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When debating someone on the merits of JOakes job performance -
Less than 500 CHAMPS members (483)....
Less than 1,000 ticket holders in all sports COMBINED....
No realistic (or even marginal) growth in season tickets sales or attendance in football or basketball in his tenure....
The ONLY revenue increases the athletic department has seen is from - GAME GUARANTEES, GENERAL FUND TRANSFERS and CONFERENCE DISTRIBUTIONS -
That's it -
That's all you need to know about his job performance -
''Don't be a bad dagh..."
Thanks, Dwayne.
But to Dan that is a good job! Something has got to give one way or the other!Originally Posted by Dwayne From Minden
In contrast, there are over 60,000 alumni.
I don't know how many are alive, but there are over 82,000 graduates (per Dr. R at Saturday's graduation), so 60,000 may be close. The school probably has accurate addresses for 20,000.
And I firmly believe that at least 10,000 WOULD GLADLY GIVE a minimum of $500 per year if presented with a specific plan for advancement and improvement in athletics. That's a $5,000,000 per year revenue stream that could be devoted entirely to athletics, if done correctly.
Nuke
You wouldn't get 500 out of the 10,000. I contacted about 40 people in central Ark. for the Centinnial fund raising back in 1994. There were about 15 that gave an average of $25 each. Most Tech graduates do not even follow the football team after they graduate. They could care less if Tech even has a football team.
I agree with the difficulty of getting any significant percentage of people to contribute to anything. Like anything, a compelling story must exist for people to part with their money. It must be told consistently and people ultimately have to be asked to invest. Tech does not have a giving tradition. Its supporters, be they accademic and/or athletic, still think it is a state-supported school vs the state-assisted institution that it has become.
The Alumni Association and Foundation are working to change that tradition by working with new graduates by waiving 1st year alumni fees, seeking minimum contribution amounts, starting Young Alumni groups, etc. that fit their time in life. Statistics show that once a donor, an alum is likely to continue to give and at increasing amounts. Makes sense, but we have to have a long-term committment to the program - last time I looked, Tech is in business for the long-term, so we can and will get there, albeit slowly.
In that vein, I think something along the lines of the Believe in the Blue video, but covering all sports, should be put together and sent to ALL alumni. It would be expensive, but with the right follow-up it could get a decent return, and perhaps jump-start some support.
The right follow-up would have to include not only contacting the folks a couple times a year after that with updates on how the money is being used, but also include real results on the field.
Brian, one of the biggest problems we've had over the last several years is that we don't do this sort of thing for potential fans. We do it for Champs members and season ticket holders only. An athletic department with limited resources should use resources wisely to grow its fan base and more importantly, strike while the iron is hot. Those opportunities have been squandered in the past. The whole time there have been volunteers and ideas galore. Waiting until you hit rock bottom is not the time for grass roots efforts. We are in a reactive mode now and it will take great leadership to lead us out.
You mentioned sending information to all alumni. I would narrow those fields. IMO, these are the most important to hit, but only AFTER some serious changes are evident with stated and specific goals being the focus of the information packet.
1. All ex-athletes. Not just athletes who hold a degree. DO NOT send the same information to these guys and gals as you send to the others. Personalize it, let them know they are number one on our list of desired supporters.
2. Tech grads and non grad attendees for the past five years. The alumni association is on the right track with this crew now. Don't thow the big numbers at these folks. Let them know how important any donation is.
3. Tech grads and non grad attendees for the past six to ten years. We are dealing with folks now who have made some money and appreciate being asked to be a part of growing something.
Get the picture? Break down the fields. Attack at differnet levels with different approaches. Use different age groups to work the different fields. It ain't rocket science, but it is hard work and using volunteers to do something like this WILL NOT work. The folks used to do this need to get paid based on how much money they bring in.
As I said earlier, great leadership is needed. We are soooooo far from having that right now.
O.K. Money is the reason we can't compete on the 1-A level . Why do we have trouble winning against 1-AA opponents ???
I agree completely. One technical question, though. How do you identify and target non-grad attendees?
I especially like targeting former athletes. It blows my mind that this has not been done. These are potentially very persuasive ambassadors for the university, no matter what they are currently doing.
I also agree that whatever we do needs to follow some sort of change, whether it is a "get to know the new AD, HC, etc." or a follow-up to a bowl berth. Again, it blows my mind that this wasn't done in times of past success.
They should have addresses on non grad attendees through the admissions office. I'm not sure how often they purge non attendees. It will take a little work to compile a list.
It blew everybody's mind that they didn't do something like this in the past. Thank goodness for the Alumni Association or some former season ticket holders and boosters would have never been contacted over the last several years.
I get it. I thought you meant non-grads who attend games. :icon_wink:
Reportedly the incompetence of this year's scheduling was alluded to by the ESPN commentators. One more brick in the wall...
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