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Our only real weakness in trying to build a top basketball program..
Great recruiting area - check
Plenty of capital - check
Great town - check
Great school environment - check
Great fan base.....not so much.
I believe it's the single biggest question a top coach will have when evaluating his potential to win at UGA.
kirby was able to check that last box, but basketball has never been a main attraction in Athens.
Comments
I'd say we also have nice facilities. I wouldn't say we don't have a great fan base, if we win, they will come. Typically how it is anywhere. We've **** for too long, naturally some fans will get bored of it. We need us a young, high-energy coach like Kirby. Someone who can not only coach, but get kids excited to come play for Georgia. We'll be there to watch. Pretty simple, ain't it?
Win and they will come, see Auburn, Bama and UT basketball. Not the main sport but you put out a good product and people show up
It's yet to be determined IF we can develop the level of fan participation for men's basketball as top programs enjoy.
The ability to develop that area is needed, Bruce Pearl is an example of a HC more suited to firing up a fan base than Fox was.
I do agree that build it and they will come would work to some extent, how much though ?
First there is the chicken vs the egg question, then there is the ceiling question. How many fans would consistently come to Stegeman on a Tuesday night if we had an exciting and winning team ?
I think students would come if the team were winning....that's the group most likely to be out and about on a Tuesday night.
This!
I have to respectfully disagree with you. The fans are not the problem. Its the administration. As long as the checks are coming in they act like they could care less. Old men who have no interest and culture about winning which is what Kirby is always saying about the program, albeit in a passive-aggressive way. It's the culture at UGA which always start from the top down. Stop paying the checks and things will change (radically) just like in other business.
I will have to agree that the administration's/AD's focus and investment in the basketball program has been inconsistent at best over the years. Until several years ago there were literally cow pens attached to the back side of Stegman. Not something I'm thinking you'd put on the tour for potential recruits.
I can say that growing up I quickly became a fan of Georgia's football team. I didn't like Georgia's basketball team though because they were so bad they never made it on TV where I live (Chattanooga area). I became a fan of Duke. As a kid, you like a winner. Kids are bandwagoners by nature. As I've continued through life, those have been the two teams I have enjoyed to watch and root for. I want to like Georgia basketball, but it's hard to watch a bad product on the floor year in and year out. I know there have been bright spots in UGA basketball over the past decade or so, but the main thing I have witnessed is mediocrity. With all that being said, I want to root for Georgia, but make the product something worth watching.
I don't know how much the administration could do to build a fan base other than hire the right coach and give him what he needs materially.
It's an organic thing. You can't just throw money at it or wish it true.
No doubt before the recent improvements facilities were lacking.
I'm not sure how much a ceiling of 10,000 fans at home games vs 18,000 at Ohio St would matter, but I'm guessing to some extent it matters to both coaching candidates and recruits.
Could we ever consistently draw 16.000 fans to home games ?
winning solves everything--if UGA consistently wins then the amount of people going to the games will dramatically increase
No doubt winning will increase crowd size to some extent, how much is only going to be known when/if we sustain a winning program for several years.
You can get a temporary bump with a winning team, real core interest has to manifest itself in longer term attendance though.
I took a quick gander at attendance figures for 2016 and it's clear it's not necessary to draw huge crowds, but it is necessary to fill your arena.
Some surprises for me.
2016 season average attendance at home.
Duke - 9,300
UCLA - 8,000
ND - 8,500
UF - 9,600
Xavier - 10,200
Oklahoma - 10,000
W.V. - 10,500
Florida is particularly interesting because it's an SEC school that had little program history of note before hiring the right HC. It's also a number we should be able to match at Stegeman.
Exactly, and it's not very hard to fill up 10,500 seats with the amount of students. You've got to start winning first to give fans a team worth watching. Hard to fill up seats when you're constantly towards the bottom of the league, and lose a lot more SEC games than win.
A winning product (around top 25, near top of conference, exciting type of ball) will fill the arena. Fans were excited when Tubby and Harrick had things going. Since then, UGA BB has been relevant and exciting for a grand total of 5 minutes, and that may be generous.
The fans are not the reason. Hard to watch the same uninspiring product that is given to us each year.
Why is UGA not a beacon for top coaches ?
That is my point, in my opinion it has a lot to do with the perception that basketball is an afterthought for the fan base.
I'm thinking about what a top coach with confidence in his ability sees when evaluating our potential.
Students stay away from UGA basketball games in droves, can that culture be changed ?
As the old saying goes, winning cures everything. Along with field a decently productive offensive team, where it's at least somewhat entertaining to casual fans.
The Steg holds 10,523. Last season (2017), UGA drew 129,939 fans over 18 games, for an average attendance of 7,218.
Obviously, we can do better. However, a big part of the less-than-capacity attendance was a result of the "product" on the court. I don't know if it's fair to say fans and students "stayed away in droves." Several games were well attended, including by students, and some (like LSU) were sell-outs.
Of course, getting UGA fans from Atlanta, etc., to drive over for a 6:30 weekday game is always a challenge. Weekend games tend to draw better, as do later weekday games.
Nevertheless, if we can develop a consistent winning program with a style of basketball that's fun to watch, I believe the Dawg fans will come and "pack the Steg."
It’s not a beacon because UGA basketball has always been behind. I agree we are a football school, but there are plenty of examples of schools making both sports a priority. Just my opinion, but it feels like the basketball program has never had the support it needed to recruit the hot bed of Georgia or even exceed needs.
Because of that, it has resulted in poor recruiting, crappy play, and people being tired of the same thing. I say a young guy who knows Georgia that can get recruited sorted out should be the ticket. Everything else will fall into place.
I feel like we have someone already on the team that is worth the low risk gamble.