NYTimes article on TCU by SMU alum Joe Drape

[82Pony]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/sport ... tcu&st=cse

Very good article about the positive power of a great football program.

[RGV Pony]

Two things that jump out at me from the article:

1) In 1985, [deleted] Lowe was among a group of alumni who paid running back Kenneth Davis and six other players.Last year, Lowe and his partner in the oil business, Hunter Enis, found a way to be true to their school: They wrote a $15 million check — as did five other donors — for the $163 million transformation of Amon G. Carter Stadium into the Camden Yards of college football.

Genius.

2) Patterson wanted T.C.U. to become Fort Worth’s team, which meant rarely turning down a chance to speak to groups and starting programs like the Bleacher Creatures, which gives hundreds of children a jersey and an opportunity to run onto the field with the team at each home game. He now has 29 local players on the roster and one, the sophomore defensive tackle David Johnson, is a former Bleacher Creature.

[82Pony]

As inconsequential as football may seem to some faculty and school administrators, the reality is football can be the ultimate marketing tool for the university. To get that started you have to market the football program. TCU seems to have it all figured out.