Possible Reasons UC not P5

[98bearcat]

Take the following information with the Grain of salt because I can neither confirm or deny any of it, but this guy has always been very active about UC news but he also been adamant that behind the scenes, in the business aspect of conference re-alignment, UC plain shits the bed!.. There are people at the college who just collect a paycheck and don't care about our affiliation and they happen to be in positions that have a huge impact.. Here is one example... look how big Oregon become and that was before they even had a good product on the field, well it was all Marketing.. UC has **** for marketing... Here are the comments I've come across recently about how great our marketing was for the Bowl game:

C. Austin Cox 1 hour ago
@jayrutgers Let's say I never went to UC. I show up at the Military Bowl and am greeted with two media guides, 1 from VT and 1 from UC. One is a 400-page full-color glossy media guide. The other is a 4-page black and white xerox copies stapled together (unevenly). Just for starters, how does that come off to national media, ADs, Conference execs that see it?

C. Austin Cox 1 hour ago
@jayrutgers UCs head of football operations spent the entire event walking from the team boxes to the Papa John's table while VT's staff came around, shook the hands of every media member while asking about us, etc. Is it just good business? yes. Will any of the VT staff remember my name? Probably not.

But they were professional and I was ashamed, as usual, by our showing on the business side. On the field ... that's just a game. And we're pretty alright at the game. But the business side is a complete and total train wreck.

C. Austin Cox 59 minutes ago
@jayrutgers A nice old lady (who was working the Chik-fil-a table in the press box) asked me if I was with UC, because they had been coming down and taking all the sandwiches that were intended for the press.

I mean are you effing kidding me!?!?!

It was easy to convince her I wasn't, because I had a tie on. And the only people without ties at a major event like a bowl game were ..... you guessed it, my alma mater.

It's so frustrating, but I can't find any other UC fans that care enough to take their head out of the sand and say something.

And that Ladies and Gentlemen is how UC deems to present itself to the rest of the College Football business world.

[coach]

I think you're a little bit over sensitive to things. The reality is that right now tv viewership is basically everything in terms of conference affiliation. If it's a hit on tv, it will mean more contract dollars. A press media guide would not even be needed. As for the chick fill a table, you have obviously never seen a w virginia crowd.

[longtimefan]

Take the following information with the Grain of salt because I can neither confirm or deny any of it, but this guy has always been very active about UC news but he also been adamant that behind the scenes, in the business aspect of conference re-alignment, UC plain shits the bed!.. There are people at the college who just collect a paycheck and don't care about our affiliation and they happen to be in positions that have a huge impact.. Here is one example... look how big Oregon become and that was before they even had a good product on the field, well it was all Marketing.. UC has **** for marketing... Here are the comments I've come across recently about how great our marketing was for the Bowl game:

C. Austin Cox 1 hour ago
@jayrutgers Let's say I never went to UC. I show up at the Military Bowl and am greeted with two media guides, 1 from VT and 1 from UC. One is a 400-page full-color glossy media guide. The other is a 4-page black and white xerox copies stapled together (unevenly). Just for starters, how does that come off to national media, ADs, Conference execs that see it?

C. Austin Cox 1 hour ago
@jayrutgers UCs head of football operations spent the entire event walking from the team boxes to the Papa John's table while VT's staff came around, shook the hands of every media member while asking about us, etc. Is it just good business? yes. Will any of the VT staff remember my name? Probably not.

But they were professional and I was ashamed, as usual, by our showing on the business side. On the field ... that's just a game. And we're pretty alright at the game. But the business side is a complete and total train wreck.

C. Austin Cox 59 minutes ago
@jayrutgers A nice old lady (who was working the Chik-fil-a table in the press box) asked me if I was with UC, because they had been coming down and taking all the sandwiches that were intended for the press.

I mean are you effing kidding me!?!?!

It was easy to convince her I wasn't, because I had a tie on. And the only people without ties at a major event like a bowl game were ..... you guessed it, my alma mater.

It's so frustrating, but I can't find any other UC fans that care enough to take their head out of the sand and say something.

And that Ladies and Gentlemen is how UC deems to present itself to the rest of the College Football business world.

A few bits of anecdotal evidence don't really make a convincing case.

[98bearcat]

FYI guys... except for the first paragraph, all those comments were from a poster named C. Austin Cox who runs the following site: http://www.bcsnn.com/
It was site created when ESPN basically closed their blogs to Facebook users only, so this site has sprung up to cover all the conferences.. Anyways, that's why I started the thread stating "take this all with grain of salt", but I have been hearing his constant complaints about the UC marketing/media representatives for over 2 years now. I wanted to share it here to see if anybody else around here have heard anything else about how poor our marketing and media representation is (or is not).. Of the comments that stick out is the one about the players guide and if true.. shame on UC

[Bearcat Otto]

Sounds like Austin Cox was pissed that he didn't get his chicken sandwich.

[TheDog]

When it came to missing out on food, my older brother always told me..."you snooze you lose". So maybe next time when Austin Cox is at a game for free and there is free food, he should take those words to heart.

[red_n_black_attack]

Sounds like Austin Cox was pissed that he didn't get his chicken sandwich.

I don't think he was left out based on wearing a tie and actually being with the media - It was easy to convince her I wasn't, because I had a tie on. And the only people without ties at a major event like a bowl game were ..... you guessed it, my alma mater.


To be perfectly honest, there are people in most organizations who coast. I've personally seen that the UC athletic office has more than their share of people coasting during the 90's and am sad to hear it seems nothing has changed. It may have even gotten worse.

I don't think this is "the" reason UC is not a P5 team. However, when trying to make a good impression, it's always a good idea to put your best foot forward in every area. The salaries (particularly the benefits) are too high for the little bit of return we get.

There's no such thing as a free lunch and these people should act more like professionals. It's a culture of slacking that is at least 20 years old. It will be hard to change that culture.

[Genester]

This doesn't surprise me. Ahem. Let's be real. UC Marketing is absolutely, positively atrocious. I've said it before - instead of whoever is creating and executing the marketing plans, go recruit the alums employed by a certain company in town - the best marketing and branding company in the world. Many of them may be willing to pitch in for free, out of loyalty and gratitude to our alma mater. The UC Brand can be so much more, with a professional brand manager in charge.

[bobestes]

The best marketing and branding company in the world did not become so because they loan out their employees to local colleges and universities. Trust me, those folks are busy.

[bearcatbret]

The best marketing and branding is to WIN. It is that simple.

[nbshelton]

As for the media guides, its much easier to print nice things when your media contract gets you 20 million instead of 1.5 million.