George O'Leary Sells UCF Out to "Gator-Knights", "Seminole-Knights", and Other Fictitious Fans
by Mengus22 on Jul 31, 2011 8:33 PM EDT
in Big East Expansion
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PrintGeorge O'Leary would be quote alright with you being a part time fan of UCF, if you'll only come to the games at the new Brighthouse Stadium. While UCF has been rumored to be a possible expansion candidate for the Big East, many outside of the Orlando are wonder how strong the devotion to UCF is in a state that already boasts four BCS automatic qualifying conference teams. How many people, even the ones that went to UCF, have a primary or sole devotion to UCF? The answer appears to be less than one might think. Or else, why would George O'Leary be doing this:
This year, head coach George O'Leary has a new plan to fill BHNS: invite the enemies and create hybrid fans. "You should be a Gator-Knight," O'Leary told an audience at the Rotary Club of Orlando.
"If the Gators aren't playing, we're the hometown team. I'm not telling you -- don't root for your team... But, Seminole-Knight, Hurricane-Knight. Support your hometown team."
The Knights have only been a Division-I team since 1996 and are playing 'catch-up' in several regards in comparison to the major football programs in the Sunshine State, especially the 'tradition' category.
"We've come a long way in a short period of time, we really have," said O'Leary in front of a crowd of about 75. "But, you have to get behind your hometown team."
This is the kind of statement that UCF detractors (like myself) will happily hold on to for future reference. It was just recently that Public Policy Polling conducted a poll that declared UCF the third most popular college football team in the state of Florida. A poll that Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi has used as justification for the Big East kicking out USF in favor of UCF, and the SEC booting Vanderbilt for the same. Mr. Bianchi, if the Knights aren't selling out their new stadium and have to ask people to be part time fans of UCF football, perhaps they're not quite as popular as you think.
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UCF is a huge joke of a community college.
Here’s a school who is 4-46 against schools from BCS conferences…they’re begging area schools to support them with attendance…people who support UCF like to claim it’s the 2nd largest school in the country, but fail to mention that it’s spread out around the state in about 4 different commuter locations. There is no history, no pride, and is largely a joke. This only adds to the ongoing comedy of Mickey Mouse U.
Some stats for you...
“In 2011, UCF was rated 33rd among the “Best Values in Public Colleges” in the United States by Kiplinger,] and as one of the “50 Best Value Public Universities” by USA Today and The Princeton Review. In its 2011 edition of Best Colleges, U.S. News & World Report ranks UCF 97th among public universities and 179th overall on the list of Tier I National Universities, in addition to being the seventh-best “Up-and-Coming” national university. UCF is also ranked as a “Best Southeastern College” by The Princeton Review."
also…
“In total, U.S. News and World Report ranked UCF’s engineering, education, speech-language pathology, public administration and computer science programs all within the top 100 in their respective fields, and five UCF programs as among the nation’s “Best Graduate Schools.”In 2010, the UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science was ranked 73rd nationally, while the College of Education was ranked 64thand the Physics program was ranked 86th in 2009. In 2011, the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA) was ranked 2nd in graduate video game design by the Princeton Review."
Not bad for a “huge joke of a community college”, eh? You dolt.
USNEWS Reality Check..
Go look up UCF, UofL, and USF in the USNews college rankings. Yeah USF and UofL are so much better than UCF. UofL is ranked right above UCF and USF is well below UCF. So if UCF is a community college what does that make you? Hum I guess Penn State is a Joke because they have campuses all accross the state. UCF only has some outreach campuses in central Florida. For example, you can’t get a degree in phyics or computer science or accounting or philosphy at a regional campus. Only about 7000 people attend one of the regional locations. Go make up…I mean find…another reason to hate UCF.
True Story
George O’Leary actually has a degree from the Florida State University at Gainesville. I"ve seen the transcript.
I have nothing to ask but that you would remove to the other side, that you may not, by intercepting the sunshine, take from me what you cannot give.
He has a Masters of Doctorate.
But it was from University of Notre Dame at Jerusalem I thought?
by SenatorGiggity on Aug 1, 2011 12:57 AM EDT up reply actions
The fact of the matter is this..
If you grow up in the state of Florida, chances are you will have an allegiance to a state college football team either by where you were born or where your parents went to school. Three powerhouse schools play in this state and have been playing here for quite a long time. UCF is a young school with an even younger new football program that has seen some success in a very short time. Building a fan base takes time, especially when people have generations of allegiances to teams. Once more alumni graduate from UCF and more people in the state recognize UCF as a legitimate football team, then the fan base will grow.
These things take time. UF, FSU and UM’s football programs were not popular from Day 1. These things took time. Give UCF time.
Go Knights!
As a Louisville Fan in a State Dominated by UK
I understand the need for time and the desire for people to be patient while you develop your own fanbase. But what Louisville never did was ask to borrow fans from someone else while they build.
How many fans did UofL average last year? How many did you average in C-USA? I think it’s funny that UofL fans are so high-and-mighty now that you arein the big east. It must be nice being in the best conference in the country and selling out every game with 90,000 fans….OH wait, never mind!
Still bitter?
Last thing UCF needs to do is take tips from Louisville Athletics. I guess you all are still bitter about losing out on several recruits to the non-AQ Knights.
I'd be worried about the NCAA for a couple of those recruits.
Voodoo Five
The Toughest Blog in America
by Ken DeCelles on Jul 31, 2011 11:31 PM EDT up reply actions
Several?
You mean DaMarcus Smith, who said going to UCF wasn’t his choice? Who has now landed your football program an investigation by the NCAA? Yeah, we’re real bitter about that up here.
by Mengus22 on Jul 31, 2011 11:42 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Your wrong Menges
As usual menges is spreading misinformation about UCF. DeMarcus came out and said he was proud to be a Knight and said that the story that came out about his recruitment was complete garbage. He said it was his choice, and his alone to come to UCF. But hey, don’t let facts get in the way of your hate! That being said, has UofL doubled its football attendance in 10 years? Has USF or any BE school doubled their football attendance in 10 years? No. UCF has and I think it’s an amazing feat. We don’t need or want part-time fans. In fact, we really don’t need O’Leary either. Let’s change our name back to Florida Tech, fire O’Leary and start a new era in Knight sports.
Menges is wrong
but Mengus22 is right
by ParadigmShift35 on Aug 1, 2011 10:01 AM EDT up reply actions
ALRIGHT
The next idiot UCF fan that claims to have stole a recruit is going to get hurt. You guys stole DaMarcus Smith’s mom and Micheal Prima Dona Chandler. We got our five star quarterback from Florida, along with about eight other players. You take your Kentucky kid. We’ll take the Florida boys.
"Rodney Purvis sucks!"
-Chicken Knowles
What a Joke
Remember a time when USF won a conference championship? Remember a time when USF beat Florida or Florida State? Remember when USF won a conference USA champioship? Remember when USF beat an SEC team in a bowl game? Me either.
We did beat Florida State. 2009 in fact. Can throw Miami in there as well
And Auburn in 2007 was a pretty awesome day
Voodoo Five
The Toughest Blog in America
Good Job
Your in a BCS conference beating BCS schools isn’t that to be expected, even if you barely beat a bad Miami and FSU?…..and Auburn. UCF beat Alabama in Alabama but they sucked……lol
Oh hey our 64-12 shellacking of the Knights was sold out
And the WVU game before that as well. Thanks for the great memories.
Voodoo Five
The Toughest Blog in America
lol
WOW, you mean you beat a really bad UCF team! That is so impressive USF! You sold out 2 whole games…big deal. UCF sold out against Texas and Miami. My point was that UCF haters expect us to sell out every game when they don’t even sell out all their own games. Our biggest problem is that UCF fans really don’t care about Marshall or UAB. They want to see BCS competition.
Really Bad?
First, let’s be clear. EVERY UCF team is really bad. You play nobodies and beat them 66% of the time.
And that “really bad team” had wunderkind Kevin Smith who went on to rush for over 2K yards that year. He just got his ass handed to him that day and was benched by the 2nd quarter for ineffectiveness.
That “really bad team” won your Conference title the year you got bitchslapped by 52 points by the Bulls.
That “really bad team” went to the Liberty Bowl for the first time that year and bored the entire nation to death with a 10-3 snoozer against a terrible Miss St. team.
You have 45K seats to sell. USF has 66K. I have no idea why your fans want to see BCS competition when you have like a 4% winning percentage against teams of that nature. Stick to FIU.
by USFBullWriter on Aug 1, 2011 10:12 AM EDT up reply actions
past
USF loves to live in the past. They call in there glory days.
He asked a couple questions
I answered them.
Really excited about the present and the future of USF and the Big East.
Voodoo Five
The Toughest Blog in America
by Ken DeCelles on Aug 1, 2011 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions
In his defense...
I think O’Leary meant to imply that it’s ok for FSU and UF fans to casually support UCF. Although, in typical O’Leary fashion he worded it in the worst way possible.
But..........
O’Leary keeps adding fodder for UCF haters. He only cares about attendance because it’s in his contract.
Hum Irish
Sooooooo glad the Irish didn’t get this clown. Took our lumps with crazy Ty, Charlie, and now I’m truly happy with BK.
Justified
great idea. I am more concerned about the person that put this article together. My 8th grader types better. Must be a USF Bull grad.
The UCF girl we just hired
lit her kitchen on fire. #JustSayin
by ParadigmShift35 on Aug 1, 2011 12:32 PM EDT reply actions
Good God, people.
Full disclosure: When it comes to Florida college football, I am a UCF fan first, though I will ALWAYS make an effort to watch USF games. Gator fans are probably the most annoying and simply awful people in the state (except for all the Ohio State transplants), people wearing Miami garb barely know it represents a school, so who knows what their fan base is like, and being that a trip to Tallahassee makes me think if being plopped down in the town from the movie The Experts, I just don’t care about the ’Noles.
Moving on… I have typed out a rambling bit of voice of reason babble:
USF, you’re in the Big East — an AQ conference that is collectively not very good.
UCF is in a non-AQ conference that is not-terrible for being a non-AQ. (CUSA should thank God for Sun Belt every morning)
USF, you’ll probably be the best, or second best (depending on WVU and Cincinnati) in your conference. This isn’t really saying much, and there are no reasons for anyone in the Big East to get on any high horses that have been left laying around.
As for what school is the best non-top tier team in Florida?
Who cares? This is like hearing kids argue over which dad has the cooler late 90’s car, is it the Honda, the Toyota. Winning this argument doesn’t mean anything to the kid who rides to school in a chromed-out Expedition (I assume that would be the SEC?). He still thinks your poor, but he’ll invite you over to swim in his pool once in a while.
That fact of the matter is this: you wouldn’t have so much contempt if you didn’t feel threatened by the other.
Considering the history and hype that surrounds the big 3 teams in Florida, and that state of Florida is always on the national radar as a hot spot for talent, it’s pretty impressive that USF, UCF, and FIU (yes, FIU is a notable team) end up with any of that talent that they do.
If we are going to type strongly worded comments on the internet, we should at least focus the hatred where it needs to be focused — at FAU, for no good reason whatsoever.
tell the Bi*ch to chill
You can be the fan of more than one team, happens all the time, unless it is something like FSU and UF then idk
I don't
Have any problem with soemone rooting for two teams, but when a coach is literally asking opposing fans to come to the stadium because they can’t fill it up, there is a problem.
"Rodney Purvis sucks!"
-Chicken Knowles
This is absurd
I can’t believe that UCF has to sink to this level in order to conjure up support for the program. After last season, there should be no need for this. This is why you won’t be in the Big East UCF. And no, Bianchi is wrong if he thinks we’re kicking out USF for you or the SEC is booting Vandy for you.
Cardiac Hill contributor
I understand what O'Leary is doing, but...
I don’t think we need to convince people to be fans. If we win on the field… people will come. Plain and simple. A writer for UCF athletics recently posted a really good article on UCF’s rise in attendance/fan support over the past 10 years. UCF is doing quite well, when compared to other programs in the country (minus the traditional powers). Even with the economic slump, UCF is posting better numbers than quite a few BCS schools.
With that said. If someone wants to come and support UCF… you’re more than welcome. Just don’t wear your UF/FSU/UM jersey to the games. ;)
by TheKingStampede on Aug 4, 2011 11:18 PM EDT reply actions
Its pathetic.
Theres nothing worse or more unappealing then self-hatred & insecurity!
Fact is, you play up the UCF brand, you bring the swag when discussing your team, even if you have to fake it til’ you make it! I’ve started small businesses from outta my garage- yet based on the way I approach potential clients, you’d think I had a staff of 100’s in a high-rise office building. Why, because I talked, acted, corresponded, and behaved that way. Therefore, everyone I dealt with responded in kind.
This move seems desperate & very unattractive for the UCF program- like you’re begging the cool kids to let you carry their coats or something!
Act like you belong, UCF…better yet, like you’ve been there before. Otherwise folks will conclude that you yourself don’t think you do!
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