AD for a Day

You ain't got to lie, Craig.

Step aside, Craig Littlepage.  I'm taking one day at the helm of the University of Virginia's athletic department.

Trying to be at least somewhat realistic, and doing my best to avoid the pie-in-the-sky stuff, here is my to-do list for my reign of terror as UVA's athletic director:

• Apologize to season ticket holders and all fans alike for the football re-seating fiasco of 2007.  It was a bad move with horrible timing (with the football team slowly being squeezed and fan enthusiasm crushed by the Al Groh iron fist), and the fans should know about the athletic department's regret and remorse.  Even it's just a simple "hey, we fucked up" letter... something... anything should be done to acknowledge the horrific blunder and attempt to earn back some of the lost good will.
• Lower ticket prices.  Simple enough, right?  I think the $99 season ticket for football (now available to ALL fans, not just faculty/staff) is a GREAT start.  Those $10 basketball tickets from two years ago were along the right track, too.  But across the board, ticket prices need to come down!  $405 for season tickets for basketball is way too high.  Carve out a $150-$175 option.  And no more $35+ single game tickets.  I don't care if it's a game against Duke in basketball or against Florida State in football.  If you want rowdy fans at big games, let them through the gate for twenty bucks.  And for the "crappy" games -- i.e. William & Mary or Idaho in football or Norfolk State or Radford in basketball -- find a $8 or $10 price point.  Get the fans in the stands!  This also extends to the escalating ticket prices for the non-revenue sports.  $8 for a baseball game is probably too much.  Make it a square $5 and let's add more outfield bleachers to Davenport and forge a real home field advantage.  Same thing for women's basketball.  Five bucks.  Let's see if we can fill enough seats in the cavernous JPJ to be able to raise the blue curtain and create an atmosphere for the ladies.  $7 for a lacrosse game?  That's just nuts.  Try three bucks, and let's pack Klockner to the gills.  Et cetera.  Lower ticket prices, attract more fans, make it cheap for them to bring thier kids, cultivate NEW fans, build a rockin' fan base, create an intimidating home field/court advantage.  And hey, if you need to make up for the lost revenues, jack up the concessions prices.
• Increase the amounts of GA seating at football and basketball games.  Maybe the answer is to set certain "low expected attendance" games as general admission games.  Screw the donors and season ticket holders -- get the rowdiest fans in the door and put them closest to the court/field.  I bet we wouldn't have lost to Seattle U this season if the team had some jacked up fans circling the court, spurring them on.  One of the best atmospheres I've experienced at John Paul Jones Arena was for the 2008 CBI game against Bradley.  No exactly a marquee tournament, not a marquee opponent, but it was a marquee crowd.  Why?  General admission.  Why not set one of the seven football home games and three or four of the 17 home basketball games as GA?
• Raise the money to build a practice bubble for football.  And include all of the bells and whistles.  It's the missing piece to the puzzle, and would give Mike London even more traction on the recruiting trail.  I understand this project is already in the works, but it should be accelerated from its current glacial pace.
• Talk to President Sullivan about creating an academic track for athletes.  Nothing over the top like the basket weaving or apparel management classes you'll find at football factories like Ohio State or Virginia Tech, but something that can attract those recruits who don't want to have to constantly worry about their academic standing while in college.  Yes, I know this is compromising some of Virginia's academic pride and prestige... but it's also something that must happen if we ever want to have a nationally relevant football program.  UVA will never grant academic leniency to its student-athletes, so it needs to carve out an academic track that is attractive to recruits who truly want to focus on football while they are in school.  I personally think the juice is worth the squeeze on this.  Academia disagrees, but when have they ever been right?
• Pay Brian O'Connor!  Seriously.  Hand the man a blank check.  Do whatever it takes to keep him in that Virginia dugout for the next 30 years.
• Hire a marketing firm.  The sports promotion division does an okay job, I guess.  But the University of Virginia needs more.  Specifically, we need a professional company to assist us with establishing a brand and developing a brand identity.  Pull out all the stops -- explore new forms of media, unveil alternate logos, develop mutually beneficial relationships with sports apparel companies, etc.  Put the crossed sabres in the public eye, and make it mean something.  Let the experts find a way to make Virginia seem cool to the kids.
• Axe The Adventures of Cavman.  It was kinda awesome when it first started and it plays okay when you're drunk, but now it's just a silly cartoon of crappy quality.  It's corny.  The kids don't like it.  It's embarassing.  Replace it with something edgy, showy, sexy, and rock n' roll.  (I hate to admit this, but I am highly jealous of Virginia Tech's Enter Sandman.  We need something like that.  How about Tool's Forty Six & 2?  Tell me that wouldn't be a completely badass entrance song.)
• WHOO Wahoo Radio.  Okay, okay, kinda pie-in-the-sky here... but I think UVA athletics deserves a true flagship radio empire.  24/7 Virginia sports programming on your AM dial.  Coaches shows, call-in shows, play by play for every sport you can cram in, so on and so forth.  Is it legal for the UVA athletic department to subsidize something like this?  Not sure, but I'd explore the concept.
• Get the ball rolling on booting Boston College from the ACC.  Look, I understand why the conference picked BC.  They thought the move would deliver some of the lucrative Boston media market.  Newsflash: Bostonians care about the Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics.  They don't give a crap about Boston Freaking College.  The school is not a geographic fit with the ACC, and to me its inclusion sticks out like sore thumb.  The ACC should boot BC, and pursue one of these schools as the replacement: Pitt, USF, Louisville, UCF, or ECU.
• Find a way to bring Minor League Baseball to Davenport Field.  I've heard rumors that this very idea is currently floating around.  Davenport is big enough, with the capacity for a few more sets of outfield bleachers being added at minimal cost.  Why can't a low single A or rookie league team draw crowds in Charlottesville?  I can tell you that this town is a baseball town, based on what I've seen at UVA baseball games.  If Bristol, Danville, and Pulaski can support Appalachian League (advanced rookie) teams, why can't CVille?  I think you have to do everything you can to make Charlottesville more and more of a sports town.  Sometimes that process is as simple as making more sports available, cheap, fun, and accessible.  To me, there's not much better than minor league baseball on a lazy summer day.
• Figure out why our students are such shitty sports fans, and FIX THE FREAKING PROBLEM!  Seriously.  I'm not sure what the answer is.  Probably more winning in general.  But our students need to fill the student section for football and basketball, and they need to be LOUD.  Currently, I find our student sections to be completely embarrassing.  Dorky, quiet, moody, lazy, flaccid, stale, limp, and cheesy..... and worst of all, not there.  Find a way, any way, to get their asses in the stands.  Maybe give a credit hour for every ten sporting events they attend.  I don't know.  Do something!
• Embrace tailgating.  A topic near and dear to my heart.  Tailgating happens at UVA, but you never get the sense that it's anything more than simply tolerated.  I think the athletic department should embrace the act of tailgating, and really work to roll out the red carpet.  How?  A few key ideas to get the ball rolling: 1) Establish a shuttle bus service from U-Hall, the JPJ, and the Emmet/Ivy Garage.  Let the people get soused without forcing them on a mile-long hike to sober up before they get to the game.  Let 'em ride dirty and arrive surly.  2) Sell stuff in the lots.  Plop a few Bookstore vending tents in each of the bigger lots.  3) Swag.  I like the cheerleader carts with the tee-shirt cannons that visit Fontaine on game days.  That's a good start.  Now multiply that effort times ten.  4) Release a public statement that you accept, encourage, and embrace tailgating.  Celebrate your fans and their tailgating efforts.  5) Allow re-entry into the stadium at halftime.  That's a controversial one, but I think it's probably a pretty important one.
• Punish season ticket holders that give/sell tickets to Hokies.  This is pretty self-explanatory.  If a Hokie sits in your seat, you are blacklisted from ever buying a ticket again.

That's a lot for one day, I'll admit it.  But I'm pretty enthusiastic about the job.  Give me a pot of coffee, some granola bars, and a few Mountain Dews, and I promise you I'll accomplish a lot of shit in my 24 hours as the AD.