SGBull

Done

I normally like to give college coaches 3 years before I turn on them, but if GH doesn’t improve significantly this year then I will be saying it is time to move on.

46 minutes ago, Chet said:

If you could only choose one…..start fresh with a new basketball coach or new AD?? 

AD for sure, our last few AD's either improved the department or maintained success. Ever since Alnutt took over it feels like things are going in the other direction.

Maybe this was just a genius move by GHIII to set the bar so low that anything he does next year will be a massive upgrade and will be seen as improvement. If he gets to 8 wins he can put "Improved win total by 100% in second year" on his resume. 

At some point it feels like the pendulum is going to swing the other way. Eventually donors are going to stop shelling out tons of money once they have paid enough for recruits that busted

14 hours ago, Blue03 said:

What would we like the trophy to look like? Some shared point of pride?

https://www.ubbullrun.com/2015/11/24/9782708/buffalo-bulls-and-umass-battle-for-the-power-horn

Something like this. RIP Bull Run

1 hour ago, UB92 said:

No.   Too forced.   

This is the AD's efforts?  Make up a trophy?  

A lot of Civil Conflict vibes...

I mean all rivalries had a trophy made up at some point. This rivalry feels a lot more natural to me. Teams are viewed as the "east coast" outsiders of the conference, they are much closer than UConn and UCF, Massachusetts vs New York, and both are without a true in conference rival. 

Personally, I hope they do make this a new rivalry/trophy game. While we do seem to have natural rivalries with Akron, Kent, and Ohio in basketball, I think it makes sense for multiple reasons to encourage a rivalry with UMass. 

5 hours ago, skrabukes said:

I just keep reading through this and previous posts and it's all just maddening. We want millions for NIL, want the track removed, new amenities, everything. We need that track gone so that the 500 people in attendance on a Tuesday night can enjoy the game more I guess. I really enjoyed when I could just watch the games, players, coaches and enjoy the sport and game being played in front of me. Now it seems that it's about the $$, for players, coaches, staff, along with all of the frills that they have now. When I went to UB, I was more than happy with just going to school, getting to compete as an athlete, and getting a few tiny little perks for having done so. Now, UB recruits people that no one else wants, and once they develop, they leave for $$. If they don't play, they leave because the coach had it in for them. It's all nonsense and frankly not nearly an enjoyable experience as an alumnus/fan as compared to as recently as 5 years ago. Listening to the non-stop griping from a handful of people on here,  those on Twitter/X, but few, if any, doing anything to improve the situation. When Reggie was making $150k, it was too much $$ for some, now our coaches make 400-700k and it's still not enough, and the players don't make enough, and the ADs don't make enough. I enjoyed UB athletics as amateur/college sports, now it's just a joke, and reading all this is even more of one. 

As bad as this basketball season has been, it's still been nice to see those who I've sat with at games for 10+ years (as we whine from our seats about how ugly what we're watching is). Sadly, those numbers alongside me have dwindled as the season has gone on, and I'm quite confident they will continue to do so moving forward.

Priority #1 for me always has been the game, being entertained, following growth of players over the seasons and being connected to the school, players and coaches. Very little of that seems to be in place anymore, sadly.

I feel like you misinterpreted what I was trying to say. I went to almost every (if not every) UB game when I lived in Buffalo. I still would be going if I lived there now.

What my point was, that as an athletics department, they should always be looking to improve the sports programs. Part of that is improving gameday experience. Within gameday experience, is having a football stadium that makes it more enjoyable to watch a game. Priority #1 for me in particular would be starting to allocate a budget to eventually remove the track. There are many other things they could focus on (new scoreboard, better concessions, locker rooms, other facilities, etc.

We are all on this board (minus a couple of trolls) because we care about the UB Bulls. Part of caring about that is almost always wanting them to win. It is not realistic to think that gameday experience has no impact to a winning program. Obviously if I could choose between consant MAC Champion teams with a track versus bad teams with no track, I would choose the former. 

52 minutes ago, rma said:

I don’t “need” WiFi to enjoy a game but I like having it so I can check scores or stats during the game.
 

I don’t “need” concession stands to take credit cards, but I will make fun of local rivals for not accepting them.

UB doesn’t “need” a mascot, scoreboard, in-arena announcer for games. We’re all there to watch basketball, right?

But all of those things add up to the gameday experience. And when the team is good, it matters less. CJ making threes from West Seneca and Nick Perkins making Akron bigs his bitch you could excuse some lack of amenities. But right now the men’s team sucks so less people are coming and the people that do come are going to want the gameday experience to not suck. I admit, I really don’t care for a lot of the “extra” stuff but I also am in the minority (just give me WiFi and credit cards). Families are going to want entertainment between airballed three pointers.

I don’t think there’s many people saying “I’m going to the UB game because there’s beer” but if there’s no beer, no fire shooting stage props, no blue bull running around, obnoxious DJs, AND bad basketball, there’s going to be less people around. Which those of us in Buffalo see.

This is my whole argument for the track being removed at UB Stadium, except I think being in a different zip code in the stands might influence a bit more than adult beverages.

I’ve returned to some college football stadiums specifically for non-football related reasons. UMass I made a priority to go back because of their world class marching band. I took a day off to drive to Virginia Tech because it is an absolute circus during Enter Sandman. I stayed an extra day in West Virginia after the UB basketball win to sing Country Roads after a football win. Last year I went to Penn State on a day’s notice because I found cheap tickets, heard the Ohio State band was visiting, and wanted to go to the creamery for “lunch.” The gameday experience absolutely matters.

 

ETA: The long line of people outside the PSU creamery with large coolers after the game didn’t go to the game to load up on ice cream, but people that might be more marginally attached to the program have more of an incentive to drive from Pittsburgh to State College if they can watch their football team AND fill up their freezer for a year. 

Completely agree with everything you said. Priority number 1 for me has always been the track. UB stadium as a whole has the worst lines of sight out of any stadium I have been to from high school, D3, D1 and NFL.

16 hours ago, rma said:

I re-read what I posted and it was exactly what ChubbyHubby said so decided to delete it

But if we're talking flavors this is #1. You can find it east of Syracuse. 😁

Right brand, wrong flavor. Peanut butter pandemonium all the way!

UB favored by 2 now on draft kings. Hopefully they know more than me

19 minutes ago, everlast2504 said:

Agreed, I don't even thin Segu is retire the number worthy. 

CJ is the only other clear cut retire the number I can think of.

CJ and Perkins are my clear 2.

2 hours ago, MuchMany said:

I'm not sure we get to call this a "must win" days after losing our last "must win." But it really feels like we need to take one of the directional Michigan games this week just for morale purposes.

 

Let's call it a "can't lose" then

If Alnutt is here next year I will be extremely disappointed.

As a Giants fan, this hit home. As a UB fan it does too.

4 minutes ago, RapidsFan said:

College should be free. Dangling it as a carrot in front of disadvantaged youths doesn't help anyone.

Or are you worried the modern-day slave trade that is the NFL Combine would go away if the pipeline of black college athletes disappeared?

Just admit you're a racist shithead, Mike. Stop being a coward for once in your life.

Did you really just compare the NFL Combine to slavery?

Once NIL became official, academics started to matter less. Athletes are now going to college for money (even though they are already receiving scholarships and stipends on top of it). 

27 minutes ago, rma said:

Since the stadium was built we went from FCS to FBS. Since the scoreboard was installed we won a conference championship, multiple division championships, had a first round NFL pick, had a running back nearly break the single game yards record, and a top 25 finish. We shouldn’t be punting on improving the stadium to at least a low level FBS experience because Mo Linguist can’t hire a competent offensive coordinator.

ETA: Waiting for success to improve facilities is one of the reasons Nate Oats isn’t still here (outside of the whole multi-millions of dollars). Oats says I want a dedicated practice facility. Great! We have the triple gym which is much better than any other MAC facility. But you need a rec center for the students. Between university and/or SUNY bureaucracy it is 4 years later and last I checked there’s no student rec center being built. In fact, UB health services just opened up an office off north campus recently which makes me think this is not a priority for anybody right now. 

Hit the nail on the head

On 12/9/2023 at 2:16 PM, UBinMD said:

I think we need a better product on the field before we talk about tracks and scoreboards. Let’s actually win something. 

I disagree, I think the track is a big deal. Part of recruiting is facilities. High school recruits want to play in a nice stadium, there are high school stadiums that are nice than ours

He needs to go.

5 years ago we were in the Top 25 in both football and basketball, now we are one of the worst teams in the country in both.

There is no true vision from him. Danny White made Buffalo seem like it was a potential sleeping giant for athletics. He made bold strategic statements (NYBI) and hires (like firing Reggie for Hurley). 

Somehow we still have one of the worst football gameday experiences in the MAC even though our endowment is significantly larger than most of the other schools in the conference. We need to get rid of the track (and the added extra space between it and the stands. It is truly one of the worst lines of sight I have ever had at a football game at any level from Pop Warner to the NFL.

Seriously, what has he accomplished since being here? Sure soccer and volleyball have been good, but let's be real, football and basketball are by far what is most important for a college athletics program.

Boldin is quickly becoming one of my favorite players on the team

Any given Tuesday

Going out to dinner at a mid level restaurant costs at least 50 per person nowadays. 200 for season tickets is still cheap IMO. 

6 hours ago, UB Horns Up said:

I have been asking myself that question for the last 30 plus years. UB Bulls students for the most part for a state school this size the student section there should be students camping out for opening night tickets. The UB Students don’t care about anything sporting related it is what it is in my opinion. UB Horns Up! Go Bulls! Let’s Go Buffalo 

The attendance in the 2010s was very good at basketball games. Even before the great teams. The main problem back then was half the student section wanted to sit down the entire game. We would have some gems though like a full student section screaming at Stainbrook.