Southern Methodist

[WAITE HOYT 2]

I can tell you from experience that when by boys were being recruited we constantly checked out the messages boards of those universities.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

It goes along with the idea of perspective employers looking on social media sites for information about prospective employees. Happens all the time.

 

[anbuc88]

Thank you for pointing out the obvious to me. Why should I leave because of a couple of bad apples with a hidden agenda. I believe amberly here is a former poster on Cincinnati.Com. He often reffered to himself as Mick the Rat and others. He also mentioned a nurse Julie in his post. Don't remember a LongTimer but it is obvious as you have pointed out he is here to rip the coach and bury the program until Mick is replaced. I enjoy the site and will continue to in the future.

Thanks for returning. UC, and especially websites such as this, needs more loyal fans such as yourself. Keep accentuating the postives and eventually we will be able to drown out those whose express purpose is to denigrate the program and especially the coach.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Thanks for returning. UC, and especially websites such as this, needs more loyal fans such as yourself. Keep accentuating the postives and eventually we will be able to drown out those whose express purpose is to denigrate the program and especially the coach.

Thank you and go cats. Big game tomorrow. Need to get the league portion of the schedule off on a positive note.

 

[ralph1950]

JJ, by championships, I'm referring to any championship. The goal is to first win the league championship, then the league tournament championship, then the National Championship. If you're focused on only March Madness, then yes, youll always be disappointed. But, the league championships are certainly attainable and should be an expectation of our coaches at least occasionally. Our AD announced 5-7 years ago and I can't remember what he called the inititive, but whatever it was called, the goal was to win a league championship in every sport within the next 5 years. That obviously hasn't happened in Mens and Women's basketball. Not sure about all the other sports.

Not sure what Huggs has to do with the discussion, but yes, there were disappointments with some of his results.

UC has won the Global Sports Marketing Tournament Championship the last 3 seasons under Mick. Your first sentence states "any championship". Therefore, UC has won at least 3 Championships with Mick as head coach.

 

[ralph1950]

If a recruit makes his decision on a school based on a fan forum, then he obviously should go elsewhere. You have to have thick skin to play and succeed in sports at any level, and that includes Clifton. And while everyone seems to be jumping L.T for being real about Cronin, I will take a moment to be real. There IS a large base of U.C fans who despise him and will never change their feelings. You can call them names, question their upbringing, etc all you wish but the fact still remains. There are also fans who adore him. That fact will always remain. U.C will always have U.C fans, however. My wife, son, and myself included. But the rafters are where you will see how popular a coach really is. When is the last time you have seen those seats filled? As long as Cronin is here, those seats will remain empty. Unless Louisville is in town! Maybe that is why Mick was so enamored with them and traveled down the Ohio a few years back lol.

The empty seats have absolutely nothing to do with Mick. They would be empty no matter who is the coach.

For example, the Bengals have been to the playoffs 3 consectutive years and as of this moment they have 7,000 $100 playoff tickets remaining to sell and the game is facing a blackout in Cincinnati.

The seats are empty mostly because UC has priced the seats and tickets drastically over what the market will bare. In 2007, only the second year into the rebuilding process, UC raised the UCATS donation for the 6 seats I have from $3,500 a year to $6,300 a year, an 80% increase for a program rebuilding. 2 years later UC raised the donation for the same seats to $7,500 per year. This year they asked all to consider donating an additional 10% out of the goodness of your heart, it was not required but encouraged, thus, if you did it, it would have made the donation $8,250 for this season. Single game seats in the lower level are about $38 to $48 depending on the opponent.

If UC wants to put the people back in the seats, UC is going to have to drastically reduce the UCATS donation and ticket prices by as much as 50%. The question for UC to ask UC is do you want 6,500 people at the current prices or 13,000 people at 50% of the current prices, the money is exactly the same.

 

[JumpinJack5]

UC has won the Global Sports Marketing Tournament Championship the last 3 seasons under Mick. Your first sentence states "any championship". Therefore, UC has won at least 3 Championships with Mick as head coach.

Haha, there you go Ralph, way to go!

 

[L-T]

The empty seats have absolutely nothing to do with Mick. They would be empty no matter who is the coach.

For example, the Bengals have been to the playoffs 3 consectutive years and as of this moment they have 7,000 $100 playoff tickets remaining to sell and the game is facing a blackout in Cincinnati.

The seats are empty mostly because UC has priced the seats and tickets drastically over what the market will bare. In 2007, only the second year into the rebuilding process, UC raised the UCATS donation for the 6 seats I have from $3,500 a year to $6,300 a year, an 80% increase for a program rebuilding. 2 years later UC raised the donation for the same seats to $7,500 per year. This year they asked all to consider donating an additional 10% out of the goodness of your heart, it was not required but encouraged, thus, if you did it, it would have made the donation $8,250 for this season. Single game seats in the lower level are about $38 to $48 depending on the opponent.

If UC wants to put the people back in the seats, UC is going to have to drastically reduce the UCATS donation and ticket prices by as much as 50%. The question for UC to ask UC is do you want 6,500 people at the current prices or 13,000 people at 50% of the current prices, the money is exactly the same.

Ralph, for once, I absolutely agree with you on pricing. I brought this up years ago and I thought you argued with me on it then, but I could be wrong. I think it is a little more complicated than just pricing, but the events you discussed are true. At that time, I dropped from 6 seats to 4. UCATS basically told me that my contribution, which gave me the right to buy 6 seats, would now only give me the right to buy 4. If I still wanted 6, the contribution required would be 50% higher. Those 2 seats have sat empty now for about 6 or 7 years. I think they have been sold for maybe 2 games in that period. I would have been buying them for this whole period. Not one of the better decisions by the people in charge. Good points!

 

[BearcatMick]

SMU is ok but nowhere near our level

UC 71
SMU 56

 

[david aka the TYZ]

The empty seats have absolutely nothing to do with Mick. They would be empty no matter who is the coach.

For example, the Bengals have been to the playoffs 3 consectutive years and as of this moment they have 7,000 $100 playoff tickets remaining to sell and the game is facing a blackout in Cincinnati.

The seats are empty mostly because UC has priced the seats and tickets drastically over what the market will bare. In 2007, only the second year into the rebuilding process, UC raised the UCATS donation for the 6 seats I have from $3,500 a year to $6,300 a year, an 80% increase for a program rebuilding. 2 years later UC raised the donation for the same seats to $7,500 per year. This year they asked all to consider donating an additional 10% out of the goodness of your heart, it was not required but encouraged, thus, if you did it, it would have made the donation $8,250 for this season. Single game seats in the lower level are about $38 to $48 depending on the opponent.

If UC wants to put the people back in the seats, UC is going to have to drastically reduce the UCATS donation and ticket prices by as much as 50%. The question for UC to ask UC is do you want 6,500 people at the current prices or 13,000 people at 50% of the current prices, the money is exactly the same.

I agree to this to an extent. I do think the lower level seats are priced way too high with the UCats donation attached, especially based on demand for those tickets. I even think $1500 bucks for the upper level middle three sections is too high. However, there are affordable options. I sit in the $250 donation seats and sit in row 6. I have a very good view of the game. I am lined up with the basket so it's not a bad angle at all. There also are $100 donation seats and even no donation seats. The views aren't as good but it is at least an affordable option. As a whole though I agree that UC should consider lowering it's donation levels if it means it can sell more season tickets. I for one would love to sit in the lower section sideline seats, but am just hard-pressed to spend an extra $5000 a year to watch the same game I'm watching from my seats now that are just fine. The only thing I really hate about the upper deck is the fans are less interacting and when you want to yell at the refs you just sound like a moron from the upper deck (as if you're not a moron for yelling at the refs anyway).

I honestly think UC needs to find a way to fill up the lower sideline seats with it's season ticket holders. I realize they're not going to find that many people willing to pay $5000 or more to fill it and it isn't really fair to the people that do pay that to have people 10 rows behind them that only pay $500 (although as it stands those seats go to people not paying a donation at all). I think there has to be a happy medium somewhere. What irks me the most is that the unsold seats go on sale to the general public and can be picked up for about $35 a game which is slightly less than what I pay for my seats with my donation. So the casual fan gets to sit in much better seats than many others who have made a commitment to the program by buying season tickets and donating. I have addressed this with the UCats through surveys but maybe I need to be more proactive. I have suggested random upgrades to season ticket holders to sit in the lower arena for a game or two a year to fill those empty seats. I don't know how feasible that really is, but it's an idea at least. I just hate that we can't fill the lower arena and the sole reason is the donation level attached.

 

[L-T]

I agree to this to an extent. I do think the lower level seats are priced way too high with the UCats donation attached, especially based on demand for those tickets. I even think $1500 bucks for the upper level middle three sections is too high. However, there are affordable options. I sit in the $250 donation seats and sit in row 6. I have a very good view of the game. I am lined up with the basket so it's not a bad angle at all. There also are $100 donation seats and even no donation seats. The views aren't as good but it is at least an affordable option. As a whole though I agree that UC should consider lowering it's donation levels if it means it can sell more season tickets. I for one would love to sit in the lower section sideline seats, but am just hard-pressed to spend an extra $5000 a year to watch the same game I'm watching from my seats now that are just fine. The only thing I really hate about the upper deck is the fans are less interacting and when you want to yell at the refs you just sound like a moron from the upper deck (as if you're not a moron for yelling at the refs anyway).

I honestly think UC needs to find a way to fill up the lower sideline seats with it's season ticket holders. I realize they're not going to find that many people willing to pay $5000 or more to fill it and it isn't really fair to the people that do pay that to have people 10 rows behind them that only pay $500 (although as it stands those seats go to people not paying a donation at all). I think there has to be a happy medium somewhere. What irks me the most is that the unsold seats go on sale to the general public and can be picked up for about $35 a game which is slightly less than what I pay for my seats with my donation. So the casual fan gets to sit in much better seats than many others who have made a commitment to the program by buying season tickets and donating. I have addressed this with the UCats through surveys but maybe I need to be more proactive. I have suggested random upgrades to season ticket holders to sit in the lower arena for a game or two a year to fill those empty seats. I don't know how feasible that really is, but it's an idea at least. I just hate that we can't fill the lower arena and the sole reason is the donation level attached.

Good suggestions TYZ. In my case, all they would have to do is offer us a maximum of 6 seats like they did for the previous 30-some years and I would pay another $2,500 to buy them ....but not the extra $4,000 they want today. Got to draw the line somewhere. You have to attract your fanbase first, get them hooked, then raise prices if thats what you want to do, not bludgeon the fans a year after we get a quasi-death penalty and we're digging out of the abyss.

 

[bearcat jeff]

I understand you are trying to set a market value, but UC should do what the Reds do and have a section of $5 seats. They'd still make more than is the seats were empty and you will garner concession money. You have to get people there, make it fun and top it with a good product on the floor.

 

[TheLongHaul]

I understand you are trying to set a market value, but UC should do what the Reds do and have a section of $5 seats. They'd still make more than is the seats were empty and you will garner concession money. You have to get people there, make it fun and top it with a good product on the floor.

They already do that. UC's cheap seats are in the upper corners and are somewhere around $8/seat. Seats up in the rafters are not expensive. You can argue that the lower level chair backs are expensive considering the UCATS requirement, but seats can be had in the upper section for about $8-10/seat. My tickets came out to about $10/seat.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

Houston, without 3 starters including their leading scorer, beats UConn 75-71! UC has to come to play tomorrow. It's conference play, and it doesn't matter if you are playing a "sexy" name or not...

 

[bearcat jeff]

They already do that. UC's cheap seats are in the upper corners and are somewhere around $8/seat. Seats up in the rafters are not expensive. You can argue that the lower level chair backs are expensive considering the UCATS requirement, but seats can be had in the upper section for about $8-10/seat. My tickets came out to about $10/seat.

I'm talking game by game. Everyone isn't going to be a season ticket holder.

 

[BEARCAT-4-LIFE]

Line is Cats and 6

Cats 77
SMU 69
I never have been big on him but I'm hoping Sanders keeps it up
Be nice to get about 7 and 5 from him

 

[TheLongHaul]

I'm talking game by game. Everyone isn't going to be a season ticket holder.

Tickets are available for tonight's game at $15. Maybe they could be a little cheaper but they have to incentivize season tickets over single game tickets. Or no one would buy season tickets. They need to make sure the lower backs are priced right to encourage people to buy season tickets.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

Good suggestions TYZ. In my case, all they would have to do is offer us a maximum of 6 seats like they did for the previous 30-some years and I would pay another $2,500 to buy them ....but not the extra $4,000 they want today. Got to draw the line somewhere. You have to attract your fanbase first, get them hooked, then raise prices if thats what you want to do, not bludgeon the fans a year after we get a quasi-death penalty and we're digging out of the abyss.

Honestly that's something they should have grandfathered in for you. As desperate as they are to sell tickets I just don't get pushing any sales away. I know you have to have your policies and set your prices, but donors like you that have given so much to the university over time should be dealt with on an individual basis rather than having to be conformed to a new standard. And yeah once demand is high and you can turn people away because someone is right there behind them to take their spot then you can be a hard-ass about policies.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

Tickets are available for tonight's game at $15. Maybe they could be a little cheaper but they have to incentivize season tickets over single game tickets. Or no one would buy season tickets. They need to make sure the lower backs are priced right to encourage people to buy season tickets.

I think there are limited day of game student seats available for $7 to this game as well. And yeah, UC runs plenty of promotions leading up to games to get people to buy cheaper seats. As much as it sucks sometimes as a season ticket holder you just have to tell yourself that you are putting out that extra money to support the program and to have better seats in the game-by-game price range you are looking for not to save money as a whole. My seats are excellent for upper deck chairbacks. I could save money by buying each game individually but my seats wouldn't be as good. The two seasons before last year when I finally got season tickets I went to about half the games and utilized these ticket pack specials they ran to get better deals. The seats were always upperdeck chairbacks but they were near the top of those seats and were further down from center court. My donation level to me is a very fair price and I'm happy to pay it for the better seats and to do my part to help the program. One day I hope to move down to the lower arena, but I grew up poor and I'm just too money conscious to spend that extra money at this time for the same product I'm already getting.

I think we all agree there is a big disconnect right now between fans demand for seats and the universities pricing policy. I get where the university doesn't want to lower prices because that really looks bad. The program is on the rise still so I think they feel comfortable that status quo will remain, meaning they aren't really losing donors at this point. I think the people who have continued to support the program post Huggins and new donors like me will still be there for the foreseeable future. I just think there has to be a way to find a happy medium and I think raising prices at this point is just a dangerous game to play when you're averaging 6200 fans per game.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

This is the best team we've played at home this season. I am excited to see how the Cats react. This is a measuring stick game for both programs. Go Cats!!