My take on what Mark Harland and USF Athletics need to do.

[USF (QUESTION MARK)]

1. Improve their social media marketing and culture.
   1. It's dry and boring and as a result it's unengaging.
      1. Our pages should be as fun as Oregon's.
   2. The amount of followers is horribly low in comparison to other schools (UCF has 17k more followers on Twitter and 10K more likes on FB), and in comparison to our Alumni/Student population. 
      1. Our current student population is 40,250...Why is every single student not following our social media pages? "Free OUR shirts if you like our FB page or follow us on Twitter." "[Secret Updates]Free Redbulls in the Marshall Center courtyard for the next 15 minutes." Make people want to follow you! 
   3. It's entirely underutilized. 
      1. Every potential follower is a potential season ticket holder, TV viewer, or consumer in another way.
2. Start talking about FSU now! We have less than a year to get 65k green shirts in Ray Jay.
   1. Implications are huge when considering national image, marketability, P5 value, and recruiting. This is when you go all in. Imagine when people tune into a FSU game and all they can see is 130k bull horns in the air.
   2. I remember how loud Ray Jay could get against a WVU redzone stand. Our fan base needs to experience this. Mark Harlan, Coach Willie Taggart, and our current student population has never experienced this. 
3. Mark Harlan needs to engage Tampa with USF athletics.
   1. Paint Tampa green and Gold! Oh hey, did you see Rocky the Bull at the Lightning game the other night? Rocky should be sitting next to the spaceman rink side. Did you see all the USF shirts at Gasparilla? 
   2. Build a tailgating culture. People literally buy tickets to football games just to tailgate. We should be known for having the best tailgate experience in Florida- get GameDay in Tampa!
   3. This week's football game is free on Bullscast next week. 
   4. "If you have a USF license plate, than enjoy xyz discount on season tickets/etc". I saw more UF/FSU plates in Tampa than USF when I lived in Tampa. 
   5. USF athletics needs to support every other USF team/club/event/etc. The long con. Building a culture on campus of mass support for every USF event will build a supportive, loyal, and prideful fan base in general. Help promote club sports- make sure there's a thousand people at the lacrosse or rugby game. Get campus buzzing with support of USF in every way. This is a fan base that wont dry up when football isn't a top 25 team.
   6. Build better relationships with small businesses. There are 4,000,000+ people in Tampa that interact with these businesses on a daily basis. 
      1. It's sad how few TVs are playing the USF game when it's on. Every bar/restaurant should be visited by Student interns to ensure they're playing the games. 
4. USF athletics needs a face. We do a terrible job of self-promotion and seizing the moment when a player is hot.
5. Improve transportation from campus to games. Remember the small business contact we made with the local bus company? 

[usfgrad84]

I like most of your ideas. A lot if it is just hard work rather than needing to spend a lot of money. It's about creating a buzz on campus and around town. 

[USFBulls12]

It's really as simple as having a bunch of people who are paid to do a job actually follow through in doing their jobs..seems like the proper people aren't currently employed in these positions and they are occupied by people who don't think with as much innovation and common sense at the OP. I like your ideas. You're hired.

Edited December 6, 2015 by USFBulls12
Typos

[hm101]

I would give Harlan an A as it is. Its not perfect but is getting better by the day. Happy with things. 

[Bear]

I loved the analysis. I also noticed that UCF has a more dedicated fan following. 

 

I believe that Harlan has improved a lot of things which Shows the stark contrast with him and DW.

Taggart needs to win. And the fans will come. We need to start winning the conference. Win the access bowl, and even be considered as a national contender. 

 

[Triple B]

I loved the analysis. I also noticed that UCF has a more dedicated fan following. 

They also had an almost two decades head start to build that dedicated fan following ...

[Paisa el Toro]

Great ideas. I was distracted thinking that Harland was somehow related to Taggurt, we've got to learn to spell people's names correctly around here. Our AD is Mark Harlan, and our coach is Willie Taggart. Now wash, rinse, and repeat. 

[Bull Matrix]

They also had an almost two decades head start to build that dedicated fan following ...

just goes to show you how important football is to bringing in support. I believe USF had soccer before UCF even existed as a school. Too bad USF didn't start football a long time ago as I believe we would have as much or if not note support than UCF. 

[MMW]

Nice first post.   Anyone else winner how the handle "USF" is still available after all this time?  

[smazza]

great first post usf