ASU unveiled a new wrap, complete with three different creative designs and updated logos that cover each side and the back of the 53-foot long moving billboard for A-State, following the football team’s afternoon practice on Wednesday. The wrap, designed and donated by Supertints of Jonesboro, features a large A-State logo and ticket information on both sides and the back of the trailer.

“We would like to thank Supertints, the ASU?Creative Services Department, Goza Trucking and NES?Rentals for their help making this project become a reality,” said ASU?Equipment Supervisor Ryan Dickson. “They all really did an outstanding job throughout this process and we are extremely excited about the final product. This trailer will represent A-State in a very visible way and gives us another opportunity to make a lasting impression while we are traveling first-class across the country.”
John Roads, General Manager of Supertints, said the project was a complete success and that it couldn’t have been accomplished without the help of a lot of people, including the ASU?Creative Services Department, Dickson, the ASU?football equipment managers and Mit and Jennifer Groza, who will haul the trailer throughout the football season.

“It was absolutely incredible,” said John Roades about the entire project. “Working with Dr. Dean Lee and with Ryan Dickson was phenomenal. I think that the whole wrap is incredible and that the players will love it.”

One side shows a large picture Howl leading the football team onto the field inside ASU?Stadium, while the other side has the “Let‘em Hear Ya Howl” slogan in large letters above a “60 Minutes of Howl” fan picture. The background is well done as shades of black and red converge to cover the entire sides.

The back doors include logos for all the companies involved with the project, as well as a Red Wolf Club and adidas logo, all located underneath a Red Wolves logo that accenuates large glow in the dark eyes atop the upper portion of the back doors.

“I am really pleased with how it turned out,” said Letty Thompson, a graphic designer at Supertinits. “We had a lot of fun with it and it was probably the biggest project I have ever worked with. We hope the players like it and that it lasts for a very long time. I hope that they are as pleased with it as we are.

Serving as the flagship station of football broadcasts again in 2010 is EAB station KFIN 107.9 FM. The 100,000-watt station blankets Northeast Arkansas and also easily reaches into the Bootheel of Missouri and Western Tennessee.

Also anchoring EAB Sports Network coverage of Red Wolves football is KABF 88.3 FM in Little Rock. Another 100,000-watt signal, KABF gives total coverage to the Capitol City and covers a 70-mile radius of Little Rock as well.
Arkansas State’s oldest network affiliate, KWYN-AM 1400 in Wynne, will also carry games along with each network affiliate from 2009. There are two new stations joining the EAB Sports Network this year: KAPW 99.3 FM in Brinkley and Forrest City and KAFN 102.5 FM in Gould and Monticello.

“We are very excited about being able to continue to expand our network,” Bobby Caldwell, owner and CEO of East Arkansas Broadcasters, said. “We’re also proud of our partnership with Arkansas State and our progress in bringing A-State athletics coverage statewide.”

Arkansas State Athletics also announced Friday that it plans on making all audio broadcasts of Red Wolves Football available free of charge on the university’s official athletics website, www.AStateRedWolves.com. Live streaming video of all Red Wolves home games will still be available to subscribers of the “State Zone,” as well as video coverage of nearly all Sun Belt Conference road games this season.

“We’re thrilled to announce once again that the coverage of our radio network continues to grow,” said ASU?Director of Corporate Sales Brad Bobo. “We’re confident that Red Wolves fans can find our football games on their radio anywhere in the Eastern half of Arkansas, along with parts of Missouri, Tennessee and Mississippi. The growth of our network, coupled with the fact that we are making our audio broadcasts available for free on our official website, means it should be easier than ever to keep up with the Red Wolves.”

Matt Stolz will handle play-by-play duties for the sixth season, while Bill Keedy returns for his 10th season as color analyst on football broadcasts. Bobo will be the on-site producer and pre-game and halftime host for the eighth season.

2010 Arkansas State Radio Network Football Affiliates: KFIN 107.9 FM (Flagship Station), KABF 88.3 FM (Little Rock), KTLO 1240 AM (Mountain Home), KWYN-AM 1400 (Wynne), KRLW 1320 AM (Walnut Ridge/Pocahontas), KRLW 106.3 FM (Walnut Ridge/Pocahontas), KWAK 105.5 FM (Stuttgart), KQEW 102.3 FM (Fordyce), KOOU 104.7 FM (Hardy), KAPW 99.3 FM (Brinkley/Forrest City), KAFN 102.5 FM (Gould/Monticello).

“It’s a lot of fun,” Roberts said of the team’s annual trip to the pool during fall camp. “Obviously, it is just a break mentally and physically from the wear and tear of fall camp, and these kids deserve it. They’ve had 15 really good practices where we’ve gotten better every day, and it’s nice to give them a treat, give them an opportunity to come out and be kids for a little while and just focus on having fun.”

While the Red Wolves took advantage of the altered schedule this evening, Roberts said the the team worked very hard this morning with a slightly extended practice.

“We had several extra periods that we wouldn’t normally have during a two-a-day practice,” said Roberts. “The players effort was better than I originally thought. Watching it live this morning I wasn’t as pleased, but after going back and watching film I thought we had a pretty good practice and got better at a lot of things. We had a couple of new formations with an emphasis on a couple of coverage that we’ve installed the last couple of days.”
This morning’s practice was A-State’s 15th of its fall camp, which began Aug. 6 when the players reported.

“We’re about halfway through fall camp and I feel really good about our team,” said Roberts. ?“The players have a great attitude, they work extremely hard, they push themselves and fight through negative situations fairly well, so I’m excited about where we are at this point.”

The Red Wolves will practice again Thursday at 5:45 p.m.

One question was “What slight change would you make to college football?
Intersting to me was how many mentioned tweaking overtime rules. I may be a bit of luddite but I think it speaks to the lack of mental depth in this nation that we cannot comprehend a tie. There isn’t anything wrong with two well matched teams playing and one not being able to beat the other, especially when the alternative is to stop playing football and play a modified arena football game of “take turns” to resolve it or the NFL’s “pray he doesn’t run the kickoff back” sudden death gimmick. Thinking in ASU history, I can name two critical tie games. At Ole Miss as a I-AA (FCS) school, that tie was huge. An overtime loss would have made that game much less memorable. The other was the tie at NC State that was broken in the second OT with a loss. If ASU had won, that season very likely goes completely different and doesn’t end in fiasco. A tie possibly does the same. Think about the Texas game. If ASU doesn’t get hosed on the onside kick, scores and makes the two-point conversion, how big is it all in the end if it ends with UT victory in the first OT?

Ties are good.

Since no one will ever tolerate ending the OT process, let’s get rid of the worst gimmick of OT. Mandatory two point conversions in the third OT. Simpler solution. First OT start at the 25 like we do now. After every OT period where both score, move the ball back 5 yards to start the next period. To end the advantage of the coin toss, the team going second in OT, cannot attempt a field goal unless the first team attempted a field goal. If you are going first and have 4th and goal at the three you can gamble and go for a TD if you want without worrying about your opponent just running a few plays and then kicking a chipshot to win. If you want to kick that’s fine, same risk as always.

CFN asks two questions about the BCS. First about the format and second about selection.

As to format, I covered that in-depth previously. As to selection, the media members have convinced me that the USA Today coaches poll needs to go because of the stakes involved. I would replace that poll with a third computer ranking that isn’t weighted with the other computer polls. I would use an RPI style rating that is really designed to reflect the quality of the schedule more than the team’s performance. In the purest sense RPI takes your winning percentage divided by four (ie. one fourth), opponents combined winning percentage divided by 2 (ie. half), and winning percentage of opponents opponents divided by 4 and combines those for a final number. I would make the following tweaks:
1. Wins vs. non-FBS opponents count as a half of a win.
2. Losses vs. non-FBS opponents count as two losses.
3. Road wins worth 25% more than neutral site wins and home wins worth 25% less than neutral site wins.
4. Road losses count 25% less than neutral site losses, home losses count 25% more than neutral site losses.
5. A game is only neutral site if neither team plays any other games at the site that year and neither played there the year before and it is at least 150 miles from the regular stadium of both teams, or in a different state than either of the two teams, with an exception for games pitting in-state schools, then it is neutral if neither team uses the stadium that year.

The current BCS system rewards top teams for staying home and playing weak schedules. It should reward taking chances.

One other other question (among the several) “Boise State finishes the regular season unbeaten. Ohio State starts out the year ranked No. 2 and finishes the regular season unbeaten. Florida loses one game but wins the SEC Championship. What two teams should be in the BCS Championship?”

While I suspect Florida will be a good bit better in that situation and probably deserve to be there, everyone with a vested interest in keeping the BCS alive (except for the SEC and possibly Ohio State) is going to be twisting arms to get the Broncos in the title game. If they run the table and don’t make it, the BCS has the worst political, legal, public relations problem it has ever faced and holding it together to even finish the current four year contract would be unlikely. Until Boise loses a game this year, there will be true fear of having to answer the question of how a team can win 26 consecutive games (including a BCS bowl and three wins over name teams) and not make the title game.

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below.

ASU?head coach Steve Roberts said the team, suited out in shorts and shoulder pads, was hoping to be able to finish practice, but was still able to get some things accomplished despite the fact its time on the field was cut short.

“We were able to install a few new things that we had going in today, but didn’t get the repetitions in a team setting and inside like we wanted to do,” said Roberts. “We also had punt and punt return scheduled for later in practice, which we weren’t able to get to, but we’ll be able to make some of it up in the morning.”

The Red Wolves reported for fall camp Wednesday, August 4, and tomorrow’s two-a-day schedule will mark a full week of practices for the team.

Following the lightning delay that eventually caused the second half of today’s practice to be canceled, Roberts said that he is very pleased with A-State’s fall camp thus far.
“We’re obviously at that time where you start hitting that wall from a physical standpoint being able to accomplish what you need to accomplish, but the players are fighting through it,” said Roberts. “The effort has been tremendous throughout camp. We have some great position battles going on, battles for playing time. ?We need some guys to step up at a couple of positions, but we’re real pleased with the progress.”

Also coming out of the Red Wolves fall camp, 5-7, 165-pound wide receiver Roddrick Hall has joined the team and went through his first practice today. The Carson, Calif. native and Fresno City College transfer recorded 29 receptions for 255 yards and four touchdowns last year with the Rams. He averaged 8.8 yards per catch and his 29 receptions were the second most on the team. Hall recorded 11 rushing attempts for 38 yards and a touchdown, while also sharing duties as a punt and kickoff returner during the 2009 season.
As a freshman in 2008, Hall tallied 24 receptions for 406 yards and two touchdowns. ?He averaged 16.9 yards per reception and had a long catch of 57 yards. He ranked second on the team in receptions and his 16.9 average was the second highest among players with at least 15 catches.

“Rod Hall joined us today, went through his first practice, and we are very excited about his addition to the team,” said Roberts. “We are looking forward to seeing how he learns and performs.”
The Red Wolves will practice Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. and again at 5:45 p.m.

Season tickets for the Red Wolves’ 2010 campaign remain on sale and can be ordered by contacting the ASU Box Office at 870-972-ASU1 or 1-888-ASU-FANS or by visiting AStateRedWolves.com. For more information, contact the ASU Marketing Department at 870-972-3880.

The Red Wolves spent the early part of their workout on the practice fields before moving to the stadium for their first practice time on their new field installed at the conclusion of spring camp. The offense and defense both shined at times as each unit made several big plays over the course of the scripted scrimmage that gave a lot of players time on the field.

“I thought we did really well in extremely hot and humid conditions,” head coach Steve Roberts said of the scrimmage. “It was the first day in full pads and we held back a little bit from the pace that we would normally do, which doesn’t give our offense all of its weapons. Defensively, we ran to the ball very well and had some individuals make some big plays. Bryan Hall made one of the best plays that I have seen in a long, long time. We threw and caught the ball fairly well with our first group, but we have to do a better job of protecting the quarterback.”
Phillip Butterfield completed 9-of-15 passes for 118 yards, including a 32-yard completion to wide receiver Taylor Stockemer that was the longest play of the night, to lead the offensive attack. Ryan Aplin was also solid at quarterback, completing 6-of-9 attempts for 65 yards. The two players combined to complete the first nine pass attempts of the scrimmage.

“I thought Ryan made a couple of really good plays and Phillip had a couple of big-time throws. We are really pleased with both of those guys, they have both had a great camp so far. They have thrown a million balls in the last five days and that obviously shows right now, but they will get that back. I thought tonight’s competition was good for our whole team.”

Receiver Dwayne Frampton hauled in a team-best three passes for 11 yards, while Stockemer accounted for a team-high 53 yards on two receptions. Anthony Robinson, one of 11 players to catch at least one pass, followed with two receptions for 44 yards. Seven different running backs had at least one rushing attempt, including Derek Lawson with six carries for a team-high 18 yards. Sherodrick Smith followed with 15 yards on four carries, while Frankie Jackson had 13 yards on five attempts and Sirgregory Thornton 12 yards on four carries.

The defense recorded seven tackles for loss, five sacks and one interception. Linebacker LaAngelo Albright recorded a team-high four tackles, while Michael Lombardo, Darius Glover, Ryan Carrethers, Bryan Hall and Jaquan Kilcrease all followed with three stops each. Carrethers added two sacks and Hall, Nathan Herrold and Blake Chavis all had one. Safety Sterling Young was responsible for the defense’s only interception, but Hall, Andrew Tryon, Najel Byrd and Jeremy Gibson all broke up one pass.

The Red Wolves will hold their first two-a-days practices tomorrow, taking the field at 9:00 a.m. and again at 5:45 p.m.

Season tickets for the Red Wolves’ 2010 campaign remain on sale and can be ordered by contacting the ASU Box Office at 870-972-ASU1 or 1-888-ASU-FANS or by visiting AStateRedWolves.com. For more information, contact the ASU Marketing Department at 870-972-3880

The Red Wolves held their first team meeting Wednesday and will go through several orientation sessions Thursday before taking part in ASU’s annual Football Media Day on Friday at 11:00 a.m. ASU will conclude its fall camp Aug. 21 with its annual Fan Appreciation Day.

In conjunction with ASU’s student move-in day and football’s Fan Appreciation?Day, the athletic department will also hold its “License to Howl” program on Aug. 21 at the ASU?baseball parking lot. The program will get underway at 9:00 a.m. and feature food, prizes and Red Wolves license plates for all attending.

Among ASU’s reporting players was senior offensive lineman Dominic Padrta, who was recently granted a sixth-year of eligibility by the NCAA. Padrta, a preseason All-Sun Belt Conference selection in 2009, suffered a season-ending injury in the Red Wolves’ season opener a year ago. With the addition of Padrta, A-State now has 10 offensive lineman on this year’s team with starting experience.
“This is always an exciting day for our program,” said ASU?head coach Steve Roberts. “We are certainly ready to set the tone for our program the next couple of days and get on the practice field Friday.”

Season tickets for the Red Wolves’ 2010 campaign remain on sale and can be ordered by contacting the ASU Box Office at 870-972-ASU1 or 1-888-ASU-FANS or by visiting AStateRedWolves.com. For more information, contact the ASU Marketing Department at 870-972-3880.

After that introduction, I’m going to complain about missed chances because I have a positive counter-point to offer to illustrate why it is frustrating.

The past few years we’ve seen a “text your answer” poll or trivia game on the video board at ASU Stadium at each game. After sending in my response I was always puzzled why I never received a response text with an offer to sign-up for promotional text messages. The types I’ve seen before usually offer you an occasional text reminder of upcoming games and let you know about the upcoming promotions and specials for those games. I’ve never been offered that.

Sunday I was in Arrowhead Stadium where the text promotion was a chance to win an autographed Manchester United jersey. I don’t like the Red Devils and it would probably have been e-Bay bound had I won (after trying to sell it locally to a couple bars that push soccer coverage) but I wanted to see how the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer handled the text promotions. Promptly received a text saying I was entered and if I wanted information about the new stadium and tickets text back my name and email. So I sent it.

The next day driving home, less than 24 hours after the game, I get a call from the Wizards. They asked if I had seen the video of the new stadium (yes, my eyes work, it was in heavy rotation on the ribbon board). They explained how I could get in line for season tickets at the new field, but understood living hours away that wasn’t practical so they would give me a direct line number and a person to call to get discounted single game tickets and avoid the online ordering fees.

A prompt response. No complaint there. An offer tailored to my situation, great work there. All in all, I was impressed. I then called Chris Wyche, who used to be an assistant AD at ASU and is now a vice-president with the Wizards after I got home to let him know that I was impressed with the marketing effort and use of text messaging.

Wyche said it had been a big success and the people working the phone banks were actually staying late because they were getting such positive feedback that they were enjoying it and wanted to strike while the iron was hot. They were not only selling reservations for tickets to the new stadium opening next summer, they were selling mini-season ticket packages for the remainder of this season. As of yesterday they reported having sold over 700 season ticket committments for 2011.

Since I had him on the phone I went on to ask about their official twitter feed @kcwizards because it is one of the best official feeds I’ve seen. They don’t just tweet links to official press releases. They also do pre-game tweets reminding fans of the game and their tv/radio/internet viewing/listening options. That second step places them ahead of most right there. As Billy Mays would say, “But that’s not all!”. The official twitter feed sends out links to local media reports about the team, photos from team practices and trips, responds to a few questions from fans and even links to fan blog articles about the team… even some that are critical.

Wyche said the team was getting big into social media. He said that a couple of people work to maintain their social media work.

It’s one of the best social media programs I’ve seen in sports. As I noted above, most teams just use Twitter as another way to let people know about new press releases. The Wizards are brave enough to retweet fan comments, answer questions, and even let people see less than flattering comments made about the franchise.

Arkansas State could learn a great deal from the Kansas City Wizards about marketing. The team has a top-notch plan and they take advantage of opportunities that arise when fans interact with their text and social media programs.

The July 21 issue of the Jonesboro Sun contained an article regarding Jay-R Strowbridge, a men’s basketball transfer student-athlete who decided to withdraw from Arkansas State. The statements attributed to Strowbridge regarding a conversation with Dean Lee, Director of Athletics, are not accurate and ASU believes it is necessary to correct this misinformation.

“All of our student-athletes should feel confident that their careers at ASU are not at risk due to the failures of the past. Upon discovering those failures, ASU promptly took corrective actions and self-reported violations to the NCAA. While we certainly will have penalties related to the current investigation, we do not believe those penalties will affect eligibility for postseason play in basketball or any other sport,” Lee concluded.

Update
On his twitter account Strowbridge states he was misquoted by The Sun.

The Story In The Paper I Have Not Read It But I Was Misquoted And Had An Radio Interview w/@RodneyFreeman Clearing Up The Story