So, now what?

[Mike_H]

So, you are SDSU. You are coming off a huge win at home in front of 8 or 9 thousand South Dakotans. There are some nice articles in the paper. Posting on this board is up. Several recruits were at the game. Now what? How do you capitalize on this weekend?

You have no game at all this week, and no home game until November. How do you keep the momentum going? Mailers? Fundraising? What do you do to take full advantage of last Saturday?

[filbert]

Re: So, now what?

If I'm running things, I get lots of TV and radio ads out for Hobo Day and basketball season tickets . . . maybe a "coast to coast" contest featuring trips to the Manhattan and San Diego State games.

Just a quick thought . . .

[89rabbit]

Re: So, now what?

Midnight Madness is coming up this Friday. It would be great if any of you who get to go would report back to us that will not be able to attend. Doors open to Frost at 11 pm on Friday and the teams will take the floor at 12:01 am on Saturday. Their is no charge although the SDSU Student-Athlete Advisory Council will be accepting donations to benefit area youth activities.

Go State! ;D

[jack100]

Re: So, now what?

So, you are SDSU. You are coming off a huge win at home in front of 8 or 9 thousand South Dakotans.

or 12,323 total fans.

[Mike_H]

Re: So, now what?

3 to 4 thousand were from North Dakota, depending on who at the game you believe.

[filbert]

Re: So, now what?

Oh, yeah, I'd also set up a calling bank with lots of seminar callers . . . old ladies saying "o geez, I've never been that interested in sports but those State College boys sure seem to be doing awfully well this year, dontcha know, and I really love that marching band up there in Brookings, did you know that they call themselves the 'Pride of the Dakotas?' O ja, and that ice cream they got up there, oh my golly stars it's so good, especially with that apple pie that Bonnie over in Montrose makes every fall, did you know that Bonnie got that recipe from her late husband's grandmother? O ja . . . "

Then they all call Mike's show.

Ratings, buddy, it's all about the ratings . . . ;D

[JackJD]

Re: So, now what?

3 to 4 thousand were from North Dakota, depending on who at the game you believe.

NDSU fans told me 600 students bought tickets and about 1500 adults made the trip.

[jack100]

Re: So, now what?

3 to 4 thousand were from North Dakota, depending on who at the game you believe.

I knew what you meant but took the comment as a subtle jab at SDSU fans. NDSU brought a good crowd - no question.


As far what should SDSU do now - win at Montana State on the 23rd. While SDSU will be the underdog again - it is a game SDSU can win.

SDSU also needs to get more people on their side on the D1 thing - the media along with the public are not convinced it was the right thing to do. I would bet that if a poll was conducted in South Dakota - with 2 choices

1- Would like to see SDSU fall on its face and fail miserably in D1

or

2 - See SDSU gain entry into an established D1 conference and succeed at the D1 level

More than half of South Dakotans would like to see SDSU fail. Maybe I am wrong but it is hard to win over people who would like to see SDSU fail.

More articles like Chris Solari's in the Argus today might help. I think that this was one of the most positive articles written about SDSU in sometime. SDSU needs a few more people in their corner. At NDSU - WDAY TV is the official station for the Bison - it would be great if SDSU could work out the same type of an agreement with a station in Sioux Falls.

[jackmd]

Re: So, now what?

You don't really do anything different. Keep the focus on the future. Continue to raise funds and establishment the endowment to support future scholarships. Bring recruits to Brookings and keep contacting current alums regarding continued support of athletics and academics at SDSU. Create and advertise a reasonable plan to improve facilities on campus and hire someone to spearhead an improved/ambitous media campaign across the upper midwest. Use some of the current low-interest money to support these and many more intelligent ideas. Don't rest on your laurels but continue to celebrate/embrace the early success. Lastly, don't be afraid to take some risks.

[Alumguy]

Re: So, now what?

Mike, we are just going to continue to be SDSU. There isn't this pile of money to throw at a media campaign. We aren't going to get on the phone and start calling people to ask for money.

We are going to continue to work the plan. That plan, as laid out by the Athletic Department, has a goal of raising $20 million dollars in five years to protect our athletic scholarship fund. Notice, I wrote "protect." At some schools they live by the seat of their pants hoping all goes well to get enough in annual campaigns to cover scholarship expenses. SDSU has decided that an endowment $20 million strong, will ensure that all scholarships will be honored year after year.

Then, along the way, alumni, friends, and students will step forward to help with SDSU's structural needs. Oh yes, that will happen. All you have to do is look around SDSU's campus and see all the projects paid for donors. We have so many dedicated and generous alumni and friends.

All of this is going to take time. Along the way we are going to have some big time highs and some big time lows. When the highs happen we will celebrate; when the lows happen we will have to answer to critics and second guessers.

In the end, South Dakota State University will continue to shine just as it has for almost 125 years.

[89rabbit]

Re: So, now what?

Great post Alumguy! ;D

Go State, South Dakota's only D-I University! 8)

[Mike_H]

Re: So, now what?

I knew what you meant but took the comment as a subtle jab at SDSU fans.  NDSU brought a good crowd - no question.


As far what should SDSU do now - win at Montana State on the 23rd.  While SDSU will be the underdog again - it is a game SDSU can win.  

SDSU also needs to get more people on their side on the D1 thing - the media along with the public are not convinced it was the right thing to do.  I would bet that if a poll was conducted in South Dakota - with 2 choices

1- Would like to see SDSU fall on its face and fail miserably in D1

or

2 - See SDSU gain entry into an established D1 conference and succeed at the D1 level

More than half of South Dakotans would like to see SDSU fail.  Maybe I am wrong but it is hard to win over people who would like to see SDSU fail.

More articles like Chris Solari's in the Argus today might help.  I think that this was one of the most positive articles written about SDSU in sometime.  SDSU needs a few more people in their corner.  At NDSU - WDAY TV is the official station for the Bison - it would be great if SDSU could work out the same type of an agreement with a station in Sioux Falls.

I won't talk about the general public, because 89 will require names and addresses, but I can talk about the media aspect of your thoughts. The percieved bias one way or the other is ridiculous. Complaints about the media and the fact that (SDSU/USD/Augie/bowling/girls softball/peewee soccer/fill in your sport, school, or insitution here) does not get enough coverage have been going on for years. It is only since the Rush Limbaughs of the world started talking about media bias that people have made a connection between lack of sports coverage and some "pettiness", to quote another thread, by a media outlet.

What has happened in media lately? Have the staffs gotten bigger? No. Are the media outlets owned by local folks that graduated from a local institution? No. Are they owned by coporate, sometimes publicly held, companies that also own an airline and two fast food franchises? Mostly. Do they care about coverage of local things, or do they care about money on their bottom line? So what you have are smaller staffs with smaller budgets trying to please more people.

Think of it. You have 4 minutes to do the sports on TV in Sioux Falls each night. You have, depending on the season, The Storm, Canairies, Stampede, Spitfire, Skyforce, Augie, USF, USD, SDSU, Northern, 5 high schools in town with all of their sports, several other towns in the area, the Twins, Vikings, Timberwolves, and Wild. don't forget that every now and then you better do a story about kick boxing to get those people off your ass, and throw in some Dakota Wesleyan or Dakota State stuff. When do you have time to be biased?

I know in our weekly media member meetings seeking to get liberal candidates elected and quash the right wing agenda, sports coverage in general, and SDSU in particular, never comes up.

[89rabbit]

Re: So, now what?

Strange as this is to believe I agree with Mike (for the most part).  The media gives people what they think the people want to see/hear.  They are in business to make $$$ and that is how you do it.  So as SDSU increases fan interest the amount of coverage will go up.  Fan interest is sure to go up as SDSU plays schools that have names that folks from outside the area have heard of.  What is more exciting to the casual fan SDSU vs Purdue or the University of Sioux Falls vs Dana (not a knock of USF or Dana just a fact)?

The media dosen't owe SDSU anything, however it would be nice if more jumped on our band wagon.  As Chris Solari wrote "Of course, most of the state media has been slow to jump on the Jackrabbits' bandwagon. Saturday's game was televised in North Dakota, but not picked up in South Dakota, showing how wide a chasm exists between the two states. There is a second-tier mentality that permeates South Dakota, and SDSU will need more and more of these kinds of major victories and large crowds in all sports to make believers out of these Division II-centrists." and he is absolutely right.

There are some in the media who like the old status quo and still long for the days when SDSU was part of the NCC.  Sometimes their personal feelings shine through in how they write, report, edit, or talk but for the most part the media is a business.  Build it (a solid D-I program) and then will come. As Alumguy pointed out, in an earlier post, that is exactly what SDSU is going to do.

Go State!  ;D

[Mike_H]

Re: So, now what?

Alumguy: Are you serious? "We are going to continue being SDSU"? You are not going to take advantage of any momentum at all? Not going to be oportunistic? I know you have some people excited about SDSU right now. Which SDSU are you going to continue to be? This sounds like the same way SDSU has dealt with bad news in the past few months. Is this standard procedure? Ignore the bad news AND the good? I would think it is a lot easier to pick up the phone and call SDSU grads after a great weekend like this one than it was after the Argus had run a nasty editorial. I understand this is a long term project with long term goals, and you do not toss those plans out, but in business this is called a "target of opportunity". You do not take advantage of that?

[TK22867]

Re: So, now what?

The NDSU win was big, being that it is supposed to be a "budding" rivalry. However, we all know how rivalries really get started. Either some players get into a brew ha ha or students get into it. Not the best idea in the world, but wouldn't we all just love to see the NDSU and SDSU football teams meet at midfield and start jawing with each other, i.e. FSU/Florida or Miami/Notre Dame? These kinds of things breed rivalries. No punches thrown, or anybody hurt, but old fashioned "You are in our house and we are going to wipe the turf with you" type thinking.

Wishful thinking, but what if some NDSU students "broke in" and stole the Dakota Marker trophy? Now that would start a rivalry and SDSU fans couldn't wait until next year's game at NDSU. Heck, the NDSU-SDSU basketball game would even be good.

When Jim Tressel, the current coach of Ohio State was introduced as new head coach of the buckeyes, it was during half-time of an OSU basketball game. He said "I'm not sure how good we'll be next year, but I can tell you that 257 days from now in Ann Arbor Michigan you are going to be proud of your boys". Not an exact quote, but that is how you sustain a rivalry.

In Summary, in order to get the attention that SDSU deserves as a D-1 program, I feel that something "extremely media worthy" needs to happen that gets all South Dakotans fired up. Where are you when we need you USD????