Has fan apathy already set in?

[Heisman's Ghost]

Yes Apathy has set in.

It's only going to get worst. This Coach is in over his head. He hasn't surrounded himself with capable people. This will probably get ugly.

Fire him now! Hire a football coach, not some used car salesman. We can win a press conference, but this guy will never really win at Tech.

This is awful

I remember the 80's and the Bill Lewis years. I always joked that BL ruined us on purpose because he was a UGA guy.

GC is just isn't ready.

He did a great job of selling himself and his love for Tech.

He isn't a head coach.

This sucks

You may be right...however, it is way too early to make that assumption. Virginia Tech fans were screaming for good old Frank's head after his first three or four years and he gave them the longest sustained success in the history of the program. It still could happen here. We could be on the cusp of witnessing a turnaround of epic proportions...or not. Coach Beamer was hired in 1987 following a good, but not great, coach in Bill Dooly. In two years, he won 5 games and did not have a winning record until 5 years, I think, into his tenure. His FIRST really good year was not until 1994 about 7 years after he was hired.

 

[grandpa jacket]

You may be right...however, it is way too early to make that assumption. Virginia Tech fans were screaming for good old Frank's head after his first three or four years and he gave them the longest sustained success in the history of the program. It still could happen here. We could be on the cusp of witnessing a turnaround of epic proportions...or not.

Unfortunately we have no crystal ball but, it is a fact disaster seasons will show up in sorry recruiting classes and dig a much bigger hole

 

[Lotta Booze]

You may be right...however, it is way too early to make that assumption. Virginia Tech fans were screaming for good old Frank's head after his first three or four years and he gave them the longest sustained success in the history of the program. It still could happen here. We could be on the cusp of witnessing a turnaround of epic proportions...or not. Coach Beamer was hired in 1987 following a good, but not great, coach in Bill Dooly. In two years, he won 5 games and did not have a winning record until 5 years, I think, into his tenure. His FIRST really good year was not until 1994 about 7 years after he was hired.

And when they hired Fuente it seemed like a great hire and after his first season it seemed to confirm the greatness of the hire. And now. ...

 

[buzzed]

The crowd on Saturday looked exactly like what I expected. After several decades with no consistent success, it is what it is. Mostly the same group of hardcore fans that have always showed up in down years are the ones still there. The slight influx of fans that came in during CPJs initial success gradually stopped coming when he didn’t single-handedly turn us into a factory program. Those bandwagon types are always the most annoying and show how little they understand about football right before they stop coming to games. Whatever the size of the crowd, those of us who were left in the second half were excited and got loud when the offense found its rhythm. It was nice to see something in the offense to be excited about, other than Tobias Oliver’s athleticism, for the first time this season. This fan base is just starved for something to be excited about and will get behind CGC as soon as the quality of football on the field provides a reason.

 

[GTJake]

No, and big props to the crowd that showed on Saturday, my Dad and I were there for the early-mid 80's and it's not a lot of fun at times ...
Also, the uniforms actually grew on me, I didn't like what I saw of them last week, but on gameday they looked pretty good !

 

[SteamWhistle]

For being 1-3 that was a nice crowd. We are never going to sell out games against UNC they just aren’t a big enough draw. (Like most ACC teams we play)

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

And when they hired Fuente it seemed like a great hire and after his first season it seemed to confirm the greatness of the hire. And now. ...

It's one of those: "It seemed like a good idea at the time." deals. Coach Fuente was a hot commodity back then and most observers thought Virginia Tech had gotten the pick of the litter. Too bad, it turns out it was a mutt and not a pure bred. Maybe he will turn it around after all, they just beat Miami.

 

[g0lftime]

Apathy sets in when fans feel that there is no chance to win. Loyal fans stay the course and still have hope for better days.

 

[Jim Prather]

Apathy sets in when fans feel that there is no chance to win. Loyal fans stay the course and still have hope for better days.

I would say that is a very apt description of the situation- apathetic but loyal...

 

[takethepoints]

Yes.

This is another in a series of simple answers to simple questions.

 

[grandpa jacket]

I know this isn’t the end all be all way of measuring our interest or lack of interest, but it seems the Post Game threads are slowly getting shorter and shorter. Obviously an older thread probably has more replies, but if you just judge the number of pages per thread on the day they were posted you have these numbers:

UNC post game: 10 pages

Temple post game: 14 pages

The Citadel post game: 36 pages

USF Post Game: 16 pages

Clemson Post Game: 4 pages( kick off was 8pm, so this couldn’t have been posted earlier than like 10pm)

The Citadel post game thread is unique because we were in full meltdown mode, but it does seem like there is a trend of the post game threads being less and less active. Again, I realize this is not necessarily the best way to judge fan interest, but it seems interesting, nevertheless.

Personally, I am normally in a bad mood and have a hard time enjoying other games all Saturday when we lose, but the last two weeks I have pretty much completely moved on five minutes after the game. I’ll still be at Bobby Dodd and watch every game, but I’d be lying to you if I told you I feel the same way now that I did right before kickoff against Clemson at the beginning of the year.

What about you guys? Anyone worried about fan apathy or feeling a little yourself?

Yes

 

[tmhunter52]

As a long-suffering, and loyal to the grave, Tech fan, I can say that our football realities are too often, well, numbing. It’s like lidocaine applied to the psyche...

 

[jojatk]

I don’t think fan apathy has set in. I think people are tired of having the same arguments with the same people who aren’t listening to a single thing each other is saying.


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[LibertyTurns]

This whole thing is playing out different than I expected. I thought we’d get slightly disappointing performance coupled with an uplift in fan support as the transition chugged along. I never envisioned we’d get weak fan support & anywhere near The results we’ve seen.

I’ve reset my expectations & am hopeful we’ll see maturation of the staff before the end of the season. I think we’ve seen back to back improvements after the disaster.

What I’m having a hard time coming to grips with is how we get traction in recruiting given the current circumstances, how we keep our financial head above water with a dwindling fanbase, can we keep our patience thru 3 maybe 4 seasons of this, etc. I just didn't figure we’d have to give up a half decade to get back to where we left off.

 

[Kennethshannon20]

This whole thing is playing out different than I expected. I thought we’d get slightly disappointing performance coupled with an uplift in fan support as the transition chugged along. I never envisioned we’d get weak fan support & anywhere near The results we’ve seen.

I’ve reset my expectations & am hopeful we’ll see maturation of the staff before the end of the season. I think we’ve seen back to back improvements after the disaster.

What I’m having a hard time coming to grips with is how we get traction in recruiting given the current circumstances, how we keep our financial head above water with a dwindling fanbase, can we keep our patience thru 3 maybe 4 seasons of this, etc. I just didn't figure we’d have to give up a half decade to get back to where we left off.

I really don't think it'll take 5 years. And I was at the uNc game, fan support wasn't bad considering who we were playing and our performance this year.

As far as recruiting, I still see recruits talking about GT and excitement from the players, we will be fine.

 

[white coffey]

Fan Apathy?? Heck no!!!! Does anyone know if we won today?

 

[stech81]

Fan Apathy?? Heck no!!!! Does anyone know if we won today?

We didn't play we had an open day. Practice was not good today I hear

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

I hear everything that everyone is saying. We have strong disagreements, but we are all Tech fans (and some of us are alums). I respect those that believe what they believe, but emotion and hope are not changing my mind on what I actually see and know from experience. As a GT engineer, I am not wired, although some are, to see positives in hopeful wishes or exaggerate improvements beyond what they actually are. But, I will always root for the gold and white (even if they wear Navy).

 

[white coffey]

We didn't play we had an open day. Practice was not good today I hear

We’re still doing practices?? I thought we were just waiting for the “better players”?

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Yes. I went to a family reunion the past two weekends with 90% Dwags. It was barely mentioned. When they don’t pick at you, you know it’s bad.