This is a follow up to the topic MTBAggie, Movielover, and I started to discuss on the football section. asince it's a topic with potentially a lot of meat to it I've started a separate thread.

I believe everyone has specific roles in the success of an athletic program, and indirectly the university through said programs. This includes players + coaches, non-athlete students, alumni, townies, and others. I'm not going to talk about "others". Whether or not everyone chooses to fulfill their roles is up to them. The more the better though.

Before I get to people's roles I think it''s important to provide an answer to the question of why we have athletic programs at universities in the first place. If you polled a selection of administrators you would likely hear a lot of the same- to enrich and improve the college experience (placing no particular.

That is very true, but it's only part of the answer. Athletics programs are also an important means of keeping money flowing into the university so that there can continue to be athletic programs and a university. If you take a balance sheet approach to it rather than a long-term view it's tougher to see how. Universities need to attract students, and they have many choices. Given academic institutions of similar reputation where cost is not the ultimately deciding factor students may give heavy consideration to what kinds of enrichment activities they can enjoy. As an example, if you're a great student and baseball player and you want to keep playing competitively you may pick a university that allows you to do so.

Universities, though they won't admit it, are involved in a form of gambling,but they do it with their available admission spots. When they admit you they are gambling that you will not only pay your tuition but also provide them future added value as well. And if you play a sport they sponsor you are also potential present added-value too.

I like to think of an athletics program as an income machine for the university. Only some very successful programs see income that meets or exceeds the university investment the same year in ticket, merchandise, broadcast revenue, etc. The rest are waiting on deferred income on their investments. Long view as opposed to balance sheet.

That athletic department machine has several parts that have their own inter-dependent roles. When one of those parts works less efficiently it is a detriment to the machine.

Here are some of the principal parts and their roles:

Student-athletes and coaches- they are basically one group. Their principal responsibilities are to deliver results in competition and donate money at some point. Better performance is needed to motivate more people to attend as well as spend and donate money. Better performance also is supposed to lead to better outside sponsorships and national exposure, the latter of which brings you more student-athletes. And the wheel in the machine keeps on turning

To some extent athletes and coaches are sometimes expected to schmooze with fans, as they are potential donors. This is a function of Team Aggie, although not using the same terms I've chosen.

Of course citizenship and success in the classroom are also important responsibilities in this group as well.

Townies- I will define them as anyone who attends or could attend athletic events who is not affiliated with the university in any way. Don't work there-didn't go to school there. They're usually members of the surrounding community but not always. I count myself as a townie for example when I go see a CAL game, but as a visiting alumnus when I go to UCD or Sac State. I do not live anywhere near CAL. Townies may be a big source for season ticketholders as they're in the general area more.

The townie's responsibilities are to attend events, spend money, and maybe donate money if they really enjoy themselves.

Alumni-similar responsibilities to townies, only they are counted on much more heavily for donations.

Now the "regular student" has a huge set of roles. First pay tuition and fees. Second, attend athletic events when possible to boost the team's profile, help cheer the the team onto victory so that the alumni and townies will enjoy themselves and come back with their money. Third, after you've graduated, remember what a great time you had at those events as a student, come back and spend and donate money to athletics.

When this part doesn't work so well it can really hurt.