BobcatAttack.com - For Fans of Ohio University Sports

Welcome Guest!
Create an Account

site search

where to watch

about us

advertise with us

help

BobcatAttack.com Message Board

Ohio Football

Topic: RE: Who was coach when you became an Ohio Football Fan?

Topic: RE: Who was coach when you became an Ohio Football Fan?

Author

Message

GoCatsGo
General User

Member Since: 7/3/2005
Location: Cleveland, OH
Post Count: 215

Status: Offline

RE: Who was coach when you became an Ohio Football Fan?

Posted: 9/17/2014 2:39:18 PM

Both parents were Bobcats, so I grew up an Ohio fan. I went to games during the Lichtenberg era, however my earliest memory of Ohio football was of Kareem Wilson and Steveland Hookfin running Jim Grobe's offense. Then arriving in Athens just in time for Solich's 2nd year, made for an exciting 4 years of Ohio Football while in school.

Brufus
General User

Member Since: 12/13/2011
Location: Wherever Miami and Michigan suck
Post Count: 400

Status: Offline

RE: Who was coach when you became an Ohio Football Fan?

Posted: 9/17/2014 4:02:04 PM

Bobcatbob wrote:

Y-CityCatFan wrote:

Sony7 wrote:

Growing up in the Zanesville, Ohio area, most people knew very little about Ohio University, and cared even less about OHIO sports. This, despite the fact that Zanesville has an OHIO University Branch Campus. Why don't we do more on our branch campuses to increase our fan base? I never understood that.

+1!

Being from Zanesville myself, I can attest to this! I have always said that Ohio needs to do more at the branch level to make the students feel like Bobcats! There are about 2,000 Ohio students in Zanesville during any given year, and many more alumni! The problem is that unless they spend any time in Athens, they (majority) don't really feel like part of Ohio itself, just OUZ. I don't know the answer, but something should be done! It also doesn't help that the Zanesville media (NBC affiliate) doesn't pay much attention to the Cats either.

Another Y City native here. I started paying attention to OU only after going to HS tournament games in the Convo. Became a fan only after enrolling. We had Bill Hess, Jim Snyder and Kermit Blosser all still active then. That's still something I'm glad I got to experience first hand. Meanwhile, in Zanesville, I learned more about Marietta College sports than the Bobcats.

As for WHIZ-TV and radio, what can you expect from an operation based on the professional acumen of 20 years olds?

That honestly surprises me, considering both WHIZ sports anchors are Ohio grads, and WOUB's "Gridiron Glory" gives plenty of time to teams from that area.

As for me, born and raised in Columbus to two former OSU student-athletes, grew up a Buckeye fan, still support OSU when they don't play Ohio; first Bobcats game was UConn in '09, and I've been hooked ever since

Hawaiian Bobcat
General User

Member Since: 1/31/2005
Location: Wailuku, HI
Post Count: 334

Status: Offline

RE: Who was coach when you became an Ohio Football Fan?

Posted: 9/17/2014 5:49:44 PM

My first game was the 5-0 Utah St. classic. I've been a fan ever since.

Ohio69
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Post Count: 2,993

Status: Offline

RE: Who was coach when you became an Ohio Football Fan?

Posted: 9/17/2014 9:19:06 PM

hawaiian bobcat wrote:

My first game was the 5-0 Utah St. classic. I've been a fan ever since.

Wow. That's something. You know, to add insult to what I was witnessing on the field, I badly burned my mouth on way too hot hot chocolate late in that game. My buddies still laugh at that one.....

My first home game was a win over then I-AA Marshall at the start of Cleve Bryant's third season. It was an exciting game. Then we lost the next 12 straight and the dark age of Ohio football was well underway.

Last Edited: 9/17/2014 9:27:00 PM by Ohio69

Can somebody hit a pull up jumper for me?.....

Monroe Slavin
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Oxnard, CA
Post Count: 9,121

Status: Offline

RE: Who was coach when you became an Ohio Football Fan?

Posted: 9/18/2014 12:44:01 AM

Catdude wrote:

I became a fan when I signed my National Letter of Intent with coach Hess in 1973. I had the pleasure of playing for Coach Hess when Coach Kappes was an assistant. I'd have to say that both these guys were very influential to me. I now have 2 sons attending Ohio, they have been fans since the day they were born!! They are both active in the Bobcat athletics department.

This.

Plus any thread in which Bob Houmard is mentioned is a good thread.

Where's the band?!
WHERE"S THE BAND?!

DesignspiritUSA.com
The Pets On The Go Collection of pet gear travel bags
The Holiday Tote Bigg Bagg Collection--over-sized, reversible, extra pockets; now love carrying packages as much as you love shopping!

Recovering Journalist
General User

Member Since: 8/17/2010
Location: Cleveland, OH
Post Count: 1,839

Status: Offline

RE: Who was coach when you became an Ohio Football Fan?

Posted: 9/18/2014 8:41:15 AM

I arrived in 1992, and the football team was a well-known symbol of ineptitude. I don't know if you'd call it fan-dom, but I definitely developed a love of the gameday experience thanks largely to the 110 and the shared misery of a smattering of fans. I too was at the infamous USU game - the band's heckling of their team was by far the best thing about that day. Things started to turn around the time I graduated, and I worked on the staff of the Mess before and after graduation in 1996. My first sense that the dark days had really ended was the first night game at Peden (with temporary equipment), which was a dismantling of a terrible Akron team. Just a couple years prior, Akron and Kent were our only hope for FBS wins on the season, and the games were true toilet bowls.

Maybe it's because of when I arrived on campus, but I've always been more of a hoops fan, but my interest in college and pro football is also waning with each passing year for a wide variety of reasons.

Ohio69
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Post Count: 2,993

Status: Offline

RE: Who was coach when you became an Ohio Football Fan?

Posted: 9/18/2014 8:54:52 AM

Recovering Journalist wrote:

My first sense that the dark days had really ended was the first night game at Peden (with temporary equipment), which was a dismantling of a terrible Akron team. Just a couple years prior, Akron and Kent were our only hope for FBS wins on the season, and the games were true toilet bowls.

This is one of the most important games in the entire history of Ohio football. I am not kidding.

Can somebody hit a pull up jumper for me?.....

D.A.
General User

Member Since: 8/6/2010
Location: Georgetown, ME
Post Count: 1,176

Status: Offline

RE: Who was coach when you became an Ohio Football Fan?

Posted: 9/18/2014 12:02:28 PM

Attended OHIO in the dark years of '84-89 and only went to one game when I was a student (beat the Herd). Attended two games under the Knorr era while living in FL (UF/UCF), then went to the PITT game. That night, I became a fan and have held season tickets ever since.

Last Edited: 9/18/2014 12:03:04 PM by D.A.

The Few, The Proud, The Bobcats!

And for the record, I hate tOSU, and Ricordati and Torgerson are DB's.

"This isn't just another walkover from the MAC." Kirk Herbstreit, another DB, on College Football Gameday

1of1st110
General User

Member Since: 1/5/2006
Location: Reston, VA
Post Count: 44

Status: Offline

RE: Who was coach when you became an Ohio Football Fan?

Posted: 9/18/2014 4:48:59 PM

Bobcatbob wrote:

........

Another Y City native here. I started paying attention to OU only after going to HS tournament games in the Convo. Became a fan only after enrolling. We had Bill Hess, Jim Snyder and Kermit Blosser all still active then. That's still something I'm glad I got to experience first hand. Meanwhile, in Zanesville, I learned more about Marietta College sports than the Bobcats.

As for WHIZ-TV and radio, what can you expect from an operation based on the professional acumen of 20 years olds?

Similarly worth mentioning are Coaches Bob Wren and Harry Houska also active then and quite a few years beyond.

The Ohio University, Cradler of Coaches.

OhioStunter
General User

Member Since: 2/18/2005
Location: Chicago
Post Count: 2,516

Status: Offline

RE: Who was coach when you became an Ohio Football Fan?

Posted: 9/18/2014 5:22:25 PM

Coach L was a heckuva nice guy, but I knew he was in over his head when I sat near him during a track meet at Peden. The 4 x 100 relay team was made up of football receivers and when they won the race, he said something like, "Gosh, I had no idea those guys were so fast."

Yes, the fastest in the MAC, yet we never used that speed and went 0-11.

L.C.
General User

Member Since: 8/31/2005
Location: United States
Post Count: 10,071

Status: Offline

RE: Who was coach when you became an Ohio Football Fan?

Posted: 9/18/2014 6:25:56 PM

This data is very interesting, and while I didn't know quite what to expect, it isn't what I would have thought at all. I guess I expected that more fans would be attracted under winning coaches, and less under those that were less successful.

Instead what I found was that, while obviously the numbers are lower for the older timeperiods, from Bryant on, it seems that about 1.5 future Bobcatattakers became football fans per year under all the coaches, with one exception. It turns out that the Lichtenberg years were the true "golden years" for attracting fans, with nearly twice as many attracted per year that he was the coach as under any other coach.

�We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.� ― Epictetus

Showing Replies:	26 - 36 of 36 Posts
Jump to Page:	< Previous 1 \| 2

View Other 'Ohio Football' Topics

There are 167 Active Visitors on BobcatAttack.com

167 Guests
0 Registered Users

There are no other users looking at this page.