There's something (or things) that every program does a fantastic job of that we can learn from. In anything you do, if you can find the good in what someone does and do more of that and then avoid what you find to be less effective, you'll end up in a better place.
Thus far our journey through the Atlantic 10 has shown us #14 St Joseph's, #13 La Salle, and #12 Saint Louis, #11 Fordham, and #10 U Mass. Let's keep moving.
#9 Temple
What the program is known for? When I think Temple Basketball, my mind goes right to Mark Macon and John Chaney, 1988. They were the top seed in the East Region, losing to Duke in the Elite 8. Wow how I loved that team!
Temple is actually the 6th most winningest program in basketball, trailing only Kentucky, UNC, Duke, Kansas, and Syracuse. They've been to 27 tourneys, and Chaney led the Owls to 5 Elite 8 appearances.
Why are they 9th? Temple has one of the best looking sites out there. Powerful graphics and callouts take you to the right places. It's a great foundation that just needs to go deeper with this year's basketball squad to really take off.
What inspired me about Temple? (link here)
1. Temple Brings the Atlantic 10 Conference's Social Marketing to their space.
In the Owls Social Media directory, shown above and here, you'll see something we don't see that often. They take the Atlantic 10 (and the Mid-American) Conference and include access right here, on the Temple site. I love this idea, and it inspired me to think about what this symbolizes and where it could go next.
First, what they've done is put themselves in a position to gain from the things the A-10 does. The catch is that (for now) you have to click on to the A-10 Twitter link in order to see this. I'd love to see Temple include a feed that literally brought the A-10 Twitter page into the Temple site. Or better yet, that combined A-10 Basketball posts with Temple posts together. The interaction between the 2 could become addicting and powerful.
But it all starts with the first step we see now. Nice.
2. Live Stats for the Owls Squads.
I've always been a stats geek. And technology has really taken the idea of realtime stats to a new level, with game casts and fantasy sports being two things we see exploding. But we haven't really seen stats change much inside athletics sites. Until now. Check the image below, or click in here. (note, you can also get there by clicking the bar graphs shown above)
This is literally insane. OK there's a momentum meter (shown by the size of the red or blue bars). Every player has an Efficiency rating visually portrayed (see the image below). Plus everything evolves during the game.
This is literally insane. OK there's a momentum meter (shown by the size of the red or blue bars). Every player has an Efficiency rating visually portrayed (see the image below). Plus everything evolves during the game.
Ridiculous.
My only question is how do we take this and infiltrate player profiles in the Roster, and how can the realtime updates impact Temple's website. Crazy.
3. An AD's take on what's coming next.
Athletics Director Bill Bradshaw maintains this newsletter (link here, shown above) on all things Temple athletics. Simple enough, right? But it's also really powerful. Check this sample description, which I'm zooming in on:
"February 13: Hooter the Owl’s Birthday – Our lovable mascot, Hooter the Owl, turns a year older and wiser today! Celebrate all things Hooter and honor the pride of the Owls with a special basketball doubleheader at the Liacouras Center. Our women face Charlotte at 1 p.m., while the men battle Rhode Island at 4 p.m. The first 2,000 fans under age 14 at the men’s game receive a mini basketball courtesy of the Philadelphia Federal Credit Union. There’s even a photo session with the men’s team following the game! Meet local mascots as well."
It's powerful to see your leader come across as personal and open. And I love the idea of more updates on more events coming from the top. If the AD makes you, the fan (or recruit) feel welcome to show up at events, it affects your full image of the program. This is a great example of a welcoming attitude and one I'd like to see expanded to more events... Or even to Twitter.
That's it. Come back tomorrow as we keep rolling through the A-10!
Andy
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