Name Recognition

[Michigan_Dane]

I'm at a Disney Resort this week and this guy in the pool with a southern accent asks me if I went to Albany. I look at my tee shirt and see what sparked his attention and say yes. He says we have a great lacrosse team.

 

I enrolled in a D3 university in 1993 with no name recognition. I just love it when someone with no ties to New York asks me about UA. For those that complain about athletic funding I say name recognition is worth something.

[Michigan_Dane]

I ran into another family at Disney that stopped me to talk about UA. We have a ways to go to catch up with peer institutions but when I attended UA 20 years ago we had 0 name recognition.

[DanesRGood]

I ran into another family at Disney that stopped me to talk about UA. We have a ways to go to catch up with peer institutions but when I attended UA 20 years ago we had 0 name recognition.

 

Awesome. I was there last year in June and was wearing my UA basketball shirt. On one of the many long lines waiting for a ride the guy in front of me asked about my UA shirt and we chatted a while about the Hooley shot. Then at the hotel pool someone just pointed at my shirt and said something about that shot as well.

[godanesgo99]

I posted the below in another thread in the MBB forum, but it fits here so I thought I would share for anyone that doesn't read that section:

This is as good a place as any pit this comment:

 

I had a phone interview today with a company out of Seattle. About 5 minutes into the interview the guy brought up UAlbany and the basketball team. He asked me if the team was as good when I went to school and I had to laugh saying they were D2 at that time. He was surprised that the team had come so far so fast. He mentioned that he had picked Albany to win in the round of 64 after Hooley's heroics and was rooting for the team this year. He has never lived in the Northeast. This is the second time this sort of conversation has happened for me (the last was back in 06 after the UConn game).

 

If this doesn't speak to the value in a powerful athletic program, I don't know what does. It also shows the importance of UA keeping the program growing, getting strong recruits, and continuing to build a fanbase. Getting butts in the seats is part of this growth.

 

I hope for either the renovations we ask for can be pushed and completed quickly or a new arena by 2020