How should GSU get students excited about football?

[gsu_paintballer]

Now, I'll start by saying that our university does a HORRIBLE job advertising these pep rallies and such. I talked to TONS of people that responded with "There was a pep rally before the concert?" (there was a concert tonight at the RAC).

However, our student body that WAS there was absolutely horrible. I'm sure you guys are familiar with the GSU scramble that we play. Not a single student responded with a G, S, or U. They all stood there stone faced. Not a single student said "Georgia Southern Eagles FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT" at the end of the fight song. It was ridiculous. I honestly feel like it was a wasted attempt.

What can we do to fix these sorts of problems?

[PowerEagle]

Well, I think they are starting to address the issue with the Spirit Coordinator position that Leslie Spoon is in. I think she has done a good job so far with promoting the traditions of GSU, and i hear she's educating incoming freshman as well.

However...

I feel like alot of the work done by GSU is "just enough". It seems like its just too much trouble to go above and beyond and do something great. Maybe its just me, and I'm sure that everyone in the athletic department works hard, but alot of times it seems like efforts for things are half-@$$ed. Examples, you say? Sure...

For the longest time we had billboards up around campus announcing athletic events. these were wood, small, and about 3 feet tall tops. Barely noticeable, and often not up to date. Good idea, poor execution.

The fliers and pamphlets sent out by southern boosters or for season tickets. Granted, these have improved, but sometimes the images are grainy and lack quality. Like I said, this has improved (the mailed out stuff) but like the website right now. If you go to www.georgiasoutherneagles.com, and look at the first full page image that comes up, its grainy looking, like someone through it together in ten minutes (which, hey, they probably did).

I could probably think of more, but these are just a few.

[gsu_paintballer]

Funny that you mentioned the site. It hasn't loaded for me in ages. Stops on the GS Eagles logo.

[eaglewraith]

Funny that you mentioned the site. It hasn't loaded for me in ages. Stops on the GS Eagles logo.

You do realize you have to click on the picture right? Just checking...

[gsu_paintballer]

You do realize you have to click on the picture right? Just checking...

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y83/tchs_drummer06/gseagles.jpg?t=1220577984

What do I click?

[BooneEagle]

Just win, baby!

[Klak]

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y83/tchs_drummer06/gseagles.jpg?t=1220577984

What do I click?

Disable your ad-block plus. It picks up the front page banner as an ad.

[eaglewraith]

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y83/tchs_drummer06/gseagles.jpg?t=1220577984

What do I click?

Wasn't trying to insult you or anything...just had to check. We all have those kind of moments sometimes.

I think Klak has your solution

[gsu_paintballer]

How do I set it to allow that particular image?

[Klak]

I think you can only set it to allow ads for that web site. That's what I did anyway.

[gsu_paintballer]

Figured it out. Back on topic.

[GSUEoghan]

Once again, it seems to have created a little "dislike" among many of the folks in the AD's office but I have noticed the same "just enough" concept and voiced it a few times. While I was working there, I even suggested/offered to do the grunt work for a few low-cost above and beyond concepts and each time was met with more than a little "defensiveness" for my trouble.

Classic wisdom, if you fear for your job enough to dismiss good ideas, you ain't doing a good enough job and though there's been some improvement, there hasn't been enough...not NEARLY enough.

[Gsueagle9788]

I don't know who all from this board was at the Cartel/Yung Joc concert tonight in the boro, but I was so pumped at the amount of times the Georgia....Southern chant got started, and even Yung Joc started chanting it with the crowd at one point :)

[gsuone]

Folks we are doing a much better job than we were a year ago or even five years ago

I think that you will see more student involvement at games in the coming weeks

[1peatfor7]

Maybe they were all freshman and don't know the GSU scramble or fight song?

[Hamfan]

I think the student support is much, MUCH better than it was in years past, even when we had much better football teams. It kind of boggled my mind to watch Adrian Peterson play before less than a full stadium. Anyway....

The marketing to students probably is lacking but it can only go so far. College life is a busy time. Classes, Girl/Boy chasing, going home for the weekend, partying, BCS games on TV, etc. There are a lot of things that compete with GSU football games for student's attention.

Right now we have a core group of students that are pretty darn good fans, probably the most ever. They are already excited and it is going to be up to them to spread their excitement. The way to grow this thing is for students who are passionate about the program to invite as many friends to go to the games with them as they can. I don't think there is any substitute. That is how I got started. I can't even remember the guy who talked me and my room mate into going to that first game, but he won over two life long fans who continue to support the program to this day. The school's "marketing campaign" such as it was played no factor whatsoever.

Finally, none of us are going to brow beat anyone into becoming a GSU fan. I really like the fact that there is beginning to be a little bit of a stigma attached to wearing Ugay crap around campus and to the games. But, once it is taken past the point of good natured ribbing, it can and probably will become counter productive.

Nice board by the way!

[gapeach1991]

The BEST advertising is word of mouth. The students that truly enjoy GSU sports have to be convincing. Talk it up, make it seem like the place to be, get 2 students who haven't been to go and ask each of them to bring 2 students, etc. The loudest peopl are usually the complainers (It's boring and its hot and you might sweat--get over it). As students & fans you have to be louder than the cmplainers without being obnoxious about it.

It's a great thing we've got here.

[Ralze34]

I still think the best thing GSU can do is modify the GSU orientation class. When I took it we watched a bunch of movies and wrote a couple of papers. Others I knew took tours of campus by way of scavenger hunts, then just had discussions on leadership and goals.

GSU orientation used to be a half semester class. I say flip it to a full semester and use 'The Southern Century' as the textbook for the class. This is a benefit for the school is 2 ways. First by making this the required textbook for the class, we boost the sells of the book. Second, by making incoming freshmen truly learn the history of our university, you give them a better chance to become part of the school.

My first couple of years at GSU I just kind of floated along went to a couple football games, nothing major. However, once I started learning the history of our school and our traditions, I became the fan I am now. Teaching freshmen our history will give a better chance for them to fall in love and keep coming back after we graduate, because it will give them more pride in our school.

That's my two cents...

[DestinEagle]

Get this..........

Myself, Wife and Son are at orientation this summer...our guide knows that my son is going to be playing Football...while on the tour my wife asks "what are Football game days like"...and the guide says with much emotion..."I don't really go to the Games"

Really...and you were chosen as an Ambassador of our school?

[JDC325]

I think the addition of Leslie Spoon is going to pay good dividends and was a great idea. Winning goes without saying, however based on my own experience when I first came to GSU nothing was presented to me about the GSU athletics. I think a high quality presentation about the history of GSU athletics needs to be apart of new student orientation with speeches by representatives of the athletic department like Leslie Spoon.

[MaconEagle]

The biggest problem with developing a pride and tradition among students is that most have not grown up going to games at Southern and just don't have that passion ingrained like a lot of older more established programs. I didn't follow Southern until my fresman year.

[AugustaEagle]

<meta http-equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 2.4 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style> I agree that word of mouth is a great way to advertise the program. While I don't think I will be able to create hardcore fans of most people I talk to, I can at least create interest in GSU.

For example, many people in my family graduated from Tech and they have been Tech fans their whole lives, so I always assumed that they didn't want to see a GSU game. I simply asked them if they would be interested in seeing a GSU game and most of them said "yes" and will be attending the App St. game in October. While this may not seem like a big deal, it's a start. It will get other people talking about GSU football, which is what we need.

As far as the students go, I would advertise more. I don't recall seeing any advertisements for games (even playoffs) the entire time I was at GSU. Even the emails that I get now don't get my attention. I realize that email is an inexpensive way to get information out to people, but I believe more people will response to standard mailings or even postcards. Right now, you have to search for or be on the lookout for information, if you want to find it. I think the advertising of GSU has improved over the past couple of years, but it still has a long way to go.

[gapeach1991]

Get this..........

Myself, Wife and Son are at orientation this summer...our guide knows that my son is going to be playing Football...while on the tour my wife asks "what are Football game days like"...and the guide says with much emotion..."I don't really go to the Games"

Really...and you were chosen as an Ambassador of our school?

I think if you are going to be a GSU Student Ambassador (there is such a thing) then you should be knowledgeable enough about ALL sports at GSU to tell recruits and new students about the game day atmosphere. I'm not really a big basketball fan, but I can tell you what the game day atmosphere in Hanner is like--It's GRRRREATTTT!

Our Orientation experience this summer was really good, they even had a breakout session entitled GSU Football 101--What every fan should know. Maybe they could incorporate that information into the Orientation class.

[DestinEagle]

I was refering to SOUR...the program was well done...but I just was taken back by his answer..."I don"t really go to the games"

[winstoneagle]

The biggest problem with developing a pride and tradition among students is that most have not grown up going to games at Southern and just don't have that passion ingrained like a lot of older more established programs. I didn't follow Southern until my fresman year.

Ding, Ding, Ding, we have a winner!

[gsu_paintballer]

I don't know who all from this board was at the Cartel/Yung Joc concert tonight in the boro, but I was so pumped at the amount of times the Georgia....Southern chant got started, and even Yung Joc started chanting it with the crowd at one point :)

I didn't stay. My girlfriend came into town and I had to meet up with her. This is puzzling though. What makes it so easy to do with him, but so tough to do with the band and cheerleaders? Ridiculous.


Maybe they were all freshman and don't know the GSU scramble or fight song?

The cheerleaders told them when to say the letters. I'll cut them slack on the fight song.


The biggest problem with developing a pride and tradition among students is that most have not grown up going to games at Southern and just don't have that passion ingrained like a lot of older more established programs. I didn't follow Southern until my fresman year.

I was the same way. I started following GT in 2002. I came to GSU in 2006, and had never heard of GSU football until then. I asked my roommate (1 year older than me), "Are they any good?" He told me we had more natl champs than any other school, and I was blown away. I went to my first game against Cent Conn. St. and was hooked (even with the bad outcome)


I was refering to SOUR...the program was well done...but I just was taken back by his answer..."I don"t really go to the games"

SOAR....unless that was a tic comment.

[EagleSC]

Love the avatar. What kind of tree's you got there?

[gsu_paintballer]

Love the avatar. What kind of tree's you got there?

Not my picture, but the tips look like Hardimans.

[gsu_paintballer]

I forgot to mention, one of the male cheerleaders was leading a GATA cheer.

He told them it meant "Get after them aggressively"

I almost puked.

[PowerEagle]

I forgot to mention, one of the male cheerleaders was leading a GATA cheer.

He told them it meant "Get after them aggressively"

I almost puked.

I believe that is what Erk told the media it meant, even tho it had an alternate meaning.

[gsu_paintballer]

That helps.