Thursday Bulldog Update - 4/29/10
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BANCORPSOUTH ROAD DAWGS TOUR DRAWS BIG CROWDS
The BancorpSouth Road Dawgs Tour, featuring head football coach Dan Mullen and various university and athletic department personnel, has again been playing to large crowds this spring. The Tour, which began this past Monday morning, concludes tomorrow with a luncheon engagement in McComb.
At nearly every stop, record attendance numbers have been attained and the good word of Mississippi State University and Bulldog athletics has been spoken.
Click here to see images at some of the stops along the way and visit here to read individual blog entries from the caravan.
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FOOTBALL TICKET PRIORITY DEADLINE TWO WEEKS AWAY
As we mentioned in this column last week, the deadline for exercising your Bulldog Club priority in the purchase of 2010 football season tickets is May 14, now just two weeks away. We encourage you to send your orders to the ticket office at your earliest convenience.
Now, this does not mean that you can't order season tickets - even if you are a Bulldog Club member - after that date. Following the May 14 deadline, we will process all of the season ticket orders we have on hand and seat the individuals who have responded. After those orders have been filled, Bulldog Club members may still utilize their donor priority and exercise their membership privileges in seat location, but only if seating inventory remains in that priority area.
Click here to order season tickets.
Our weekly season ticket report from the Bryan Building ticket office continues to give us good news. We are nearly 1,000 season tickets ahead of where we were at the same time a year ago, representing about a 7.5 percent increase over last year.
We feel like this is a good sign, as we have just now begun some of the early promotion centered on football season ticket sales. We also believe that there will be growth in the general public season ticket sales as we move closer to the season, simply due to the excitement generated last year by our team and by the atmosphere we were able to create in Davis Wade Stadium.
We finished last year with a school-record 40,901 football season tickets sold, thanks to you.
Further complicating that issue - in a very good way - is the university is expecting another increase in enrollment again this fall. As you may know, we sold every available student season ticket a year ago, and an increase in enrollment puts even more pressure on our ticket supply. It is something we will need to work through moving forward, and it's a good problem to have.
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BUCKLEY NAMED NEW CAMPUS FCA DIRECTOR
A familiar name is returning to Mississippi State University and the Starkville community. Bill Buckley has been named the new Campus Director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, effective immediately.
As most of you know, Bill was a former all-Southeastern Conference wide receiver for the Bulldogs in the early 1970s. He is a Starkville native, and has been working in a similar FCA capacity at Mississippi College. Bill replaces Josh Gilreath, who resigned earlier this year.
Bill will work both on and off the campus until he is able to relocate his family back to Starkville. I hope you will welcome Bill and his wife Mary upon their return.
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ATHLETICS AGAIN OFFERS A BROAD CAMP SCHEDULE
Once again this summer, we will offer a broad-based camp schedule for youth of all ages. Our camps offer a great opportunity for youngsters to have some fun and learn more about their sport of interest from our coaching staff and other quality coaches and instructors. Please visit mstateathletics.com/camps for more information.
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WE HOPE YOU ENJOY THESE AS MUCH AS WE DO!
We recently received this email from a Bulldog fan who had returned for Super Bulldog Weekend:
"...We certainly enjoyed Super Bulldog Weekend and getting to see a glimpse of the exciting football season we have ahead, not to mention taking two baseball games from Tennessee.
That brings me to the reason for this email. My husband left his new cell phone on the bleachers at the stadium following the maroon and white game. After the game, we visited with several of the players and had gotten close to our hotel in Philadelphia when Mark (my husband) discovered his phone missing. We turned around and went back hoping the stadium was still open but of course it was locked. About eleven o'clock the following morning, I had a call on my cell phone with a very polite young man saying he had found a phone and wanted to find its owner. When we arrived in Starkville, I called him and he met us to return the phone. This young man turned out to be Michael Bufkin (an offensive lineman on the football team).
Since the White Team lost the spring game, it was their responsibility to clean the stadium on the following Sunday morning. Michael was on the White team. He was an exceptionally polite young man.
I was so impressed that he took the time and effort to try and locate the owner and return the phone. This speaks volumes to me about him and the kind of people we have representing Mississippi State. Of course, nothing would make me happier than our Dawgs to excel in every sport but I am happier to know that our great university has young people, like Michael, setting examples in life that will make a difference.
Edna Waller"
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"SPREAD THE FUN" AMONG NATION'S TOP 3 CAMPAIGNS
We have been notified by the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators that our football season ticket sales campaign last spring and summer - Spread The Fun - has been selected as a top three finalist to receive a 2009-10 NACMA "Best Of" Award in the Season Ticket Sales Campaign category.
The selection as a finalist in that category analyzes the concept of the campaign, the content of the campaign, and the measurable results of the campaign. Our multi-media campaign, which promoted that slogan throughout all audio, video and print advertising and publicity, helped us sell a school-record of nearly 41,000 football season tickets.
The award winner will be publicly recognized on Wednesday, June 23, during the annual NACMA Convention at the Marriott Hotel in Anaheim, Cal.
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12 CURRENT STAFFERS RECEIVE MSU SERVICE AWARDS
We wanted to publicly congratulate 12 current athletic department staffers who recently were notified by the university of reaching varying service award levels, ranging from five years to 35 years with the school.
Assistant coaches Marcus Grant (men's basketball), Houston Franks (track and field), and Andy Manners (women's soccer), as well as Joe Galbraith (media relations contact for football) all received five-year pins from MSU.
Steve Corhern reached 10 years of service to the department, working in the athletic business office.
Sharon Fanning celebrated her 15th year of service to the university by taking the women's basketball team to the Sweet 16, that program's most successful season in school history.
Rick Stansbury earned recognition for his 20th year with the institution and led the men's basketball team to another SEC Western Division title. His office assistant, Suzanne Cook, also earned her 20-year pin.
Mike Nemeth, who oversees the media relations and marketing offices, serves as the liaison to Learfield Sports, and works closely with the baseball program, has now been with the athletic program 25 years.
Administrative assistant Tammy Cummings (athletic training) and operations coordinator Duffy Neubauer (multipurpose building) each earned designation for 30 years of devotion to MSU.
Last, but certainly not least, Straton Karatassos has now been with the university for 35 years. Strat has served in various capacities within the athletic department through the years, but most recently has worked in our Bulldog Club.
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MISSISSIPPI STATE HOME SPORTS SCHEDULE THIS WEEK
Friday - Baseball vs. Ole Miss, 7 p.m.
Saturday - Softball vs. Florida (DH), 1 p.m.; Baseball vs. Ole Miss, 6:30 p.m.
Sunday - Softball vs. Florida, 12 p.m.; Baseball vs. Ole Miss, 1:30 p.m.
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TOMORROW IS MAROON FRIDAY...
Are you in the maroon!
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We appreciate what you do for Mississippi State Athletics and want to encourage you to get others involved. There are three things you can do to help the athletic department at Mississippi State reach its desired goals -
1. Buy Season Tickets
2. Financially Support the Bulldog Club
3. Get Others To Do The Same
Thanks for taking the time to read this Update.
Go Dawgs!