A Must Read

[Dryburn]

Think I am going to call bs on this one, for a couple of reasons.

Honestly, I hope this is not from JP. If it is, it is extremely un-professional. Yes, the person may not be a donor, or even season ticket holder, but if he wrote the email, he is still an ISU fan, who apparently has attended at least one or more games in person. Does ISU suddenly have such an abundance of fans that JP should be ******* any of them off? I was not under that impression.

Also, just because a person's name does not appear on a donor list or season-ticket holder list does not mean all that much. The person could be co-owner or a board member or something of a company that purchases tickets or makes donations. There is the possibility that a person has a season ticket purchased under another name. In the email, he does not identify himself as a season ticket holder, so who knows? He could also be a guy who works a job that does not allow him to attend most games, so a season ticket is not worth it to him. Maybe he only buys tickets on a game-to-game basis when he either has the time, the interest, or the money.......no one knows. If he is only purchases single game tickets, are you really okay wtih JP just dismissing him like he did? Is that how you build a fan base? Really? If you don't donate or purchase season tickets, then your opinion doesn't count? If that is what ISU athletics has come to, then that is truly sad.

Like I said, I hope JP did not write this letter. If he did, then I think it shows an incredible amount of arrogance on his part. It could have been handled much better. There was no need to offend the person, was there? If you think JP's response was so outstanding.....ask yourself.....what good did it really accomplish? You think the person is now going to become a donor or season ticket holder? You think he is going to tell other people to do the same? Is he going to raise his kids to be Cyclone fans in the future? Some of you are on here patting JP on the back for his response.......really? This is how you want your Director of Athletics to respond to even the most casual of fans? What does this type of response accomplish, exactly?

I'm still calling bs on this though. It just looks like it has been written by someone else (I hope). For one thing, it has no signature line.......and a minor point (or maybe a major one) the line about writing an email to the Athletics Director......JP's official title I believe is Director of Athletics. I would not think he would get that wrong. Also, the shorter version is usually Athletic Director, not Athletics Director. Just seemed odd to me.

 

[Clark]

On the one hand I think it's reasonable to expect that your opinion won't hold much water if you don't donate or buy tickets.

On the other hand, you don't want to make the guy never want to support your program. I don't know the guys age or income level but if he's like me he's just now getting to the point where it becomes feasible to purchase tickets and donate money.

And apparantly to some of you, poor people can't be die hard fans.

 

[majorcyfan]

You can be die-hard fan and sit on the couch and watch but you don't get the right to complain about the program (especially to the AD) if you're not doing your part by donating.

+1,000,000 a perpetual truth

 

[1100011CS]

I'm a fan of good radio talk shows. I enjoy being able to listen to a good talk show host who engages the audience and doesn't demean them or stir up things just to get callers.

Are you referring to anyone specific? :wink:

 

[Al_4_State]

so you guys don't care that you have to be donor in order to be a die-hard fan in the eyes of your AD?

Just curious cause I was shocked at that reaction by your AD (no, not because of our history)

You don't have to donate to be a die-hard, but if you're going to expect the AD to make a move, you better give him a reason. This is guy is beyond not donating. There were no records of season tickets or anything. If you can't afford to be a part of the circus, you have no right to ***** to the top.

Remember your first or second week on the job when you did the "What is a TavernHawk, and if they exist what is a TaverClone" show? This, my friend, is a TavernClone.

 

[The_Architect]

I would consider donaters to an athletic department more like investors, not customers. Without the investors there is no product, good or bad. More investors = better product.

This.

 

[rdubbs]

Are you referring to anyone specific? :wink:

Who me? Neeeeeeeeeeeever. I'm an impartial viewer of the lovefest with Cyclone fans and a certain afternoon show. :yes:

 

[nb06]

So for someone like me, who has been donating for over ten years, and now I refuse to due to the lack of production that this team shows. I am no longer a fan because I chose not to donate to failure???

Therefore I am no longer a fan of this College according to Pollard...HMMMMM.. Ok. I can go with that. tells me of his mentality to be a greedy bastard that wants people to donate for failure.

Do you still buy tickets?? I think he meant support of any kind, buying tickets, etc. Not just donating.

I would be willing to bet that this is not real or has been seriously edited. I could type it up in that format and make it look like an email. If its fake, pretty pathetic if you ask me. Kinda kills what little credibility these sports talk guys had in the first place.

 

[tazclone]

Its funny that you write re "JP's predicament".....Well boys when you give the coach an extension until 2015 and the coach cant win but 4 conference games and then you dont have the money to buy him out....


Maybe Jamie should look in the mirror.........

I dont blame Jamie for either Hiring Greg or Greg's Incompetence as a coach...

But I do BLAME Jamie for extending GMac's contract until 2015....

Not looking forward to more losing next year....But I've been there before with glen anderson/ ken trickey/ lynn nance.

When did he extend his contract? I would like to see the answer to this.

The extensions are part of the original contract. Pollard did not come to Greg a couple years after he started and offer him an extension. The original contract had extensions built in for lost schloarships due to APR issues that resulted from the previous coach/coaching change, and NCAA violations from the previous staff.

2 added years for two scholarships lost for APR issues
1 added year for NCAA infraction with Jiri

That is how the contract was extended. The contract was built that way because our APR was in bad shape, GMac took far less money, and there were rumors of wrongdoing in the D-1 Scheduling deals. Those rumors were false but it didn't matter at the time. Pollard addressed this in the media conference. ISU has to be creative with contracts because we don't have the $$$$ our competitors have.

 

[1100011CS]

On the one hand I think it's reasonable to expect that your opinion won't hold much water if you don't donate or buy tickets.

On the other hand, you don't want to make the guy never want to support your program. I don't know the guys age or income level but if he's like me he's just now getting to the point where it becomes feasible to purchase tickets and donate money.

And apparantly to some of you, poor people can't be die hard fans.

I don't think anyone is saying that. Certainly not me. I wasn't able to donate until a few years ago. Doesn't mean I wasn't a die-hard Cyclone. But, I wouldn't expect the AD to give a rat's *** what my opinion of the program is if I'm not helping to fund the program.

 

[coachdags]

In the future any name calling in posts to a poster, we will just delete the whole post. Make your points without calling posters names.

Last Warning

 

[marothisu]

I agree with the writer of the original letter. I still support our program, but he's correct. JP also has this defensive way about him. Three years ago I wrote him a letter asking him to put a little more exciting music in football games. He got ****** at me saying how the music was fine and it made everyone excited. Literally three days later he comes out with an email saying "You as a fan can help us pick the music at Football games now!"


Now, while JP "gave it to this guy," I think his choice of words were semi immature. There's much more professional ways for him to say the same thing to this guy. JP's response seemed like a message board response, not a professional response.

 

[tman24]

I would consider donaters to an athletic department more like investors, not customers. Without the investors there is no product, good or bad. More investors = better product.

And Better Product = More investors its a circle. Microsoft has to keep putting out good products or no one will invest and they will have no money to put out new products. Why do you think they made windows 7 so fast? After a few months they knew vista was terrible. So what did they do? They didn't say dont worry it will get better keep buying vista and things will turn around. No They dumped Vista and built Windows 7.

 

[ISUAgronomist]

Now, while JP "gave it to this guy," I think his choice of words were semi immature. There's much more professional ways for him to say the same thing to this guy. JP's response seemed like a message board response, not a professional response.

That's why I'm calling BS on the "response" from JP. He's not that stupid.

 

[PGreen ISU '92]

I think most of us have all got an e-mail at work that really made us angry. You let your emotions run high and get the best of you and you reply to that e-mail. After you hit send you are like -- "Oh no!" I hope that is what happened here. I am going to cut JP some slack on this one. Lesson learned.

 

[CloneIce]

That letter was not too impressive as it took some unnecessary pot shots at current players. That was uncalled for, really all he needed to do was make his point was just point out our record the past 4 years.

He can still be a die-hard fan, but the AD is probably not going to listen to him much if he is not a donor. Probably should be a little less antagonistic towards him though, as we need all the fans we can get.

 

[JonDMiller]

2. Just because Miller and Deace, and apparently Matt and Miller, are upset that Pollard is keeping McDermott around another year doesn't necessarly mean the vast majority of ISU fans feel the same way. .

I am hardly upset. Not at all. It's your favorite team, not mine. I wish my favorite team was in a position to capitalize on what I expect to be another wasted year next year for ISU. But I don't think they will

 

[DaddyMac]

So Matt.. Is this a must read because it puts JP in a bad light and furthers your attacks on him? Just curious. Not sure I've heard you say one positive thing about the man and it's well understood you have an axe to grind since he's dissed your show.

Why not let Jon put this up there if it came from their show? He's here enough.

Not sure if this is legitimately from JP or not. I can manufacture anything and say it's from whomever. You should see the crap you emailed me yesterday (let me get to work on it). But in all honesty, it wouldn't surprise me. I've sent an email to JP voicing some concerns and have received terse responses on a few. IMO, this guy got what he deserved if that's the best they can put together a disgruntled opinion.

Your motives are more the question......

 

[Knownothing]

Alright let me throw this out there. I have never bought one ticket from Iowa State University. Not one. I have attended over 100 football games since I was a little kids and probably 200 basketball games. I have traveled to bowl game and flew on the team plane to get to them. I have stayed in the same hotel as the football team and ate dinner with the coaches the night before games. Yet not once have I bought a ticket or wrote a check to Iowa State university. I don't have my name in the system and I am not a gold club member.
I am however a big boosters son. My father supports the university and has donated since I was a baby. If he would have sent this e-mail to me I would have sent it directly to my father.
Now I probably would not have sent the original e-mail due to my father being in a possition he is in. However Jamie needs to know that not everyone is who he might think they are. This guy could have been a family friend or his father could have the tickets under his name. Just saying.

 

[marothisu]

That's why I'm calling BS on the "response" from JP. He's not that stupid.

Actually, the response he gave me three years ago when I told him I didn't think the music at football games was doing its job was extremely defensive like this one was. That's why I didn't say "I don't think this is real," because I have had personal experience with JP when he sends an unfavorable email back.