Pittsburgh, Penn. -- Women’s sports programs at Ohio University were almost drastically better than the men’s—at least in the winter.
But they received significantly less support than the men’s. Why?
If people want to see winning programs, why not invest more money into the winning programs? The women’s basketball program made history, and the men’s team struggled under first year coach, Saul Phillips.
”Bob’s Ballers,” as they are referred to, had a program-record 27 wins, and won the Mid-American Conference Tournament. They received an NCAA tournament bid for the first time in 20 years. But they still averaged less than 1,000 spectators a game (981).
Men’s, on the other hand, had a mere 10 wins and averaged over that (6,681). Why?
Why would people not want to experience something like a program making history? I doubt very many students know that the women’s team even made it to the NCAA Tournament.
Sure, women’s basketball is not as exciting with all of the dunks. But they were winning. As the season went, the team became more and more likeable. Maybe next season, the women’s basketball program will get more fans to come to their games.
Women’s volleyball experienced the same pit. They went undefeated in the conference and hosted the MAC Tournament in The Convo, yet their fan base was just still relatively small (1,829).
Even though they didn’t win the tournament for consecutive seasons, they strung together a fantastic campaign and will mostly like produce similar results.
The other program that suffers for a lack of fan base is the women’s soccer team.
The team may not be the best or most exciting, but nonetheless, it’s a growing soccer program. With as many students that love the game of soccer in Europe and around the world, it’s amazing that those fans don’t make their way to Chessa Field and give the school team the support it deserves.
With Chessa getting new turf put down, that shows that this program is growing financially and willing to take the steps necessary to bring in the talent to continue to see the it thrive.
The soccer program just signed a goalkeeper from Colombia that played in the U-20 Colombian national side. Expanding its recruiting class is a step in the right direction for Ohio if it want to better themselves and grow its fans.
I just wish soccer fans at Ohio gave more credit to the women’s soccer team than they do because I feel like if Ohio had a men’s team it would still get more support than women’s.
And that goes for all the women’s sports. They are doing well and should be credited with better fans because of how strong some of these programs are. The basketball team just signed Bob Boldon to a five-year extension, so that program is set.
Now it’s a matter of getting more students to support theses team and really show how strong the “Bobcat Nation” really is.
