It’s no secret that Gallagher-Iba Arena hasn’t had the same dynamic in the past couple years. And there have been several attempts to bring the rowdy back, from the athletic department.
Students have been joined at lunchtime in the Student Union by athletic director, Mike Holder, coach Ford and players to encourage students to attend more basketball games. They have given away free tickets. And how could the athletic department afford to give away that many free tickets you ask? When no one is buying tickets. And the answer is, freshmen that sign up for both football and basketball tickets at orientation that forget to pick up their basketball tickets when the season starts.
“We are at the top of the league and playing some of our best basketball right now,” senior, Mason Cox says.The games are exciting. Ask anyone that’s been to the last two, I guarantee they felt the game was well worth their time. Also, we have been giving out free student tickets, free tickets! I don’t know how much easier or better it gets.”
Matt Fletcher,athletics student marketing coordinator is typically the one passing out these tickets.
“The culture on our campus is that basketball is not the cool thing to do and that’s something we are trying to change,” Fletcher says.”
Fletcher also mentioned promotions such as, putting up a basketball hoop outside of the union on a nice day and have Keiton Page come out to shoot some free-throws against students. There also might be a surprise pep rally during lunch next week in the union to generate some hype.
We are 9-3 in conference games, and the student attendance rates have dramatically increased in just the last three weeks. What more of a reason do you need to come to the basketball games?
Senior Center, Philip Jurick is always encouraging Cowboy Nation to come out to games.
“I think it’s important to have a great crowd because I know when we go on the road and play in a tough it plays a huge factor in the game,” Jurick says.
Freshman, Phil Forte is just now getting a taste of the real rowdiness that the student body can bring.
“We just really appreciate when the fans come out to support us,” Forte says. “It’s nice playing in front of a big crowd. We definitely feed off the energy the fans provide us during the game.”
So do your school a favor, and when you see Holder or Ford in the Union, take a minute out of your day to voice your reasons for how to improve the attendance rates in GIA. I think there is something to be said for an athletic department that makes a conscience effort to make things better for the students. They actually care what the students have to say. Not many schools have that, so we should consider ourselves lucky. GO POKES!