Miscellaneous
I am working to validate the story I posted below.
I went back and forth about publishing it without more than a source whom I cannot name. Because this is a blog, I went with it. I'm about 90 percent confident that it's true. This is mostly because there is no incentive for this source to lie. On a newspaper article, you want to be 100 percent certain that the source is correct, however.
It might take some time to find out if this story is true because the search committee is conducted behind closed doors, and the members are sworn to secrecy. I will write more when I know something.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Uh-OHHHHHHHHHH!
Know what. As I think about it, I think 6000 season tickets sold, lots of corporate sponsorships, some big ol' 30-minute specials about the Info on FSN. Maybe Hunter is the man!
Since ISP does all of the sponsorship work and the new stadium on its own should sell 10,000 season tickets given more than 7 years of hype I would say that the development of this program is far behind the curve.
I'm going to disagree completely with Zippity. 7 years of hype? Among whom? The few unvierstiy employees and avid fans who followed the earlier plans? Did 'Joe Akron' have any clue there would be a new stadium seven years ago?
No. In 2002 the landscape for learning was barely underway. Most people in the city still had the old perceptions of campus. It wasn't until about 2005 taht people could start seeng the changes. And now just four years later a stadium is up. Most students probably had no clue about the stadium until about two years ago.
Seven years? No. And given the little interest in Akron sports before this, I'd say that 6,000 season tickets is commendable.
In the end I can agree with Rob. Hunter should be given props for the great work we've seen the past couple months(the last month or so especially). He saw that the fans wanted marketing and he's really shown he can do it.
I wouldn't be disappointed if Hunter is the man. He's impressed me. If Dr. Proenza sees potential then I trust him.
Marketing has been under his supervision for multiple years with lukewarm results at best. To say he deserves the job for a months work is rediculous. He may be the best man for the job, if that's the case so be it. I don't see how he's the top man with 100 or so applicants for the position. My impressions of his effectiveness here are negative. It would be nice to work in the department to get a true impression of his abilities. In the end, the University will likely choose continuity in a close call for the AD position. I hope I'm wrong, I just can't imagine this being a close call.