The Future of Furman Football

[purplehorse123]

This is not a “one bad game” discussion.

2023 was a special year with effects of Covid, lots of seniors etc. We made it to the quarterfinals as everyone knows and lost to Montana. This is our 3rd year of mediocrity in a row. I think at our level we are much more likely to just “keep on keeping on” than do something drastic.

I am not blaming Clay Hendrix as maybe it is multifactorial and no one else could do much better. I have often thought this over the past 35 years or so after our 1998 NC and with other Furman coaches.

I know several folks who are die hard Furman fans who in the last year or two no longer get Furman. football tickets and many more folks who have done the same over the years. I worry about this when we are at the FCS level and are not putting a quality product on the field. It is an uphill battle when there are so many competing sports options.

It seems our only hope moving forward is to put a quality product on the field .

[gofurman]

This is not a “one bad game” discussion.

2023 was a special year with effects of Covid, lots of seniors etc. We made it to the quarterfinals as everyone knows and lost to Montana. This is our 3rd year of mediocrity in a row. I think at our level we are much more likely to just “keep on keeping on” than do something drastic.

I am not blaming Clay Hendrix as maybe it is multifactorial and no one else could do much better. I have often thought this over the past 35 years or so after our 1998 NC and with other Furman coaches.

I know several folks who are die hard Furman fans who in the last year or two no longer get Furman. football tickets and many more folks who have done the same over the years. I worry about this when we are at the FCS level and are not putting a quality product on the field. It is an uphill battle when there are so many competing sports options.

It seems our only hope moving forward is to put a quality product on the field .

Maybe the weather but it didn’t look like TTU had many fans even though supposedly top 10 ?

[FU3]

One thing the basketball programs recent success has shown is that if you provide a fun quality product fans and students will attend. We have averaged around 9100 fans this year with a struggling football team. (the majority of the SoCon would be giddy with those numbers).There is no over arching reason Furman can’t be a success on a consistent basis at this level

[The Jackal]

Unfortunately we are back to having to rebuild again.

I don't know what the answer is, but it feels like watching the same game every week. The ineptitude of the offense is just inexcusable. If you can't score, you can't win football games.

It feels like the offensive side of the ball has to be rebuilt from the ground up. No part of the offensive scheme or system looks good.

I'll say it again, but ever since we jettisoned 21 personnel for a bunch of zone spread, we've sucked.

[El Guapo]

The future of Furman football is this: Make significant changes and become a high level FCS football program that can legitimately compete for national titles or go ahead and direct all funds to basketball and play pioneer league. There simply isn’t any market or incentive to gain new interest in a mediocre to poor FCS program no matter the tradition, family friendly experience, facilities, etc. It is hard enough for high level programs to generate that interest with Power 4 conferences and the proliferation on NIL . Nobody, save a dwindling few like me who grew up on FU football, is going to care about a team who can’t win at a subdivision level. Nobody. Jason Donnelly, let’s be honest with ourselves followed by getting serious. Then let’s get this right and start our way back to the top.

[fu77fan]

You cannot win football games if you don’t score touchdowns.

It is the same story week after week!

Sad !

Frustrating as a fan !

I am glad basketball season is already here.

[Paladin68]

I almost didn't buy my season tickets this year, but finally decided to hoping things were going to get better. The season has been really frustrating. I like Coach Hendrix but he is the man in charge and it may be time to make a tough decision to move on.

[apaladin]

I almost didn't buy my season tickets this year, but finally decided to hoping things were going to get better. The season has been really frustrating. I like Coach Hendrix but he is the man in charge and it may be time to make a tough decision to move on.

Same here. To tell you the truth I had to make myself go to the WC game. FU football used to be fun, unfortunately it is no longer fun. The offense is the worst I have ever seen in all my years. We are competitive but not good enough to win in a bad league which is very sad. Will I renew my season tickets next year? Very doubtful.,

[Affirm]

Something positive about this season.
We beat the Sagarin top-rated SoCon team, Mercer by 7 at Mercer.
We lost to the Sagarin 2nd highest rated SoCon team, Tennessee Tech, by only 5 at Tennessee Tech.
Today’s Sagarin is not published yet, but I will not be surprised if we stay at our previous rating in Sagarin.
Mercer and Tennessee Tech are each rated far above Furman.

[fu77fan]

At the beginning of the season, I was cautiously optimistic. That ship has sailed.

Again you cannot win if you can’t score. We have only scored more than 20 points in one game , and in that game against Wofford, one TD was a pick 6 scored by the defense.

Anderson -20
Tenn -9
Mercer -20
SC State -17
Richmond-9
Wofford-25 (pick 6 by D)
Tn Tech -15 (Safety by the D)

We have averaged only about 15.5 points/game by the offense. There lies the problem.

The defense has played well enough to win .

Very disappointing!!

[Xcxc069]

My family has been buying Furman football and basketball season tickets since the 1970s. Sadly, after decades of supporting this football program, this will be my last year.

Ticket prices continue to rise, parking now costs $20, and the football program seems to be getting worse year after year. I have no problem paying more for tickets or even paying for parking if the product on the field justifies it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t, and doesn’t seem Furman University really cares about

It’s frustrating to see a program my family has supported for over 50 years heading in this direction. I never thought I’d reach the point where I no longer wanted to renew my season tickets, but here we are.

RIP Furman football. What a shame.

[Davemeister]

I don't think CCH is going to be fired at the end of the season.

What I think might happen is that VP-JD will ask CCH when he plans to retire and start working on a planned succession. Perhaps we will hire a new OC who is capable of being our next HC and follow the pattern Fla State used when it established Jimbo Fisher as heir apparent to Bobby Bowden.

On the other hand, if things continue to go downhill CCH could decide he's had enough and announce his retirement at the end of the year. I'm sure he is not enjoying this any more than we are.

[Paul C]

I don't think CCH is going to be fired at the end of
On the other hand, if things continue to go downhill CCH could decide he's had enough and announce his retirement at the end of the year. I'm sure he is not enjoying this any more than we are.

I’m SURE this is 10x harder on Clay than it is on us. And I hate that for him.

But it is what it is.

[FU3]

Happy to renew my tickets every year. Saturday’s in the fall with my family tailgating is something I look forward to most of the year.Cheap tickets compared to the rest of college athletics. Some of the same people saying Furman football is doomed to permanent irrelevance are the same ones who explained in great detail in years past why basketball would always be a losing proposition.I agree that changes may have to be made at some point but that is the nature of college athletics.
.

[Affirm]

Something positive about this season.
We beat the Sagarin top-rated SoCon team, Mercer by 7 at Mercer.
We lost to the Sagarin 2nd highest rated SoCon team, Tennessee Tech, by only 5 at Tennessee Tech.
Today’s Sagarin is not published yet, but I will not be surprised if we stay at our previous rating in Sagarin.
Mercer and Tennessee Tech are each rated far above Furman.

We have now risen in Sagarin compared to our ranking in Sagarin last week!!!!!