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This deserves its own discussion. OK. Where to even begin? Let's start with the AK-Rowdies. The AK-Rowdies were created in 2005 to be an organized student cheering section at basketball games in imitation of Ohio University's OZone. Basketball has been their primary focus since the beginning, with a strong focus on soccer beginning when Caleb Porter sought out the groups leadership in an effort to create a unique atmosphere at his home games. Soccer student attendance was poor for quite a while despite an excellent team and the coaches actively courting students to attend with giveaways, free pizza, and typical marketing. It took years of persistence to get things going, and then momentum took over. Basketball continues to be the AK-Rowdies primary focus, though, as it is the only sporting event where they are allowed special privileges (floor seats) over other students. As far as football goes, during the end of the Rubber Bowl era, the Rowdies had nothing to do with football, but marketing towards students in general was strong with free shuttles to and from the stadium, and an open area for them to tailgate in without supervision (this is important). In 2009, the novelty of Infocision Stadium boosted attendance until the losing really set in. Then Rob Ianello happened. Not only did he kill all enthusiasm for the program in general, he had the gall to call out the Rowdies leadership for not getting enough students to the games. Couple this with the university's administrators beginning to grow dissatisfied with complaints against the Rowdies for being too Rowdy at other sporting events, and you have a difficult situation if you're trying to boost student attendance. The athletic department loves the Rowdies and wants them to grow into something bigger, but the university dislikes having to police them (sometimes literally) and some see them as an easy scapegoat when they need someone to blame for unruly students at sporting events (many of which aren't members). I can't tell you how many times I've seen police officers and university administrators go up to the Rowdies leadership to yell at them for something somebody else did or said. It happens multiple times a game at every sporting event. One other issue is that the Rowdies are what I call a "secondary" student organization. Most members are also part of something else, like greek life or some club that comes first to the students, so when marketing does greek week or a res life challenge, it only cannibalizes the impact of the Rowdies. I don't really have a point with all this. I just though it was information that seems to be left out of attendance conversations I've read where people suggest that more or better marketing toward the Rowdies would fix things. Now, on to the life of the modern student. This really does seem incomprehensible to some posters here, but the life of a university student is vastly different than it was even ten years ago. Today, student loans and a job combined are barely enough to stay out of abject poverty. Time to be entertained is a luxury, thanks to the internet. Classes now require far more time put into them outside of the classroom because professors can so easily put up course material, homework, quizzes, and tons of other stuff on Springboard (that's a web portal for your classes, old-timers). It's really at the point where time spent in the classroom listening to a lecture is a waste of time you would rather spend working on the online stuff where the meat of your education lies. Classes are more self-taught than ever before, because technology makes it possible. This is a tremendous time commitment. Students as a whole don't party like they used to in past decades, they don't even just "hang out" as much. Then factor in the need for a job (need, not luxury, unless you want to be in six-figure debt for life), access to things like Netflix which allows you to be entertained on-demand while you study, and it's no surprise that student attendance is less than it used to be across the country. The only places where it hasn't been affected are the programs where demand outweighs a limited number of student tickets. If student tix were unlimited and stadium capacities no issue, you would see the decline there as well. So, what can be done? The ultimate key is to make athletic events , whatever they may be, seen by students as the place where other students go to have fun. They want to be a part of something, they want to meet people, have fun together, and enjoy themselves. Whether it's at a restaurant, a stadium, a bar, whatever, it doesn't matter. That's the trick. But getting something like that going is a bootstrap paradox of a problem. How do you create self-sustaining momentum? Something happened at the App State game that gave me some insight into this. So, the university has set aside a portion of Lot 9 for all UA students to tailgate in. It's a fairly big space, right by the SE entrance. The Rowdies set up a tent, had a grill with hotdogs, chips, water, cornhole, giant jenga, KanJam, and music. As an official student organization, they can't have alcohol at the tailgate but students could bring their own. Now, during the home opener, there were also some other student tailgater there that set up alongside them (I forget if they were greeks or some other organization) and it was a pretty good event. At the App State game, however, no other student organization was present in the student tailgate lot, and so it looked sparse and kind of pathetic. The other groups had set up elsewhere, way out by the JAR or spread all over the place away from the stadium. Things were good when you had synergy, and things were bad when you didn't. This is entirely on the University. The Rowdies did their part. The other student organizations need to be pushed by the university to also use the lot, if the university actually wants there to be a good student experience at the game. There needs to be cooperation. The Rowdies can't do anything without the university breathing down their necks and forcing things, but these other groups can set up wherever they like and do whatever they like and nobody even gives it a second look. There's potential to have a big event, which creates the thing where students see other students together and having fun, which creates the kind of atmosphere that attracts more students. They can't rely on the AK-Rowdies alone, because at the end of the day you'll only get the small core of dedicated sports fans to show up if you're not also involving other groups. I realize that this whole thing has been very apologetic towards the Rowdies, but that's my perspective on the situation right now as someone on the outside but close enough to see what's happening. I won't deny that they could have done more in certain years. It's not all on them. I just feel that it's relevant now with Matt Newhouse coming back. Another thing I want to touch on is UA's social media marketing. It's just not good. There are too many accounts. There are accounts for every sport, plus a main one on both Facebook and Twitter. It's too confusing. Not only that, but it's a little too promotional. Everything they post sounds like a press release or a commercial. People filter that stuff out subconsciously before they even read it. Where are the pics of people tailgating or cheering at the games? No cheesy captions or comments attached, just some pictures of people having fun in Zips gear. That resonates. Where are the highlight clips posted just minutes after the big play happened? Every professional team in every sport does this, and most colleges, too. People want to share the experience they just had right now, not three hours later after the game ended and the excitement has worn off. If you look around, the most successful social media accounts are about the raw experience. Also, somebody please help get coach Bowden verified on Twitter. That little blue checkmark goes a long way. As for more traditional marketing, UA has it all wrong. Billboards don't do anything, traditional newspaper ads don't get you anywhere (but the newspaper itself might warm up to you if you give them enough money... there's a thought), TV ads don't get you anywhere with cord cutters, Internet banner ads are useless for students because nearly all millennials use ad-blocking software (and more are also using tracker-blocking software to make the ads that do get through irrelevant). So what do you do? First, you go to where they are. You make ads designed for Spotify and other streaming apps, which ad blockers can't touch. Also, you do whatever you can to get yourself mentioned in the dominant media for the region. The TV news channels and the big sports talk radio stations. Those are the only ones that matter in a lot of people's minds. Maybe less so to students as a primary source, but those places chop up their segments into clips and podcasts that can be shared on social media, and that's key. People don't watch the news live, they check the website and watch the clips. Less commercials, more convenience. This turned out to be way more rant-y and longer than I had envisioned. Still, it felt good to get it all out there. I hope we can have a good discussion about student attendance and marketing.

Thanks for this great post. I can tell that you put a lot of time and thought into it. There has been a lot of talk on this forum about the Rowdies leadership (or lack thereof). I would like to give my perspective. I am a current student who was on the Rowdies board for the past two years, including being the president for the 2015-16 school year. Looking back, there are absolutely some things that I would have done differently, but there is a serious misunderstanding of what the Rowdies are and what they are meant to be. First, the Rowdies are NOT the student marketing department for athletics. Athletics has their own employees that are paid to get students to games. The Rowdies are a group that work to make sporting events fun for its own members. Because everyone has a better time when there are a lot of people at a game, the Rowdies have volunteered to help the marketing staff when they can, but as Zach said, the Rowdies board consists of students who are not paid and are being stretched in 100 different directions on a given day. My board last year included a student in the process of applying for grad school, a student on the leadership board of his frat, a student doing her first semester of lab work, and a student who started a new student org during her first semester in college. All of these responsibilities were much higher on their list of priorities than the Rowdies and I don't blame them in the slightest. My big goal of the past year was to get other student orgs involved with the gameday experience. The biggest example of this was with our football tailgates. We wanted to have different Greek groups cosponsor the tailgates. All they had to do was get their students to come out and bring a couple 12 packs of pop. In return, the Rowdies would supply all of the food, music, and games.We had at least 1 frat and 1 sorority sign up for each tailgate, maybe 4 showed up all year. The frat that a board member belonged to was the only one to have more then 5 members come. If any of you have recommendations that the Rowdies haven't tried, I've yet to see one on this forum, please let me know. I will be happy to pass it along to this year's board. As far as I know, I'm the only former Rowdie board member around that still visits ZipsNation.

Before last night’s game, the zips were #36 in RPI and VCU was 144 Zips dropped to #49 after the tie MAC opponent West Virginia is now #9 in RPI Western Michigan improved to 8-2-0 with a 2-1 win in 2 ot’s over Drake (WMU is 75 in RPI) Penn State dropped to 4-4-1 as they lost 1-0 to Temple (PSU is 76 in RPI) Georgetown improved to 3-6-0 with a 3-1 win over American (Hoyas are 39 in RPI) SMU is now 4-6-0 after defeating Oral Roberts 3-1 (ponies are 111 in rpi) Loyola-chicago was 7-0-0 and 4th in RPI before last night…Loyola lost 3-0 last night at Creighton (blue jays are now 6-1-2 and 16 in RPI)

One caveat to my liking of your post. We're not talking about professional players here. This is an amateur, college team as opposed to a professional team. College is a place to learn and develop. That development can occur on numerous levels. Yes, VS8 has had a number of transgressions and chances, but he has done what he needed to do each time. For whatever reason, his passion for competition reared it's ugliness again. I fully understand and agree if significantly more has been asked of him before a return this time. However, just to dismiss him would be wrong. Our other players also can learn from this to step up in the face of adversity. Life doesn't always unfold in the way you would like.

I like WMU's attempt. But IMO it's gotta feel organic; can't feel contrived. Maybe we could grab onto a song by the Black Keys? Chrissie Hynde & The Pretenders' classic My City Was Gone is about Akron, but probably not a song we'd want to identify with. Lol

That was the most boring presser I think I have seen, yet, for a game week. Questions that could have been asked: How is your team responding to them being considered the front-runner to win the MAC East? What do you know about this team coming out of OOC play that you did not know going into it? Where do you want to see the team grow on Offense, Defense, and ST play through the remainder of the season? And if you want to discuss recruiting, "What does it mean to have a rivalry game this early in the season, when prospects who might be considering both schools could be in attendance?"

While the recruiting commentary was interesting, I don't see that being anywhere in my top 100 coach's questions during Akron/Kent week.

All Akron Zips have the necessary technique to pass; it is a highly developed skill. That is our #1 criterion here: Must be able to deliver and recieve passes of all sorts. We recruit this above all other soccer attributes, including athleticism. Passing inaccuracy is symptomatic of several things. 1) Lack of Concentration. Zips currently seem distracted. Perhaps they are missing their talisman, VS8. Either Victor must return, or he must be dismissed. Zips need closure. 2) Lack of Execution. Zips are thinking the game rather than feeling the game. The passing flow is unnatural and truncated. Coaches need to change up practice drilling to emphasize organic ball movement. 3) Lack of Cohesion. How many different lineups have we seen this season? I endorse utilizing our deep bench, but we are subbing way more than we have during any point since Ken Lolla was coach. How many players played vs. VCU? 4) Lack of Fitness. Zips look tired. I suggest using our deep bench on a match to match basis, using only 14-15 players per match, but rotating that 14-15. In a compressed schedule, players need rest.

I realize I was a probably a little overboard in my "Edit" comment earlier. I think some folks did talk to Victor. I hope whatever may have been said was supportive and encouraging. I probably get overly sensitive because I take the time to talk to our players whenever I can, and they all mean a lot to me. They don't always perform as I or they would like themselves to, but they're all great guys. And when it comes to the players from outside the U.S., I'm probably even more sensitive. I can't imagine how it is to adjust to another country, it's customs, culture, etc. and at the same time pursue a college degree and play a sport so far away from family.

^^ It's telling when your Defensive POTG is a S (Guizer) and the highlights all show him making plays ~10 yards downfield.

I think he's at a Star Trek convention or something. Wait...you meant Jordan George. Sorry about that...

Performance, and security upgrade this morning, all background processing should be finished at the time of this post.

These injury lists mean little. Coach Bowden does not have to officially announce anything, but Warren Ball has been on this list the last few weeks, and no longer appears. An offensive game plan that favors a few more running plays (clock running), can give our defense some extra sideline time.

If people saw him, why didn't they ask? Certainly Victor knows what his situation is. Edit: It is beyond me why people post questions and conjecture and can't have the decency to talk to someone face-to-face. The guy is 1000s of miles from his family; talking to him, asking him what's going on, and conveying support, regardless of the situation, might be of some help to him. When I talk with him, he comes across as a great, caring, young man. I hope he finds it within himself to realize he has an issue and to resolve it.

How hard can it be to follow your local sport teams? They are actually prety good too.