SPT: Asst. AD for Marketing

[Brad]

USF: The Bulls filled a newly created position, assistant athletic director for marketing, by hiring Kosha Irby, the director of sales and marketing at Saint Louis University the past two years.

Irby, 27, was hired by USF athletic director Doug Woolard when he held the same post at Saint Louis in 2003. He previously worked for Conference USA and will be the first full-time staffer devoted solely to marketing USF athletics.

"It's exciting because you can really put your fingerprint on things as you try to build fan support for the program," Irby said.

Times staff writer Greg Auman contributed to this report.

Link

[Guest bullman33]

Boy, sounds like a good ole boy hire to me.   How far back to woolard and irby go?  At least we actually have someone.  Hopefully irby is qualified and displays improvements in the area of marketing.

[Velcro]

Whatever Woolard did at St Louis... it worked pretty well, so good ol' boy ore not, its probably a good move.

[The Sheriff]

I think they missed the boat on this hire. St. Louis and Tampa are two totally different markets. The hire doesn't bleed green and gold. It sucks that he looked past the many qualified USF individuals that would give their heart and soul to USF to hire an outsider. Results remain to be seen. Call this stupid, but you have more people on here that would give everything to promote USF... what a shame.

[Jewbull]

Atleast Woolard did the hiring and not Veit, he probably would have found someone from his old XFL days

[bullsmania]

I think they missed the boat on this hire. St. Louis and Tampa are two totally different markets. The hire doesn't bleed green and gold. It sucks that he looked past the many qualified USF individuals that would give their heart and soul to USF to hire an outsider. Results remain to be seen. Call this stupid, but you have more people on here that would give everything to promote USF... what a shame.

Although I won't jump to conclusions yet, I do agree with you Terry that the position should have been filled by a USF grad.  

[sdgukhsdgl]

the chances of a QUALIFIED USF grad having applied for this is minimal

how many USF grads are out there with anywhere near the college athletic marketing experience this guy has?

i'll go out on a limb and say zero

Kosha Irby Named Director Of Marketing and Sales

Billiken athletics strengthens external area

May 12, 2003

Saint Louis University assistant director of athletics for external operation John Garrison announced today that Kosha Irby (pronounced Co-SHAY ER-bee) has been named director of marketing and sales. Irby was an assistant at the Conference USA office in 2001 and 2002. His responsibilities within the athletic department will include developing, organizing and coordinating a comprehensive sales program for the department of athletics and assisting with the development and implementation of marketing plans to increase ticket sales and attendance.

"Kosha's work in the areas of brand development, licensing/merchandising strategies, sponsorship, and promotion while at the conference office will prove very beneficial to the external efforts within our department," Garrison said.

While at the Conference USA office, Irby worked with member institutions in developing and implementing integrated marketing and promotional plans. He also conducted large-scale research projects including design, statistical analysis, and report generation.

Most recently, Irby spent time with Dell Computer Corporation in Nashville where he identified and analyzed market trends to assist positioning Dell Corp. products and services to target groups. While in Nashville, Irby worked as a business development assistant for the Nashville Sports Council. He was responsible for organizing, marketing, and managing aspects of the Music City Bowl and selected Nashville Sports Council Events. Irby's additional experience includes two years with LOGIC, a marketing agency in Memphis, Tenn. and one year as a market research assistant for Ethridge and Associates in Memphis.

Irby holds two degrees from the University of Memphis. He earned a bachelor of science in exercise and sports science and graduated with a master's of business administration in marketing.

[Greg Auman]

i think one reason woolard was well-suited for the USF job is that the tampa market -- from the Bulls' perspective, at least --  is actually a lot like the st. louis market. both have one major college in a metro area, competing with pro franchises in the NFL, NHL and MLB. one thing woolard mentioned when we did our Q&A was that his marketing goal is to get USF in the same breath as the pro teams here, so just as folks in st louis would say "Cardinals, Rams, Blues and Billikens." one thing woolard mentioned about kosha (it's co-SHAY) is how much energy he has. he'll start july 18, same day as the big east preseason football meetings in rhode island.

greg

[CyberBull]

Although I won't jump to conclusions yet, I do agree with you Terry that the position should have been filled by a USF grad.  

I guess we have a difference of opinions here, but IMO the last thing we want right now is a USF grad. <b>We need fresh ideas and perspectives on how to do things.</b>

Whatever STL's marketing was doing worked....b/c despite not being a powerhouse hoops program they have consistently averaged around  17K /year  in their new arena.

[Greg Auman]

just to be fair here, they haven't averaged 17,000. saint louis averaged 17,000 in home attendance in 97-98 - think their attendance was sixth-best in the country that year. but last year,  they averaged 8,030, and two years ago, it was 8,918. not to scoff at 8,000 fans, which would be a remarkable turnaround for USF. they're just not getting 17,000 there anymore.