I was reading the article “How to Save Hornet Football” in the Nov. 9 issue of The State Hornet and since I thought someone playing NCAA Football on PS2 would have a better idea of how to build a program I wanted to throw in my 2 cents. Not that I am the next great athletic director, but many of the things I would do seem so obvious and they just can’t be overlooked. Building a successful athletic program would help the school in so many ways, not just sports; it just doesn’t make sense as to why more attention hasn’t been paid to it. There are so many things that need to be done, and so many pieces would need to fall just right for Sac State to become a football powerhouse.

(Hornet writers) Tyler Stalker and Matt Vevoda brought up some very good, creative ideas. They just didn’t seem realistic at all.I also think they were asked the wrong question because I really don’t think that there was a program to save. Instead, the question should have been “How to Build Sac State Football.”Do you really want to “save” a .500 (on a good season) program. Since 1990, Sac State has been over .500 only four times and had 8 wins just once. Not exactly a dynasty.

Stalker I think brings up the most important point, which is recruiting.There is no way, that in the near future, Sac State is going to be able to hold on to the top local talent.Just like the Clippers from years past, people don’t want to play here if there is anywhere else better. I can’t say that I blame them either, our football stadium is about as modern as an 8-track player. High school athletes have dreams, no matter how far fetched, of playing in the NFL. So why would a Tyler Ecker, who graduated from Oak Ridge, want to stay here ?” turning down a full ride to Michigan – when the top receiver in the program’s history, Fred (sorry Otis) Amey barely made the 49ers roster as an undrafted free agent?

The only way that Sac State football is going to improve is by spending money.We need a better football stadium, better workout facilities, better locker rooms and basically all of the other things that will make the school visually appealing. Also, hiring a big name coach would help land those recruits needed to build the program.We need to show recruits that we are serious about building a program since we don’t have the prestige of the other major schools in the country.

In this age of Arnold bashing and budget cuts, where would the money come from? Most schools do this through ticket sales and alumni support, neither of which Sac State has very much of. One of our biggest financial athletic supporters (and after whom our current stadium is named), Alex Spanos, didn’t even go to our school.Being a commuter school, we don’t seem to have the school spirit and pride of other successful athletic programs. Students are busy with work and their lives and aren’t involved with every day student life which then carries on after graduation. They lose touch with the school. When we had homecoming a couple weeks ago, I didn’t find out it was homecoming week until Thursday.On the other hand, I was at the USC/Washington State homecoming game in LA on Halloween weekend, and there were more people at the mini band concerts around campus before the game than I have seen at Sac State football games period.You are going to have to spend school money to get both of the other (that is ticket sales and alumni support). Sacramento has proven it has good sports fans through the Kings, so if the program were ever to improve and had a nice place to watch a game, as the movie “Field of Dreams” says, “They will come.”

You don’t think if Sac State started drawing even 30,000 people a game that it wouldn’t help the school in more than just sports? Having a strong school spirit, which usually comes directly from sports, would help the school in so many ways and would justify spending school funds for a new stadium and other facilities.People that are behind their school would be more apt to give money back to the school after graduation as well as build the base for who would want to go to the school. More, so most likely better, students would apply and raise the level of academics in the school as well.

Building a program would not be easy, but would be beneficial in so many ways to the school. It can be done, we would just have to pull out those checkbooks and allow for a couple years for things to fall in place. We may never get to the level of a USC or UCLA but we can still get to a Fresno State level within 10-15 years if things were done right.