Markeisha Everett has blazed a trail in college marketing quickly in her career, first rising from an assistant in the Bowling Green State ticket office, to working in marketing at North Dakota State, the University of Missouri, Gonzaga and now as a Director of Sports Marketing at West Virginia. Everett discusses her passion for revenue generation, how she understands the role of tickets separate from that of marketing and promotion, and what it truly takes to drive passion in fans to have them attend live sporting events. Twitter: @MarkeishaDenise
Ken Halpin has an interesting start in college athletics. Originally as a game equipment manager at a community college, Halpin used resolve to work as a third party corporate sponsorship rep for KP Sports at Eastern Washington University, then left the company for a bank, before jumping back to EWU as an associate athletic director of external affairs. Halpin discusses some of the challenges that he has had, especially in building a cohesive staff unit centering on communication, marketing and fundraising. Aside from mentioning his ardent aversion to reading fiction, Halpin talks about some of the things that drive him personally and professionally as he serves as a senior administration staff member at an FCS university athletic department. Twitter: @HalpinKr
The San Diego Padres are performing one of the more dynamic changes to ticket sales during the modern era, adopting a fan membership model which is typically in sports clubs overseas, but also adding their own sales focus mentality to the measure. Eric McKenzie discusses the ins and outs of this new process, as well as how the adoption has gone from a season ticket to a fan member in the mind of the fan being sold on the conversion. McKenzie also talks about the late Tony Gwynn, and his impact on San Diego sports. Twitter: @JEricMcKenzie
Sports Geek's Sean Callanan is one of the foremost strategists on digital. Having been on the podcast previously, but by Skype, this interview represents the first face-to-face meeting with Callanan, in Melbourne, Australia. Callanan shares his option on all things social, including Facebook, Twitter and those darn Google Hangouts, which he calls YouTube Hangouts with a Google Plus thread attached. Callanan also mentions details on his own podcasts Sports Geek as well as Beers, Blokes & Business. Twitter: @seancallanan
Listen to the other part of this "Happy Days" crossover podcast with Sean right here on the Sports Geek Podcast.
Chris Thompson seems always available to provide instant and necessary prospective on the sports industry as a whole. Returning to the podcast for a second stint, Thompson discusses his life as a father and husband, as well as his ability to separate his work life from his home life. Thompson also shares his views on what allows his role at The Evergreen State College to be fulfilling along with his relationship with the student athletes, coaches and media. Twitter: @cpt1982
One of the rising stars of college athletics is Adam Haukap, who returns to the podcast as a new member of Arkansas State's Red Wolves Foundation. Haukap talks about a portion of the industry that rarely gets discussed: Transitioning to a new place when you are already at the top of your game. Haukap moved from a senior associate athletic director role at Oklahoma State to Arkansas State, to challenge himself further in the field. Haukap discusses "the move" which meant having his family in one state, working in another, and driving 8 hours back home to become a weekend parent and husband until everything was settled. Haukap also comments on the fact that he is a "dapper dresser" as well as his views on the value of perception that people have when making that first impression. Twitter: @AHaukap
Greg Herring has spent the majority of his career helping build marketing strategies for six athletic departments. As a former NACMA President, Herring has also helped lead his peers in the field to understand what can grow and develop fan affinity for the college athletic product as well as build a program's base overall. Herring discusses his thoughts on what builds a great marketing and promotional calendar, as well as how to attract the elusive fan. Twitter: @HerringK1
The sports industry's involvement with sports management programs, especially graduate degree tracks, is a complicated one. There is an "at arm's reach" relationship between the two. Stetson University's Associate Professor Ben Goss sits in for a talk about how the two components of the industry (education and application), appear so far apart at times. Goss mentions his view of where the sports management programs in general have had a shortfall for the industry as a whole, but also where they thrive. Goss also discusses his issues with Mark Cuban's dismissive about sports marketing, and where he feels sports marketing students can become an asset to any professional team or college athletic department looking to gain an edge in the business. Twitter: @DrBenGoss
Andy Ruge, from all appearances, looks like "The Dude" from The Big Lebowski, and he's got the humor to back up that title. Ruge is one of the funniest loving guys in the college athletic space, serving as a sports marketer for George Mason after a stint in minor league baseball. Ruge fully understands the fight of trying to get the fan into the building, to enjoy themselves regardless of the score, and shares his vision of what good sports marketing can be within college athletics. Ruge professes himself to be a constant learner of the sports marketing craft, which has kept him near the top of his game, even back a few years ago when George Mason made a Final Four run and everyone proclaimed him a "genius." Twitter: @TheRuge
Devin Crosby is preaching the gospel of EQ (Emotional Intelligence) in college athletics. Crosby was a previous guest on the podcast where he briefly discussed EQ, but now, meeting him at NACDA 14 in Orlando, it presented a great opportunity to go into an expansive amount of information on the EQ movement as well as his growth in college athletics at Kent State. Crosby presents an opportunity for all supervisors as well as employees to better understand each other, without fear, in the college athletic space. Twitter: @DevinlCrosby