Tunnel Walk of Shame Speaks Out

Chaddyboxer said:
I am I said:
pyrotecnics don't win games

songs between quarters don't win games

cool uniforms don't win games

an awesome website doesn't win games

a rowdy tunnel walk doesn't win games

runza commercials on 4 screens during a timeout on 4th & 1 don't win games

you know what wins games? great players being coached to get the most out of their great ability.

how do you get some great players?

by having a cool website

by making the gameday atmosphere rowdy and fun

updating and keeping things fresh and with good energy

Bo has had some good players and many of those players are making millions in the NFL. He knows what to do with talent and how to get the ability out of his players.

but i agree, our "atmosphere" is pretty lame. I have a friend going to the NW game this weekend and he is a big chiefs fan, goes to games there all the time. I'm kinda apprehensive of what he's gonna think of 90k+ sitting on their hands.

We need some freshness in and around campus and the program. We need to be more dangerous, more risk taking. Just like on the field, it spills over. Why so serious???
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I am I......I don't really mind your posts.....

But aren't you contradicting yourself there a bit with what you posted above in your response?.......

NEB needs to invest money in other avenues of the program and take a hard look at how to bring top-notch recruits to NEB. There are many ways to go about doing it......some not legal, and other ways that take a bit of investing time and money.
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He's saying all of those things aren't directly related to winning. Having great players and great coaches is, however. In order to attract great players, we need to enhance those things. So in turn, he's supporting more creative and inventive ways of enhancing areas of the program that will attract young elite athletes to Nebraska.

 
When the author is describing what schools like Oregon have to offer in the way of a story, compared to Nebraska, it's very important to realize that this message was the vision of the current head coach. Bo wasn't hired and told "recruit with this message". He was told "you're hired, build your program". Because it needed building.

Oh and you know who had major roles in the re-branding and "upgrades" at Ohio St and Oregon, his two examples? The coaches.

I'm all for tweaking our image for the better, but we don't need to invent anything and God Forbid we continue to copy Oregon. It's gotten Oregon zero national titles and it's gotten Nebraska stupid looking jerseys that get made fun of.

 
No, Oregon has not won a National title, but they are damn close every year.

TWOS is right on as usual. Memorial stadium suiuld be a cathedral an opponent is terrified to play in first and a museum of past glories second.

We fired Frank, Bill and now we want Bo gone because none of them won us a National championship in three years. Dont sugarcoat it, thats the real reason. Forgige me if Im wrong but when was this a place you could come in and have huge success immidiately.

 
Minnesota handed out towels to everyone Saturday at the game. The crowd all yelled, "first down" when the announcer said, "that's another Minnesota". At first I thought it was lame, but the more I saw the Minny crowd getting into it, I kind of liked it. They played modern music during the breaks and the people danced and had fun.

After going to Husker games for 40+ years, I have to agree that maybe we as a crowd need to do more. I know when I played ball, regardless what some people say, you do hear the crowd and wanted to play harder for them as well as the team, I've never been a big fan of change, tradition wise, but here are a some changes crowd wise that could help.

I'm willing to do my part.

 
HuskerShark said:
Chaddyboxer said:
I am I said:
pyrotecnics don't win games

songs between quarters don't win games

cool uniforms don't win games

an awesome website doesn't win games

a rowdy tunnel walk doesn't win games

runza commercials on 4 screens during a timeout on 4th & 1 don't win games

you know what wins games? great players being coached to get the most out of their great ability.

how do you get some great players?

by having a cool website

by making the gameday atmosphere rowdy and fun

updating and keeping things fresh and with good energy

Bo has had some good players and many of those players are making millions in the NFL. He knows what to do with talent and how to get the ability out of his players.

but i agree, our "atmosphere" is pretty lame. I have a friend going to the NW game this weekend and he is a big chiefs fan, goes to games there all the time. I'm kinda apprehensive of what he's gonna think of 90k+ sitting on their hands.

We need some freshness in and around campus and the program. We need to be more dangerous, more risk taking. Just like on the field, it spills over. Why so serious???
Click to expand...
I am I......I don't really mind your posts.....

But aren't you contradicting yourself there a bit with what you posted above in your response?.......

NEB needs to invest money in other avenues of the program and take a hard look at how to bring top-notch recruits to NEB. There are many ways to go about doing it......some not legal, and other ways that take a bit of investing time and money.
Click to expand...
He's saying all of those things aren't directly related to winning. Having great players and great coaches is, however. In order to attract great players, we need to enhance those things. So in turn, he's supporting more creative and inventive ways of enhancing areas of the program that will attract young elite athletes to Nebraska.
Click to expand...
I understand that......

But those things directly or indirectly bring about success of bringing in top-notch recruits. Seemed a bit off to me because one can lead to the other so-to-speak.

 
Another thing that is worth looking at is the AggieFBLife twitter and youtube. It's social media genius. This article is ALL about recruiting, which is the lifeblood of college athletics. You get the right players in and the right coaches to coach them up (without coaching, you're looking at Texas).

Check this out: Oregon's program recruiting? Usually around #20. Get the 17 year olds FIRED UP and want to come to NEbraska.

I liked "I am I"s post. Made a great post.

 
This is what happens when an Athletic Department thinks its target market is the 60 year old bluehairs it needs to sell tickets to at high prices to finance the Department and either forgets about or doesn't care about appealing to the 17 year old kids that we need to actually take the field and play the sports.

The conflict there is demonstrated by the ridiculous reaction of a big segment of the fan base anytime anything changes. Remember how many of the fans, especially the older ones, reacted to the news we would be using black uniforms for a game? But what percentage of the kids we're trying to get to come to Nebraska and play football look at "cool" uniforms as a factor? So while the "traditionalists" are gnashing their teeth and rending their garments in outrage about how we've abandoned tradition and sold out, they're completely ignoring the fact that the kids love stuff like that.

Our Tunnel Walk is lame. I get that the traditionalists love it. But from the perspective of 17 year old kids it's lame. The music is lame and tired. It's played out. And the whole game day experience could use a refresh as well.

 
tfree32 said:
This is what happens when an Athletic Department thinks its target market is the 60 year old bluehairs it needs to sell tickets to at high prices to finance the Department and either forgets about or doesn't care about appealing to the 17 year old kids that we need to actually take the field and play the sports.
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Bingo. Everything about the in-game experience is more appealing to that age group (60+).

 
I think the main point about branding is spot on, and something many of us have considered in the past couple years.

Having said that, it's ironic that he drills in the point about a coaching change not fixing the underlying issues, only to include this in regards to Ohio State's rebranding effort:

"They started with the all-important centerpiece in Urban Meyer, a coach who honed his media relations skills during a stint as a broadcaster between coaching jobs."

The other points were mostly mundane or overthought. The Twitter comment, for example. Nebraska has (rough estimate) 5 million fans worldwide. Assume 98.64% of those fans have internet access. If you honestly believe you can avoid a few hundred people being dumb on Twitter, out of a sample size that large, you are naive. Take a sample that large of any group in any area of life and you will find at least that many ridiculous ones if not a lot more. To follow with the conclusion that we as fans act like dicks and "accept SO LITTLE from ourselves" is ridiculous. Additionally, I think the trend of calling Husker fans "entitled" is confused. Having high standards and expectations is not the same thing as feeling entitled to something.

But yeah, the branding.

 
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There were some good points brought up in that article. There is no question that certain changes do need to happen to "put a fresh new polish" if you will on the Nebraska brand.

Do we have to be exactly like Oregon? God no! Sometimes lately I think Nebraska fans have gotten a little too hung up on how Oregon is doing this, and Oregon is doing that. We can certainly gain ideas & perspective of how they are branding their program, but at the same time we certainly do not have to be exactly like them.

Two things that I personally think would vastly improve the in-game experience inside Memorial Stadium:

  1. Move the student section.
  2. Upgrade the stadium's sound system.

 
I think you hire a professional staff with experience appealing to the demographic we're after and creating a great game day experience. I think grabbing a couple of people from the WWE would be a smart move. They know how to appeal to precisely the people we need to appeal to. The focus can still be on tradition, but with an emphasis on making the tradition cool, relevant and exciting. It's time for a fairly radical shakeup and a new approach.

 
The WWE video editing staff could make Funaki vs Scotty 2 Hotty look like Macho Man vs Steamboat.

Those of you who get that reference likely now know my first love as it pertains to sports.

TOp notch video team, hell yes bring em on.

 
Good read, I liked a lot of the points, but you can basically attribute a lot them to the head coach imo. If Bo walked in, first day on the job, and said the tunnel walk sucks, we need this, this, and that.....don't you think that they would make it happen? maybe i'm wrong, but as a H.C. in TODAY's game, i think you have to own some of it.

 
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