I come as a removed, uninformed, ignorant poster seeking info. I'm having difficulty understanding that CJB is somehow responsible for thousands and thousands of basketball fans staying away from the program, witholding their support, all because collectively they don't like the coach? That somehow the (supposed) negative energy surrounding Brady has convinced these people not to come out to the PMAC?????? Somehow LSU has a SEC championship team, a Final Four team, a starting 5 mostly from Baton Rouge, and it's Brady's fault people aren't in the stands?????????? Deek you reference UK basketball, perhaps you are too far away from Kentucky to have any worthwhile opinion, but the fans here are up in arms over Tubby Smith's contributing to the program's steady decline, but yet they continue to fill Rupp Arena. Billy Donovan has had some early exits from the tourney, hasn't he? The Florida fans still seem to show up for games. To think that the coach is responsible for putting butts in the seat is ludicrous. His job is to win basketball games and be an ambassador for the university and the program. It's the AD's responsiblility to pack the 'mac. All i've heard is whining about CJB. Seems to me he's held up his end of the bargain. If the fans can't come out and support a final four team then perhaps this tired argument about Brady (he ran off good players 5 years ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, etc, etc, ad naseum) needs to be re-directed. Now, please inform me exactly why it's CJB's fault the PMAC isn't full.
It's not his "fault". The fans don't like him for numerous reasons that already have been stated. Maybe the fans are just stupid for not coming because of a coach???? but the fact again remains. I personally don't like him but I go to games. I was saying that the fans could not even sell out the PMAC with UK basketball coming in after LSU had already clinched the SEC West. Not a commentary about UK fans or their support. Comparing Baton Rouge to Gainesville is like apples and frickin kiwis. Listen to the responses of the sports talk people around here and how they respect our coach. While the coach might not be responsible for putting butts in the seats, the fans aren't showing up because they don't like our coach. You and everyone else can deny this until you are blue in the face... When our final four team came back there was like 1000 people to greet them. When George Mason came back they filled up a 8000 seat gymnasium.
and so the question remains............specifically why is it brady's fault that fans aren't coming to the games?
Cause they dont like him due to past program history issues. You can say "that's BS" and you might be right in the sense that the fans need to come and support the program notwithstanding who's coach. However, the AD has a duty to do what's best to ensure as many fans fill up the stadium as possible, right? If that means letting Brady go elsewhere, then that's what he needs to do. Look at the NC State situation. THe fans were getting restless, but the coach was relatively successful and didn't need to be fired. What does he do? He takes a different job.
What will happen next year if Brady comes back? I think our attendence will still be around the same it was this year, prob. a little higher. I just don't think our attendence will ever be huge. We will have fluctuations over the years, but unless we are a perninal powerhouse year in and year out, I dont think our attendence will ever be huge.
You don't see a problem with that? Every game needs to be sold out or at least half full (3000 against NCAA tournament bound Northern Iowa????) when we have a Final Four team. Don't you agree? You may be right, but people keep bringing up how packed the pmac was in the late 80s/early 90s and early 80s. This team has had as much star power and success as any of those teams. The only different factor is the coach.
I will say that under Brady the basketball team has lost some very key games when it comes to fan interest. Add to it that Brady has had some of the court issues, but also throw in the fact that he's trying to pull the program out of a black hole. The fan support will continue to grow if Brady can put some solid wins together at the beginning of next season. He got some big wins in the tourney this year, that counts for something. He's had great players as of late, that's a feather in his cap too. There may be a group of fans who don't show up because they don't like the coach, but the main reason people don't show up is apathy. Building the fan base back up will be a struggle until the program finds successful consistency again. George Mason has a student population of 30,000 without a 1A football team, I don't think it's a surprise all those people showed up. The way we lost to UCLA killed alot of the enthusiasm around Baton Rouge. If it would have been a harder fought game, we probably would have gotten a bit more people to show up. George Mason got drilled too, but even they looked better than we did and it was more of a shock for them to be in the final 4. Deek, I think you're a little to hard on Brady, honestly. He's contributed to the problem in some aspects, but he is also in a tough situation. I would be glad to see him stick it out, but if he leaves I wish him luck and I hope our program can continue growing. I like having a good hoops team to root for.
The problem with your reasoning, while certainly valid, is that they will go away as soon as we stink it up at home against a mediocre team. That doesn't happen in football. The get togethers were before the Final Four was played, but I would agree with your reasoning. I think JB is a good basketball coach. He's got personality and player relationship issues that are well documented. The fanbase has mostly given up on him (casual fans are the bread and butter of any sports program). I just don't think we will see the attendance level necessary for an elite program unless we get a different coach. The fans are certainly to blame for that, but you still need to get their butts in seats.
Yes, I definitly agree. I am not so sure it is Bradys fault, though. It is a combination of a lot of things. Advertising/marketing of games and teams. The PMAC's renovations are nice, but it will not enough to draw the borderline fans to the arena like a lot of other venues. Also, a lot of LSU fans are just Baseball and Football guys. I think a lot of the 80's attendence can be credited to the fact that a lot of those season ticket holders grew up on guys like Bob Petit and Pistol. I know this generation had Shaq, but I think he is more of an NBA guy compared to someone like Pete Maravich, whos ties with LSU alone sold tickets. JMO
Houston had an attendance of 6,000, thank you! Northern Iowa 3,780, but that was in the dead of winter break, so no students... Kentucky had 9,672, again in the middle of Mardi Gras, so again no students...
