George Halcovage III the next UB Men's Basketball Coach

[MuchMany]

Interesting news as Nova follows Duke's lead and hires Baker Dunleavy as their General Manager. Hard to imagine when UB would ever get to this point as a program, but it's good to know that Halcovage comes from a place where innovation is happening. 

https://villanova.com/news/2023/4/13/mens-basketball-dunleavy-named-general-manager-of-villanova-basketball.aspx

[promotherobot]

19 hours ago, UBinMD said:

I agree with you. I think he brought in young energy, heir apparent on staff perhaps, good recruiters and guys from P5 backgrounds. We have good geographic coverage with the staff as well (at least for the areas we should likely be targeting). Seems like HC GH3 is ready to lead and doesn't need a babysitter on the bench. I'm ready for this. Now let's see the recruiting trail heat up!

Looks like HCGH is lining up future head coaches on this staff. With success comes comes coaches moving on. How great will it be to know the "next Bull up" is standing by to maintain continuity (and hopefully that same success.)

[dj_paige]

18 hours ago, C1ubP1fanaticM7 said:

How was the turnout??

Unlike @MuchMany, I thought the crowd was kind of light. We're in essentially a bar, the people were not packed in very tightly, not packed in at all, you didn't have to squeeze between people to walk over to the bar or back to your seat. I was hoping for more. In addition, lots of the people in attendance were UB Athletic Dept employees, I'm going to guess >25% were UB employees which isn't bad but I kind of wish the non-employee turnout was higher. No sign of ADMA, Satish, Coach Mo, Coach Burke (perhaps they were out of town and have valid excuses, but it sure would have been great to see them there as well).

Edited April 13, 2023 by dj_paige

[everlast2504]

6 minutes ago, dj_paige said:

Unlike @MuchMany, I thought the crowd was kind of light. We're in essentially a bar, the people were not packed in very tightly, not packed in at all, you didn't have to squeeze between people to walk over to the bar or back to your seat. I was hoping for more. In addition, lots of the people in attendance were UB Athletic Dept employees, I'm going to guess 25% were UB employees which isn't bad but I kind of wish the non-employee turnout was higher. No sign of ADMA, Satish, Coach Mo, Coach Burke (perhaps they were out of town and have valid excuses, but it sure would have been great to see them there as well).

Maybe they should of sent out more emails 😛 

Jokes aside I think it was a good thing that the other coaches were not there. The focus should be on GHIII and not the other coaches. I think ADMA should of been there but its not an event for him. 

The place should of been packed. It's a bus and train ride away for students. The Athletic dept marketing and PR needs to get much better. It should be a simple sell of "Downtown + Beer + meet the new coach" get a 20% off your tab..... Or something. Free growler with UB student ID and valid 21+ id. Otherwise enjoy the food and the experience. 

[bullsbball]

I originally received an invite from "Director of Annual Giving" and a request for RSVP.  Then 2 days later, I received another invite from them with no mention of the RSVP.  Then, it was on Twitter a few days later.

I think they couldn't attract enough of the donors so they opened it up to everybody.

I think it's more important for people to show up for games than a PR session with the new coach.

Edited April 13, 2023 by bullsbball

[dj_paige]

8 minutes ago, everlast2504 said:

Maybe they should of sent out more emails 😛 

Jokes aside I think it was a good thing that the other coaches were not there. The focus should be on GHIII and not the other coaches. I think ADMA should of been there but its not an event for him. 

The place should of been packed. It's a bus and train ride away for students. The Athletic dept marketing and PR needs to get much better. It should be a simple sell of "Downtown + Beer + meet the new coach" get a 20% off your tab..... Or something. Free growler with UB student ID and valid 21+ id. Otherwise enjoy the food and the experience. 

I think the purse strings are very tight for the athletic department. They did not pay for food, as they did last August for the Coaches Caravan. The next event where food was provided — the Basketball Season Ticket holder appreciation dinner in late Feb or early March — the only food was pizza (no wings, no Coke, no cookies as in past events) and there wasn't enough pizza for everyone, even though people had to RSVP so they knew how many to expect.

But no students in attendance last night. I was going to say "very few students" but as I thought about it, there were really zero people there that looked like students.

[trueblue32]

24 minutes ago, everlast2504 said:

The place should of been packed. It's a bus and train ride away for students. The Athletic dept marketing and PR needs to get much better. It should be a simple sell of "Downtown + Beer + meet the new coach" get a 20% off your tab..... Or something. Free growler with UB student ID and valid 21+ id. Otherwise enjoy the food and the experience. 

The event was clearly not intended for students, nor should it be. It's like a 45 minute trip each way on bus/train (not including wait times), most students aren't old enough to (legally) drink, most students don't have the desire/money to be paying for craft beers, the athletic department doesn't want college kids getting sloppy drunk at a department happy hour event. They didn't have True Blue put anything out about it on social media. Let's be realistic.

I'm sure there will be plenty of student outreach in the run up to the season. We don't need to invent things to be mad about lol

Edited April 13, 2023 by trueblue32

[Jeseph]

6 minutes ago, trueblue32 said:

the athletic department doesn't want college kids getting sloppy drunk at a department happy hour event.

Didn't stop me back in the day 🤣

[DooleyBull06]

If they want student engagement how bout a similar event in the middle of the student union in the middle of the day. Simple enough. Get a few band members, some cheerleaders and Victor E to hype it up

Edited April 13, 2023 by DooleyBull06

[bullsbball]

11 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

If they want student engagement how bout a similar event in the middle of the student union in the middle of the day. Simple enough. Get a few band members, some cheerleaders and Victor E to hype it up

That should probably be done next fall. A quarter of the audience is graduating in a month.  Also, UB is a "commuter" campus. Not many people "hang out" in the Student Union. 

[DooleyBull06]

3 minutes ago, bullsbball said:

That should probably be done next fall. A quarter of the audience is graduating in a month.  Also, UB is a "commuter" campus. Not many people "hang out" in the Student Union. 

Not talking about hanging out but the area that gets the most foot traffic. It’s where the spine begins, where there’s food and so on. It’s gotta be still a high volume area. Plus you promote it everywhere. I mean geez everyone wants engagement but then poo poo ideas that don’t cost money. Or here’s an idea…we can go back to a sleepy head coach. 

[bullsbball]

1 minute ago, DooleyBull06 said:

Not talking about hanging out but the area that gets the most foot traffic. It’s where the spine begins, where there’s food and so on. It’s gotta be still a high volume area. Plus you promote it everywhere. I mean geez everyone wants engagement but then poo poo ideas that don’t cost money. Or here’s an idea…we can go back to a sleepy head coach. 

 I would rather the coach spend his time now recruiting players.

After that, he can work on marketing events. He's already done 2 meet and greets. 

[DooleyBull06]

2 minutes ago, bullsbball said:

 I would rather the coach spend his time now recruiting players.

After that, he can work on marketing events. He's already done 2 meet and greets. 

It’s all part of the job. But yes, let’s get some recruits in here.

[rma]

The AD was at the Nan Harvey natatorium watching UB softball during the event

Edited April 13, 2023 by rma

[everlast2504]

1 hour ago, trueblue32 said:

The event was clearly not intended for students, nor should it be. It's like a 45 minute trip each way on bus/train (not including wait times), most students aren't old enough to (legally) drink, most students don't have the desire/money to be paying for craft beers, the athletic department doesn't want college kids getting sloppy drunk at a department happy hour event. They didn't have True Blue put anything out about it on social media. Let's be realistic.

I'm sure there will be plenty of student outreach in the run up to the season. We don't need to invent things to be mad about lol

The fact you thought it was being viewed as a “Department happy hour” is what is wrong. 
there are plenty of student of legal age. Underage students can get food soda. It also doesn’t cost money to ask the place hey can you do a deal if we try and get this place packed? 
 

It’s more about the effort and commitment. UB also has several thousand students that live on campus. Ellicot is one of the biggest dorm buildings in the country…
Calling it a commuter school is an excuse. 

[Tee4three]

2 hours ago, everlast2504 said:

The fact you thought it was being viewed as a “Department happy hour” is what is wrong. 
there are plenty of student of legal age. Underage students can get food soda. It also doesn’t cost money to ask the place hey can you do a deal if we try and get this place packed? 
 

It’s more about the effort and commitment. UB also has several thousand students that live on campus. Ellicot is one of the biggest dorm buildings in the country…
Calling it a commuter school is an excuse. 

Have dealt with that southern tier, incredibly stingy with offers/deals even with guarantees of certain number of people 

Not sure if it's just that location downtown as I know ub always seems to use the one in Cleveland during March madness 

[dj_paige]

21 hours ago, everlast2504 said:

It should be a simple sell of "Downtown + Beer + meet the new coach" get a 20% off your tab..... Or something. Free growler with UB student ID and valid 21+ id. Otherwise enjoy the food and the experience. 

UB did not pay for food. UB did not pay for drinks.

[everlast2504]

2 hours ago, dj_paige said:

UB did not pay for food. UB did not pay for drinks.

The school would not have to pay for anything.  Work with the venue to market the event properly. 

[121Merrimac]

Better marketing?  Lol, I nearly spit out my drink. 

[UB Horns Up]

I guess I wouldn’t even have these UB Bulls events anymore because you can reach more people and cost less by using social media. I am not sure a 1990’s approach would go over anymore. Western New York knows who UB Bulls basketball and football are. You need to win because times are different. Before the ESPN+ were around few but friends and family saw these basketball games of the Big 4 schools and UB football. You can’t hide today bad basketball teams, bad whatever sports teams the world is watching. The bottom line no matter what generation few like a loser regardless of the noise you hear that it doesn’t matter it does in my opinion. UB Horns Up! Go Bulls! Let’s Go Buffalo 

[Jeseph]

This does not sound like a first-time head coach. Every time I hear from him my confidence grows 🤘🏻

Quick note: Rattling down the whole MAC coaching roster offhand… This guy is going to have his teams READY.

[UBinMD]

5 hours ago, Jeseph said:

This does not sound like a first-time head coach. Every time I hear from him my confidence grows 🤘🏻

Quick note: Rattling down the whole MAC coaching roster offhand… This guy is going to have his teams READY.

Just finished listening to it and I'm fired up that he is our coach and can't wait to see what players he brings in and get behind this team!

[DooleyBull06]

Just listened also. One of the founders of Orange Theory Fitness is a UB Alum, umm hello NIL opportunity. This seems like a match made in heaven for athletes to promote Orange Theory. 

[UBinMD]

11 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

Just listened also. One of the founders of Orange Theory Fitness is a UB Alum, umm hello NIL opportunity. This seems like a match made in heaven for athletes to promote Orange Theory. 

Maybe Big Ditch too for our 21 and over players 😀

[MuchMany]

Good stuff here. Coach not missing any opportunities for positive PR with JA17 visiting Alumni as the SA Student Choice Speaker tonight. And he's social media savvy enough to throw a period before the @ to not make it a reply to the Bills account, thus visible to all.

 

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by MuchMany