bballraider
- Location: Huber Heights OH US
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Recently Updated
- bballraider on Gone Painting
- bballraider on Grant me one wish
- bballraider on Promotions Part-3
- bballraider on Promotions Part-2
- bballraider on Promotions Part-1
- keithfromxenia on Re: Balancing Act
- Rock70 on Re: Balancing Act
- bballraider on Balancing Act
- bballraider on IU Coaching Rumor
- bballraider on Good Choice #2 by WSU AD
My blog
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Gone Painting
06/24/08 14:07:59 | 0 Comments
As you can tell, the blog has been dormant and will most likely be down for another month. I am currently getting my house ready for resale and have very little free time, but once my house hits the market in the next month or so. I should be back up a running soon with my weekly blogs. AND Congrats to Bob Grant, things should start moving quickly now that he is in charge. -
Grant me one wish
05/24/08 19:33:39 | 0 Comments
With the final decision on the WSU AD position being finalized soon I thought I would take another look at the candidates. I've posted on here before that if I had one wish, I would want the Bob Grant era to begin following Dr. Cusack's retirement. But I will play the devil's advocate here. What if Bob Grant were to turn the job down (not going to happen, but let's pretend), which of the other 3 applicant's, Teter, McNamee or Downing would be the best fit for WSU. I will break down the non Bob Grant applicant's in my own opinion to see which of the three I would choose, if Bob said no.
Steve Downing, senior associate athletic director at Texas Tech. Downing a former basketball player, which included MVP of the Big 10, and playing for a NBA championship team in the Celtics. He was an assistant AD at Indiana prior to moving to Texas Tech with Bob Knight. Downing would probably be my first choice of the other 3 right now, for a couple of reasons. First, he knows basketball, and has been in athletic department in IU that makes basketball it's number one priority, without forgetting about the other sports. Something that is important at Wright State. Secondly in his interview with the DDN he said something the other two guys didn't say. He knew about Wright State and said this: "I wanted to be involved in a place where winning was important, like at Texas Tech and Indiana. Wright State is in a great conference, they've done some good things and graduated kids. The commitment is there for the student-athlete concept, athletics and academics. I think it would be a great opportunity if I were to get the job."
So if I was choosing the AD on what I have seen, without personally interviewing the candidates, and I couldn't pick Bob Grant, then I would rate them in this order: Downing first, followed closely be McNamee with Teter a distant 3rd. But none of these guys currently looks anymore qualified than Bob Grant does, Teter may have been, having already been an AD, but too many skeletons may be in his closet. The other two look equally qualified, but all things being equal, with Mr. Grant's history, knowledge and love of Wright State, he still gets my vote. I like knowing what we have with potential to be better, instead of the unknown, since the other two have not ran a program by themselves either. So, in conclusion, Bob Grant is my first choice, but if somehow he is passed over, I would be greatly disappointed, but in the end I would still back the program with either Downing or McNamee, but I do not see that happening. Teter, however may have me questioning the direction of the athletic department. -
Promotions Part-3
05/12/08 20:32:34 | 0 Comments
The final segment of my promotions blog is about getting the students out to the basketball games. This segment is about what the University itself can do to get the students into and involved, and not what the students (ie. Rowdies) are doing to help promote involvement themselves. I applaud the Rowdies on their ideas, as they are an integral part of student involvement, hearing from your peers is always a good way to generate responses, and having a dedidcated group of students is something that cannot be underestimated in getting students out. Any support that can be given to this group from both the university and outside sources is going to produce some of the best results for both the money and effort spent. So my first suggestion for the university is to really back any student organizations like the Rowdies with as much support as possible. I am sure that any money spent on these groups will more than pay for itself in the results.
Secondly, I think the Raider Pack was a great idea rewarding students for each event that they attend, with the rewards being greater with each additional event they attend, going all the way up to a chance at free tuition. This was a fantasic idea, especially since students get their tickets for free, and we all know how tight money is when you are attending college, and any time you can get rewards without spending money is a good thing. What I think the university can do to make this deal even better is to really promote the free tickets to sporting events and the Raider Pack rewards to an extreme, maybe even a little blurb on every student schedule, to every e-mail address and organization on campus. Maybe even creating a Raider Group Pack, where organizations, fraternities, sororities or even random student groups of 10 or more can sign up together and earn group rewards in addition to the single Raider Pack rewards. This way it gets not only single people to go, but also gets them to urge their friends and peers to also attend. It's much easier to get people to go to an event if they know more than a few people attending and others want them there. My last idea on the Raider Pack/Group Pack is to have some pretty big single rewards for the first 1 or 2 games of each sport. It is much easier to get people to come out in the future if you hook them early, so we need to get the students out at the first few games so they relate to the teams early and will want to return. So progressing to big rewards is good to ensure long term attendance, but I think the first few games should not be trival rewards either, big early rewards for the first few games may help hook them for the long run.
Next, to help get students involved, have special food/drink promotions just for the students. I know money was a problem when I was in college and any time I could eat cheaply, it was a good thing. Pregame buffets or discounted concessions would definitely help in getting the students out to the games. Coupons for free or discounted food at local establishments after a win (pick up the coupons on the way out) would certainly help increase the effort in cheering the team to victory, if it means free food.
Most student enjoys a fun road trip. Having more student bus trips paid for by the university to close road games can only help in raising enthusiasm for the team. Start sign-ups for some road games and see if there is enough interest to fill some busses, not just for Butler.
And finally having events after the games either on university grounds or at local establishments with free admittance with a game ticket would not be a bad idea either. I know I hated to pay cover charges when I went out (low money issues again in college) but if deals could be made that a game tickets or coupons on the way out could be exchanged for free admittance into different events or establishments could only help get more students at the game.
These are just a few ideas to get students out to the game. Maybe in a later blog I may have some ideas to get the students involved and having fun once they are at the game. If you have any comments please feel free to add them. -
Promotions Part-2
05/04/08 21:00:15 | 0 Comments
Reading the two Wright State message boards, I have seen a lot of good ideas to help increase attendance at the basketball games. I seen people suggest ticket giveaways both single game and season tickets. Some other suggestions have been food giveaways/discounts and all-you-can-eat deals included with a ticket, or special entertainment at the game. While others have suggested military nights and other specific occupation or company nights. These are just a few of the ideas, and all of these are good ideas for upping attendance for a specific game or two, short-term. But this will only temporarily increase attendance for the casual fan that is not a die-hard raider fan, and not necessarily increase the revenue for the athletic department with all the giveaways.
My feeling is that the Wright State Athletic Department needs to think more about atmosphere and enjoyment of the games. Just getting these casual fans to the game for a single promotion may hook a few fans to keep coming out, but the majority of these fans will just wait for another promotion until they return, especially if they are not thoroughly impressed with the game and the Nutter Center. I think with the talent the Raiders are returning, and recruiting being impressed with the game will not be a problem, the atmosphere and the Nutter Center them seem to be where things need to be improved.
First off, the best way to improve the atmosphere, is to get as many students out to the game as possible, and secondly we need to get them involved in the game. When students get involved, it gets the entire arena more involved in the game, making it a fun expereince for all. And vice-versa the more the students are involved, the more likely they are to return to more games in the future. If they enjoy the games now, they are even more likely to become season ticket holders later. So getting the students out and involved in the games seems to me to be the key that can help both now and in the future attendance of WSU. So my theory is that we should be primarily running promotions and game activities geared towards the students, and then secondary promotions like the ones listed above to get the average fan out to the games. My third and final segment of this promotions trilogy blog will contain some of the ideas I have to get and keep the students returning to the Nutter Center. Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments section. -
Promotions Part-1
04/25/08 19:07:29 | 0 Comments
What can the WSU Athletic Department do to get more fans in the seats? That's a tough question, and there is no sure answer. First there needs to be a promotion that really benefits the Athletic Department, that promotion would be to make Bob Grant the next AD. I feel that Bob Grant is not only a good athletics guy, but a good people guy too. He has been fundamental in bringing in more money into the athletic department to upgrade many things. To raise this money, he has been inovative in his thinking, which is exactly what WSU needs if they want to increase attendance. It also doesn't hurt that Bob's wife has a marketing background, which should help with some new ideas too.
The second personnel move that I think started to pay dividends last year was hiring Chris Collins full time as kind of a student liason to help get the students motivated and out to the games. Chris, like Bob Grant is also a very innovative person, with passion for what he does. I would expect more student promotions and an ever increasing amount of students at the games. Making the games exciting and fun for the students, helps the entire atmosphere of the arena, which in turn should help non-student attendance too. So I applaud the university's foresight to hire Chris Collins, I guarantee it will pay big dividends in the future.
Last year WSU signed on with a marketing firm for the next 9 years or so, to help with promotions and sponsorship. I believe the marketing firm gives WSU a set amount of money, and then goes out and tries to sell sponsorships to cover that money, and then anything over what they pay WSU they can pocket themselves. I am not sure that was a wise move, as I think it limits the ceiling of what WSU can bring in with sponsorships. It does help with setting a budget as WSU knows how much money they will get, but it doesn't give a lot of leeway for promotions by the athletic department, especially if it would step on the marketing companies foot. Last year some of the sponsors that paid the marketing firm complained that Wright-Patt Credit Union was getting too much for their money because their name was on the balloons the student section was using. So the students couldn't keep using the blown up balloons over and over, even though the students enjoyed it and it seemed to help distract opposing teams. It all came down to money and not what was best for the students and basketball team. I think WSU's athletic administration needs to talk with the marketing firm so that more flexibility can be used if a certain promotion/idea seems to really work with making the game a better experience, increases attendance or helps give the basketball team more of a home court advantage.
In a later blog, I will try to gather ideas on different promotions/ideas that myself and others on the message boards have come up with to make the Nutter Center a full, formidable home court to play on for the Raiders.
