I hope so because Tom's and others recaps for us out-of-towners is one of my favorite nights of the year.
Thanks. Appreciate that.
There is going to be an event this year. It will be held on LOI Day. I think it runs from 5-7 PM. It will be held at Manley. As in past years, it looks like they limited invitations to major donors only.
I will be attending. Probably will jump into the chat we have going in our chatroom that night when I get back, discuss things I saw and heard then. And I will post a report on the board as well.
Just my opinion, but I think if SU were smart, they should get more in line with the progressive programs in the country. Have two briefings, one for the major donors and one for smaller donors they are trying to grow into big ones.
The major donor one should include a tour of the indoor facility and a sit down dinner, where the new staff members introduce themselves and talk at some length about what they are looking for in players, what they think they currently have in players in the program and then discuss the new recruits and their film. Open bar, cocktail hour, and review the film in the team meeting conference room, as done today. It will require longer than 2 hours and that is okay. These people deserve some extra time.
The smaller donor one should be held at a facility that can hold more people. Maybe at one of the auditoriums on campus. Include some hor dorveours and have a cash bar. Have a cocktail hour, then go straight to the film. Still have the assistant coaches talk about their players, the ones in the program and the new recruits, just a little briefer treatment. This one should work in the 2 hour window.
Make it clear what you need to pay to be eligible to attend the major donor and smaller donor events. I would suggest a yearly donation in the ballpark of $500 to attend the smaller event.
More carrots need to be made available to cover the vast ground between a simple membership in the Orange Club and being a major donor.
I know there are a few but they are frankly pretty lame. This is a good carrot that could be leveraged to get a lot more fans more committed to the program. A good portion of them could, I think, be convinced to contribute more to attend the major donor recruiting briefing. Or an Ernie Davis preseason dinner event. Or a nicer couple of options for donors for the preseason scrimmage.
We need to reinstate the weekly reviews of the game the previous week/preview of the next game and give donors more access/easier access to these events. They were done for many years, then stopped during the Coach P era. Coach Marrone brought them back and Coach Shafer dropped them again.
Give people a chance to feel they are a part of the program. Give them a major of attractive options that are opened based on donor level. Make it clear what level of donation gives access to what level of access. Focus more on donors who are willing to make low medium to medium level donations. They are nice benefits for huge donors but very little to encourage people to donate in that mid range level. Focus on those people; they will be your big donors someday...
Off my soapbox. Sorry for the rant.
