Thanks Coach Gunn, you helped increase the profile of our Athletic Department!
Let’s also give some credit to our AD Judy for her ability to recognize Coaching talent, and her ability to bring them here. Womens basketball has stayed strong through several coaches and I feel Alan Major’s program is about to turn the corner!! I have been impressed with all our recent hires.
I would give her vastly more credit if she could retain said talent!
[quote=“Honest Niner, post:2, topic:26078”]I would give her vastly more credit if she could retain said talent![/quote] Please increase your financial contribution to make that possible.
It’s more our own fan base’s fault than it is Judy’s. If we want to retain the best coaches in America, we have to donate more money. The AD can’t pay a coach money they don’t have.
Odd statement. Two problems with it:
- Without you knowing what I give (and I do give) it would be difficult to say I should increase it
- How much do you give? (if at all) Between the two of us I would wager that your donation is the one that needs to go up.
Odd statement. Two problems with it:
- Without you knowing what I give (and I do give) it would be difficult to say I should increase it
- How much do you give? (if at all) Between the two of us I would wager that your donation is the one that needs to go up.[/quote]If we are to compete when the Stanfords of the world come calling I would suggest you both increase your donations.
Odd statement. Two problems with it:
- Without you knowing what I give (and I do give) it would be difficult to say I should increase it
- How much do you give? (if at all) Between the two of us I would wager that your donation is the one that needs to go up.[/quote]If we are to compete when the Stanfords of the world come calling I would suggest you both increase your donations.[/quote]
LOL! Well said. Yeah I am doing ok (Thanks to my Charlotte degree!) but I dont have Stanford money!
Odd statement. Two problems with it:
- Without you knowing what I give (and I do give) it would be difficult to say I should increase it
- How much do you give? (if at all) Between the two of us I would wager that your donation is the one that needs to go up.[/quote]
What you give isn’t the point. It’s the fact that as a school we don’t have the funds necessary to retain all the coaches we lose consistently to schools with deeper pockets.
Odd statement. Two problems with it:
- Without you knowing what I give (and I do give) it would be difficult to say I should increase it
- How much do you give? (if at all) Between the two of us I would wager that your donation is the one that needs to go up.[/quote]
What you give isn’t the point. It’s the fact that as a school we don’t have the funds necessary to retain all the coaches we lose consistently to schools with deeper pockets.[/quote]
Agreed. However I would venture to say that we do need MORE alumni giving period. Whatever the amount they can give comfortably, that is what all of our alumni should be doing. We have a large # of alumni so that is not the problem at all. The sad part is many of our alumni do not give at all OR (personall irritation here) they will give once we are relevant. It will be difficult to near impossible to compete on a national level if we can not match other schools funding.
Odd statement. Two problems with it:
- Without you knowing what I give (and I do give) it would be difficult to say I should increase it
- How much do you give? (if at all) Between the two of us I would wager that your donation is the one that needs to go up.[/quote]
What you give isn’t the point. It’s the fact that as a school we don’t have the funds necessary to retain all the coaches we lose consistently to schools with deeper pockets.[/quote]
Agreed. However I would venture to say that we do need MORE alumni giving period. Whatever the amount they can give comfortably, that is what all of our alumni should be doing. We have a large # of alumni so that is not the problem at all. The sad part is many of our alumni do not give at all OR (personall irritation here) they will give once we are relevant. It will be difficult to near impossible to compete on a national level if we can not match other schools funding.[/quote]I really think that football helps with this. Few alums give Green Jacket money their first year out of the gate. More likely they start at $49 or $100. I think moving up is tied to how much fun you have with the program and we have to start winning for that. Ultimately this is what doomed Lutz because we couldn’t grow the program with that product on the floor. Football will bring in new donors (already has), and two major sports will give us a better chance to always have something to be excited about. If Major gets us back to post-season play soon I think we will really grow.
No the real issue is why do we have such a large alumni base with so few giving. The biggest failing of our leadership is the inability to recruit new donors.
No the real issue is why do we have such a large alumni base with so few giving. The biggest failing of our leadership is the inability to recruit new donors.[/quote]
In context, I was agreeing with 4ever Niners point that we all have to give more to retain good coaches. But I agree with you as well. The ability of the AD to generate excitement, and consequently donations, for our 49ers has been failing for years. We need MUCH better marketing at Charlotte. We have a pretty good brand but the most pathetic marketing. I know this is a broken record argument made on this board but it shouldn’t go away until things improve.
Our apparel is pretty ridiculous (Not to mention you can’t find it outside of our bookstore. BTW, we don’t even sell the hat our Baseball team wears). Outside of University City you wouldn’t know we exist. Radio is awful. Can’t even get games on public access TV. No commercials on any channel that I’ve ever seen (And our school’s official commercial they do play during broadcasts is outdated, ala 1992).
Bottom line, we’re waaaaaaaaaaaaay behind the rest of the country, and more importantly other schools within the State with respect to branding/image. Make it a priority to remind our alums of why we should be proud to be Niners and the $$$$ will come.
We need a better partnership between the University/AD and donors.
One side says donate more.
The other side says attract more money.
Both are right but no progress is made.
It’d be nice if we could as a group try to find a way to squeeze out a little more this year. Whether that’s 1% or 10% or 100% more, more is always better. From the AD side, a lot of what they do is behind the scenes and I appreciate that but at least a firmly-stated commitment to be something more than we currently are would mean a lot to me. Be bold, be audacious or be left behind.
No the real issue is why do we have such a large alumni base with so few giving. The biggest failing of our leadership is the inability to recruit new donors.[/quote]
THIS. I think we need to gain more support from our current alumni base. Do you think this is going to change (and if so how much) with football starting, mens soccer’s recent College Cup, and mens bball winning??
[quote=“NLP, post:13, topic:26078”]We need a better partnership between the University/AD and donors.
One side says donate more.
The other side says attract more money.
Both are right but no progress is made.
It’d be nice if we could as a group try to find a way to squeeze out a little more this year. Whether that’s 1% or 10% or 100% more, more is always better. From the AD side, a lot of what they do is behind the scenes and I appreciate that but at least a firmly-stated commitment to be something more than we currently are would mean a lot to me. Be bold, be audacious or be left behind.[/quote]
QFT. Adding a letter to the AD about why the extra contribution is included is also a good idea. There are a lot of Judy haters around here and I won’t dispute anything but she does have a hell of an eye for finding talented coaches in ALL sports. With the limited resources and competition with the ACC it is really an understatement that finding great coaches keeps us competitive until we can get on the same level from a monetary/fan support standpoint.
Name change is the starting point for better marketing!!!
Can’t really get mad at Judy for that. She’s tried to get the administration at UNC Charlotte to change the name. When they wouldn’t she changed the name of the athletics.
Can’t really get mad at Judy for that. She’s tried to get the administration at UNC Charlotte to change the name. When they wouldn’t she changed the name of the athletics.[/quote]
I don’t blame Judy for that, she is on the name change side. CHP and the unc board are who we are fighting!
Is there any proof that our alumni give less than other schools as a percentage of graduates. We are struggling to get funds because we don’t have that long legacy of family heritage where my father, and his father, and his father went to Charlotte. We are a young University who’s hit a big growth spurt in the last 15 to 20 years. Yeah we have 20K or 25K students today, but how many did we have 20 years ago. You can’t ask people who are paying off student loans, paying for a house, a car, 2 or 3 kids, and a dog to fork over $1000 a year or $10,000 a year. The real big donors come when the house is paid, the kids are out of college, and I’m looking for a tax deduction. How many alumni do we have that have reached that point in life? Some yes, but not to the levels of much older schools.
And yes, the branding sucks. I can go into a mall anywhere in the US and find the major Universities gear. Outside of Charlotte, there is zero 49ers gear and even in Charlotte there are more ACC (UNC, DUKE, NCSU, VA. TECH) team gear than ours. Since I live in Iowa I have to order all of my Charlotte gear online which is more limited because I don’t like to buy clothes and hats off of the web because you don’t really know how it looks. …BUT… It takes money to market and we are back to the 1st paragraph.
Back to giving credit…I do give Judy(and entire staff) a lot of credit for finding some great coaches recently. With our athletic budget, losing coaches to Florida, Duke and now Stanford is acknowledgment of finding great talent.