New Louisiana Tech AD Ryan Ivey said on the last episode of Bleed Tech Blue Radio that he asks everyone in his previous athletic departments to bring him five positives and five negatives about being in that athletic department.
As I was going back to my hotel this afternoon, I started thinking about my list of 5 positives and 5 negatives about the Tech Athletic Department.
Five Positives:
1. The Joe Aillet Society - This has been a great success in getting large fundraising gifts to Tech Athletics. I hope this continues even after Dr. Wood and Colton Primm left Louisiana Tech.
2. Continued Facility Improvements - The baseball, softball, and women's soccer facilities are great. The new videoboard next year will go a long way in eliminating sound and video quality issues during the football games. Champions Plaza is a nice touch. The new North End Zone building will be another good addition to Joe Aillet Stadium.
3. The food at the baseball games - I love the variety of the meals at the baseball games. It's definitely an improvement over some of the usual selections at the football and basketball games, and it adds to the good atmosphere at the baseball games.
4. Jimmy Washington as the announcer at the basketball games - I've always loved hearing Jimmy as the basketball announcer. He's a great fit who adds to the atmosphere without taking anything away. I love the subtle remainders he gives to referees when the refs occasionally forget how many team fouls there are.
5. The Band of Pride - I'm a former Band nerd, so I will always like the BOP. When given the chance to shine, the Band of Pride are great. I wish they could play more during the football games. They are funny and irrelevant, and you can not outfun the BOP.
Five Negatives:
First things first, I'm not gonna mention athletic performance, conference affiliation, Judy, nor the lack of a student fee. These items are mostly outside of the Athletic Department's direct control. I'm also not mentioning the lack of Tech baseball games on ESPN+, since Rick Ivey knows about it.
These are items that I think the athletic department could work on.
1. Tech baseball social media - I could expand this to cover all Tech sports social media, but I'm limiting this to the baseball specifically. The Tech baseball social media is awful. No timely updates on the inning, score, nor current situation. Lack of funny humor. Lack of quality control. Scrolling through that social media account makes me want to unfollow it and lose interest in Tech baseball. Give the account to RF Dawgs or Teri Netterville or GTPDD. Any of them can do a better job than the person over the Tech baseball X account right now.
2. Bathrooms at the East Side of Joe Aillet Stadium - The East Side of the Joe needs a bit of work, but the restrooms especially. When there are multiple holes at the men's urinals that look like glory holes made for the Incredible Hulk, it makes you look like a poverty program.
3. Tech baseball tickets - This one hit me this afternoon. Season ticket sales are good, but it shouldn't come at the expense of the average fan. It sucks to be at the apartment buildings and see half the Chairbacks in the Love Shack empty when your biggest rival is in town, but Chairback seats for sale early that morning are very limited.
4. Tech production issues - If you watched Tech baseball on ESPN+ the last two days (or tried to), you know how bad Tech's production issues are. Chalk it up to a lack of preparation or quality control if you want. When Southern Miss fans are rightfully calling you a poverty program due to horrible production and game streams, it's bad. The production issues also extends to misspelled words, inaccurate data, and wrong graphics on programs and games.
5. Marketing and promotion - "I chose Tech because Tech is nice" - that's our advertising campaign this year. I want creativity and original content like the OL "Sexy and I Know It" video and the "Skip Holtz Gameday Commerical" from years ago. I posted about an ad in my head last year where Champ is trying everything to get tickets to the baseball games but can't. I'd love to see Tech pull a "This is Louisiana Tech" campaign where we exploit the quirkiness of the Band of Pride and Champ and SuperFan Boris and Tech XXII riding a mini Bugatti on campus.
