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Post by phightingphoenix1 on Sept 3, 2013 9:51:55 GMT -5
Would like to see a move to bring in a coach with some pedigree to restore the program PRIOR to the end of the season. By the time the WCU game on October 26th rolls around, we should have a pretty good idea of where we are in Swepson's tenure. If the team can turn it around and rise above the projected bottom of the conference - maybe win some games they shouldn't, I would like to see what progress can be made to end the season. Otherwise, if can't rise above projection - time to move on.
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Post by elon1985 on Sept 3, 2013 16:45:52 GMT -5
Our first ever game against an FBS program was with a freshman QB and we played well, losing if I remember correctly 23-13. How far down the program has fallen is relatively evident by each game against FBS team, including Wake and Duke. The last two have been an absolute disaster. I like Swepson and want to believe he can do the job, but each season the win total goes down so does my support. I wouldn't claim to know what to do, but losing saps support among all constituencies (I recall the Hamilton years).
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Post by whoanellie on Sept 3, 2013 21:33:05 GMT -5
Our first ever game against an FBS program was with a freshman QB and we played well, losing if I remember correctly 23-13. How far down the program has fallen is relatively evident by each game against FBS team, including Wake and Duke. The last two have been an absolute disaster. I like Swepson and want to believe he can do the job, but each season the win total goes down so does my support. I wouldn't claim to know what to do, but losing saps support among all constituencies (I recall the Hamilton years). I do not know if it is really fair to rank or evaluate our football program vs our FBS opponents solely. And also over a several year stretch. I think our conference record is a more accurate litmus test no doubt this marker is not as good as 2008-09 but only the National Championships teams were ranked better. I agree this season if the record is not good We should cut bait and Go after the best "winning" head coach We can find. And I have no clue who that might be.
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Post by elon2000 on Sept 3, 2013 23:39:51 GMT -5
I was at the game Saturday and the amount of loyal fans that are frustrated by both Swepson and Blank was impressively alarming. Blank makes no effort to interact with loyal fans supporting their team. Twice now I have traveled to see Elon play and when Blank sees me he makes no effort to say hello to a Elon fan. I also learned this weekend that Swepson never moved out of Raleigh upon getting the job. Power performance can be overlooked if there is a relationship between the team and its fans. The relationship starts with the leaders. Lembo and now Matheney are excelling at this and we support. Blank purposely leaves his email off the website. The Phoenix club refuses to follow thru on simple things such as calling you back to take your donation for your parking pass. Overall the leadership is awful. Running the clock is just another example of how Swepson is not a leader. It takes me 5 hours to drive in for home football games and yet I still purchased season tickets. After Saturdays examples of leadership I will throw my money and time away this season.
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Post by fc4life on Sept 4, 2013 9:49:14 GMT -5
I totally agree with Elon2000's comments on Blank.
I have been a loyal donor/alum/former athlete for over 20yrs. I have traveled thousands of miles to watch Elon play. I have, on many occasions, been right next to Blank and not once has he introduced himself. He makes zero effort to sell himself or the programs. He should be the biggest external cheerleader. Shaking hands and kissing babies should be his number one priority. Keegan and Miller do a fantastic job with the Phoenix Club. They go the extra mile with the resources they have. If people should have a gripe - it should be with Blank not the PClub staff.
Swepson was Blank's hire. He made the call. In the end, Swepson probably not ready for a HC position. Especially in a league like the SoCon. Jason had not been a coordinator at any level. It stinks that he had to learn on the job in a league like the SoCon. Not to mention following a guy like Pete. There are few coaches in the country at any level that compare to Pete. We can't compare the two. Blank is the one we should question.
In defense of Swepson not moving - a coaches life is rough. He had a daughter in high school and the real estate market had not been easy to move a house. I can understand the motives there. He has however, been external. I know he had made at least three trips to DC for the Alumni Golf Tourney. He is as good a guy you could ever ask for. Pete set such a high bar for community involvement. Matheny learned from Pete and had done great. Winning cures all. I really hope that Swepson gets it going. He has a great staff and continuity helps. I may sound crazy but I think coaches need four years unless programs are out of control off the field. I'm as frustrated as anyone on this board at our fall. I just hope things turn around. Our team is really young and they do have some talent. If you look at our team - it was not in the greatest shape roster-wise when Swepson took over. Pete's last few classes had lots of misses and a ton of players left the program.
I'm always a half-full type of person. Let's see where this ends up at the end of the year.
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Post by elon77 on Sept 4, 2013 9:59:24 GMT -5
After seeing the rest of the scores around the SoCon this weekend I will be disapointed if there aren't more victories than last year. Talk about an ugly weekend for a football league. I guess Appstate couldn't raise his head to high.
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Post by whoanellie on Sept 4, 2013 12:46:44 GMT -5
I was at the game Saturday and the amount of loyal fans that are frustrated by both Swepson and Blank was impressively alarming. Blank makes no effort to interact with loyal fans supporting their team. Twice now I have traveled to see Elon play and when Blank sees me he makes no effort to say hello to a Elon fan. I also learned this weekend that Swepson never moved out of Raleigh upon getting the job. Power performance can be overlooked if there is a relationship between the team and its fans. The relationship starts with the leaders. Lembo and now Matheney are excelling at this and we support. Blank purposely leaves his email off the website. The Phoenix club refuses to follow thru on simple things such as calling you back to take your donation for your parking pass. Overall the leadership is awful. Running the clock is just another example of how Swepson is not a leader. It takes me 5 hours to drive in for home football games and yet I still purchased season tickets. After Saturdays examples of leadership I will throw my money and time away this season. I concur and have been treated the same way as well. Unless you give I guess a boat load of $$$$$$ you just do not count very much to them.
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Post by oldfan on Sept 4, 2013 13:20:41 GMT -5
fc4life quote Swepson was Blank's hire. He made the call. In the end, Swepson probably not ready for a HC position. Especially in a league like the SoCon. Jason had not been a coordinator at any level. It stinks that he had to learn on the job in a league like the SoCon. Not to mention following a guy like Pete. There are few coaches in the country at any level that compare to Pete. We can't compare the two. Blank is the one we should question. I totally agree with this. I have said before that it's not Swepson's fault. He applied for the job and Blank hired him. If you recall Swepson was hired late in the process. There was a lot of interest in the Elon HC job from established HC's and coordinators due to the prominence of the school, the conference and the quality of the FB program that Lembo created. Those established coaches were either passed over, not interviewed or, flat out turned the job down after their interview with Blank.This was a very desirable coaching job back then but when some of these coaches saw what they would have to deal with, they bailed. Swepson was probably surprised when he got the job. I too believe he was not prepared. Think back at how long it took he to assemble a staff. An established HC or Coordinator would have a list of asst. ready to come on board. Not so here. We could go on and on but I believe the finger should point in the direction of Blank ( what an appropriate name) Read more: elonphans.proboards.com/thread/2953/fire-swepson?page=2#ixzz2dwqyXw3D
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Post by elon1985 on Sept 4, 2013 17:31:50 GMT -5
Our first ever game against an FBS program was with a freshman QB and we played well, losing if I remember correctly 23-13. How far down the program has fallen is relatively evident by each game against FBS team, including Wake and Duke. The last two have been an absolute disaster. I like Swepson and want to believe he can do the job, but each season the win total goes down so does my support. I wouldn't claim to know what to do, but losing saps support among all constituencies (I recall the Hamilton years). I do not know if it is really fair to rank or evaluate our football program vs our FBS opponents solely. And also over a several year stretch. I think our conference record is a more accurate litmus test no doubt this marker is not as good as 2008-09 but only the National Championships teams were ranked better. I agree this season if the record is not good We should cut bait and Go after the best "winning" head coach We can find. And I have no clue who that might be. Didn't mean that it should be the only calculus to evaluate, but one of many. I was responding to the post that showed we have played two games against FBS programs and have been outscored 0-162...that's not good. Regarding other posts noting Blank's indifference, I have to agree with those. But, I would also add that there seems to be such turnover with the Phoenix Club that I feel the connections to many long-time supporters and donors has also slipped as well. Not to toot my own horn, but I've been a season ticket holder for years, giving to the athletic foundations since I graduated in 1985, yet no one now knows my name, there's very little outreach for folks not in the immediate area. In other words, the growth has also meant that the connections many alumni have had have been lost during the last few years. I reduced my season tickets from 4 to 2 this year and no one asked why, no one seemed to care. Maybe they shouldn't care, but I get the feeling that strong relationships are only for the few, not the masses. Sorry for griping.
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Post by phoenixcity on Sept 5, 2013 12:36:38 GMT -5
This weekend Towson beat UConn, W&M and Nova were competitive against their BCS opponents, McNeese wins by 30 over South Florida, EWU beats OSU, EIU beats San Diego State by 20+, etc. The list goes on and on. I didn't expect Elon to beat GT and didn't expect to win at UNC last year, but I expect more than 62-0 and 70-0. These are not scores indicative of a team ready to compete for FCS championships. Under Lembo we were all excited about these BCS matchups (USF, Duke, Wake) and under Swepson we're asking why we even scheduled them (Vandy, UNC, GT). That says a lot. The month of September will be big for Swepson to make his case. Go Phoenix! I couldn't agree more. Have faith my friend, we have, West Virginia State on the horizon. What a joke!
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Post by phoenixcity on Sept 5, 2013 12:46:52 GMT -5
I hope I'm wrong, but I don't have a good feeling about Saturday's contest against WV Wesleyan. I think we will pull off the win, but I don't think it'll be the cake walk it should be when D1 athletes suit up against D2/D3 teams. What I witnessed at Ga. Tech was more than just a butt-cutting; Elon lacked passion, fire, motivation. Don't really know how to describe it except they just appeared defeated from the onset. Anyone who has played this game can attest that there is more to it than just being big, fast, tough (which, by the way, we also lack), but the mental aspect is also significant. I just hope we can make something good out of this season. Here's to a win on Saturday...go Phoenix!
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Post by phightingphoenix1 on Sept 5, 2013 17:16:49 GMT -5
Good to see Elon getting press in Sports Illustrated. In the "Go Fig" section it has "70- 0" in large print. Then goes on to say, "Score of Georgia Tech's victory against Elon last Saturday - the largest winning margin ever for an ACC school."
...... so proud....
Just wished they would have accepted continuous clock request (if true) by coaching staff so it would have been only a 63 - 0 loss.
That defeatest attitude REALLY sticks in my crawl...
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Post by phoenixla on Sept 5, 2013 18:59:50 GMT -5
Our first ever game against an FBS program was with a freshman QB and we played well, losing if I remember correctly 23-13. How far down the program has fallen is relatively evident by each game against FBS team, including Wake and Duke. The last two have been an absolute disaster. I like Swepson and want to believe he can do the job, but each season the win total goes down so does my support. I wouldn't claim to know what to do, but losing saps support among all constituencies (I recall the Hamilton years). I do not know if it is really fair to rank or evaluate our football program vs our FBS opponents solely. And also over a several year stretch. I think our conference record is a more accurate litmus test no doubt this marker is not as good as 2008-09 but only the National Championships teams were ranked better. I agree this season if the record is not good We should cut bait and Go after the best "winning" head coach We can find. And I have no clue who that might be. That was no slouch South Florida team either. They had Michael Jenkins covering Hudgins, George Selvie at DE, Matt Grothe at QB, and stud RB Mike Ford. We were down 7-3 at halftime and their crowd was in shock. Were down 21-13 in the 4th and they scored late to ice it 28-13. That USF team went on to upset #13 Auburn and #5 West Virginia, and premiered in the BCS Poll at #2. And Riddle was a a true freshman having only been in the offense two weeks. Sorry to reminisce. From the games I've managed to make it to, the most disappointing thing is that these kids don't have close to the discipline and heart that Lembo's teams brought to the table. Lembo and his staff were so strict and organized that going down early or playing in a tight game late in the 4th quarter didn't phase them or the team. Their teams had resilience.
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Post by ElonPhan on Sept 6, 2013 10:55:57 GMT -5
Hope the $250K was worth the embarrassment.
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Post by phoenix11 on Sept 7, 2013 11:16:49 GMT -5
Hope the $250K was worth the embarrassment. There is no amount of money that can overcome a 70-0 defeat. I read an article saying Ga Tech had more interception return yards than we had passing yards...173 interception return yards i believe it was. I was embarrassed wearing my Elon shirt on the way back from that game and I have a feeling that will be the case for most of this season. Blank needs to go. Swepson needs to go. ASAP
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