Topic: Homecoming weekend looks like . . .

[coalherd]

. . . it could offer a lot of sports excitement for HERD fans.

We already know that on Saturday, October 5th, one of our most popular, perhaps "beloved", foes, Appy State's "EERS", are in town for a clash with the HERD!!!

But did you know another of our "admired" SBC chums, those Purple Plum clad guys from JMU, will also be in H-town that weekend?  This time it is for a "titanic" Futbol clash on Friday, October 4th with Coach Grassie's lads!!

How do I know that?  Well, HERD Fans, it is certainly not by going on the Official HERD website, Herd Zone.  Nope, these days, if you want CURRENT, Up-to-Date information about the HERD, you have to look elsewhere.  In this case, go to the opponents' websites!!  The JMU Dukes Men's soccer COMPLETE schedule, conferenced and OOC games, is posted currently on their site. The MU-JMU soccer match date is available there!

HERD ZONE, you ask?  Well, on that site, you can find the Men's Soccer Spring Schedule of all the matches to be held in March and April 2024.  How did we do, you further inquire?  Uhhh, I'm not sure, cause HERD ZONE indicates the HERD's Spring Record was/is "0-0".  Which I guess means that either ALL those matches were cancelled, not played for other reasons, etc., etc., or else someone   or perhaps "everyone" in the WHOLE DAMN Marshall Athletic Dept was just too lazy or too SORRY to post the result of those Soccer matches, etc.

Is this any way to run an Athletic Department?  Any way to keep your fan base, students, general public, future student athletes, etc., informed and interested about and in MU Athletics Teams?? Is this ANY WAY to treat Coach Grassie and his program, a MERE 2 seasons or so AFTER THEY WON THE WHOLE ENCHILADA IN NCAA DIVISION ONE MEN'S SOCCER????

Let's just hope that before the 24-25 Sports Season gets too far along, someone HIGH UP in Marshall's Administration, be it President Smith or someone else, LIGHTS A FIRE in some person or folks in the Athletic Department at least when it comes to improving/upgrading our whole way of operating in area of "Sports Information"!!!  Right now, sad to sad, our modus operandi in said area/aspect is more in the way of "Sports Dis-information", or "Sports Non-Information", IMO!!

[gochneaur645]

Nice. Love the Friday night matches with a home football game the next day

[gochneaur645]

Games pieced together from other schedules. SC, GA State, and ODU also haven't released theirs so it's not like we're some anomaly on that front.

10/4 - JMU (Fri, 7pm)
10/11 - @UCF (Fri, 7pm)
10/18 - @Coastal (Fri, 8pm)
10/23 - GA Southern (Wed, 7:15pm)
11/1 - @Kentucky (Fri, 7pm)
11/5 - WVU (Tue, 7:15 pm)

And some OOC games:

8/29 - @Xavier (Thurs, 7pm)
9/6 - High Point (Fri, 7:15pm)

[overherd1]

I looked a couple of weeks ago and noticed the soccer schedule wasn?t online yet.  Possibly not finalized?

[CoachMaclid]

I looked a couple of weeks ago and noticed the soccer schedule wasn?t online yet.  Possibly not finalized?

It's finalized.  Grassie showed me the schedule when he was at that Parkersburg Coaches Tour stop on what looked like a finalized graphic design.  We will host Cal State Fullerton, St. John's, High Point, Gardner-Webb (which has a few Marshall walk-ons transfer there this year), VCU, and one or two more I'm forgetting.  Xavier is the only OOC road game we have this year.  Grassie lamented that Ohio State, Louisville, Akron, and others don't want to schedule us when the games count.  He said Pitt doesn't want to play us anymore going further.  I asked and he didn't know why the schedule wasn't released with season ticket renewals.  He sarcastically said something like "That seems like it would have been a good idea, wouldn't it?"

South Carolina is our first conference game, and we finish the season @GaState, @ UK, and WVU.

[coalherd]

I'm just saying that Marshall should/could do a better job of updating info such as schedules, game results, etc., etc., on the official Athletic Website!.

If Spring Men's Soccer games are so unimportant then why post the schedule of such games in the first place?  Once posted, however it seems to me absolutely inexcusable and ASININE NOT to then post the results of said games on your school athletic website.

I know policies may vary somewhat from school to school, and there are other possible factors involved, like what Conference Network schedules of games to be telecast, etc., under various deals, contracts, etc.  In basketball, the HERD usually plays 13 OOC games every season.  We know that in trying to schedule such games, teams often have to work with various other schools in perhaps shifting around other scheduled games here and there.  But you can't tell me that that is ALWAYS the case in every game that is scheduled.  Right now, out of those 13 OOC games MU has FIRM dates already set for the 24-25 season in perhaps as many as half, 6 or 7, of such games.  That will RARELY change, so why not release such "set in stone" games and dates to your fan base, the general public, etc.?  It is called keeping your Fan Base in mind and keeping MU sports in the media, news, etc., etc.  Goodness knows, Marshall can always use increased NUMBERS in that Fan Base.

Lots of schools release partial schedules, dates of games, opponent names, etc., as soon as dates of those events and names of opponents are finalized.  Others perhaps wait to release a full, 30 plus game (in basketball) schedule when the ink is dried on all contracts for every game, it seems. 

I just think MU can gain overall by releasing such partial schedule info as games become set/finalized, instead of waiting for the whole schedule to be released at one time.  HERD Fans are scattered all over, and not just in the general Huntington area.  A lot of fans travel significant distances on several/many occasions to support and follow the HERD and attend athletic events.  Some fans may only be able to attend a few, 1 or two games every season.  Perhaps many try to make Homecoming, if nothing else.  This year the Appy State game is the Homecoming game.  But suppose it wasn't the HC game.  How many fans who try, perhaps, to be at the Homecoming game and maybe one other game every season, would select the Appy game to come in for if they ALSO knew that the evening before, the HERD Men's Soccer team ALSO had an important HOME game against an attractive LEAGUE opponent?  Especially if that information was made KNOWN weeks or months ahead of time so that travel plans, etc., could be made, rooms booked, etc. 

Bottom line:  Giving your FANS as MUCH solid information as EARLY as you can, can't be a BAD way to do business, IMO

[TomorrowHERD]

Sadly, HerdZone has been a joke for years...  Really, how hard is it to update a website every once in a while??? 
NAIA and DIII teams do a better job with their sites...   

[MUonium]

it's been obvious for years that MU AD cannot afford the salary of at least one key employee.  i mean, Spears cleaned house so i thought improvement in the info/website aspect would follow.  we also have a president who knows how to start and run a successful major business.  oh well, patience is a virtue when it comes to being a Herd fan.  i guess i should put more of my money where my mouth is.  anyway, thanks for hiring Grassie, and to be fair, many other improvements too

[herd2win]

MU could give an internship to a couple of students with college credit and the site would be much improved.  This is not a difficult or money fix. 

[HerdinNT]

The issue is purely poor management.  When I worked at another college, our staff and grads had twice monthly meetings to discuss the various topics that needed to be addressed-short to long term.  This eliminated the issues you see from this Herd department.  Simple as that.

[BigJimslade]

Nothing has changed
Too many students doing jobs that should b paying gigs
Summertime is the worst

[chris88]

Last years soccer schedule was made public same day as season ticket renewals. Ryan said that wasn't the case this year because they were still tying up some loose ends...which I took as still trying to finalize a game or two. It isn't always something bungled by MU or the website. Our league is tough but I have no problem scheduling a tough road game or two to increase our RPI OOC...even if the return game isn't immediate. There are many teams that are traditionally good outside the big 3-4 leagues that I would think we could schedule home and home. UNCG, Missouri State, WMichigan are three that come to mind.

That being said, you would think MU would be able to schedule better OOC.  JMU has NC State and Georgetown at home and UVa and UCLA on road. UK has ongoing home and home vs both Indiana and Louisville and they also get Wisconsin and VTech at home this year. WVU and UCF OOC schedules not really better than ours. Part of it is geography for sure. Maybe it's partly the negative feeling some coaches have about out intl roster....who knows.

[luckytoes99]

I think one of the issues MU faces with scheduling is that our playing surface is turf. I think all of those teams you mention have grass playing surfaces. Most teams don't want to play on turf. I think Noonan at Clemson said he wouldn't play a team on the road with a turf field.

Pitt has a turf field so that wasn't an issue for them.

Hopefully the expanded intramural fields, in the long range plans posted recently, would allow the soccer teams access to some grass practice fields. That could allow us to switch to a grass playing surface.

[whf]

Last years soccer schedule was made public same day as season ticket renewals. Ryan said that wasn't the case this year because they were still tying up some loose ends...which I took as still trying to finalize a game or two. It isn't always something bungled by MU or the website. Our league is tough but I have no problem scheduling a tough road game or two to increase our RPI OOC...even if the return game isn't immediate. There are many teams that are traditionally good outside the big 3-4 leagues that I would think we could schedule home and home. UNCG, Missouri State, WMichigan are three that come to mind.

That being said, you would think MU would be able to schedule better OOC.  JMU has NC State and Georgetown at home and UVa and UCLA on road. UK has ongoing home and home vs both Indiana and Louisville and they also get Wisconsin and VTech at home this year. WVU and UCF OOC schedules not really better than ours. Part of it is geography for sure. Maybe it's partly the negative feeling some coaches have about out intl roster....who knows.

The reason is a loss on their schedule..................period.  Who that is trying to gain national notoriety in soccer would bring a non-conference team into Huntington?

[wasbarryb]

Is anyone shocked that now DD is gone, Coal has moved to complaining about the whole dang department?

[herd2win]

Is anyone shocked that now DD is gone, Coal has moved to complaining about the whole dang department?

No

[coalherd]

Is anyone shocked that now DD is gone, Coal has moved to complaining about the whole dang department?

Says yet another "Herd Fan" who is obviously totally OK with mediocrity, complacency, and the third-rate business-as-usual- attitude/approach throughout MU Athletics.  Let me guess, you are another local, "hometown Huntington hack" who also is absolutely totally and completely satisfied with everything in the City, which continues to deteriorate, rot away, and lose thousands and thousands of people every decade.  Try and read this thread again with some semblance of COMPREHENSION, which does appear to be a daunting task!!!  As others have noted, problems with HERD ZONE and its operation in the Athletic Department are NOT a recent and overnight issue.  They've been around for YEARS, well before the current people running the Department were around.  More and likely, with enough concerned "FANS" like you still around, the same problems and issues will continue well into the future!

[VA Herd Fan]

The reason is a loss on their schedule..................period.  Who that is trying to gain national notoriety in soccer would bring a non-conference team into Huntington?

We used to have that mindset in football in the 90's. Anyone, anytime, anywhere.