Pride of Oklahoma Changes

[Zuplar]

Went to the game on Saturday and boy was I disappointed in the band. First off you couldn't hear them 90% of the time. And from what I heard they were going to keep the opening of the pre-game the same, which they didn't. It may be close, but it's not 100% the same, and is honestly worse. I heard a lot of people around me making the same comments that they seemed very lackluster this year. Hopefully they make some changes because it was pretty bad.

[PhiAlpha]

Went to the game on Saturday and boy was I disappointed in the band. First off you couldn't hear them 90% of the time. And from what I heard they were going to keep the opening of the pre-game the same, which they didn't. It may be close, but it's not 100% the same, and is honestly worse. I heard a lot of people around me making the same comments that they seemed very lackluster this year. Hopefully they make some changes because it was pretty bad.

Agree. My parents and I are season ticket holders and between the Pride and the new intro video, it was probably one of the weakest pregame experiences I've ever witnessed there. I would've been embarrassed if I brought someone from out of town to a game for the first time. Obviously the most important part is the game itself, but the pride's pregame is a cool tradition and it annoys me to know end that some new Jjack*** director from Wisconsin, who has never been to an ou game, was allowed to walk in and mess up something that has been great for 30+ years. Just as you said, my parents and I couldn't even tell if it was the same routine because we couldn't hear 95% of it and I walked in at the field level when it started...they were playing IN MY DIRECTION and I couldn't hear it. Everyone around me as I walked up the stairs made similar comments. I wonder if it had anything to do with the 50 or so members that the new director didnt allow to participate in the pregame? It's getting a lot of grief from pride alumni, pride members, the OU newspaper, and on OU message boards everywhere. Hopefully it works itself out but I at least plan to send some emails to Boren, the guy over the new director, and whoever else I can think of. It may not help, but it won't hurt to add a few to the stack I'm sure they've already received.

This is what we're dealing with:


I'm not advocating firing the guy, he should be given a chance to fix this...however, if nothing changes a few games in, I think he needs to find a new school with less tradition to ruin.

[Zuplar]

I'm all for giving the guy an opportunity to change it back. I don't mind adding things, but the fan favorites have to stay.

[ou48A]

Saturday was my 270th OU football game to attend.
I liked the new marching style... but other than that.....
The song selections where not great and the volume was extremely poor. The band looked smaller than normal.
I can't remember any OU band performance this bad at OU since the mid to early 70's.
I have heard the band directors at The university of Michigan and Michigan state applied for OU’s marching band position, those are both great marching bands, but the guy they hired was supposedly less qualified, but very well connected to an OU regent?
OU should have a better and much bigger marching band!

I have been told West Virginia will be bring its full 400 member marching band. They have traditionally had a very good band. But they didn't handle the heat to well during their last trip to Norman in 1978.

[bluedogok]

I have been told West Virginia will be bring its full 400 member marching band. They have traditionally had a very good band. But they didn't handle the heat to well during their last trip to Norman in 1978.

Did their band make the trip in 1982? I can't remember if they did or not but do remember that it was a loss, my freshman year there.

[ou48A]

Did their band make the trip in 1982? I can't remember if they did or not but do remember that it was a loss, my freshman year there.

No, their band did not come to the game in 82.
The 103 (or so) degree heat of 1978 was to fresh on their minds. They actually wore heavy wool uniforms in 78.
By the second half of the 78 game the WV folks were dropping like fly’s. A few were even hospitalized.
The heat didn't bother me at all that day, but thank god for lights and early season night games today.

The Sooners did lose the 82 game. WV had a very good passing QB.

[bluedogok]

No, their band did not come to the game in 82.
The 103 (or so) degree heat of 1978 was to fresh on their minds. They actually wore heavy wool uniforms in 78.
By the second half of the 78 game the WV folks were dropping like fly’s. A few were even hospitalized.
The heat didn't bother me at all that day, but thank god for lights and early season night games today.

The Sooners did lose the 82 game. WV had a very good passing QB.

Yep, Jeff Hostetler who went on to win a Superbowl with the Giants. My father came down for that game, we sat in the south end zone stands....it was a long game from there.

[ThomPaine]

Agree. My parents and I are season ticket holders and between the Pride and the new intro video, it was probably one of the weakest pregame experiences I've ever witnessed there. I would've been embarrassed if I brought someone from out of town to a game for the first time. Obviously the most important part is the game itself, but the pride's pregame is a cool tradition and it annoys me to know end that some new Jjack*** director from Wisconsin, who has never been to an ou game, was allowed to walk in and mess up something that has been great for 30+ years. Just as you said, my parents and I couldn't even tell if it was the same routine because we couldn't hear 95% of it and I walked in at the field level when it started...they were playing IN MY DIRECTION and I couldn't hear it. Everyone around me as I walked up the stairs made similar comments. I wonder if it had anything to do with the 50 or so members that the new director didnt allow to participate in the pregame? It's getting a lot of grief from pride alumni, pride members, the OU newspaper, and on OU message boards everywhere. Hopefully it works itself out but I at least plan to send some emails to Boren, the guy over the new director, and whoever else I can think of. It may not help, but it won't hurt to add a few to the stack I'm sure they've already received.

This is what we're dealing with:


I'm not advocating firing the guy, he should be given a chance to fix this...however, if nothing changes a few games in, I think he needs to find a new school with less tradition to ruin.

No wonder. What were we thinking...

DR. JUSTIN R. STOLARIK is currently the Director of Athletic Bands and Associate Director of Bands at the University of Oklahoma, where his primary role is as Director of The Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band. Prior to his appointment at OU, he served four years as Assistant Director of Bands at The University of Wisconsin-Madison and one year as Assistant Director of Bands at Henderson State University. While at UW-Madison, Dr. Stolarik coordinated three consecutive Wisconsin Band trips to the Rose Bowl Game, which included notable performances at L.A. Live! with Everlast from the House of Pain and will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas. He worked closely with the legendary Professor Michael Leckrone, who continues to hold the longest marching band director tenure in the country.

Dr. Stolarik has taught and arranged for marching bands in Florida, Texas, Arkansas, and Wisconsin, as well as for the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps. He holds a bachelor’s degree with highest honors in Music Education from The University of Florida, and master’s and doctorate degrees in Percussion Performance from The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Stolarik’s past performances have been featured in issues of Modern Drummer and Percussion News.

I'm willing to start the conspiracy theory that he's a plant from texas meant to demoralize the crowd.

[mugofbeer]

I just got back from OK and the game and this is the first time I have ever been compelled to make a comment about the band's performance. IMO, the pre-game changes, though relatively minor, decreased the pep and rev-up factor tremendously from the old routine. I agree with a couple of the folks above. I was on row 13 on the 30 yard line and could hardly hear them. I know nothing about playing those kinds of instruments so I don't know if the band is smaller or if they weren't playing as loud (drums or horns or anything) but I simply couldn't hear them well. I saw a photograph in a book this weekend from the 1970's and it seems to me there were twice the number of Pride members then as there are now. I have been to well over a hundred games over the years and the Pride used to really blast it. You could feel the music at times, it was exciting and it got you ready for the game. This just didn't happen on Saturday.

My other comment is about the halftime show. Again it was very low volume but the choice of music in combination with the announcer trying to rev up the audience- only to hear a slow version of "The Way We Were" was just laughable. This is by far, the lamest half time show I have seen the Pride give. Terrible, awful choices of music. Nothing at all directed at the band members but at the director. Plain and simple, it was dull, it was slow paced, it was lousy pop syrupy music. For lack of a better way to describe it, it was MUZAK. There was absolutely nothing that displayed the talents of the band and considering the comments around me, I was far from the only one who felt this way. Come on Pride, rev it up and blast us some. Make us feel the drums and get us excited. If I hadn't been so flipping hot, I could have napped thru the halftime routine.

[SoonerDave]

As a long time fan, and someone who was at least willing to give an altered pregame show a chance, I can't help but offer how disappointed I was in, well, everything.

Please let me make it clear that my observations are not directed towards the kids in the band, who are only doing what their directors and leadership are telling them to do, but the changes being made by the leadership are just, well, wrong.

First, the decrease in size is a horrendous mistake. For whatever reason, band acoustics in OU's stadium have never been ideal, but the reduction in players (by at least 10% I'd guess) makes the volume issues that much worse. It looks worse on the field.

Second, the changes to the pregame have absolutely killed the crowd warmup dynamic. The goofy new run-on has no rhythm, no cadence, and frankly looks amateurish. The songs were virtually unlistenable.

Third, the PA announcer supporting the band has a script that sounds like it was written for a high school.

The rumors I hear indicate that a regent, who has musical production ties, force-fed the changes down to Boren because he wanted a "more Broadway style" from the band. I don't know if that's true, but I can't fathom that anyone familiar with the history of the Pride would say these changes are to the Pride's benefit, or to the crowd's benefit, nor to the overall atmosphere of the game. I know the Pride's prior director, Brian Britt, came under heavy criticism for his apparent predisposition to exacting musical accuracy from the band rather than crowd entertainment, and when I heard he quit last year, I thought perhaps cooler heads would prevail and the band would return more to its roots as established under Gene Thrailkill. I didn't think it could get worse. But it has. And apparently no small part of these changes have been imported from Wisconsin, via a directory with UTexas roots. I won't even begin to pretend I understand that.

I realize a school band's pre-game show isn't an issue like world peace, so its very unlikely anything will change, and this supposed regent will get (well, has) his toy band to play with. It's just sad to see a great pre-game tradition blown apart merely for the sake of blowing it apart. It doesn't help anyone.

[soonerguru]

As a long time fan, and someone who was at least willing to give an altered pregame show a chance, I can't help but offer how disappointed I was in, well, everything.

Please let me make it clear that my observations are not directed towards the kids in the band, who are only doing what their directors and leadership are telling them to do, but the changes being made by the leadership are just, well, wrong.

First, the decrease in size is a horrendous mistake. For whatever reason, band acoustics in OU's stadium have never been ideal, but the reduction in players (by at least 10% I'd guess) makes the volume issues that much worse. It looks worse on the field.

Second, the changes to the pregame have absolutely killed the crowd warmup dynamic. The goofy new run-on has no rhythm, no cadence, and frankly looks amateurish. The songs were virtually unlistenable.

Third, the PA announcer supporting the band has a script that sounds like it was written for a high school.

The rumors I hear indicate that a regent, who has musical production ties, force-fed the changes down to Boren because he wanted a "more Broadway style" from the band. I don't know if that's true, but I can't fathom that anyone familiar with the history of the Pride would say these changes are to the Pride's benefit, or to the crowd's benefit, nor to the overall atmosphere of the game. I know the Pride's prior director, Brian Britt, came under heavy criticism for his apparent predisposition to exacting musical accuracy from the band rather than crowd entertainment, and when I heard he quit last year, I thought perhaps cooler heads would prevail and the band would return more to its roots as established under Gene Thrailkill. I didn't think it could get worse. But it has. And apparently no small part of these changes have been imported from Wisconsin, via a directory with UTexas roots. I won't even begin to pretend I understand that.

I realize a school band's pre-game show isn't an issue like world peace, so its very unlikely anything will change, and this supposed regent will get (well, has) his toy band to play with. It's just sad to see a great pre-game tradition blown apart merely for the sake of blowing it apart. It doesn't help anyone.

Well this is just depressing. I was out of town Saturday but will be at the West Virginia game. OU's pregame band performance has always been a highlight of every football game, something my family always looks forward to (with the exception of the cheesy "Grand Old Flag" song, which has become insanely tired).

Hopefully people will raise holy hell and restore what is one of the great traditions in college football.

[venture]

Well going by the Daily's story: OUDaily.com | Pride director not qualified for position

Max Weitzenhoffer is the regent who forced this through and so far is refusing to speak about it.

[Zuplar]

I'm glad to see a lot of people on the same page. I used to play in the marching band, so I have some perspective on things. I've never understood why band directors go over board with musical accuracy. Granted you don't want certain instruments blaring, but at the same time when you think marching band you think brass and drums. Marching band isn't supposed to be a wind ensemble on the field. It's there for one purpose, crowd entertainment. They need a director in there that is willing to keep to the traditions, and add some spunk back into the band. I feel for the band members, cause it's my guess they are just as frustrated with it as we are.

Here's hoping that it gets better.

[FritterGirl]

We dropped our season tickets finally (time factor), but if the pre-game formation via the OUDaily site is indeed the formation that was on the field, then I can say that's absolutely pathetic. Throughout my many years going to games, I always got a thrill when the band got ready to come out. You could feel the energy shift, and the crowd really got into it. Not having experienced it first-hand, I certainly don't feel qualified to write the University itself at this juncture, but if every other person who commented HERE were to write President Boren, and cc the OU Daily, along with the Regents, that may get somewhere.

Posting to a public message board may be a great way to make a public complaint about something like this, but unless you write directly to the people who are in a position to make changes, it won't accomplish anything but make you feel better for having complained.

I would also think that a dedicated campaign from the OU Pride alum group would help matters.

[ou48A]

Apparently 282 made the band but only 225 are allowed to march. That's why we couldn’t hear the band.
There were about 325 marching band members 10 years ago.

[ou48A]

I would also think that a dedicated campaign from the OU Pride alum group would help matters.

The Alumni Band should make it back to Norman for Homecoming in massive numbers to show they want better for the Pride.

[SoonerDave]

The Alumni Band should make it back to Norman for Homecoming in massive numbers to show they want better for the Pride.

Hmm...wonder if perhaps just the opposite might prove a more effective form of "civil disobedience," if ya get my meaning...get a wave of "anti-support" by not going to the alumni band day. Just sayin'.

[ou48A]

Hmm...wonder if perhaps just the opposite might prove a more effective form of "civil disobedience," if ya get my meaning...get a wave of "anti-support" by not going to the alumni band day. Just sayin'.

I thought about that too, but since only a few ordinary show up it would probably make a bigger statement if hundreds showed up... They could present Boren and the BOR with a petition asking that the band be lead by somebody they had confidence in.

[MsProudSooner]

If you want to let President Boren know your opinion about the changes to the Pride this year, you can send him an email at actionline@ou.edu. I sent mine on Sunday.

[adaniel]

Well going by the Daily's story: OUDaily.com | Pride director not qualified for position

Max Weitzenhoffer is the regent who forced this through and so far is refusing to speak about it.

Word on the street is that Mr Weitzenhoffer offered to donate a considerable sum of artwork to the Fred Jones museum if they hired his preferred candidate.

[SoonerDave]

Word on the street is that Mr Weitzenhoffer offered to donate a considerable sum of artwork to the Fred Jones museum if they hired his preferred candidate.

Have heard/read very similar info from other places. This also ties in (indirectly) with the OU Daily piece, and arguably is the "missing piece" that explains why an underqualified candidate was hired.

You know...band frustrations aside....a publicly-exposed "good ol' boy" hire through Boren's office (all alleged, I stress) could spin into a non-trivial problem...for all involved. Not saying Boren hasn't dodged his own set of political problems in the past, but this one could get very uncomfortable very quickly, especially if it comes out that any substantive rules covering state hiring et al were not followed properly. Not naive enough to say its never happened before, but with the attention on this particular situation seemingly increasing, I'd think the discomfort level over it all would be getting relatively high.

And the Pride gets caught in the political crosshairs in any case. And that stinks - particularly when it seems nobody gives much of a care about the product on the field, except the kids playing it (who are just trying to do what they're told).

I hate politics.

[ou48A]

If Boren agreed to hire a candidate that wasn't the most qualified, all for a donation, it doesn’t speak well of Boren's character.........
This issue could become something rather substantial.
Other than the OU student news paper, where is the local news media been on this story?

It's looking more and more likely that it would probably be in the university's best interest if Max Weitzenhoffer were to resign his OU regents position.
OU students deserve the most highly qualified faculty that can be hired.

[MsProudSooner]

Anyone who wants to voice their opinion can send an email to actionline@ou.edu.

[mugofbeer]

I just fired this off to the email given above. If anyone has a better line or any other ideas on putting a fast stop to this idiocy, please let me know.
======================

Dear Dr. Boren,

I have rarely been moved to make such communication to my alma mater and the school my ancestor helped found (through Kingfisher College) but I feel I must do so today.

The Pride of Oklahoma marching band was certainly not a "pride" this past weekend. The pre-game tradition had clearly been changed and the band was significantly smaller than in the past. Perhaps it is due to new leadership and perhaps it is due to budget cuts but whatever the reason, the directing and production of the band was the worst I have ever heard in my 40+ years of attending football games in Norman. I want to make it clear that my complaint is not about the band itself or any member of the playing band but to the arrangement and production of the performances both pre-game and at halftime.

My main complaints are:

1) Though I sit on the 13th row on about the 30 yard line, I could barely hear the band. There is no excuse for this. In the past, there were times I almost had to put my fingers in my ears it was so loud and hard-hitting. It was wonderful. Now it's like going to an outdoor symphony without amplification. By the way, I am not hard of hearing. No one around me could hear it sufficiently, either.

2) Why was 20% of the band sitting in the stands? What do we pay our donations for?

3) The production and musical choices and arrangements were, without mincing words, just plain awful.

Though I have thoroughly enjoyed the pre-game tradition for many years, I am not so set in my ways for some adjustments to the program, if adjustments are to be made. Personally, I saw no reason to change it other than one song. The "Grand Old Flag" portion was rather cheesy but, for the most part, the pre-game show had wonderful rhythm, it was powerful and it revved up the crowd for the game to come. The crowd participated in the pre-game. Today, everyone just stood there looking at each other. The new rendition of Boomer Sooner is nothing more than flat and didn't capture the spirit of the song and the order in which the songs were played in the pre-game were not conducive to pepping up the crowd.

The half-time show was equally, if not more awful than the pre-game show. The announcer sounded like someone who was trying to greatly exaggerate what an announcer would sound like - - only he was serious. He over hyped the music, the writing, and therefore the announcing was excessive and when the band started to play, it was completely depressing. The musical choice could not have been more pop-bubble, syrupy and depressing. Honestly, is Barbara Streisand and a slow-dance version of "The Way We Were" appropriate for a football game?? The group around me were all appalled and what they saw and heard. There were groups that were laughing at how horrible it was. There were others who were asking "What XXXXXXX arranged all of this?"

Please Dr. Boren, return our formerly great marching band back to it's glory. It was not a "pride" Saturday but an embarrassment. This is not the place for a symphony. We need to feel the music and feel pride and be moved - not to tears but to victory. We don't want to hear the marching band equivalent of MUZAK.

Thank you.


***alias****(mugofbeer)

[ou48A]

OUDaily.com | New Pride of Oklahoma leader invokes reaction

Sounds like we have a band revolt.....could we have a band walk out?

“over a hundred members confronted their director with concerns after their first performance.
Pride’s leadership team and seniors were asked to meet in Boren’s office after addressing their director”