I Just Can't Take It Anymore!!

[mustangbill67]

It would be interesting to see average annual attendance at Moody for men's basketball over the past 50 years to see what trends if any there are. I know that back in the 70's we had attendance over 10.000 for several SMU SWC games and I sat in the rafters for many games. I believe the current Moody configeration only holds around 8900.

[ALEX LIFESON]

8,998

[Charleston Pony]

My FR year was the '70-'71 season (Gene Phillips SR year) and we averaged 5200 for home games; 7100 for SWC games. Those figures included home games with Austin College, McMurry & Dallas Baptist. It was just a different Moody back then. We averaged 6200/7300 my JR year for a 10-15 team, although attendance did fall off in Coach Prewitt's final season when the team went 8-18 and drew only 3700/5000. Sad that todays young SMU fans think those are great numbers.

Sonny Allen's teams enjoyed pretty good fan support and drew 6500/7500 his final season. Bliss' teams struggled through a couple of rebuilding years with about 3500/4700 but had some strong years mixed in with figures rivaling the "old days". Attendance since that time has just been awful.

The Shumate, Dement, Tubbs & Doherty years have basically been the 1500 still hanging in and supporting the program no matter what. Yes, there have been a few well attended games, but for the teams we once thought about as "cupcakes", only the 1500 seem to care enough to come out. This season, it looks like even that hardcore group is waning.

What a waste of a great bball venue.

[Terry Webster]

Part of the problem is that they were just as effected by the demise of the swc as football was attendance wise. When we played Baylor or TCU or whoever, we could count on a decent visitor crowd plus we had the rivalry. Not so much when we played in the WAC or even the cusa.

[RGV Pony]

I recall the years of the WAC 16 were decently attended...a couple of pajama games vs TCU and maybe UNLV on ESPN w/ a 10pm start time...also decent attendance vs New Mexico when they had Kenny Thomas and SMU recognized Dave Bliss at halftime. Remembering those games alone, aside from Memphis I don't think the crowds of late even come close

*edit: now that I think about it, the first time I saw Morris Almond play...what was it, 2005? 04? A game vs Rice where I think we had a last second shot force overtime...anyway, it was before I had season tickets and the lobby was packed, with a line 10 people deep at will-call. That crowd dwarfed the ones we've had this year and last

[mustangbill67]

With a competitive team, a big time non-conference schedule where we actually win a few and smart marketing, I believe we could substantially increase attendance.

[Pony_Fan]

I guess having a few nice local recruits would help attendance? Even though it doesn't seem like we can even sniff any the last 4 yrs since Bhop. - Baylor and others are doing that..

[larskjenstad]

I guess having a few nice local recruits would help attendance? Even though it doesn't seem like we can even sniff any the last 4 yrs since Bhop. - Baylor and others are doing that..

Wasnt Doh brought in to recruit more than the X's and O's....I am a Doh fan but this thing has hit rock bottom, Texas State, c'mon ? I havent posted on BB site before but this is not watchable. Good Luck Coach, you will need it.

[PonyDoh]

guys, give up on attendance. We have an apathetic student body that cheers for UT. It will ebb and flow according to our record and quality wins/opponents, but SMU students will never truly rally behind the programs. Only at SMU do you hear crap like Monday games are bad for attendance b/c of chapter...lol

[Mestengo]

I think this will be a thread we can use all season long

[ponyboy]

guys, give up on attendance. We have an apathetic student body that cheers for UT. It will ebb and flow according to our record and quality wins/opponents, but SMU students will never truly rally behind the programs. Only at SMU do you hear crap like Monday games are bad for attendance b/c of chapter...lol

Man, I disagree. You only have to go back to the Sasser/Davis/Elsey/Han c ock years to see pretty good support from the student body.

[NastyStang]

guys, give up on attendance. We have an apathetic student body that cheers for UT. It will ebb and flow according to our record and quality wins/opponents, but SMU students will never truly rally behind the programs. Only at SMU do you hear crap like Monday games are bad for attendance b/c of chapter...lol

Man, I disagree. You only have to go back to the Sasser/Davis/Elsey/Han c ock years to see pretty good support from the student body.

I agree, I was part of that student body during those years and we had great turnout.

[Charleston Pony]

guys, give up on attendance. We have an apathetic student body that cheers for UT. It will ebb and flow according to our record and quality wins/opponents, but SMU students will never truly rally behind the programs. Only at SMU do you hear crap like Monday games are bad for attendance b/c of chapter...lol

Man, I disagree. You only have to go back to the Sasser/Davis/Elsey/Han c ock years to see pretty good support from the student body.

your handle says it all...you are probably too young to appreciate what good student support is. Once upon a time, the students packed the entire courtside in Moody and if you got to the game late, you sat in the top rows in the end zones. I was concerned when the "fat cat" seating went in courtside, but now we don't even have enough student support to fill the 2 short sections. In the Sasser/Davis years, they did not even consistently fill those few seats. PonyDoh is right about this. Somewhere along the line our students stopped supporting our hoops program and it seems to have occurred about the time we got the death penalty in football. Different breed of students since then. Call it Ken Pye's legacy.

[redpony]

There used to be good crowds for the bball games. Many students went to those games-but that was in the days of Doc Hayes and Prewitt. They didn't always win but at least they put a good product on the floor and were always competitive.

In an interview SO stated that anything less than .500 record this year would be totally unacceptable. Now let's see if that was just hot air or if he is a man of his word and convictions.
Any bets?

GO PONIES!!!

[FriscoPMG]

In an interview SO stated that anything less than .500 record this year would be totally unacceptable. Now let's see if that was just hot air or if he is a man of his word and convictions.
Any bets?

He announced Bennett's firing the minute the team was officially not eligible for a bowl. So how many more games do we need to lose before we officially can't have a winning season??