What can we do?

[Bullmastiff 1]

For year it has bothered me how little support the football program has received. I know it is hard to build support for a team that has had far more losing seasons than winning seasons. In my opinion though this is a chicken and the egg argument. In one corner you have people that say "I would go if they actually won more games' in the other you have people like myself that think if we got a little more support they might actually win more games.

I realize the location of Sam Boyd is not ideal, but it is hardly the cross country journey that many seem to make it out to be..(From campus to Sam Boyd it is barely 20 minutes which I would argue is not very long of a drive.) I also realize that Sam Boyd isn't the most modern of facilities, but having been on a number of road trips to watch the Rebels play, Sam Boyd is every bit as nice as just about every Stadium I have been to...The only Stadium that really out shined Sam Boyd was West Virginia and that had as much to do about it holding 65k fans than anything else. Also NONE of the stadiums I have been to have anything remotely as nice as the grass tailgating section we have out there.

Another thing that has always bothered me is the lack of support from the student body. I don't mean to throw stones at the entire student body as there are a number of you that really rally around all UNLV sports. But as a whole the support simply isn't there. It makes me wonder where the disconnect stems from. What can we do to get more students involved with the team. It would be cool if the UNLV student body had a 'thing' like Wisconsin does with the 'Jump Around' or Mississippi State and the cowbells. Or sort of like the Shark chomp during basketball games. I would love to see us build some traditions and have something that is 'ours'.

So my question is, what as fans of the University and more importantly the football program do to increase support and actually fill up Sam Boyd. It would be nice if these kids actually experienced a home field advantage. Maybe if we can generate some good ideas on this site somebody from the University will peek in and actually use them.

Really interested in any ideas you folks have.

 

[b4ron]

I vote having all teachers assign a mandatory writing assignment on their game day experience.

 

[reb4life777]

hindsight...build Susnet Station and the food/shopping district near there. would have got the roads improved for better access, created some bars around for game time. got the parking lot paved.

 

[Rebel1986]

Buy tickets!

I have been reading a lot of comments on twitter from people saying they will be buying tickets either for the first time ever, or in a long time. If we want to see the program grow, we need to show support by buying tickets.

I already buy season tickets, and would love to see more people at the games.

I would hope to see an average crowd of closer to 25k this next season which is within expectations with home games against UCLA and BSU.

 

[rebelworks91]

UNLV marketing dept. and the beat writers really need to start letting everyone know about what's going on with UNLV football right now. The recruiting, new uniforms, the New Era attitude brimming with confidence. People need to know that this HC change isn't going to end up like the other ones. But people aren't going to show up or get behind it if it remains a secret you have to read twitter and rebelnet to find out more about.

Tina probably didn't do anyone any favors chewing out the media for reporting the rumors about Fertitta and Sanchez's financial connections. Seeing now that they're giving UNLV football the cold shoulder.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

"UNLV marketing dept. and the beat writers really need to start letting everyone know about what's going on with UNLV football right now. The recruiting, new uniforms, the New Era attitude brimming with confidence. People need to know that this HC change isn't going to end up like the other ones. But people aren't going to show up or get behind it if it remains a secret you have to read twitter and rebelnet to find out more about.

Tina probably didn't do anyone any favors chewing out the media for reporting the rumors about Fertitta and Sanchez's financial connections. Seeing now that they're giving UNLV football the cold shoulder."

The marketing department has done a really poor job in the past with football. I really think they need to sell the value of the season ticket. It really is one of the bang for you buck deals in town.

In regards to the local beat writers, I think Anderson does a solid job. He is there to tell it like it is black and white. What bothers me is that we don't see a lot of human interest stories being done on any of these players. I think if they would do more stories about some of these kids it could possibly spark some more interest. When people read stories about people overcoming obstacles they draw a connection to them, that in turn could get folks to come out to games. Think of it like Olympic television coverage. You get a 15 minute story about some ice skater you have never heard of and how they overcame the passing of a loved one or some terrible accident or injury, and next thing you know you find yourself tuned in when they skate because you feel vested. You hate ice skating but you are still watching because you want to know how that story ends. I think UNLV needs to push some more of those types of stories out. There are nearly 100 kids on a football team every year. There have to be some interesting stories in there somewhere.

I

 

[willlevi]

You don't need a human interest story when you are actually a program that reflects the area you serve.
UNLV digs under rocks to find kids from out of the area to recruit and almost none of the guys they have gained had an active FBS offer. Las Vegas is loaded with elite athletes every year and every current commit can be replaced with an equal or better area prospect.
If you are a local athelete, no matter how productive or athletic you are there is no way you will have the opportunity to represent Las Vegas in college unless you attempt to walk on. UNLV football has remained that way thought its existence though it is one of the worst programs in the nation.
You don't have kids in the area that see themselves in a UNLV uniform, you don't have potential fans that see their kids in a UNLV uniform and you don't have players that are invested in the community.
I am a 530 and fully vested in this community. My kids are in one of the best youth football programs in Nevada that produces a ton of elite players in the area and I know nearly none of those kids will have a chance to play for UNLV.
Even Chaparral grad Ray Brewer with the Las Vegas Sun seems to be backing off the UNLV bus wo far.
I know we have a few excited people on this board but locals were excited about Sanchez more because they thought he would recruit local athletes. With this recruiting class and the disappointment among people that live in Las Vegas, Sam Boyd will be a ghost town this season once again.
Running backs Donnel Pumphery, Nate Starks and Ty Flanagan will all be playing against UNLV at Sam Boyd. Depending on the in-conference schedule, Jacobi Owens may add another local back playing on the opposite team.
Boyd, Noone, Hughes and Scoggins represent the 702 on the roster but if they want to be a major college football program with community backing, do like other major college football programs and recruit from home first.

 

[rebelbuck]

Will, you appear to be holding Sanchez and this staff accountable for years of under recruiting the area. In a short time they have secured 3 local players (2 of which are not from Gorman) . They have also already offered 3/4 more for next year. I wholeheartedly disagree that "Sam Boyd will once again be a Ghost Town". I expect aggressive AD Campaigns to get people excited.

You dont need a roster full of locals to have community support. You need a staff that is open to the community and shows transparency. I think this staff is already doing that in short order. They are active on social media and garnering interest from people who normally wouldnt pay much attention at this time of year. Lets give them a recruiting cylce/spring to settle in and really judge once we get to fall. The Running backs you named playing against us this year were from 2 or even 3 years ago, how is that this staff's fault?

Also didnt Pumphrey have family in San Diego and that was a big factor in his deciding to go there? Starks got in trouble at Gorman and was forced to transfer to Colorado just he could play his senior year. Both good backs but you can keep everyone every year. Some kids just want a change of scenery.

Locals on this years Roster include (I excluded the graduated seniors. I Know most these guys were walk-ons but they are still a very important part of the program. This new staff will be a new set of eyes on these kids to see if they can get into the 2 deep and I think a good amount of them will). This number will climb with the 3 Commits and preferred walk-ons.

Tim Hough
Jay Mitchell
Brian McIntyre
Marc Philippi
Kyle Anderson
Logan Yunker
Eric Noone
J'Ondray Sanders
Tuli Fakauho
Aleks Vekic
Rob Jameson
Michael Hughes
Justin Brown
Billy Murphy
Jacob Speaks
Jeremiah Tauala
Dalton Baker
Ron Scoggins


This post was edited on 1/27 11:48 AM by rebelbuck

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Will I can't help but surmise from the tenor of your posts that you have a bit of an agenda and or issue with Sanchez. I get it you like to support the local talent which is great. Yet time after time on this board, you consistently demean many of the players not from Vegas that are recruited and in the process compare them to players in Las Vegas who you feel are equal to or better.

I would have to imagine considering that he coached against or was aware of many of the kids you have mentioned Sanchez would have a pretty good insight into their level of talent. Sanchez has already recruited Polu, Nela and Melvin Johnson and the recruiting class is not yet done. Those are three pretty solid kids (albeit Nela is not originally from Vegas)

Anybody that reads the thread about Gabe McCoy would come away with the impression that you have a sincere bias. Again you want to pump up the local talent and see them succeed I totally get it. Chris Goree one of the kids you mentioned had 6 sacks. McCoy had 17.5. Now I could be wrong but Las Vegas high school football and the blocking the kids face here can't be that much better than what McCoy saw in the bay area. You also complain about UNLV going after kids with no offers from anybody else, yet McCoy had offers from UC Davis and Montana state. Currently on rivals Goree has gotten absolutely no interest from anybody. I am not knocking this kid, just pointing it out.

It would be great if UNLV recruited more local kids. But I only want UNLV to recruit the RIGHT local kids. Just like I don't care if this staff recruits Juco heavy or HS heavy as long as they recruit the RIGHT players and get this thing headed in the right direction.

I honestly do not think that under Hauck we would have gotten Nela or Polu and possibly even Melvin Johnson. Why not give Sanchez credit for the kids he has brought in thus far rather than bash him for those he hasn't. They still have 8-10 offers to go so who knows, maybe they are eying a couple of more local kids.

 

[Rebel1986]

I was writing up a long response to Will - But it was erased before I saved it.

The fact is that UNLV recruits have offers from over 30 other schools including programs like Utah, Byu, unr, Utah St, Colorado, Colorado St, BSU, Baylor, Oregon St, etc.

The fact is that between different sites you will find that UNLV has already signed 8-10 legit 3 star players. 5 listed on this site but at least 3 of those listed as 2 star on this site are higher rated on other sites.

Under Hauck the program recruited the most local kids in the history of the program.

Under Hauck the program did not win games.

Under Hauck the stadium was half empty.

Fans did NOT show up for locals players. Most local people are looking for a team and staff that can be exciting and win games.

Under coach Hauck the team was mostly boring, predictable, and did not win.

So far under Sanchez, we have seen more excitement in a little over a month that the program has under Hauck in his entire UNLV career.

I expect for the excitement to continue and expect to see a large increase in season ticket sales.

As for the media not doing stories on UNLV football, I do not agree with that. Last year during recruiting season there was almost no media attention at all, under Sanchez, I have seen stories on either the local news, or in the papers almost every day. Don't expect the team to just become huge new because we hope it will happen. Things will change as the excitement grows. A good spring practice can go a long ways to bringing more of the media on board.

 

[reb4life777]

I will be buying season tickets for the first time

 

[LasVegasReb]

I disagree with your assessment as well. UNLV has struggled with attendance for two reasons: lack of wins and lack of a HS football culture in Las Vegas. It is only in the last 6-8 years has Vegas begun to show life of a real HS culture. With a stronger culture comes better recruits and stronger football community willing to support the Rebels.

Believe it or not, the winning season from 2013 helped tremendously. It showed that UNLV could win and got the proverbially monkey off the Rebels back.

An angel investor (or booster in this case), was one if necessary steps of creating a sustainable successful program. Thank god for Fertitta's and their involvement. It's my hope that they are just one of the first to start investing in UNLV football.

I don't think local athletes are going to drive attendance. Sure, it helps, but the Rebs have had a significant amount of locals in the past few years and it didn't translate into attendance. I think Sanchez will be the reason attendance will increase because he is a motivator and he will get locals to buy into the program. He is our best shot.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[LVRebel2000]

Bull, I think there are several ways to increase attendance, but it depends on who they want to have at the games. Some thoughts below:

1. Families: For me, going to the games with my family is tough. I have two young kids, so the 7:00 and 8:00 pm start times are too late. If the games started at 5 or 6 PM, I'd be much more inclined to take my family. That being said, maybe I'm not who they're targeting for attendance to games.

2. UNLV students - When I went to UNLV, I lived on or near campus, and actually going out to Sam Boyd was a long ways away, when you're used to everything being within 1/2 mile of campus. What percentage of students actually live on campus, and what percentage are commuters? I know most live off campus, but there are certainly more on campus now than there were when I was in school. Ways to increase attendance:
a. Provide shuttle buses from campus to the games, and back again for free. Start the shuttles several hours before game time to allow some tailgating if desired.
b. Have more of a presence on campus with the coaches and football players. Have them personally inviting people to the games.
c. Have incentives for students to attend. Maybe do a drawing for prizes (electronics, I-tunes, starbucks cards, etc) but you must be a student, and you must be in attendance to win.

3. Locals: Increase the marketing. Have UNLV partner with companies / schools to get more people to the games.
a. High schools - there is a big market here for schools. Try to get the local athletes, as well as other students, out to the games.
b. other adults - create a more interesting and fun game day experience, such as the tailgating area. I'm not sure the best way to do this, but I'm sure there are some creative people with good ideas that could run with this.
c. Large companies: give discounted tickets to large companies to give to their employees. This would be some cost to the companies, but none to the people.

4. Tourists: This wouldn't be the best option, but if we just want butts in seats, then market to the hotel/casino industry, and provide a package that takes you to games, gives you tickets and then brings you back to your hotel.

Anyways, you could go for hours on this stuff. There's lots of ways to improve the support, but it really depends on who their target market is.

 

[Catmstr]

willevi sounds like you want a roster filled with mostly Vegas kids. I don't think it would be a very competitive one.

Can you name one Division one school that recruits most of their players from the home town? You have to go out and look for the best you can get at every position. If that means getting kids from all 50 states and every U.S. territory then so be it.

I can understand that you want every local kid to have a chance to play college ball. But that's impossible. I read somewhere once that only 2500 scholarships are given out a year to high school athletes for Division one football. Think about that number and how many kids are in the entire country that play football. I can guarantee you that somewhere there is a kid more talented than little Johnny at your local high school.

I can see UNLV in the PAC 12 in the future. Vegas is a good location to have a PAC 12 team and trust me the seats will get filled once that happens.

 

[willlevi]

More Nevada kids are playing in the NFL than in the history with more on the way.
Feather River developed a top JC program from scratch off Southern Nevada talent and focused recruiting at Victor Valley in recent years allowed them to go undefeated this season. That's with the kids being forced to pay out of state tuition and find housing on their own dime through student loans and grants just to keep playing football.
The best private school football team in the nation is in Las Vegas.
Las Vegas high schools have been producing outstanding college football talent since the late 80s and now has 4 times the programs.
Polu and Johnson were Hauck targets, only focusing on them during a deep year of talent is a travesty as there is far more elite athletes available.
I feel UNLV won't gain a local fan base while ignoring home developed athletes.
If UNLV won 6 or 7 games, what would be the draw of a local to leave thier HD TV, the sports book or the local 5pm youth football game (featuring the Zulus, Jr Aggies, Cardinals, Bucs, Green Machine, etc).
Who will spend money to take their family to see a team their kids will never play for?
Sanchez is selling a dream to a bunch of out of area kids with some signing just to say they have an FBS offer. These kids like the hype but the reality is likely a pretty rough season in an empty stadium. UNLV winning, losing or not playing football all together means little to them. They will just go back home to live their life.
Sanford rarely had many kids complete their career at UNLV and I see football moving back the same way. I wouldn't be surprised to see a similiar yearly exodus that currently plagues the basketball program.
On paper with height, weight and confirmed speed only, this would be an underwhelming class.

 

[rebelbuck]

Wow. Just wow. Not sure how to respond to all this. I will let a Staff who knows a hell of a lot more than me do the talking in spring and fall.

What I will do is, as I have done for the last 12 seasons, is fully support this team by trying to attend spring practice/ spring game. Renew my season tix as I have done for over a decade and cheer my butt off at home games. Go out of my way to watch/stream every away game.

There is finally a real sense that UNLV is putting the proper foot forward in terms of backing football and all you can do is hope for the doom and gloom so your are correct. Also I just went through the list of recruits and outside of only 1 or 2 everyone of them holds multiple offers so not sure where you are getting the "under the rock" stuff. Ridiculous.

Opened up Rivals Page on all listed Nevada Recruits. (3) 4*, (3) 3" and (16) 2* are listed for the state. Leaving 87 with no rating. After scrolling through its surprising more of them dont have more interest but if they are going to camps and being seen what is the knock on them. Parents make it a childs dream to play for their favorite or hometown school by taking them to games and showing them how excited they are or would be if they suited up for them in the future.

By putting butts in seats this year and garnering the excitement this staff already has I think the kids wanting to stay home will take care of itself in due time.



This post was edited on 1/27 1:15 PM by rebelbuck

 

[willlevi]

Nearly every program in the nation primarily recruit instate for for than 50% of their roster.
Clark County has 2.1 million people alone.
Just looking at the SEC, Clark County has nearly or more than half of the of the entire population of states like Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Alabama, etc.
With that many people, it rediculous that home grown talent is less than 8% of UNLVs official roster.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_population

 

[rebelbuck]

Ok.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Will-

According to Rivals almost every one of the recruits this year had interest from other schools. A good portion of them also had gotten offers from other schools.

"Opened up Rivals Page on all listed Nevada Recruits. (3) 4*, (3) 3" and (16) 2* are listed for the state."

So we got Polu who was one of those 3 stars. We got Melvin Johnson who was a 2 star and Nela who was a 2 or 3 star based on the site. There was no way we were going to touch any of the four star guys this year. Also how do you know they still don't have any Las Vegas kids on the radar? Maybe they are going to put out a lot of invites for preferred walk-ons. Or maybe just maybe this years crop of players doesn't fit into what they want. Or maybe the intend to come in late on a few guys to see if they can get them.

Again you mentioned Goree in another thread who looks to be a solid football player, yet as of today he still has no interest from anybody. Yet you blast Sanchez and company for going out of state to grab McCoy a player who had two offers on the table. You said, Goree and McCoy were similar players and Sanchez and company were foolish to pass over Goree for McCoy. I brought up the fact that as seniors McCoy had 17.5 sacks on the year, Goree had 6. It isn't like McCoy played in Idaho or some small town he played football in the Bay Area. I may not have your quote exactly right but the gist of it was McCoy faced inferior blocking. I find it hard to believe that the offensive line play in Las Vegas high schools is so far superior to that of where McCoy played that it would make a difference of 11 sacks.

A lot of what you post on here is interesting and informative. Unfortunately you seem to have an agenda and some issue or another with Sanchez. I seriously doubt Sanchez would purposely avoid recruiting kids from Las Vegas if he felt they were his best option.

Last note, isn't next year supposed to be a big year for Las Vegas when it comes to top end recruits? Might be that Sanchez is also looking ahead to next season as well.

 

[LasVegasReb]

Nevada is not Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana or Oklahoma in terms of HS football. You're kidding right. Friday is sacred in those towns. If you are not at a high school football on Friday night you are sitting by yourself somewhere.

Come on man. Las Vegas doesn't have that strong of a football culture.

Ok. So let's say 40 of UNLV roster was from Vegas. How many people are affiliated with those kids to go out and see them. Sorry but that's not going to drive attendance.

Fans are going because of the product. While the athletes are part of the products, it's primarily about winning. UNLV needs a couple winning seasons and the train will be on the tracks.
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