Not sure what year that was, but it was definitely band day and the west, east and north all packed. As Skin already noted, that empty spot in the East stands was where our band sits. The high school bands all sat in the south bleachers. Pretty sure all the bands counted as part of the attendance figures so there would have been something like 14,000 + total in the stands that day. Nice crowd!
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The weirdest thing about that picture is that everyone is in the stands for the band at halftime
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And all the band parents left after halftime.
I was thinking that it was surprising that the stadium was so full…I totally forgot that in addition to the band participants, most of their parents would also be on hand.
P.S. which leads me to ask why we don’t have Band Day anymore? Some of the Miami former band members on the Board may know the reason. Band Day sure seems like a “win win” proposition!
Surprisingly, not as many band parents attended as you may think. Note that the student sections are also mostly full during this show. Also there are empty parking spaces next to the dorm. No cars allowed for most students. Bring back band day!
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I’m somewhere in this pic in a white uniform!
For those who didn’t know what Band Day was, here’s an example.
As a band member, I remember they let us leave the stadium to go uptown to souvenir shop right after halftime. We had to be back in the stadium in one hour.
Nescadad: why was Band Day eliminated?
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Nobody seems to know why or when.
The story I heard years ago (secondhand, so discount as appropriate) was that after a change in band directors, the Miami band was no longer willing to take on the significant amount of extra work and planning needed to make high school band day a good event. There may have also been a bit of hubris about not needing it to fill up a Saturday game when we have fewer of those on the schedule in the November weeknight MACION era.
You can mark me down as someone who would like to see it return. Filling more seats at Yager is one benefit. But the bigger one is creating a positive experience and good impression of Miami with high school kids. I’m a big believer that the more you do that, the better future applicant pools will be.
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Band day is one, but reaching out to other associations and providing them with some kind of unique experience should be an on going initiative.
The irony is that we seldom sell out our Saturday games, either. Any Saturday game outside of Parents Weekend would be a good time for a Band Day. Pretty sure we can spare a few thousand seats for the band members and any parents that might attend.
We did it in the early 2000s with Dave Shaffer. Not sure what’s been going on lately
Did it through 2015, my senior year in the band. Dr. Lytle left a few years later, then I noticed we stopped doing band day under his replacement Dr. Johnson (or with her replacement Dr. Yahl so far). I think it’s a good way to put butts in the seats and a nice event to do for the students. It also doesn’t necessarily recruit a ton of prospective students and takes a lot of time/effort to prepare.
Trying to orient myself here, but that building looks a lot like Dorsey Hall, which would make Miami Field be on what’s now cook field, right? I don’t doubt those saying it was where Patterson hall is now, but I don’t know what other building that is, maybe that one’s gone now too…
Reid Hall - replaced by Farmer
It would fit perfectly into our FCS game week. A number of Ohio band directors were always Miami alums. They enjoyed bringing there bands to Oxford.
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Oh right, i see it now. I didn’t think Reid was that big! Thanks!
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Miami students have started a petition to “save cook field” which has gathered 1200 signatures in about a day. It will get thrown right in the trash
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