Branding/Marketing your program

Scratchtown

Scratchtown

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I'm sure this will generate lots of discussion.

At what point do national championships become irrelevant to the brand of a program? Meaning, how much time has to pass before it doesn't have any more merit on program "prestige"? Is it eternal?

I think the best example is Minnesota. They have 7 national championships. No one says that Minnesota's program is better than Nebraska's.

I consider Oregon to be a top 5-10 college football destination, but is that the same as it's program as a whole with ALL history included? I don't necessarily think so.

With all things considered. Discuss away.

 
I think there's two key factors and they are 1) Is your program national championship caliber/quality, or did you just luck into it and 2) How long ago?

Minnesota's only post-World War II national championship is a pretty weak claim, going 8-2 and losing the Rose Bowl. Most people living have no personal interaction with Minnesota championship football.

Colorado is another example. They won more recently, in 1990, but their answer to the first question is no, their program isn't that quality. It was pretty good for a season, but it wasn't able to be sustained, and they don't have the fanbase, the resources, the facilities, the commitment, or the results to be anywhere close to that relevant pedigree.

3 of our championships are still fairly recent, but regardless of the time that has passed, we put forth a top 5-10 commitment towards our program, and we have for the last 50+ years without any gaps.

 
Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
I think there's two key factors and they are 1) Is your program national championship caliber/quality, or did you just luck into it and 2) How long ago?

Minnesota's only post-World War II national championship is a pretty weak claim, going 8-2 and losing the Rose Bowl. Most people living have no personal interaction with Minnesota championship football.

Colorado is another example. They won more recently, in 1990, but their answer to the first question is no, their program isn't that quality. It was pretty good for a season, but it wasn't able to be sustained, and they don't have the fanbase, the resources, the facilities, the commitment, or the results to be anywhere close to that relevant pedigree.

3 of our championships are still fairly recent, but regardless of the time that has passed, we put forth a top 5-10 commitment towards our program, and we have for the last 50+ years without any gaps.
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Colorado is not a great example. They were pretty relevant on the national stage for about 10-12 years. Colorado was a top 10 program from about 1988 to about 2001. So even though they only won 1 championship they were in the conversation fairly consistently for about a decade.

BYU in 1984, Clemson in 1981, Georgia Tech in 1990 or Pitt in 1976 are better examples of a team lucking into something. Even Pitt is a little suspect as they were a pretty relevant team throughout the 1970's and up through Dan Marino's senior year in 1982.

IMO it is pretty cyclical anymore, it is mostly about having the right coach that can pull in recruits that can then coach those players up to an elite level. Alabama, USC, OSU, Texas, ND etc have always recruited well but that doesn't mean they have always been relevant. Look how fast USC came up and went down again. Many "experts" are putting them in the final 4 next year. I don't see it, I don't think Sarkesian is that great a coach. When Sabin retires I doubt that Alabama just misses a beat. Look at the difference Meyer made at OSU vs Luke Fickle.

 
LumberJackSker said:
If the kids you are recruiting weren't alive during your last title win then its hard to be relative unfortunately
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Yeah, this is pretty true. We've at least been playing in conference championships recently so we're not clear off the map but I don't think the National Championships hold a lot of relevance to recruits other than having the trophies in the case if they visit.

It was noted last week that the kid from Beatrice that we offered for the Class of 2018 was barely even alive the last time we won a conference championship. He was just a couple months old at the time.

 
Mavric said:
LumberJackSker said:
If the kids you are recruiting weren't alive during your last title win then its hard to be relative unfortunately
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Yeah, this is pretty true. We've at least been playing in conference championships recently so we're not clear off the map but I don't think the National Championships hold a lot of relevance to recruits other than having the trophies in the case if they visit.

It was noted last week that the kid from Beatrice that we offered for the Class of 2018 was barely even alive the last time we won a conference championship. He was just a couple months old at the time.
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I would say at least being in the discussion for national titles or being in the top ten regularly is pretty important to recruits things like location and recent success are probably top priorities for most
 
Just like any sport, what have you done for me lately.

I love our past, just like the rest of us, but it means nothing to a kid that has no interest in it or roots to Nebraska..

In honesty we as a fan base have to quit living in the past, that is what this is about. Thinking that 3 MNC in the late 90's mean a thing to the kids of today. Different strategy, different era, nothing like what they play now.

You have to find that certain kid, family played at Nebraska, parents or grand parents were big fans.

We have to sell the program, the support, the love of the fan base and the facilities. The true caring of the coaching staff and the educational assistance they will receive. Sell mom on how good everything is, you have a great chance of getting the recruit. Trust me no one cares about what Nebraska did nearly 20 years ago.

I think Nebraska gets more respect now for its fans than its football team. We have stuck it out, still fill the stadium. Have not had a real National power team since 2009.

 
LumberJackSker said:
If the kids you are recruiting weren't alive during your last title win then its hard to be relative unfortunately
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I'd go even further, and say that if the kid wasn't at least in junior high for a team's last national championship, it means little. Kids want to go to the "hot" teams, which can have several different meanings. One is recent championships - meaning championships that occurred recently enough that the kid would have been interested in football and aware of it.
 
I actually don't think branding is that related to national championship wins. But branding is important.

I couldn't really tell you off the top of my head all the teams that won national championships in the last ten, fifteen, twenty years -- at least I'd have to think about it. I don't have to think at all about which are the top programs in the game. And that includes programs that have had relatively down years recently. Championships help, but Oregon has never won one, right? For example.

 
Marketing/Branding is much more about perception than anything else. We may not be nearly as dominant on the field as we use to be, but besides Alabama, maybe Ohio State, no one is where they once where. The college landscape and always has been pretty fluid. However, we are still in the conversation, and you should really ask yourself...Why?

My two cents.

  1. We are an anomaly, with no real resource for recruits we have a winning tradition.
  2. That winning tradition has always made the Huskers a team you have to beat to win the conference/division. Even in our down years I can only remember a few years where this was not true.
  3. Nebraska is hardly ever an easy win.
  4. We consistently have stadium that is packed.
  5. Expectations are always high.
  6. A season is not measured by just wins and losses, but how we win and absolutely how we lose.
  7. The sheer amount of support we provide to the school as a fan base drives the whole train. We show up in force around the country, we dominate in fan polls, and we generally can hold our own in a college football conversation without sounding like homers.
Add all of that together and perception of the team will always be high, but honestly, you remove the support of the fans and it all goes away.

 
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