"TD_6082, post: 1888997, member: 510"]I don't think attendance matters all that much to schools located in the bigger pro-sport cities. But when your conference opponents take over your stadium and have you outnumbered each week, I think it really hurts.
It is a reality that has to be dealt with by Urban Universities. It still does not stop becoming Excellence with University Support that has and fines the Right People to win NCS. USC accomplishes it and that is going to an Urban Area where one wrong turn can make you a Statistic. Miami won NCS without On Campus Support. TCU does it with Coaches staying. Northwestern has Fitzgerald staying for next 10 Years. Georgia Tech same thing. Athletic Stability comes University Chancellor Support making it a priority of good judgments in finding and keeping the Right People that find the Coaches, Staffers, and has a Budget to maintain it. It takes Great University Athletic Management and that produces Winning National Championship!
These Universities could barely fill up one High School Stadium even if every Undergrad would come to ever game and bring a another Friend to Boot. At Stanford that would be 14,000 Fans in a 50,000 Stadium. This does not happen, most Fans are from other Schools when they play, but Stanford is a Top 25 Team anyway.
The Teams are still 22 Players, 85 Scholarships, and Good Coaching & University Support can produce Top 25 Winning with smaller 105 to 120 Rosters.
Now the Big Public School Programs have an advantages on making more money having bigger Rosters, Students, Fans, Boosters, and Attendance with bigger College Atmospheric but can still beaten on the GridIron and Pitt proved it in 1970s, Miami in 1980s, Northwestern 1990s, TCU 2000s, and Stanford today.
In all my years attending Pitt games, I can only remember one time where I thought the visitors had roughly the same number of fans in the stadium as Pitt. That was Ohio State back in 1995. Pitt probably had more fans, but it had to be close to 50/50 that day.
So what, Pitt with just 18,000 Students still can win like Clemson does even now that Clemson has sell outs in Death Valley? The game still has to be Coached and Played by Teams not one Fan Stand can win it?
Stanford still beat USC, GT beat UGA, Vandy beat UTenn, Duke Beat ND & UNC, Miami beat WVU, Pitt Beat PSU, NU beat Iowa, and TCU beat Texas, and many had losing seasons and showed they can be competitive and beat larger Programs.
At the same time Virginia Tech, Clemson, Iowa, MSU, Wisconsin, Oregon, and number of more grew and rebuilt their once Bottom Feeder Programs with Great People & Coaching in the 1990s and 2000s too. It can still be done at any Power 5 Schools and it is happening right now at Miami, Pitt, and NU too with proven prior Traditional Winning.
Vandy is a hopeless case. It's a small private school with no recent history or tradition.
Agree, they lack the Traditions of Big Winning and they prefer to call them Academic Scholarships not Athletic Scholarships, and why I say they are a better fit in the ACC. However, they are starting to see why Pitt with its relationship with the Steeler's can also provide additional advantages that attendance, facilities, and atmosphere on campus lack and use their NFL geographic locations as way to compete with larger UTenn and Memphis. It will always be a struggle but the Right People in Athletics can make them more competitive with SEC Money now, but that is the most Competitive Conference in CFB. Even Missy State, Ole Miss, Kentucky struggle too.
Their alums are scattered throughout the country, few remain in Nashville and not all of them are the type that give a crap about football.
Just like most Private Smaller Urban Schools where their entire 4 Year Student Body is less than a Freshmen Class at UTenn?
Its crazy to think, but most Pitt undergrads probably don't even have so much as a faint memory of Pitt Stadium.
Agree, but the Article itself is proof Pitt Football Program rebuilding has caught the attention of others Programs now flushed with Power Conference Money to Rebuild themselves in ways that take advantage of their locations is spite of lacking Attendance like bigger Public Schools.
The Big Ten Money is helping Purdue, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Maryland, and Rutgers Bottom Feeders rebuild too, but that is still hard to do too. It takes time and finding the Right People just like VT, Wisky, Stanford, NU, Oregon, MSU, TCU, and Iowa once did over Decade ago.
It can be done and it begins by asking questions, seeing how other Programs comparisons are doing it, then adapting and adopting similar plans.
Why I say, even at Pitt today, SO LITTLE DONE AND SO MUCH MORE TO DO!
But it can be done and is being done!
