Talia, Timea, Jordan, Tyler, Damien. The hits just keep on coming. As Bill Oram put it, being a Beav has never been easy but what has happened this past year is just cruel.
Indeed. It’s all so exhausting, and with each defection, that little voice inside gets a little louder, whispering “why should I continue to care?” about individual athletes who are here today, but gone tomorrow.
Is Beers next or Jade Carey next and what about the end of the baseball season. Let's hope they stay to at least graduation like Talia did. or at least go pro. This xfr portal stuff sickens my heart, though there is no way the athletes are to blame here.
Ea and Orange from 1970 to date name the long term investments particularly when OS football was losing! Remember HC Jerry Pettibone was the first Football Coach to focus on long term small investments! You shrank your stadium and made it more exclusive for your donors choking out families and working class while reducing home game visitors by 5000 fans! Oh yea great investment!’ Been around to see how badly folks want to win without real investments!
Sounds like you are just begging to get the chance to open your checkbook and write $10 million or more to "invest" in Oregon State sports. What's stopping you? Since you say no one is, then you surely must be ready to lay down some money to get it done.
Game in Corvallis was when Oregon brought ESPN Gameday to town! Otherwise I got tired of the cussing around games there! I remember the bad language attending games at Far West Classic from beaver fans too!
Oh yeah, the year those classy Duck fans from Harrisburg stole Lee Corso's prop head from the set, and the year some other three-toothed Duck fans tried to start a fire on the Reser Stadium turf.
What needs to happen is for us to go through a football season and a basketball season with our new conference partners so fans can see it might not be the same world, but it's not the end of the world, and that the new world might just work out fine.
Basketball: if you cannot get your team up for its 2 games a year against Gonzaga and Saint Mary's - in both men's and women's - you can't get your team pumped for anything.
I guess that explains Oregon's terrible WBB season. They couldn't even get pumped for games against Santa Clara (89-50 loss) or Portland (91-60 loss), much less GU and SMC.
I feel for OSU and WSU, but marketing, is not going to solve their myriad of problems. You can do all the creative marketing you want about a broken airplane, but it's still a broken airplane. The first priority is to fix the plane. Until then, marketing dollars are mostly a waste, unless you are marketing the repairs that will enable safe flight you can rely on. Martinez may have had every intention of staying when he said he would, but then did not see a path forward he was confident with and hit the portal.
Marketing is all about selling the sizzle. Until OSU and WSU put steaks on the grill there is no sizzle to sell. Winning players will look elsewhere until then. Now is a time for bold moves, not Las Vegas meetings. Square one is a vision, and so far there isn't one.
No media person wants to say aloud what they all know to be true: there is no rebuilding the PAC. Even with a best of the rest G5 build they're still not getting enough national interest to be anything.
Oregon State and Wazzu need to put all their eggs in the "getting into a P4 conference" basket. Trade literally all assets and short term incomes for it.
John: I have gotten to know former coach Jackie Sherrill. In addition to him being a hall of famer in Alabama, Texas A&M, Pitt and Mississippi, he is a wealth of stories and is still heavily involved in football in the South. I had dinner with him last night in Houston and we were discussing College Football and the PAC 12. He told me something that makes the PAC 12 President’s/Chancellors turning down the ESPN offer and requesting more money, even more outrageous/ridiculous. He said that the West, in general, for TV purposes, approximately 17% of the population is considered to be “Football Fans”. He then rattled off the “Football Fan” statistics for Birmingham, Texas and other major football locations in the SEC and in the Big 10. All of which made the West’s statistics pale in comparison. The institutional leaders of the PAC 12 should be more than embarrassed at their lack of understanding their own markets and TV value in negotiating a TV deal and for letting 108 years of incredible sports and traditions simply blow away in the wind. How likely do you think it is that some of the soon to be former PAC 12 members will come back to rebuild the Conference?
I follow Alabama, the number of fan sites and Youtube fan sites overwhelms what the West has to offer. Oregon is the best the West has to offer and that's due to Nike influence.
Warning: Getting emotionally attached to a college athlete or athletic program may be hazardous to your mental well-being.
And so Oregon State loses Martinez and it hurts! Get used to it and I am not talking to,Beavers I am talking to all college sports fans. At some point all will suffer the pain coming from the transfer portal.
And this pain will eventually erode support of college sports. There needs to be more rules enacted before it is too late otherwise the big will get bigger and the small smaller and the pain for fans greater. Why cheer on your favorite this year knowing he will be gone next year!
The song asks “ where have you gone Joe DeMaggio?” I ask ask where has loyalty and commitment and honor gone?
Let me get something off my chest regarding Jonathan Smith. Smith was an undersized quarterback
That became a fan favorite basically because he was small,he was an underdog. Underdogs are never villains. We judge them not on character but size. Jonathan because of that size and the ability to maximize his skills became fan favorite yet we knew little about him as a person. As head coach he was welcomed at Oregon State given the legacy he left as a player. Again we new little of him as a person. To listen to him in his quiet monotone delivery was not the delivery of most football coaches.
Yet he succeeded. I think his delivery was not that of a snake oil pitchman and his deliberate style again was consistent
I don’t think anyone would call him a charming personality but our like for him was more record based
Than personality based.
However, we now learn or should have learned that maybe, just maybe Jonathan Smith was a bit more devious and slimy than we had originality thought.
Jonathan Smith knew he was leaving Oregon State and he knew it sometime before the end of the season. He also knew he wanted to take his freshman quarter with him. And knowing this, he did not want to risk an injury to his freshman in last game of season, a bowl game, So he held him out.
Do you think Smith would have played him in bowl game if returning to Oregon State?
Absolutely! Conniving, cunning,deceptive Jonathan Smith, the little guy everyone thought so good and honorable. Sorry I see a different guy, not little but small
I had Smith in my philosophy class back in 2000. Not to say that means I knew him, but I thought I had a good snapshot of his character... Quiet, respectful, humble, acted like a regular student. Knowing what little I did, he shocked me how he "changed"
Financially now set up for life. I can not fault him for that however let’s not pretend he is a pure as the newly fallen snow. He was without doubt a bit devious! His holding Chiles out of a bowl game was self serving given prior game substitution pattern with the Chiles.. And yes he gutted the program taking along his entire staff and players as well. Yes I get it, no one twisted their arms and big pay raises for all. However, he knew the consequences for Beaver program and could have limited his raiding by simply telling certain coaches he could not take them all. Hopefully , I would have done that knowing I owed something to Oregon State by not taking the entire staff to Michigan State. They had better win cause I don’t think Smith’s
Personality would be all that charming and likeable if he ends up with losing records.
Smith stayed at Oregon State out of loyalty. He had other offers before the conference imploded. Once it was apparent that the goose was cooked, he left for another opportunity.
UW nd UO saw the cliff coming. OSU and WSU just got stuck in the ambulance. They would have bailed also if they had a chance. Face it, the Titanic was sinking and everyone who could grabbed a lifeboat. No villians, just stupid commissioners and presidents.
“Raping the system?”-So, you wouldn’t take a job somewhere else for double the salary , when the job you have is disintegrating, because you are loyal. Good for you John-Henry-
I love your suggestion, John! I am always a bit skittish about downtown Portland. I am in town right now for a trade show at the Convention Center. Downtown Portland is not what it was 20 or even 10 years ago when I would stay at the Embassy Suites (112 year old Multnomah) hotel between 3rd and 4th. No more. Now I stay in Vancouver.
The Leftists are winning all over the country and around the world. There is just something about the promise of free everything, you don't have to work, no responsibility, no accountability, that is very attractive for a lot of people.. We have a leadership class that is willing to appease and cynically make those promises and divide a once United States. It is a slow rot that will eventually lead to a lot of destruction. No predictions how or when, but we are on the way
Give me a break! Sure cities on the west coast have problems, but look at the drug overdose, divorce and suicide rates in red states. That’s what you get when the right is in control, plus book bans and no free choice.
Our opinions differed, hope we can agree on one thing though. Michigan State now has the only coach in America that would attempt a fake field goal 20 yards out with 4 seconds left in the half
I'm trying to put the OSU football woes into the proper perspective. What helps me remain calm is remembering how the Beavers did not have a football season, where they won more than 4 games, from 1971 to 1999. We're nowhere close to that level of futility!!! I'm praying that the combination of new leadership, a hungry attitude, and having a chip on their shoulder will transfer into another winning season.
Also, re-watching the baseball team's CWS championships from 2006, 2007 and 2018 definitely helps!!! GO BEAVS!!!
OSU and WSU can now recreate and rebuild their entire athletic programs based on their own needs, not PAC-12 demands. Its a unique opportunity. Most of D1 college sports are built based on male mindsets and driven by mass media data. OSU/WSU can now truly rebuild based around what's best for schools, students, and communities. Lots to like.
The story lines were more compelling in the Women's March Madness this year but the ratings do reflect a bit the channels on which they were offered. ABC vs TNT? The Women's games had a better viewing platform than the Men's games.
Beaver football is resilient. I think Coach Bray is an upgrade and I like the staff and new OC Gundy. We embrace the change. Goodbye Martinez and hello to RB Anthony Hankerson, yep. He's the next in line: Nall, AP, Jefferson, BJ Baylor, Dame, etc. You can't stop the run game in Corvallis, only hold it to 200 yards/game.
Scott, I've coached two quarterbacks in their system at present. Jonathan Smith never offered one bit of coaching to any of these quarterbacks when they played for the Beavs. The players told me this was one of the most disappointing aspects of Coach Smith's tenure, he had all this experience as a player and an offensive coordinator. At OSU, Smith was as CEO as a coach could get. Bray and Lindgren did all the work for Smith and both quarterbacks have said they had literally zero personal relationship with Lindgren. To say that neither has never coached a game is ridiculous as they both actually did more actual coaching than Smith ever did as OSU's coach.
1. John: having managed brand/reputation for numerous universities, very curious about your describing it as a chronic weakness for OSU and WSU. Can you embellish a bit?
2. Hard to overstate the impact Coach Vandeveer has had on the women’s game. It also was eye-opening to watch up-close (during our son’s playing career) a women’s program totally dwarf its men’s counterpart. (This was post-Mike Montgomery / Trent Johnson, in the early years of what is now a two-decades decline.) It’s a huge moment in the history of the sport; huge challenge for AD Bernard Muir to find a worthy successor.
3. BRILLIANT suggestion to hold the meeting at such an historic venue.
Barry, OSU and WSU need their own brand management team and marketing campaigns to develop national awareness with a unique message for each school. I can see a major agency working with both individually and collectively to rebuild the PAC12. It would be a tremendous marketing coup for any agency to take over the rebuild and find success in the process. If I were younger, I would take it on. I ended up more in sales than marketing (have done both in my career), but was offered a position in advertising after college (Campbell-Mithun in Minneapolis). It was close, but I took the money offered in sales for AT&T. :-)
I did brand work (as well as PR/crisis management, etc) for several universities. It would shock me to learn that neither of the two has done at least some basic brand work (whether with or without agency support. With all the enrollment challenges facing the university marketplace, it would be malpractice to not do so.
Am I missing something? Or is it the quality of the message that is missing? (And I agree there are two distinct lanes here — individual institutional brands and conference/athletics.)
As a Beavs alumn, it has always frustrated me that OSU has put such little effort in marketing... Especially when we have marketing professors in our college of business. Only until recently (after Pac12 imploded?) have social media videos improved.
I have dabbled in marketing for things here and there, a complete amateur, but I still feel I could have done a better job in the past five years.
I think the bottom line is the PAC-2 really doesn't have much of a plan, which is why all the players are finally bailing. If there is a plan, it needs to happen quicker, but given the silence and lack of movement, I really don't think there is a plan because they have yet to accept their reality. We are no longer a Power 5 University and if you keep waiting around, both schools are not going to be much of a lower tier program as well.
Talia, Timea, Jordan, Tyler, Damien. The hits just keep on coming. As Bill Oram put it, being a Beav has never been easy but what has happened this past year is just cruel.
Indeed. It’s all so exhausting, and with each defection, that little voice inside gets a little louder, whispering “why should I continue to care?” about individual athletes who are here today, but gone tomorrow.
Is Beers next or Jade Carey next and what about the end of the baseball season. Let's hope they stay to at least graduation like Talia did. or at least go pro. This xfr portal stuff sickens my heart, though there is no way the athletes are to blame here.
With no long term past investments OS is right where they put themselves
Valley Football Center, Truax, Raising Reser, Goss, Westside remodel, Dam Nation, etc. If you open your eyes, you'll see it.
Ea and Orange from 1970 to date name the long term investments particularly when OS football was losing! Remember HC Jerry Pettibone was the first Football Coach to focus on long term small investments! You shrank your stadium and made it more exclusive for your donors choking out families and working class while reducing home game visitors by 5000 fans! Oh yea great investment!’ Been around to see how badly folks want to win without real investments!
Great times for you. You got your cake and eating it too AND get to smear your Beaver hate. Things must be awesome at the Crazyjim house.
Not Beaver hate! It’s facts beavers are unwilling to recognize and instead for a couple decades have demonstrated their victims status
Wow, Mr. Bummer. Fun times for you eh? Duck fan perhaps?
Sounds like you are just begging to get the chance to open your checkbook and write $10 million or more to "invest" in Oregon State sports. What's stopping you? Since you say no one is, then you surely must be ready to lay down some money to get it done.
When is the last time you were even at OSU, 1985 or so?
EA last time I went to a football
Game in Corvallis was when Oregon brought ESPN Gameday to town! Otherwise I got tired of the cussing around games there! I remember the bad language attending games at Far West Classic from beaver fans too!
Really I have heard the most racist comments from duck fans going back to Parker Stadium.
Oh yeah, the year those classy Duck fans from Harrisburg stole Lee Corso's prop head from the set, and the year some other three-toothed Duck fans tried to start a fire on the Reser Stadium turf.
Not to worry, Crazy Jim was there to stop them all!
Just curious, do you not get tired of the cussing around games at Autzen? Or is swearing only bad when the other team's fans are doing it?
I hear limited cussing at Oregon and some directed at other schools fans and I have interceded and told them to knock
It off! Never heard an OS fan to step in to end the crap!
So you told the students to stop chanting "F--- the Mormons" when you hosted BYU? How gallant of you.
Who is Bill Oram?
Been a Beaver since the 1970's it wasn't easy then, and it just hasn't gotten any easier... Can't we get a good week?
What needs to happen is for us to go through a football season and a basketball season with our new conference partners so fans can see it might not be the same world, but it's not the end of the world, and that the new world might just work out fine.
I jusot wish those entering the portal would help see it thru for a year to help ease the pain of the transition.
Basketball: if you cannot get your team up for its 2 games a year against Gonzaga and Saint Mary's - in both men's and women's - you can't get your team pumped for anything.
I guess that explains Oregon's terrible WBB season. They couldn't even get pumped for games against Santa Clara (89-50 loss) or Portland (91-60 loss), much less GU and SMC.
I feel for OSU and WSU, but marketing, is not going to solve their myriad of problems. You can do all the creative marketing you want about a broken airplane, but it's still a broken airplane. The first priority is to fix the plane. Until then, marketing dollars are mostly a waste, unless you are marketing the repairs that will enable safe flight you can rely on. Martinez may have had every intention of staying when he said he would, but then did not see a path forward he was confident with and hit the portal.
Marketing is all about selling the sizzle. Until OSU and WSU put steaks on the grill there is no sizzle to sell. Winning players will look elsewhere until then. Now is a time for bold moves, not Las Vegas meetings. Square one is a vision, and so far there isn't one.
No media person wants to say aloud what they all know to be true: there is no rebuilding the PAC. Even with a best of the rest G5 build they're still not getting enough national interest to be anything.
Oregon State and Wazzu need to put all their eggs in the "getting into a P4 conference" basket. Trade literally all assets and short term incomes for it.
Obviously you aren't current with conference realignment
Insulting people while adding nothing to the conversation. Thanks.
Hmmm and here I thought you were the one being insulting. You support a mascot with no pants so there is that.
Making a statement is insulting?
John: I have gotten to know former coach Jackie Sherrill. In addition to him being a hall of famer in Alabama, Texas A&M, Pitt and Mississippi, he is a wealth of stories and is still heavily involved in football in the South. I had dinner with him last night in Houston and we were discussing College Football and the PAC 12. He told me something that makes the PAC 12 President’s/Chancellors turning down the ESPN offer and requesting more money, even more outrageous/ridiculous. He said that the West, in general, for TV purposes, approximately 17% of the population is considered to be “Football Fans”. He then rattled off the “Football Fan” statistics for Birmingham, Texas and other major football locations in the SEC and in the Big 10. All of which made the West’s statistics pale in comparison. The institutional leaders of the PAC 12 should be more than embarrassed at their lack of understanding their own markets and TV value in negotiating a TV deal and for letting 108 years of incredible sports and traditions simply blow away in the wind. How likely do you think it is that some of the soon to be former PAC 12 members will come back to rebuild the Conference?
I follow Alabama, the number of fan sites and Youtube fan sites overwhelms what the West has to offer. Oregon is the best the West has to offer and that's due to Nike influence.
USC probably has a larger national footprint
Any mention of Purdue basketball takes me back to Rick Mount and the shooters of the 60s…….:)
How about Joe Barry Carroll and later on Glen "Big Dog" Robinson. Great players and teams but neither got to a final four.
Warning: Getting emotionally attached to a college athlete or athletic program may be hazardous to your mental well-being.
And so Oregon State loses Martinez and it hurts! Get used to it and I am not talking to,Beavers I am talking to all college sports fans. At some point all will suffer the pain coming from the transfer portal.
And this pain will eventually erode support of college sports. There needs to be more rules enacted before it is too late otherwise the big will get bigger and the small smaller and the pain for fans greater. Why cheer on your favorite this year knowing he will be gone next year!
The song asks “ where have you gone Joe DeMaggio?” I ask ask where has loyalty and commitment and honor gone?
Let me get something off my chest regarding Jonathan Smith. Smith was an undersized quarterback
That became a fan favorite basically because he was small,he was an underdog. Underdogs are never villains. We judge them not on character but size. Jonathan because of that size and the ability to maximize his skills became fan favorite yet we knew little about him as a person. As head coach he was welcomed at Oregon State given the legacy he left as a player. Again we new little of him as a person. To listen to him in his quiet monotone delivery was not the delivery of most football coaches.
Yet he succeeded. I think his delivery was not that of a snake oil pitchman and his deliberate style again was consistent
I don’t think anyone would call him a charming personality but our like for him was more record based
Than personality based.
However, we now learn or should have learned that maybe, just maybe Jonathan Smith was a bit more devious and slimy than we had originality thought.
Jonathan Smith knew he was leaving Oregon State and he knew it sometime before the end of the season. He also knew he wanted to take his freshman quarter with him. And knowing this, he did not want to risk an injury to his freshman in last game of season, a bowl game, So he held him out.
Do you think Smith would have played him in bowl game if returning to Oregon State?
Absolutely! Conniving, cunning,deceptive Jonathan Smith, the little guy everyone thought so good and honorable. Sorry I see a different guy, not little but small
Both very good points.
I had Smith in my philosophy class back in 2000. Not to say that means I knew him, but I thought I had a good snapshot of his character... Quiet, respectful, humble, acted like a regular student. Knowing what little I did, he shocked me how he "changed"
Financially now set up for life. I can not fault him for that however let’s not pretend he is a pure as the newly fallen snow. He was without doubt a bit devious! His holding Chiles out of a bowl game was self serving given prior game substitution pattern with the Chiles.. And yes he gutted the program taking along his entire staff and players as well. Yes I get it, no one twisted their arms and big pay raises for all. However, he knew the consequences for Beaver program and could have limited his raiding by simply telling certain coaches he could not take them all. Hopefully , I would have done that knowing I owed something to Oregon State by not taking the entire staff to Michigan State. They had better win cause I don’t think Smith’s
Personality would be all that charming and likeable if he ends up with losing records.
Smith stayed at Oregon State out of loyalty. He had other offers before the conference imploded. Once it was apparent that the goose was cooked, he left for another opportunity.
Yeah, that's not what happened. It is reported he was actively going after the MSU job before Mel Tucker was even fired
OSU and WSU feel like your best friends just stabbed you in back ,then rolled your body into the ditch.
I equate it:
SC and Ucla stabbed us in the back
UW and UO kicked us out of the ambulance just a few blocks from the hospital, and left us to bleed out
UW nd UO saw the cliff coming. OSU and WSU just got stuck in the ambulance. They would have bailed also if they had a chance. Face it, the Titanic was sinking and everyone who could grabbed a lifeboat. No villians, just stupid commissioners and presidents.
No, there are definitely villains... And the idea that "you'd rape the system if you had the chance" is the deflection from responsibility
“Raping the system?”-So, you wouldn’t take a job somewhere else for double the salary , when the job you have is disintegrating, because you are loyal. Good for you John-Henry-
There are is a thing called ethics... Lines I won't cross.
Money comes and goes... reputation and ethical standards are far more important
I felt like we got a pair of muggers of our backs myself!
I love your suggestion, John! I am always a bit skittish about downtown Portland. I am in town right now for a trade show at the Convention Center. Downtown Portland is not what it was 20 or even 10 years ago when I would stay at the Embassy Suites (112 year old Multnomah) hotel between 3rd and 4th. No more. Now I stay in Vancouver.
You wouldn't catch me dead in downtown Portland. The leftists won.
The Leftists are winning all over the country and around the world. There is just something about the promise of free everything, you don't have to work, no responsibility, no accountability, that is very attractive for a lot of people.. We have a leadership class that is willing to appease and cynically make those promises and divide a once United States. It is a slow rot that will eventually lead to a lot of destruction. No predictions how or when, but we are on the way
Give me a break! Sure cities on the west coast have problems, but look at the drug overdose, divorce and suicide rates in red states. That’s what you get when the right is in control, plus book bans and no free choice.
LOL! That is funny! More delusion which is how the west Coast got where it is
Our opinions differed, hope we can agree on one thing though. Michigan State now has the only coach in America that would attempt a fake field goal 20 yards out with 4 seconds left in the half
In low scoring game.
I'm trying to put the OSU football woes into the proper perspective. What helps me remain calm is remembering how the Beavers did not have a football season, where they won more than 4 games, from 1971 to 1999. We're nowhere close to that level of futility!!! I'm praying that the combination of new leadership, a hungry attitude, and having a chip on their shoulder will transfer into another winning season.
Also, re-watching the baseball team's CWS championships from 2006, 2007 and 2018 definitely helps!!! GO BEAVS!!!
OSU and WSU can now recreate and rebuild their entire athletic programs based on their own needs, not PAC-12 demands. Its a unique opportunity. Most of D1 college sports are built based on male mindsets and driven by mass media data. OSU/WSU can now truly rebuild based around what's best for schools, students, and communities. Lots to like.
The story lines were more compelling in the Women's March Madness this year but the ratings do reflect a bit the channels on which they were offered. ABC vs TNT? The Women's games had a better viewing platform than the Men's games.
Beaver football is resilient. I think Coach Bray is an upgrade and I like the staff and new OC Gundy. We embrace the change. Goodbye Martinez and hello to RB Anthony Hankerson, yep. He's the next in line: Nall, AP, Jefferson, BJ Baylor, Dame, etc. You can't stop the run game in Corvallis, only hold it to 200 yards/game.
Bray is an upgrade from Jonathan Smith? Let’s revisit that in December.
Smith had a losing record, only until Bray became defensive coordinator did Smith get a winning record.
Bray is also an upgrade just in getting rid of Lindgren.
Amen to that!
Bray is an upgrade yet hasn't coached a college game yet? OK...
Scott, I've coached two quarterbacks in their system at present. Jonathan Smith never offered one bit of coaching to any of these quarterbacks when they played for the Beavs. The players told me this was one of the most disappointing aspects of Coach Smith's tenure, he had all this experience as a player and an offensive coordinator. At OSU, Smith was as CEO as a coach could get. Bray and Lindgren did all the work for Smith and both quarterbacks have said they had literally zero personal relationship with Lindgren. To say that neither has never coached a game is ridiculous as they both actually did more actual coaching than Smith ever did as OSU's coach.
Don't read well I see
1. John: having managed brand/reputation for numerous universities, very curious about your describing it as a chronic weakness for OSU and WSU. Can you embellish a bit?
2. Hard to overstate the impact Coach Vandeveer has had on the women’s game. It also was eye-opening to watch up-close (during our son’s playing career) a women’s program totally dwarf its men’s counterpart. (This was post-Mike Montgomery / Trent Johnson, in the early years of what is now a two-decades decline.) It’s a huge moment in the history of the sport; huge challenge for AD Bernard Muir to find a worthy successor.
3. BRILLIANT suggestion to hold the meeting at such an historic venue.
Barry, OSU and WSU need their own brand management team and marketing campaigns to develop national awareness with a unique message for each school. I can see a major agency working with both individually and collectively to rebuild the PAC12. It would be a tremendous marketing coup for any agency to take over the rebuild and find success in the process. If I were younger, I would take it on. I ended up more in sales than marketing (have done both in my career), but was offered a position in advertising after college (Campbell-Mithun in Minneapolis). It was close, but I took the money offered in sales for AT&T. :-)
I did brand work (as well as PR/crisis management, etc) for several universities. It would shock me to learn that neither of the two has done at least some basic brand work (whether with or without agency support. With all the enrollment challenges facing the university marketplace, it would be malpractice to not do so.
Am I missing something? Or is it the quality of the message that is missing? (And I agree there are two distinct lanes here — individual institutional brands and conference/athletics.)
As a Beavs alumn, it has always frustrated me that OSU has put such little effort in marketing... Especially when we have marketing professors in our college of business. Only until recently (after Pac12 imploded?) have social media videos improved.
I have dabbled in marketing for things here and there, a complete amateur, but I still feel I could have done a better job in the past five years.
You should offer your services :-)
the good, the bad, and the ugly…
I think the bottom line is the PAC-2 really doesn't have much of a plan, which is why all the players are finally bailing. If there is a plan, it needs to happen quicker, but given the silence and lack of movement, I really don't think there is a plan because they have yet to accept their reality. We are no longer a Power 5 University and if you keep waiting around, both schools are not going to be much of a lower tier program as well.
Actually WSU held on to everyone other than Ward.