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fan assumptions

Welcome to Ute Hub Forums Utah Utes Sports Football fan assumptions

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    • #229923
      6 3
      chinngiskhaan
      Participant

      I’ve been thinking about how much fans really know relative to all the information that could potentially be known. Here is what I’ve come up with.

      What fans know –
      – We know the raw, on-field results of whatever the team is doing.
      – We know that some players are injured.
      – We know who is employed, what their job titles are, and what they are being paid.
      – We know prior results of coaches at places where they previously coached and played.

      Thats pretty much all I can think of right now, and it isn’t much.

      What we don’t know –
      – we don’t know what is being said privately (on the field, on the sidelines, during practice, in the locker room, and at any other time).
      – we don’t know what the players and coaches think
      – we don’t know what the players and coaches know
      – we don’t know who actually has what responsibilities and to what extent they are allowed freedom in fulfilling those responsibilities.
      – We don’t know the extent of injuries
      – We don’t know everyone that is hurt
      – I could keep going but I think you all get the point.

      As fans, we have a tendency to think we know more than we do. We think our assumptions about what is going on are correct because we are acting on the limited information we have. The reality is, we know very very little about our favorite teams and players. As much as we all love to speculate, none of us, even the most informed of us, can do little more than that.

      I know two things about coach Whittingham, and I’m not sure how this is relevant, but I’ll say it anyway.

      1. He is a good man that genuinely cares about his friends, his family, his staff members, and his players.
      2. He hates dealing with fans. If he could, he would never do press conferences or give us any information.

    • #229925
      14 1
      The Miami Ute
      Participant

      He hates dealing with fans. If he could, he would never do press conferences or give us any information.

      For the life of me, I’ll never understand why so many sports coaches have this attitude. I mean, it’s fans, and the billions of dollars that they spend on a yearly basis, who provide coaches (and athletes) their millionaire lifestyle. If it wasn’t for fans, Whitt and company would be selling insurance or managing a work site. Maybe I’m wrong, but, to me, sports is a people business and, if I were in it, I’d constantly let fans know how much I appreciate their support.

      • #229927
        3
        Rick Walker
        Participant

        I don’t think he doesn’t appreciate the fan support, he definitely has made comments about how great the fan base is. But I could definitely see why dealing with fans (most of which know very little about the game) would be wildly frustrating.

        • #229945
          2 1
          HATUman
          Participant

          Perhaps if there was greater transparency, we wouldn’t be left in the dark. He’s turned the program into a virtual Area 51, where all we receive are sparse bits of information and the final product we witness on the field. When you hype up the talent as the best we’ve ever had, but then the team falters on game day, the response from the fans is inevitable—you’re going to hear boos at halftime. I resent how he implied that the boos were directed at the players. They weren’t. The team, full of young athletes giving their all, deserves support. The boos were aimed at the poor coaching performance that unfolded, not the players.

          • #229948
            1
            Rick Walker
            Participant

            Saying the boos weren’t aimed at the players is plain stupid. Whether or not you blame the coaches or the players more they are all part of the same team in some capacity. They are ALL losing. And yes, some of those boos were most definitely aimed at players. The students started a “fire Isaac” chant at one point. You think that’s not because of how he was playing?

            • #229981
              4
              alexsmith
              Participant

              As someone in the student section, there was never a fire Isaac chant… there were only “Let’s go Isaac”

            • #229984
              4
              Yergensen
              Participant

              The MUSS chanted “Fire Ludwig” at one point during the TCU game.

              I didn’t hear the MUSS chant anything negative related to Isaac or any player at any time during the TCU game.

              I hope the players didn’t take the booing hard, I think a majority of it was directed at the coaches.

            • #229988
              5
              Tony (admin)
              Keymaster

              I booed several times. Every time was because of predictable play calls that the TCU defense stuffed. It was practically joke-worthy.

      • #229928
        2
        chinngiskhaan
        Participant

        He doesn’t hate the fans, he just hates interacting with them. It isn’t the one on one interactions he hates, it is the “elbow rubbing” and such with the donors that he really doesn’t like. He’ll do anything to help out the little guy… but the only things he really cares about relating to his job are the success of his players on and of the field, and the success of his staff members.

        This could have changed in the years since he told me this, but what I’m telling you is based on comments he made directly to me and my father.

      • #229959
        2
        Utah
        Participant

        It’s because these coaches think they are smarter than everyone else and everyone else is a moron.

      • #229960
        2 3
        pedro
        Participant

        Question… Do you do the same for movies, tv shows, music? Do you go online and question the integrity of your favorite actor?

        It’s entertainment. If you don’t like it, go watch something else. Sitting around bitching about what YOU perceive reality to be isn’t Whit’s problem. It’s yours. People on here accuse him of lying. He hasn’t lied to us. Nor will he. If you haven’t learned that the last 30 years, then your’e just looking for something to bitch about. Haters hate.

        • #229964
          5
          2008 National Champ
          Participant

          If I pay to watch a dud, I feel perfectly fine rating it accordingly.

          • #230080
            pedro
            Participant

            So you then call for the directors head, the actors head or the theater owners head? Of course not. But here you are after 20 years of solid entertainment calling for Whit’s head. #entitled

            • #230083
              1
              2008 National Champ
              Participant

              I’m not sure you’ve come up with the slam dunk you think you have.

        • #229973
          6
          The Miami Ute
          Participant

          Pedro, I’m not sure if your reply was directed at me but, if it was, it’s most definitely the wrong tack. Whitt doesn’t get paid millions of dollars because he’s an outstanding football coach, he gets paid that kind of money because people pay to watch his product.

          And you’re right, it’s entertainment and the first two rules of business and entertainment are that the customers come first and you don’t alienate your fan base. If you go around with the attitude of “F U, if you don’t like it, find something else to watch”, you better win every game or close to it or you’ll quickly find yourself employed somewhere else.

    • #229930
      1
      Anfernee
      Participant

      Chinn, you think Whitt hangs it up after this year?

      • #229935
        3
        chinngiskhaan
        Participant

        No clue. My father talks with him a couple times a year but they don’t talk football. My guess is yes, but my guess is no better than anyone else’s. We know him as a friend, not a football coach.

    • #229942
      3
      admiralute
      Participant

      For the most part, fans could care less about any of that. We care about on-field results, and when the results are subpar, whoever we “believe” to be responsible, true or not, is responsible.

      Fans care most about winning and being entertained. We set our own expectations of what entertainment looks like, but for me, there has only been a few years out of the last several that I truly enjoyed.

      Even winning sometimes felt sucky and blah because of the time of possesion, grind it out and try to hold on for dear life “style”. The Utes need an Urban Meyer type injection going forward and “let’s make winning fun again”!

      • #229943
        1 2
        Hellhound152
        Participant

        Winning hasn’t been fun around here since the end of the 2018 season. It has been more about relief. That’s what happens when the fans start worrying about how rather than how many…

        • #229949
          3
          Rick Walker
          Participant

          Idk about anyone else but I’ve always had fun with a win no matter how it happened. Maybe that’s just me but the 2019, 2021, and 2022 seasons were all super enjoyable for me for the games we won. Heck I even could enjoy the wins last year to some extent because I personally never thought it was possible for Cam to recover in less than a year so I fully expected a full year of Bryson.

          • #229952
            1 3
            Hellhound152
            Participant

            Any individual could enjoy the wins. Look at the collective. Look at the post on this site after every game for the last 6 years. The wins were never “good enough” and by God the losses, straight self harm watch. It sucks the fun right out of it.

    • #229966
      2
      Trailgoat
      Participant

      Most fans at all football IQ levels can tell the difference between good and bad football. Attended the TCU game after a couple of years mostly catching Utah on the road in Cali or Wash. The crowd was into the game for most of the first half. MUSS has grown a lot since the last RES game I attended. Great day in SLC. I thought it was a solid fan showing considering the two previous losses. Utah fans overall are awesome! Sat in the stadium through many losses back in the day so not really phased by the outcome. Crazy how much the campus grows every time I come back. Still bitter the golf course is gone :)!

      • #229974
        The Miami Ute
        Participant

        I was always afraid a golf ball would hit my car as I drove to school.

      • #229989
        1
        Tony (admin)
        Keymaster

        Yeah I played that course a few times.

      • #230089
        1 1
        Trailgoat
        Participant

        Yeah, filled the golf bags with Uinta Cuthroat and played on. Good times.

    • #229977
      utefansince79
      Participant

      Indeed while necessary for the school to expand, it was unfortunate losing the golf course which once was 18 holes and part of the PGA.

    • #229982
      1
      utahwingman
      Participant

      I think the interaction with fans and media have changed a lot and not in a good way. With social media, every word coach said would be disected and broadcast on social media. Often people would add on their own interpretation to gain more attention. Majority of the fanbase just wantt to hear but there is no way to filter out information to those who would twist words to create attentions. It sucks but that’s the world we live in now. Anything you say or do can be used against you. All it takes is someone to put it on the social media with a negative spin. You can’t blame coaches don’t want to do press or interviews. As much as coach said they don’t pay attention but they probably still see them. They have to use it as a tool to recruit.

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