Does culture matter anymore?

[Rekdiver]

You are not alone in your feelings WVA. However the culture of collegiate athletics has been irreparably damaged for us boomers. APP is collateral damage in the greedy hunt for notoriety.

[AtlAppMan]

For me, bottomline is the big college athletics (football, basketball, baseball and a few others) is a business and like any businesses, it exists in an ever changing market and to survive you have to adapt or die. The old saying in the technology field is you are either growing or going out of business. There is no status quo, same for college football. The difference now is that it is changing at lightning speed. In '70s and '80s it was slow moving, then it was the conference realignments, then came portal and NIL. There have always been haves and have nots but the divide is growing wider thus making it harder to find ways to mitigate from the have nots.

We are where we should be, no question, so let's stop second guessing that but we do have to figure out how to survive in this world. We should be able to compete with our G5 peers and at this moment we are not. That is due to recent circumstances but I think we have DLo and his staff that just need some time to make it happen. He had to build a staff and recruit in a short window when he started so we knew that at the time. It was the right decision even though we loved our previous guy but the facts were the facts, even at 40-24, we were on a downward trend.,

I don't like the pay for play (NIL), loose transfer rules, etc but like it or not, we have to live and survive in the world as it is, not as we want it to be. Let me go off and cry a little and I will be back with my big boy pants on.

[ASUFan4863]

I'll speak as a non-App grad but a fan since our daughter was accepted in 1998. We never missed a game until OldMan Time kicked us in the ass. This was the first pre-season since 1998 that I had no excitement about the upcoming football season. Personally I do not blame NIL or the portal because I still love college football - the Oregon-Penn St. - Bama-UGA - Miami-ND - UVA-Fla St and others were very exciting to watch. The atmosphere of going to Boone for a game, the drive up, the tailgate, the pregame, the game, the bands playing after the game, the ride back down listening to David and Steve Brown are all memories both myself and my wife will cherish. I even had 4 of my grade school buddies from as far away as Texas meet me in Boone for a couple of years - even crashed AppGrad78's tailgate - All told me how cool is was and went back to WVA, GA, TX and VA and told their friends about APP. I know I have read recently on here about gameday traditions, music played and other little things that made APP special. Since I have not personally attended any game for a few years I can't comment on that as it now exists or not. I do believe the firing of Coach Clark really caused me problems - a man who did give everything to APP St starting at age 18 or so hit hard. I did not know Coach at all, never even said hello to him but he was APP STATE - fired with a record of 40-24 not good enough for some.
My question is how do you guys/ladies who still are active and care - how do you bring things back - other than DJ we have no coaches who have any feelings toward APP ST. We had a connection from Coach Moore to Coach Satterfield (Drink) to Coach Clark that to me created and continued the APP Family feeling. Is that now gone forever?
I was hesitant to move from FCS and FireMoose spent many an hour discussing it with me and convinced me it was the right move - He was right as many of you were also. We are where we should be in the big picture but the odds of making a playoff even if it went to 24 are next to zero.
Some of you guys who really care please find something to soothe my concerns as I have found this season to truly be one of "going thru the motions" to one of overall sadness.

I am not trying to pick on you but after reading your post, I think your biggest problem is with change in general. I think we all suffer from that challenge a bit. I think accepting that you can’t change things back to how it was in the FCS and Coach Moore is the first step to enjoying the game again.

[Saint3333]

Do you believe the power schools and content providers need the G6? The answer to the questions likely informs where you think our place in CFB will ultimately land. I think the lower level P2 or P4 schools do need us and as things settle we'll be competitive with the rest of the G6 programs.

If I take out my crystal ball four years from now we will still be FBS, but there will be a G6 playoff of sorts along side the playoff system of today.

[Bootsy]

Change isn’t easy, right? Given all of the reasons shared above, a bumpy start to this season was highly likely.

OTOH, would we still be crying the blues about NIL and the overall state of college football if App would have had a stronger start?

[Yosef1986]

Yes - culture does matter. My question is how do we continue our culture in the new version of college football.

For me, I am waiting to see how this staff handles the off season. A good recruiting class and a few transfers to fill in could go a long way to maintain culture.

This season - will play out as time goes on. Most of the teams that have retained culture still recruit well. I am holding on to hope.

Hope that the culture can be salvaged.

[Bigdaddyg1]

Many schools seem to be able to maintain some level of culture and consistency- Miss State with those damn cowbells, Cameron Crazies, Penn State white out, SC with that stupid rag waving thing, etc. We seemed to move away from some things that for many of us made games special. I don’t know how many years we played Back in Black at the beginning of games and welcome to the Rock always seemed cool. Like some have said times change, the sports change and if you can’t control or prevent the change you either get on board or move on. Several coaches have decided to move on.

Even though we were “lowly” FCS those games were exciting and the playoffs were great. Even the National Championship games that many outside of our world didn’t even knew existed were special. I don’t agree that the move is backwards to FCS because, as was mentioned that division is not close to what it was. I think besides the Portal and NIL many simply fixated on the playoffs and opportunity for the NC that, face it, we really have no prayer to reach. It used to be a big deal to win the SOCON and then a big deal to win the Belt. The bar kept getting raised by the delusional segment of the App fan base now reality has bitten us in the tail. Those 11-1 seasons are going to be virtually impossible but we should be able to grab some 8-4 type years and decent bowl games.

[AppWyo]

The bottom line is this: everyone is afraid of being left behind in this new college football world.

Everyone is feeling as though if we are not in the right position to take advantage of what comes next, we will miss out on potential greatness.

Certain places have a certain type of energy. Think about how many holy sites there are in the world that multiple religions claim as their own. I believe that Boone, North Carolina is just such a place. Appalachian did not beat Michigan or Texas A&M by accident or come close to beating Penn State or Tennessee on a whim.

There is something special about Appalachian Football that will continue to be special. We are 2 and 2 and still have 8 games remaining. A lot of things can happen between now and the end of the season...

[bcoach]

Does culture matter any more? I don't know if we can answer this question without knowing this. What is our culture. What is it that we are wondering if it matters?

[CVAPP]

Does culture matter any more? I don't know if we can answer this question without knowing this. What is our culture. What is it that we are wondering if it matters?

That's easy, underdogs that became achievers. Walk-ons that were overlooked. Players we helped develop and reach their potential. Doing more with less. I could fill this page with names of our former players that fit that description.

We now field a team that represents what the coaching staff thinks is the best talent we can afford for the next season.

I am sure you could have answered your own question better than I did.

[bcoach]

Does culture matter any more? I don't know if we can answer this question without knowing this. What is our culture. What is it that we are wondering if it matters?

That's easy, underdogs that became achievers. Walk-ons that were overlooked. Players we helped develop and reach their potential. Doing more with less. I could fill this page with names of our former players that fit that description.

We now field a team that represents what the coaching staff thinks is the best talent we can afford for the next season.

I am sure you could have answered your own question better than I did.

I am looking for others perseption. Thanks for yours.

[Saint3333]

Our culture:

Self-reliance and resourcefulness

Appreciation for each other and the area

Supporting each other/team over self

Grounded in traditional family and often religious values

Pretty much the opposite of the direction of CFB today.

[Cro-Magnon App]

And add in the setting … the culture of a mountain town. Though much bigger and more crowded than when I was there and all roads leading in were two lanes, you can still leave the center of campus and within a very short time (maybe 15 minutes) be in an area where “few humans have ever trod.”