Student Appreciation for Home Openers: Success or Failure?

If you were to Google search Truman State, it would return headlines like, “Ranked No. #5 in Regional Universities Midwest,” from the U.S. News and World Report or “Truman State is the #1 Public University in the Midwest,” according to Niche.com. And if you kept scrolling, you would probably find more of the same, until eventually, much further down the page, you’d hit a link for Truman State Athletics.

 Truman athletics has an exposure and engagement issue that’s not just online; it’s everywhere. Truman students care so deeply about their academics that they often forget we have athletic events happening on campus nearly every week, and most community members probably cannot remember the last time they went to a Bulldog sporting event. 

New Athletic Director Signe Coombs is on a mission to change that. Starting with a wave of sweeping student, youth and community engagement initiatives beginning this semester. 

I spoke with Coombs this past week about what her ideal vision and scope for the initiatives this semester are, starting with the student and community appreciation tailgate that was held prior to the first home football game, Sept. 13.

Coombs said her goal with all of these initiatives, “is really to bring Bulldog nation together,” and that the Athletic Department had an “opportunity to connect with our campus, with our community … and to elevate the fan experience.”

Coombs said the festivities included free admission for kids, yard games on stadium drive, a meet the Bulldogs tent where student athletes will be signing photos, and free food.  

In the press release by the Athletic Department regarding the tailgate, it was mentioned that ten free spots would be available to student organizations by reservation.

 I spoke with Sigma Alpha Gamma’s President, Chloe Hughley, about the invite, and she seemed a bit skeptical about how the Athletic Department reached out. Saying that she was “a bit confused,” and that the email was generic and kind of vague. But the personal email convinced her to go to the game this time, and she was excited because this was the first time in her four years at Truman that the Athletic Department was “having an event to try and get people to come to the games.”

Beta Theta Pi’s Vice President of Brotherhood Harry Weindel, Beta Theta Pi’s Vice President of Brotherhood, echoed Hughley’s about optimism saying that he thought the “community aspect, [of a tailgate] is like a chain reaction, you get some people there, they get their friends, and they get their friends, and next thing you know people are there because that’s what they do on Saturday – they go to the football game.”

But Cannon also hopes that the exposure from other events his team has participated in, like handing out cowbells by the Student Union Building and freshman move-in day, will push students to consider attending more events, even if it’s not women’s soccer. He asks Truman students to “at least give it a chance, try a couple different sports … because you might find one you really like.”

Students will get a few great chances to try out Truman’s fall sport lineup this week. Starting Sept. 21, the soccer programs will host their version of Student and Youth Appreciation Day, followed by tennis and volleyball later in the week. 

AD Coomb’s new student and community engagement initiatives seem to be leaving a positive buzz around Truman Athletics, but will they lead to any real change? For that, we will have to wait and see.