"How Big Colleges Prey on Fan Loyalty to Fight Back Against Scandals"
I know this subject has be covered ad nausem...
But I ran across this relatively well written article that does a pretty good job of dissecting the thought processes that many of us finding puzzling at the least and repulsive to many more.
https://deadspin.com/how-big-colleges-prey-on-fan-loyalty-to-fight-back…
Also of note, the author is a Michigan and MSU alum.
Didn't realize Lauren went to MSU. What degree did she get?
Seems like the wording indicates she grew up a Spartan fan, then went to Michigan.
Yeah, kinda agree. Wonder if she posts here.
Edit: my mistake - for some reason I thought she mentioned that she got a masters at MSU after Ann Arbor.
There are analogues to “Spartans Will” at pretty much every major university. “We Are Penn State” is one of the closest, both for its strident emptiness and its association with a sexual-abuse scandal that reached the upper levels of the institution. There’s also “Bear Down” at Arizona, which was trotted out after Sean Miller came under fire for possibly endorsing the payment of DeAndre Ayton. My own alma mater, the University of Michigan, constantly bombards students and alumni with “Leaders and Best.”
I don't know, is it really that heavily used? "The Michigan Difference" might have been a better example.
Yes. It is constantly used. Here's one quick example.
Not in this, but....
"We are the best university in the world!" Even as a proud, arrogant Michigan alumnus, I rolled my eyes the first time I heard that.
She's talking about the phrase "Leaders and Best" being used as a stand-alone slogan (or "brand") for the school, the way MSU uses "Spartans Will," Arizona "Bear Down" and PSU "We Are Penn State."
It's been used in giving campaigns before, but I don't know that we use it to the degree of these other schools. "Victors" and "the Michigan Difference" get a lot of use, too.
The Proud Spartan ethos also feeds writing from East Lansing columnist Graham Couch, who typically covers MSU’s coaches with a wide-eyed, hero-worshipping style that unwittingly betrays how well a coach like Tom Izzo understands the benefits of cultivating a strong relationship with reporters.
Graham Couch's writing....well, this was put so well that I thought it should be quoted. I mean, throughout history, it is the Couch-type people of the world who write your "Who Among Us Hasn't..." story even when the more unfortunate allegations start to rear their head.
is afraid of burning to death if he didn't suck up to Izzo & Mork.
Personally, I don't think the cause of Michigan State's idiocy is loyalty towards college sports in general.
If universities fostered blind loyalty to defend the school, how do you explain the shaming and ouster of Dave Brandon?
Winning cures all. If UM was winning at football Brandon wouldn't have been fired...dumb marketing ideas or not.
I don't think so.
Winning isn't everything, everywhere.
There were enough people with enough clout who couldn't stand the guy/had been personally and inexplicably wronged by DB, from donors to program insiders to faculty to staff, to have made that firing an inevitability. If anything, a championship football or basketball team could have made his ego and antics worse. (Heck, look at how he reacted to teams that won championships--tell them they had to do it again, then hold their coaches responsible if they didn't.)
Put another way, you couldn't walk 20 feet in the Crisler Lot on a gameday and not find another person who absolutely hated the guy, with different, usually personal/firsthand, and equally valid reasons behind it. Those are the people who are pathologically hard-wired to be on the AD's side. And their anger adds up.
He cut down one of the nets after one of our basketball titles (either the regional title in '13 or the Big Ten in '14, I forget which).
Thought it was in 2013. He was off on his own end of the court, cutting down the nets like he did something.
Speaking of which, I've never liked it how team owners are given the trophy first in American pro sports, making the players and coaches an afterthought.
"Nice work by the men on the field, but let's make sure to recognize the real winner, this guy who watched the game in a luxury box!"
I think she's got a point with the branding angle. We take the Block M for granted around here, but yes, it is a little weird. And I can't be the only one who felt skeezed out when Dave Brandon and Mary Sue Coleman went full-bore on the "brand guide" and all that stuff, turning the Block M into the symbol for everything at the university. Every department got a new, basically identical logo. The University Seal, the university's academic emblem, which had been used on a number of sports uniforms anyway, pretty much got phased out. It was as if the university's identity had fully given itself over to sports merchandising.
Unpopular opinion, but look at that style guide on the university website and tell me it isn't an uncomfortable read. Theisen hit it right on the money.
Oh, cool, the band ad hominem. Give me a break.
Thin skin much?
where DB has done right. There were way too many different variation of block Ms used by fans, media and recruits that they need an universal brand that fits both the University and the Athletics Department.
in the aftermath of Larry Nassar’s sentencing, leaders of the MSU basketball student section—The Izzone—spearheaded a fundraising campaign for the survivors. Using the power of fans’ common identity, they raised ... $7,000.
*Snort*
Aim the Spartan Money... Garden Hose?
Am I the only one that had a problem with the alleged dual usage of "Will" in "Spartans Will?" It can't stand as a noun in that phrase. It would be a noun in "Spartan Will" or "Spartans’ Will," but it is unambiguously a verb in "Spartans Will."
I can't deny that it's been a successful hook for the university -- it's definitely been picked up as a rallying cry -- but I doubt anybody except the marketers is thinking of the noun sense of 'will.'
You are right, but the ancient Spartans were known for not being academic....and having more slaves than citizens and raping entire towns....a couple of those things haven't changed.
Spartans Will!
"Will" in "Spartans Will" can't be read as a noun because "Spartans" can't be read as possessive without an apostrophe (Spartan's or Spartans'). So "Will" is a verb, as in Spartans Will fuck up simple grammatical rules.
Incredible article. Spot on. Scary stuff. Some very big lessons to be learned from this mess. I think that politicians have been aware of this strategy for a long time. I've just never seen it happen so blatently with my own eyes.
this is why i like "leaders and best" as a slogan.
sometimes, leaders have to do what's right, even if it's painful.
hopefully UM will continue to do so down the line.
What the victims wanted us to know...ain't got no school... https://deadspin.com/what-larry-nassars-victims-wanted-us-to-know-18223…