Let Me Get This Straight......

Green Lantern · May 13, 2011

How many did we have at last years Coaches Caravan? Or the year before? Or during the Bowl Years?

Oh that's right...Zero. 75 seems to be a pretty nice improvement.

And add in the 100+ in attendance in Denton on Monday night and you've had fairly good exposure in the first week of caravans. Very cool events in my estimation.

untjim1995 · May 13, 2011

Let's say that we do win 5 or more games this upcoming year, but they are all against SBC teams. Would the caravan really draw tremendously more than 75 people in Dallas? Maybe so, but I doubt it would be significantly more. You can't erase decades worth of apathy in a few years unless you do something amazing here that has not been done since Fry was here--beat name OOC teams. We got more attention for beating Tech and Baylor than we did for beating any conference team back in the late 90s and early 00s. This year, beating Alabama is not gonna happen, but beating Houston would get attention of lots of Texans. Beating Iowa in a few years would grab lots of attention, even though beating Louisiana-Monroe won't. Its kind of like Fresno State under Pat Hill. They are well-known and still well supported because of the big OOC wins and close losses over the years. In my opinion, this is what it will take to get attention and increase attendance at these functions quickly.

UNTnewbie · May 13, 2011

There was a quick, 30 second, video from the Dallas Event shown last night on Channel 5 as part of the SportsCast. I was surprised and by the time I knew it was from the Caravan it was over and I'm not even sure what was said during the broadcast. Anyway, at least there was some local news coverage.

jtm0097 · May 14, 2011

I had every intention of going to the caravan, but I didnt get off work until 7. Then on top of that I was having car problems. I really hate that I had to miss out on this event.

Edited May 14, 2011 by jtm0097

wardly · May 14, 2011

Guys,

It's on the website at meangreensports. I mean, what else do you want them to do? Mailing costs more money these days than it used to cost. So, even mailing just MGC members or season ticket holders is talking a lot of cash out.

Again, I think these things begin to take care of themselves once more attention is on the program for winning. I suppose they could phone. But, you always have people who are so jacked up about getting phone calls, no call lists, etc. It's not hard to get a no call list, as it's updated weekly...and it's free.

But...
You'd still have to have live bodies sitting around making the phone calls to the alumni base outside the MGC. That's volunteers if you don't have the money to pay someone to do it. Who are your volunteers? Students, MGC members?

I think the athletic department is doing something good here. You get 75 people out. That's better than zero, which is what it was before these things. It'll build.

I know we're hungry to win. To be like Texas and OU, who have the luxury of charging people to go to these things. To have UNT actually on the helmets. To have a lively and lengthy post-game show.

But, these things take time. They will come now that we've got a good coaching staff in place. The stadium, the coaching staff, the caravan...it's all new and good.

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ads in sports section of all local newspapers with open invitation seens like a easy, cost effective manner in order to reach out to the community. but hey, i didn't major in journalism at UNT so what do i know.

ColoradoEagle · May 14, 2011

I would bet that is was fairly similar at Iowa St, but they didn't have Cowboys/Stars/Mavs/Rangers/SMU/TCU/UT/Tech/A&M/OU to compete with in Ames.

I don't think you guys understand the geography of the area.

Within about 250 miles of Ames, IA: University of Nebraska, University of Iowa, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, Vikings, Timberwolves, Twins, Wild. Bump it to 350 and you can add Brewers, Bucks, Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs, and White Sox.

That area of the country is anything but lacking in sports. Add in that the nearest 'metro' area to Ames is 600,000 people and traditionally much more interested in the Hawkeyes, and you can see the similarity to where we're at.

I like that they're doing these coaches caravans, but it seems like they should have at least done a billboard for each one of them unless they're trying to keep them to 100 or less people. If that's their goal, I think they're doing great. If that's not the goal, then I have to wonder why they didn't do a more festival type of atmosphere at a mall or some other high traffic area during the day.

Edited May 14, 2011 by ColoradoEagle

ColoradoEagle · May 14, 2011

Perhaps math isn't your strong suit then?

45 miles < 250 miles

or for that matter

180 miles (UT/OU)< 250 or 350 miles

I do not disagree that Iowa St is certainly within the sphere of influence of all those you mention, but there is a huge difference between being in the same city as the Cubs and being within 250 miles. I think we are more comparable to the situation that Northwestern is in regarding attracting fans.

So you think people are driving en masse to OU and UT every weekend? No. What you're talking about is media coverage, and being from the area, I know that all the Minneapolis teams and the Packers get tons of coverage a couple hundred miles to the northwest of Ames. Also Nebraska, North Dakota, the gophers, and, to a lesser extent, the Hawkeyes. I'd imagine that Ames/Des Moines, pretty much being in the middle of everything, covers a lot more. I even forgot about the Chiefs and Royals above, but that should be understandable.

We have almost seven million people to draw from just within DFW. By comparison, the total population of Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota put together is just over 10 million. The position we're in is nothing like Northwestern. SMU's position is similar to Northwestern. Both are rich kid schools that your average fan doesn't identify with, so both are quiet, boring gamedays with few fans.