What ever happened to the local Cougar Club Chapters?
- Thread starter ttowncoug
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use your imagination and tribal knowledge of how WSU treats it's donors and volunteers to fathom a guess and you probably won't be far off
I suppose you could add the WSU Alumni Association, of which I am a Life Member (I joined when it was cheap). To be fair, I went to the Alumni site and found that my contact info was hopelessly outdated so I fixed all that. They did have the correct phone number FWIW.
The Yakima (South-Central) Alumni chapter, like I assume most/all others, does have a Facebook page, and the current chapter President has seemed to try to maintain some level of activity. Maybe I should get off my lazy ass and shoot her a note.
Cougar Club? Don't see anything on the Athletics site (other than "join the CAF), although I did let my CAF membership expire some years ago. I suppose I should consider re-upping that as well. $100/yr.
Loyal, did you ever get the personal brick for your contributions to the new FOB?
My most cynical opinion:
Why use free volunteer resources when you can hire 5 admin assistants and some interns to do it? I mean, the local Cougar clubs have all the contacts to the local businesses for sponsorships and donations, but yeah... why not have a 20 or 22 year old send cold-calling emails to try to round up funds? Make sure you only talk to one or two big title sponsors too - putting all your eggs in one basket ALWAYS works out.
IMHO, at least for the Portland (Columbia River) Cougar Club - it doesn't exist because it was too much effort for WSU to... manage? I mean, the club itself was self-sufficient when I was involved, but certain AD personnel thought there needed to be more oversight. It was right around that same time that ANWCF got moved to Nike (paid WAY too much for that venue), they couldn't land a consistent title sponsor, and several large regional donors went AWOL. Can't imagine why...
Oh yeah, they told me they didn't want my donated Widmer beer, they'd rather pay for bottled beer and wine. So yeah, no idea why they disappeared...
Not that I'm aware of. I assume it was going to be part of the building facade. And I'm not seeing any brick on the thing. What an ugly M-fer. Maybe they'll have a brick section on the front around the Cougar logo.
Are we throwing bricks at loyal now? Do I need to donate to the CAF to do so? Can someone link it please?Not that I'm aware of. I assume it was going to be part of the building facade. And I'm not seeing any brick on the thing. What an ugly M-fer. Maybe they'll have a brick section on the front around the Cougar logo.
Heh. Way back, it's been at least 10 years, probably more, when WSU first started fundraising for the now-Taylor (WhoTF is that anyway?) replacement for the bubble, the campaign included a personal brick for every donation of I guess probably $100 back then. Kind of like the Alumni Bldg tiles, of which I have 2, and you are welcome.
So I gave, and I have no idea what rathole that campaign went down, since we are now building an oversized hay barn.
Oh, so earlier today/tonight, as mentioned, I updated my Alumni Association contact info. Dam if I didn't get an acknowledgement e-mail from them. Good on them. Also got an e-mail from Cougar Athletics with a pretty nice message from Anne McCoy updating me (us) and encouraging me to re-up my CAF membership, with my current standing (in the 20,000's, sorry) and my ID number. Probably a coincidence, but hey, it works for me. Will likely re-up and put a little money where my constant bitching talks.
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Taylors are good peeps. Drop a million or so and you can get a building named after you too, loyal.
Ok, so I looked up Scott and Lisa Taylor. Couldn't find too much, was curious about what field they graduated in, how they got so wealthy, etc. She is a honey though, always of utmost importance to the Loyal One. If I found the correct picture that is.
So fantastic on them. I did link an article that shows an initial rendering of the facility (below). That beautiful thing doesn't look much like the hay barn that is going up. I guess there were not enough "brick donors" like me to create the pictured front facade.
Donors launch $6 million challenge to accelerate WSU Athletics funding
The donations will be used to help boost fundraising for the construction of the Indoor Practice Facility and the Champions Complex renovation on WSU’s Pullman campus.
news.wsu.edu
So here is my two cents, for what's its worth.
Young alumni....or young people just don't care. Maybe a minority, but simply....they just don't care.
This is the reason the following organizations or specialists are dead, because they've all aged off, and the new generation, "just don't care":
Kiwanis Club
Rotary Club
Lions Club
Grand Poo-Bah Club
EM Techs, (Electromechanical Pinball Machine technicians to repair EM Pinball Machines manufactured before Solid State, (1976 and prior).
Vintage Coke Machine repair guys
Vintage Juke Boxes repair guys
Sligh, (or Miller) Grandfather Clocks
All of these guys have aged off, and the young, new generation just don't care. Now, Rotary may be an exception, but Kiwanis and Lions Clubs are DEAD.
Note: I am not a member of any of those clubs, but I do own EM Pinball.
Resembles like.. instead of the 1929 Field House, it's the 2024 Field House.Not that I'm aware of. I assume it was going to be part of the building facade. And I'm not seeing any brick on the thing. What an ugly M-fer. Maybe they'll have a brick section on the front around the Cougar logo.
I agree, but I also think there is a way to have some local engagement activities. A "Cougar takeover" or something social. This could be the form of CougsFirst or an entity suggesting local Tacoma-area Coug bars host a quarterly "Coug night." The bars get customers. The athletic dept gets visibility, maybe some new donors. Seems like a win/win.
One of my co-workers used to be a co-head of one of the chapters. He said that when Pat Chun was hired as AD, they basically took over the chapter and ran it into the ground. They organized very few events to keep people interested.
That was my assumption as well.
Moos used to like to network and get out and chat. Chun, not his desire.
I think there is a way to better leverage a volunteer network. Why we don't put energy into this is a mystery.
Don't think it is a mystery. Just like politics, it is about power and control, and the folks atop the food chain in the Athletic Department have much more control over paid employees than they do over unpaid volunteers.
They've mostly been replaced by pregame functions and watch parties, which there are a lot of. I attended events in Las Vegas, San Diego, Maui, and New York last year.
Alumni Association Watch Parties
Alumni Association Watch Parties
Back then the Alumni Association had no connection with the Cougar Clubs, and AFAIK, nobody ever came to any of the Pierce County Cougar Club meetings. We focused on athletics and putting on events to raise $$$ for the AD. I think that any funds raised from the AA pregame functions would stay with them with nothing benefitting the AD.
