Why do you think Solich was fired. There was a threat that they might not keep getting sell outs. If you sell mediocre football, you'll get mediocre crowds. It's that simple. ISU is at a disadvantage because our tradition is losing and the fans still feel this way. So you don't have tickets this year? IT's no big deal, if they are better, we'll just buy them next year. That doesn't exist at A&M, NU and Florida. Give up your tickets and they are gone.

Plus, as I recall, wasn't Iowa losing some attendance in Kirk's first few years?

 

[clonestotop]

So it's the fans' fault that Mac can't coach his way out of a paper bag, or that the players we do have make untimely late hits and fumble the ball and drop passes?

Wow, I didn't know we were so crucial to the game.

Wow im glad that you intelligently turned what i said into that. Fans are a part of the game, always have been and will be. You can't tell me that 50,000 screaming fans doesnt help a team more than35,000 cuz you would be wrong. Y do certain teams always win at home. If we want to be a top notch program like everyone on this board is screaming for then do your part. We may still stink but at least we will have one less thing to build from when a new coach comes in here. If. I don't get y people spend the time to write on these boards bashing the coaches and team and then don't even spend the time going to the game. Are they really even fans in that case?