Getting the UH students involved

[fuzzylogic]

Just thinking about why the low attendance at Aloha Stadium for UH home games. Any ideas how to get the student body more involved and excited to go to UH games?

Yes, yes, we know beat Florida and the stadium will be filled. But what else that is not so obvious.

I was reading what Florida is doing--below is just one thing they are doing. What can UH do?

Just out of curiosity, how many students buy season tickets? Does anyone know?

http://gainesvillesun.com/article/20080 ... 2/0/sports

Fast man (or woman) on campus
With ESPN's Game Day coming to town for the Orange and Blue Game (which will be televised live by the network), Meyer is developing a plan to get the student body involved in the spring game activities.

Over the course of the spring, the Gators will be holding tryouts on Thursdays to find the fastest student on campus. Whoever that turns out to be will have a chance to race against Harvin, Rainey and wide receivers Deonte Thompson and Louis Murphy in the 40-yard dash before the game.

"If they beat them, they go right on scholarship," joked Meyer.

Meyer said UF will have some other pre-game activities involving the students, including a touch football game in The Swamp and possibly giving some students an opportunity to catch passes from Tebow and field some punts from punter Chas Henry.

"We have the best student body, 27,000 strong for every home game," Meyer said. "I want to give back."

[krazychinaman]

i think since the student part of the stadium is hardly fill up...maybe they should give it away like the day before game day.... student or non student

[hilo65]

pep rallies would really help. I mean if I weren't a fan, I'd have no idea that the football team was playing each weekend. These other schools have rallies like this and gets the students primed and ready. Us UH students have to rally our own friends most of whom don't know a thing about the team. There's not even signs around campus about the upcoming game this weekend. nothing

[kinipopo]

Just thinking about why the low attendance at Aloha Stadium for UH home games. Any ideas how to get the student body more involved and excited to go to UH games?

Yes, yes, we know beat Florida and the stadium will be filled. But what else that is not so obvious.

I was reading what Florida is doing--below is just one thing they are doing. What can UH do?

Just out of curiosity, how many students buy season tickets? Does anyone know?

http://gainesvillesun.com/article/20080 ... 2/0/sports

Fast man (or woman) on campus
With ESPN's Game Day coming to town for the Orange and Blue Game (which will be televised live by the network), Meyer is developing a plan to get the student body involved in the spring game activities.

Over the course of the spring, the Gators will be holding tryouts on Thursdays to find the fastest student on campus. Whoever that turns out to be will have a chance to race against Harvin, Rainey and wide receivers Deonte Thompson and Louis Murphy in the 40-yard dash before the game.

"If they beat them, they go right on scholarship," joked Meyer.

Meyer said UF will have some other pre-game activities involving the students, including a touch football game in The Swamp and possibly giving some students an opportunity to catch passes from Tebow and field some punts from punter Chas Henry.

"We have the best student body, 27,000 strong for every home game," Meyer said. "I want to give back."

Since I was there in the early 90's, pep rallies were never heavily attended. Too many commuters who come and go through out the day, not too many captive audience members.

And although it would never happen, the only way to get the kids in the stands is to offer free booze, money, or extra credit.

[Warriors#1]

You ever walk by the student section on the outside after the 1st quarter. They are all out there smoking drinking and socializing. They could care less about the game it seems a lot of them. I understand thats how it is when u are a college student but if they stayed in the stands there section would fill up some.

[HipHopHI]

I'm not sure i know what you guys are talking about. I'm a student but i'm a pretty chronic procrastinator. I usually wait till the week of the game to buy my tickets, and when i do, i always get seats in the red/yellow (my student tickets for the BSU game was the very top row). Plenty students attend...but i think sometimes seats are empty because people go around and socialize. Football is awesome...but it's ten times better when you can cheer with your friends. Sometimes its hard to plan so in advance so that everyone can sit together. I mean you wouldn't go to a bar to football by yourself would you? Or at least i wouldn't...

Student attendance won't be a problem next season. There's a lot of talk, even know. And besides, we don't even have 27,000 students at UHM...our number is closer to 20,000. In fact, i think i remember reading around the time of the N. Illinois University shootings that the two schools have a comparable student body in terms of size. And i don't think anyone would say NIU is a "big" school. Florida, the school in the article, in comaprision, has an enrollment over over 50,000. I suppose 27,000 is more than half of their total enrollment so maybe UH should shoot for 10,000?

[bob]

I'm not sure i know what you guys are talking about. I'm a student but i'm a pretty chronic procrastinator. I usually wait till the week of the game to buy my tickets, and when i do, i always get seats in the red/yellow (my student tickets for the BSU game was the very top row). Plenty students attend...but i think sometimes seats are empty because people go around and socialize. Football is awesome...but it's ten times better when you can cheer with your friends. Sometimes its hard to plan so in advance so that everyone can sit together. I mean you wouldn't go to a bar to football by yourself would you? Or at least i wouldn't...

Student attendance won't be a problem next season. There's a lot of talk, even know. And besides, we don't even have 27,000 students at UHM...our number is closer to 20,000. In fact, i think i remember reading around the time of the N. Illinois University shootings that the two schools have a comparable student body in terms of size. And i don't think anyone would say NIU is a "big" school. Florida, the school in the article, in comaprision, has an enrollment over over 50,000. I suppose 27,000 is more than half of their total enrollment so maybe UH should shoot for 10,000?

Good post. I bought student season tickets last year (above the band) and the sections were pretty much always packed well, with the exception of the two 1AA games. UH and the administration have made moves towards getting the students more involved in recent years, they now bus groups of students over. That's a start. I tend to think it's a systemic thing, though. UH is a commuter campus, which I'm sure has an impact on how students identify with it. And as HipHopHI brought up UHM isn't a huge campus, either.

[wainaku]

re: pep rallies....perhaps now is the time to do it again as there has been a lot more interest since the success las season....have it at lunch time when most students are stil around and perhaps have evening events around the dorms.......gotta get the players and coaches to allow students to get to meet them and know them...people are more apt to go to a game if they personally know someone and more so if the "like" that someone.......if I were a student, and met a football player and got to know him a little and thought he was a cool/nice guy and he asked me to come out and watch/support the team and bring my friends, I would more likely to do so.

[travo66]

Good idea wainaku. I was really disappointed that there wasn't a pep rally last year. 2 years ago there was a homecoming pep rally, which I've talked about many times on this board, but in short, only about 12 students showed up, seriously. Now, I'm sure way more wouldn't came this year, but with such dismal attendance the last time, I expected them not to have one this past season. I would assume with the success of last season there will be one this coming season. However, if we have a losing record by then (which I'm sure we won't) students won't come and it will be a repeat of history.

Also, please don't give away the student tickets. There are enough people down there as it is because of people sneaking their friends down. I sat in the first row for the past two seasons. In the beginning of the seasons, it was great, we all had our seats and could be there comfortably. Towards the end (when all the bandwagoners jumped on) people would be in our seats before we got there. I wouldn't mind if they moved, but these people were extremely rude and would not get out of our seats (or standing area). (Now, I don't want to mention any names, but I'd appreciate it if Coach Trap got his boys in line next time.)

[warriorfan808]

Here is how I think they can get more kids in the stands:

Start doing pep rallies at the community colleges as well. LCC would be a good place to start because they are closest to the stadium. Lets also not forget that UH West is in the area as well.

Make tickets purchasable for students through WebCT. Having it only at the Flag Campus and I think 1 other campus is just wrong. Back when I went to HCC, I had to drive all the way to UH to buy student tickets. They should have them available at all schools and through WebCT.

I think just doing those two things would fill the student section up. We have a lot more local kids at the community college and we shouldnt' exclude them.

[WheresTheGreen]

I'm not sure i know what you guys are talking about. I'm a student but i'm a pretty chronic procrastinator. I usually wait till the week of the game to buy my tickets, and when i do, i always get seats in the red/yellow (my student tickets for the BSU game was the very top row). Plenty students attend...but i think sometimes seats are empty because people go around and socialize. Football is awesome...but it's ten times better when you can cheer with your friends. Sometimes its hard to plan so in advance so that everyone can sit together. I mean you wouldn't go to a bar to football by yourself would you? Or at least i wouldn't...

For the size of our school and for the stadium not being on campus, I think we have a great turnout of students. I am a student and can tell you that there is awlays excitement when the team plays. This year and last you could always feel the excitement on campus. There is nothing wrong with the student section. The reason why it isn't always filled up right away in the first quarter is because everyone is still outside tailgating and getting wasted.

Also, don't dare talk about giving away the student section tickets to other non-students. We are the students and it is our spot. Also, it just kills the atmosphere whenever someone brings in their whole family and sits right in the middle of the UH student section. Also, there are always some cranky old people who aren't students, and for who knows how, are seated in the student section. They complain and yell at students to sit down - what the hell? Get the %&* out of our section!

[Shinka]

Warriorfan, I think you are able to buy tickets at CC campuses now. I know the other year for Riley Wallace's last game, my friends and I decided to buy tickets at the last minute and I was able to rush down the street to WCC before their ticket office closed to pick up tickets; if WCC has it, I'd assume HCC, LCC and KCC have the same.

As far as attendance goes, it really is just about those of us who do go extending a hand to our friends that don't attend games. Bring them along and get them into the whole experience, tailgating and all. Maybe not all will stick, but a few will. Like someone said above, I'm sure there's lots of people that want to go but don't really have anyone to go with. If/when they get into it, then they start to do the same, and slowly the fan base builds. As your group grows, people not even initially interested in football will want to come out just because it's like one big party and everyone's having a good time. And guess what, when these students graduate, they're not going to stop coming out, they'll be there filling the rest of the stadium while new incoming students continue to add to the attendance.

I have a lot of family that enjoy the games but hate the parking situations, not to mention the cost of tickets. For students, there really is no excuse. $5/$7 per ticket, or something like $35 for the whole season?? I don't think there's ANYTHING out there for college kids that offers the amount of enjoyment football games do for that price.

[wainaku]

why not offer the other college students (Chaminade, BYUH, and HPU) some kind of discount....not as much as UH students but maybe something simular to the milatary.....even if they don't attend UH doesn't mean they cannont be UH football fans....I'm sure that most of them came from high schools that had football teams......

[Shinka]

why not offer the other college students (Chaminade, BYUH, and HPU) some kind of discount....not as much as UH students but maybe something simular to the milatary.....even if they don't attend UH doesn't mean they cannont be UH football fans....I'm sure that most of them came from high schools that had football teams......

I really like that idea....that definitely should be implemented. Who could that be recommended to?

[SundayJam]

Like HipHopHI said, you can't compare Florida to Hawaii. I doubt you'd find 27,000 full time students at any one time on campus at Manoa. What's the dorm capacity at Manoa...5,000?

The whole time I attended Manoa, I never saw a single football playah...much less a pep rally. Upper campus and lower campus are almost completely segregated.

If they could fill the stadium to capacity in the Tomey era...they should have NO PROBLEM doing so now. I'm guessing it is a lack of effort on the schools part. Hopefully, things will change with a new Athletic Director.