BigJack85 said:
I think Dan Angel was the last president we had that moved the ball forward. Tito had issues throughout.... agree that he could have done something with a different board. When Tito was hired the runner up was a former president of Georgia Southern. That would have been a good move. We need someone that has a good network in Austin. Like most of the old "normal" schools we are starved of funding. As per usual everything is directed to UT, A&M and Tech. We also need a more dynamic marketing/recruiting team. I'm sorry but the engagement with Richards Carlberg has yielded little. I'd like to see someone with real proven success at a smaller school or juco.
Man, I could talk about this all day, but I've got to work too, so I'll try to keep it short.
We definitely need someone with a good network in Austin. We're hugely left behind when it comes to connections there, we are even lacking in sending alumni to Austin as reps IMO. Without a President/BOR with good connections, we might as well call Tech about joining their University system.
I've asked a few times about our marketing/recruiting efforts, only to be told that we're taking a "comprehensive approach", with few details. I'm no marketing expert, but have some experience in the area and none of the outputs that I see would lead me to believe that we have a good marketing plan in place. (The Athletic Departments social outputs being an exception. Between the AD efforts & Isaac's team, we definitely punch above weight in the sporting news & marketing arena).
I can see a few problems with our marketing strategy just at a cursory glance. First, I'm not sure how committed our admin is to marketing. Great marketing needs great content, which needs an across the board commitment. If we're not committed, that puts RichardsCarlberg in a tough spot, but even then I think they've underperformed. I'm not sure who greenlit the huge billboard spending, but someone on either our admin or consultant team should have nixed them before they were even produced. We're talking about recruiting one of the most digitally savvy generations we'll ever see, and we went with "billboards"?
The "Lumberjacks make great X" commercials are well produced and we've got some great stories to highlight, but need to be widely shared to be effective. Plus, you'd likely ignore the commercial if you weren't already familiar with SFA, marring their effectiveness. If we had better name recognition, I think such videos would be highly effective.
We also need a continously functioning fundraising apparatus. Not something that spins up and down when we launch a capital campaign, but a group that's constantly laying the groundwork for upcoming campaigns so that we can raise money right out of the gates. This could be a great role for Patillo to transition into. We shouldn't take his commitment to the University lightly, and he likely has decades of connections that we can leverage.
I'd move Patillo into an emeritus role with a focus on overseeing fundraising/recruiting. Essentially, his role would be to make introductions to the fundraising/recruiting team & build support in Austin while our new prez gets established. Building up this kind of framework would leave a huge legacy behind for Patillo, as it'll be a difference maker for decades, while hiring a new AD or building 1 new building is more relevant to the here and now.
Ok, turns out that this wasn't so short. With the Atheltic Department & University, I can see that we're on the edge of so much potential, we've got the right ingredients for success. Now we just have to capitalize.
