“ I think you almost have to be a season ticketholder for football and/or basketball at UC Davis to feel a real connection to the athletic program if you're a not-so-recent alumna/us (with the exception being former student-athletes + coaches). It's really the only way the athletic dept will engage with you and of course even that is motivated by money on some level.”
Well without money we wouldn’t have an athletic department. I’ve been a season ticket holder for a long time and when i compare UCD development to other programs I’m involved with i don’t feel a squeeze. But i think they do reach out to the community in general. For example the Aggie Fall Fest, https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2022/7/22/athletics-aggie-fall-fest-set-for-aug-19, is a free community event for fans.
I have a hard time putting my finger on it, but many of todays students seem to have different priorities when it comes to sports than many of us had back in the day. The toomb would be filled to capacity, the student section would be packed, and they were loud. I guess between the portal and NIL, it will be interesting to see where we are in 10 years.

“ I think you’ll see a new approach in the running game this year. No more trying to outmuscle the other team, and instead using our quickness to our advantage.”
Wasn’t that our approach during the D2 days? Maybe Hawk adjusts his offense based on the cards he’s holding. We went to that fast paced no huddle offense then abandoned it. It seems we did well with it as i recall.

“ But I think we get beat in the trenches against the good teams. If we want to be good we need to improve in a lot of areas.”

At the first signing party after Hawk was hired, he made a point of saying that we needed size up front to compete with the top tier teams. He also said that process was going to take time, it wasn't going to happen overnight.

Gilliam’s numbers were off last season, and i always wondered if the OL and QB situation made us so predictable the D could stack the box and shut him down. Did that play a role in him entering the portal?

All i can say is we better beat SLAC this year. And we have them at their place.

Well, at least you’d discover if there was some criminal background.

Wow. You’d think they would have run a background check before hiring him. Heck, i do a background check on renters before renting to them. Most companies do the same.

Hunter graduated. Somebody said he is playing overseas.

“ Thursday 12/29 @ Hawaii”

Watch the Aggies then spend New Years eve in Hawaii! Sounds like a plan (wink).

Very cool. Did you enter the rib competition at the Aggie tailgate several years ago? I did ribs and entered for the AST tailgate. We didn’t win anything, but had a lot of fun.

“The Pac-12 Conference headquarters cost the conference $6.9 million in rent in the last reported fiscal year. They’re also carrying $11.7 million in deferred rent.”

Wow, thats crazy. Maybe they’d save money by moving the office to Rio Linda .

My first thought was that Cal was coming to Davis .

And not a word in that article about academics or earning an education. Sad.

Agreed. “Cal Davis” just smells too much like Berkeley’s little brother.

I did a MS before going into professional school. I had good grades, but from what i saw a prof had to have room and funding to take on a grad student. Knowing people in the department and especially the prof, made the process seamless. Maybe social studies disciplines are different. But i totally agree UCD academic standards are going to limit graduate level football transfers.

This whole thing is a total embarrassment. Like i said earlier, somebody needs to get fired. Not 20-20 hindsight. Totally preventable. Sad example of event planning.

We moved early fall football games to 7pm. Why wouldn’t the event planning folks learn from that and plan an outside summer time graduation to evening? Somebody needs to be fired over this.

Both Coach Les and Hawk addressed the portal briefly. Les did comment on the pros and cons. The pro being ,(and I am really paraphrasing to remember exactly how he outlined it), to bring in players that he normally would not have access to. The big con being bringing in players that have potential, investing in them and developing them into division 1 athletes, then loosing them to one of the big schools. But both coaches I thought were upbeat about that issue and the emerging NIL. The take home message for me was that all the schools are dealing with the same issues and basically be prepared to deal with it.

My wife and I attended the event last night. It was a long day for us, the coaches event from 4-6 followed by an election party that went late bc of slow returns.
Scott Marsh was the MC. It was a small event, maybe 15-20 not including the athletic staff and coaches. It was held at the CBRE office just west of the capitol. It had to be the best view in Sacramento hosted by a former Aggie basketball player.
It was a great opportunity to visit with the coaches. Then each coach addressed the gathering outlining where they were at and future plans. I was itching to ask Hawk about the QB situation but he beat me to it. Briefly, the starter has not emerged. In Hawk fashion, he talked about student athletes and the big picture in developing them to be their best. He talked about former players in the pros. Then he addressed the emerging NIL situation and how that will affect recruiting for all teams.
Coach Les talked about the portal but did say he farmed it for 4 players that he expects will be impact players for us. BTW, I’ve never had a chance to personally visit with him before. My wife and I really enjoyed chatting with him and found him to be very gracious.
Tracy Hamm (soccer) and Tommy Nicholson (baseball) were both totally impressive. I hope we can keep both for a long time. They are certainly going places.
Coach Jen didn’t make it.

Will do.

I signed up for the Sac stop. Should be fun.