It’s been 15 years since Marshall Faulk graduated from San Diego State and left the school as the greatest football player in the history of the program. He’d go on to play in the NFL for the Colts and Rams and basically redefine what a running back could be in the league. He’s since retired, and is now awaiting his eventual induction into the NFL Hall of Fame. Unfortunately for San Diego State, their football program has not followed the same path as Mr. Faulk. They haven’t played in a bowl game since the 1998 Las Vegas Bowl, and haven’t won a bowl game since 1969’s Pasadena Bowl. In the last five years the team has compiled a record of 18-41, and things don’t seem to be getting any better even with the hiring of Brady Hoke from Ball State.
Which is why Mark Zeigler’s column in the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE this morning so interesting. In the piece, Zeigler makes a pretty good argument for why the school should just cut its losses and drop the football program all together. Considering that the school loses about $4 million annually running the program, doesn’t have it’s own stadium, and Qualcomm Stadium doesn’t really want them back since they lose money hosting games, there are plenty of reasons — those three are just a start — why dropping the program would be the smart thing to do. Of course, writing a column saying that a school should drop football will no doubt cause quite an uproar amongst the school’s fans, right? Well, apparently not.
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Posted by
Brooks on Dec. 03, 2008, 8:17pm
I was listening to XPRS-AM in San Diego today and they were discussing the hiring of the next San Diego State football coach (I know, stay with me on this though…)
(Only thing missing in the pic is the leather helmet)
Afternoon host Darren Smith pointed out, apparently from a piece today in the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, that the school had hired a search firm to help identify candidates for the *plum* position. He then noted that the company, called Parker Executive Search, had a website that listed some of the coaches and schools the firm as connected.
One of those wonderful marriages arranged (and duly noted) by PES? Kelvin Sampson and Indiana.
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Posted by
jason on Nov. 13, 2008, 5:30pm
The San Diego State Aztecs are in a world of hurt. Not only is the football team on its way to finishing another awful season, the school is losing a lot of money in the process. In fact, there’s a chance the Aztecs may lose the use of city-owned Qualcomm Stadium for its home games.
Luckily for SDSU, there appears to be one profitable solution on the horizon. And all the Aztecs have to do is to perform a task they’ve been able to accomplish quite well this year - just lose to Utah this weekend.
Wait, what? Read more…
Posted by
Adam J on Oct. 21, 2008, 2:00pm
Oh, that we could live half the life Dennis Green has led. He’s been an CFL tailback, NCAA and NFL coach, CEO, philosopher, and warrior-poet. Hell, he’s even got an autobiography: No Room For Crybabies, But There’s Always Room For Jell-O. What would your autobiography be called? I Finished a Spreadsheet? And now, Green adds one more item to his life’s resume: college professor.
(”Yes, I will conduct this class in front of an NFL microphone. No, I don’t know why.”)
According to CBS MARKETWATCH, Green is teaching a sports business management course at San Diego State. It’s for SDSU’s MBA program, and they put out a press release for it, so this is hardly a matter of a man trying to excuse himself from the spotlight; Green’s actually a rather savvy self-promoter.
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Posted by
jason on Oct. 23, 2007, 9:19pm
FIRES EXTINGUISH SAN DIEGO STATE-BYU FOOTBALL GAME: With wildfires burning all around, the Chargers aren’t the only football team affected by the hazardous conditions:
The ASSOCIATED PRESS reports that San Diego State’s upcoming home game against BYU will be postponed. The Aztecs were to face the Cougars on Saturday at Qualcomm Stadium, but the Mountain West Conference decided to cancel the contest.Qualcomm has become an evacuation shelter for area residents fleeing the flames. As the Aztecs’ field is being used for more important matters, MWC officials also nixed the game over concerns about air quality (welcome to SoCal!), fan safety, and travel issues.
While the NFL figures out what to do about the Chargers- Texans game, San Diego State will now host BYU on Dec. 1.
Too bad Saturday’s game is kaput. The Cougars could have brought some snow from Provo to help cool things down.
