The Beilein/Maize Rage meeting took place last night and apparently went very well. The players stuck around for a few minutes and answered some questions. The best player quote that a couple people emailed me was from Anthony Wright about pre-game music:
Well every now and then a really good pump-up song will come on, then 10 seconds later the band will come in playin Yankee Doodle
Here are a few of the main points from the meeting:
- About 25 Maize Ragers were there, they ate Cottage Inn with the team for a while and then the team took off for study table. Beilein and some of the coaches stayed the entire time.
- The Maize Ragers also got a tour of the facilities, and most seemed impressed with the locker rooms and weight room. One note on S&C, the basketball strength coach for the basketball team is Jim Plocki, not the legendary Barwis.
- New sound system will be in next year.
- Some suggested improvements:
- Free tickets (hopefully).
- Better transportation to and from games. No more having 1 bus to try to pick up ALL the students.
- Improving the pre-game video.
- Some other ideas mentioned were things like improving the Maize Rage t-shirt as well as some kind of event in the fall during an away football game with the football game on the big screen
Overall it seems like it was a very good event and that Beilein definetely seems committed to improving the game day atmosphere. This of course is just a start to making real progress and I think improvements to facilities over the next few years (sound system, practice facility) are imminent. Hopefully improvements to Crisler mixed with a couple successful seasons will have Crisler rocking again. One final note, it was mentioned that Laval Lucas-Perry will probably not be eligible until after his Fall semester grades are in (but no official ruling has been made).
