We sure dodged a bullet 5 years ago...
- Thread starter jdcyclone19
- Start date
I disagree they never will; the problem is they've been bad for 50 years. Wisconsin didn't have great fan attendance until Alvarez got there.
They haven't been that bad. They've never been great in the last 50 years, but they're rarely bad.
Alvarez has been in Madison for 30+ years, and the Badgers are almost as ubiquitous and popular as the Packers in that state. Minnesotans often use the Vikings as an excuse to ignore the Gophers, but that just doesn't seem to happen across the river.
I think U of W being in Madison and Green Bay being in Green Bay helps. With the Pack playing several of their games in Milwaukee in the past it anchored another following for them. I think the gophers and vikes being next door to each other makes it harder.
It’s a pro sports town with many Fortune 500 companies. Unlike Iowa, there are a lot of kids growing up that had parents attend schools other than the U. The built in loyalty isn’t there when it comes to football. Hockey on the other hand....
Minnesota's population is much more concentrated in a small geographic area than Wisconsin's as well. Milwaukee is the principal city and doesn't contain either the NFL team nor the D1 college. The vast majority of Minnesota's economic activity and population is within a 60 mile radius that also includes U of M.
I would think this would be an advantage for the Gophers. It's so easy to go to a game for the average Minnesotan. I would bet 75% of the state's population is within 30 miles of TCF Bank stadium.
75% within 30 miles? lol. The actual number is a little over 50% which contains the entire metropolitan area, which is roughly 7 counties.
I tend to agree with you. Now the Gophers were not horrible when he got there so it isn't like Bill Snyder to KSU, but he has done a decent job. I think it is also really hard to assess a team in the year of the Covid. So many chances to be missing key players.
Don't like his personality and the Row the Boat thing is stupid, but he appears to be a decent coach. Not sure he would fit in well at ISU, like others have stated.
I think it's safe to say Iowa State ended up with the perfect fit for Iowa State. I appreciate how Campbell handles his business.
Yeah, but that's because he made the Badgers really good. They did not have great attendance before he got there. Just like how Iowa didn't have great attendance before Fry and Iowa State didn't have great attendance until McCarney (and a little bit after). It's always going to be more difficult for Minnesota because the Vikings are right there, but if they are consistently competing for the West and the Rose Bowl, their attendance will really improve.
Ok, my spitball was off. That's still a LOT more of the state's population concentrated around it than any of the D1 schools in neighboring states.
Even through the Bob Cummings days and 20 consecutive losing seasons, TOE had remarkably good attendance.
The thing I don’t like about Fleck is that it seems like his schtick overshadows the school he’s at. Minnesota are basically the “boat rowers” now, not the gophers. I’d have less of an issue with it if it didn’t follow him school to school, but him doing the same thing everywhere seems dumb to me.
This isn’t true.
Attendance was burgeoning at Clyde Williams Field (somehow wedging in 32K) before Cyclone Stadium/Jack Trice opened, and was running close to it’s 48K capacity through the 70’s.
The Criner and Walden eras simply strangled enthusiasm and attendance.
When Mac tells his stories, it’s as if no one had ever come to ISU games before he got there—but that’s not accurate. And attendance tailed off again as well.
Mac took a lot of liberties in self promotion. He also doesn’t like to talk about attendance plummeting during his last few years.
