Losing frustrates people and they often use message boards and social media to vent. Nothing new there.
I try to not directly criticize players unless it's constructive because they were recruited to play at Marshall and most give it their all. Coaches, on the other hand, are free game when it comes to recruiting, schematics, winning/losing etc. You can do that without attacking the human being.
Yes, some people will go too far and name players and use language/verbiage that shouldn't be used. I think, as a whole, the board does a pretty decent job self policing this to a large extent but after the most disappointing losses you should expect some of that. Much of it, imo, is building frustration that has been going on in two major sports for quite some time now. Huff's hire and the win at Notre Dame alleviated that frustration but it hasn't been so good since then.
All that being said, let's try to keep it in perspective:
- This message board has what? 100 or so really active members? That post pretty frequently? And a bunch of others who chime in from time to time. Have no idea what the numbers are on social media. How many of really active members go out of their way to say much of anything negative about individual players? And especially being overly critical of a player without it tying back to the coaching? In context I would guess very little...maybe 15-20 people max? And remember, thanking a post doesn't mean you totally agree with the entire thing.
- So we have approx 25k that show up for games on a pretty regular basis. You probably have at least 3 times that actively engaged in watching/following on ESPN+, network tv, through other media/news outlets etc. Most people I have heard that attend games regularly say they rarely hear booing and it's mostly directed at coaches when they do. So when a few hundred vocal minority aggregated in stands, on message boards, and on social media are too critical of our athletes we are somehow deemed to have a "horrible" fan base? Because a half of a percent of those actively involved in MU athletics in some form or another can't contain their emotions? At that percentage if you consider youth, mental health, general bitterness, those gambling, or just those who take these things wayyyyy too seriously....you would think you'd heard a lot more irrationality or simple lack of decorum.
- Like many others here who played sports, coached it, watched own kids, and now referee it I get what the players feel sometimes. The fact is that negative and personal comments stay with you longer. A thousand people in stands may think you, as a referee or player, are doing a great job or at least doing your best but they are not generally verbalizing it. It only takes one off cuff negative comment or two and those are the things you remember. I was at MU/Cal Baptist soccer match a couple of weeks ago and two MU fans stood on sidelines at midfield verbally abusing the opposing players..often in lewd language. Literally two people in a crowd of 3,000 and I can assure you those players define our fanbase by those two people. I was embarrassed they supported Marshall. But this is where the coach needs to remind the players that those two and the other small vocal minority on message boards/stands/social media do not represent the majority of the fanbase. The overwhelming majority of the fanbase even isn't on social media or anywhere online discussing MU sports. Most disappointed fans will just stop coming and contributing before directly criticizing players. The players (and families) are young and impressionable and should stay away from boards and social media but the coach, imo, did a real disservice by seemingly projecting the opinions of a very few on literally 10s of thousands of MU fans. That's tremendously poor leadership and creates a false narrative that many even on this board now seem to believe. Talk of shutting down the board and recruits not coming because a half a percent of a fanbases actions is highly irrational. We all can be better for sure and treat everyone like we'd want to be treated but let's not make it way bigger than it is.
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