Furman is not a commuter school. I don't think most students consider Furman as their second or third choice either. The main issue is that most students have followed larger school sports most of their lives. I have told the story about my son several times. He graduated in 2010. The first night he was on campus, the freshmen on the hall floor had a meet and greet social. The subject got around to favorite college sports teams. The answer from every student was one of the big teams like Florida, Georgia, Clemson, Carolina, etc. When my son said, "Furman of course", they were puzzled. Sadly, during his 4 years at Furman, the football and basketball teams struggled, therefore, the students never became invested in any of the sports programs. Many of those Furman graduates are still not invested in any of the sports teams. That trend has continued, contributing to the drop in attendance at football and basketball games. I keep thinking winning will help with basketball attendance, but that was not the case this year. The marketing department, if we have one, has to do a better job of getting them involved. Our older folks need to shut up about the loud music too. Attendance for our players and coaches is embarrassing. I sometimes wonder how we get any recruit excited about playing in front of so few fans. We need to make Timmons the toughest and loudest arena in college basketball. The administration has to know that the money making sport for a school the size of Furman is basketball. If they don't get that, we are doomed to fail. I am not going to give up. I will support the team through the Paladin Club, the Roundball Club and as a season ticket holder. I will continue to send the coaches and the players words and notes of encouragement. Go Paladins!
Last edited by gman on Wed Mar 07, 2018 12:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.