[Mick]

[quote author=Redrum link=topic=16961.msg194549#msg194549 date=1496879159]
How could they lose generation after generation of students >> alumni so detached from college athletics and ןɐɔ football in general? 

I really think folks are significantly underestimating how much the Berkeley administration drains morale and school spirit. It really doesn't even have much to do with athletics per se - it has to do with waitlists (and thus five-year majors to complete requirements), heartless and uncaring admins, archaic class registration systems, of exceedingly large proportions class sizes, limited direct faculty interaction, and decaying plant. It's hard to want to root and donate to a school that treats you like cattle being herded through four years of educational stockyards. Unfortunately for the AD, I think a substantial amount of this is entirely beyond his/her control, and it won't change simply because there's a more charismatic football coach. Just about every strong Stanford Athletics fan/alum I know also loved their experience at Stanford as a student. It's hard to care about the school's sports when you resent the school itself.
[/quote]

I make the following comments noting that as a non-Stanford alum, I have an inordinate amount of respect for C.al.  I had one grandfather at Stanford, another at C.al.  I appreciate the mission, and I fondly recall the days when the State of California invested in the future (the UC and CSU systems and the junior colleges) and not the past (various retirement and benefit packages).

Based upon the tours each of my sons took in their junior years, along with what they'd heard from their friends, they felt the same way as Redrum.  I remember the slightly bizarre tour we took in 2009.  The guide kept assuring the very large group that they would get enough to eat (good to know), but to count on five years until graduation with six years not uncommon and seven years not unheard of.  Same comments on class sizes, administration, registration and housing.  Impressions ranged from very dispiriting to a f'ing nightmare.  Both of my boys told me that UC Berkeley would be, by far, their last choice (save for U$C, one of them told me they'd rather go to a juco for two years than U$C at all).

They didn't have anything against public education, UCLA was their choice after the Ivies.

[Mick]

[quote author=Redrum link=topic=16961.msg194549#msg194549 date=1496879159]
How could they lose generation after generation of students >> alumni so detached from college athletics and ןɐɔ football in general? 

I really think folks are significantly underestimating how much the Berkeley administration drains morale and school spirit. It really doesn't even have much to do with athletics per se - it has to do with waitlists (and thus five-year majors to complete requirements), heartless and uncaring admins, archaic class registration systems, of exceedingly large proportions class sizes, limited direct faculty interaction, and decaying plant. It's hard to want to root and donate to a school that treats you like cattle being herded through four years of educational stockyards. Unfortunately for the AD, I think a substantial amount of this is entirely beyond his/her control, and it won't change simply because there's a more charismatic football coach. Just about every strong Stanford Athletics fan/alum I know also loved their experience at Stanford as a student. It's hard to care about the school's sports when you resent the school itself.
[/quote]

I make the following comments noting that as a non-Stanford alum, I have an inordinate amount of respect for C.al.  I had one grandfather at Stanford, another at C.al.  I appreciate the mission, and I fondly recall the days when the State of California invested in the future (the UC and CSU systems and the junior colleges) and not the past (various retirement and benefit packages).

Based upon the tours each of my sons took in their junior years, along with what they'd heard from their friends, they felt the same way as Redrum.  I remember the slightly bizarre tour we took in 2009.  The guide kept assuring the very large group that they would get enough to eat (good to know), but to count on five years until graduation with six years not uncommon and seven years not unheard of.  Same comments on class sizes, administration, registration and housing.  Impressions ranged from very dispiriting to a f'ing nightmare.  Both of my boys told me that UC Berkeley would be, by far, their last choice (save for U$C, one of them told me they'd rather go to a juco for two years than U$C at all).

They didn't have anything against public education, UCLA was their choice after the Ivies.