Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – The people in charge of fan experience at Arkansas State University home football games choreograph the pre-game entrance of the football team to be as big as it can be.
The Sound of the Natural State marching band performs its pre-game routine, followed by the National Anthem, the alma mater, and the fight song as the band moves into a tunnel formation ahead of the team’s entrance from the gorgeous North endzone football complex.
A pre-produced hype video featuring head coach Butch Jones and the Red Wolves players is shown on the jumbotron with loud hype music blaring through the sound system.
Fans gathered for the game gaze into the north endzone tunnel watching for Jones to lead the team out into the sunshine on a rare seventy-degree beautiful clear sky Saturday for an 11 a.m. kickoff, a first for Arkansas State, the kickoff time moved to accommodate the opportunity for a national television broadcast on ESPNU.
After a short delay following the playing of the video, Jones and the Red Wolves appear. The crowd begins to cheer. The camera being shown live on the jumbotron video board zooms in on the head Red Wolf as Jones gazes into the sunlight and looks around the stadium. With what appears to be a look of disbelief, Jones looks into the stands, raises his arms and can clearly be seen saying to a headphone-wearing staff member next to him, “where’s the fans? where’s the fans?”
After that moment, the band plays, the fireworks shoot, the fire towers fire, and Jones, his coaches and players run onto the field while the fans clap and sing.
As the players line up along the sideline, Jones is seen clapping and pacing back and forth yelling to his players they had to “create (their) own energy.”
Fans attending the game who were watching the entrance could see Jones’ obvious disappointment in the size of the crowd in the stadium as he emerged from the tunnel. Media noticed, too. Jack Allen, a sports anchor at Little Rock’s KATV posted the video and photos of the entrance on his X (Twitter) channel and wrote, “Butch Jones threw up his hands when he came out of the tunnel and said, “Where are the fans?”
A national sports website, brobible, posted a story with the headline “Arkansas State Football Coach Bullies Pathetic Crowd For Not Showing Up During Deer Season.”
The brobible article was one of many comments online referencing the challenge college football teams have scheduling football games on the opening day of modern gun deer season in the south.
“Deer season wins out over every school that plays the early game on this specific day,” wrote Marcus Carlton.”
“I’m from southern Miss., lived in NE Arkansas for 37 years love both teams but it’s opening day boys! Was a tough call but packing the freezer comes first,” wrote Ben Simmons.
Some A-State fans took the opportunity to take a shot at the coach.
“Jones has put off the community every single time he steps in front of a microphone….If you don’t understand the seasons around here and have a terrible start time, you’re going to end up with a small crowd,” wrote Chris Goad.
“That’s funny because even the team didn’t show up today. Horrible performance,” wrote John Hays.
The announced crowd for Saturday’s game was 15,441, which is in the neighborhood of the numbers announced for other home games this season (16,341; 15,841; 22,348; and 18,241).
The last time Arkansas State hosted a home game on the opening day of deer season was November 8, 2023. It was a 2:00pm game vs the Louisiana Rajin Cajuns. The weather was Sunny and 72 degrees at kickoff, similar to the weather for the 11:00am kick off Saturday. The announced attendance in 2023 was 15,881. The capacity for Centennial Bank stadium is 30,386.
The Red Wolves were playing for first place in the west division of the Sun Belt Conference Saturday, losing a hard-fought game against Southern Mississippi 27-21. The team is 5-5 following the loss, still one game away from becoming bowl eligible for the fourth year in a row.
Fans have one more chance to see the Red Wolves play at Centennial Bank stadium this year. A-State will host conference foe Louisiana for a Thursday night game on ESPN at 6:30pm November 20. The team closes out the regular season on the road ten days later at Appalachian State.