They're accepting the same number of Tulsa kids...it's the number of Tulsa kids who can't wait to get out of Tulsa that is increasing. Heck, in my church alone there have been 4-5 National Merit Semifinalists/scholars the last 2 years...not one even considered TU (and one's dad is the color analyst on TU football...she went to A&M).
They're accepting the same number of kids, but they've increased the tuition cost so much that a lot of the acceptees either can't afford it period (even with financial aid) or they're living at home at some point during their TU career meaning they're not going to come all the way back to campus just for a basketball game. Trust me. I had a lot of friends who did that from the Tulsa area just a few years ago. Add that to the fact that they've always been pretty abysmal at marketing to the fraternities and sororities which make up a significant population of the school, and that a lot of the international students just don't give a crap and you're usually only left with a smattering of students left over to go to games.
That would've been a challenge to me. I don't usually back down from challenges.
The fraternities were hit or miss when I was at TU or still doing some work on campus 09-14. You would see a smattering of their members but not a ton. (At least not on weeknight games. "Drinking night" games were usually better attended) Same for sororities. Football players tended to go to most of the games. That's true. The athletes supported their own.
Yolanda is no longer at TU. Mike Mills is the Dean of Students now.
I am seriously going to blame Doug Wojcik for this lack of passion in students, at least with basketball. Students were still going to games in high numbers when Phillips was coaching the awful years. Tubby, Steve Robinson, Self, and Phillips all engaged students to be a part of the program through their fandom and attendance. Wojcik couldn't really be bothered with any of that. I remember Self serving late night breakfast during winter finals once...and students loved it. He went and talked to a lot of them in the cafeteria. His players laughed at him for wearing the gloves and hairnet. That connection endears the program to regular students. I felt like Rashad Ray playing the drums with the band after wins during his time here started to win some of that student support back. We need more of that type of thing. Heck, we need Shea to be that program pumper for students. He, more than anyone, knows what it's like to be a student here and have that support of classmates. I just remember that everyone on campus knew exactly when there was a home game and who it was against. I'm not sure they even really know or if it is marketed aggressively or if it's a pretty passive info thing now. I'm guessing the latter.
Tubby was the best at it, IMO. He had such a genuinely nice disposition towards everyone. I used to talk to him working at the Mabee Gym. Pooh was the same way and probably one of the reasons he meshes with Tubby so well. Pooh was literally the first person I met when I came to TU. He was shooting in Mabee and came over and talked to me while I sat at the little desk "monitoring" the usage.
