Stated goals

[bigdaddyg]

It’s probably more coach speak than anything but I’m pretty sure I recall Satt, Drink and Clark utter the same “stated goals” for their teams at App- win the Sunbelt Championship and our bowl game”. For the older guys in particular remember back (not that long ago) when it was a big deal and source of pride for App to win the Southern Conference Championship? We ran off a nice string of those bad boys. Then the ante got upped when we started winning the FCS title. Conference championships were nice and expected but not as big a deal. Then we moved on and we shared the Sunbelt- not too shabby for an upstart FBS program! Then we won our first bowl game and then a couple of actual title games! Now it’s pretty much expected. THEN the goal by many shifted to the NY6 Bowl! Went out the window one really cold night last year. That kind of tough “stated goal” by several hard ass App fans carried over to this year. That also died last Saturday. Now the stated goal of our coach sounds like a consolation prize by many folks here. When did winning a conference championship become such a lesser prize? If you think about the 130 FBS schools competing how many never even sniff a conference title? More than half I would estimate. I’m as disappointed as the next guy after last Saturday but the delusional side of me snapped back into reality. We have a ridiculously awesome program here and our achievements in the past 20+ years are incomparable. Let’s move on, whip Campbell and get us another conference championship and bowl win!

[9Steelman]

Amen brother!!!!

[EastHallApp]

Conference championships became a consolation prize when college football stopped being a regional sport, I don't know, 40 years ago? They do carry more weight in the P5s because they come with an automatic NY6 bid at a minimum. But even the "Granddaddy of Them All" Rose Bowl is a consolation prize if it's not part of the playoff.

Is it unfair to deem a season "NY6 or bust"? Absolutely. But it's not "delusional" right now for this program to shoot for the NY6. Even though we narrowly missed that goal last year, we still finished in the top 20, which comes with far more national notoriety than winning the Sun Belt title.

Hopefully we can regroup and have a similar season this year.

ETA: To be clear, I consider most of our FBS seasons to be unqualified successes (including 2015, even though we didn't win the SBC title). I think of the NY6 as a "stretch goal." The only time I felt like the league title was a consolation prize was 2017 (I remember people getting mad at me for using that exact phrase at the time), which was pretty clearly a disappointing season most of the way that we redeemed by hitting our stride late.

[ah59396]

Winning the SBC should always be the goal and getting the NY6 should always be ancillary. I’m not saying that because I don’t want it, but I think it’s a rational approach.

To get NY6 requires perfection and frankly things need to happen outside our control. We always control winning the SBC. Additionally, if NY6 is the stated goal, then our whole season is now derailed.

Yes it absolutely blows ass that we aren’t going to take advantage of the opportunity, but we can’t do anything about it now. I think it’s incredibly smart of the coaches to keep our goals in front of us.

[MAD Doctor]

[yosef69]

So what, exactly is Clark supposed to stay there to keep us and the team interested? We have nothing to play for? Use some context. Goals are fluid

[ArmantiWaterSafety]

I'm still in the mindset that even if we were undefeated, we wouldn't have gotten an NY6 bid due to playing exactly 0 "P5's" that the pollsters care so much about. Pretty sure we would have lost our ranking even with a win now that the Big10 is back. I think if we win out, we sneak into the #24 or #23 spot well behind a slew of AAC teams.

[pop5app]

It’s probably more coach speak than anything but I’m pretty sure I recall Satt, Drink and Clark utter the same “stated goals” for their teams at App- win the Sunbelt Championship and our bowl game”. For the older guys in particular remember back (not that long ago) when it was a big deal and source of pride for App to win the Southern Conference Championship? We ran off a nice string of those bad boys. Then the ante got upped when we started winning the FCS title. Conference championships were nice and expected but not as big a deal. Then we moved on and we shared the Sunbelt- not too shabby for an upstart FBS program! Then we won our first bowl game and then a couple of actual title games! Now it’s pretty much expected. THEN the goal by many shifted to the NY6 Bowl! Went out the window one really cold night last year. That kind of tough “stated goal” by several hard ass App fans carried over to this year. That also died last Saturday. Now the stated goal of our coach sounds like a consolation prize by many folks here. When did winning a conference championship become such a lesser prize? If you think about the 130 FBS schools competing how many never even sniff a conference title? More than half I would estimate. I’m as disappointed as the next guy after last Saturday but the delusional side of me snapped back into reality. We have a ridiculously awesome program here and our achievements in the past 20+ years are incomparable. Let’s move on, whip Campbell and get us another conference championship and bowl win!

What you say is true! But, Winning a conference championship and or a bowl game IS a lesser prize. It will still pretty dang good.

[ASU3432Mi]

Beat the Camels! Badly!

[WataugaMan]

There is a slight possibility that if we win out we could face Marshall again in a bowl game.

[BambooRdApp]

I look at this from a different perspective maybe. Based upon the team's performance over the past few years, our expectations and goals should increase. I do not believe this is delusional to expect a NY6 bowl game based upon our resume of going undefeated if we were to achieve an undefeated season. In addition, I want the mindset to be that we will own the SBC so much so that we deserve a better G5 conference. I hope our coaching staff and players have same expectations. The mindset should be perfection every season. I want our program mindset and fans to have same expectations. If we do do not achieve this goal, we should be disappointed. When we do not build a resume for NY6, we move on and adapt to the lesser goals, rally around the team, and win SBC Championship. Quite frankly, I want our mindset with recruiting, off season preparation and actual season performance to be impressive enough for AAC to come calling. I realize our low population density and TV screens impact this to a certain degree. If we demonstrate excellence, we get more people watching from Charlotte and Raleigh, etc. My overall goal is that we do what we can to get to AAC. This is not all in our control, however do what we can from the resume perspective. I want the better competition , if in name only, week in and week out. As demonstrated, we elevated our talent in moving up to D1 over time. Overall, my goal is AAC and that has to begin with the coaching staff, players and fan base having these lofty expectations. I hope we never settle for less. Just my personal opinion.

[JMappfan5]

I look at this from a different perspective maybe. Based upon the team's performance over the past few years, our expectations and goals should increase. I do not believe this is delusional to expect a NY6 bowl game based upon our resume of going undefeated if we were to achieve an undefeated season. In addition, I want the mindset to be that we will own the SBC so much so that we deserve a better G5 conference. I hope our coaching staff and players have same expectations. The mindset should be perfection every season. I want our program mindset and fans to have same expectations. If we do do not achieve this goal, we should be disappointed. When we do not build a resume for NY6, we move on and adapt to the lesser goals, rally around the team, and win SBC Championship. Quite frankly, I want our mindset with recruiting, off season preparation and actual season performance to be impressive enough for AAC to come calling. I realize our low population density and TV screens impact this to a certain degree. If we demonstrate excellence, we get more people watching from Charlotte and Raleigh, etc. My overall goal is that we do what we can to get to AAC. This is not all in our control, however do what we can from the resume perspective. I want the better competition , if in name only, week in and week out. As demonstrated, we elevated our talent in moving up to D1 over time. Overall, my goal is AAC and that has to begin with the coaching staff, players and fan base having these lofty expectations. I hope we never settle for less. Just my personal opinion.

If we move to the AAC, folks on this Board will "jump off a cliff", when we have a few 8-4/9-3 seasons...LOL.

[bigdaddyg]

I look at this from a different perspective maybe. Based upon the team's performance over the past few years, our expectations and goals should increase. I do not believe this is delusional to expect a NY6 bowl game based upon our resume of going undefeated if we were to achieve an undefeated season. In addition, I want the mindset to be that we will own the SBC so much so that we deserve a better G5 conference. I hope our coaching staff and players have same expectations. The mindset should be perfection every season. I want our program mindset and fans to have same expectations. If we do do not achieve this goal, we should be disappointed. When we do not build a resume for NY6, we move on and adapt to the lesser goals, rally around the team, and win SBC Championship. Quite frankly, I want our mindset with recruiting, off season preparation and actual season performance to be impressive enough for AAC to come calling. I realize our low population density and TV screens impact this to a certain degree. If we demonstrate excellence, we get more people watching from Charlotte and Raleigh, etc. My overall goal is that we do what we can to get to AAC. This is not all in our control, however do what we can from the resume perspective. I want the better competition , if in name only, week in and week out. As demonstrated, we elevated our talent in moving up to D1 over time. Overall, my goal is AAC and that has to begin with the coaching staff, players and fan base having these lofty expectations. I hope we never settle for less. Just my personal opinion.

Very good comments and I don’t disagree but I labeled this topic Stated Goals for a reason. I’m sure that the ultimate goal for any coach especially App head coaches is to go unbeaten and win the CFP. They would also absolutely want to play in and win the NY6 bowl game as I’m certain each of them be it Satt, Drink and Clark are well aware of the fact that we could qualify. That being said they typically STATE that the goal is to win the conference and a bowl game. I don’t think that short sells the program nor does it lessen their drive to get the ultimate prizes. I just think that each of the coaches we have had the past 3 years believes that achieving those two immediate goals is fantastic. Us fans pin the loftier goals on the program and based on the gloom and doom post last Saturday many feel that the season is already lost.

[NashvilleNeer]

I look at this from a different perspective maybe. Based upon the team's performance over the past few years, our expectations and goals should increase. I do not believe this is delusional to expect a NY6 bowl game based upon our resume of going undefeated if we were to achieve an undefeated season. In addition, I want the mindset to be that we will own the SBC so much so that we deserve a better G5 conference. I hope our coaching staff and players have same expectations. The mindset should be perfection every season. I want our program mindset and fans to have same expectations. If we do do not achieve this goal, we should be disappointed. When we do not build a resume for NY6, we move on and adapt to the lesser goals, rally around the team, and win SBC Championship. Quite frankly, I want our mindset with recruiting, off season preparation and actual season performance to be impressive enough for AAC to come calling. I realize our low population density and TV screens impact this to a certain degree. If we demonstrate excellence, we get more people watching from Charlotte and Raleigh, etc. My overall goal is that we do what we can to get to AAC. This is not all in our control, however do what we can from the resume perspective. I want the better competition , if in name only, week in and week out. As demonstrated, we elevated our talent in moving up to D1 over time. Overall, my goal is AAC and that has to begin with the coaching staff, players and fan base having these lofty expectations. I hope we never settle for less. Just my personal opinion.

If we move to the AAC, folks on this Board will "jump off a cliff", when we have a few 8-4/9-3 seasons...LOL.

I would take a few 8-4 seasons if it meant we could get that TV contract money for the athletic department. That goes a long way.

[Neer86]

We might be a bit spoiled. We've had 3 great coaches in a row...think about that. Do you know how many schools would love to have one right now?

We hired a guy who will probably not leave this school for a bigger job, if he is offered one. That was a big part of the decision.

Our new coach is 2-1. He may only get 7 or 8 wins this year, and it's a shame we'd be disappointed with that (I admit I will), but let's give him time to learn and build his own program. I think he'll be fine. We may never get to a NY6 bowl, maybe we will, but we're still in much, much, much better shape than the majority of college football teams, including some P5 schools.

I believe we will continue our sustained success for a long time, even if there is a dip in the number of wins per season for a few years. If we go 10 more seasons with a winning record, that's a win in my book regardless of getting to a NY6 bowl.

[appst1992]

I seem to remember Doug Gillin saying last year that the goal of the program was to be a consistent top 25 ranked team, year in and year out. Personally, I think the reason there's contention among us on this board about the "stated goals", is that it is more than possible the Sunbelt conference champion wouldn't even finish the season in the top 25 rankings. And winning a bowl game, while awesome, truly is kind of a let down due to the bowl tie ins the Sunbelt has. I mean look at last year....we are 11-1, two P5 wins, win our conf championship game, top 25 ranking...and we play UAB in the NO Bowl. So, while winning the Sunbelt and winning a bowl game is logically the stated goal of the team, I think we as fans aspire to more than that, which is why we put so much stock in beating a P5, being ranked, etc.

[Appst86]

The coach has to say winning the Sun Belt is important but we all know the most important games last year were non-conf games- UNC and USC. All you have to do is look at the attendance of the Sun Belt championship game. We had more people in Columbia than we had at home for the SBC championship game.

[Yosefus]

NY6 hopefully we will get into one day. Even if we were to go undefeated we may not have got in with not having a P5 opponent. Who knows. Winning the Sunbelt and a bowl is still there to get. I was just remembering back to 2007 there were some losses along the way to the championship but they got there and put a whooping on Delaware.

[BambooRdApp]

The coach has to say winning the Sun Belt is important but we all know the most important games last year were non-conf games- UNC and USC. All you have to do is look at the attendance of the Sun Belt championship game. We had more people in Columbia than we had at home for the SBC championship game.

I agree on Sunbelt Championship. I have attended both games. I chalked poor attendance due weather, first year of championship and the date of it did not seem advertised during the year. In my opinion, 2019 attendance was atrocious with perfect weather. We were sitting 40-50 yard line middle to upper seating. There was enough distance between me and next fan for me to lay down on the bleachers and take a nap. The visitor side for App St fans would sit was even worse from our viewpoint.

[NewApp]

I look at this from a different perspective maybe. Based upon the team's performance over the past few years, our expectations and goals should increase. I do not believe this is delusional to expect a NY6 bowl game based upon our resume of going undefeated if we were to achieve an undefeated season. In addition, I want the mindset to be that we will own the SBC so much so that we deserve a better G5 conference. I hope our coaching staff and players have same expectations. The mindset should be perfection every season. I want our program mindset and fans to have same expectations. If we do do not achieve this goal, we should be disappointed. When we do not build a resume for NY6, we move on and adapt to the lesser goals, rally around the team, and win SBC Championship. Quite frankly, I want our mindset with recruiting, off season preparation and actual season performance to be impressive enough for AAC to come calling. I realize our low population density and TV screens impact this to a certain degree. If we demonstrate excellence, we get more people watching from Charlotte and Raleigh, etc. My overall goal is that we do what we can to get to AAC. This is not all in our control, however do what we can from the resume perspective. I want the better competition , if in name only, week in and week out. As demonstrated, we elevated our talent in moving up to D1 over time. Overall, my goal is AAC and that has to begin with the coaching staff, players and fan base having these lofty expectations. I hope we never settle for less. Just my personal opinion.

If we move to the AAC, folks on this Board will "jump off a cliff", when we have a few 8-4/9-3 seasons...LOL.

I would take a few 8-4 seasons if it meant we could get that TV contract money for the athletic department. That goes a long way.

What good is that TV contract money doing for ECU in the AAC?