Praise

[Cowbell]

For the past 5+ years we have heaped praise on the various athletic programs for their successes. Lost in much of this is the big time atmosphere created by hard working people in the athletic department. Former AD Fred Oien and a host of other people worked very hard and used a lot of creativity to bring about a "feel" at the athletic venues that is really special. Coaches and players get the headlines but there are terrific people in the background setting the stage.

[GoJacks]

Re: Praise

For the past 5+ years we have heaped praise on the various athletic programs for their successes. Lost in much of this is the big time atmosphere created by hard working people in the athletic department. Former AD Fred Oien and a host of other people worked very hard and used a lot of creativity to bring about a "feel" at the athletic venues that is really special. Coaches and players get the headlines but there are terrific people in the background setting the stage.

What have they done? Other then the video board, I do not think much if anything has changed.

[Cowbell]

Re: Praise

Let's see:

1) Coordinate all efforts with the Backyard at football games.
2) Work with corporate sponsors for ticketing, commercials, taking care of a multitude of requests to keep those clients happy. By the way, those corporate sponsorships put more money in the "bank" than do season ticket sales.
3) Even the coordination of timeouts, breaks in the action, require a tremendous amount of planning.
4) Promotions for the students (those yellow shirts don't fall from the sky)
5) By the way, take away the video boards, let's see what the environment is especially in Frost Arena. The athletic department works very closely with Daktronics on this.
6) The blue seats in Frost Arena (lower level) changed everything. And, the marketing and ticket sales made that possible.
7) By the way, when they split many of the women's and men's basketball games, that meant double duty for athletic personnel. That's in addition to all the other events they need to work at.
8) Go back ten years and look at the game programs. There's no comparison to today's programs. Advertisements, features, etc. That all requires time.
9) Going back to football, ten years ago when we had a 7-4 season (which was most of the time) we had an average attendance of 6,000 people. Well, it's doubled now and it didn't happen because the folks in the athletic department were hoping more people showed up.
10) With the need for more athletic scholarships, the athletic development folks have been putting in a lot of time, asking more people for money, so we can have more quality athletes on the field or on the courts. That in itself raises the big time feel.

Enough.

[Cowbell]

Re: Praise

One more thing, SDSU is in a small market. Our people have to put in twice the effort to secure corporate sponsors, donations, season ticket holders, etc. Those folks have done a tremendous job.

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: Praise

Cowbell,
I meant to give you rep points for your first post in this thread but hadn't gotten to it. It was something that needs to be said often as many people have put a lot of work into this. The amount of work has increased at a ration not commensurate with the number of staff added. Your second post deserves even more pts and I wish I could double dip for you.

One other thing I would add is all of the video that gets put on You Tube. I am sure there could be many, many more additions.

EDIT: we were typing at the same time as your third post

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Praise

I'll throw in some rep points for both CB and 1stRow on these posts. (P.S. Was going to give you rep points on another post elsewhere, but forgot...will make it now!!)

The staff in the department does a fantastic job and seldom get thanked enough.

[BTownJack]

Re: Praise

Let's not forgot a few more important enhancements:

1. The scholarship increases. Our overall scholarships in the athletic department have gone from 92 in our D-II days to 209 this year, and they continue to go up.

(209 - 92) = 117 new scholarships
117 * $12,000 tuition bill = $1, 404,000/year more that we fund through scholarships!!!!

2. Adding women's soccer and equestrian within the last 10 years.

3. D-I transition, enough said.

4. The numerous post-graduate scholarships and academic all-american awards that our student-athletes have achieved.

I'll stop there because I could go on all day!

[jackmd]

Re: Praise

Look for some more things soon. With the difficult economy some of the features during athletic events are in jeopardy of being dropped. Some boosters are in the planning stages of finding a way to raise some money to make sure that the experience on game day isn't affected negatively by the expected lack of funds. What am I trying to say? Get ready to be asked to provide a little help, if you can. More details will be coming forward. I'm confident we can get it done.

Saw the foundation for the Dykhouse center the other day, it is going to help frame things in a bit.

One last thing, anyone watch the UCONN/Cuse game last night? If you noticed the arena at UCONN it appears that they added upper level corner seating after the other seating. Maybe I'm wrong. It looked like a reasonable thing to accomplish but I'm not engineer or contractor. I would like to see seats above the doors on the upper level south side.

[JimmyJack]

Re: Praise

What have they done? Other then the video board, I do not think much if anything has changed.

Game production alone is a huge undertaking. There are game scripts to be created. Ad lineups to be generated. Promotions that need to be coordinated, everything from Junior Jacks to the student free throw shooter and recognitions. Somebody writes the script for the PA announcer. Every detail of those events is managed down to the second (I'm not kidding: I've done videos for them and they give me an exact length, to the second, that they want and they're not happy if I don't hit the mark). They're so good at event management that the conference asked them to manage the games at the Summit tournament LAST year in Tulsa.

Justin Swanson and Laura Jacobs handle game production. I'd encourage you to talk to them about what it entails, but I know from experience that they're both busier than heck today getting every detail in place for tonight's game. It's a massive undertaking to run a seamless event for thousands of people.

[rabbitears]

Re: Praise

This feels like a preaching to the choir thread, because it looks like we that are contributing understand just what the Athletic Department does to 'put on a show'. I have had the chance to experience the SDSU game day staff, and I have had the chance to visit a number of other large division one venues also. No surprise that SDSU fans should feel proud of what they get to experience when they come to state! Now sure there are a number of venues who arguably 'put on a better show', but I know for a fact that the number of those campuses ahead of us is a much shorter list than those behind us!
Sure it takes hard work, but it takes a work ethic that is a 7 day a week mentality...even when there isn't a 'game day' I know they are thinking and wondering how can it get better. It's is a pride thing. Not just getting the job done, but doing it well.
Final thought...why do it? Why do we need the glitz, the show, the bells & whistles???? Sure it's for the fan experience, make it feel and look different, but eveyone in the Athletic Department will tell you, it's about the experience for the student-athlete. They all say the same thing...there's nothing like home court/home field advantage, but ask them about the worst experience! Like getting to the gym for pre-game and somebody is still turning the lights on, the janitor has to let you in, and less than 100 people show up for the game. Not a great experience.
Now I know athletics have become viewed as a revenue generating tool for universities, but they are and always will be a classroom extension where we send our sons and daughters to learn, travel and grow at another level.
Bottom line...SDSU is doing it..and doing it well!

[JackJD]

Re: Praise

A recent post on Bisonville commented that they aren't using their videoscreen in the BSA (basketball arena) as well as SDSU is using their screen in Frost. No smack on NDSU but the point is, we have people who are using the technology well and that's part of the show and the show is better than most venues.

[filbert]

Re: Praise

A recent post on Bisonville commented that they aren't using their videoscreen in the BSA (basketball arena) as well as SDSU is using their screen in Frost. No smack on NDSU but the point is, we have people who are using the technology well and that's part of the show and the show is better than most venues.

It probably helps a bit to have the video board's manufacturer just across town, employing scores of SDSU students . . .

[JackJD]

Re: Praise

I think the Bisonville poster made note of the proximity of Daktronics to SDSU. It's a nice advantage.

[BTownJack]

Re: Praise

I think the Bisonville poster made note of the proximity of Daktronics to SDSU. It's a nice advantage.

It isn't necessarily because we have Daktronics in our backyard. It is because the SDSU athletic department has chosen to spend the money to contract Keyframe (a subsidiary of Dak) to run all the video boards and cameras during the game. They also are in charge of broadcasting the post-game press conference video everyone can view on the center hung video boards in Frost. Eric Ray, a dakotronics employee, does a great job of supervising the Keyframe staff and has a passion for SDSU athletics. We are lucky to have him.

From what I know, NDSU chose not to hire Keyframe to run their boards and run them with their own staff. Nothing against their staff, but I'd bet they don't have near the experience the Keyframe staff has.