I think our problems start a the top. I don’t think Judy has done a very good job of late. I’m not even talking about football or the Conference situation. Looking at the state of our entire athletic program, we aren’t very good.
Looking at on the field performance, Men’s hoops regularly makes the NCAA’s, the Women have gotten better (not great, but better), Baseball is the picture of mediocrity, Men’s soccer had it’s time in the sun but has taken a few steps back, women’s soccer looks like it its heading in the same direction. The rest of our sports are out of view or a Title IX sport of two. looking at all of our teams as a whole, I would say the performance is average at best. If our Athletic Department was in the American League we would finish 80-82, 18 games out of first.
Looking at the financial aspect of our program, I would gather it is even worse shape. Men’s hoops is what butters our collective bread, I just saw in the Observer this morning that Bobby’s base is 155K. I’m not sure what his total deal is, but I know that since we don’t have a TV package it can’t be all that great (relative to other coaches). Why isn’t the coach of our premier sport paid better? I know, because we don’t have the money. It is the responsibility of the AD to raise money. This is area #1 where our AD has failed miserably. Sans Pepsi, we have no real big $$ corporate partners. Sure, I see Healthy Choice, Food Lion, CTC and a few other names, but the don’t pony up big time cash. Certainly their contributions are appreciated, but the AD needs to catch bigger fish for us to succeed.
How do you get these sponsors? I’m sure success on the fields of play would make it an easier sell, making a solid run in the NCAA’s would due wonders (dead horse). Having a packed house every night would certainly be more attractive to potential advertisers, as would having an appeal to people outside of students and alumni. Here is my #1a beef with our AD and the entire department. OUR MARKETING OF THE BRAND AND PRODUCT SUCKS!.. Hell, when our students aren’t entirely sure when games are because it isn’t in their face how is a casual fan supposed to know. Some here think it is up to the media, specifically- the Observer to promote our games etc… I totally disagree, we have an AD and a marketing Department that has completely dropped the ball. If they do their job and get the word out we won’t need to depend on any media outlet for frontline promotion
We are at a major crossroads. We have switched conferences for the worse, our coach is in talks with an SEC school, we can’t advance past the first round of the NCAA’s, and outside of our hard-core fanbase few people care about our program.
I think it is time to make a bigger change. Judy has done an OK job, but I think we need someone else to take the next steps. Sometimes a new perspective is needed to deal with big time changes. This may apply to both our coach and our AD.