[NU Sports] Ryan Field fans ... (fwd)

[Mike Nolan]

> I live in the Seattle area and here UW is similar in size and impact as dOSU or UNL.  The stadium seats around 80K and is mostly full even in bad years.    In good years a tickets can't be had.  Seattle has all the pro sports plus WSU in Eastern Washington and there's also lots of interest in high school football.   It must be the state school thing as many of the fans never attended UW.  

The only streak worth mentioning in Lincoln anymore is the NCAA-record 
sellout streak, which dates back to 1963, when JFK was president.  It 
might not survive next season when 6000 more seats become available due 
to stadium expansion.  (I was concerned it might not survive this
stadium expansion before the Huskers fell apart.)

Hopefully support remains strong for UW this year, because they're
having huge problems on the field and so far Tyrone Willingham hasn't 
proven the answer to them.  The Apple Bowl may be a horrible finish to a
disastrous season.  (Tyrone wasn't the answer people were looking for
in South Bend, either, and I'm still not sure how much of that was his
fault.)

I hope Northwestern doesn't go too far out on a limb with RW.  Yes, I
think he has earned a reasonable contract extension, but that doesn't
mean a lifetime deal like the Domers just gave their first-year coach,
and probably not the kind of deal Gary B insisted on (and then abrogated)
either.

Given that the Alvarez retirement is already old news, and JoePa seems
to have recharged his batteries for another few years, are any other
Big 10 coaches likely to retire, quit or be fired?

I can't see Purdue giving up on Tiller, it's still a bit too soon to
make changes at Indiana or Illinois, I don't see Michigan dumping Carr,
and that suggests that the only coach who might be on the bubble is 
Smith at MSU.  (Nobody else wants Glen Mason, nobody's going to be able 
to afford to hire Ferentz away from Iowa.)
--
Mike Nolan