College GAMEDAY is a Good Lesson in Branding and Marketing 101

ESPN College GAMEDAY came to Virginia Tech this past Saturday, and left town impressed with the Hokie Nation's enthusiasm and their upset victory over the #1 ranked Duke Blue Devils. I made the five hour trip to Blacksburg (left home at 3:30 am) so I could join my daughter in the awesome showing of school spirit. For more information about the GAMEDAY event.

The first ESPN commentator to enter the Cassell Coliseum was Digger Phelps, the former coach for Notre Dame and now a full fledged television celebrity. Digger immediately worked the crowd and got the Hokie Nation fully worked up in a frenzy, at 9 am on a Saturday morning. It was amazing to watch the behind the scenes efforts to pull off the two hour ESPN show (the first hour is on ESPU). Digger came over and asked me to help get the crowd pumped up for the background shots. he had me orchestrate the top five Virginia Tech cheers after the marching band led each segment with different fight songs. (Virginia Tech is a former military school and there's a lot of traditional songs and cheers)

After practicing wiht the crowd for almost an hour, I was a little worried we wouldn't have enough energy and "gas in the tank'...but I was wrong. Check out this video of the crowd when the show's producer said "Action!"... Cassell Coliseum Comes Alive. 

ESPN is only visiting 12 college campuses this year and they know how to put on a good show. If you're on College Gameday, it's a sign that your program has arrived and you are relevant to the college basketball world. It was definitely fun to watch the production aspect of the event, but it was fun being on the court leading cheers with the students as well.

Having ESPN on campus was a huge two hour informercial for Virginia Tech, which is located in the small town of Blacksburg, amongst the mountains in southwest Virginia. Seth Greenberg is building a program and brand that is appealing to alot of people today. There's a strong sense of pride and friendliness in this college town and the ESPN commentators felt it.

Digger Phelps was so excited about the level of enthusiam that he even predicted the Hokies would knock off the top ranked Dlue Devils...and Digger was right. Virginia Tech beat the #1 team in the country Saturday night 64-60 for the fourth win over a top ranked opponent in school history.

After the game Greenberg remarked, "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, so let's trying living in the present right now". Seth is referring to all of the talk about the Hokies' chances of playing in the NCAA tournament. Tech's last NCAA appearance was in 2007.

For more about the ESPN College Gameday visit, check out The Collegiate Times article.