Board participants typically fall into one of these two camps:
Old timers love Bower ball. He did well when he was here but name one SEC team he beat with a winning record........go ahead I will wait.......
Bower was 2-8-1 in year 3 with an experienced D(Bobby Hamilton, Carter, Nix) and O with a third year qb and talent left over from Curleys days like Montgomery. He lost to one of the worst Tulane teams in history........at home. I was at USM for Bower years 2-4 and I know first hand how pathetic attendance was.....much worse than today. My first game was at home against Memphis in 92, you know, the Black and Blue game against a traditional opponent we miss so badly? Lomoro kicked the winner and we prevailed 16-13........maybe 14K attendance......maybe. Outside of Pitt in 93 because of ESPN, we have more in the stands today than we did in Bower Y2/Y3 by far.
Fedora......How everyone, I mean everyone forgets how they wanted him and Anderson gone after the bed wetting at USC in Y3. What SEC or Power 5 team with a winning record did Fed beat in his first three seasons? Go ahead, I'll wait.......
Fed had an experienced team that finally came together and won eight games in Y3 but lost to one of the worst UAB teams in history in year 3 ......at home......not to mention how he wet the bed in Y4 against UAB. Hop won 8 games in Y2 with far less talent and fan support. But, but....... the 8 wins Fed had were against much better teams......guess what? 8 wins for LFed got you a bowl game against Loserville in a baseball dome. 8 wins for Hop got you Indy Bowl against FSU. I guess that competition doesn't really matter now, does it......
So now you have Hop. First game out of the gate with a new staff puts together a great second half and beats a winning record SEC opponent by 9......on the road. In Y2 he wins 8 and we have one of our best bowl invites since the last Liberty. He did it with the absolutely no fan support. We did it with essentially one star player. Now, in Y3, you can see the talent that defines Hop AND DAWSON as great recruiters. Jack is far ahead of Mullens and Davis with his stats after 5 games. We probably have the youngest starting team in our history on the field and you can see Quez, Jaylond, Moseley, etc... not letting inexperience define their potential.
The common answer......we shouldn't be losing to North Texas. We shouldn't be losing to ULM. Sure, but this isn't the first time we have lost to programs we have no business losing to under better coaches, right? Curley had no business losing to SW La at home after beating #6 FSU on the road......Bower had no business losing to Northern Illinois in 92. Fedora had no business losing to UTEP at home or to Middle Tenn St. But, but, Charlotte at home.....or ODU.....Ok, then Monken had no business losing to Texas St or FIU or even UTSA in Y2.....
You have the lowest budget in CUSA and the FBS. You don't show up because you remember the days of better opponents at The Rock and its beneath your time and money to go watch this team. You deserve the AAC and not this conference. I guess by that logic I shouldnt have sat in the stands for home games against Ark St, Alcorn St, Southern, Tulsa, Samford, Utah St, etc......
If you are honest look at our history and see that nothing has changed with our program. We are still poor and we still believe we are worthy of so much better......but this is who we are. Hop is the guy right now just like Bower was the guy in Y3 and Fed was the guy in Y3. You wanted each of those guys gone just like you want Hop gone. He deserves our support with this team. Hell this young and talented team deserve it regardless of who they line up against. UNT is the most talented team we will face this season. They are having a special season for the books in Denton. We were in that game with essentially a freshman squad thru 3 quarters. We gave away 10 points on our first two drives deep into UNT territory in the third. Young teams need to learn to finish. Thats what you should expect from this team just like Monkens teams in Y2.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. That should be our motto......