Originally posted by chickod
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Young is not necessarily synonymous with "not talented." But on another note, I find it (I almost want to say "mildly amusing" except that it isn't) disappointing how everyone on this board (including myself) was screaming for Jack's head for the past three years, and now they are all "disgusted" and want to give up. I don't think it was the wrong move at all to bring him in and hopefully "NCAAfan500" was speaking in jest. I would suggest that we allow some "time" for Quinn to get his system established, not to mention get the players in here that fit his philosophy. I really am shocked at how quickly people have just turned their backs (I know it's not everyone).
I am not understanding why everyone is placing the blame for the poor play directly at the coach's feet. From what I have seen, there is just not enough talent for this team to compete successfully in this league, and as others (even Quinn himself) have mentioned, if not for O'Connor it would be even worse. Is this the result of expectations of excellence EVERY year? That's impossible. Did everyone forget that the Patriots were in existence 41 years before they ever won the Super Bowl? Did they forget that the Red Sox went 86 years without winning a World Series? Did they forget that the Bruins went 39 years without winning the Stanley Cup? I know people here (especially the elitists) think that they can create a perfect Utopian society and that the answer to everything is to throw money at it. Well, I have news for you. That's NOT the way it is, nor has it ever been. The vitriol is astonishing to me. It's almost embarrassing. BU is having a "down" year. So what? The world is not going to end. The guy has only been coach for two months, for Pete's sake! If it's like this at this time next year or the year after, then we can re-evaluate things. Did you really think that the team you saw last year plus the incoming recruits were going to magically win Hockey East and beat BC five times? Yes, we beat BC in the Hockey East semi-finals last year. But BU was highly motivated because they wanted Jack's "ride" to continue, and BC had everything wrapped up Pairwise anyway and didn't really have a lot to play for (besides having players injured and in the midst of a somewhat "down" year [for them] themselves). It's like everyone is saying "Jack beat BC to get to the Hockey East Finals last year and now we're almost in last place. It must be Quinn's fault."
Now don't misunderstand me. None of this has anything to do with the attendance issue. With that I agree - the school has their head in the sand about what is a "reasonable" expectation for a ticket pricing structure. Maybe they should go to the Wal-Mart school of marketing, which says just get people "in the door." They can't spend money if they don't come. You can offset a drop in ticket prices in just concessions alone, and you will far exceed your previous revenue. They also need to understand, apart from the math, that if the product is not appealing, they need to do something to re-invigorate the fan base. As I mentioned previously, I can't go as much due to my new job. But it's the people "on the fence" that need to be brought back in. Whoever said above the BU does not have the "core" fan base to fill a 6300 seat arena obviously is correct. I can remember more than a few people raising their eyebrows when we first heard of the size of Agganis in its planning stages. My first thought was, "as soon as they stop winning, the arena will be half-empty." Remember, in the beginning it was a novelty and everyone wanted to see the facility. Then we won in 2009 and it was just enough to keep the fence straddlers hanging on for a couple of years. Well, that ship has now sailed. But you can't put all the blame for the poor atmosphere on Quinn, either. Most schools have one or two great seasons and a LOT of bad ones. BU is NEVER in the "second division" (as they used to say in baseball back when there were ten teams in each league and if you finished worse than fifth). When was the last time BU failed to make the playoffs? If you think that's a ridiculous question, ask Northeastern or Merrimack fans how many bad seasons they had before they had a "good" one. And if you say, "But that should NEVER happen to BU, because we're BU," then you're a moron. Another arrogant BU elitist. Get over yourself.
I am not understanding why everyone is placing the blame for the poor play directly at the coach's feet. From what I have seen, there is just not enough talent for this team to compete successfully in this league, and as others (even Quinn himself) have mentioned, if not for O'Connor it would be even worse. Is this the result of expectations of excellence EVERY year? That's impossible. Did everyone forget that the Patriots were in existence 41 years before they ever won the Super Bowl? Did they forget that the Red Sox went 86 years without winning a World Series? Did they forget that the Bruins went 39 years without winning the Stanley Cup? I know people here (especially the elitists) think that they can create a perfect Utopian society and that the answer to everything is to throw money at it. Well, I have news for you. That's NOT the way it is, nor has it ever been. The vitriol is astonishing to me. It's almost embarrassing. BU is having a "down" year. So what? The world is not going to end. The guy has only been coach for two months, for Pete's sake! If it's like this at this time next year or the year after, then we can re-evaluate things. Did you really think that the team you saw last year plus the incoming recruits were going to magically win Hockey East and beat BC five times? Yes, we beat BC in the Hockey East semi-finals last year. But BU was highly motivated because they wanted Jack's "ride" to continue, and BC had everything wrapped up Pairwise anyway and didn't really have a lot to play for (besides having players injured and in the midst of a somewhat "down" year [for them] themselves). It's like everyone is saying "Jack beat BC to get to the Hockey East Finals last year and now we're almost in last place. It must be Quinn's fault."
Now don't misunderstand me. None of this has anything to do with the attendance issue. With that I agree - the school has their head in the sand about what is a "reasonable" expectation for a ticket pricing structure. Maybe they should go to the Wal-Mart school of marketing, which says just get people "in the door." They can't spend money if they don't come. You can offset a drop in ticket prices in just concessions alone, and you will far exceed your previous revenue. They also need to understand, apart from the math, that if the product is not appealing, they need to do something to re-invigorate the fan base. As I mentioned previously, I can't go as much due to my new job. But it's the people "on the fence" that need to be brought back in. Whoever said above the BU does not have the "core" fan base to fill a 6300 seat arena obviously is correct. I can remember more than a few people raising their eyebrows when we first heard of the size of Agganis in its planning stages. My first thought was, "as soon as they stop winning, the arena will be half-empty." Remember, in the beginning it was a novelty and everyone wanted to see the facility. Then we won in 2009 and it was just enough to keep the fence straddlers hanging on for a couple of years. Well, that ship has now sailed. But you can't put all the blame for the poor atmosphere on Quinn, either. Most schools have one or two great seasons and a LOT of bad ones. BU is NEVER in the "second division" (as they used to say in baseball back when there were ten teams in each league and if you finished worse than fifth). When was the last time BU failed to make the playoffs? If you think that's a ridiculous question, ask Northeastern or Merrimack fans how many bad seasons they had before they had a "good" one. And if you say, "But that should NEVER happen to BU, because we're BU," then you're a moron. Another arrogant BU elitist. Get over yourself.
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