http://eastcarolina.247sports.com/Bolt/ ... o-44846606

Very impressive addition by ECU. Obviously an awesome thing for them but can't say that I'm too happy about it since we go after a good amount of the same guys now, they just had a LB commit today that we had offered as well. We've gotta do something about the track & east side sooner rather than later.

Dang... That is nice.

Still, lipstick on a pig. Unless they build a dome, their kids are playing in the armpit of N.C. Their first 5 or 6 games or played in heat that compares to anywhere in the South, humidity factored in. It's a horrible game day experience. It's extremely tough on their players as we witnessed Cadet and their 4th quarter ALMOST collapse.

ashugh wrote:Still, lipstick on a pig. Unless they build a dome, their kids are playing in the armpit of N.C. Their first 5 or 6 games or played in heat that compares to anywhere in the South, humidity factored in. It's a horrible game day experience. It's extremely tough on their players as we witnessed Cadet and their 4th quarter ALMOST collapse.

Say what you will...compared to the high school stadium Ficklin was in the 70's when we both were in the SoCon, this is pretty good.

ashugh wrote:Still, lipstick on a pig. Unless they build a dome, their kids are playing in the armpit of N.C. Their first 5 or 6 games or played in heat that compares to anywhere in the South, humidity factored in. It's a horrible game day experience. It's extremely tough on their players as we witnessed Cadet and their 4th quarter ALMOST collapse.

Haha easy on the armpit thing...I'm from Greenville. No, I'm just kidding I'm fully aware of that and agree with the armpit notion. But yes it is very very hot there in the summer and yes it is the armpit of NC but that hasn't stopped recruits from going there, especially ones we've recruited as well. Their stadium was already pretty nice and they could sell them on playing in a "p5 type atmosphere/stadium" and now they can sell that point even harder. I really want to start beating them with consistency in recruiting.

I am somewhat jealous of ECU. They seem to do things right in regards to renovations, young alumni engagement, marketing and most things sports related.

boonetown1 wrote:I am somewhat jealous of ECU. They seem to do things right in regards to renovations, young alumni engagement, marketing and most things sports related.

I read their 247 board a good bit and from what they say on it they actually struggle with getting the young alumni to donate and there's problems with their the pirate club being a good ole boys club with the way it's set up, not sure the specifics on it though. But overall I would agree with you. They might just being complaining to complain. Supposedly they are raising money at a very good pace for this renovation though.

Honestly, ECU does a lot of things right. I think a lot of it comes down to the way in which we often brand ourselves. Ever since a certain person took over the marketing for athletics department (name starts with an Ash and ends with a ley), it has completely fallen off. A lot of the graphics and advertisements that are put out by the department look very amateur compared to the likes of ECU, UNC, Wake Forest, and even UNCC. In addition to that, a lot of the current athletic department members were "good ole boy" hires by Charlie Cobb. I think that DG needs to tidy up his house, work to brand App as a top notch school (comparable to ECU, Memphis, Boise State, WF, etc.), and then really push his staff for execution. We can all dream of a newly renovated KBS, but if he doesn't have the staff that can execute, then we're stuck here. I think some of the staff is still very small time while we look to grow more and more.

Here's just a comparison between some of the recent marketing material put out by three like-minded schools:
App State:

ECU:

UNCC:

App's donation percentage <3%, ECU nears 10%. Pretty easy to figure out how they are able to do things like this.

To 8993, DG has already made a few changes with more likely to come. I spoke with a few new people in Charlotte and was impressed with their commitment, and also how they embraced the ideas of the alumni. Our previous admins thought they knew it all and didn't seem to care qhat the fans thought.

We need 10% or more participation!

Thankfully alot of the good ole boy staff that Charlie hired has either moved with him to GSU or gotten out of athletics completely. Their are still a few left. Marketing and Media Relations mainly though.