DUBLIN, Ohio – Supporters of Ohio Athletics donated $226,250 during a fundraising event in the Columbus suburbs Wednesday evening. Ohio University President Roderick McDavis, incoming Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt and Head Football Coach Frank Solich were all present at the home of Cardinal Health Chairman and CEO Robert Walter to accept the gifts. Walter is a member of the Ohio University Board of Trustees and the past chairman.
“This event helped underscore the new vision for our athletic department,
Nice to see you fund raise in the big farm school's backyard(barnyard).
Boca Rocket Wrote:Nice to see you fund raise in the big farm school's backyard(barnyard).
We have the largest concentration of our alumni in the Columbus/Central Ohio region. Just makes sense to have a big event in Columbus for fundraising. Surprisingly, OU doesn't have nearly that many alumni in southeast Ohio.
Hopefully, If we start going to bowl games, we can pick up a lot of additional coverage in the Columbus market.
Cuyahoga county(Cleveland) has the largest % of Ohio students at 10%. An event in the Cleveland area would do well too. A few good years in football will make a huge difference. Ohio needs to make a deal with a radio station like NIU did. Put them on WKNR or WTAM and you will see the program grow due to the coverage. I get Miami, Kent State (barely), and Akron basketball games on the radio on the eastside. I get Toledo football on rare occasion if I turn the dial right in my car. Is Temple on 1210 or whatever the big Philadelphia radio station is? I get ESPN U. Ohio kickoffs their first Saturday game september 3rd. A prime tv slot.
[quote="Kit-Cat"]“This event helped underscore the new vision for our athletic department,
Kit-Cat Wrote:OU doesn't have nearly that many alumni in southeast Ohio.
There aren't as many PEOPLE in SE Ohio as in the Columbus/Central Ohio area! It would be interesting to see some statistics on how many alumni there are per 100,000 of population...I suspect SE Ohio would hold up well in that statistic.
[quote="MAC tOAMU"] [quote="Kit-Cat"]“This event helped underscore the new vision for our athletic department,
OUBOBCATJOHN Wrote:Cuyahoga county(Cleveland) has the largest % of Ohio students at 10%. An event in the Cleveland area would do well too. A few good years in football will make a huge difference. Ohio needs to make a deal with a radio station like NIU did. Put them on WKNR or WTAM and you will see the program grow due to the coverage. I get Miami, Kent State (barely), and Akron basketball games on the radio on the eastside. I get Toledo football on rare occasion if I turn the dial right in my car. Is Temple on 1210 or whatever the big Philadelphia radio station is? I get ESPN U. Ohio kickoffs their first Saturday game september 3rd. A prime tv slot.
Franklin County (Columbus) has now surpassed Cuyahoga county as the number 1 source for OU students. With Columbus continuing to grow I think it think Franklin county will send an increasing number of students down to Athens.
Ohio doesn't have a shot at getting back on the air in Cleveland with out a massive amount of winning.....and even with the Solich program that is far from a guarantee. Kent State has more alumni than OU up in Cleveland and Bowling Green isn't far behind OU in student numbers from the Cleveland area.
Ohio has a commanding advantage over the other MAC schools in Columbus in terms of student body percentage and alumni and that is probably where OU has the best shot at cracking a major media market.
NMBobcat Wrote:Kit-Cat Wrote:OU doesn't have nearly that many alumni in southeast Ohio.
There aren't as many PEOPLE in SE Ohio as in the Columbus/Central Ohio area! It would be interesting to see some statistics on how many alumni there are per 100,000 of population...I suspect SE Ohio would hold up well in that statistic.
Actually if you counted every county in Ohio from Wheeling all the way through Southern Ohio to Cincinnati........maybe like 30 counties that you could loosely define as southeast Ohio.......there is over a million people combined with only 15,000 OU alumni.
Contrast that with maybe 30,000 alumni in the Columbus area with 1.5 million and southeast Ohio isn't doing all that fabulous with OU alums.
Kit-Cat Wrote:To a head coach who won the Fiesta Bowl, a hot shot football oriented Athletic Director from Oklahoma, 6 national broadcasts on ESPN, 10,000 dollar a plate fundraisers in Austin Texas, talk of playing in front of 70,000 in the Orange Bowl
you're on crack.
win the MAC first...and you aren't gonna even sniff that for a while with 2 of the most dominant teams in the conference in your division. You can't play in the Orange Bowl if you don't even win your division in a conference that has extremely limited access to the BCS.
OU will be better with Solich aboard and leading the ship, but they're not even in the same universe as Miami and BG.
OU is not making a dent in any big Ohio media market. Columbus will never, ever care about OU. When you see a Dispatch writer at OU or a Columbus TV station doing a story (that isn't Solich or local player related), let me know. My guess is the OU alums in Columbus even turn over their loyalty to OSU because that is where the money is if you run a media outlet. I work for an OU alum in East Central Ohio, and he laughed when I suggested they should get another story or two of coverage in our area. Cleveland will jump on the Akron and KSU bandwagon when they are good in basketball or football. Other than that, they will cover the MAC Tournament because it is in the backyard. They are a Pro Sports town with OSU sprinkled in.
The MAC tourneyment is what gets the press in Cleveland. The MAC is overshadowed very much in Cleveland. Browns, Indians, Ohio State, Cavs are the typical order in this town. Kent State getting to the elite 8 got some buzz that helped fill the pages when the CAVS were heading for anther bad season. The MAC tourneyment has grown a bit with the sucess of Kent and the competitiveness of the MAC. Buffalo got a little buzz the past two years. If Buffalo were to get in to the dance, I think the NY media would cover the MAC more.
greenbbs Wrote:You can't play in the Orange Bowl if you don't even win your division in a conference that has extremely limited access to the BCS.
OU will be better with Solich aboard and leading the ship, but they're not even in the same universe as Miami and BG.
Solich has a 100,000 dollar bonus in his contract if he reaches a BCS game.......
If the Bobcats are ranked #16 or better, under the new BCS rules starting in 2006 they would go to the Orange Bowl. Solich is trying to lighten up the Bobcats schedule in hopes of going 11-2 and sneaking into a BCS game.
As for Bowling Green and Miami being impossible to get past that is probably true this year for us. The long term goal is to be in the top 2 of the MAC every year which would include getting past BG and Miami, on our way to the Orange Bowl.
KStud Wrote:OU is not making a dent in any big Ohio media market. Columbus will never, ever care about OU. When you see a Dispatch writer at OU or a Columbus TV station doing a story (that isn't Solich or local player related), let me know.
Prepare to eat your crow :D
Editor: There has been a great deal of hype in Athens with the football program. The new coach (Frank Solich) and six appearances on ESPN have hyped the fan base.
I would like to know if The Dispatch plans to increase its coverage of Ohio football this year. As a subscriber, I’ve noticed in years past that sometimes there would be a reporter covering a game but not on a consistent basis. There never seemed to be any in-depth articles.
— Neil Kaufmann, New Albany
Neil: We’ve already begun the process of ramping up our coverage of the Bobcats, and we’ll join them in Evanston for the opener. How many more road games we staff may depend on how the season goes.
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Quote: Solich has a 100,000 dollar bonus in his contract if he reaches a BCS game
A smart AD at ANY school would put in such a clause. Doesn't mean it's gonna happen. And if it does, well I think the extra revenue from being in a BCS bowl will more than cover the bonus.
KStud Wrote:OU is not making a dent in any big Ohio media market. Columbus will never, ever care about OU. When you see a Dispatch writer at OU or a Columbus TV station doing a story (that isn't Solich or local player related), let me know. My guess is the OU alums in Columbus even turn over their loyalty to OSU because that is where the money is if you run a media outlet. I work for an OU alum in East Central Ohio, and he laughed when I suggested they should get another story or two of coverage in our area. Cleveland will jump on the Akron and KSU bandwagon when they are good in basketball or football. Other than that, they will cover the MAC Tournament because it is in the backyard. They are a Pro Sports town with OSU sprinkled in.
Aside from Kit-Kats inane rantings about the Orange Bowl and BCS bids...
The Dispatch does tend to favor Ohio when it comes to covering any of the MAC. There is often a Dispatch reporter for home football and hoops games, and we'll tend to get decent coverage when we string together a couple wins. The trick is, the wins have to come (always the hardest part).
I realize BG is turning into a juggernaut, but remember how bad they were a few years ago. The right coach, a few stud position players... the impact can be felt immediately. You never know.
Surely, as a follower of Josh Cribbs, you see the difference one player can make?
Okie Chippewa Wrote:Quote: Solich has a 100,000 dollar bonus in his contract if he reaches a BCS game
A smart AD at ANY school would put in such a clause. Doesn't mean it's gonna happen. And if it does, well I think the extra revenue from being in a BCS bowl will more than cover the bonus.
The BCS is the ultimate goal now.
It wasn't something in Grobe and Knorr's contracts.
It is indeed a fact that there is a lot more excitement around the OHIO football program this season; much more than possibly ever before. You cannot deny this fact based on 1) the hiring of Solich, 2) the campaign to improve the football facilities in which the goal has almost been reached, and 3) the SIX games on National TV. Like us or not, and I know many of you don't thanks to some of Kit-Cat's off-the-wall and fact-less comments, OHIO football is getting a lot more attention from fans and the media. However as a loyal Bobcat myself I am realistic enough to realize that we got almost ZERO media coverage before this so the large steps made this year are to be a foundation to keep growing.
That all having been said, we will not be in the same class as a Miami, Bowling Green, NIU or Toledo this year. However it will be interesting to see where we are against the rest of the Conference with Knorr's players on Solich's team.
Roberto Gato Wrote:I realize BG is turning into a juggernaut, but remember how bad they were a few years ago. The right coach, a few stud position players... the impact can be felt immediately. You never know.
Surely, as a follower of Josh Cribbs, you see the difference one player can make?
BG is going to be strong as long as they can keep landing quarterbacks like Omar Jacobs and Josh Harris.
The dispatch is ramping up coverage of bobcat football as we speak. I don't know about the Orange Bowl this year, but maybe for 2006. I'm thinking we can go to a bowl this year with 7 wins, and then on a lighter schedule be ready for a big run up the rankings next year.
KC,
While the Dispatch may be "ramping up" their coverage of OHIO football, don't count on too much. The money school is in Columbus as much as I hate it and they're not going to overwhelm us with OHIO football info.
If OHIO 1) wins 7 games in 2005 and 2) goes to a bowl game I will start eating brocoli and aspargus regularly. Neither are likely at all especially considering the OHIO OOC schedule.