Perception is Everything

With a new Football Coach, A new football stadium, and a new Athletic Director, FAU football is in a time of change and the FAU football brand is quite different than when football was first introduced to FAU. But how can our FAU football 2012 program tell the students, the parents, alumni, the community, and even the Nation they are no longer a 1-11 team that plays 30 minutes away from its home campus?  

This is a question that we hope will be addressed in the search for the new Athletic Director, but without a doubt, the marketing and advertising plan of our FAU Sports needs to be re-strategized and work more aggressively to give people even a thought about the FAU team when they drive through South Florida.

FAU Football 2012 has a chance to recreate what it means to be an Owl fan, while still giving all respect and honor to our legend Howard Schnellenberger.  While Schnellenberger laid the foundation for FAU football, Pelini will have the opportunity to build a franchise that can compete nationally, with our great location that attracts recruits from all over the country, our exquisite new stadium, our unique and ‘new’ sense of school pride that grows year after year.  Creating a perception that FAU Football 2012 is ahead of other schools in all aspects of the game such as talent, motivation, pride, style, ‘swag’, speed, and size will draw the attention that we have been seeking and craving for years now.

In order to create this image of FAU Football 2012, many strategies can be taken into consideration. However, starting with the basics is high on the priority list considering the ‘FAU Owl Athletics’ facebook page has less than 800 likes when the student population is over 28,000 students at Florida Atlantic University.  With that said, FAU Athletics should first start off with a full time Sports Marketing Director, who will then create a staff comprised of 8-10 interns that are currently enrolled at FAU and are looking to get involved in a sports marketing career. This team would be responsible for updating and marketing the social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and any others that can reach out to potential fans.  Also, creating and posting signage around campus and the community about upcoming events is a great and easy way to get the word out about games, but more importantly creates a presence of the team within the community and informs the average person that a team exist in the area.  Again, these are simple strategies, but are easy and have yet to be fully accomplished therefore, they will be a quick jump start for our marketing campaign.  Although I am definitely not the only one with ideas for our Athletic Department, the more ideas the better, so by allowing more students to be a part of the team offers great experience and helps the overall brand awareness of FAU Football 2012!  Until a new AD is hired, we will have to settle to dreaming and hopefully sooner than later we can begin a marketing plan, create a notable perception of FAU Sports.

Sincerely,

The Informer

Chiddy Chiddy Change Change

“Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.” -C.S. Lewis

Change is in the air for the Owls of Florida Atlantic University. Over the past week, FAU Athletics has taken a turn and a profound leap in what we hope will be the right direction! Athletic Director, Craig Angelos, will not be returning to FAU next year, with FAU hoping to bring in a new face to the Athletics Dept. and a passionate voice for the Owls. While Craig has helped move FAU up to Division 1A and witnessed many great victories in his time as AD, the potential for FAU is outstanding and it is apparent that the Administration is seeking something different for the coming years.  In searching for a new AD, we can only hope that a few factors are looked at that some might say have been missing in the passed few years, that is passion for FAU sports and national/local marketing of the FAU teams.

While FAU has surpassed some of its struggles over the years with regards to the student fan base, students are finally beginning to embrace their University and are proud to call them self an Owl.  This is something that took much time and hard work to get the students to Rally behind the team.  With Coach Howard Schnellenberger ending his coaching career last year, he is now an Ambassador for the University and is looking to take his Owl passion to the Student Body by creating an army of students to promote school pride and spread the passion throughout the entire student population.  This will be further discussed in upcoming posts, but it will definitely be something to look forward to considering everything Coach has led has risen to be something great and contagious to his followers.

FAU's struggle to market to the surrounding community is another aspect that should be considered in seeking a new AD.  Gathering support from local fans is crucial in meeting ticket sale objectives and creating a buzz within the cities that FAU inhabits.  This has always been a struggle for FAU; however, with FAU becoming very close to the dream of having banners on Glades Road, we'll have to see just how far the city will let us claim it as the Hometown of FAU!

Sincerely,
The Informer

FAU Basketball Welcomes the 6th Man... and Maybe More!

Jarvis and his Owls had a decent season this year, ending in a dissapointing 1st round loss in the Sun Belt Tournament.  But, to look back any further and complain about our season is something not too many Owl fans want to do, especially Mike Jarvis. 

Coach Jarvis and his team of assistant coaches have been working hard for the past year recruiting players for next season.  Many of you might recall the 7' Baylor transfer, Dragan Sekelja, who looks to bring the Owls a 'large' prescence in the paint, but has surprised many in practice by his long range ability knocking down 4 out of 4 three's at practice the other day. The Owls are losing two seniors that will be extremely missed by the fans, Alex Tucker and Shavar Richardson.  However, I don't think the Owl fans will be too sad once they see the new team take the court next year. 

Jarvis has a few surprises for the Owl community bringing in probably 5 new players, plus Dragan (as mentioned above).  Starting some buzz on the web, a 5'9'' guard from Orlando is Stefan Moody.  Moody has amazed many coaches from around the country, and after some confusion in thinking he was committed to the University of Florida on a football scholarship, Moody is very interested in the Owls and Jarvis looks to rap him up very soon.

With the students at FAU beginning to follow the Owl team over the past few years, the hype and excitement grows as a new organization called "the 6th Man Club" will look to get the student attendance 'up up and away' in the Burrow.  SG Coordinator Mike Burdman has volunteered to be the faculty advisor and has very large hopes of the organization, and continuing the traditions of FAU Basketball success.  With the Student Section in the Burrow still yet to be named, "the 6th Man Club" is definitley an attractive possibility.  Looks like we have something to look forward to for the 2012-2013 season!

Sincerely,
The Informer

Sources:
http://fauowlsnest.com/board/index.php?topic=12673.0
http://www.fausports.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/fau-m-baskbl-mtt.html