Saturday night (Nov. 22) as my wife, son and I were walking out of Bowers stadium, I was studying the faces of the SH fans on the ramp.

I saw no traces of anything closely resembling any emotion about the game. Nothing. I saw the same sort of look you see when you study people leaving an office building after a day of work; “Ho hum, just another boring day at work …just another defeat for the Bearkats. Wonder what’s for dinner?”

The SHSU football program is currently so mired in mediocrity that most of our fans seem numb to the idea that failure should not be the norm.

The whole situation surrounding this program is a major disappointment and an embarrassment.

The “fan base,” what little there is, seems totally disinterested in the game itself. The game day atmosphere is sterile at best and the student body appears to be largely disinterested in whether the Kats win, lose or even play. Their lack of attendance at the games speaks volumes.

There are some non-student fans (whoever they are) that do turn out to some degree. However, for the life of me I can’t tell why. They refuse to cheer for the team, regardless of how critical the situation is on the field. If you stand and yell your support for the Kats some people will actually tell you to sit down!

If this were to happen to me, as it has to others, I would want to scream; “My gosh … sorry I interrupted your nap, but now that you are awake; maybe we can get you interested in the game? Perhaps I can run up to the concession stand and see if they have a bottle of Geritol for you.”

The fact that a couple hundred fans from Texas State University – San Marcos came to Bowers and out cheered our whole stadium also speaks volumes. Congrats to them; they are doing so,ething right to get their fans involved over there.

However I didn’t take the time to write all of this just to rail about the fans, because I am convinced that nothing is a better balm for what ails this program than a steady dose of winning.

I think if we had a program that was competitive for the majority of the time that any group of students are at SHSU, in other words more than one year every four or five years, a fan base would begin to develop. As it is, students come to a game or two and after seeing nothing to get excited about never come back.

I am not claiming that I have all the answers or even any definitive answers on how to turn this ship. I do know that our football team is dying a slow death as it is and something has to change if we ever want this program to be the positive public relations tool for SHSU that it should, and could be.

We are not a wealthy school. We have to get the most bang for the buck possible in everything we do. However, our “bang meter” is running a serious deficit in this area.

Oh and to anyone that would hammer on me for being an “outsider,” let me say that in the 31 years since Donna and I graduated from Sam we have been season ticket holders probably 10 to 12 years.

In the other years, when other commitments prevented us from being on our beloved campus five times or so in the fall we nearly always found a way to take in at least a game or two per season. We have seen a whole bunch of Kat football games over the years, and not just at Bowers either. We support SHSU and The Bearkats. Do you?

Let me make this perfectly clear; we only want what is best for our entire athletic department (including football) and SHSU in general. We want to retire to Walker County.

We want to be on campus, we want to be involved. We want to be excited about the wonderful things that are coming down the road for everything associated with our alma mater.

Folks, trust me, what we have currently in this football program isn’t exciting anybody.



Stephen (1977&’78) and Donna (1977) Rogers

Bellville