2008 Woodie Awards
Athletics vs. student body: The blame game ends now
Richard Lowe
Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: Sports
When I arrived at Middle Tennessee in the fall of 2004, I wondered, "Where are all the fans?" As time has passed I have grown to accept the fact that there won't be many sellout crowds at athletic events. The one thing that I have not outgrown is the constant finger pointing between members of the MTSU Athletic Department and the student body.
Let me update you on the blame game. The athletic department gets upset when students don't show up to games and the student body claims they don't know when games take place and even if they did know, there is no incentive in going to games. In the end, student attendance is low and the conclusion is that students just don't care about our athletic department.
As a student, let me just say this is completely false. Although both sides have valid arguments, I am beginning to think that most people don't realize what the main issue is. Instead of blaming each other on why students can't walk across campus to attend games, let's take a look at the bigger picture.
In order to do this, we must disqualify any student who graduated before MT became a full division 1-A member in the fall of 1999. In the same accord, we must disqualify any game that took place before that time. Although we are examining the entire department, football at the 1-A level is significantly different than at the 1-AA, so we must keep it fair. Finally, we have to judge on-campus events only. "Home games" in Nashville are impossible to get to without transportation.
This does not kill too many stats, however, as far as attendance goes. Football loses their most attended game (versus Tennessee State - 27,568) but keeps the top 10 under that, including two games from this year (Western Kentucky and Virginia). In men's basketball, the No. 1 attended game in that time period is also the No. 1 game of all time (versus Western Kentucky - 11,807). In women's basketball, the top five games not only come from this time period, but also from a two-year span (Louisiana - Lafayette, Denver, Western Kentucky, and Maryland in 2006; LSU in 2007).
Let me update you on the blame game. The athletic department gets upset when students don't show up to games and the student body claims they don't know when games take place and even if they did know, there is no incentive in going to games. In the end, student attendance is low and the conclusion is that students just don't care about our athletic department.
As a student, let me just say this is completely false. Although both sides have valid arguments, I am beginning to think that most people don't realize what the main issue is. Instead of blaming each other on why students can't walk across campus to attend games, let's take a look at the bigger picture.
In order to do this, we must disqualify any student who graduated before MT became a full division 1-A member in the fall of 1999. In the same accord, we must disqualify any game that took place before that time. Although we are examining the entire department, football at the 1-A level is significantly different than at the 1-AA, so we must keep it fair. Finally, we have to judge on-campus events only. "Home games" in Nashville are impossible to get to without transportation.
This does not kill too many stats, however, as far as attendance goes. Football loses their most attended game (versus Tennessee State - 27,568) but keeps the top 10 under that, including two games from this year (Western Kentucky and Virginia). In men's basketball, the No. 1 attended game in that time period is also the No. 1 game of all time (versus Western Kentucky - 11,807). In women's basketball, the top five games not only come from this time period, but also from a two-year span (Louisiana - Lafayette, Denver, Western Kentucky, and Maryland in 2006; LSU in 2007).
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