Let’s say you’re the Houston Cougars. You have swanky new facilities, a brand new head coach with serious name recognition, and you are situated in the fourth biggest city in the country. Sounds good, right?
Then there’s the other side of the coin: you don’t play in one of the “power conferences”, getting on national television usually means not playing on Saturday, and you have to fight all the other Texas schools, the SEC and the Big 12 for recruits who are in your own backyard.
So how do you get more exposure? To use the poker term, these Houston Cougars are going “all-in” when it comes to social media.
Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram… I hear it’s what the kids do these days (by the way you can find me on Twitter @JayInMilwaukee).
Speaking of Twitter, it has become a major marketing tool for the school and i’s head coach. You can find accounts for the team (@UHCougarFB), the athletic department (@UHCougarSports) and many of the coaches including head coach Tom Herman (@CoachTomHerman) and defensive coordinator Todd Orlando (@CoachTOrlando), who put out this tweet for the spring game as I was writing this article:
BOOM! @ToryJana @aqmayes @OscarGiles95 @CoachDWarehime pic.twitter.com/XUr8rKDXRn
— Todd Orlando (@CoachTOrlando) April 17, 2015
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsHerman really took onto Twitter as soon as he got to Houston from Ohio State. He is using it to market to fans, the city, and, ahem, as a recruiting tool. Herman knows he’s fighting an uphill battle against the big boys of Texas.
In a 2014 USA Football study, Houston ranks 2nd among hometowns in producing NFL players. Why go anywhere else? #HtownTakeover #HomeGrown — Tom Herman (@CoachTomHerman) April 14, 2015
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That’s just one example of the flurry of activity that’s come from a head coach working hard to promote his program. I joked about “that’s what the kids do”, but it is really is a shrewd way to access an audience without having to put boots on the ground when it comes to recruiting.
There have been other tools used to get both potential recruits and fans excited about the Coogs. The “Cougar Video” folks have been hard at work loading up the team’s Facebook and YouTube pages with “psych-up” videos to give people a behind the scenes look at spring practice.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meFJzcuB2vo?list=PLo34zntv2KinPfVc07qDmLwWln2Bd-WGk]Right now it’s all leading up to the Cougars’ spring game. There’s a certain amount of hype you want to capture with everything new surrounding the program; and they trying hard to plant their flag. Twitter hashtags like #PaintTexasRed and #HTownTakeover are commonly seen on Tweets by coaches and players, and it’s catching on with fans as well.
It’s a great plan, and it has more eyes on Houston football than at any time since the Andre Ware days. Sports Illustrated has been to do a story on Herman. The atmosphere is ripe for the Cougars to strike and make their mark on more than just the AAC.
But let’s not get too far ahead ourselves. Instead let’s sit back, watch our Twitter feeds and enjoy little gems like these…
“How do you want be remembered in the offseason?” –@CoachTomHerman pic.twitter.com/CJacPK4OYD
— Houston Football (@UHCougarFB) April 15, 2015
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Matthew Adams once opened eyes by making @TheOpening 2014. Now here’s the Houston soph LB dominating the circle drill pic.twitter.com/YeF9RCLeFH
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) April 15, 2015
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