So you're the AD...

[meanJewGreen]

Ok, Rick's gone. Cool. 

Put yourself in the shoes of the new AD. What's the first order of business for you?

For me, I'm calling every alum who stopped donating within the past 5 years, finding out why, and either giving them a ticket, or offering some kind of incentive to come back into the UNT fold.

I'm also restocking the athletic department with Diet Coke. 

[MEANGREENCOACH2]

Putting the entire marketing department on notice.  IF you cant do something to market this team you are gone! 

[MGNation92]

Scrapping the Cowboys/UNT deal and signing a lifetime partnership with Jimmy John's

[Army of Dad]

5 minutes ago, meanJewGreen said:

Ok, Rick's gone. Cool. 

Put yourself in the shoes of the new AD. What's the first order of business for you?

For me, I'm calling every alum who stopped donating within the past 5 years, finding out why, and either giving them a ticket, or offering some kind of incentive to come back into the UNT fold.

I'm also restocking the athletic department with Diet Coke. 

I like it, but be sure to include people who stopped buying season tickets.

[MeanGreenTexan]

Call Ernie, Brint, Don, C.Dan, et al.  and assure them they're in good hands.  I know what I'm doing, but I need your help.  

Gotta keep those guys in the fold before you look to 'bring back' or 'add to'.

[GTWT]

Find a way to win in football & basketball.  And that means giving our coaches all the funding support they need to hire top assistants, to recruit anywhere they need to go.  To make sure that every recruit, their family, & their highschool coach perceives UNT to be first-class.

Reestablish good relationships with supporters - big or small.  Talk to the media & be honest.

Get to know UNT's President & BOR on first names bases.

[Cerebus]

First, students are your future donors so you have to get a social media guru to drive engagement.   They can also work on getting local business to engage.   Second, MGC levels need to raised by a substantial amount.    New AD needs to get the right person in place or take charge of it himself until the right person is found.  

[MGNation92]

3 minutes ago, Cerebus said:

First, students are your future donors so you have to get a social media guru to drive engagement.   They can also work on getting local business to engage.   Second, MGC levels need to raised by a substantial amount.    New AD needs to get the right person in place or take charge of it himself until the right person is found.  

but John Nitardy has done so well. Why not just keep him around? /s

[FirefightnRick]

Clean house.

 

Rick

[Dr. Seuss]

When a new CEO comes in, they don't clean house and scare people about having a job.  The tell them about their vision for the program and what their expectations are.  The ones that want to learn and change with their new leader, will.  The ones that don't change will just have to change employers; change will happen in some way or form.  

I'm not saying no one will be fired or leave but the reason why we're where we are is because of RV.  Now he's gone, most people in the Athletic Dept are happy to learn and develop their careers from someone else.

 

I do see guys like Capper leaving.  He'll bring some of his guys in but I don't see him cleaning house. 

[Harry]

We have a ton of former athletes in the area and state.  We should have a program to get them back, make them feel welcome and give them discounts. I know there have been efforts in this regard from @GMoney and many others but this seems like an area that we could possibly improve on and it would pay dividends.

I also think we should look at upping the salaries for some of our lower level administrative and marketing positions.  To say that this place has been a revolving door would be an understatement.   You need consistency if you are trying to build a strong base.

[UNTexas]

1. Interview everyone in the athletic department and find out the areas RV failed at.

2. Get a new basketball coach.

3. Burn up the phones calling alumni and get people interested again. Do actual events on game day. People like getting involved and they have money. 

4. Rebuild the Lettermen's Association because RV destroyed it. Have actual events. A lot of these people are huge fans and want to be involved. Plus, they have money.

5. Most importantly, completely change the culture at UNT's athletic department. Oh, obviously win.

Edited May 23, 2016 by UNTexas

[Travis]

Firing the BB coach

Fixing our awful Scheduling

Create new scheduling philosophy

Fix our ticket office, MG Club, and customer service reps.

Mend fences between boosters of old and new - no matter the size of donation. 

Bring sexy back.

[UNTcrazy727]

-Build a solid relationship with the univeristy. 

-Clean up the mess RV made out of our football schedule. You can start by dropping the Army series and a couple of those FCS games. 

-Fire Benford.

-Use marketing and sales as tools to build our athletic programs. Not as annoyances that you have to tolerate. This was one of RV's biggest faults. Your job is bigger than cultivating a few big donors and building facilities.

[UNTFan23]

Understand that dropping already scheduled games comes at the price of having to settle for lessor opponents plus financial penalties for canceling the contract.

[UNT90]

3 minutes ago, UNTFan23 said:

Understand that dropping already scheduled games comes at the price of having to settle for lessor opponents plus financial penalties for canceling the contract.

Long live the Hustler, eh? Maybe a new guy will negotiate his way out of these contracts or raise enough money to buy them out. This isn't RV's AD anymore.

[foutsrouts]

14 minutes ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

-Build a solid relationship with the univeristy. 

-Clean up the mess RV made out of our football schedule. You can start by dropping the Army series and a couple of those FCS games. 

-Fire Benford.

-Use marketing and sales as tools to build our athletic programs. Not as annoyances that you have to tolerate. This was one of RV's biggest faults. Your job is bigger than cultivating a few big donors and building facilities.

I don't mind the Army series so much. It generally gives us a chance at a win, and they can bring in a decent crowd. I'd also like to make it up there someday for an NT game myself.

[untjim1995]

First person I hire is someone I know personally that can handle corporate sponsorship and specializes in cultivating donors. That person doesn't exist in this department now.

Second thing I do is ask Seth what he needs that he hasn't had yet that can get done this summer. Show him that you know that football here will drive the bus and he's gonna help him in every way possible. And then I go to Jalie and do the same thing, since she's new and has shown promise.

 I would wait on doing anything though for men's basketball and just let that season play out--then bring in your guy for the next hire. 

[UNTFan23]

5 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

Long live the Hustler, eh? Maybe a new guy will negotiate his way out of these contracts or raise enough money to buy them out. This isn't RV's AD anymore.

How many schools do you think have openings starting in 2017? Now cross reference that with our schedule and how many have a current opening for a game we're willing to give up? We have to keep in mind that ditching those schools we have scheduled also need to find an opponent. It's possible we'd have to pay extra in the case where that other school has to settle for a lesser opponent and thus we'd need to make them whole due to our drop kicking the contract. Also, be prepared for more five game home stands.

I think a lot of options for killing off contracts starts in 2020 as not everyone has their out-of-conference schedules set in stone yet.

[TreeFiddy]

Luckily we were able to get the Wisconsin deal signed just in the nick of time.

[UNT90]

10 minutes ago, UNTFan23 said:

How many schools do you think have openings starting in 2017? Now cross reference that with our schedule and how many have a current opening for a game we're willing to give up? We have to keep in mind that ditching those schools we have scheduled also need to find an opponent. It's possible we'd have to pay extra in the case where that other school has to settle for a lesser opponent and thus we'd need to make them whole due to our drop kicking the contract. Also, be prepared for more five game home stands.

I think a lot of options for killing off contracts starts in 2020 as not everyone has their out-of-conference schedules set in stone yet.

It's ironic that you use Rivk Villarreal's scheduling to defend... Rick Villarreal's scheduling. 

[UNTFan23]

Well, that's what we're stuck with, right?

[UNT90]

8 minutes ago, UNTFan23 said:

Well, that's what we're stuck with, right?

Typical 1990s thinking. We are only stuck with it if we choose to be stuck with it. 

My God, man!

I'm assuming you would be perfectly happy with Hank at AD because he is a nice guy.  

Jeez. 

Edited May 23, 2016 by UNT90

[MeanGreenTexan]

1 hour ago, UNT90 said:

Long live the Hustler, eh? Maybe a new guy will negotiate his way out of these contracts or raise enough money to buy them out. This isn't RV's AD anymore.

But it's the mess he left us in...contractually 

[UNT90]

3 hours ago, FirefightnRick said:

Clean house.

 

Rick

Very first thing.

Then Engage long time season ticket holders to find out problems and correct them. 

Edited May 24, 2016 by UNT90