Posted by LC on 12/2/2007, 4:03 pm, in reply to "PSU wants to come WAC-ing"
24.140.17.99
I really enjoyed your Spartan site and articles!
SoccerTricks.org
--Previous Message--
: Got this in the email inbox and found it
: intriguing:
:
: New PSU AD Looks Beyond Big Sky
: Fred Delkin
: Oregon Magazine
:
: New Portland State Athletic Director Torre
: Chisholm sees an upgrade in the Viking
: football future. Currently, PSU is NCAA
: Division I in 14 varsity sports (6 men's, 8
: women's), but the lone profit center,
: football, is competing in a Big Sky group
: formerly classified IAA (now Football
: championship Subdivision). Chisholm says he
: is very aware that Portland is by far the
: largest population base among Big Sky
: members and should aspire to greater grid
: glory. "First, however, we need to win
: the Big Sky title, then move up."
:
: The Viking football program has languished
: over the past decade, failing to qualify for
: national playoffs that were first earned by
: the coaching regimes of Mouse Davis and
: Pokey Allen. Now Mouse is back, assisting
: that big league hire, Jerry Glanville. This
: impressive coaching tandem, working with a
: weak talent base recruited by their
: predecessors, got off to a 0-2 start this
: season, before opening Big Sky play with two
: straight wins. The Glanville/Davis tutoring
: seems to be taking hold, and playoff
: qualification may be possible this season.
:
: PSU athletic marketing has also vastly
: improved, with football season ticket sales
: almost triple those of 2006. Chisholm
: brings marketing credentials to his new
: post. He increased athletic fund raising
: 200% and sponsorships 150% while serving at
: University of California, Irvine before
: moving north. A graduate of University of
: California, Santa Barbara, Chisholm served
: his alma mater in a sports
: marketing/promotion role before moving to UC
: Irvine.
:
: Marketing Budget Doubled
:
: The PSU administration has given Chisholm
: twice the budget he inherited. He and his
: associates have added 18 new corporate
: sponsors for football promotion. "Our
: goal for this season is to average 12,000
: fans per home game," Chisholm states,
: "and we want to create an exciting,
: event atmosphere at our games." We've
: seen some of this already, along with a
: greater influx of student fans.
:
: Winning, Chisholm admits, is the bottom line
: for putting fans in the stands. The Vikings
: now have the coaching credentials to build a
: winner, and may even dominate the Big Sky in
: 2007. Then, what's next? Chisholm foresees
: a move up to the Western Athletic Conference
: in the Viking future. The WAC now numbers
: nine members (Hawaii, Boise State, Fresno St
: , San Jose State, Nevada, Idaho, Utah St.,
: New Mexico St., Louisiana Tech). The last
: three are in small markets. Conference
: administrators are well aware of the value
: of population centers to generate television
: revenue. Boise State showed the way to
: national dollars in 2006, going undefeated
: and edging traditional power Oklahoma in the
: Fiesta Bowl, while WAC members went 3-1 in
: bowl games (Hawaii over Arizona St., San
: Jose St. over New Mexico, Nevada narrowly
: losing to Miami, FL).
:
: Hoop Dreams Also Loom
:
: Basketball is far less fiscally demanding
: than football and PSU came very close to
: taking the Big Sky cage title in 2007 and
: qualifying for the NCAA Big Dance. However,
: Chisholm admits to PSU's financial hardship
: in playing at Stott Center. A trip to UCLA
: is on the Viking hoop sked this season, and
: wouldn't it be wonderful to meet that
: calibre of competition before thousands of
: witnesses in the Rose Garden or Memorial
: Coliseum? The PSU basketball program came
: close in 2007 to winning the Big Sky title
: and a bid to the NCAA Big Dance.
:
: Yours truly chaired a 1987 committee that
: formulated a plan to take PSU from Division
: II to Division I. It was grudgingly
: accepted by students and faculty, but
: eventually PSU administration failed to
: support athletic ambition. An athletic
: director with proven marketing credentials,
: Jim Sterk, sensed apathy in school
: leadership after coming on board the Viking
: ship in 1995, and moved up to an opportunity
: at Washington State. Sterk was well aware
: of the financial potential of the Portland
: market after filling a financial void at
: Tulane by energizing the New Orleans
: community.
:
: Now Chisholm and friends can create
: collegiate athletic success worthy of this
: community. Just look what lil ol'
: University of Portland has done on the
: national stage with women's soccer. We
: welcome Torre and family (wife Christi and
: son Tucker) to a city that has too often
: acted minor league and needs an awakening to
: the sports potential of the state's largest
: university.
:
:
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