(12-10-2012, 10:32 AM)Farm93 link Wrote:SJSU? I know some current students there, and they really don't follow SJSU football even now. That community just is not that passionate about their school and/or that team. It is very hard for me to believe that SJSU will be great for more than a lucky year or two every once and a while. At least, SJSU is a good coaching job because it puts you into the Cali recruiting circuits, and THAT is valued by bigger programs in the Rockies and the West.
Without getting too specific, I've been a part of the SJSU community for decades now, and your conclusion is exactly what many SJSU faculty and students have also concluded. The SJSU Academic Senate has twice voted to recommend leaving football behind.Â
Unlike Fresno or Boise State which are literally "the only game in town," SJSU will always have to compete with two pro teams and two Pac12 teams for casual fans--meaning its fan base has to be almost exclusively composed of alums. And while SJSU has many more alumni than Stanford, the demography of SJSU students has radically changed over the years to groups that tend not to be deeply interested in American football. Worse, SJSU alumni tend not to be as well-off as Stanford alumni, and cannot support the program to the degree that the Arrillagas of the world can for Stanford. When a BIG home game draws 15k you know you are dealing with a program that cannot be fiscally viable in the long run.
This year proves that given the right combination of university subsidies, a creative head coach, and some key players--that SJSU can have a great year. I am highly skeptical that it will be able to sustain this success over the long haul without an unacceptable drain on public dollars.
One thing I will say--SJSU has dramatically improved the academic standards of its football team ever since it hired Tom Bowen, who sadly departed. Bowen is regarded as something of a genius down here and deserves as much credit, in my opinion, for the football team's success than McIntyre. Bowen took a program that was bleeding scholarships so fast that SJSU threatened to become a major casualty of the new APR system, but he installed serious academic standards. By the time McIntyre was hired SJSU was on the verge of getting its full complement of scholarships back--the stage had been set by Bowen and Tolbert in the study halls.
And who does SJSU have to thank for Tom Bowen? Bill Walsh.
