Who's Walking The Walk?

[johnnysnowplow]

Since we don't have a poll feature here, I thought I'd get a thread going to see who here has taken action to aid in the movement for change. I'm not talking about incessant blathering on our fine forum here. I mean who has actually made it known in some fashion that the current state of affairs is unacceptable - be it not renewing season tickets, cutting off donations, signing petitions, sending letters/emails, etc.

Personally, I cancelled my monthly donation stating that I would re-consider my decision only when an acceptable change has been made. I'm curious to see how many of the diehards (and blowhards) on here are actually taking action.

[Nevada Hoya]

I have taken no action!

[guru]

Canceled my season tickets and donation to the program. Asked that my donation be routed to other athletic programs. Said I'd be back whenever a new coach is hired.

[iheartdurenbros]

letter

[miracles87]

isn't it more like tilting at windmills?

[TBird41]

Mar 2, 2017 18:12:53 GMT -5 johnnysnowplow said:

Since we don't have a poll feature here, I thought I'd get a thread going to see who here has taken action to aid in the movement for change. I'm not talking about incessant blathering on our fine forum here.

I have also incessant blathered on casualhoya, twitter and various group texts. Not facebook though. That's a waste of time

[guru]

Mar 2, 2017 18:39:13 GMT -5 miracles87 said:

isn't it more like tilting at windmills?

Yes, almost certainly

[madgesiq92]

I increased my donation, bought big east tickets in a show of solidarity with Roy Hibbert, Jason Clark, Reggie Cameron, Patrick Ewing Jr and others who are supporting the program through these trying times.

[FLHoya]

I'll do this since I believe in transparency for my own actions.

My wife and I sent a respectful letter to DeGioia's office in late January; it's mostly about our broader concerns about the eroding fan support among our generation, but it does say we believe firing JT3 is the right choice. I forwarded the letter to about half a dozen folks in the Athletic Department, a few of whom I know, the day before the DePaul home game.

I signed the petition that is currently circulating around the internet. It's not 100% how I would have phrased things, but nothing is unless you write it yourself I guess. I'm tangentially aware of how this came together; while it's a fairly quick turnaround, it's hardly a slapdash effort.

My intent absent a change in the basketball program is to redirect my season ticket donation next year to both soccer programs. Heck, I should've been giving them money already, they're both fantastic.

I also, for what it's worth, was on the Hoya Hoop Club's Executive Board for about a decade, until just before Thanksgiving. After the Oklahoma State game, I posted a series of tweets that were quite critical of the state of the program and the Athletic Department. You can find them if you'd like; they're still up. Within an hour, the President of the HHC emailed and asked me to either take down the tweets or resign from the Board. I resigned. No hard feelings toward the HHC about it--I expected that'd probably happen, but I felt the tweets, even if they seem nasty, reflected my honest opinion and where I'm at as a longtime supporter. I own the consequences of that.

I don't know what kind of credibility I've built up around here over the years, but hopefully I've at least come off as fairly honest. For whatever THIS is worth, partly from my decade on the HHC, I've met a decent number of people in the Athletic Department, and it's a fair bet several folks in McDonough know who's writing this post.

And I can honestly say--it pains me to be here, and this negative about the program. But I can honestly say--I wouldn't have done any of the above if I wasn't concerned.

[Bigs"R"Us]

Hats off to you. I have been a fan for 30 years and am disappointed by the depths the program has sunk to. I don't expect change as the folks inside the gates operate in a bubble.

[Deleted]

Mar 2, 2017 20:53:07 GMT -5 FLHoya said:

I also, for what it's worth, was on the Hoya Hoop Club's Executive Board for about a decade, until just before Thanksgiving. After the Oklahoma State game, I posted a series of tweets that were quite critical of the state of the program and the Athletic Department. You can find them if you'd like; they're still up. Within an hour, the President of the HHC emailed and asked me to either take down the tweets or resign from the Board. I resigned. No hard feelings toward the HHC about it--I expected that'd probably happen, but I felt the tweets, even if they seem nasty, reflected my honest opinion and where I'm at as a longtime supporter. I own the consequences of that.

I went and tracked down that tweetstorm, and you're spot-on about losing a generation of fans. Which seems like something that the HHC board should actually be focused on.

What percentage of HHC board members are under the age of 40?

[This Just In]

Mar 3, 2017 9:25:10 GMT -5 @cam said:

Mar 2, 2017 20:53:07 GMT -5 FLHoya said:

I also, for what it's worth, was on the Hoya Hoop Club's Executive Board for about a decade, until just before Thanksgiving. After the Oklahoma State game, I posted a series of tweets that were quite critical of the state of the program and the Athletic Department. You can find them if you'd like; they're still up. Within an hour, the President of the HHC emailed and asked me to either take down the tweets or resign from the Board. I resigned. No hard feelings toward the HHC about it--I expected that'd probably happen, but I felt the tweets, even if they seem nasty, reflected my honest opinion and where I'm at as a longtime supporter. I own the consequences of that.

I went and tracked down that tweetstorm, and you're spot-on about losing a generation of fans. Which seems like something that the HHC board should actually be focused on.

What percentage of HHC board members are under the age of 40?

All the Hoya fans I know that even remember the good old days are 40 and up.
Everyone else only remembers the program for the NCAA's upsets and now missing the NCAA's 3 out of 4 years.  My younger friends who did not follow the program during glory years don't know what all the fuss is about.  They are like well the coach is not performing, go get a another one; We want a Final Four memory too.

[RockawayHoya]

As a season ticket holder since my undergraduate days (class of 2005, survived Esherick, never saw an NCAA game as an undergrad, etc., I will be cancelling my season tickets next week. I'll be upfront about it and say that for personal reasons I'll be relocating and leaving D.C. this spring, so that obviously heavily weighed into my decision not to renew. But I will say that absent a change (or at the minimum a publicly stated goal in terms of on-court performance by the administration for this current staff), I would not have renewed my season tickets even if I wasn't moving.

I think it was Liverpool fans a few years back that demanded "we don't demand a team that wins, we demand a club that tries." I think that's the point a lot of us have gotten to with Georgetown basketball. I think everyone (save maybe one dude in Healy who just had a petition get dropped in his lap about 30 minutes ago) understands the situation is bad right now. This is no longer just a coaching staff problem but an administration problem. The administration needs to adequately address the situation, establish clear goals, and communicate what their plans are moving forward to turn this around. Then, they need to show that they are following through on those plans and actually achieve those goals. The current stated goal of representing the University well is not unimportant, but it alone is insufficient. The current stated goal of being competitive at a national level isn't close to being met.

As a Stonewalls co-founder and tireless volunteer in several other endeavors involving the University, I feel perfectly comfortable with how much I have supported the team and school, and I have no issues with continuing to do so. At the moment however, that support won't be supplemented with any money earmarked for the men's basketball team until the administration displays an awareness about the problems associated with the program and takes adequate steps to rectify them.

[arlingtonhoya05]

My family has had tickets for 45 years and will not be renewing.

If the hoop club is smart, they will get rid of the minimum donation for lower level tickets for at least the next year or two. It's outrageous to ask for such amounts given the results.

Sad times all around.

[hoyasaxa2003]

Mar 3, 2017 13:15:10 GMT -5 This Just In said:

All the Hoya fans I know that even remember the good old days are 40 and up.
Everyone else only remembers the program for the NCAA's upsets and now missing the NCAA's 3 out of 4 years.  My younger friends who did not follow the program during glory years don't know what all the fuss is about.  They are like well the coach is not performing, go get a another one; We want a Final Four memory too.

The class of 2007, which saw plenty of success, is generally in the age range of 31 right now. And the kids who were freshman in 2006-2007 are in the 27ish range.

So unless you are prematurely aging people, I am not sure how your math works. And if you count the glory years as the early 1980s...well, then you're going to have to go well past 40!

[lichoya68]

I have season tix since 1964 will have them till i die.. yup hope we fill the booth this sat to celebrate some hard working STUDENT ATHLETES.. IF ANYONE has very talked to reggie he is a personable bright very nice young man truly expemplary of what i want a hoya to be GO HOYAS BEAT NOVA

[FLHoya]

Mar 3, 2017 9:25:10 GMT -5 @cam said:

I went and tracked down that tweetstorm, and you're spot-on about losing a generation of fans. Which seems like something that the HHC board should actually be focused on.

What percentage of HHC board members are under the age of 40?

I don't know the exact answer to that, and I wouldn't want to put a percentage guess on it. I personally didn't think it represented the under 40 demographic (and definitely the under 30 demo) all that well.

That being said, Mark Guerrera is a good President for the Hoop Club in my opinion, and IMO he's cognizant of the issue.

I'll reiterate something I just posted on Casual Hoya: I think regardless of how the JTIII situation is resolved this month, there's going to need to be some healing going on in this fanbase. The problems in Georgetown basketball, it's very clear from all the articles and discussion, go much deeper than just the wins and losses on the court. They concern the very relationship between the Athletic Department (and Jack D) and its donors/supporters.

A good first step in this healing would be to take a serious, hard look at reforming how the Hoya Hoop Club and its Board operate and how they relate to their membership. I do firmly believe that Mark would be very eager to have these conversations and participate in such an effort. Like I said, he's a good, sincere guy.

Now, I'm not around on the Board any more to help facilitate this, but we've covered that several posts ago...

[DFW HOYA]

Mar 3, 2017 18:40:33 GMT -5 FLHoya said:

I'll reiterate something I just posted on Casual Hoya: I think regardless of how the JTIII situation is resolved this month, there's going to need to be some healing going on in this fanbase. The problems in Georgetown basketball, it's very clear from all the articles and discussion, go much deeper than just the wins and losses on the court. They concern the very relationship between the Athletic Department (and Jack D) and its donors/supporters.

Is this really the case, or does it just come down to wins? Were this many people complaining about the Hoop Club in 2007? More importantly, and this is a great opportunity for some dialogue, what it the relationship as it exists and what do you think it should be compared to other support clubs at other schools?

[Disclaimer: I have never served on the HHC board. Other boards, yes, but not the Hoop Club, so I cannot speak to its inner workings.]

[This Just In]

Mar 3, 2017 15:28:06 GMT -5 hoyasaxa2003 said:

Mar 3, 2017 13:15:10 GMT -5 This Just In said:

All the Hoya fans I know that even remember the good old days are 40 and up.
Everyone else only remembers the program for the NCAA's upsets and now missing the NCAA's 3 out of 4 years.  My younger friends who did not follow the program during glory years don't know what all the fuss is about.  They are like well the coach is not performing, go get a another one; We want a Final Four memory too.

The class of 2007, which saw plenty of success, is generally in the age range of 31 right now. And the kids who were freshman in 2006-2007 are in the 27ish range.

So unless you are prematurely aging people, I am not sure how your math works. And if you count the glory years as the early 1980s...well, then you're going to have to go well past 40!

Obviously we run in different circles.  
I don't know the people you know and vice versa.

[HometownHoya]

Mar 3, 2017 20:51:38 GMT -5 This Just In said:

Mar 3, 2017 15:28:06 GMT -5 hoyasaxa2003 said:

The class of 2007, which saw plenty of success, is generally in the age range of 31 right now. And the kids who were freshman in 2006-2007 are in the 27ish range.

So unless you are prematurely aging people, I am not sure how your math works. And if you count the glory years as the early 1980s...well, then you're going to have to go well past 40!

Obviously we run in different circles.  
I don't know the people you know and vice versa.

To stay on topic of the original question, have you done anything actionable on your views with JT3? I'd also be interested to hear from JT3's detractor in chief.