Fling out the Purple and the Gold, We're Marching On.
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jcI went to a D2 hoops double header (women and men) at Francis Marion U in South Carolina a few years back. The AD for Marion saw a new face in the small crowd and stopped to chat with me for a while. He asked me to fill out a survey form which I glady did. That same AD was taking in dollar bills from fans in attendance who wanted to get on the court at halftime and try a half-court shot. I dont remember what the prize was if they even had one. I did a lot of people watching at that game. One thing I noticed was several older folks (I assumed were professors at the school) who were doing book work, maybe grading papers, or something while there was a break in the action. Maybe the school had a policy that the academic folks were expected to show up at the athletic events or something. Whatever is was, it caught my attention. That's the kind of culture, attitude, and work ethic it takes to succeed in the small time sports world. Yes, Western is in that category right now.Neckfansince71 wrote: ↑Thu May 24, 2018 1:07 pm Being an AD is now all about making and maintaining connections! Now I don't have any experience as an AD but if I was the new AD at WIU, the first thing I would do is send everyone, I mean everyone out to make face to face contact with every single one of athletic departments financial and community supporters, leaving the corporate sponsors to me and my right hand man, the Director of Development. Oh, and I would definitely head over to have lunch with the mayor. The Rotary, Elks, Moose, and Chamber of Commerce, and the group of religious cleric's that meet every month for the good of the city. You got to make connections. And you got to keep your connections and add more. I would also ask my Head Coaches to get out and about with visits to the dorm during the season by football staff and players and basketball staff and players. I might bring a smurf football for students to throw through a ring in the lounge or cafeteria, or a short hoop for shots. I know WIU fills the air waves and email constantly with sports information, but that face up hand shake can go along long way to bring people through the gates. For my wife and I, making the Coastal Carolina trip made all the difference in the world as far as our feelings about last years football team. I really liked those kids that represented us on the field. As a head basketball coach in a school that had not won very much in the past 10 years, I had to sell, sell, sell! We had nice crowds even though the product was not that good, and boy when we did get really good, fans flocked to the games.