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Post by basil on Sept 28, 2023 14:09:43 GMT -5
we don't even sell out Greg consistently
it would work for big matches but I'm not sure it would work for small ones...and we don't wanna lose that feeling of the crowd smothering the opponent at all
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Post by eyeroll2021 on Sept 28, 2023 14:12:11 GMT -5
I know it wouldn’t technically be an upset but ughhhhh I do not want to lose these BYU matches. I’m so nervous lol I fully expect to go to 5 both matches... I just hope they result in wins I'm not going to have a voice after this weekend.
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Post by azvb on Sept 28, 2023 14:19:16 GMT -5
I am making a formal request for the full Footloose routine - OG Kevin Bacon version You guys are just so darn cute! I guess it's an antiquated notion but I don't think another's faith should be mocked or belittled. And I bet your volleyball heroes on the UT team would agree with me. Unless they invite everyone in the audience to give BYU the finger, I see absolutely nothing wrong with hosting pride night when playing BYU. Or anyone for that matter. I hope we wear rainbow jerseys! GO COUGARS!!!#loveislove 🌈
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Post by longhorn9214 on Sept 28, 2023 14:42:13 GMT -5
we don't even sell out Greg consistently it would work for big matches but I'm not sure it would work for small ones...and we don't wanna lose that feeling of the crowd smothering the opponent at all A new facility would spark interest. So, you never know. The empty seats from season ticket holders irks me so much because it consistently says we have more than 4,000 each game but you can clearly see all the empty seats.
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Post by slxpress on Sept 28, 2023 15:10:54 GMT -5
As much as I like Nebraska's stranglehold on attendance, Texas having a mega arena would be great for the sport. The equivalent of what Nebraska did would have been to convert the Erwin Center to a volleyball facility but it looks like they're demolishing it. How old is the Rec Center? Is that due for an upgrade? Erwin Center was a horrible venue. It was built as a multi purpose facility. The front row seats were WAAAAAY too far away from the action to create maximum flexibility in floor configurations. In addition, the slope of the seating was very gradual, which meant the worst seats in the house in the second level were so far away from the action it felt like you were watching from the next county. It was round, so in the corners the seats were even further away, with terrible sight lines. The reason a new facility was built to replace the Erwin Center was less about faulty design, and more about Texas building an on campus hospital, which is a huge deal. The site for it is where the Erwin Center used to be. There was never an option for it to be anything but debris.
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Post by slxpress on Sept 28, 2023 15:38:39 GMT -5
we don't even sell out Greg consistently it would work for big matches but I'm not sure it would work for small ones...and we don't wanna lose that feeling of the crowd smothering the opponent at all A new facility would spark interest. So, you never know. The empty seats from season ticket holders irks me so much because it consistently says we have more than 4,000 each game but you can clearly see all the empty seats. The empty seats are a systemic issue from when the Longhorn Foundation was first created. Prior to Deloss Dodds’ arrival as the athletic director UT had an archaic system of fundraising. Basically the Texas legislature and the PUF funded infrastructure. Then each sport was responsible for their own fundraising and had their own arm to help raise funds for their support. This was terrible. It was inefficient and put the non revenue sports at such a disadvantage. So what Dodds did was put everyone under one fundraising arm. One donation gave the person or organization premium options for tickets for EVERY sport. They built more luxury options with football stadium expansions, and catered to people and companies in the area looking for a place to host clients and employees, much the way professional teams do in other major cities. The results in fundraising were immediate and dramatic, and only grew exponentially over the years as Texas created new ways to increase revenue year over year. The problem is that the donations required to get premium seating in football dwarf anything else. So the person or group who forked our massive amounts of money for a suite or one of the club levels was automatically going to qualify for premium seats at any other sporting event. And the price of season tickets are practically a throw in compared to the tens of thousands, or in some cases, the hundred thousand or more needed to get the rights to suites. Especially if you’re wanting to jump the waiting list queues. I complained loudly to anyone that would listen - and oftentimes even when they wouldn’t - at how bad this was for the men’s basketball team and the environment at the Erwin Center. The premium seats there were held by people who mostly had them because of big donations to football. They didn’t show up for games. They couldn’t be bothered to give the tickets away. They’d use them every now and then, without actually caring about the event. Then if there was ever a big game they might go, or they’d just sell the tickets to recoup part of their cost. Thankfully thankfully thankfully that changed with the move to the Moody Center. Now all donations for premium seating in that arena are separate from football. In some ways it’s a revenue enhancer, but in a very real sense it helps ensure people are committed to supporting basketball rather than have the tickets as a throw in. The same issue still exists at Gregory however. And you’re never going to reverse that policy. We’re stuck with it, even as volleyball becomes more popular. If they ever change venues then that would be an opportunity for recalibration, but until then this is a legacy we have to put up with. Just know that while it causes issues, the way we were doing it before had to go. It’s hard to believe now, but we were an amazingly poorly funded athletic department until this change came about. Creating the Longhorn Foubdatikn ushered Texas into the modern era. Franklt, in many ways Texas pioneered the modern era of athletic department financing. For both good and bad.
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Post by slxpress on Sept 28, 2023 15:49:23 GMT -5
we don't even sell out Greg consistently it would work for big matches but I'm not sure it would work for small ones...and we don't wanna lose that feeling of the crowd smothering the opponent at all One of my problems is that Elliott thinks of marketing as beneath him in some ways. Which, hey, it’s his program. He’s done so much for UT volleyball, it’s like what Darrell Royal said about a great player when a reporter asked about something the player wasn’t that good at, “Well, probably Marilyn Monroe can’t sing.” I only have an issue with it when we wants to whine about slow ticket sales or perceived issues with attendance, to the media. He did an amazing job of creating an electric atmosphere at Gregory. He’s built the most consistently successful program in the country. If he hates doing press conferences and he finds it beneath him to do personal outreaches to the community, then do be it. It’s easy for me to say what he should do with his time and effort, and there’s always opportunity costs. I thought there was a chance Chris Beard could have an effect on him with what Beard was doing for men’s basketball, but that hope ended poorly. I’ll just be grateful for all of Elliott’s strengths, and just know he’s not going to be the volleyball equivalent of P.T. Barnum, and that’s okay.
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Post by juancook on Sept 28, 2023 15:51:45 GMT -5
we don't even sell out Greg consistently it would work for big matches but I'm not sure it would work for small ones...and we don't wanna lose that feeling of the crowd smothering the opponent at all One of my problems is that Elliott thinks of marketing as beneath him in some ways. Which, hey, it’s his program. He’s done so much for UT volleyball, it’s like what Darrell Royal said about a great player when a reporter asked about something the player wasn’t that good at, “Well, probably Marilyn Monroe can’t sing.” I only have an issue with it when we wants to whine about slow ticket sales or perceived issues with attendance, to the media. He did an amazing job of creating an electric atmosphere at Gregory. He’s built the most consistently successful program in the country. If he hates doing press conferences and he finds it beneath him to do personal outreaches to the community, then do be it. It’s easy for me to say what he should do with his time and effort, and there’s always opportunity costs. I thought there was a chance Chris Beard could have an effect on him with what Beard was doing for men’s basketball, but that hope ended poorly. I’ll just be grateful for all of Elliott’s strengths, and just know he’s not going to be the volleyball equivalent of P.T. Barnum, and that’s okay. Curious as to why Elliott thinks marketing is beneath him in some ways? I'll admit that know very little about him or how the the program is marketed in general - but it sounds like he is holding back an all-out promotion of the program in general?
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Post by slxpress on Sept 28, 2023 16:01:11 GMT -5
One of my problems is that Elliott thinks of marketing as beneath him in some ways. Which, hey, it’s his program. He’s done so much for UT volleyball, it’s like what Darrell Royal said about a great player when a reporter asked about something the player wasn’t that good at, “Well, probably Marilyn Monroe can’t sing.” I only have an issue with it when we wants to whine about slow ticket sales or perceived issues with attendance, to the media. He did an amazing job of creating an electric atmosphere at Gregory. He’s built the most consistently successful program in the country. If he hates doing press conferences and he finds it beneath him to do personal outreaches to the community, then do be it. It’s easy for me to say what he should do with his time and effort, and there’s always opportunity costs. I thought there was a chance Chris Beard could have an effect on him with what Beard was doing for men’s basketball, but that hope ended poorly. I’ll just be grateful for all of Elliott’s strengths, and just know he’s not going to be the volleyball equivalent of P.T. Barnum, and that’s okay. Curious as to why Elliott thinks marketing is beneath him in some ways? I'll admit that know very little about him or how the the program is marketed in general - but it sounds like he is holding back an all-out promotion of the program in general? You got me. He’s really good at it. But it’s easy to watch him and understand he really doesn’t like putting himself out there a lot of times. During most press conferences he looks like he’s sucking on a lemon while he listens to some inane rambling question being asked by writers who mostly write about football. Then there’s times like the recent Rice match on Longhorn Network where the broadcast crew have him on between the 2nd and 3rd set and he couldn’t have been more abrupt and dismissive. Just exuding “I don’t want to be here.” It makes me laugh, frankly. It’s so obvious he has no interest in it, but he knows on some level it’s a part of his job. Some coaches love being in front of a microphone or being in front of an audience. While Elliott is good at it, it’s obvious he despises it on some level. I don’t have to know why. People are built differently, and that’s okay. What he’s good at, he’s elite, so I’ll take it.
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Post by eyeroll2021 on Sept 28, 2023 16:07:21 GMT -5
we don't even sell out Greg consistently it would work for big matches but I'm not sure it would work for small ones...and we don't wanna lose that feeling of the crowd smothering the opponent at all One of my problems is that Elliott thinks of marketing as beneath him in some ways. Which, hey, it’s his program. He’s done so much for UT volleyball, it’s like what Darrell Royal said about a great player when a reporter asked about something the player wasn’t that good at, “Well, probably Marilyn Monroe can’t sing.” I only have an issue with it when we wants to whine about slow ticket sales or perceived issues with attendance, to the media. He did an amazing job of creating an electric atmosphere at Gregory. He’s built the most consistently successful program in the country. If he hates doing press conferences and he finds it beneath him to do personal outreaches to the community, then do be it. It’s easy for me to say what he should do with his time and effort, and there’s always opportunity costs. I thought there was a chance Chris Beard could have an effect on him with what Beard was doing for men’s basketball, but that hope ended poorly. I’ll just be grateful for all of Elliott’s strengths, and just know he’s not going to be the volleyball equivalent of P.T. Barnum, and that’s okay. I'll agree that I wish JE would do more press conferences, but I don't think he's a bad marketer. He's very choosy about when he interacts with media, and seems to reserve it for higher-impact opportunities. Witness the Michaela Chester visit yesterday. Also the series of articles last year about Logan - it was super savvy, and IMO cemented her as front-runner for NPOY with the AVCA.
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Post by slxpress on Sept 28, 2023 16:25:35 GMT -5
One of my problems is that Elliott thinks of marketing as beneath him in some ways. Which, hey, it’s his program. He’s done so much for UT volleyball, it’s like what Darrell Royal said about a great player when a reporter asked about something the player wasn’t that good at, “Well, probably Marilyn Monroe can’t sing.” I only have an issue with it when we wants to whine about slow ticket sales or perceived issues with attendance, to the media. He did an amazing job of creating an electric atmosphere at Gregory. He’s built the most consistently successful program in the country. If he hates doing press conferences and he finds it beneath him to do personal outreaches to the community, then do be it. It’s easy for me to say what he should do with his time and effort, and there’s always opportunity costs. I thought there was a chance Chris Beard could have an effect on him with what Beard was doing for men’s basketball, but that hope ended poorly. I’ll just be grateful for all of Elliott’s strengths, and just know he’s not going to be the volleyball equivalent of P.T. Barnum, and that’s okay. I'll agree that I wish JE would do more press conferences, but I don't think he's a bad marketer. He's very choosy about when he interacts with media, and seems to reserve it for higher-impact opportunities. Witness the Michaela Chester visit yesterday. Also the series of articles last year about Logan - it was super savvy, and IMO cemented her as front-runner for NPOY with the AVCA. I’m specifically referring to outreach to build community support for volleyball. He’s a tremendous and savvy marketer in all kinds of ways, but he absolutely limits how much of it he’s willing to do. He’s not a “hustler.” He doesn’t have that kind of personality. Michaela Chester is more about recruiting and national perception than reaching Austin area locals who don’t know much about the sport and haven’t considered attending a match before. I believe Logan was winning that award regardless of the articles written about her once Texas made the Final Four. Again, I’m talking about Elliott taking a front and center role with building more of a volleyball audience in Austin and in the state of Texas. That’s just not something he’s going to do. It’s nit like he’s not a busy person. He just added beach volleyball as part of his bailiwick. I’m just saying he doesn’t have a passion for it, and to do that kind of thing well, you need to have some sort of passion for doing it. Elliotr’s passion is volleyball, the program, and those girls. Not going out to every civic club organization to tell them about why they should come out for a match. Or holding regular press conferences. We don’t even get one to start the season any more. The last two years he just invites a few select people and has them watch a practice and ask him questions afterwards in an informal setting. It’s his ball. He can do whatever he likes with it. But my personal preference would be he did more in terms of reaching out to the general audience in some way.
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Post by nellynel on Sept 28, 2023 16:29:34 GMT -5
One of my problems is that Elliott thinks of marketing as beneath him in some ways. Which, hey, it’s his program. He’s done so much for UT volleyball, it’s like what Darrell Royal said about a great player when a reporter asked about something the player wasn’t that good at, “Well, probably Marilyn Monroe can’t sing.” I only have an issue with it when we wants to whine about slow ticket sales or perceived issues with attendance, to the media. He did an amazing job of creating an electric atmosphere at Gregory. He’s built the most consistently successful program in the country. If he hates doing press conferences and he finds it beneath him to do personal outreaches to the community, then do be it. It’s easy for me to say what he should do with his time and effort, and there’s always opportunity costs. I thought there was a chance Chris Beard could have an effect on him with what Beard was doing for men’s basketball, but that hope ended poorly. I’ll just be grateful for all of Elliott’s strengths, and just know he’s not going to be the volleyball equivalent of P.T. Barnum, and that’s okay. I'll agree that I wish JE would do more press conferences, but I don't think he's a bad marketer. He's very choosy about when he interacts with media, and seems to reserve it for higher-impact opportunities. Witness the Michaela Chester visit yesterday. Also the series of articles last year about Logan - it was super savvy, and IMO cemented her as front-runner for NPOY with the AVCA. And it doesn’t have to be just him. I have long argued the Athletics Department doesn’t do nearly enough to market the dollar for dollar best sports entertainment value UT has to offer. They just started putting games in the Erwin Center billboard, that never used to happen, at least that I can remember. The last few years I would call or text into the morning and evening sports radios shows to say hey the Volleyball team has a big match tonight maybe you could mention it. The AD office should be doing that.
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Post by hornfanaustin on Sept 28, 2023 16:37:45 GMT -5
As much as I like Nebraska's stranglehold on attendance, Texas having a mega arena would be great for the sport. The equivalent of what Nebraska did would have been to convert the Erwin Center to a volleyball facility but it looks like they're demolishing it. How old is the Rec Center? Is that due for an upgrade? Built in 1930 as a standalone gym with no air conditioning.
In 1962, an addition was built on the South side of the gym. This annex held offices as well as racquetball courts and an indoor swimming pool.
In 1995 it was closed for two years and a big facelift was given to it including adding A/C in all parts of the building. Previously, a handful of parts of the gym and the annex had A/C, but the gym that you see on TV didn't have A/C until the renovation finished in 1997.
The main attraction of the gym and it's annex is that it's next door to several small dorms and one ginormous dorm (Jester) that can hold 3,300 students. The kids have the ability to play basketball, racketball, rock climb, lay out on the outdoor pool to sun themselves, etc....
There is space to expand the space only if they demolish a dorm (Moore-Hill) built in 1939 and expanded in 1955. Moore-Hill holds 390 residents.
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Post by slxpress on Sept 28, 2023 16:41:22 GMT -5
I'll agree that I wish JE would do more press conferences, but I don't think he's a bad marketer. He's very choosy about when he interacts with media, and seems to reserve it for higher-impact opportunities. Witness the Michaela Chester visit yesterday. Also the series of articles last year about Logan - it was super savvy, and IMO cemented her as front-runner for NPOY with the AVCA. And it doesn’t have to be just him. I have long argued the Athletics Department doesn’t do nearly enough to market the dollar for dollar best sports entertainment value UT has to offer. They just started putting games in the Erwin Center billboard, that never used to happen, at least that I can remember. The last few years I would call or text into the morning and evening sports radios shows to say hey the Volleyball team has a big match tonight maybe you could mention it. The AD office should be doing that. It’s not incentivized well. There’s no dynamic in place where someone is going to create a great career opportunity for themselves within the athletic department by doing more marketing for volleyball. The impetus and push for that kind of stuff has to come from the head coach. Or, in the case of football, the athletic director (which is as much a part of generating much bigger revenue as anything else). Should they be doing it? Yes. Will they? Probably not. Would they if Elliott asked them to? Almost certainly. I watched Beard transform how basketball marketing was handled practically through force of will. He’s gone now, but that’s the kind of 24/7 effort it takes. With Elliott it’s going to have to be something more organic through winning, word of mouth and momentum.
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Post by nellynel on Sept 28, 2023 16:53:43 GMT -5
And it doesn’t have to be just him. I have long argued the Athletics Department doesn’t do nearly enough to market the dollar for dollar best sports entertainment value UT has to offer. They just started putting games in the Erwin Center billboard, that never used to happen, at least that I can remember. The last few years I would call or text into the morning and evening sports radios shows to say hey the Volleyball team has a big match tonight maybe you could mention it. The AD office should be doing that. It’s not incentivized well. There’s no dynamic in place where someone is going to create a great career opportunity for themselves within the athletic department by doing more marketing for volleyball. The impetus and push for that kind of stuff has to come from the head coach. Or, in the case of football, the athletic director (which is as much a part of generating much bigger revenue as anything else). Should they be doing it? Yes. Will they? Probably not. Would they if Elliott asked them to? Almost certainly. I watched Beard transform how basketball marketing was handled practically through force of will. He’s gone now, but that’s the kind of 24/7 effort it takes. With Elliott it’s going to have to be something more organic through winning, word of mouth and momentum. But Del Conte and him talk, quite a bit I assume. And Del Conte fully understands this is sports entertainment and you can’t look at through old prisms. The coach owns a piece of selling the product outside of producing a great product but the AD office should be leading the charge through the strategy, student engagement, advertising, public relations, etc. But I also understand and have stated at least for myself there is only so much sports entertainment bandwidth to go around. And when you have an Athletic department as successful as Texas and potentially capable of being more successful it can be tough. Do I spend my time, money going to volleyball, football, basketball, baseball? When only one program is worth watching it’s easy.
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