Atlantic 10 Best Practices: Be a Billiken

This blog is all about inspiration. We're going to spend 3 days elevating best practices from the squads that make up the Atlantic 10 Conference.

You can stay plugged into this journey via this blog, via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

What makes something a best practice? This isn't about the most intricate experience. It's about looking at the world from your consumer's point of view and delivering something that hits it right smack on the head. In the case of colleges, I'm treating the primary consumer as that prospective student athlete.

Cool?

Let's move.

Hit the Saint Louis University home page and scroll down. You'll see a button for "Being Billikens, Inside the Lines."

I'll zoom in, in case that's a bit tough to see:

Intrigued, I click in.

And what we are hit with is a extremely insightful. Saint Louis University created a blog that gives us a look to student athletes at SLU, away from their court or field or pitch.

"Saint Louis University athletes win Atlantic 10 Conference Championships, attain regional athletic and academic honors, and claim All-America Honors. What you don't hear about are the countless hours of community service put in by the Billikens, or the fact that SLU student athletes are leaders in their fields of study. Check back periodically for more notes highlighting the Billikens off the playing field."

Check the blog out here.


Here's what I love about this.

1. This taps into being a part of something bigger -- Saint Louis U, rather than an individual team. When you become a student athlete, there is something powerful about the shared experience you have with members of other sports teams that wear your school's jersey. This hits it home.
2. Photos. You see a candid look at what the players are doing -- and you get a subtle hint that it isn't just sports and books that you get when you head to SLU. There was community service, marathon training, and diverse ways of connecting together.
   
3. Family. There's an interesting mix of current student athletes and alumni here. Showing that you will get to interact with former student athletes as you go through the experience of being a Billiken.

How could this be better? The description should become a mission. It's not about the countless hours (that doesn't sound too uplifting!), but rather about what you do in those hours. Then, I would love to see a little more of the full view of life on campus. Being a Billiken isn't just about community service, just as it isn't just about books or athletics. It's that combination, and to portray that combination in words and pictures could really deliver something unique to the prospective student athlete: He or she would better understand what they could become if they signed up.

Lastly, it's small and simple but I'd love to see it: get testimonials. Text, pictures, video from current student athletes and alumni on how this combination has helped shape them.

Fantastic stuff.

Tune in tomorrow as we share more inspiration from the A-10! Don't forget, you can stay plugged into this journey via this blog, via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

Atlantic 10 Conference Basketball Marketing: 3 Inspiring Things About #12 St Louis

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 and #13 La Salle. Let's keep moving.

#12 Saint Louis

What the program is known for? The Billikens have been to the NCAA Tourney 4 times since 1994. They won a game twice - most recently in 1998 with Larry Hughes at the helm. Saint Louis has also had a series of great coaches running the show: Charlie Spoonhour, Lorenzo Romar, and now Rick Majerus. Whatever we see around the Billikens, I expect to see this tradition and leadership highlighted.

Why are they 12th? St Louis gives you a nice look into their facilities and into student life in general. But like others we've seen in the A-10, there's a tangible gap in learning and connecting with this team.

What inspired me about Saint Louis? (link here)

1. The Interactive Tour of Chaifetz Arena.

I think this tour is here because the arena is new and they are offering you, the fan, the ability to see the view from wherever you are sitting. But what if we think of these arena 360 degree tours a little differently?

To be specific, what's the view of the arena from the perspective of a player? What if you had views from anywhere on the court (or maybe from the tunnel, coming out) and the stands were packed? You would hear the sound, you'd see the color, and completely feel what it's like to play in the arena.

Something tells me we'll see this one day.

2. Ask the Docs

I hadn't seen anything like this before. St Louis actually gives you a chance to ask questions to their team physicians. It's part of a sponsorship with the group, but I think it touches on something exciting.

Injuries are a part of the game. But as a prospective student athlete (or the parent of one), you want to be certain you will be under good care if something were to happen. And what better way to show the expertise of that care than by elevating the individuals who offer it?

I'd like to see this grow. Go beyond taking questions on dealing with your own injuries and share with us the treatment, the stretching, and the rehab routines you develop for the current Billikens squads. That's powerful.

3. Being Billikens gives us a look into the personal side of student athletes.

As you can see here (or in the image above), St Louis wanted to give us an inside look into how student athletes spend their time away from the athletics facilities. This has a feel of a newsletter (maybe because it is?), and I mean that in a good way. There's something very personal. I think there's something powerful for a prospective student athlete to see what student athletes in all sports (not just their own) spend their time. The challenge, as we see here with St Louis, is to take this idea and make it consistently authentic and updated.

That's it. Come back tomorrow as we keep moving.

Andy