The Ole Miss Athletics Foundation surpassed its all-time record for Foundation members with 7,188 members, as of today. Among the 7,188 members, 4,200 have joined or renewed since the rebranding March 1. A member is anyone who donates toward priority seating for baseball, basketball or football, or someone who donates philanthropically toward membership or the Vaught Society.
"It is truly an exciting time to be an Ole Miss Rebel," said Keith Carter, Athletics Foundation Executive Director. "Surpassing the all-time record for Foundation members is a testament to the passion, energy and excitement of the Ole Miss faithful. While we are very happy with this announcement, we will not slow down. Our goal is to eventually reach the 10,000 donor mark. With everyone working together, we will get there.
"Overall, the future is extremely bright. We have experienced some great success over the past 12 months but I firmly believe that we are just getting started."
In addition, there have been 1,000 new football season ticket holders, bringing the total number to 8,720. Football season ticket allocations begin June 10 and will be used for both seats and parking selections.
Membership starts at $50, and payment plans are available. For anyone who wants to join the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation, they can visit RebelGiving.com. For anyone who wants to join or renew, they can call 662-915-7159.
A little more than a year into his first term as Ole Miss Athletics Director, Ross Bjork made his first trip to Starkville this week but did so for a good cause. Bjork and Bulldog AD Scott Stricklin joined forces Tuesday to headline the Golden
Triangle Friends of Scouting Leadership Dinner held at MSU's Hunter Henry
Center. The annual event is a fundraising effort for the Pushmataha Area
Council of the Boy Scouts of America, which serves some 1,300 young people in
10 counties in east Mississippi. Bjork and Stricklin spoke jointly to the group
on attributes of leadership and the worth of programs like Scouting in
preparing future NCAA student athletes. Shown with the pair are Pushmataha
Council president and MSU Vice President for Student Affairs Bill Kibler,
second from left, and Starkville Boy Scout Troop 14 Eagle Scout Austin Kibler,
second from right. (Photo
by Beth Newman-Wynn, MSU University Relations)
It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating a bowl win in Birmingham. Now that that and an historic signing day are in the rear view mirror, it's time to gear up for spring drills. The Rebels take to the practice field on Sunday, March 17, and a tentative practice schedule can be viewed here. Practices will be open to the public, but you'll need to skip work to make them. Weekday practices are planned for an 8 a.m. start, and outside of the first and last practices (BancorpSouth Grove Bowl on April 13, 1 p.m.). there is is only one other weekend practice planned (April 6, time TBA). This year's BancorpSouth Grove Bowl has free admission, so we hope to have our biggest crowd yet.
Fans have asked about our Pro Day, which is scheduled for March 7. The event is closed to the public, but we will have full coverage of the day on the official site. Among the events you will be able to attend this spring is the Rebels' Choice Awards, April 10 at 7 p.m. at the Ford Center. The show has moved to a Wednesday this year, and we will have more details in the coming weeks. Also changing days is the Chucky Mullins Courage Award banquet, which will now be a Saturday breakfast on the morning of the BancorpSouth Grove Bowl. Please make your plans to attend both events.
Ryan Smith, a sophomore distance runner on the Ole Miss track & field team, will be a sports trivia contestant on an upcoming segment of ESPNU's late-night entertainment show, UNITE.
The episode of UNITE airs late Wednesday night at 1 a.m. ET / midnight CT on ESPNU.
Smith will test his wits against students from Auburn and Georgia in a reprised version of the popular trivia show "Stump the Schwab" featuring ESPN statistician Howie Schwab.
Tune in to see how Ryan fares and to cheer on this Rebel against the Tigers and Bulldogs!
With Valentine's Day rolling in on February 14th, I Love Ole Miss week is the perfect way to show your affection for the Ole Miss Rebels. There are nine events in a five day span that are great opportunities for you to take part in cheering on the red and blue, including the home openers of Rebel Softball and Baseball. At five different events, you will be able to score a sweet I Love Ole Miss T-Shirt. Below is a schedule of events, so mark your calendars!
Wednesday
Softball vs. LSU 5PM Home Opener Dollar Dogs and Popcorn for Fans I Love Ole Miss T-Shirts for First 100 Fans Fans who donate gently-used sports equipment for the Geaux Play Program will receive two free general admission tickets to the baseball home opener on February 15th.
Thursday
Women's Basketball vs. MSU 7PM Free I Love Ole Miss T-Shirts to All Fans Buy 1 Get 1 Free Facebook Voucher Russian Bar Trio at the Half 5 Rebel Rewards Points Date Night Package Giveaway *1 Dozen Roses *2 Tickets to Baseball, Men's Basketball, and Women's Basketball Games *Gift Certificates to Malco Cinema *Couples Massage *Dinner at Irie *and much more
Friday
Women's Tennis vs. Oklahoma State 2PM Iris Verboven Collectible Poster I Love Ole Miss T-Shirts to First 100 Fans 1 Rebel Rewards Point
Baseball vs. TCU 4PM Season Opener Tanner Mathis Collectible Poster 1 Rebel Rewards Point
Saturday
Baseball vs. TCU 1:30PM I Love Ole Miss T-Shirts to first 500 fans 1 Rebel Rewards Point
Men's Basketball vs. Georgia 7PM Roll Out Banners for first 1000 fans Russian Bar Trio at the Half 1 Rebel Rewards Point Sunday
Women's Tennis vs. Washington 11AM Enter to win an iPod 1 Rebel Rewards Point
Baseball vs. TCU 12PM Free Ole Miss Koozies 1 Rebel Rewards Point
Women's Basketball vs. South Carolina 1PM 1 Rebel Rewards Point
GAC and Southern Living clearly now where to tailgate. The two have teamed up for an hour-long special called "Southern Living Tailgate Playbook" which visits our own Grove and Alabama's Quad for a look at tailgating done right. The show debuts tonight at 9 p.m. CT on GAC. Re-air times are listed below along with a preview.
Another game in the books, more great feedback and a few changes coming this week. The stadium atmosphere has been electric the first two weeks and when 8:15pm Saturday arrives, The Vaught will be the loudest place on earth.
Band Amplification
We appreciate everyone's patience as we continue to take advantage of the SEC's new change in band amplification rules. Overall, the customer reviews on band amplification were extremely positive, but we will be improving the experience for those customers in lower rows seated directly in front of the speaker stacks.
Customer Service
Please continue to note the service of our Vaught-Hemingway Stadium staff. Each staff member is wearing a badge that looks similar to this:
If you experience great service (or service that needs to be improved), please make a note of the letter and number combination. Then visit rebs.ms/VHSFeedback and tell us about it.
South End Zone Sound
Our customers in the south end zone continue to experience issues with sound clarity, especially from videos and the announcer. We are bringing in one of the country's leading stadium audio experts to monitor the audio in the south end zone as well as other parts of the stadium. He will be able to assess and make changes during sound check at noon as well as in game when the stadium is full.
Videos
Kickoff video - Thanks to our amazing creative and production teams for making the type of videos that get Vaught-Hemingway on its feet. The fans have been asking for us to post some of the videos, so yesterday we posted the video played before kickoff. Click the link to watch: http://rebs.ms/rebkickoff
Ross Bjork's message to the fans - Today, this video from Ross will be emailed out to Rebel Nation: http://rebs.ms/rossvaught
Miscellaneous
Ole Miss script logo at midfield has received a fresh coat of red paint.
There is a lot going on this weekend as the Texas Longhorns come to Oxford. Miss America, Brittney Reese and the 1962 national title team are all among the notables returning to campus. Also on the docket is Generald Wilson, a retired Navy officer and national recording artist. If that name doesn't ring a bell, perhaps you remember this performance from last year's World Series.
Members of the Ole Miss Athletics Department, including administrators,
staff, coaches and student-athletes, participated in Groovin' At Move-In
2012 Friday. Athletics Director Ross Bjork (pictured above) was among
those who helped incoming students move into their dorm rooms
for the new school year, which starts Monday.
The Jackson Touchdown Club presented by C-Spire Wireless will host its first meeting of the season on Monday, August 20, 2012, at 6 p.m. at the River Hills Tennis Club located at the intersection of Ridgewood Road and Lakeland Drive. Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze will kick off the club's 67th season that night.
The admission fee for non-members and guests for this meeting is $30. Space is limited at Club meetings. The media is cordially invited to all meetings at no cost. For additional Club information, contact Glen Waddle, Secretary of the Jackson Touchdown Club, at 601-506-3186, or visit the Club's web site at www.jacksontouchdownclub.com.
Persons, corporations, or businesses interested in joining the Jackson Touchdown Club may download a membership form on the Club's web site at www.jacksontouchdownclub.com.
The Jackson Touchdown Club is a non-profit organization that has existed since 1946 when the late Dr. Lacey Hughes gathered 15 football fans together to celebrate the sport of football in the Jackson area. The Club is one of the oldest and most prestigious quarterback or touchdown clubs in the southeastern United States. The Club sponsors the Gene May Scholarship Fund and helped originate the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1960.
When it comes to marketing our teams, nothing is more effective than creating strong connections between fans and student-athletes. However, in today's changing world of college athletics, this can be a challenge. The vast TV exposure and huge stadiums coupled with new practice facilities and student-athlete academic centers have added to the "celebrity" of our student-athlete, while unintentionally limiting the fan's access to them. So personalizing and humanizing our student-athletes is something we must be creative about.
If you are around Oxford soon, you'll notice all new posters for Football, Soccer and Volleyball. Each poster features just one student-athlete in an "up close and personal" way. Each team has multiple posters, so if you see a Mike Marry poster at one restaurant, next door may have a Donte Moncrief or Charles Sawyer poster. Same goes for Rebel Volleyball and Soccer, so enjoy the new designs!
The personalization
doesn't stop there. Click here to check out (and download for free) our all new desktop backgrounds - these feature even more student-athlete options for each team in season. They
even have the schedule included so you always know when the Rebels are playing! We hope you enjoy these new ways we are giving you a more inside look at what makes Ole Miss so special - our student-athletes.
If you watched the Olympic trials tonight from Eugene, Ore., you saw a pair of Rebels earn spots on the U.S.A. Track & Field team in junior sprinter Isiah Young and former long jumper Brittney Reese. They will join India tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi and U.S.A. women's basketball assistant coach Jennifer Gillom among the Ole Miss representation in London. In our history, they will make it 11 Rebels to participate in the Olympics across all sports, and this will mark the seventh games to feature at least one Ole Miss athlete. Here is a breakdown of the all-time list.
Women's Basketball
Jennifer Gillom (USA) - gold medalist, player 1988; assistant coach 2012
Peggie Gillom (USA) - gold medalist, assistant coach 2000
Van Chancellor (USA) - gold medalist, head coach 2004
Track & Field
Allan Ince (Barbados) - men's 400 meter hurdles 1988
Gary Kinder (USA) - men's decathlon 1988
Tony Dees (USA) - silver medalist, men's 100 meter hurdles 1992
Alvin Haynes (Barbados) - men's triple jump 1992
Savante' Stringfellow (USA) - men's long jump 2000
Brittney Reese (USA) - women's long jump 2008, 2012 Isiah Young (USA) - men's 200 meters 2012
We expected the Rebel Road Trip to generate a
concentrated burst of media coverage, and it did not disappoint. We confirmed
at least 45 examples of earned media from 36 different outlets, including 18
newspapers and 14 TV stations. Here are some of the more notable clips from the
coverage.
Crowds on the 16 events of the Rebel Road Trip
exceeded our expectations at practically at every stop. Attendance ranged from
110 for the morning meeting in McComb to 680 for the evening event in
Jackson.Not including the thousands on
hand at Double Decker, total fans for the 15 stops were 3,241 (216.0 per event).
Below are the average attendance numbers per time of day and those stops that
reached capacity at their venue.
Morning average: 151.2
Middday average: 154.0
Evening average: 343.0
Jackson-680
Tupelo-300
Corinth-240 (turned away 100)
Nashville-240
West Point-145
Birmingham-115
A lot of people had a hand in making Rebel Road Trip 2012 a reality. From the two advanced teams that prepped each venue to the folks back in Oxford, here are some of the individuals that deserve credit for making the inaugural RRT a success. We apologize for anyone not mentioned.
Speakers Group Dan Jones, Chancellor Ross Bjork, Athletics Hugh Freeze, Football Tim Walsh, Alumni Association Kyle Campbell, Athletics Keith Carter, UMAA Foundation Tom Eppes, University Richard Noble, Alumni Association Scott Noss, University Ben Burns, Volunteer (and more!)
Advanced Team 1 Port Kaigler, Alumni Association (leader) Paris Buchanan, Athletics Sheila Dossett, Alumni Association Daniel Morrow, Alumni Association Matt Mossberg, UMAA Foundation Steve Mullen, Alumni Association Jim Urbanek, Alumni Association
Advanced Team 2 Brandon Hudspeth, Athletics (leader) Clay Cavett, Alumni Association Ken Edwards, Athletics Julian Gilner, Alumni Association Eric Gross, UMAA Foundation Sarah Kathryn Hickman, Alumni Association Scott Thompson, Alumni Association
Others Joseph Baumbaugh, Alumni Association Jordan Dillon-Maginnis, Alumni Association Micah Ginn, Athletics Greg Gray, Athletics Dan Pellegrino, Athletics Michael Thompson, Athletics Lee Tyner, University Danny White, UMAA Foundation Rusty Woods, Alumni Association
If you saw today on the official site, another new face has joined Ole Miss'
athletics administration with the announcement of Derek Cowherd as the Senior Associate AD for Academic Support.
Derek continues a youth movement in
the senior leadership of Rebel Athletics. Of course, the most notable is
Athletics Director Ross Bjork, who, at 39, is the youngest AD among BCS
schools. Below are the rest of us 30-somethings that have joined the
administration in recent years -- a list that would have been even longer if
not for Buffalo plucking our 32-year-old Foundation director Danny White to be
their next AD on Tuesday. (congrats Danny!)
Name
Title (Date In Position)
Current Age
Derek
Cowherd
Senior
Associate AD/Academic Support (May 2012)
36
Ross
Bjork
Director
of Athletics (March 2012)
39
Wesley
Owen
Assistant AD/Ticket Operations (August 2011)
30
Kyle
Campbell
Assistant
AD/Media and Public Relations (May 2011)
36
Matt
Ball
Senior
Associate AD/Compliance (April 2011)
33
Michael
Thompson
Senior
Associate AD/Marketing and Communications (August 2010)
