West Virginia University has a big public relations opportunity and a bit of PR problem coming up this weekend.
The opportunity? ESPN’s immensely popular College GameDay is coming to the Mountain State for the West Virginia vs. Louisiana State game. So not only will the battle between the #16 and #2 college football teams get a lot of attention, Morgantown, WV, and the WVU campus will play host to three hours of pre-game Saturday football.
Any university would be thrilled to be hosting the show. And I am certain the folks at WVU are excited. But they’re also just a little bit nervous. Why? Watch this clip of the WVU – Marshall game from a couple of weeks ago. Watch to the end of the clip, for the young man wearing a certain t-shirt.
Yes, that shirt does say what you think it said. What’s more, it’s not on an isolated individual. The West F*&^ing Virginia, and other similarly rude shirts, can be seen around the WVU campus and at games.
And this is not something that pleases the folks who are responsible for the university’s image. (Let me just briefly mention that I taught at WVU for 15 years, and it is a terrific university with great students who have always had really bad taste in t-shirts.)
So the university has been putting in a big effort to keep the shirts and offensive chants at bay while the team is on the national stage.
Last week WVU Athletic Director Oliver Luck put out an open letter to fans, saying:
I would like to request that if you see someone wearing one of these t-shirts that you politely ask him or her to change or to cover it up. Even wearing it inside-out would be an improvement. As you know, we have a big home football game against LSU coming up next Saturday and we would like to present a more favorable image to the millions of football fans from around the country who will be watching the game. Be polite, be courteous, be friendly-but do speak up.
Then the Mountaineer Maniacs, the student athletics fan club, created an “amnesty” trade-in program, where they would give students a voucher good for up to $20 on a new t-shirt if they traded in an offensive one. Here’s a story on it from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
The message continues with a column from John Terry at the student newspaper, The Daily Athenaeum, asking students to “stay classy” and not wear the offensive shirts:
Don’t wear “West F—– Virginia” shirts. Not only has Athletic Director Oliver Luck has asked students not to wear them, the shirts make the University and the state look horrible. Regardless of your intentions while wearing the shirt, there’s no reason you can’t leave the shirt at home and put on another one of your many WVU shirts. If you don’t have on another WVU shirt, go buy some gold paint.
Let’s try to stay away from the “Eat S— Pitt” chant. I feel like it’s kind of a given, but chanting foul language on national television isn’t a good idea. It makes the University look trashy, and it makes the students look immature and ill-humored. It will also guarantee College GameDay won’t ever come back to town.
This column is direct and comes from a student, not administration.
Finally, broadcaster Tony Caridi, the voice of the Mountaineers, had a nice commentary up on the university’s sports news site talking about how welcoming LSU fans were last year when WVU played in Baton Rouge.
We weren’t even looking for friends, just looking around at the unbelievable way tens of thousands of people can create a temporary world complete with kitchens, living-room-like accommodations, and enough big screen TVs to make Best Buy envious. The more we walked, the more buddies we made. LSU fans legitimately wanted to talk football. They knew Mountaineer personnel like no other opposing fans I’ve encountered. They were informed, they were passionate, and they treated us, along with the thousands of other Mountaineer fans, like fans are supposed to be treated.
There were no catcalls; there were no taunts and there were no imbecilic t-shirts. It was in a word, civilized.
So now the stage is set. Let’s see how well this communication campaign works to convince students to present the image the University is looking for. We’ll check back Monday to see how it goes.