Taking a look back at FAU sports this year, we as fans have seen a lot. Howard Schnelleberger gave way to Carl Pelini who in his first recruiting class brought in some talented players and took the team from one win season last season to three wins this season. Men and women's basketball teams struggled throughout the course of their seasons, and the women's team was bounced early in the NIT. The arrival of Kellie Jay Lewis brought in new life to the women's team and a new confidence. Owls baseball took the Sun Belt Conference Championship rather easily this season, but the loss in the conference tourney deny them a shot at the road to Omaha. Yet the biggest news in the past year was the arrival of Pat Chun to fill the position of Athletic Director for Florida Atlantic. He brought in a new life to the Athletic Department and began to change things from a daily blog to updating the website and getting the athletics of FAU on facebook and twitter. He has even got FAU into Conference USA.

Yet in 2013, we as fans would hopefully see more coming from the Athletic Department. A more aggressive marketing campaign for all sports, better communication between the Athletic Department, donors, and alumni. We would also like to see naming rights for our football stadium, a deal struck for renovations to the baseball stadium, and upgrading the Oxley Center and weight room. Yet 2013 is long year so we will see what happens.

USMCOWL said

Taking a look back at FAU sports this year, we as fans have seen a lot. Howard Schnelleberger gave way to Carl Pelini who in his first recruiting class brought in some talented players and took the team from one win season last season to three wins this season. Men and women's basketball teams struggled throughout the course of their seasons, and the women's team was bounced early in the NIT. The arrival of Kellie Jay Lewis brought in new life to the women's team and a new confidence. Owls baseball took the Sun Belt Conference Championship rather easily this season, but the loss in the conference tourney deny them a shot at the road to Omaha. Yet the biggest news in the past year was the arrival of Pat Chun to fill the position of Athletic Director for Florida Atlantic. He brought in a new life to the Athletic Department and began to change things from a daily blog to updating the website and getting the athletics of FAU on facebook and twitter. He has even got FAU into Conference USA.

Yet in 2013, we as fans would hopefully see more coming from the Athletic Department. A more aggressive marketing campaign for all sports, better communication between the Athletic Department, donors, and alumni. We would also like to see naming rights for our football stadium, a deal struck for renovations to the baseball stadium, and upgrading the Oxley Center and weight room. Yet 2013 is long year so we will see what happens.

Very good post! And don't forget the great job Melissa did before the Chun hiring as our interim AD!  Best wishes to all Owl fans for a GREAT 2013! And as always - GO OWLS!

GeorgiaOwl said

USMCOWL said

Taking a look back at FAU sports this year, we as fans have seen a lot. Howard Schnelleberger gave way to Carl Pelini who in his first recruiting class brought in some talented players and took the team from one win season last season to three wins this season. Men and women's basketball teams struggled throughout the course of their seasons, and the women's team was bounced early in the NIT. The arrival of Kellie Jay Lewis brought in new life to the women's team and a new confidence. Owls baseball took the Sun Belt Conference Championship rather easily this season, but the loss in the conference tourney deny them a shot at the road to Omaha. Yet the biggest news in the past year was the arrival of Pat Chun to fill the position of Athletic Director for Florida Atlantic. He brought in a new life to the Athletic Department and began to change things from a daily blog to updating the website and getting the athletics of FAU on facebook and twitter. He has even got FAU into Conference USA.

Yet in 2013, we as fans would hopefully see more coming from the Athletic Department. A more aggressive marketing campaign for all sports, better communication between the Athletic Department, donors, and alumni. We would also like to see naming rights for our football stadium, a deal struck for renovations to the baseball stadium, and upgrading the Oxley Center and weight room. Yet 2013 is long year so we will see what happens.

Very good post!

+1

To add:

New Year's Resolutions…

1. Football earn a Bowl Bid
2. MBB win the SBC Tournament

Not that all other sports are unimportant, or insignificant, but the above two command national attention.

That would help set everything else ablaze with momentum and excitement - something we have not had for a while now.

Rick said

GeorgiaOwl said

USMCOWL said

Taking a look back at FAU sports this year, we as fans have seen a lot. Howard Schnelleberger gave way to Carl Pelini who in his first recruiting class brought in some talented players and took the team from one win season last season to three wins this season. Men and women's basketball teams struggled throughout the course of their seasons, and the women's team was bounced early in the NIT. The arrival of Kellie Jay Lewis brought in new life to the women's team and a new confidence. Owls baseball took the Sun Belt Conference Championship rather easily this season, but the loss in the conference tourney deny them a shot at the road to Omaha. Yet the biggest news in the past year was the arrival of Pat Chun to fill the position of Athletic Director for Florida Atlantic. He brought in a new life to the Athletic Department and began to change things from a daily blog to updating the website and getting the athletics of FAU on facebook and twitter. He has even got FAU into Conference USA.

Yet in 2013, we as fans would hopefully see more coming from the Athletic Department. A more aggressive marketing campaign for all sports, better communication between the Athletic Department, donors, and alumni. We would also like to see naming rights for our football stadium, a deal struck for renovations to the baseball stadium, and upgrading the Oxley Center and weight room. Yet 2013 is long year so we will see what happens.

Very good post!

+1

To add:

New Year's Resolutions…

1. Football earn a Bowl Bid
2. MBB win the SBC Tournament

Not that all other sports are unimportant, or insignificant, but the above two command national attention.

That would help set everything else ablaze with momentum and excitement - something we have not had for a while now.

GREAT additions to the list Rick! And I now want to throw in that the BigEast and CUSA merge to form a very good conference with an excellent media deal as compared to the Belt OR MW!

GeorgiaOwl said

Rick said

GeorgiaOwl said

USMCOWL said

Taking a look back at FAU sports this year, we as fans have seen a lot. Howard Schnelleberger gave way to Carl Pelini who in his first recruiting class brought in some talented players and took the team from one win season last season to three wins this season. Men and women's basketball teams struggled throughout the course of their seasons, and the women's team was bounced early in the NIT. The arrival of Kellie Jay Lewis brought in new life to the women's team and a new confidence. Owls baseball took the Sun Belt Conference Championship rather easily this season, but the loss in the conference tourney deny them a shot at the road to Omaha. Yet the biggest news in the past year was the arrival of Pat Chun to fill the position of Athletic Director for Florida Atlantic. He brought in a new life to the Athletic Department and began to change things from a daily blog to updating the website and getting the athletics of FAU on facebook and twitter. He has even got FAU into Conference USA.

Yet in 2013, we as fans would hopefully see more coming from the Athletic Department. A more aggressive marketing campaign for all sports, better communication between the Athletic Department, donors, and alumni. We would also like to see naming rights for our football stadium, a deal struck for renovations to the baseball stadium, and upgrading the Oxley Center and weight room. Yet 2013 is long year so we will see what happens.

Very good post!

+1

To add:

New Year's Resolutions…

1. Football earn a Bowl Bid
2. MBB win the SBC Tournament

Not that all other sports are unimportant, or insignificant, but the above two command national attention.

That would help set everything else ablaze with momentum and excitement - something we have not had for a while now.

GREAT additions to the list Rick! And I now want to throw in that the BigEast and CUSA merge to form a very good conference with an excellent media deal as compared to the Belt OR MW!

I just highlighted the very important parts of the FAU Owls year. But you are right I should have add Ms. Dawson job as Interim AD.

USMCOWL said

Yet in 2013, we as fans would hopefully see more coming from the Athletic Department. A more aggressive marketing campaign for all sports, better communication between the Athletic Department, donors, and alumni. We would also like to see naming rights for our football stadium, a deal struck for renovations to the baseball stadium, and upgrading the Oxley Center and weight room. Yet 2013 is long year so we will see what happens.

I think you hit the nail on the head there.

We have to execute a dedicated plan that will address our facilities and attendance problems. We need benchmarks and production. We may need to bring in a new Director of Marketing because we need a strong push towards getting students involved, preferably by a Point Reward system (where they can win a significant prize like a scooter, kayak, large screen TV, etc).

To do that, we may need to reassess how Athletics is spending its money to divert more cash towards marketing and special events because, as I pointed out before, it's one of our lowest expenditures.

We may be able to renovate the baseball stadium/sell naming rights to the stadium if we consider building a double-sided billboard on campus. One side would be for our use advertising games/upcoming events while the other side could go to the company that invests in our stadium(s) so they could market to a "captive" audience.

The Presidential Debate on the stadium lawn was pretty popular - perhaps we could do a monthly Drive-in Movie type of events for people to sit out there on their blankets, and you could charge people like $3-5 to hang out and watch it. This would be especially important if you sold the naming rights to the stadium and wanted to maximize exposure to the community. It also helps to get students in the habit of coming to the stadium and forming good memories there.

I have other suggestions but since Athletics probably doesn't read these threads anyway, I'm not going to waste a bunch of time on it. I'm sure they'll have something good for us in 2013.