"I dream of that stadium being full. To tell you that my expectations are lower than that, I would be untrue to myself because right now all I can think of is that stadium being full. If it was anything less than the lower bowl being filled up, I would be really disappointed. I think that our fans should come out en mass for so many reasons and fill that stadium up. No. 1, to send a message to the players that we are behind this football program 100 percent and we understand that this is a journey to get to the top of I-A football. We need that kind of send-off into I-A football. No. 2 is, I really believe this is a chance for us to show the nation that we have arrived to I-A football. I know that how competitive we are against UConn (in the season opener) will influence it to a degree, but I don’t think that should be it, I don’t think that should be the decision point of whether I go to the game or not. I think it should be the excitement, the newness, the once-in-a-lifetime event of being with the Minutemen as they take this foray into I-A football, I think everyone should be on board for that. We have enough fans, the fans are there. Are they willing to buy in and put their money where their mouth is and say “I’m going to spend my Saturday afternoons in Gillette Stadium watching my favorite team?” and that’s the decision each and every UMass fan has to make, and I’m hoping that they decide to go to that game because once they do and experience a full stadium and watching their football team. I think they’ll be hooked."
These are the words of Umass football coach Charley Molnar's when asked by Jeff Thomas of Masslive about his attendance goals for the Minutemen's first home game this year at Gillette. I'd have to say I agree with coach Molnar, success at the D-I level doesn't come overnight and as much as coach Molnar has done to raise expectations at Umass we still have to be realistic and we may not see great results for in their first road game at the FBS level against a Uconn team that two seasons ago was in a BCS bowl game. If we want Umass to be successful in the long run however, we must get out and support this team! Attendance is one of the major contingencies for becoming a full-fledged FBS member, not to mention the fact that the more this team sees us getting behind them, the more they'll want to succeed. Finally, more attendance means more money and more money means a better team in the long run. So get out and support your team, go Minutemen!
Thanks to Jeff Thomas of Masslive whose full article can be found here:
http://www.masslive.com/umassfootball/index.ssf/2012/04/post_5.html
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