2021 Expectations...

[Saint3333]

“Casual fans”, sure that’s an easy one. “Engaged fans” .I wish but no. Not close. Participation in this forum costs nothing. I don’t see 60,000 users .A couple of thousand I suppose. Nowhere close to 60k. YOSEF Club members , what three thousand ? Four or five thousand? Doubt it.

No. Casual fans are people who don't really keep up with the team. Message boards are no quality indicator of fan base size. Of my closest 20 App friends only 2 of us are on the cabin. You can't average 25k in football without 60k to 200k fans. Its not possible. You have at least 60k different people who attend App games....probably much more we you consider road games.


Now we don't have millions of fans like Alabama, UNC or Notre Dame. But we do have a good bit.

Now I will 100% conced the weakness of Yosef Club membership. But I believe that is for an entirely different reason than fans being engaged. Id be glad to share my 2 cents with anyone (based on my experience as a graduate within the last 10 years) but I don't believe the answer will be recepted well...

If we don’t talk about it how can we improve it?

Would love to hear what you and others believe is the issue with low Yosef Club membership and solutions to help.

[EastHallApp]

While I realize that all teams are in the same position as App with returning seniors and transfers, what I feel good about is the fact that the games we lost were not by much, and we have made a significant upgrade at the OC position. I hope this upgrade helps.

Having a healthy, Sutton, Hennigan and Virgil should be a tremendous factor in the offensive proficiency.

Look, I love the Ponce hire. I think the man is a great coach. But to say that he is a significant upgrade to what we had is a stretch. It may prove to be correct, over the long run, but to say hiring a guy who as zero experience being “the guy” is a significant upgrade over a guy that has vast experience has an OC? C’mon.

We may go 14-1 this year. We may go 8-5. Who knows. But I can tell you in an apples to apples comparison, the FP and TP weren’t playing with the same deck.

If I’m guessing, I think he’ll be at least a bit of an upgrade. And I don’t think number of years of experience is a particularly good measure of how good a coach is. There are plenty of journeyman coaches who bounce around from job to job for 20-30 years. Doesn’t mean they give you a competitive advantage. Otherwise Terry Bowden would be the best coach in the Sun Belt.

I also agree that - fingers crossed - Ponce will benefit from better health at WR and better depth behind the top group. However he won’t get the benefit of inheriting an all-conference QB like Peterson did.

[Tatedc]

“Casual fans”, sure that’s an easy one. “Engaged fans” .I wish but no. Not close. Participation in this forum costs nothing. I don’t see 60,000 users .A couple of thousand I suppose. Nowhere close to 60k. YOSEF Club members , what three thousand ? Four or five thousand? Doubt it.

No. Casual fans are people who don't really keep up with the team. Message boards are no quality indicator of fan base size. Of my closest 20 App friends only 2 of us are on the cabin. You can't average 25k in football without 60k to 200k fans. Its not possible. You have at least 60k different people who attend App games....probably much more we you consider road games.


Now we don't have millions of fans like Alabama, UNC or Notre Dame. But we do have a good bit.

Now I will 100% conced the weakness of Yosef Club membership. But I believe that is for an entirely different reason than fans being engaged. Id be glad to share my 2 cents with anyone (based on my experience as a graduate within the last 10 years) but I don't believe the answer will be recepted well...

If we don’t talk about it how can we improve it?

Would love to hear what you and others believe is the issue with low Yosef Club membership and solutions to help.

Well part of the problem is with the younger (my generation) people....the work ethic is weak...very few of my App grad friends (in our early 30s) have any money. So yosef club is out of the question. I would assume, due to when App State really began to grow, that most App fans are 40 and younger...so this is one issue.

The 2nd 'problem' being the types of degrees App specializes in. We are a teachers school....teachers don't make money. Not knocking it, but its a reality. Our fan base doesn't have the money that some other schools do. Now we could still do better...but in my opinion money is the problem with the fan base.

[AppStateNews]

While I realize that all teams are in the same position as App with returning seniors and transfers, what I feel good about is the fact that the games we lost were not by much, and we have made a significant upgrade at the OC position. I hope this upgrade helps.

Having a healthy, Sutton, Hennigan and Virgil should be a tremendous factor in the offensive proficiency.

Look, I love the Ponce hire. I think the man is a great coach. But to say that he is a significant upgrade to what we had is a stretch. It may prove to be correct, over the long run, but to say hiring a guy who as zero experience being “the guy” is a significant upgrade over a guy that has vast experience has an OC? C’mon.

We may go 14-1 this year. We may go 8-5. Who knows. But I can tell you in an apples to apples comparison, the FP and TP weren’t playing with the same deck.

But... he's been "the guy." He did the offensive game plan for Satt as soon as Ledford left. Even when Ledford was here, Ponce had a large part of the game plan. He was the "eyes in the sky" for Satt. Satt very rarely went against what Ponce called.

It is a very significant upgrade from Petersen with the offense we run. Petersen didn't know how to call our offense. He will tell you that.

And that’s fair. He didn’t have the benefit of the off season and fall camp to learn how to call it nor learn how to adjust. So if you are calling it an upgrade from a perspective of familiarity, sure. But the previous OC was handcuffed by situations that were out of his control. I for one, think he did a helluva job, given the circumstances. But I digress. We need to find some depth at TE that can block for our Offense to work effectively.

It's not even familiarity. It's ability to adjust that will be the main culprit.

You bring up the struggles of the TE blocking last year -- and you're right. But, it happened all season, so TP needed to call plays where TE blocking wasn't as essential. He didn't. He kept calling the same things that didn't work.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. That's what TP did.

I get the lack of preseason argument. But, game 1 looked the exact same as game 9 -- until others got involved with the play calling. He had an entire season to learn -- he didn't. End of story.

He even tried to change terminology mid season because he couldn't learn the terminology. Even though he touted he studied from the moment he was hired. Simply put, the guy just never understood it. Even 9 weeks into the season -- which is longer than a preseason camp would have been.

[Rekdiver]

“Casual fans”, sure that’s an easy one. “Engaged fans” .I wish but no. Not close. Participation in this forum costs nothing. I don’t see 60,000 users .A couple of thousand I suppose. Nowhere close to 60k. YOSEF Club members , what three thousand ? Four or five thousand? Doubt it.

No. Casual fans are people who don't really keep up with the team. Message boards are no quality indicator of fan base size. Of my closest 20 App friends only 2 of us are on the cabin. You can't average 25k in football without 60k to 200k fans. Its not possible. You have at least 60k different people who attend App games....probably much more we you consider road games.


Now we don't have millions of fans like Alabama, UNC or Notre Dame. But we do have a good bit.

Now I will 100% conced the weakness of Yosef Club membership. But I believe that is for an entirely different reason than fans being engaged. Id be glad to share my 2 cents with anyone (based on my experience as a graduate within the last 10 years) but I don't believe the answer will be recepted well...

If we don’t talk about it how can we improve it?

Would love to hear what you and others believe is the issue with low Yosef Club membership and solutions to help.

Well part of the problem is with the younger (my generation) people....the work ethic is weak...very few of my App grad friends (in our early 30s) have any money. So yosef club is out of the question. I would assume, due to when App State really began to grow, that most App fans are 40 and younger...so this is one issue.

The 2nd 'problem' being the types of degrees App specializes in. We are a teachers school....teachers don't make money. Not knocking it, but its a reality. Our fan base doesn't have the money that some other schools do. Now we could still do better...but in my opinion money is the problem with the fan base.

Get a jar. Put .50 cents in the jar a week. At the end of the year you will have $182.50. Take the 100 and pay a bill. Send the 82.50 to the Yosef Club.

or start the 3333 Club. Donate $33.33 every year to start. Everyone is capable of giving something and if it is shown appreciation it is even easier

[JohnnyBurrito]

“Casual fans”, sure that’s an easy one. “Engaged fans” .I wish but no. Not close. Participation in this forum costs nothing. I don’t see 60,000 users .A couple of thousand I suppose. Nowhere close to 60k. YOSEF Club members , what three thousand ? Four or five thousand? Doubt it.

No. Casual fans are people who don't really keep up with the team. Message boards are no quality indicator of fan base size. Of my closest 20 App friends only 2 of us are on the cabin. You can't average 25k in football without 60k to 200k fans. Its not possible. You have at least 60k different people who attend App games....probably much more we you consider road games.


Now we don't have millions of fans like Alabama, UNC or Notre Dame. But we do have a good bit.

Now I will 100% conced the weakness of Yosef Club membership. But I believe that is for an entirely different reason than fans being engaged. Id be glad to share my 2 cents with anyone (based on my experience as a graduate within the last 10 years) but I don't believe the answer will be recepted well...

If we don’t talk about it how can we improve it?

Would love to hear what you and others believe is the issue with low Yosef Club membership and solutions to help.

Well part of the problem is with the younger (my generation) people....the work ethic is weak...very few of my App grad friends (in our early 30s) have any money. So yosef club is out of the question. I would assume, due to when App State really began to grow, that most App fans are 40 and younger...so this is one issue.

The 2nd 'problem' being the types of degrees App specializes in. We are a teachers school....teachers don't make money. Not knocking it, but its a reality. Our fan base doesn't have the money that some other schools do. Now we could still do better...but in my opinion money is the problem with the fan base.

Get a jar. Put .50 cents in the jar a week. At the end of the year you will have $182.50. Take the 100 and pay a bill. Send the 82.50 to the Yosef Club.

or start the 3333 Club. Donate $33.33 every year to start. Everyone is capable of giving something and if it is shown appreciation it is even easier

*Per day. Per week = $26.00

[Rekdiver]

No. Casual fans are people who don't really keep up with the team. Message boards are no quality indicator of fan base size. Of my closest 20 App friends only 2 of us are on the cabin. You can't average 25k in football without 60k to 200k fans. Its not possible. You have at least 60k different people who attend App games....probably much more we you consider road games.


Now we don't have millions of fans like Alabama, UNC or Notre Dame. But we do have a good bit.

Now I will 100% conced the weakness of Yosef Club membership. But I believe that is for an entirely different reason than fans being engaged. Id be glad to share my 2 cents with anyone (based on my experience as a graduate within the last 10 years) but I don't believe the answer will be recepted well...

If we don’t talk about it how can we improve it?

Would love to hear what you and others believe is the issue with low Yosef Club membership and solutions to help.

Well part of the problem is with the younger (my generation) people....the work ethic is weak...very few of my App grad friends (in our early 30s) have any money. So yosef club is out of the question. I would assume, due to when App State really began to grow, that most App fans are 40 and younger...so this is one issue.

The 2nd 'problem' being the types of degrees App specializes in. We are a teachers school....teachers don't make money. Not knocking it, but its a reality. Our fan base doesn't have the money that some other schools do. Now we could still do better...but in my opinion money is the problem with the fan base.

Get a jar. Put .50 cents in the jar a week. At the end of the year you will have $182.50. Take the 100 and pay a bill. Send the 82.50 to the Yosef Club.

or start the 3333 Club. Donate $33.33 every year to start. Everyone is capable of giving something and if it is shown appreciation it is even easier

*Per day. Per week = $26.00

Thank you....I was a History major....

[NO.2]

“Casual fans”, sure that’s an easy one. “Engaged fans” .I wish but no. Not close. Participation in this forum costs nothing. I don’t see 60,000 users .A couple of thousand I suppose. Nowhere close to 60k. YOSEF Club members , what three thousand ? Four or five thousand? Doubt it.

No. Casual fans are people who don't really keep up with the team. Message boards are no quality indicator of fan base size. Of my closest 20 App friends only 2 of us are on the cabin. You can't average 25k in football without 60k to 200k fans. Its not possible. You have at least 60k different people who attend App games....probably much more we you consider road games.


Now we don't have millions of fans like Alabama, UNC or Notre Dame. But we do have a good bit.

Now I will 100% conced the weakness of Yosef Club membership. But I believe that is for an entirely different reason than fans being engaged. Id be glad to share my 2 cents with anyone (based on my experience as a graduate within the last 10 years) but I don't believe the answer will be recepted well...

If we don’t talk about it how can we improve it?

Would love to hear what you and others believe is the issue with low Yosef Club membership and solutions to help.

Well part of the problem is with the younger (my generation) people....the work ethic is weak...very few of my App grad friends (in our early 30s) have any money. So yosef club is out of the question. I would assume, due to when App State really began to grow, that most App fans are 40 and younger...so this is one issue.

The 2nd 'problem' being the types of degrees App specializes in. We are a teachers school....teachers don't make money. Not knocking it, but its a reality. Our fan base doesn't have the money that some other schools do. Now we could still do better...but in my opinion money is the problem with the fan base.

I don't necessarily disagree with your points, but it does seem like you have a misconception about how much it actually costs to join the Yosef Club. You don't need to drop $500 for "Athletic Director" status and an extra $220 for 50 yard line season tickets right away. The "Friends of Yosef" membership level starts at $50 for the year and that gets cut down to $25 if you're eligible for the Young Alumni bump. Clemson's IPTAY is one of the largest in the country and the name literally means I Pay Ten A Year. $10 wouldn't get you anything in terms of benefits, but at our level every dollar counts and it gets you started down the road to contribute more when you're able to.

You may already know all of this given that you're engaged enough to post on this board, but as others have said the Cabin only represents a tiny fraction of our fan base. Having 3,000-4,000 Yosef Club members when we have over 100,000 living alumni is an embarrassment and a lot of the blame falls on YC leadership and their lack of outreach to younger alumni. We need to be aggressive in letting alumni know that it doesn't take $1,000, $500, or even $250 to join. We need to let them know that they essentially get a 50% discount on membership level benefits if they are able to give in that $250-$500 range where the perks start to add up.

[ArmantiWaterSafety]

My expectations: 11-1 regular season with a decent shot at an NY6, I hope we go 12-0 but I don't expect it. My opinion may or may not change after seeing how the QB, whoever wins the job, performs in the win against ECU.

I expect we clean up some the mistakes. Now that Clark has a year of coaching under his belt, I expect him to come out with a more disciplined team. All of our losses last year could have been wins which was the most frustrating part of the whole season.

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

I expect an undefeated season including a NY6 bowl win. That is always my expectation. I also expect to road grade Georgia Southern.

[Deano]

I try to keep my expectations low so that in most instances I am pleasantly surprised. I have seen alot of people on this board say we should have an incredible year next year due to all the seniors coming back, maybe, I sure hope so, but many many teams are taking advantage of the free year and coming back also, and then you have those transfers who are looking to play right away, so we'll see.

I just want to be in the stands with 30k screaming fans.

[Saint3333]

My parents are retired teachers and rank near the top of Yosef members by priority points.

$1 and you’re a member of the Yosef Club, this isn’t some prestigious club that only allows $10,000 donors in.

[Gonzo]

Yeah I don't think the teacher excuse is playing a big role in our lack of boosters, per-capita. App produces loads of high paid business grads too. Plus, if you're like me and almost everyone else my age you don't do anything related to your undergraduate major. Millennials are the number one buying power in the world right now. We've been completely screwed over economically compared to previous generations, but we've finally arrived. UNC, NCSU, ECU et al strap a load of debt onto their graduates too.

Our problem is two-fold. We send more grads to rural NC than some of our peer schools in the State, so they are a little less well-off. Other than that I'm afraid it's a culture problem that can only be remedied by shaking things up with the Yosef staff. It's a good old boys club that does a great job retaining old money. We need to hire or contract with a real professional.

[AppSt94]

Here is the piece that I don’t get. We have had a rather rowdy, passionate student fan base for over a decade. Yet, that student fandom hasn’t materialized into new season ticket holders, Yosef Club members at a pace commiserate with at least a small percentage of that base.

[Stonewall]

It’s a matter of priorities.I don’t fault anyone for how they choose to spend their money. I do observe how they spend discretionary dollars and where there is a will ,there always seems to be a way. If App athletics is important they invest , at least something, if not , they don’t. The program changed that day in Ann Arbor. In some ways we took advantage of it , in others not so much.

[mike87]

My experience is that 20 somethings aren't philanthropic. They want security and value for their $. Yosef doesn't provide either. For the $50 donation Yosef should give a $60 retail value gift, and do it every year. Don't expect an immediate return from those low level donors. Once they are in and invested in the program the desire for higher ranking and being a part of the success will bring a higher yearly pledge, season tickets and other spending. But you have to grab them first and Yosef does a poor job of that. Like Gonzo said, the old boys club doesn't get it, and that's not a gender specific statement.

[PhillyApp]

I would also argue that it’s not intuitive from the website on how to join the Yosefs Club. From an outsider view, the website is trash. Not a single button says “Join Yosefs Club Now” in any way.

I know this just hits on the nature of our “good boys club,” as it feels you have to know someone high up to join, but it’s a glaring issue that could be fixed relatively easily.

[SpeedkingATL]

App does appear to be loaded for next season and so much is going to depend on the coaching and staying healthy at key positions. The Sunbelt is on the upswing and looking at the returning players and transfers into our rivals such as UL, CCU and GSU it will be the strongest year of competition yet. Both loses in the Belt were winnable games last year and I expect a lot of dogfights again this year and would be very surprised if any Belt team gets through undefeated. I just look forward to getting back in the stands with other App fans and giving these guys the support they deserve. It certainly could be a year to remember if everything falls correctly. I'm sure glad to see Coach Ponce running the offense!!

[EastHallApp]

I think the working-class nature of our alumni absolutely is a challenge to fundraising. We're not a teacher's college anymore, but we simply don't churn out the doctors, lawyers or Wall Street bros that are the sources of the really big donations.

Yes, you can join YC at any amount. But what are people getting for that donation? And before you say the joy of knowing you're helping pay for someone's scholarship, assume that if that's enough for someone then they're already a member. (I know there are concerns about YC outreach, and those may be legitimate. I'm talking about people who know how to join and choose not to.)

There is no scarcity of tickets for football, let alone any other sport. So joining the YC basically buys you a parking spot. But you have to buy season tickets to qualify for one.

The cost of season tickets IS going to be more than some folks are willing to pay. But I'd guess the bigger obstacle is time. Most graduates aren't staying near Boone; they're moving to Charlotte, the Triad, the Triangle, Atlanta, etc. With so many of our alumni at least two hours away, making the trip to Boone six times in three months simply isn't desirable or even realistic for most people, even if you ARE a football fan.

Gillin decided to try and drive people to season tickets by eliminating mini-season plans. If you typically come to, say 1-3 games per year, you have to choose between buying those season tickets and figuring out what to do with those extra games, or simply buying the single-game tickets you want. Which are you going to do? Buying the tickets only for the games you want, then finding a pay lot, is obviously going to be cheaper than buying season tickets AND a YC membership.

[NO.2]

I would also argue that it’s not intuitive from the website on how to join the Yosefs Club. From an outsider view, the website is trash. Not a single button says “Join Yosefs Club Now” in any way.

I know this just hits on the nature of our “good boys club,” as it feels you have to know someone high up to join, but it’s a glaring issue that could be fixed relatively easily.

It's just The Yosef Club. This ain't Chili's or Applebee's.