Throughout the football offseason, a new brand of Texas State football has been introduced in the form of new head coach G.J. Kinne, his coaching staff and the class of 33 recruits that have committed to being Bobcats.
When Texas State President Kelly Damphousse took office last July, his goal for the athletics department was to “turn football around,” and he believes that the progress made thus far has brought him closer to that goal.
Damphousse acknowledges the football team’s poor performance in years past and said that with a hopefully improved record and a potential bowl game appearance, the university will see favorable outcomes in other areas such as graduation and freshmen retention rates.
“It’s no secret we haven’t been great at football,” Damphousse said. “The more students are engaged [in athletics events], the more likely they are to be successful, to retain, to graduate in a timely manner and have a great experience and someday become donors.”
Changing the perception of the Texas State football program and instilling the desire to attend football games into students is a two-step process, according to Damphousse. Damphousse said a winning product on the football field is a good step in the right direction.
He said it starts with instilling pride and enthusiasm for athletic events in the freshman class.
“It’s hard to change the culture really quickly,” Damphousse said. “Last year’s fall seniors… didn’t build the expectation that was that you go to a football game… the tradition was go to tailgate or go home on the weekend… last year, my goal was to work on the freshmen and tell them [football games] is where you want to be.”
The athletics department has put promotions into place at sporting events, such as the half-court shot promotion, to get the community to show up for their teams. Damphousse said promotions for the upcoming football season are in the works.
“We’re working on things for football, not ready to release that yet,” Damphousse. “Now we’re trying to be more coordinated with ‘how can we get people excited?’”
Bryan Miller, Texas State executive senior associate athletic director, said that athletic events give students the opportunity to feel included and engage with their university.
“We want them to build an affinity for Texas State University and feel like this is a place [where they] belong… athletics and sports gives students all of those opportunities to do all of that type of stuff,” Miller said.