Commentary: Fans should show some support
It’s easy to write disparaging commentary about the winless Eastern Michigan football team.
I could type miles of text about its poor defense, in particular its mind-numbing average yards rushing allowed per game (292.8), or the completely mystifying fact of the team not having a winning season in more than a decade.
Coach Ron English looks on during the homecoming game Oct. 3, as a barren stadium provides backdrop.
The attendance significantly has dropped each each game.
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In my time at EMU, I’ve witnessed plenty of losses: the losing of games and the loss of players to injury. But perhaps more depressing than any of the aforementioned, is the loss of fan support and the exceedingly low number of fans who don’t attend games.
The last home game is 1 p.m. Saturday, it’d be nice to see more than the 3,364 who attended the homecoming game on Oct. 3.
With an average attendance of 5,450, a mark that represents 18 percent of the accumulated capacity of Rynearson Stadium (21,799), EMU ranks dead last in attendance out of 120 in the FBS.
Fellow Mid-American conference institution Ball State nearly doubles EMU’s average, coming in at 11,918, which stands at 53 percent of its stadium’s capacity.
So, have you gone to any athletics events recently?
“I went to that madness thing, but that’s all I’ve been to,” 19-year-old business administration major Jacynte Green said referring to the Thriller of Madness basketball event Oct. 16 at the Convocation Center.
“There’s never really many people there, either,” Green said.
So is it a matter of winning?
“I’d go if I knew there’d be more people going,” said Chris Peuterbaugh, a 22-year-old product design and development major. “I think it’s probably the biggest problem.”
But Peuterbaugh made an interesting observation regarding his friends attending games.
“A lot of them commute from like a half hour or 45 minutes away,” he said. “So they don’t think it’s worth coming out.”
Many fans would like to place the blame upon certain sports, saying too many of them lose too frequently. That’s a cop-out because EMU has plenty of MAC titles, with its swimming, cross country and track and field teams perennially placing itself near the top of the conference.
The basketball teams start this weekend on the road, but I bet not many are going to attend the first home games. The women open their home season on Nov. 16 and the men on Nov. 28.
The lack of support extends far into the university. School spirit is a term that’s cliché, but it rings true.
It’s sad to go to events and see athletes put in their effort, only to look in the stands and see a smattering of spectators.
So this is not necessarily a call to arms, nor a lashing, but more of a reflection.
It’s fun to support teams, win or lose, and the athletes would appreciate it more than you could imagine. Give them someone to play for.
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by Rick
In the early 80’s EMU football faced a similar challenges of low attendance, a new coach and losses. Back then there was also talk about getting rid of the football program. They kept the program and success followed.
With support from the University, student organizations, Greek fraternities and sororities attendance went up. Attendance went from an average of only 8,361 in 1983 to an average of 18,924 in 1984. Then in 1987 EMU won the MAC title and went on to win at the California Bowl.
EMU has a rich football history going back to 1891. The program has also produced numerous All-Americans and pro players most recently Jason Jones and TJ Lang.
With time I am sure that Coach English will have the same success. As a former EMU football player I know these guys deserve our support.
Flag for moderationby Kent
I am an Alumni and EMU season ticket holder but live in San Diego CA. I donate my tickets to youth organizations in hopes the kids have an opportunity to see a major college football game. When I attended EMU, I went to almost all the games. Now I have to rely on games being televised by ESPN and look forward to watching EMU Football. I make special trips back to MI every couple of years to see a live game and enjoy it whether we win or lose. I believe Ron E and his coaches will put EMU on the map very soon. I can see it in his face on TV he is determined to make EMU Football a top 25 team. Go Eagles!
Flag for moderationby Kenneth Barna
It is called winning. As an alum of Eastern, I was a season ticket holder from 1968 to 1998. In that time span Eastern maybe had a dozen winning seasons and one MAC championship. In that time period I only missed a handful of games, and felt as an alum I should be there to support my team. However, the mostly losing season after season wore me out. I would look around me and see the few scattered fans and think, why am I here? Most of my friends would go to the U -M games because they usually won their games.
Flag for moderationI just wish Eastern would be competitive. By that, I mean be in the ball game score wise. It isn’t fun, and it is not competitive when you get blown-out by 50 -0 kind of scores. If we lose 24 -17 and played tough, then that is competitive.
In fairness to the players, Eastern has had some terrible coaches and they added to the mix of losing all the time.
As for me, when Eastern has a winning season I shall return to Rynearson.
by Doug Shirk
I agree with both Mr. Barna and Kent. As another long distance alumni (Washington state), I’d like to see a competetive program, but I realise that Ron English is a first year coach and it takes anywhere from 3 to 5 years for a new coach to create a winning program (for further amplification, look at the problems Paul Wulff is haveing at Washington State). Aside from the almuni newsletters, my primary connection with The Hurons…..oops…The Eagles is via ESPN, and a winning athletic department would bring TV time, which would in turn bring pride to the alumni base. To misquote Michigan State University president John Hannah before he hired “Biggie” Munn, “If it takes a winning football program for us to becaume a well respected university, by God, we’re going to have a winning football program.”
Flag for moderationI hope that attitude is present in the EMU athletic department.