RV Chant???

Christopher Walker · October 30, 2015

Excellent point! The young alumni section was a great idea. I'll give RV credit for that. I think he came up with it.

Except the idea was a disaster because of poor marketing. It's now the Eastside Social Club/John Williams section.
John managed to sell out a section that RV couldn't move.
Go figure.

I thought the conference forced that move because our student section was too close to the opponents bench and (in their opinion) too rowdy.

Yep. It was a Conference-forced decision and RV wanted nothing to do with it.

Some of you may recall that @oldguystudent had the initial idea and I helped facilitate a GoFundMe to buy up as many of the tickets as possible and just distribute them to the rowdiest fans as possible. Kind of an "honor the rule while completely undermining it" sort of thing. That GoFundMe didn't meet its goal, and that's when John Williams stepped in and bought most all of them himself. Which, @oldguystudent are completely cool with, as we both consider ourselves supreme customers of all the good John has provided Denton in the last five years. It's been great.

MeanGreenD · October 30, 2015

Yep. It was a Conference-forced decision and RV wanted nothing to do with it.
Some of you may recall that @oldguystudent had the initial idea and I helped facilitate a GoFundMe to buy up as many of the tickets as possible and just distribute them to the rowdiest fans as possible. Kind of an "honor the rule while completely undermining it" sort of thing. That GoFundMe didn't meet its goal, and that's when John Williams stepped in and bought most all of them himself. Which, @oldguystudent are completely cool with, as we both consider ourselves supreme customers of all the good John has provided Denton in the last five years. It's been great.

I do recall that.

When you say "RV wanted nothing to do with it" are you referring to the young alumni section or that students weren't allowed there any longer?

oldguystudent · October 30, 2015

I do recall that.
When you say "RV wanted nothing to do with it" are you referring to the young alumni section or that students weren't allowed there any longer?

The conference had told RV to stop putting students in that section during the 2013 season, to which RV flipped the conference the bird. For the 2014 season the conference came back hard and unilaterally imposed upon UNT that there would be no students allowed in that section.

To memory, RV came up with the idea of the young alumni section for those seats, but nobody was buying. Then @Christopher Walker and I had the idea of simply buying out the tickets and giving them to students/recent alumni that we knew to be rowdy. We set up the go fund me, and while it certainly brought in donors, we didn't get to the amount we deemed necessary for it to have an impact.

However, our efforts did attract the attention of Vito, who tried to interview me. I politely steered him to Christopher Walker, because I don't ever, ever want to put my name in print in anything related to UNT athletics.

This media attention led to @JohnWilliams buying out the tickets himself. For the 2014 season, the section didn't have a name, but I think UNT really liked the idea, so this year, it's officially designated as the East Side Club Section or something like that, even on the website and programs when you look at the stadium map.

In the end, that particular pursuit worked out swimmingly for everybody.

UNT90 · October 30, 2015

The conference had told RV to stop putting students in that section during the 2013 season, to which RV flipped the conference the bird. For the 2014 season the conference came back hard and unilaterally imposed upon UNT that there would be no students allowed in that section.
To memory, RV came up with the idea of the young alumni section for those seats, but nobody was buying. Then @Christopher Walker and I had the idea of simply buying out the tickets and giving them to students/recent alumni that we knew to be rowdy. We set up the go fund me, and while it certainly brought in donors, we didn't get to the amount we deemed necessary for it to have an impact.
However, our efforts did attract the attention of Vito, who tried to interview me. I politely steered him to Christopher Walker, because I don't ever, ever want to put my name in print in anything related to UNT athletics.
This media attention led to @JohnWilliams buying out the tickets himself. For the 2014 season, the section didn't have a name, but I think UNT really liked the idea, so this year, it's officially designated as the East Side Club Section or something like that, even on the website and programs when you look at the stadium map.
In the end, that particular pursuit worked out swimmingly for everybody.

So, this message board was forced to do the job of a lazy AD who just expected recent alums to flock to the stadium because he designated a section?

Seriously, is there a step missed here? Was there ANY RV involvement? Or was this completely JW stepping up and properly marketing something that RV couldn't?

If I'm not mistaken, JW had sold out that section both years. Did he take a financial hit? Maybe, but I bet he made up for it in alcohol sales from people who bought those tickets.

Thank you, John Williams, for doing the job of Rick Villarreal.

Matt from A700 · October 30, 2015

I agree that an RV chant probably wouldn't pick up in the student section, unfortunately. Although the students are becoming a little more informed with every devastating loss, and I did see a student holding a "Clean Slate" sign at the WKU game, I don't know if we'll see the normal student section restored again in 2015. I took a picture with of the Wing in the fourth quarter of the WKU game and put it on Facebook, when there were probably ten people left. Some students commented the picture suggesting that a lot of them only go to the games to watch the band then leave at halftime. Sad, but according to the stands in the third quarter, it seems accurate at this point in time.

UNTDoc · October 30, 2015

So, this message board was forced to do the job of a lazy AD who just expected recent alums to flock to the stadium because he designated a section?
Seriously, is there a step missed here? Was there ANY RV involvement? Or was this completely JW stepping up and properly marketing something that RV couldn't?
If I'm not mistaken, JW had sold out that section both years. Did he take a financial hit? Maybe, but I bet he made up for it in alcohol sales from people who bought those tickets.
Thank you, John Williams, for doing the job of Rick Villarreal.

Maybe we should fund a "John Williams for AD" billboard...

Matt from A700 · October 30, 2015

I love John Williams, too.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Matt from A700

Side Show Joe · October 30, 2015

The conference had told RV to stop putting students in that section during the 2013 season, to which RV flipped the conference the bird. For the 2014 season the conference came back hard and unilaterally imposed upon UNT that there would be no students allowed in that section.
To memory, RV came up with the idea of the young alumni section for those seats, but nobody was buying. Then @Christopher Walker and I had the idea of simply buying out the tickets and giving them to students/recent alumni that we knew to be rowdy. We set up the go fund me, and while it certainly brought in donors, we didn't get to the amount we deemed necessary for it to have an impact.
However, our efforts did attract the attention of Vito, who tried to interview me. I politely steered him to Christopher Walker, because I don't ever, ever want to put my name in print in anything related to UNT athletics.
This media attention led to @JohnWilliams buying out the tickets himself. For the 2014 season, the section didn't have a name, but I think UNT really liked the idea, so this year, it's officially designated as the East Side Club Section or something like that, even on the website and programs when you look at the stadium map.
In the end, that particular pursuit worked out swimmingly for everybody.

I remember it this way too.

Thank you OGStudent, Chris, and Mr. Williams. And, thank you RV letting these people fix your problem.