New Fans?
- Thread starter cayin
- Start date
I don’t disagree in general, but it DOES irk me when Iowa fans that didn’t even go to Iowa try bashing the school or education quality at isu. Like, talk **** about the sports teams all you want, but bashing my actual school when you didn’t even go to Iowa is off limits for me.
I am a proud Tavern Clone! Moved to Ames in 2003. No family member has ever taken a class with Iowa State.
However, unlike most Tavern Hoks, I have season tickets. And I probably attend more games in Iowa City than they do.
I have 3 that'll bleed cardinal and gold.
I think it's important to understand that this season will absolutely create new fans. I distinctly remember how I became a Cyclone fan: Tim Floyd's ISU basketball teams. I was in my early teens when he was here and that resonated with me. Didn't have an affiliation either way because my dad didn't watch sports.
I think you'll see the younger generation really swing towards ISU in the next 10 years provided both programs continue their current trend, due in part to:
1) ISU's larger alum base - not only the alums themselves but their children will grow up with parents who are fans and watching a program that is successful
2) The success factor: ISU is not necessarily having more year by year success than Iowa, but the gap is now shut and people wont be choosing Iowa over ISU because only one of those programs is winning games
3) The "cool" factor - ISU has an excitement-creating coach, cool uniform combos and alternates every year (despite what your grandpa thinks), and runs, while not the most eye popping offense, one that's a helluva lot more exciting to watch than Iowa's line up in the I-formation and hand the ball off 65 times then overthrow 6 deep passes off play action
1) ISU's larger alum base - not only the alums themselves but their children will grow up with parents who are fans and watching a program that is successful
2) The success factor: ISU is not necessarily having more year by year success than Iowa, but the gap is now shut and people wont be choosing Iowa over ISU because only one of those programs is winning games
3) The "cool" factor - ISU has an excitement-creating coach, cool uniform combos and alternates every year (despite what your grandpa thinks), and runs, while not the most eye popping offense, one that's a helluva lot more exciting to watch than Iowa's line up in the I-formation and hand the ball off 65 times then overthrow 6 deep passes off play action
I generally don't respond well to anyone talking trash about my college or even my high school. Either by choice or not, these are my schools and for some unknown reason I have school spirit and probably even pride in both. I get it, my hometown isn't the nicest place there is, but it's mine.
I am not saying that I will throw fists over this stuff, but I will definitely tell people that I am not cool with it and I don't joke around about it.
My personal favorite among the actual UI alumni that do the same, touting the med and law schools, even though they aren't the 3-4% of people that are actually in those schools. Rather they are selling insurance with their psychology degree.
This describes me - I grew up a state fan, watched my cousin wrestle for Coach Sanderson in Hilton at the B12 Champsionships back in 2005/06, went to many football games with my brothers when they attended ISU, etc. I went to Simpson College because it was a better fit for my degree. Despite this, there is no athletic department/organization I am more invested in or supportive of than Iowa State's.
My dad and uncle never went to Iowa State. Both huge fans and became season ticket holders when Campbell took over. My dad has a son and daughter and brother in law that graduated from Iowa State and my uncle has two daughters that have as well. (that's all the kids)
Maybe not everybody has to graduate from there to be a fan or raise their kids right.
People have to keep in mind that shifting the fanbase broadly is steering the titanic. That ship has been steering that way for a long time, very slowly. Granted, compared to the mid-90s when I was in JH/HS in NW Iowa there was really nowhere to go but up.
I'd say as kids of the sports fans, it was probably 90% Hawks, 2% ISU, and 8% 'other'. An ISU fan that didn't have alumni in the immediate family was pretty much non-existent. People also have a hard time buying the people that claim they "cheer for both teams" but that really was the case back then. People were Iowa fans in football, and ISU was so irrelevant, they didn't have to worry about losing to ISU, and they hoped they'd pull off a few wins, as ISU was the lovable loser.
Basketball was strange - it seemed like with Orr and Davis there was a good amount of mutual respect among the programs, both had very likable coaches and fun styles. Back in those days I can say my Wednesday nights were spent watching ISU, Thursday nights were spent watching Iowa over the air.
There is still a long way to go to match Iowa's fandom, but I don't think most appreciate how dramatic the shift has been over the past 20 years. I don't know what the relative split is in the state now - maybe 60-40. Whatever it is, that was completely unfathomable 25 years ago.
I'd say as kids of the sports fans, it was probably 90% Hawks, 2% ISU, and 8% 'other'. An ISU fan that didn't have alumni in the immediate family was pretty much non-existent. People also have a hard time buying the people that claim they "cheer for both teams" but that really was the case back then. People were Iowa fans in football, and ISU was so irrelevant, they didn't have to worry about losing to ISU, and they hoped they'd pull off a few wins, as ISU was the lovable loser.
Basketball was strange - it seemed like with Orr and Davis there was a good amount of mutual respect among the programs, both had very likable coaches and fun styles. Back in those days I can say my Wednesday nights were spent watching ISU, Thursday nights were spent watching Iowa over the air.
There is still a long way to go to match Iowa's fandom, but I don't think most appreciate how dramatic the shift has been over the past 20 years. I don't know what the relative split is in the state now - maybe 60-40. Whatever it is, that was completely unfathomable 25 years ago.
I mean, I’M one of those fans. I came from an all Iowa household. I grew up an Iowa fan. I literally was in a house full of Iowa fans in the mid 90s, watching an Iowa/Iowa State game and some switch flipping in my brain where I thought “holy hell, these people are obnoxious. I’m an Iowa State fan now.” And then that was that. Now I later went on to attend at ISU, and converted mom and dad and brother and then my brother’s two kids are now isu fans, and I’m the only one that’s attended the school. But change takes time, especially now in a day where you can have the access to watch any game you want anywhere you want, technically whenever you want with DVR and online replay. So the conversion will take generations probably. It’s not like Fry in the 80s where a couple of good seasons made the media coverage all Iowa and impossible for Iowa State fans to watch games or even get much information on the teams.
I married a tavern hawk and she soon realized how big of an ass many of her family were.
My daughter graduated from the Carver School of Medicine. And remains an Iowa State fan.
All good posts in this thread. But I think the fan conversion rate accelerates significantly if the stars align next year like they could — beat Iowa, return to CCG, then beat OU this time and make the CFP. Do that and Purdy and/or Hall are likely Heisman finalists. All that seemed nuts in the past but not with the talent and leadership returning.
Our games with OU should be epic next year, could be top 5 or top 10 matchups twice. Meanwhile, Ohio St is the only marquee team in the B1G and Iowa will play them exactly 2 times in the 11 seasons from 2014-2024. So ISU is now the far more relevant program nationally, which Iowans geek. Although you can bet Hawk fans are pining for 2024 when they get the east division trifecta of Indiana, Maryland and Rutgers. 2015 redux.
Our games with OU should be epic next year, could be top 5 or top 10 matchups twice. Meanwhile, Ohio St is the only marquee team in the B1G and Iowa will play them exactly 2 times in the 11 seasons from 2014-2024. So ISU is now the far more relevant program nationally, which Iowans geek. Although you can bet Hawk fans are pining for 2024 when they get the east division trifecta of Indiana, Maryland and Rutgers. 2015 redux.
I have seen a slow, steady change towards ISU everywhere. I grew up in NE Iowa and at the time the media was so biased, you rarely ever saw any reports about ISU. Now when I go back to visit, there is a consistent shift to a lot more ISU gear being seen.
I live out of state and I have far more ISU gear being worn here, too. The success of the sports teams have a LOT to do with it. The internet hasn't hurt either.
I live out of state and I have far more ISU gear being worn here, too. The success of the sports teams have a LOT to do with it. The internet hasn't hurt either.
When I grew up as a kid both schools sucked in football. There was no really rivalry, we didn't even play them in basketball. No, your team, and by association your school, sucks. I sat in the Dana House den in 1970 with a bunch of fellow students watching Iowa playing in the NCAA's and nobody was cheering against Iowa. That all changed when we started playing them in football and Fry brought Texas style hate with him to Iowa. Been all downhill for fan relations since than. The dumbing down that Fry introduced has just been amplified by Hawkeye social media and continues unabated. Crap like the belief, by people who never attended either school, that somehow admission standards are higher at Iowa and that sort of junk. It would be like me saying the U of M and Nebraska suck as schools while I was working with with great engineers from both schools.
Great post, but couldn't you have picked an analogy with a better ending for those onboard?
Matt Campbell is the equalizer without a doubt. Hoiberg was a similar figure (I know several casual fans who are now diehards because of those teams), but Campbell's personality and leadership resonates with more people, and football is a more popular sport.
Iowa State has always struggled with the "cool" factor for younger fans. It feels like that's changing as more Iowa high school students are choosing Ames and ISU.
From what I can observe from my bubble, the culture of the state and its fanbases have changed. When I was younger, it felt like Iowa fans loved the brash showmanship and Texas swagger of Fry. Those are the Boomer Iowa fans now, who still look down their noses at Iowa State. While their kids are still mouthy, other kids in that generation (mostly Millenials) don't know much about Fry and take their cues from Ferentz. They're still arrogant, but they don't make every effort to belittle Iowa State like Fry and his acolytes did.
Keep Campbell, keep winning, and we might see a shift in 20 years. These things take a generation or two or three. I've never seen so many Hawkeye fans profess "Hawkeye State, always has been, always will be" than this year. The fear is right there in that message.
