Mike Leach's Role in Building the Valero Alamo Bowl Brand

During last month's Pac-12 Football Media Days, I spoke to Washington State Head Coach Mike Leach for the first time since December 10, 2009. As the then Head Coach of Texas Tech, Leach had flown in to join Michigan State Head Coach Mark Dantonio for a press conference promoting their Valero Alamo Bowl match-up.

Ironically, it was Dantonio who received the harder media questions as 13 of his players were involved in an on-campus fight. Dantonio suspended seven of them for the bowl game, while Texas Tech suspended Leach for allegedly mistreating a player the day the team arrived in San Antonio for Bowl Week and then fired him two days later.

The story was 24/7 news with each side fueling the fire by giving media outlets daily updates. There were even helicopters flying over Texas Tech's first practice after Ruffin McNeil was named interim head coach and Lincoln Riley was handed play calling duties. (This Coach Riley post-practice interview is still the Bowl's #1 most-watched video on YouTube.)

While the increased attention would translate into a record viewership at kickoff, we knew the ratings bump would be only be temporary if the teams didn't deliver a competitive game. Texas Tech fans were also threatening to boycott the game, so we had to focus our messaging on the importance of supporting their players over protesting their school's decision.

Luckily, each team and their coaching staffs brushed off the drama and turned the “Suspension Bowl” into one that is now remembered for Texas Tech's thrilling come-from-behind-victory in front of a sellout crowd and record ESPN viewership.

This game was also the moment we realized luck and the status quo weren’t sustainable ways to run our business.

The Valero Alamo Bowl had inched its way up from the very bottom rung of the bowl landscape in 1993 to a middle of the pack position. However, Texas Tech vs. Michigan State was our second game in three years without a ranked participant and the third of the last four match-ups that included a 6-6 team.

Thus, we underwent a major branding research and development effort to elevate our organization. A clarification of what we stood for provided a needed filter to act with purpose to differentiate ourselves from the other bowls and improve our standing.

Our vision statement is “to deliver an experience that will be remembered forever” so we can create a positive lasting impact on our participants and the community.

Our core values:

• Innovation. While we can’t match the tradition of the most well-established bowls, we can strive to be one of the most forward-thinking. In particular, we became early adopters of digital technology to produce engaging content, drive revenue and be more nimble and efficient. 
• Personalization. We pledged to be a leader in data collection to create actionable plans to engage with our constituents in a granular way. San Antonio's small footprint with fan, team and media hotels as well as most bowl events within a mile of the Alamodome will also allow our staff to be more visible and attentive to everyone's needs. 
• Community. Before the bowl was created, the week between Christmas and New Year’s was such a slow week of tourism the City would drain the San Antonio River for repairs and cleaning. With our focus on creating a positive economic impact and national attention for San Antonio, Bowl Week is now one of the top weeks for visitation. We use the ESPN broadcast to 6.8 million annual viewers and our other platforms to promote San Antonio as a destination and the advantages of hosting major events in a city with a walkable downtown just 10 minutes from the airport.

I received first person validation that our organization was on track and "on brand" with all of our touchpoints when a visiting athletic director simply told me "No city feels more like a family reunion than San Antonio.”

With the support of our title sponsor Valero and our conference partners in the Big 12 and Pac-12, the below metrics also show me the Valero Alamo Bowl has never been in a better position.

• Three straight Top 15 match-ups (the game featured only one back-to-back Top 20 match-up in its first 21 years)
• An increase in our average annual economic impact from $29 to $42 million
• Average crowds that fill the Alamodome to 96% capacity.
• Last year’s decision of the Big 12, Pac-12 and ESPN to extend our partnerships through 2025, the longest extension for any non-CFP bowl game.

In 2009, one of our partners produced two champagne magnums: one etched with a congratulations to Coach Leach and the other to Coach Dantonio.

The plan was to give the victorious coach their bottle as part of the post-game celebration. With Texas Tech win, Leach's bottle went into storage.

At Pac-12 Media Days, I broke the news to Coach Leach that we finally broke up the bottle earlier this year to toast the start of our 25th anniversary season.

With the Cougars ranked in the Top 25 in the ESPN, CBS and Sports Illustrated preseason polls, I'm ready be reorder Coach Leach a 2017 edition bottle if San Antonio is Washington State's post-season destination.

Hopefully, this year's Valero Alamo Bowl will feature our fourth straight Top 15 match-up and we will both have plenty to celebrate. Cheers!

#branding #marketing #collegefootball