The more I research and learn about other college football programs, the more I realize that maybe NC State fans aren’t the only ones that are so bad? Maybe we aren’t the only ones who want to win?
A couple of weeks ago, I was ‘shocked’ to witness Ohio State fans in the Horseshoe boo OSU’s starting quarterback, Troy Smith, in a WIN over conference rival Michigan State. The very next weekend, the entire attendance of Spartan Stadium began booing the Michigan State Spartans in the 2nd quarter of their loss to Northwestern and did not stop booing until the last Spartan left the stadium (sometime around the end of the 3rd quarter).
As a comparison to the way that NC State’s Athletics Director recently chose to deal with an instance of “booing” in Carter-Finley, I have searched and searched and searched for similar public statements issued by the Athletics Directors of these successful programs . I am yet to find any.
Today, I ran across an interesting article on ESPN.com about the recent struggles of Texas A&M football. I found some of the points highlighted in the article very interesting from an NC State football and basketball point of view. Additionally, I found the fact that A&M’s Athletics Director had no quote to share in the story consistent with the way that most ADs not named Lee Fowler choose to operate their programs.
Various excerpts from this article are as follows:
Dennis Franchione has a 16-16 record at Texas A&M.”I can remember hoping that I coached at a place that had the same passion [that I do] and this place was definitely that,” Franchione said. Franchione now is learning to be careful for what he wished for — at least when his team is struggling.
With a 5-3 record, the Aggies are in danger of not going to a bowl for the third time in four seasons — and second in Franchione’s three-year tenure. Only three years removed from solid success at Alabama, Franchione’s tenure is becoming increasing unpopular among some Aggie fans
“I don’t know if there’s anything that anybody wants to listen to,” Franchione said when asked about his team’s unexpected struggles. “If I say one thing, it’s an excuse. If I say something else, it’s this. So I don’t know if there is anything that I can tell you that somebody won’t take wrong at this point in time. I can’t worry about that. I’ve got to worry about marching ahead and getting this team ready to play again.”
But it was nothing like the 42-14 loss to Iowa State last week at Kyle Field. Thousands left the stadium early as the Aggies endured their third 28-point home loss in the last three seasons. Before Franchione arrived, their most recent 28-point loss came in the final game of the 1983 season. Defensive coordinator Carl Torbush has caught most of the heat about an underperforming defense. But Franchione also has been targeted at Web sites like franunderfire.com.
Fans are beginning to notice that A&M has lost 10 of Franchione’s last 28 games by at least 20 points.
A&M’s struggles are exacerbated among their fans because the other three Texas teams in the Big 12 all are enjoying soaring success. Texas is contending for a national championship with its key player, Vince Young, solidly in the Heisman Trophy hunt. Texas Tech is at its highest level in its history under coach Mike Leach. And even downtrodden Baylor, which took the Aggies to overtime in a close loss at College Station earlier this year after beating them last year in Waco, is flirting with bowl eligibility.
I wonder if the folks at Texas A&M (of all places) ever thought that they would be saying, wait until basketball season!!!
