I'd join, I go to all the home games anyways, all I'd need is the Dog Pound shirt, even though I do have the old Dog Pound shirt...I like the idea

CHoran24 Wrote:Will everybody be able to do a meeting Wednesday the 22nd around 7 at the Student Center.

I don't remember where the thread is, but we had a lengthy discussion about this about two weeks ago and I had a lot of suggestions that I wrote down.


One of them was to get the residence halls involved. I really think that is your ticket to quick success. Consider this... Try to work out an official title/office which must be held by one resident of each dorm floor. Each floor has a president, right? Is this an official or implied office? I think there should be a "Spirit Coordinator" on each floor. This person should have a formal list of duties that are specific and measurable. They should be responsible for creating awareness about all home games and pooling people together to attend the games. They should also be a dues paying member of the club and work to recruit others to become dues paying members.


If you can make progress in the remaining two months of school, you could come to an agreement with the residence hall association for such a floor officer to be universally approved for the fall semester. All you would need is to have the floor RA see that the "Spirit Coordinator" is elected at the first dorm floor meeting at the start of the semester. Then have a meeting for all "Spirit Coordinators" a few days later and set expectations and do some "training" for how to effectively carry out the position on each dorm floor.


This is real grass roots -- but this would work if one of you is committed to seeing this through. If I were a student, I would be right there leading the way. But alas, I am a 37 year old business man, husband and father of two. Time to get to work! All the best...

The Kedzman

I'll join, but I can't guarantee I can make it to all basketball home games. I can definitely do football though, and some basketball.

Fat Huskie told me that he tried to do the Dog Pound think too last year with the athletic dept. and they told him the same thing as was told to me. Marketing and promotions needs to get off their asses!!!!

georgey3085 Wrote:I'd join, I go to all the home games anyways, all I'd need is the Dog Pound shirt, even though I do have the old Dog Pound shirt...I like the idea

If there is a graphics person online, they should come up with a shirt design. An "official" shirt for the Dog Pound. The shirt should define participating membership and come at a price. Get the shirts made for $12.00 but charge $25.00 to become a member.


You need a website, guys! Use the extra money to pay for things like web hosting and such. You will occasionally want to take out adds in the NS. Getting local businesses to sponsor adds in the paper is a good idea.


I'm rolling now...


Get a schedule of "pre-game" Dog Pound locations where members can eat & drink before games. For example, get Seargant Peppers's for home game #1 and the goal is to meet 90 minutes before tip off. Eat pizza, drink beer and get fired up for the game. Then caravan over to the Convo. Get Seargant Pepper's to sponsor the event by putting a 1/4 page add in the NS to promote the Dog Pound, the game and their restaurant. Seargant Pepper's would love to host 200 fans before a game, right? They could charge $5.00 a head for pizza and pop for people wearing a Dog Pound shirt. That's good revenue.


Next home game, do it at Fatty's, or where ever else you can. Get yourself in the NS for no cost by giving local businesses revenue and exposure. Be smart. Leverage your resources.


I really think you need a website. Check out http://www.tailgateNIU.com. Fun site, although it needs to be updated.

Get yourself a home game rotation of local restaurants to host your pre-game Dog Pound events. Get that schedule on the website. This could be so cool...

HuskiemobileMan Wrote:Fat Huskie told me that he tried to do the Dog Pound think too last year with the athletic dept. and they told him the same thing as was told to me. Marketing and promotions needs to get off their asses!!!!

Screw the athletic department and the university if they don't want to participate. MAKE them want to participate when they see 300 maniacs screaming and wearing red at the first NIU hoops game!!! At that point, they'll approach YOU.

I'll volunteer to create and host the web site. We could even convert NIUFans.com into the NIU Dog Pound.

Kedzman Wrote:

HuskiemobileMan Wrote:Fat Huskie told me that he tried to do the Dog Pound think too last year with the athletic dept. and they told him the same thing as was told to me. Marketing and promotions needs to get off their asses!!!!

Screw the athletic department and the university if they don't want to participate. MAKE them want to participate when they see 300 maniacs screaming and wearing red at the first NIU hoops game!!! At that point, they'll approach YOU.

REVOLUTION!!! REVOLUTION!!! Revolution is in the air!!!!

:outraged: :sgthartman:

ps: if you need any graphic design work, I can probably help.

It's not like nothing happens between athletics and Fatty's.

http://niuhuskies.collegesports.com/spor...06aac.html

dynovinyl Wrote:

Kedzman Wrote:

HuskiemobileMan Wrote:Fat Huskie told me that he tried to do the Dog Pound think too last year with the athletic dept. and they told him the same thing as was told to me. Marketing and promotions needs to get off their asses!!!!

Screw the athletic department and the university if they don't want to participate. MAKE them want to participate when they see 300 maniacs screaming and wearing red at the first NIU hoops game!!! At that point, they'll approach YOU.

REVOLUTION!!! REVOLUTION!!! Revolution is in the air!!!!

:outraged: :sgthartman:

ps: if you need any graphic design work, I can probably help.

Correction... It's a "KEDZOLUTION"...

If you want to run a comercial on campus cable (do they still do that?), find a production student who's worked over at NTC. There are students video taping at most of the games. I'm sure they have plenty of footage to make something up for you.

PSE NIU Wrote:It's not like nothing happens between athletics and Fatty's.

http://niuhuskies.collegesports.com/spor...06aac.html

What are we, the White Sox? And last I checked, the color of St. Paddy's Day was not forest green.

Kedzman Wrote:

georgey3085 Wrote:I'd join, I go to all the home games anyways, all I'd need is the Dog Pound shirt, even though I do have the old Dog Pound shirt...I like the idea

Students will not pay for shirts. The shirts should be free and Fattys should work with NIU to get that to happen. Fattys always gives out free shirts. Fattys has also always been the official DP bar/grill. They also do most the radio shows with NIU. No need to bring anyone else into this. It is also in an ideal location in relation to the convo. The drunk bus they had a few years back was great.

HuskiemobileMan Wrote:

Kedzman Wrote:

georgey3085 Wrote:I'd join, I go to all the home games anyways, all I'd need is the Dog Pound shirt, even though I do have the old Dog Pound shirt...I like the idea

Students will not pay for shirts. The shirts should be free and Fattys should work with NIU to get that to happen. Fattys always gives out free shirts. Fattys has also always been the official DP bar/grill. They also do most the radio shows with NIU. No need to bring anyone else into this. It is also in an ideal location in relation to the convo. The drunk bus they had a few years back was great.

agreed. the original dog pound shirts were free

huskiealum03 Wrote:

HuskiemobileMan Wrote:

Kedzman Wrote:

georgey3085 Wrote:I'd join, I go to all the home games anyways, all I'd need is the Dog Pound shirt, even though I do have the old Dog Pound shirt...I like the idea

Students will not pay for shirts. The shirts should be free and Fattys should work with NIU to get that to happen. Fattys always gives out free shirts. Fattys has also always been the official DP bar/grill. They also do most the radio shows with NIU. No need to bring anyone else into this. It is also in an ideal location in relation to the convo. The drunk bus they had a few years back was great.

agreed. the original dog pound shirts were free

I think the second gen ones were $5, but there is no reason why they shouldn't be free.

Kedzman Wrote:

georgey3085 Wrote:I'd join, I go to all the home games anyways, all I'd need is the Dog Pound shirt, even though I do have the old Dog Pound shirt...I like the idea

If there is a graphics person online, they should come up with a shirt design. An "official" shirt for the Dog Pound. The shirt should define participating membership and come at a price. Get the shirts made for $12.00 but charge $25.00 to become a member.

There is no way we could charge people, if students won't go to games when they have free tickets I doubt they would be willing to pay to join a club and if we are going to work with the athletic department I don't think they would be happy with us charging the students.

CHoran24 Wrote:

Kedzman Wrote:

georgey3085 Wrote:I'd join, I go to all the home games anyways, all I'd need is the Dog Pound shirt, even though I do have the old Dog Pound shirt...I like the idea

If there is a graphics person online, they should come up with a shirt design. An "official" shirt for the Dog Pound. The shirt should define participating membership and come at a price. Get the shirts made for $12.00 but charge $25.00 to become a member.

There is no way we could charge people, if students won't go to games when they have free tickets I doubt they would be willing to pay to join a club and if we are going to work with the athletic department I don't think they would be happy with us charging the students.

the key is to turn the interested students into hardcores, and have them recruit their friends.

CHoran24 Wrote:

Kedzman Wrote:

georgey3085 Wrote:I'd join, I go to all the home games anyways, all I'd need is the Dog Pound shirt, even though I do have the old Dog Pound shirt...I like the idea

If there is a graphics person online, they should come up with a shirt design. An "official" shirt for the Dog Pound. The shirt should define participating membership and come at a price. Get the shirts made for $12.00 but charge $25.00 to become a member.

There is no way we could charge people, if students won't go to games when they have free tickets I doubt they would be willing to pay to join a club and if we are going to work with the athletic department I don't think they would be happy with us charging the students.

What is the value in "FREE"?

Answer: nothing


By paying for it, it has value. By giving it away, it has no value. People need to have some "skin in the game" in order for it to have value and meaning. Even if it is only $10.00, suddenly, there is a barrier to membership. Membership has no value if there is no threshold of commitment for people to measure against.


The Dog Pound needs to be a club with membership. Not just some free thing sponsored by a local pub. It will die off as quickly as it began if it is free.


If it is free, there will be no effort to "recruit" people to the Dog Pound. If there is a small membership fee that gets you a shirt and a name on an official roster of membership, then you can measure the size and success of the organization.

huskiealum03 Wrote:

HuskiemobileMan Wrote:

Kedzman Wrote:

georgey3085 Wrote:I'd join, I go to all the home games anyways, all I'd need is the Dog Pound shirt, even though I do have the old Dog Pound shirt...I like the idea

Students will not pay for shirts. The shirts should be free and Fattys should work with NIU to get that to happen. Fattys always gives out free shirts. Fattys has also always been the official DP bar/grill. They also do most the radio shows with NIU. No need to bring anyone else into this. It is also in an ideal location in relation to the convo. The drunk bus they had a few years back was great.

agreed. the original dog pound shirts were free

Perhaps that explains the longevity of the original dog pound...


There must be a barrier to membership to establish if people are actually members or not. There has to be some "pride in ownership" or "exclusivity" to membership to establish a quantifiable value. It's like this... "I paid $10.00 to join, I got a shirt that identifies me as a member, I am an official member of the Dog Pound, as a member of the Dog Pound, we have a tradition of meeting at Fatty's before all the home games as a group and then sitting together at the game to cheer on the Huskies..."

Contrast that with, "I went to Fatty's with some of my friends and I got a free shirt that says Dog Pound. Then we went to the game... I might do that again."

NIU students are apathetic enough. They will not pay money for membership in a club. Theres gotta be some other way around it.