MAC Media Day

[The_Sackman]

Reghi is the best. No one loves the conference more. No one.

[NESCACDAD]

What kind of message does it send to potential recruits? The MAC is 17-37 in bowl games during the past 10 years - mostly against our G5 peers. So much for blue collar power!

This is something the MAC PR staff can control. They should have done the advance work yesterday and taken care of making the stage presentable. Hell! They’re right there in Cleveland.

Unacceptable - just like the MAC website.

[Bash_Riprock]

If a potential recruit gets his nose bent out shape over a podium he can go else where as far as I’m concerned.

[NESCACDAD]

They apparently do. Good ones. To places like North Dakota State and James Madison. The MAC is the Yugo parked in the FBS country club parking lot. At least wash it before taking it to the party.

[Bash_Riprock]

Can you name the North Dakota State and James Madison signees who refused to sign with a MAC team over a podium? I’m curious to know who they are.

[YellowNumber5]

Tut-Tut. On the way to taking my son to camp, I saw a brand new Tesla drive by with a colossal dent in the side and I didn’t think “that car sure looks rugged.” I think from a branding standpoint the MAC needs help. Positioning the conference as renegade/pirates is comically off.
But…I do admire the effort. Put, another way, if I was single, I’d position myself as a bouncy house/bouncy castle to every lady I met. “I’m not overweight. I’m a theme park of bouncy fun!” Hmmm…maybe this pirate thing isn’t so bad.

[coachdadjc]

2022 Media poll for football:

East Division (first place votes)

1. Miami (20) – 139 points
2. Kent State (3) – 116 points
3. Buffalo – 78 points
4. Ohio – 72 points
5. Bowling Green (1) – 71 points
6. Akron – 28 points

West Division (first place votes)

1. Northern Illinois (11) – 122 points
2. Toledo (9) – 120 points
3. Central Michigan (4) – 112 points
4. Western Michigan – 56 points
5. Eastern Michigan – 52 points
6. Ball State – 42 points

MAC Champion Votes: Northern Illinois (9), Toledo (6), Miami (5), Central Michigan (4)

Just in case anyone forgot, the 2021 MAC football champ NIU was picked to finish last in the west.

[The_Sackman]

Northern was a fluke last year and Toledo always chokes so bet on the other teams in the West.

[NESCACDAD]

None specifically but NDSU presents itself very professionally and is probably only stil in FCS because of its remote location and small indoor stadium. JMU has been doing everything right the past few years. That’s why they drew the attention of the Sun Belt - Sun as in Fun Belt. I think the MAC would be better off not trying to identify as a Rust Belt league. And Miami has never been “Blue Collar.”

[NESCACDAD]

Agree. I think we can win it all if our O Line protects Bret and our rebuilt and untested Defensive backfield doesn’t get everything thrown over it’s head by a few pretty good QB. I also think we stand a chance of pulling an upset in Evanston. Don’t lose at BG!

[Redsea]

I would argue that “Maction” has been a better marketing gimmick than “Funbelt”

[The_Sackman]

I’ll take it even further. MACtion is one of the best marketing ideas in college sports (old traditionalists be damned).

[NESCACDAD]

Agree that MACtion is great but the emphasis is on fast-moving, high-scoring, suspenseful football, not on a mundane lunch-pail, old-fashioned and plodding game.

But the Belt is moving past the MAC in the American college football psyche. It actually passed us on the field within the past 10 years. Their recent choice of expansion teams generated a lot of buzz throughout the South.

[JiveHawk]

I’m trying to find a single recruit that picked JMU or NDSU over Miami period, let alone over a podium. Those are two programs that have done a good job of out-developing players compared to their peers.

[NESCACDAD]

There’s a reason Oregon - out in timber country - developed a glittery image with multiple classy uniforms and built football and track palaces. It’s to attract young players to bright shiny objects. In the MAC, that concept is why PJ established the Row the Boat gimmick and why Miami shines far brighter than let’s say Akron or Ball State. Miami is the “Stanford of the MAC” and we not so subtly trade on that image. That is far from Blue Collar and it’s why we’ve been so successful throughout our history. Eastern Michigan, Akron and Kent are blue collar. I don’t think they should be the poster children for the MAC nor that we should fashion the MAC image in theirs. I don’t think “banged-up lunch boxes, blue collars and dented podiums” sells to today’s student athlete.

[YellowNumber5]

I want it noted in my year end posting review I only wrote the podium joke to try to make people laugh. Instead, I caused mayhem and confusion. This all reminds me of my wedding night.

Also Mac commissioner: if you are gonna do pirates, you gotta own pirates. I need puffy shirts, and eye patches/peg legs. Also, every question should be answered either “Ay”, “Aye”, or “Arr”. Because the pirate alphabet has only 3 letters.

[redskin89]

So, who messed up the Fatheads on the front of the House of Blues? Instead of a picture of Ryan McWood, who has actually played in games and there are plenty of pictures of him in a game uniform in action, the MAC puts a Fathead of his brother in a practice uniform instead. To me, that is a bit worse than a beat up podium.

[NESCACDAD]

There is no end to the sloppy amateurism in the MAC PR department! It’s astounding! One screwup just builds on the next. At least they finally put the MAC website on the same platform as the MAC schools.

[richard]

If your main complaint during the MAC Media days is a check notes podium at a restaurant that doubles as a live music club, then that’s the least of the conference’s concerns.

[Bash_Riprock]

I hear the Sun Belt has the best podiums among the G5.