I have been inspired, as most of you have, by the basketball
team from Dunk City. The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles have been the darlings of
the sports world for two weeks running until their recent exit from the
tournament at the hands of the “big brother” Florida Gators. This success got me
thinking though, what would I do to capitalize on the success? I came up with
five things I would do in order to capitalize on the frenzy that has become
Dunk City.
1. Do WHATEVER I can do to keep Andy Enfield. I know
what you are saying, “Web, they already lost him to USC.” I know….and that
could very well prove to allow FGCU to fall from the lime light faster than
they rose to it. If I were making the decisions I would have done anything to
keep Enfield. Though I am not sold on him as a coach, which is another
discussion all together, I feel like he was FGCU. He could have been the face
of the movement. Players come and go but the coach can be a lasting impression.
Coach K at Duke and John Calapari and Kentucky are prime examples, though
Enfield would be a much much smaller scale. FGCU should have done everything
in their power to get the money to keep him; sell the beachfront property,
take out a bank loan, have a bake sale…ANYTHING. As you can see though, this
was not done. It may not prove to be vital, but it certainly would have been a huge
help.
2. Work with your alumni. Yes, all 50 of them. No no, I know
there are more, but the oldest alumni are only between the ages of 35 and 40.
You must market to them. What I suggest is discounted season tickets for the
alumni of the school. FGCU is starting to have donations for their season tickets,
make that a tad bit less for alumni or even lower the base ticket price. You
need to have the alumni on your side. The more alumni that are buying in to the
program, the more they will spend in the future. As they get older their
pockets will get deeper and FGCU may have the funds to grow a program to a
perennial competitor.
3. Market the location. I don’t know if you know about the
campus at FGCU, but it is beautiful. If you saw the video of the tour with
Sherwood Brown, you can see how amazing it is. This can be a recruiting tool.
Ft. Myers is a good place for high school basketball, but if you get a kid from
northern Pennsylvania to come and visit he will be hooked; and who knows, maybe
his parents have found their new retirement destination!
4. Capitalize on the current success financially. One thing
that I know FGCU is doing is taking deposits on season tickets already, trying
to capitalize on the buzz around the team. This is a great idea, but I would
even take it a step further. You could offer incentives to the first, say, 250
season ticket renewals/new orders giving them something like personalized seats
or cushions or something that gives them a bit of incentive to get their
tickets locked up. Trust me this stuff works almost as good as telling college
kids there will be free food and t-shirts.
5. Market Dunk City. Finally, I would stop just short of
running the “Dunk City” moniker into the ground. It became a calling card. You can
make it a nickname for the arena or even fashion it into a name for the
student section. I would also put it on as much merchandise I could so that the
name sticks. It really is a catchy name, and should be marketed as such.
FGCU could very well be a school on the rise, but things need to be done off the court in order to ensure that the do not fall off the face of the earth after this sudden success. They need to look at the likes of Butler, VCU and Gonzaga and strive to be what they are. With their location, growing alumni base, and the excitement they generated FGCU has the potential to be something great. They need to use this success and parlay it into a future plan of action. You cannot let this go to waste if you are FGCU, because in the fickle world of sports you may never get this opportunity again.
