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With all of the talk last week about players still not being bought in and a failure to establish the culture SF needs to win, this weekend i started wondering if some of that failure is on the fans not being bought in. How taxing can it be on the players (coaches not so much, they know how this works) to hear all the negative from the fans. Some have said they are deleting or unfollowing social media. Many players have been through coaching changes (head or position) multiple times and now they hear, read, see talk of "SF just can't get it done", etc.

Maybe the UCF experience was a fool's gold and made everyone expect 13-0 or 11-2 would be easy. Rebuilding in college football is not easy, no matter the name on the uniform. Ask FSU (4-5, fired the new coach), Miami 5-4, Michigan St. 4-4, USC 5-4, Stanford 4-4, Texas 5-3, UCLA 4-5, Tennessee 4-5, Washington 5-4 just to name a few who haven't been to the depths NU has been for rebuilding, but are struggling. What about a B1G West winner from last year having ONE win this year??

CFB is a hard game and P5 football is really hard, regardless of what your "history" is. All Husker fans need to buy in to the depth of this challenge and understand there is only one way for NU to get back to any where near the success as fans want. It is going to take time.

Also, all the venting of "fans" who expect (demand?) more due to the coaches being highly paid, or "knowing what they signed up for", or a couple dozen other things i often read on the forums really, in the long run mean very little. Regardless of what these people (myself included) say about the program, the future success or failure will be determined by others. At best we can simply go along for the ride....and hopefully enjoy it as much as possible. If you get no joy out of Husker football (despite the frustration and sadness it may bring) it is probably best for our health to find other things which do give us happiness. At least until the "results" are a little more tolerable.
 
With all of the talk last week about players still not being bought in and a failure to establish the culture SF needs to win, this weekend i started wondering if some of that failure is on the fans not being bought in. How taxing can it be on the players (coaches not so much, they know how this works) to hear all the negative from the fans. Some have said they are deleting or unfollowing social media. Many players have been through coaching changes (head or position) multiple times and now they hear, read, see talk of "SF just can't get it done", etc.

Maybe the UCF experience was a fool's gold and made everyone expect 13-0 or 11-2 would be easy. Rebuilding in college football is not easy, no matter the name on the uniform. Ask FSU (4-5, fired the new coach), Miami 5-4, Michigan St. 4-4, USC 5-4, Stanford 4-4, Texas 5-3, UCLA 4-5, Tennessee 4-5, Washington 5-4 just to name a few who haven't been to the depths NU has been for rebuilding, but are struggling. What about a B1G West winner from last year having ONE win this year??

CFB is a hard game and P5 football is really hard, regardless of what your "history" is. All Husker fans need to buy in to the depth of this challenge and understand there is only one way for NU to get back to any where near the success as fans want. It is going to take time.

Also, all the venting of "fans" who expect (demand?) more due to the coaches being highly paid, or "knowing what they signed up for", or a couple dozen other things i often read on the forums really, in the long run mean very little. Regardless of what these people (myself included) say about the program, the future success or failure will be determined by others. At best we can simply go along for the ride....and hopefully enjoy it as much as possible. If you get no joy out of Husker football (despite the frustration and sadness it may bring) it is probably best for our health to find other things which do give us happiness. At least until the "results" are a little more tolerable.
Yet Memorial stadium is still full every single week. How many Nebraska fans made the trip to Colorado and paid way more then face value to take over their stadium. The fans are doing way more good then most other college team fans would be doing in the same circumstances. Still getting 90k+ to games even though we haven't been a serious contender for a conference championship or a top 15 finish in how long? This team has gotten way more support then they have earned in the past 5 years and it isn't even close. The fans have been bought into this program for a long long time as they show every single Saturday.
 



With all of the talk last week about players still not being bought in and a failure to establish the culture SF needs to win, this weekend i started wondering if some of that failure is on the fans not being bought in. How taxing can it be on the players (coaches not so much, they know how this works) to hear all the negative from the fans. Some have said they are deleting or unfollowing social media. Many players have been through coaching changes (head or position) multiple times and now they hear, read, see talk of "SF just can't get it done", etc.

Maybe the UCF experience was a fool's gold and made everyone expect 13-0 or 11-2 would be easy. Rebuilding in college football is not easy, no matter the name on the uniform. Ask FSU (4-5, fired the new coach), Miami 5-4, Michigan St. 4-4, USC 5-4, Stanford 4-4, Texas 5-3, UCLA 4-5, Tennessee 4-5, Washington 5-4 just to name a few who haven't been to the depths NU has been for rebuilding, but are struggling. What about a B1G West winner from last year having ONE win this year??

CFB is a hard game and P5 football is really hard, regardless of what your "history" is. All Husker fans need to buy in to the depth of this challenge and understand there is only one way for NU to get back to any where near the success as fans want. It is going to take time.

Also, all the venting of "fans" who expect (demand?) more due to the coaches being highly paid, or "knowing what they signed up for", or a couple dozen other things i often read on the forums really, in the long run mean very little. Regardless of what these people (myself included) say about the program, the future success or failure will be determined by others. At best we can simply go along for the ride....and hopefully enjoy it as much as possible. If you get no joy out of Husker football (despite the frustration and sadness it may bring) it is probably best for our health to find other things which do give us happiness. At least until the "results" are a little more tolerable.
No No No No No No

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I usually agree with you. But it's not the fans or the pressure put on them by the fans.
 
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I disagree with the "bought in" story line. 90% of people want to succeed ... leadership needs to provide a vision, a path and motivation to achieve that success.

Not everyone is going to want to put in the effort to achieve that success but more often then not, the majority will ... if you give them a reason to do so!

We are two years plus into the SF regime ... there is no ... them and us ... anyone. These are all SF's guys. If he doesn't have enough guys in his locker room who want to win then he and his staff have failed to lead those guys.

Everyone of these kids on the roster including the walk-ons are extremely athletic kids with a competitive DNA as part of their nature ... you simply don't get to where they are by not being competitive, driven and motivated.
 
As crazy as it sounds, I think there's a bit of validity to the argument that the fans may be playing a crucial role in the bizarre slump of husker ball. What if our passion and knowledge were so intense that the healing of the culture could not go through the crucial stages towards resurgence? I know a lot of you more pragmatic types will eye roll and may have a pithy answer like "Jimmy's and Joes," and the like, but I'm willing to look towards an unconventional cause, and that lies with what's invisibly closest to the fan, and outside of the team itself--us. The intense expectations sap teams of hope, by the sheer scale of the climb towards pleasing these fans. I'm willing to consider this psychological origin.
 
I disagree with the "bought in" story line. 90% of people want to succeed ... leadership needs to provide a vision, a path and motivation to achieve that success.

Not everyone is going to want to put in the effort to achieve that success but more often then not, the majority will ... if you give them a reason to do so!

We are two years plus into the SF regime ... there is no ... them and us ... anyone. These are all SF's guys. If he doesn't have enough guys in his locker room who want to win then he and his staff have failed to lead those guys.

Everyone of these kids on the roster including the walk-ons are extremely athletic kids with a competitive DNA as part of their nature ... you simply don't get to where they are by not being competitive, driven and motivated.

OK, if the bolded is valid....which it may be....then the only answer is SF and staff are failing in their job. Thus, your solution is?
 



As crazy as it sounds, I think there's a bit of validity to the argument that the fans may be playing a crucial role in the bizarre slump of husker ball. What if our passion and knowledge were so intense that the healing of the culture could not go through the crucial stages towards resurgence? I know a lot of you more pragmatic types will eye roll and may have a pithy answer like "Jimmy's and Joes," and the like, but I'm willing to look towards an unconventional cause, and that lies with what's invisibly closest to the fan, and outside of the team itself--us. The intense expectations sap teams of hope, by the sheer scale of the climb towards pleasing these fans. I'm willing to consider this psychological origin.

You make a very valid point, and it is something I've often wondered. Would Nebraska Football get better without all the fan support? If the sell out streak ended, would it be that big of a deal in the long term? Maybe that is what is needed?
 
Yet Memorial stadium is still full every single week. How many Nebraska fans made the trip to Colorado and paid way more then face value to take over their stadium. The fans are doing way more good then most other college team fans would be doing in the same circumstances. Still getting 90k+ to games even though we haven't been a serious contender for a conference championship or a top 15 finish in how long? This team has gotten way more support then they have earned in the past 5 years and it isn't even close. The fans have been bought into this program for a long long time as they show every single Saturday.

Good point....so now in year 2 of a complete rebuild the historical buy in of the fans is really not relevant. I'm asking more about how many are bought in NOW? For the next 5 years with SF? To the new culture, style and philosophies of the new staff? It sure seems that many are already questioning whether SF is capable and should be kept, which is exactly how NU arrived where it is.
 



Good point....so now in year 2 of a complete rebuild the historical buy in of the fans is really not relevant. I'm asking more about how many are bought in NOW? For the next 5 years with SF? To the new culture, style and philosophies of the new staff? It sure seems that many are already questioning whether SF is capable and should be kept, which is exactly how NU arrived where it is.
I think that last year especially after the last 6 games there was a total buy in. I would also say that this year before the season started the buy in was close to 100%. The husker fans that showed up in Boulder and the excitement in the program at that time was totally bought in. The full stadiums for every home game certainly show buy in. The stadium staying full till the very end of the Ohio State butt kicking is further evidence of fan buy in.

Even through all this total buy in by the fans the team seems to be regressing every single week. Our coaches are still talking about players not bought in and I as a fan would think by this time no matter how much it hurts you if there is no buy in from a kid he should no longer be on the roster, yet alone playing every Saturday. To ask fans to be 100% "bought in" watching this product when kids in the program aren't according to the head coach and some players is certainly a lot to ask. I still think Scott Frost is the candidate most likely to bring us out of this but I am starting to wonder if it can be done at all. I keep thinking we have hit rock bottom to only feel like we are even worse the next Saturday.

I live 2 hours from Lincoln. It would be hard for me to go to a game and not have it take my entire Saturday and the cost to take my family and do a game day the way I have done it in the past would cost me around $1000. Call me a bad fan if you want but there is no way at this point in time I would do that to watch this and I don't think I am alone.
 
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OK....what is the root cause then? I could post a poll and maybe i should, but interested in your opinion.
I would definitely be interested in it. My point is, every school has pressure. Most blue blood schools have a rabid fanbase. Why are so many successful? Again, I agree with almost everything you post I just don't think out of all the variables in play right now, that this is not at the top of the list. Just my opinion bud. :thumbsup:
 
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OK, if the bolded is valid....which it may be....then the only answer is SF and staff are failing in their job. Thus, your solution is?
IMO ... recognize the issue and address it ... his comment after the Indiana game - which he then apologized to his team shows that in my opinion.

I'm a hiring manager in my company - I am always looking to improve - how I coach, how I communicate, how I handle disagreements ... recognize weaknesses, make a concerted effort to improve and communicate.

I'm sure SF is doing that and BM is probably helping him!
 

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