I believe you need to look back around 20 or 25 years to see how the actions of a very small group of donors have impacted the program to where it is today. Not only did they do it with money (most weren't/aren't wealthy people) but they would go out and "Sell" the program. I have no ties to VCU whatsoever other than a long time supporter/donor would regularly give me his extra tickets, always selling me on me how good VCU would be in the very near future, I needed to get in before it was too late. Within a couple of years, I and my family became addicts and financial supporters for a couple decades now. No chicken and egg for me, without an effort from supporters and staff to build a program, culturally and monetarily, there likely would not have been a JC, AG, SS a F4, BB training center, the A-10 without these believers/dreamers. It seems this group hasn't forgotten the history, the history that most of the current department has little or no knowledge of.
Reseating Thread
- Thread starter MattRock
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RowdyPkunk
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- May 19, 2009
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Heck, I remember my Senior year of HS... I was applying for colleges, VCU was one of them because it was close to home, wasn't trying to go halfway across the country... or even outta state for that matter.
I had gotten invited to a VCU Basketball game (against Towson) & pre-game dinner in the Aux. Gym, what is now the commonwealth room for games. Had absolutely no idea why I had gotten invited. None of my family immediate or otherwise had connections to VCU. So we go to this pre game dinner & a bunch of us are trying to figure out why we got invited? Some had parents or family members who were VCU Alums... others didn't. Some had family members who were season ticket holders, others didn't. Some people like myself were applying to VCU for college, others didn't.
So none of us could really figure out why we got invited to this pre-game dinner & game. But we all enjoyed it, socialized & then went to the game, and of course me being a diehard sports fan... I was already happy just to go see a college basketball game.. as I had never been to one at that time. I had no idea what to expect from the crowd or anything... but the place was electric & of course I was yelling at the refs for terrible calls cheering on VCU (when it came to sports I was Rowdy before I even knew what the Rowdy Rams were lol). I knew that is where I belonged & honestly felt at home in the STU.
Not too long after that day, I got my acceptance letter from VCU... and without hesitation, I said yep I'm going to VCU... & the rest is history. Then I made sure to watch every VCU game I could especially the GMU CAA champ. game & the Duke NCAA Tourney game that year.
The very next year, one of my friends from HS who was a year behind me... got the same invite from VCU for a pre-game dinner & game... a few weeks later he got his acceptance letter too. May have just been coincidence... but I'll be honest, between the random invitation to a pre-game dinner, and the atmosphere at the game that night.... That influenced my decision on where to go to college A LOT... cause it was apparent they wanted me to come there. And I don't regret my decision at all.
TBH... before all that... I knew absolutely NOTHING about VCU other than they were a school in Richmond.
Wolfpack Ram
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- Apr 21, 2009
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The NC State Wolfpack Club gives all graduating seniors a one year free membership to the Wolfpack Club. After the first year, membership for those graduates goes up 25% of the minimum level of giving each year until they reach 100% in the fifth year. I could never imagine the current VCU athletic administration being anywhere near that creative in order to build its donor base. This is a prime example of NC State building its donor base from the bottom up. Clemson also has that same philosophy with their IPTAY Club.
All this current VCU administration wants to do is pick the hanging fruit from the big time donor tree while paying little or no attention to all of those Rowdy Rams that graduate each year that are already hooked big time on VCU basketball. This administration just doesn't get it at all, and its going to come back and haunt them at some point.
greg81988
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- Mar 21, 2011
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I think it’s a little unfair to compare VCU development program to something like NC State, who has 25 people on staff.
Not to mention, VCU does have a young alumni program. I know because I took advantage of it.
Here is the link and info about it....
The best part is they match your donation for 5 years after graduation. I think they do a pretty good job of giving young alumni a fair chance to get points in the RAF, as well as season tickets.
Wolfpack Ram
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I think it’s a little unfair to compare VCU development program to something like NC State, who has 25 people on staff.
Not to mention, VCU does have a young alumni program. I know because I took advantage of it.
Here is the link and info about it....
The best part is they match your donation for 5 years after graduation. I think they do a pretty good job of giving young alumni a fair chance to get points in the RAF, as well as season tickets.
NC State has 25 people on staff servicing 20,000+ Wolfpack Club members. How many RAF members does VCU have? 5,000 at best? It's all relative. VCU doesn't need anywhere near 25 people on staff. And VCU has a long, long way to go to provide half the service the Wolfpack Club does.
You can make all the excuses you want, but the VCU athletic administration is no way customer service friendly to all donors top to bottom. Not even close.
Must have gotten your message. Got an nice email thank you from the athletic department and sports teams. Addressed to me.
Wolfpack Ram
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If they did get the message BRAVO! It shows they are trying and that is all any of us can expect.
VCU Finance 2008
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Got the e-mail as well, but I would have preferred a refund of my season ticket costs.
- Mar 21, 2017
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- Jul 14, 2011
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Comes with souvenir season tickets sheet. So does this mean that these count toward consecutive years of being a season ticket holder?
edit: /s since the sarcasm wasn’t obvious.
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Wolfpack Ram
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