Guest Blogger: Can the Dukes Win it All?
Last week Jeremy came closest to predicting the winner & score of JMU’s win over SMU. As a result he earned the right to guest post. He’s a current student at JMU and he roots. Enjoy.
Alexa, can the Dukes win it all this year?
The answer didn’t surprise me in the slightest. Yes, we can win it all. This team is firing in almost every aspect of the game. We went down to Big D and brought home the W. The Worldwide Leader is featuring our man Vad this week on Sports Center. We have nationally ranked teams all over our great campus that are competing day-in day-out at such a high level. One thing still bothers this student, attendance.
As a freshman last year, I couldn’t wait until that first home game to see the stands filled with my fellow students. It did happen on home opener, but the shine began to fade rather quickly. My family decided to go all-in for the season. My parents quickly joined the Duke Club, season tickets the whole nine. I often wonder what could bring more students to games, not just football but all sporting events.
I attended so many events my freshman year of 2014-2015, Swimming, diving, men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey, etc. I have tried to maintain that commitment this year, it’s just frustrating to see so many people show up only to leave early. I’ve thought how could we engage and get more student participation at sporting events. Maybe one idea would be more night games. Who doesn’t love the bright lights of Bridgeforth Stadium with 24,000 strong rootin? More engagement with staff and events with athletes might enhance the awareness of how much the student-athletes appreciate the support from their peers. White Outs / Black Outs / Purple Outs / Merica Outs / Sons Out Guns Out / maybe could see a higher participation. I could clearly hear the proud DUKES in Texas over the weekend while streaming the game, why doesn’t it sound that loud here when we have home field advantage?
More in-state rivalries could help boost attendance as well. I fully understand in-state schools don’t necessarily want to put the Dukes on the schedule. Raffle off one of those un-used luxury suites for student’s use during the season. Anything is possible to make ALL athletic events more attended. I’m proud to be a DUKE, and wish more of my fellow DUKES felt the same.
What about a true student section that could help create an actual home field advantage? How about some temp bleachers right on top of opposing teams where we can be heard and seen? Put the students in one area that we can truly call our own, but before we do that WE MUST SHOW UP IN FORCE.
In closing, I do believe Alexa is right. I see a trip to Frisco, Texas in our future. And I sure plan on being there to support my DUKES!
Definitely could use some more themed games for fans, besides the homecoming purple out. With the new black uniforms, a blackout night game near Halloween could be great. I think I remember Withers saying that he wanted more day games because students would be more likely to come instead of a 7 or 8pm game when they’d leave early to go pregame. I think switching the student section to the endzone would be a great thing and use the old side for a slightly cheaper ticket price for the community. The university and city need to come together and kind of paint the town purple so to speak. Downtown businesses could have window displays during game weeks and flags displayed. I’m lucky enough to volunteer with the Atlanta Falcons and do the gigantic field flag for when players are introduced. They could copy them and bring in community groups (schools, Boys and Girls Club) to participate and also fill the stands. This post and following comments should be forwarded to the Athletic Department! Great conversation starter post!
Good post. Go Dukes!
Speaking as a recent grad, I think that the poor student showing is just a result of the culture of JMU in general. I think there’s definitely a lot of JMU pride on campus, but that enthusiasm almost never translates into support for athletics.
That’s why, in my opinion, you have no trouble finding thousands of students all around campus tailgating on game day, but maybe only a quarter of them actually make it into the stadium. It’s hard to change the culture of an entire university, but I think that the athletic department can maybe try to meet the students halfway by making the game itself a bigger event (I like that blackout night game near Halloween idea!).
One quick idea: since the most attended game for students is the first game of the year, why not make it a big time match up? I understand the coaches probably want to ease the team into the bigger games to work out the early-season kinks. However, if the first game a student sees is a blowout against Middle Northwest Vermont State, I can see why that might not catch their interest and make them want to come back. But if you could make the first home game a real match up against an FCS power, I think that you could show students what a fun experience JMU games can be.
Great post!
Solid post.
I like the idea of more ‘themed’ games and ‘paint the town purple.’ I also like the idea of raffling off a suite for students, if there is an unused suite available.
I also want to thank you for being an engaged student with regard to JMU athletics. I am one to come down kind of hard on students for attendance and support for JMU athletics. I like hearing more students like yourself who are just that engaged/invested in JMU athletics.
I’d definitely like to see Bridgeforth striped Purple and Gold. And I’m pretty sure attendance will increase for the students. Word around D Hall is that people skip the games because they are “boring” and blowouts. Hopefully, as we enter conference play, that will change, leading to more interesting games, like last Saturday’s
I always find blowouts pretty fun/entertaining if you are on the good side of them!!!!
I think at one point last year UVA gave away a free semester’s tuition to one lucky student at game. The catch…you had to be there to register inside the stadium before the game…and to be eligible you had to be present for the random drawing…which occurred at the end of the 4th quarter. Expensive gimmick, but maybe having more giveaways with this type of format would keep some students in the stands.
(Also would like to clarify that I personally feel like our product on the field should get students excited and packing bridgeforth…unlike UVA’s terrible team currently…but not everyone is a die-hard like all of us)
I love when we blowout other schools, I get goosebumps in the stands watching that offense step on the throats of defenses. JMU has big time football that deserves a little more national recognition. Obviously we won’t get the same attention that VT or UVA is going to get, but for FCS has big time teams that deserve the spotlight sometimes. I’m all for the #JMU2FBS movement, and I guarantee you’ll see more students when we’re playing a school that’s semi-recognizable.
Piggy backing off of Shrowder’s comments above regarding a great amount of school pride that doesn’t translate to athletics…
One point that I don’t think gets brought up enough in the “student attendance” discussion is the culture and makeup of the student body. With more and more JMU students coming from DC, NY, NJ, and PA…the interest in college sports just isn’t there. The majority of these “Northern” students grew up in pro sports towns. With the exception of maybe Penn State football, most of the JMU students from these northern states view college football as second-tier.
I believe our neighbors in Charlottesville and Blacksburg both benefit greatly from the ACC/SEC mentality where your college team takes precedence over any pro sports team. Unfortunately, JMU’s identity is caught in limbo.