Athletic Fundraising?

[smubrooks]

Young, energetic coach willing to reach out to community to sell program could help this idea become more of a reality.

[coloradoStang]

Young, energetic coach willing to reach out to community to sell program could help this idea become more of a reality.

Completely agreed, it's about momentum and I don't think at any school any current coach (not just June) would be able to just jump on a band wagon like this. Its about a real and definite change, a change at current coaching positions is a very visible way to show that.

I don't want this to be a big June hating party though so I didn't mention that. LB is popular and new enough to be ok to stay on board obviously.

[coloradoStang]

If one booster throws some money this year at something, and no one else matches it he loses faith in donating. The next year some one else does the same and loses faith. There needs to be a big push, everyone all together to do what needs to be done to get the job done. Lead by the big money guys and followed by the common people. I'm sure the big money people and leaders of the program could fix a lot of problems with this plan with their experience way greater then mine, but general idea is good I think.

[Big12Mustang]

So this is super easy for me to say because its not like I have any money right now (hopefully some day)....But I have a serious question.

Does mustang club have specific things we fund or do y'all just all throw at money at it and don't really know where it goes, because your loyal fans and all love smu? I dont think thats the best way to fundraise. We are raising a billion for the centennial campaign, that's mostly all academic stuff right (besides moody)? Can we then follow that up with a 250 mil campaign (or whatever number) just for athletics? Get some super stud salesmen (Ive heard RGT is a stud salesmen, but if he doesnt like athletics find someone else) to come up with everything we want, with computer graphic renderings and "virtual tours" for everything. Invest as much as it takes to make a very legit presentation.

Then present it to the alumni and school as the new athletics campaign (come up with a good name) and show everyone what exactly a new IPF would look like, what exactly a new recruiting plane (or helicopter) would look like, what the new uniforms (maybe make that a surprise) will look like, etc. Just make a huge athletics push to say we are 100% committed to this and are going to be a power soon. Larry brown could endorse the campaign, same with whoever the football coach is, anytime there's a big interview have them mention the campaign, have ESPN mention our new commitment every time we play, just like every time the mention moody being renovated or baylors new stadium. Create a buzz about the new investment smu is making in athletics.

I know just throwing money at a problem doesn't fix it, and a recruiting helicopter is the least of our worries, but a big campaign would generate some buzz with alumni and maybe even around the country that smu athletics is back. This in turn helps recruiting if the perception of the program is changed. And we desperately need a new perception of the program.

In my fraternity we ask alumni for money all the time, we always present exactly what we what, why we want it, when we want it, we have even come up with stages we want to accomplish for house improvements. It gives alumni something to strive for to help us meet our donation goals.

Why not just do a huge push for investments in athletics? If we want to still be our academic first mentality we can say hey we raised a billion for improving the academics of the school...now we are trying to raise 25% of that for improving the athletics. I feel like its a helluva alot eaiser to throw money at sports then to throw money at tenuring a professor. It's just more exciting, and we had a well thought out, well presented plan, I think the alumni would respond. Make it a 5 year fundraising campaign with a goal of being big time in 10 years. We need to act committed in a big way, create a buzz

Bump.

[redpony]

Or better yet- establish a separate endowment for athletics ala Stanford.

[smusportspage]

Don't forget to throw money towards larger meeting rooms. Seriously though, I could go with an athletic edowment.

[NewAgeMustange]

An athletic endowment would be nice.

Besides football/basketball; it would be nice to see money being put to other sports at SMU. It is my impression that the CC team is especially good and men's/women's swimming are ranked 33/26. It would be nice to see a ROI on the money donated.

The big campaign they have going now; what is that money earmarked for? Upkeep for the new dorms? Building the Education School/ Data Research Center?

Are there any Universities that have a large transparency as to the inner workings? I like to be informed as to what is happening, but everything I hear is from PF, not the University, and this includes construction updates. etc