I'm gonna sit back, let the games play out, and hopefully can say: "told ya so" on Nov. 21st .........not predicting first place, but no way seventh, either.
It will be an interesting season. Any team can trip up along the way - and in this conference even 1 or 2 losses could be impossible to overcome. Our 2 key games are non conference U Mass on 9/25 at home and of course our showdown with Liberty on 11/20. These are must wins for any hope of ranking or playoff shot.
I'm gonna sit back, let the games play out, and hopefully can say: "told ya so" on Nov. 21st .........not predicting first place, but no way seventh, either.
I'd say VMI has a great shot at beating Presby, and it could go either way against Coastal, Gardner-Webb, and CSU. I just don't see VMI beating Stony Brook or LU.
As for Liberty, I fully expect us to be champions again, hopefully outright this time.
The defense could keep VMI in a lot of games this year...but I dont think VMI has enough weapons to get in a shootout if any of them get to that point with the change to the pro-style offense this year. The Roos could finish 5th but I dont think theyll get much higher than that
It was hot enough that he finally let go some assistants.
Truth be told the program has received some much needed facility upgrades so Bennett should be able to recruit a little better than he has the past few years since the glory days. The amount of talent he brought in to start that program was unbelievable. I think it took a few lean years for many Chants fans to recognize how fortunate they were during that run. But I firmly believe they are righting the ship and I wouldn't be surprised to see them in the top half of the conference this season.
bennett has no hot seat per se. the fact is his buyout is still over a million bux and the earliest we will be able to can him is in 2012. The admin has said some negative things but like i said we cant fire him because we cant afford it. the season ticket holder base has dropped more then 50% in the last few years and quite a few times i would say we barely had 3k in our stadium( even though official attedance was like 5k) when we use to be hitting almost 10k back in the day. The program is basically dead and i doubt this or next year will do anything to help us with the tough schedules. Its sad out program is already dreaming of its glory days and we havent even started our 8th season
but one thing to note. after 2006 when bennett got his big raise and 10 year extension with an insane buyout hes been under .500 and without a winning season. I would say fire the defensive coaches since they have been our biggest weak link but he has had his coaches since his D2 days so i doubt we see any "big" changes.
slyfox: yes we have had great talent in the past but the problem is the talent wasnt as good as most thought. as soon as our first senior class was out we went down hill, it seems when we started winning we started recruiting madonnas and not football players. we might be getting great recruits but they suck when they get here.
we might need to go back to targeting the same guys that came here for the love of football when we started and not the types of players we have been recruiting since our 3rd season
kirkblitz wrote:bennett has no hot seat per se. the fact is his buyout is still over a million bux and the earliest we will be able to can him is in 2012. The admin has said some negative things but like i said we cant fire him because we cant afford it. the season ticket holder base has dropped more then 50% in the last few years and quite a few times i would say we barely had 3k in our stadium( even though official attedance was like 5k) when we use to be hitting almost 10k back in the day. The program is basically dead and i doubt this or next year will do anything to help us with the tough schedules. Its sad out program is already dreaming of its glory days and we havent even started our 8th season
but one thing to note. after 2006 when bennett got his big raise and 10 year extension with an insane buyout hes been under .500 and without a winning season. I would say fire the defensive coaches since they have been our biggest weak link but he has had his coaches since his D2 days so i doubt we see any "big" changes.
slyfox: yes we have had great talent in the past but the problem is the talent wasnt as good as most thought. as soon as our first senior class was out we went down hill, it seems when we started winning we started recruiting madonnas and not football players. we might be getting great recruits but they suck when they get here.
we might need to go back to targeting the same guys that came here for the love of football when we started and not the types of players we have been recruiting since our 3rd season
Wow, that's sad. The only game I have been to at Coastal was the FU 06 game. You guys were piled up everywhere. on the bank, in the stands. lots of people lots of excitement. had the feel of a much bigger venue with some of the activities during time outs and such. I really hate to hear it.
kirkblitz wrote:bennett has no hot seat per se. the fact is his buyout is still over a million bux and the earliest we will be able to can him is in 2012. The admin has said some negative things but like i said we cant fire him because we cant afford it. the season ticket holder base has dropped more then 50% in the last few years and quite a few times i would say we barely had 3k in our stadium( even though official attedance was like 5k) when we use to be hitting almost 10k back in the day. The program is basically dead and i doubt this or next year will do anything to help us with the tough schedules. Its sad out program is already dreaming of its glory days and we havent even started our 8th season
but one thing to note. after 2006 when bennett got his big raise and 10 year extension with an insane buyout hes been under .500 and without a winning season. I would say fire the defensive coaches since they have been our biggest weak link but he has had his coaches since his D2 days so i doubt we see any "big" changes.
slyfox: yes we have had great talent in the past but the problem is the talent wasnt as good as most thought. as soon as our first senior class was out we went down hill, it seems when we started winning we started recruiting madonnas and not football players. we might be getting great recruits but they suck when they get here.
we might need to go back to targeting the same guys that came here for the love of football when we started and not the types of players we have been recruiting since our 3rd season
Wow, that's sad. The only game I have been to at Coastal was the FU 06 game. You guys were piled up everywhere. on the bank, in the stands. lots of people lots of excitement. had the feel of a much bigger venue with some of the activities during time outs and such. I really hate to hear it.
Yes it has gone downhill but not as bad as kirk makes it. Yes season ticket sales suck. The deadline for season tickets was supposed to be June 15 and here it is almost September and they are still advertising it strongly. I only made it to the Monmouth and NC A&T games last year and attendance was 90-95% at both of them. Around town I see more and more people supporting Coastal (car tags, car vinyls, shirts, porch flags, etc) when it used to always be Clemson and South Carolina.
As far as Bennett, love the guy, but its put up or shut up time and I don't think Hunter Yurachek will keep him too long if he dont start winning again.
I havent missed a game since i started going in 06 when i enrolled. The attendance is BAD
I remember i started out with a group of 8 tailgaters including myself when was a mix of alumni and students that would go to every game. were down to like 2. Its hard getting people to go to games when your team is poop ya know? This aint USC or Clemson with a 100 year fanbase, attendance will drop off even more if they dont pick it up.
I think another thinking hurting is when they arrested that student in the stands for cheering, i know quite a few times in our season ticket sections the old whiny yankees would complain about us standing and cheering the bring over the security people to threaten to toss us. Hopefully the new AD deals with that this year. They should just give out free stuff each game, that always brings the crowds
I originally heard the new stands in front of the adkins field house was supposed to be the new student section. It is officially the family zone. whats up with that? do you know if they ever plan to make it the student section?
No i think it will be the family zone only, their selling 4 tickets for 99 bux a season so i think they are hoping it feels up. Since the student section is right beside the band and behind the enemy team i doubt they will move it. Hopefully they'll allow walking from the main part over to the student section without leaving the steadium this year.
kirkblitz wrote:No i think it will be the family zone only, their selling 4 tickets for 99 bux a season so i think they are hoping it feels up. Since the student section is right beside the band and behind the enemy team i doubt they will move it. Hopefully they'll allow walking from the main part over to the student section without leaving the steadium this year.
do you know when the plans are to connect the new stands to the existing ones to complete the "horseshoe" look?
TSN's predictions look about right to me, but I also expects some surprise wins for the underdogs. Who will play the spoiler??? One guage I will use is the CSU game against Wofford. Those guys generally put a whooping on us, but my crystal ball predicts a different senerio this year. I think that we just might get our first win over them. We play very well at home. The Big South Champ is in the playoffs. What an exciting year. Lets play some football. Go BUCS!!!
OL FU wrote:I haven't kept up much since CCU's good seasons of 03-05, but what happened?
That was what caught my eye too. That said, I've noticed that several teams that were either new or moved up from DII had good initial starts in I-AA, then slid back... Samford, UC-D, NDSU, Coastal...
CSU has not shown they can get over the hump that has been Liberty over the years (havent won since 05 overall and havent beaten LU in Lynchburg since 2000 I think). the last two years the Bucs have lost to the Flames and then won out. I could see teh Bucs possibly finishing second (I think I had them fifth in my prediction discussion earlier this summer) but the championship is gonna have to go through the mountain
Im just ready for somebody to dethrone Liberty. Im gonna root against them all year, except for there OOC games. If they win the Big South, i'll be pulling for them in the playoffs.
.........not predicting first place, but no way seventh, either. 
