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SPORTS
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
19
WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 2003
FOOTBALL
Perkins aims to increase football fans this season
By Saju Ng'alla
snglaa@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 20
Lew Perkins, the University's new athletics director, has made increasing attendance at home football games a top priority. Perkins is credited with Connecticut's record-setting football ticket sales, 26,500 tickets last year, said Lee Johnson, director of marketing for the Kansas Athletics Department.
"We plan to take it to the public," Johnson said, adding that his people will patrol the state and pass out leaflets, put up fliers and billboards. Expect to see billboards in Lawrence, Wichita and in all of Kansas City, Johnson said. He plans to overload the radio and television waves with Kansas football commercials and promos.
The marketing department for football at the University of Kansas plans to fill the stadium for every game next season.
Johnson and his department have put together a grass roots marketing strategy designed to flood Kansans with football information.
This aggressive strategy can be seen at www.kuathletics.com, where pop-up ads encourage visitors to support Kansas sports.
"You just can't pick one sport and tell me you're supporter," Perkins said in a pop-up ad. "A real supporter is someone who is committed to all the athletics pro-
Johnson said the department had a similar, but smaller, campaign last year and it worked. The football program recorded the second highest ticket sales in University history, and the highest in the last eight years.
Johnson said this year he planned to take the strategy into overdrive because Perkins wanted to fill the stadium for every game.
Dog Days of summer
Zach Straus/Kansan
Athletics Department employee Stephanie Temple and Lawrence resident Kelly Temple lead Dog Days participants in "cheerleader jumps" in front of Memorial Stadium. Dog Days, a community fitness program led by Don Gardner, has been going on every summer in Lawrence for 20 years. The group meets daily at 6 a.m., noon and 6 p.m.
ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT
Academic advisers sought
By Saju Ng'alla
sngalla@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Wayne Walden, the former athletics academic adviser at the University of Kansas should be on vacation right now, enjoying two weeks off before reporting to work at the University of North Carolina.
Instead, Walden is busy meeting with KU student athletes and their parents counseling them on academics.
Walden, a 1984 KU graduate, was the academic adviser for Kansas for the past 15 years before he accepted an offer to work with Roy Williams in North Carolina.
The decision was not easy for him. Walden said he had to overcome a lot of
great memories to leave Kansas.
"The University has been good to me," Walden said, "So before I leave, I want to make sure that things are wrapped up well here."
That means making sure that the student athletes he has advised are taken care
SEE ADVISER ON PAGE 20