Z-Fund Letter

[GP1]

I just received a nice note from a Ms. Megan Gossens about some activities on the weekend of the spring game. Good stuff, but I'd like to offer a little advice.

Don't try to stuff everything into one letter. Write a series of letters and mail them out a couple of weeks apart. There is a lot of good stuff you can expand upon and make it more interesting. Letters could include:

1. Expand upon what is going on the day of the game beyond drinking and playing corn hole. I'm not interested in corn hold, but I might be interested in a putting contest or something along those line. Who we kidding? The drinking is enough for me and should be for most. Anyhow, expand a little. How about a small tour of the lockerrooms and fieldhouse for former players startnig around noon? The game starts at one o'clock so there would be time. It would give former players a chance to say hi to the current players while they get ready for the game. It's the spring game, not the BCS Championship so I don't think there would be a problem. What if a former player brings his children. Is there somewhere outside of the alumni event where they could go play on something for a while?

2. Fundraising is good. The information on the locker sponsorship is good. The Varsity A stuff is a mystery to me. I hope by now the University has absorbed the Varsity A and it isn't serving as a middle man for the scholarship programs. BTW, why isn't John Buddenberg in the Hall of Fame yet. Not enough years in the NFL. He did a lot more than almost every other football player on the list.

3. The Homecoming game is too far away to mention in this letter, even in a "save the date" manner. Mention next season after the spring game. Save the space and do a letter next August. Send letters out when events are almost completely planned so you can say what is going on that day.

4. The Z-Fund is a scholarship program. Ask for money. Where can I send a check and who should I make it out to? Can I pay on line with a credit card?

5. What summer events will there be? Last year they did a ladies day for football and breast cancer awareness. They didn't do a golf outing. They should do BOTH this year. Both are equally important. The golf outing is a fun thing for fans to do and is a relaxing event. The female audience is the fastest growing segment of the NFL. I'm sure that is the same in college football. They should continue to do things to attract female fans. I'm glad they had an event like that last year.

Not a bad letter, just a little too much information. I'm not a fan of making everything better by making it bigger and doing it once. Stay in front of donors with small, directed marketing efforts specific to concise topics. The more you contact people, the more they think of you. The more they think of you, the more likely they are to give.

Nice start Ms. Gossens. Take my advice and you will do better with your solicitations.

[Dr Z]

I talked to a former "Owens" offensive guy Monday, he will be attending the spring game, so it "worked" in that manner. It's nice to see they are reaching out to former players. Does sound like a lot of info.

PS That player asked how the golf outing was this past year. He had no idea they didn't have it. When I told him, he chuckled and said he used to love the outings.

[GP1]

I talked to a former "Owens" offensive guy Monday, he will be attending the spring game, so it "worked" in that manner. It's nice to see they are reaching out to former players. Does sound like a lot of info.

Not a knock on what they are doing this year, but Gary Bogue did a great job when he was working in Athletics dealing with former student athletes. It was never a big deal for him to organize an event because he knew what to do as he had experience doing it at other schools. Schools bigger than Akron in fact.

Again, not a slap at anyone, but I wish Gary was still around the Athletic Department for alumni relations with former student athletes. It's been around five years now since he moved to the Law School. He picked up some good momentum in a short period of time and I don't think they have anyone with the focus or drive to do what Gary did now or since. Just think of what he would have accomplished by now. He did a lot with very little support or money from UofA.

[ImAZipFan]

I got an idea, how about stepping up and offering to help the folks who are contacting the Alumni, trying to get them all together? (A.K.A, instead of "suggesting" ideas, how about helping), instead of posting these kinds of coments in a forum such as this.

Perhaps you didn't/don't know, but besides the very limited staff at the UA, whose primary purpose really is supposed to be fund raising, there is a small group of VOLUNTEERS who are doing a lot of the communcations with alumni.

I think you have some good ideas, but there also have been a lot of ideas that have already been tried, repeated, and failed. However, your letter in response to what was done has come across as very hurtful to all of their efforts and what the group of volunteers have been trying to put together.

As far as some of your suggestions:

Visiting the locker rooms before the Spring Game? It must have been a few year since you've been around the inner workings of the locker room before ANY game, spring game included. It's a working locker room! Players are getting dressed, coaches are working on getting their various players ready for the scrimmage itself, stretching, discussing various plays, etc! I'm sure you wouldn't want to take a young child into a locker room full of half naked men as they are getting ready for their game. And that's being generous. I know I wouldn't take my young daugher anywhere near the locker room when the players are getting dressed, scrimmage, practice or otherwise.

For a lot of these players, they are fighting for a starting position, or perhaps a 2nd string spot. How about we give them the opportunity to fight for that spot instead of being distracted by talking with them when they need to be concentrating on what they need to make a good impression with their coaches. How would you feel if you knew you had to make a good impression now but were constantly being baddgered to talk. There are other times for that. Not before an outting such as this. Where the impressions the players make on the day of the Scrimmage are the last images the coaches are going to remember going into the summer break?

Ms. Gossens has been doing a great job with what she's had to work with. As the word spreads, and like anything at the University, the money is available, and with people such as yourself ACTIVELY assisting these folks, then I'm sure the Spring Game/Events will continue to grow and be something we would all be proud to come back and visit. It's come a long way since the game where we had 20 whole alumni come back for the Spring Game to many times more then that now.

Welcome home Alumni! Be sure to stop in and say hello!

Best Regards,

A 26 year Zips Fan.

[GP1]

I got an idea, how about stepping up and offering to help the folks who are contacting the Alumni, trying to get them all together? (A.K.A, instead of "suggesting" ideas, how about helping), instead of posting these kinds of coments in a forum such as this.

Perhaps you didn't/don't know, but besides the very limited staff at the UA, whose primary purpose really is supposed to be fund raising, there is a small group of VOLUNTEERS who are doing a lot of the communcations with alumni.

I think you have some good ideas, but there also have been a lot of ideas that have already been tried, repeated, and failed. However, your letter in response to what was done has come across as very hurtful to all of their efforts and what the group of volunteers have been trying to put together.

As far as some of your suggestions:

Visiting the locker rooms before the Spring Game? It must have been a few year since you've been around the inner workings of the locker room before ANY game, spring game included. It's a working locker room! Players are getting dressed, coaches are working on getting their various players ready for the scrimmage itself, stretching, discussing various plays, etc! I'm sure you wouldn't want to take a young child into a locker room full of half naked men as they are getting ready for their game. And that's being generous. I know I wouldn't take my young daugher anywhere near the locker room when the players are getting dressed, scrimmage, practice or otherwise.

For a lot of these players, they are fighting for a starting position, or perhaps a 2nd string spot. How about we give them the opportunity to fight for that spot instead of being distracted by talking with them when they need to be concentrating on what they need to make a good impression with their coaches. How would you feel if you knew you had to make a good impression now but were constantly being baddgered to talk. There are other times for that. Not before an outting such as this. Where the impressions the players make on the day of the Scrimmage are the last images the coaches are going to remember going into the summer break?

Ms. Gossens has been doing a great job with what she's had to work with. As the word spreads, and like anything at the University, the money is available, and with people such as yourself ACTIVELY assisting these folks, then I'm sure the Spring Game/Events will continue to grow and be something we would all be proud to come back and visit. It's come a long way since the game where we had 20 whole alumni come back for the Spring Game to many times more then that now.

Welcome home Alumni! Be sure to stop in and say hello!

Best Regards,

A 26 year Zips Fan.

I love the idea of helping contact former players. I volunteered one time to do that. It went great. Raised quite a bit of money. I'd love it if they asked people to do it again. With that said, I am not a professional fundraiser and my effort were strong, but the results were those of a volunteer. If we want the Zips to take it to the next level, a higher level of professionalism is needed, not volunteers.

I understand how a lockerroom works. The lockerroom before the spring game is a prelude to a drunk fest that evening. The players just want it to be over. I'm not saying taking 4 year old girls into a lockerroom is necessary, but I'm sure grown men who have been in a lockerroom before understand what the visual is going to be. Having a couple of seniors come over and say hello wouldn't hurt.

I would agree Ms. Gossens did a good job. She should reach out and touch former players more often. I though my suggestions were a good way of doing that.

[InTheZone]

Apparently this guy doesn't know anything about the spring game, or the locker room.

No jobs are won or lost in the spring game. Hell the coaches don't even watch the tape of it. It's just a fun end to spring and a time when your family and the fans can come watch. There's no pressure whatsoever, and guys in the locker room before the game are thinking more about how drunk they're going to be by 7 o'clock than how well they're going to perform in the game. I wouldn't have given two craps if they'd brought some alumni in before the game when I was playing. It'd be a good time to show the guys that there are alumni supporting them and who want to still be involved in the program. There's a large gap between current player/alumni player relations at UA for whatever reason. I like all of GP's suggestions.

As for bringing kids in, yeah common sense dictates leave your daughter with her mom, but what difference would it make to bring your son in?