Recruiting Football Talk VII

[csprig9]

They don’t advertise it well. And to be honest, our admin would prefer donations directly to the school and season ticket purchases. Plus, they have added many projects to the school such as the baseball stadium. Neyland renovations, etc. that need to be funded. NIL is important, but Danny and others need some big checks.

Hopefully they start to advertise and get the word out better.

Yep
It’s ran poorly
Need way more advertisement and vision

 

[BigOrange15]

Yep
It’s ran poorly
Need way more advertisement and vision

It seems to be run pretty well as far as getting the actual $ to the current and incoming players. Lots of players seem happy with what they get and none have beef about us not paying up. It's dropping bags and definitely the lack of marketing that I take serious issue with.

 

[BigSteve09]

Yep
It’s ran poorly
Need way more advertisement and vision

The collective itself is top-notch. Spyre has been collectively praised and admired across all of college football. Everyone agrees that they set it up correctly and that it is run well.

Hard to know what the bottlenecks are, in terms of membership and growth. It's probably a mix of several of the guesses that posters have mentioned here.

 

[Jackcrevol]

It seems to be run pretty well as far as getting the actual $ to the current and incoming players. Lots of players seem happy with what they get and none have beef about us not paying up. It's dropping bags and definitely the lack of marketing that I take serious issue with.

Saying its run poorly, is lazy take. None of us know, again, lack of any transparency stymies the folks who may donate. Truly, the middle to upper donors have never heard of Spyre, and I agree. The status quo is killing us on the trail. Theyve got to figure out how to get some wins, not having any top tier DL, LB, CB recruits in this or last years class - along with numbers is going to hurt.

 

[Jackcrevol]

The collective itself is top-notch. Spyre has been collectively praised and admired across all of college football. Everyone agrees that they set it up correctly and that it is run well.

Hard to know what the bottlenecks are, in terms of membership and growth. It's probably a mix of several of the guesses that posters have mentioned here.

this

 

[SSVol]

And I believe the Volunteer Club is a pretty small part of the money. It arguably could be significantly more than it is, but I suspect the bulk will always be big fish.

 

[csprig9]

The collective itself is top-notch. Spyre has been collectively praised and admired across all of college football. Everyone agrees that they set it up correctly and that it is run well.

Hard to know what the bottlenecks are, in terms of membership and growth. It's probably a mix of several of the guesses that posters have mentioned here.

It needs to be ran by someone like Danny white
Instead it’s being ran by someone with vision and enthusiasm like Dooley
Other collectives took its platform and expanded while Spyre stayed stuck in the mud
Needs way more aggressive leadership

 

[BigSteve09]

And I believe the Volunteer Club is a pretty small part of the money. It arguably could be significantly more than it is, but I suspect the bulk will always be big fish.

It is. Like I said earlier, I think with above-average involvement, this fanbase could produce $1M-$2M/year through the Vol Club. Hopefully more.

 

[Orange_Crush]

It needs to be ran by someone like Danny white
Instead it’s being ran by someone with vision and enthusiasm like Dooley
Other collectives took its platform and expanded while Spyre stayed stuck in the mud
Needs way more aggressive leadership

Needs a fanbase willing to support it. Maybe they can do better advertising. But the sample we see at VN is people getting defensive when supporting it is mentioned. What we see in our sample is people making up stupid rumors on Twitter that Spyre is stealing the money, and then VN running with it for a week until 1/4 of the membership drops.

All the advertising dollars in the world are wasted $$$ if the target audience is just looking for reasons to not support it.

 

[csprig9]

Flash donation events at every home game for all sports during halftime, Louisville does this and makes 25-35k at the games I’ve been to
Billboards
Radio
Big tailgate parties with charged admission
Etc

 

[BigSteve09]

It needs to be ran by someone like Danny white
Instead it’s being ran by someone with vision and enthusiasm like Dooley
Other collectives took its platform and expanded while Spyre stayed stuck in the mud
Needs way more aggressive leadership

I don't know about all of that. They built it right. The second NIL was announced, Spyre was out there telling everyone that they've got it set up, and set up correctly. I remember Swain interviewed them immediately and they laid out their whole plan. Other groups studied what they did, lawyers evaluated Spyre, and they did set up everything right.

We talked about it on this site. They talk about it on VQ. They talk about it on 247. Swain talks about it. The other Tennessee Radio people talk about it. They advertise at all of the games. It gets talked about a lot on Twitter and FB.

I know that there is some overlap between all of those, but I don't think it's wrong to say that 50,000-100,000 of our fans have been exposed to Spyre and the Vol Club. Like @BigOrangeTrain said -- it's kind of ridiculous to think that only ~4,000 Vols fans have heard of or embrace the Vol Club.

I don't think the problem is the collective. I can get behind some of the fans questioning their marketing methodology. I can understand why they marketed it the way that they did, because I also would have assumed "Hey, we have a very dedicated and highly involved fanbase. All we have to do is build this collective the right way and get the word out there, and they'll sign up. Then they'll tell friends. We'll get some big fish in the boat (which they did with Nico) and that will drive engagement as well." I don't think it was fool-proof, but I do think it should have worked to gain more members than they have. Now that they see that hasn't run the numbers up, I think they'll change some things up.

 

[Glitch]

It is so nice when the Legion of the Mehsrible takes over the football talk thread and spreads a thick layer of meh for everyone to have to wade through in the morning. Thanks @VolsDoc81TX and a couple others for offsetting them even a little.

 

[csprig9]

I don't know about all of that. They built it right. The second NIL was announced, Spyre was out there telling everyone that they've got it set up, and set up correctly. I remember Swain interviewed them immediately and they laid out their whole plan. Other groups studied what they did, lawyers evaluated Spyre, and they did set up everything right.

We talked about it on this site. They talk about it on VQ. They talk about it on 247. Swain talks about it. The other Tennessee Radio people talk about it. They advertise at all of the games. It gets talked about a lot on Twitter and FB.

I know that there is some overlap between all of those, but I don't think it's wrong to say that 50,000-100,000 of our fans have been exposed to Spyre and the Vol Club. Like @BigOrangeTrain said -- it's kind of ridiculous to think that only ~4,000 Vols fans have heard of or embrace the Vol Club.

I don't think the problem is the collective. I can get behind some of the fans questioning their marketing methodology. I can understand why they marketed it the way that they did, because I also would have assumed "Hey, we have a very dedicated and highly involved fanbase. All we have to do is build this collective the right way and get the word out there, and they'll sign up. Then they'll tell friends. We'll get some big fish in the boat (which they did with Nico) and that will drive engagement as well." I don't think it was fool-proof, but I do think it should have worked to gain more members than they have. Now that they see that hasn't run the numbers up, I think they'll change some things up.

They started it for all but haven’t adapted is what I was meaning

Also same ole thing is still true
Winning matters a lot more then people give it credit for
We haven’t been good or coolin any of these HS kids life except a few times
That’s a big deal

Tennessee can win big and will win big again
History shows that
We’re damn near top 10 in every category

 

[BigSteve09]

Flash donation events at every home game for all sports during halftime, Louisville does this and makes 25-35k at the games I’ve been to
Billboards
Radio
Big tailgate parties with charged admission
Etc

They definitely do the last 3 of those.

They could do the first one. I think there's an art to it.

I think it's obvious that the fans are not going to go TO the Vol Club. They have to get out and go to the fans. They got the word out, they do host the tailgates. I think the early adopters have shown up, but the vast majority of fans want to be told WHY they need to sign up, and be made to feel like they matter and they are needed.

Really, they probably need to go grassroots and have hot co-eds perusing the tailgates individually, asking the fans if they support Vol Club and making it very easy to sign up on the spot. They need the fan version of the Orange Pride that they deploy on gamedays that are just relentless.

The players that are sponsored probably need to have some signage or Vol Club swag on the Vol Walk.

 

[Glitch]

Needs a fanbase willing to support it. Maybe they can do better advertising. But the sample we see at VN is people getting defensive when supporting it is mentioned. What we see in our sample is people making up stupid rumors on Twitter that Spyre is stealing the money, and then VN running with it for a week until 1/4 of the membership drops.

All the advertising dollars in the world are wasted $$$ if the target audience is just looking for reasons to not support it.

Most of the average fans are supporting the Vol Club at around $25 per month. Maybe up to $100 per month. Do we want Spyre to take time to send nearly 4000 monthly donors a dollar by dollar breakdown of what our drop in the bucket donations are being spent on? If folks are that concerned that they need an itemized invoice for their $25 then maybe they need to hold on to their $25.

 

[mr.checkerboards]

Who this?

 

[Vols4us]

I agree, Spyre needs more promotion, to be more visible. But that is all. From what I can tell they are providing and spending well.

My membership can be an example. I did the $25/month to start to see how it would go. In that period I have also purchased 4 items. One was clothing related, three were autographed items - an HH print, a Voltello baseball, and a Nico mini-helmet. The clothing is mine, the autographed items are for the grandsons when they mature and move on with their lives. Until that happens they will be kept in the man cave where everybody comes for the televised games they do not attend. That was another $550-600 spent counting taxes. That will continue over the years.

If 10 K or more fans out of our crazy fanbase did likewise...you can do the math. You just do what you can afford and stop making excuses. Set your priorities and don't look back. It's like giving to church or paying your taxes. It seems to me all three of those actions - church, taxes and the Vols are the right priorities for the majority of us morans. Now if we can find ways to lower the taxes, we can give more to the church and Vols. Right?

 

[Adam Sandler]

They definitely do the last 3 of those.

They could do the first one. I think there's an art to it.

I think it's obvious that the fans are not going to go TO the Vol Club. They have to get out and go to the fans. They got the word out, they do host the tailgates. I think the early adopters have shown up, but the vast majority of fans want to be told WHY they need to sign up, and be made to feel like they matter and they are needed.

Really, they probably need to go grassroots and have hot co-eds perusing the tailgates individually, asking the fans if they support Vol Club and making it very easy to sign up on the spot. They need the fan version of the Orange Pride that they deploy on gamedays that are just relentless.

The players that are sponsored probably need to have some signage or Vol Club swag on the Vol Walk.

Now we’re talkin

 

[Jimmy Football]

Who this?

PWO

 

[Glitch]

This is one of the worst times of year in the RF. The RF regulars complaining because we didn't get this recruit or that transfer is bad enough. However, the influx of every random thought about recruiting in the FF that becomes a thread gets merge over here and we have to wade through the slop for like 3 months until they get back to generally hating life in a less recruiting related manner. Come on February!

 

[BigSteve09]

Most of the average fans are supporting the Vol Club at around $25 per month. Maybe up to $100 per month. Do we want Spyre to take time to send nearly 4000 monthly donors a dollar by dollar breakdown of what our drop in the bucket donations are being spent on? If folks are that concerned that they need an itemized invoice for their $25 then maybe they need to hold on to their $25.

I think this whole exercise has demonstrated that our fanbase collectively has a giant ego.

That tracks, given the attitude we see demonstrated by our fans a lot in social media.

However, our fanbase has also demonstrated that they have a great heart. How many times has our fanbase raised a ton of money or come out in droves to support something that they care about?

I think the issue here is that a vast majority of fans don't understand why they need to contribute to Vol Club. If they do understand, they haven't been made to feel important enough to join yet. Their hearts definitely are not in it. There are many reasons for this, I'm certainly not questioning the validity of fans opinions and why they feel the way that they do.

Like I said earlier, if we come out 4-0 or 5-0 and Nico lights it up, his patented pajama pants will sell like hot cakes. Maybe that will get the word out there more.

 

[knoxvol52]

This is one of the worst times of year in the RF. The RF regulars complaining because we didn't get this recruit or that transfer is bad enough. However, the influx of every random thought about recruiting in the FF that becomes a thread gets merge over here and we have to wade through the slop for like 3 months until they get back to generally hating life in a less recruiting related manner. Come on February!

This I agree with 1000%....

 

[DD4ME]

The collective itself is top-notch. Spyre has been collectively praised and admired across all of college football. Everyone agrees that they set it up correctly and that it is run well.

Hard to know what the bottlenecks are, in terms of membership and growth. It's probably a mix of several of the guesses that posters have mentioned here.

I think it comes down to being blunt on Twitter. Too classy for Spyre which I respect, but VN needs a swift kick sometimes.

Tell em we are loading for Bear and needs some ammo. You'd have to follow with recruits signing so people feel directly responsible imo.

Hell could you imagine the response if they had Dolly making the pitch?

Especually if you made an appeal to the wives who often control spending like that. Call it Dolly's Donors or something.

 

[Orange_Crush]

Most of the average fans are supporting the Vol Club at around $25 per month. Maybe up to $100 per month. Do we want Spyre to take time to send nearly 4000 monthly donors a dollar by dollar breakdown of what our drop in the bucket donations are being spent on? If folks are that concerned that they need an itemized invoice for their $25 then maybe they need to hold on to their $25.

Yah. True.

And an itemized report would violate player confidentiality.

But I get you. If you need itemized proof for a $25 donation, then you're donating diaper money. There comes a time in life that you just need to give someone the benefit of the doubt until they give you reason not to. These are folks that spend $25 on nasty fast food that's been slapped together by a teenage stranger. They probably don't require pictures that the teenager in back washed their hands after scratching their ***.

But Lord have mercy, let a bunch of UT grads in the business start a collective to help with the recruiting these folks have been grumbling about...

 

[Vols4us]

I think this whole exercise has demonstrated that our fanbase collectively has a giant ego.

That tracks, given the attitude we see demonstrated by our fans a lot in social media.

However, our fanbase has also demonstrated that they have a great heart. How many times has our fanbase raised a ton of money or come out in droves to support something that they care about?

I think the issue here is that a vast majority of fans don't understand why they need to contribute to Vol Club. If they do understand, they haven't been made to feel important enough to join yet. Their hearts definitely are not in it. There are many reasons for this, I'm certainly not questioning the validity of fans opinions and why they feel the way that they do.

Like I said earlier, if we come out 4-0 or 5-0 and Nico lights it up, his patented pajama pants will sell like hot cakes. Maybe that will get the word out there more.

This is going to happen IMO. Many of us are going to look back on this past season with a tinge of regret. The playbook opens wider the second he takes over.

The response of the old warriors on the O-line wanting to come back tells us all we need to know about their expectations for Nico and how well Spyre is doing with the existing roster IMO.