Post by elp525 on Oct 5, 2011 4:51:39 GMT -5
10/04/2011
MetroNews Sports
Morgantown
WVU coach Dana Holgorsen called out WVU fans for the sparse crowd at last Saturday's Bowling Green game and questioned whether WVU is an elite program.
“The funny part about it is we were all talking two weeks ago about how much of a difference the fans and the crowd make to the LSU people,” said Holgorsen during his weekly press conference. “Well, LSU played well in front of 62,000 of our people and they turned around and went home and played a 1-4 Kentucky team at noon and had 95,000 people there.”
“You want to talk about an elite program that’s one,” said Holgorsen. “I don’t know about this place.”
The announced crowd for the Bowling Green game was 46,603, but it thinned out considerably during the game because of the cold, rainy weather.
But Holgorsen said the weather is no excuse for fans not showing up.
"You only get seven opportunities a year,” said a disgruntled Holgorsen. “What’s so hard about it? Is it too cold? It wasn’t too cold for our players. It wasn’t too cold for our coaches, managers or trainers. They were out there. So why did we have 20,000 less people than we had last week?”
Holgorsen said the poor attendance wasn't what he expected, based on what he had been told about WVU.
"All I heard about was how much this (WVU football) meant to everybody across the state of West Virginia and this was the NFL team here in town and we're going to be there to support you," Holgorsen said. "Having 40,000 people at a game isn't doing that."
The coach said the fan issue needs to be addressed just like any problem his team has.
“The only thing we can do about it is fix it,” continued the first year head coach. “We do what we can every week to fix what the problems are offensively and defensively and special teams wise. What is everyone across the state of West Virginia, including the student body, doing to fix the fact that our players had to show up and play in front of crowd of 40,000 people?”
Holgorsen's comments critical of the fans begin at the 14-minute mark of the press conference video.
West Virginia has three more home games left this season and if the Mountaineers want to make it to the BCS these are the games that matter the most. Holgorsen will just have to wait and see how much these games really mean to the Mountaineer fan base.
“Are we going to have a good crowd or are we going to have nobody there? Is the weather going to be 85 and sunny or is it going to be 25 and snowy?” states Holgorsen. “It really doesn’t matter because the coaches, players and trainers and everybody else is going to be there.”
MetroNews Sports
Morgantown
WVU coach Dana Holgorsen called out WVU fans for the sparse crowd at last Saturday's Bowling Green game and questioned whether WVU is an elite program.
“The funny part about it is we were all talking two weeks ago about how much of a difference the fans and the crowd make to the LSU people,” said Holgorsen during his weekly press conference. “Well, LSU played well in front of 62,000 of our people and they turned around and went home and played a 1-4 Kentucky team at noon and had 95,000 people there.”
“You want to talk about an elite program that’s one,” said Holgorsen. “I don’t know about this place.”
The announced crowd for the Bowling Green game was 46,603, but it thinned out considerably during the game because of the cold, rainy weather.
But Holgorsen said the weather is no excuse for fans not showing up.
"You only get seven opportunities a year,” said a disgruntled Holgorsen. “What’s so hard about it? Is it too cold? It wasn’t too cold for our players. It wasn’t too cold for our coaches, managers or trainers. They were out there. So why did we have 20,000 less people than we had last week?”
Holgorsen said the poor attendance wasn't what he expected, based on what he had been told about WVU.
"All I heard about was how much this (WVU football) meant to everybody across the state of West Virginia and this was the NFL team here in town and we're going to be there to support you," Holgorsen said. "Having 40,000 people at a game isn't doing that."
The coach said the fan issue needs to be addressed just like any problem his team has.
“The only thing we can do about it is fix it,” continued the first year head coach. “We do what we can every week to fix what the problems are offensively and defensively and special teams wise. What is everyone across the state of West Virginia, including the student body, doing to fix the fact that our players had to show up and play in front of crowd of 40,000 people?”
Holgorsen's comments critical of the fans begin at the 14-minute mark of the press conference video.
West Virginia has three more home games left this season and if the Mountaineers want to make it to the BCS these are the games that matter the most. Holgorsen will just have to wait and see how much these games really mean to the Mountaineer fan base.
“Are we going to have a good crowd or are we going to have nobody there? Is the weather going to be 85 and sunny or is it going to be 25 and snowy?” states Holgorsen. “It really doesn’t matter because the coaches, players and trainers and everybody else is going to be there.”
