Alumni View Point

[ATL_DANE]

I graduated from UAlbany a decade ago and now live in Atlanta. Over the past 10 years I've seen UA go from a D3 school to making the NCAAs. Football has also made progress... thank god! Granted, we haven't gone far enough fast enough. Sure, it sucks for me to constantly hear my co-workers talk about their schools (UGA, GT Tech, Florida and Michigan). Usually most people haven't heard of Albany or I get is that 'Sunny' Albany? I could be down about the school. The point is we're making progress. Why are Albany students always so negative? Must be the crappy weather up there. They complained about everything 10 years ago and they're still complaining now. It's your school. You can make that athletics program a success by going to the games. Success drives success. Go to the games any they'll build you a stadium. Build a stadium and we can elevate the football program to D1A some day. I'll finally be able to watch my school on tv like every other college alum (except for bitter jaded northeasterners). Do your part and the alumni will do ours. I donate to the program. Just go to the games for crying out loud. Some day I hope to be able to join in a college football discussion at work instead of watching the SUNY alum scurry away. It'd be nice to be able to proudly say 'yep, I went to Sunny Albany'. Oh.. and believe me, college athletics comes up all the time in every office I've been in from Florida to California.

[GODANESGO]

Glad to see a new poster..thanks for the post. I know a lot of us here on this board are doing all we can to achieve what you're talking about, and are always trying to do even more. I think it'll happen!!

 

BTW, the only team that I like as much as our Danes is the Braves, so it's nice to see someone on here from Atlanta..although I picked the one 'bad' year out of the past 15 to say that on this board..haha.

[ASP Guy]

yes!!!

i'm not that newest poster anymore!

 

on a serious note, I do believer more students are starting to go to the game. I think you'll see basketball's success rub off on other sports.

i think part of the reason why more student groups don't come is (from my experience) most student groups are abseloutely apathetic about sports (and much else for that matter).

I don't see why the student goverment there, which gets like a million dollars in its budget can't do more to bring kids to the game. It would only benefit the school.

[B9j2j6s]

I'm surprised the Private Pound dosn't exsist anymore

[GreatDanes06]

The fact is, i think the Athletic Department needs to be promoting student involvment also. Look at Tennessee for example (favorite of mine), their athletic department supports the "Orange Nation", a student group that if you join you get a t-shirt, you get discount for tickets, a section put aside for them etc...the fact is the athletic department helps run it. I think because of the size of our department in comparison to others, you need some help to organize the students, and the athletic department or the SA should be doing it as a joint venture

[Oldtimer]

Unless things have changed drastically in the last few years, UAlbany students are treated the same as UT students---tickets are free. Of the 106,000 seats at UT, less than 20,000(my guess) are made available to students. The remainder are sold to the alumni on a lottery basis. Want to keep your seats the next season add $1000+ as a contribution to the athletic department. I think the athletic department is aware of where the $$$ are and is concentrating on the alumni. This almunus point of view with the progress of athletics is that I am amazed----UA is beating teams from bigger conferences---i.e. Field Hockey beats Colgate, Delaware an Rutgers---Volleyball beats Fairfiled, Seton Hall, Syracuse and Temple. A far cry from my collegiate days when the girls sports were soccer cheerleading and basketball cheerleading. UA ALL THE WAY IN ALL SPORTS.

[alum73]

I assume the RACC Rowdies are still a viable student group, although they appearred to be primarily present at basketball, they were also seen at football and volleyball.

[GreatDanes06]

NO...UT STUDENTS HAVE TO PAY TO GET INTO EVENTS...BUT BUY JOINING THE GROUP, YOU GET A DISCOUNT AND A FIRST CHANCE AT THEM.

[GODANESGO]

I assume the RACC Rowdies are still a viable student group, although they appearred to be primarily present at basketball, they were also seen at football and volleyball.

16361[/snapback]

 

Exactly..because of funds, the relative 'newness' of the group, and I guess the intimate feel of the RACC, the Rowdies have been, and are, much more basketball concentrated.

 

But we did get a modest boost in funding which will go towards an increased number of t-shirts to give out, more than likely.

[UAlbany09]

I've said this before a few times on this board, but ATL may not have read those posts. Being a student living in the dorms I get a sense of what the student mindset is when it comes to Albany athletics. The main term that I use and have used before is legitimacy. One of my suitemates told me the other day that his highschool football field had more seats and looked better then UAlbany's. The fact is if you present a poor product, you're going to get a poor response to it. You can't expect students to show up and support their football program when it seems as if the administration won't even support it. If the administration supported the program, the team wouldn't be playing in a dump. Very few students, if any outside of myself, have understood the massive upsets we've pulled off this season. If you say, "We beat Delaware. It's the biggest upset in school history.", the most likely response you'll get is: "Dela-where?". If you build a nice stadium, and play some more recognizable teams outside of Central Western Connecticutt State University or St. Marys Massachusetts Our Lady of Peace College you're going to get alot more students to games. I strongly believe in the old adage that if you build it, they will come. Just look at the Basketball team.

[Dane96]

I've said this before a few times on this board, but ATL may not have read those posts. Being a student living in the dorms I get a sense of what the student mindset is when it comes to Albany athletics. The main term that I use and have used before is legitimacy. One of my suitemates told me the other day that his highschool football field had more seats and looked better then UAlbany's. The fact is if you present a poor product, you're going to get a poor response to it. You can't expect students to show up and support their football program when it seems as if the administration won't even support it. If the administration supported the program, the team wouldn't be playing in a dump. Very few students, if any outside of myself, have understood the massive upsets we've pulled off this season. If you say, "We beat Delaware. It's the biggest upset in school history.", the most likely response you'll get is: "Dela-where?".  If you build a nice stadium, and play some more recognizable teams outside of Central Western Connecticutt State University or St. Marys Massachusetts Our Lady of Peace College you're going to get alot more students to games.  I strongly believe in the old adage that if you build it, they will come.  Just look at the Basketball team.

16376[/snapback]

 

Who on g-ds earth do you want UA to play in football? We play Montana and Delaware, the two most storied programs (outside of Georgia Southern) in IAA football. We have played Hofstra, Maine, Northeastern, UMASS, FAU, FIU, Lehigh, soon Cornell and Colgate.

 

DUDE...THESE ARE HEAVYWEIGHTS. Don't hold your breath for Syracuse. That is about 10 years away...minimum.

 

We will get a stadium in the next three-four years and when people see a 15ker, they will respond.

 

BUT WE ARE NOT GOING IA...not for 20 years...minimum.

 

Students not knowing Delaware....is there own fault. You know where Rich Gannon went to school? DELAWARE!

[alum73]

I'm not going to say the ambiance dosn't matter, but the product right now is exceptional. We need to get out and watch it. I hope the admin. has fixed theconcessions problem which made the Fordham game an embarrassment on multiple levels.

[olddog71]

ASP Guy,

 

First of all, welcome to Big Purple Fans!

 

I'm with Dane96 on the issue of student interest in athletics. The students are the ones who should take responsibility for their own quality of life.

 

Don't blame people in the athletic administration for the apathy. Those people work their butts off promoting UA athletics, and then they go home to their families.

 

Aren't students supposed to go to school to learn and do research? They can do a little work on their own to discover the school's heritage instead of sitting back in their little groups and complaining about how others don't approach them.

 

Too bad that we're not playing the Top Ten in the nation in every sport every match. Somehow that doesn't wash with me. Can you honestly tell me, though, how many students were aware of the game when we played UCLA last season in men's basketball? I'll tell you all of us posters - even though we aren't on campus - knew exactly when the game was on, and we were here listening.

 

Back when I was in school (oh, there he goes again), a lot of us knew when, for example, we were playing Hartwick in BB, because it was an honor as a D III school to be playing someone higher up. We couldn't believe that we were playing Ithaca in football after only a couple years we had left club football status. We were thrilled to play Brockport and Potsdam when they were only D III powers, and the gym (capacity 2,800) was packed with standing-room-only crowds when the student enrolment was much smaller. You're hearing just poor excuses why many students won't attend today's higher profile matches. Especially, when the better product today still charges no admission!

 

On the contrary, I was thrilled beyond belief when I heard 750-800 kids camped out near the gym in early March to get tickets. I guess there's hope after all. You can tell your friends how proud some of the alumni were to hear about this event and the school spirit it engendered.

 

I know I'm preaching to the choir on this topic, but there is little real excuse for student apathy today in regard to UAlbany athletics today.

[UAalum72]

Unfortunately the days of packed bleachers were before cable put 20 games a week on TV, Playstation brought more entertainment to your room, and better or easier transport seemed to empty the dorms on weekends. There's just a whole lot more competition for students' time and money.

[UAlbany09]

I've said this before a few times on this board, but ATL may not have read those posts. Being a student living in the dorms I get a sense of what the student mindset is when it comes to Albany athletics. The main term that I use and have used before is legitimacy. One of my suitemates told me the other day that his highschool football field had more seats and looked better then UAlbany's. The fact is if you present a poor product, you're going to get a poor response to it. You can't expect students to show up and support their football program when it seems as if the administration won't even support it. If the administration supported the program, the team wouldn't be playing in a dump. Very few students, if any outside of myself, have understood the massive upsets we've pulled off this season. If you say, "We beat Delaware. It's the biggest upset in school history.", the most likely response you'll get is: "Dela-where?".  If you build a nice stadium, and play some more recognizable teams outside of Central Western Connecticutt State University or St. Marys Massachusetts Our Lady of Peace College you're going to get alot more students to games.  I strongly believe in the old adage that if you build it, they will come.  Just look at the Basketball team.

16376[/snapback]

 

Who on g-ds earth do you want UA to play in football? We play Montana and Delaware, the two most storied programs (outside of Georgia Southern) in IAA football. We have played Hofstra, Maine, Northeastern, UMASS, FAU, FIU, Lehigh, soon Cornell and Colgate.

 

DUDE...THESE ARE HEAVYWEIGHTS. Don't hold your breath for Syracuse. That is about 10 years away...minimum.

 

We will get a stadium in the next three-four years and when people see a 15ker, they will respond.

 

BUT WE ARE NOT GOING IA...not for 20 years...minimum.

 

Students not knowing Delaware....is there own fault. You know where Rich Gannon went to school? DELAWARE!

16377[/snapback]

 

 

the average student has no clue who those schools are because they're too busy watching the Yankees game on Saturday afternoon, the Notre Dame game Saturday evening, getting drunk and stoned at night, and then watching the Giants play Sunday afternoon. Not that I speak from personal experience because you can insert any other big teams or activities in there to your liking. Its the concept that matters.