I'm concerned about the state of the ASU football program in a big way. When you say that 9-3 would be a "great" season for this program, it reinforces my concern. You are content with mediocrity, meaning that anything better than 7 or 8 wins constitutes "great." I've had this fear for a decade. Ostensibly, Lisa Love had this fear, too, which is why she fired DK. Would Oklahoma State be happy with 9-3? Oregon? WVU be happy with 9- 3 (given that Bill Stewart was fired after several 9-4 seasons, we can assume they were not happy)?

Notice that I am intentionally shying away from comparing us to teams like Alabama and Oklahoma so as to avoid the distracting retort that some in the local AZ media have tried to con us with. I'm focusing on Johnnie- come-lately programs. Frankly, I do not understand why we should not aspire to the kind of greatness that the Alabamas and Oklahomas have. But, that's a discussion for another time.

Thanks for reading.

Eric

Thanks for mailing the mailbag Eric. Normally the mailbag can be found on the Doug & Wolf show page. Your e-mail, however, struck a chord that is so common among ASU fans, so we're putting the mailbag up on the front page.

There's an amazing sense of entitlement from ASU fans even though they've earned nothing.I can understand your frustration. Here's the point you're not seeing. ASU fans don't deserve to be any better.

I know, as soon as an ASU booster reads those words they're going to run to Lisa Love and say what a bad guy I am. ASU fans hide from the truth more than any fans in America.

I call it a great season at 9-3 because compared to the support the football team and the whole athletic department receive, You wonder if OSU, UO, or WVU would accept 9-3 but you're comparing apples to oranges. Look at those three programs. All three sell out every game.

Let's look at through the eyes of a high school junior. He's deciding between OSU, UO or WVU. Have you ever been to a game at any one of those schools? The sell-out crowds are so loud. The pre-game tailgates are packed and so much fun. The atmosphere is unbelievable. Why would any kid go to a school that has 20K empty seats for their homecoming when they could play for fans that love their team?

Let's look at it from a coach's stand point. Any young, up-and-coming head coach wants to go to a program where the football program is the talk of the town. That's not ASU. They want a program that has great support even when it's down so they can re-build it. That's not ASU. They want a program that has a history of attracting the best players. That's not ASU. They want a program in a hot recruiting environment or like a Florida, Texas or Southern California. For the most part, that's not ASU.

You're accusing me of settling for mediocrity. It's actually the exact opposite. I think 9-3 is the max that can be achieved with this level of support.

f you want to raise the expectations for ASU football, it's very easy how that's done. Buy more tickets. Create a more electric atmosphere at the games. Donate more money. Build better facilities.

Steve Patterson, Lisa Love and Dennis Erickson can only carry the program as far as the fans take it. When the day comes there are 70,000 fans a game in a new stadium, you'll hear me drop the hammer on a performance like ASU put forth against UCLA. Until then, what did you expect? They played with the same passion their fans have.